Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts

Friday, January 27, 2012

These aren't the Droids you are looking for.


I made a big mistake.  I forgot we were in the depths of Winter when I posted the sad tale of Annabelle the bear in the "Princess Doesn't Live Here Anymore" post.  I've decided to change up the order of scheduled posts in order to bring you, kind reader, something relentlessly cheerful.  And what could be more cheerful than toys?

Maybe bootleg toys?  Or, wait for it... bootleg Star Wars toys!

Being prototypical Nerds, we are, not surprisingly, Star Wars fans.  I say that in the best way, as in having watched the films in the theater and seen the lost Luke-hanging-with-his-worthless-friends-at Toshi-station footage at a small Con in 1981.  In our world, we can still remember the matte outlines around the Tie fighters and distinctly remember Han shooting first.  Greedo didn't stand a chance.  By the way, Han never stepped on Jabba's tail and Darth Vader distinctly does not cry out in anguish.

Alright, we are militant, purist Nerds.  Guilty as charged.

Star Wars brought a lot of cool things into the Nerd underground.  The whole concept of fully functional robotic servants and spies was pretty awesome.  Of course one of the fundamental principles of economics is that success breeds success.  Sometimes that takes shape in one of my favorite things:  bootleg toys.

Behold the madness that is Hong Kong bootleg Star Wars toys!  Creating bootlegs is easy.  Making them memorably strange takes a bit more effort and a pinch of creative insanity.

Step 1:  Copy basic forms from a popular film.
Step 2:  Rummage through the molds of knockoff toys your company has already made.
Step 3:  Mix and mutate!

The image below comes from a Hong Kong toy trade show catalog from the early 1980s.  I was fortunate to snag three years worth of these on ebay a couple of years ago.



Following the "mix and mutate" principle (which I just made up), the cleaver toymaker combined the body of a knockoff Horikawa rotating robot with a brand new stormtrooperish head.  This toy was actually made (more below).

On the other hand, I have never seen any evidence that the funky R2-D2 ripoff was actually distributed.  Remember that the purpose of a trade show is to get people to buy your stuff and put it in a private labeled box on a shelf.  Some concepts don't make it that far and R2 appears to be a lost toy.  Too bad- the chest guns might have come in handy on the first Death Star.

Below, we have evidence of another lost toy.  I wish this one had been made.  The body is a mishmash of semi-bootleg design.  While the form emulates Japanese toys of the '60s, I can't pin down one in specific.  This combination in black with a stormtrooper head is pure genius!


The Silver Warrior (left) and Super Astronaut (right) are among the favorite toys in my collection.  The mechanical systems are pretty poor and none can be expected to walk and rotate, but they look great.






I've been fortunate enough to find these at a decent price.  Many of the Japanese tin and plastic robots are scarce and valuable.  Increasingly, collectors have turned their attention to the Taiwan and Hong Kong robots of the late '60s through early '80s.  Prices have gone up and Star Wars is always a strong draw.

If you interested in the wild world of robot toys, you can find more on my Fotki site at
http://public.fotki.com/coyotesareus/robot-toys/

I'll leave you with some insanely fun box art.  By the mid '70s, many toys had transitioned to window box or photographed front panel boxes.  These were packed in something resembling classic Japanese robot boxes with a creative twist.

You only think you are hallucinating.


I love the Death Star style moon on this panel.  The mixture of photography and hand done graphics is only a little over the top.  It reminds me of 'zine art.

If you think this looks crazy, check out the box art collection for Horikawa toys on the Alphadrome site at danefield.com.
Just because one space toy is never enough...
"These aren't the droids we're looking for.  Move along!"

Update, March, 2011:  Thanks to the joys of traffic monitoring on the Blogger platform, I tracked back to a great blog featuring other variations on this Star Wars rip-off theme.  Go here to see the ultra-cool gloss black variation of the Silver Warrior:
http://strangestarwars.blogspot.com/2011/04/galaxy-warrior-robot-toy.html


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Greetings from a Happy Robot

The junk bots on this blog look vicious.

I'll admit enjoying the whole mythos of giant robots from space run amok and determined to take over our pretty, shiny planet.  But there are also heroic robots like R2-C4 that come out of nowhere to save humans from the literary slaughter. 
This is R2-C4.  You may have seen him defending William Shakespeare from the Spacebot.  I would classify him as a moderately vicious looking robot.  It's a good thing he is on our side.

I also have some totally happy and well adjusted junk bots I've built and similar collaborations with Claire.  She tends to save robotic destruction for cartooning and builds generally happy robots.

