Clover was a Japanese

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

company founded in 1973. It closed in 1983. Today it is mainly known as the sponsor of the original Gundam TV-series in 1979. As such, it was responsible for ending the season early because of lackluster toy sales. The show was mainly popular among older kids and young adults who did not buy toys, and sales suffered as a result. Also Clover's designs were not based on the finished version of the show and thus were not very accurate. Gundam ended up being very popular after it was re-edited into a film-trilogy, but Clover's toys were still not a hit. Instead it was

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

who capitalized on the show by selling model-kits that became extremely popular. Gundam had started the

Real Robot Mecha anime and manga, known in Japan as and , are anime and manga that feature robots (mecha) in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; "super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where robots are ...

trend which changed the focus to "realistic" robots instead of the "super robots" which Clover were used to making. They tried to adapt to the new market by sponsoring shows such as '' Xabungle'', '' Dunbine'', and ''Srungle'' (the first 2 being directed by Gundam creator

Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese mecha anime creator, animator, director, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist best known for creating the ''Gundam'' anime franchise. He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Art ...

) but folded in 1983.

Toy series produced

Aura Battler Dunbine

Daiojya

Daitarn 3

Gundam

Srungle

Tryder G7

Xabungle

Zanbot 3

References

Japanese die-cast toys Action figures Defunct companies of Japan Defunct toy manufacturers Toy companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 1973 Toy companies established in 1973 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1983 Japanese companies disestablished in 1983 {{Toy-company-stub