is an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series that aired from 1976 to 1977 in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. There are 38 episodes aired at 25 minutes each. It is also known as "''Blocker Army IV Machine Blaster''", "''Blocker Corps IV''", "''Blocker Army IV''", "''Blocker Corps''", "''Machine Blaster''" and in Italian as "''Astro Robot contatto Ypsilon''" ("''Blocker Corps IV Astrorobot''" for the DVD release).

Plot summary

Earth is being attacked by the Mogul civilization, a super advanced people that live beneath the ocean. Professor Yuri, having studied the ancient super-technology in Astro base, anticipated such an invasion would take place. Using what he had learned of their technology, he created a team of four

super robot Mecha, also known as giant robot or simply robot, is a genre of anime and manga that feature mecha in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; " super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where r ...

s, piloted by four youth pilots, to help repel the Mogul invasion, and they are known as the Machine Blaster Corps. Led by the pilot Ishida, the Blocker Corps stands firm against the attack of the Mogul rulers, Hellqueen V and Kaibuddha.

Concept

The number 4 comes from the team of 4 robots. The robots individually have their own weapon, but they can also be combined to form a fire ring which cuts through the enemies. It was not the most popular show since anime powerhouses '' Gaiking'' and ''Combattler V'', which featured more creative combinations and designs, were ruling the airwaves.

Staff

Robots

Opening

* Lyrics: "Blocker Gundan Machine Blaster" (opening theme)

Trivia

* The show aired every week Monday 7:00pm to 7:30pm. * It aired in The Philippines as ''Striker Force'' over RPN-9 every Friday 5:30pm to 6:00pm in 1979 and in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

as ''Astro Robot'' in 1980. * Toy maker

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

produced '' ''Shogun Warriors'' figures of the Machine Blaster robots exclusively for the Italian market, recycling parts from the ''Shogun Gaiking'', ''

Brave Raideen , also known as "Brave Reideen" or "Heroic Raydeen", is a super robot anime series created by Tohokushinsha and Produced by Soeisha (later renamed as Sunrise). It aired on Nihon Educational Television (now TV Asahi) from 4 April 1975 to 26 ...

'' and ''

Grendizer , also known as '' Grandizer'', ''Ufo Robot Grendizer Raids'', ''Goldrake'' and ''Goldorak'', is a Japanese manga and animated television series created by Go Nagai. The series is the third entry in the '' Mazinger'' series, later rel ...

'' toys and labeled as ''Astro Robot Shogun''. These figures are considered by collectors to be the rarest figures in the entire ''Shogun'' toyline.

References

External links

Encirobot homepage
* * * {{Nippon Animation 1976 anime television series debuts 1977 Japanese television series endings Ashi Productions Fuji Television original programming Nippon Animation Super robot anime and manga