Mazinger Z: The Hover Pilder

I was just a child when I first saw Go Nagai anime on TV: Jeeg, Grendizer and, most of all, The Great Mazinger and Mazinger Z. They were all humanoid robots fighting against evil monsters that destroyed everything; they were all piloted by kids who suddenly became heroes.

But the genius was in the way of controlling them: if Jeeg was his own pilot transforming and on Grendizer you got on like on a spaceship, on the two Mazingas you got on with a plane that hooked into the robot's head becoming its cockpit.

The first plane of Mazinger Z - in the story it also had a second version - was the Hover Pilder: it had a unique design due to the two hovercraft-style wings that allowed it to take off vertically; they also close themselves on Pilder's sides to allow the plane to reduce its volume and fit perfectly inside Mazinger Z's head.

Every time I saw the Hover Pilder flying it always moved me, and it still does when I see old videos from those years: being a Lego enthusiast, I wished there was a set made specifically for this purpose, so I thought I'd make it myself: starting from the minifigure of the pilot, Koji Kabuto, I built the entire cockpit so that it was proportionate to him, and I wanted to make the movement of the wings the same as the original.

Knowing the ability that Lego has to enhance these historic icons of popular culture, I believe that a set of this kind cannot be missing from its collection: the time has finally come to bring in the world of Go Nagai and Mazinger Z in the Lego universe.