Walking into the Astroturf-covered backyard of a non-descript house and stepping into a field of robots standing at attention is like walking into an army of terra cotta warriors. Most casual toy collectors think there are six Jumbo Machinders, but Tom Franck's collection, one of the world's largest, weighs in at about 70 pieces.

Jumbo Machinder is the copyrighted brand name of a series of robots made in the early '70s by Bandai's offshoot company, Popy. Made out of polyethylene, the same plastic used to make shampoo bottles, these colorful specimen stand two feet tall and fire missiles. Franck will tell you that Popy was "stupid" to make these toys since they were too big and expensive. But because of their huge size, they were the first toys to get tossed out of the tightly cramped apartments of Japan, and now they are some of the most collectable toys in the world.

Mattel opened up the American market with the same exact toys repackaged in new American boxes in 1977. The first three were Raideen, Dragun, and Great Mazinger. They followed up with Godzilla, Gaiking, and Daimos. This set of six were part of the Shogun Warriors line, and a lot of American toy collectors think that Jumbo Machinders end there. But they are wrong; in Asia and Italy, production didn't stop.

Tom is sure that Popy made 50. However, no one knows the exact quantity of large robots made by other companies. Licensed and unlicensed Jumbo Machinder toys were also made in Italy and Hong Kong. Although some purists don't consider non-Popy toys to be real Jumbo Machinders, Franck is the authority, and he can make his own rules. Since the off-brand robots have the same properties of the Popy Jumbos, he considers them to be Jumbo Machinders as well. He also knows about the Robot Factory jumbos that were "build 'em yourself" kits. These came with plastic screws and were packaged in smaller boxes for easier storage and transit. Franck also keeps tabs on bootlegs. When Tom buys an Italian Robot Factory bootleg robot, he can tell that the body parts are cast from both licensed and un-licensed Japanese robots. He shows me one of his Italian bootlegs called Space Valour, and immediately points out that the legs are from one robot and the chest from anotherÐbut the head is of a toy that supposedly doesn't exist! So now he has his eyes out for this unknown robot. With a firm conviction, Franck says, "It's a lot like archeology."

The legend of Tom's Jumbo Machinder army has reached Yu Tak Ming, a big-time robot collector from Hong Kong. "I think Tom is the only person that I know of having such a huge collection. I have two friends in Hong Kong, they have only 40 pieces and I think Tom has almost 60 pieces," he says.

Franck's method of collecting is simple: "First you buy the American ones. Then you go to the lower pedigree (Japanese "common" Jumbo Machinders). And then, if you're serious, you have to go to Japan to buy them." A common Japanese Jumbo Machinder in the box isn't easy on the wallet. They command between $1,500-$2,000 dollars, while the mid-range is $2,000-$3,000 and the high range goes from $4,000-$6,000. Franck admits, "I once had to buy a $4,500 toy to trade for something. Money isn't good enough for some people." But for the novice collector, Jumbos can be acquired at a cheaper price. American-released Shogun Warriors in the box are worth between $100-$300. Raideen is the easiest to find, and Great Mazinger is the most difficult.

Now with about 70 Jumbo Machinders, Franck only knows about nine that he is missing. "I'll be depressed when I get all nine. So much is the thrill of the hunt. If Bill Gates wanted to collect Jumbos, he couldn't. It's not a question of money."

Although Franck has searched the US and Japan for these prized toys, he's seen many one-of-a-kind robotsÐand those are in his possession. If he misses a chance, then he has to hunt the robot down and ask dealers who bought it and for how much. Then he has to play a psychology game to see what it's going to take to make the collector let go of the toy. Franck has been on five missions to Japan to find these toys.

For our photo shoot, Tom puts together a Robot Factory robot called Daltenias, inspects it, and mutters, "Beautiful..." Smiling, he adds, "I want them to be buried with me."

See more Japanese toys at Tom's web site: cooljapanesetoys.com