Takatoku

Takatoku toys (1953-1984) produced toys well before the 1980's, well before what they are now best known for- making the Takatoku VF-1 by Shoji Kawamori. Early plastic and tin toys had the humble "T.T." stamped into panels. Later the company evolved into diecast robots, and then finally Takatoku Toys evolved into "real" type toys primairly of plastic.

During the early 1970's Takatoku marketed diecast toys under the Z-Gokin line. Characters included those for T.V. series such as Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer in the U.S.), Time Bokan, Hurrican Polimer, Ultraman Leo, and Daikengo. Then Post 1970's these Z-Gokin went away and toys tried to capture the up-coming toy model craze. Macross toys and Orguss toys attempted to make perfect models, and allowed kids to add stickers and customize. Unfortunately some of the T.V. shows weren't as popular in the mid-80s and the company went away.

Note that Takatoku Toy designs were the basis for Transformers Whirl, Transformers Jetfire, and Transformers Roadbuster.  Jetfire is considered a masterpiece of 1980's and early Transformers toys.  Each mode was well thought out; transformation was intuitive; and the toy could easily pose with leg, arm, head, and other joint movements.

Note too that the "Matchbox" SDF-1 toys that were brought to the United States came from Takatoku Toy designs.  Matchbox removed missile fireing features and made adjustments for U.S. safety standards.