For various reasons, I’m currently in a nostalgic mood, and attempting to revisit the various cartoons and toys of my youth. I’ve already tracked down Supercar Gattiger, a Japanese cartoon about five race cars that combined into one big honkin’ auto that was imported to the US in the late '70s.
Anyway, now I’m trying to find a second anime reference, and I’m having a hard time with it. It was a sci-fi based show, with three teens each piloting a giant robot. When things got tough (as they invaribly do in every episode), the robots would combine to form one big robot – one would form the head and shoulders, the second would form the arms and torso, and the third would form the legs. Unfortunately, searching Google for “anime combining robots” turns up a zillion entries, proving that Japanese animation has no shame about running an idea into the dirt.
Anyone want to drop me some clues as to what this was? I know it’s not Voltron or any of the (rebranded) Shogun Warriors stuff, but that’s hardly much help…?
A possibility is you’re thinking of the unreleased Voltron II, AKA Gladiator Voltron. I’m not sure of the original Japanese name, but I did find a page with some pictures that may jog your memory. http://www.voltronuniverse.com/pictures1.htm
Slight hijack, I’ve been trying to figure out the name of a cartoon I loved when I was younger: the hero was an alien who looked human who crashed to Earth near an observatory. The astronomer who lived in the observatory had a daughter and they befriended alien protagonist. I think I remember he had a battle robot (or I could be mixing up the ten zillion battle robot cartoons). There was something important about alien protagonist’s blood.
Sorry, no memories getting jogged by either Space Runaway Ideon nor Gladiator Voltron. Gladiator Voltron is closer to what I remember, in terms of three humanoid robots combining into one, but that’s about the only sembalance so far…