What was the first transforming robot toy ever?

[Nevermore]

A lot of people credit Popy's Brave Raideen, released in 1975, but Yonezawa's "Space Explorer" supposedly dates back to at least 1967.

 

[Haywire]

It's Soundwave and Blasters great-granddaddy!

Looks like a television and a telephone in the ad, kind of like the Microchange figures would be household objects. Interesting!

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I was going to say Raideen but you got me.

 

[Nevermore]

So what was the first combining robot?

From what I could gather, the first fictional depiction was Getter Robo, but were there toys available that did include the feature?

Or were GoLion (aka Lion Force Voltron) and Dairugger 15 (aka Vehicle Force Voltron) the first?

Were the Diaclone Construction Vehicle Robos and Train Robos the first combiners that had realistic alternate modes, independent humanoid robot modes and could combine into a large, humanoid robot?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Define combining. Mazinger Z "combined" with a jetpack but that's probably not what you mean. If the components can be vehicles, Combattler V is a contender. If the components specifically need to be robots, God Sigma comes to mind. If you want transforming components that combine, it might actually be Diaclone.

 

[NovaSaber]

There was nothing attempting to resemble the combination of Getter Robo until decades after the original. (The Jumbo Machinder versions had swappable top and bottom halves, but I wouldn't count that as "combining".)

Combattler V definitely had a combining toy before the ones that became Voltron existed.
Whether it was the first depends on whether you count Gaiking and Daiku-maryu.

 

[Superomegaprime]

The answers lay in this video:

 

[Nevermore]

Chris only claims that Brave Raideen was the first transforming toy. He doesn't acknowledge Space Explorer.