Abega was released in the third series of Godaikin in late 1984. Whereas most Godaikin figures were primarily robots which had additional features such as transformation or separation, Abega was a spaceship primarily, one that could separate into three smaller ships, which could in turn be transformed into robots.

The original figure was one of the first designs undertaken by Bandai after they reabsorbed Popy, and was originally released as part of the Popinica series - a long-running Popy line concentrating on licensed vehicles from popular TV series. Named New Super Abega, the toy was modelled on a vehicle from the anime Lightspeed ElectroGod Albegas , being used to transfer the three human protagonists to the Albegas robot (though this feature wasn't carried across to the toys).

As a brief detour, it's worth noting at this point that Lightspeed ElectroGod Albegas was originally mooted as the third instalment in the Voltron franchise, but the financial disaster of Vehicle Voltron put an end to this, with World Events Productions stumping up the cash to fund brand-new episodes of Lion Voltron instead. The two different-sized Albegas robot figures were released by Matchbox as Voltron II (a.k.a. Gladiator Voltron), but the Abega ship wasn't released as part of Voltron. However, in another tenuous connection to something I like, unsold Godaikin stock of Abega (among others) was shipped over to Europe and had Robo Machine stickers slapped on the box.

The three individual units were named as Alpha, Beta and Gamma for the Godaikin release.

ABEGA

The overall design for Abega is superb. The minimalist white-with-red stripe scheme is just the aspirational 1980s distilled in toy form - this is the sort of thing playground yuppies owned. The three distinct vehicles actually blend very well, with the lines all matching up nicely - Gamma's nose follows on well from Alpha's cockpit, while the top of Beta dovetails beautifully with the Gamma fuselage. Even the red stripes match up nicely.

Combining the three units is a straightforward and intuitive process, though it should be noted that removing Gamma (yep, him again) for separation requires a little more force than feels comfortable. Still, on the upside the ship hangs together really well, and can move around a lot without the slightest fear of any bits detaching.

It's a great futuristic design, while the combining aspect brings back happy memories of the vehicles in Thunderbirds 2086 - this is a Good Thing.

There's not a huge amount else to do with the thing, to be honest. Abega has no firing features or anything like that, and the closest thing is the retracting nose-wheel. However, the combined ship is a lovely display piece.

ALPHA

The whole Abega set is notoriously fragile, and as experts will notice, my example of Alpha is missing the folding outer wings. This does cost it a little bit in its' separated form. However, it's still a nice-looking little jet with a very nice design.

There's only a small amount of diecast on the toy - just the outer rear panels that would be holding the wings, the robot forearms and the landing gear made from diecast. Aside from the white plastic being an invitation to yellowing and the fragile wings, the thing actually holds together quite well - a tip for if the robot arms are working lose is to rotate the plastic claws slightly, which will keep them in place in jet mode without permanently wedging them.

The robot mode is the most conventional of the trio, in that it actually has four recognisable limbs. The proportions are also pretty good. Being just a vessel for human operators, there's no head as such, more a cockpit for a pilot, but it's quite nicely done. At the time it was something of a breakaway for the line to feature something designed to transform from a vehicle to a robot with the former getting the lion's share of the attention, and yet it's still a reasonable little figure. There's articulation at the shoulders, hips and knees (providing you trust the leg joints - the thighs are chromed and thus not especially sturdy), while the plastic claws work pretty well too.

BETA

I like this set, so I'm going to assume this is the odd one out, a land-based vehicle among the jets. I'm not going to watch any of Albegas to check or anything, though, as I'm fairly sure it's awful. Beta's vehicle mode is a charmingly square armoured car then, a neat cockpit mounted on a pair of diecast tracks (complete with working rollers).

The big cockpit dominates more than on the others, and it's nicely detailed inside, including a seat for a pilot and a gun turret. Bandai missed a trick by not making these open - little pilot figures and a moving turret would be great. Maybe Soul of Chogokin? Or maybe not…

If the vehicle mode is sweet, the robot mode scales new heights of cuteness, an odd little C-shaped thing with big rolling feet and the cockpit as a head. There's also some very good articulation squeezed into the robot mode - at the shoulders, elbows, hips and ankles. All in all, it's pretty neat - not enough to justify as a toy in its' own right, but as a component of a larger set it's very nice.

GAMMA

Due to the construction of Abega, Gamma is the unit which has to make the fewest compromises - as long as the jet has a flat bottom, it'll work. It's therefore something of a disappointment that Gamma is the weakest of the trio. The fuselage has a very odd shape, with the thin cockpit and high central section looking unusual mounted on the flat, wide wing. The nearly-straight wings look pretty incongruous on such a futuristic design as well.

There's lots of nice detail work (especially the chromed VTOL engines) and some neat accents, but it just doesn't look particularly good. That and the diecast inner wing panels tend to cause the wings to sag at the root as well.

What seals Gamma's fate, however, is the mecha mode. Some of the Abega units require you to have long nails in order to hook out the arms, but it's even trickier on Gamma - and then you have to somehow push out the forearms. There's nothing complex to do, just fiddly and frustrating - a shame when Alpha and Beta are such good fun. The robot mode isn't even particularly good, with the fuselage largely unchanged. Even the knee-joints fail to hide the thing's sheer awkwardness. The arms almost seem an afterthought, unable to reach beyond the nose of the robot, with little articulation and a pair of useless panels above the 'shoulders'. All in all, Gamma somewhat lets the side down.

Abega isn't a particularly renowned figure, not being attached to a popular series, and Popinica doesn't have the following of Chogokin. However, don't let the low-key reputation fool you - this is a well-designed toy with some nice features, and sums up Bandai's 1980s design aesthetic beautifully. Abega can be found quite cheaply for a Godaikin figure, especially loose. However, as mentioned, the set is pretty fragile, with wings and legs frequently detached from odd figures, and connections broken. On the plus side, the robots function pretty well on their own - each having two modes - and so Abega's not too frustrating to buy piecemeal.