So on a lark I decided to revisit one of Go Nagai’s old shows, Groizer X, which was shown here locally back during our wee childhood years. All I remember of the damn show was the frankly drug-induced concept of the titular asskicking machine being a big whale of a ship that did a hilarious transformation into a fugly blue robot. Now, G-X was never that popular in Japan (it had huge appeal in Brazil though), and was one of Nagai’s quick and dirty projects, and it shows. The animation is pretty awful, even by the standards of the 70s and it obviously couldn’t hope to reach the mindshare heights of his more popular creations such as Getter Robo, Mazinger or even Grendizer. Now, I was fully expecting to be rudely disabused of any fond memories (not that many, I couldn’t remember a single thing besides the transformation), but it seems old robot shows tend to have a few amusing tidbits here and there for anyone that isn’t a sugar-addled boy below the age of 8. Behold, the villain doesn’t do any of that MUWAHAHAHA EVIL BECUZ I CAN nonsense, because he’s a grounded dude with realistic goals:
So there you have it: 70s era factories are IRRESISTABLE to hugely buff alien overlords with shrunken heads.