Unfortunately, those robots haven't been featured often enough and I need to alter the Happy Bot Quotient.

The following happy robot was built as a gift for a friend of the family's high school graduation.  She is a Harry Potter fanatic and one of the biggest Word Nerds we know outside of our own family - ironic as she is the child of an engineer and a math teacher.  She is relentlessly upbeat with a touch of snark and needed a friendly companion for the dorm.


With the exception of the after Halloween clearance arms, this bot was built with parts from my favorite thrift shop.  I was so excited to find a travel Lite Brite!  I can think of few things better for Word Nerds.
I didn't have time to add batteries, a switch and LEDs inside the camera.  The light stick arms really balances this guy's look.

Still charming with the lights off.
This robot has a lower recycled content than many due to the light sticks.  All of the assembly hardware came from yard and estate sale garage and basement collections.  We often use LEDs and sound boards recovered from dead or unwanted toys.

I have to admit a bit of existential angst after reading Robert Messenger's post on typewriter vandalism (more commonly known as Key Chopping in North America).  It's hard for me to know where to draw the line between junk and history when gathering parts.  Happy Meal toys are easy as there are whole tubs full that go unsold and end up in the thrift store dumpster.  My Spousal Unit would probably not be shocked to learn that I have scrounged things out of said dumpster.

Both the Lite Brite and the Kodak Hawkeye were garage sale rejects that still had their masking tape price stickers.  Still, the Hawkeye is unique.  I do save and display a variety of point and shoots from the 1930s-1970s.  So the line is fuzzy at times and subject to fits of whimsy on my part.  Generally, the higher the technology and mechanical level, the less likely I am to turn it into a robot part.


So there you have it: a happy robot with a side of angst.  This probably won't be the last happy robot to earn a spot on Vintagetechobsessions.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Irrational Exuberance: The Spacebot Star Wars Knockoff

There are some things in this world that are so uniquely ugly they are beautiful in their own way.  Such is the case of the Spacebot.  I've seen photos of these Darth Vader Bootleg/Knockoff things, but I never thought I would actually get to hold one.

Finding these at a Dollar store made we way happier than I should have been.  As much as I love real classic robots and space toys, the funky fugly toys are in a class of their own.  As the title implies:  irrational exuberance.

Just in case you don't make it all the way to the end of this photo set, I will go ahead and recommend one of the finest online collections of ugly robots for your perusal.  If you don't make it to the end, you will miss the best part.  I won't hold it against you, really.

ToyboxDX Forum Fugly Challenge

Without further ado, I present the Spacebot twins (and friends).

Even the packaging screams "quality".
You push the button and all kinds of things light up in concert with an incredible collection of digital noise and Star Wars blaster sounds.

Meet Darth Albino

Yep, albino glowing red eyes.  Well, make that a glowing red skull.  The plastic is a bit thin what with the recession and all.

A face only a mother or a true nerd could love.

They look even better off the cards.  The light saberish thing lights up in Anakin blue.

Is the pen truly mightier than the sword?

What if you have R2C4 for backup?

That's how Will rolls.
You cannot win, Darth.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Greetings from the Battle Creek Sanitarium!

I suppose the truth in advertising version of this blog entry might read "Just Another Robot".  However, that would not be entirely accurate since the robot in question is my wife's Google/Blogger avatar.

The story goes like this:  Emmie was out of town visiting a friend and Claire and I decided she needed her very own Christmas robot.  Being the dedicated scroungers that we are, I took Claire to a local antique mall on a parts hunting expedition.

Claire didn't quite get why I was so excited to find this particular tin since she has not seen The Road to Wellville and won't be seeing it any time soon.  Once she read the Wikipedia entry on the Battle Creek Sanitarium, she totally understood the nerd factor and Momma would get her robot.  After all, Emmie's reading materials of choice often center on eclectic historical figures, public health and rare, incurable diseases.

Interestingly enough, the tin was full of caked something.  One of the perils of junk bot building is that you run into lots of disintegrated plastic goo, chemical residues and other safety hazards large and small.  This was my first experience with 100 year old food additives.  I could only hope that the Lacto Dextrin product did not contain some kind of virulent live culture that would trigger the world zombie apocalypse.

Apparently, food safety principles were followed at the Battle Creek Food company - zombie apocalypse denied!   The yellowish stuff in the container was probably state of the art health food back in the day.

Should you be interested in the story behind the real Wellville, drop by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Creek_Sanitarium   While you are there, please consider making a donation to one of the few corners of the Internet that refrains from pilfering your data and barraging your browser with advertising.

The tin joined a vacuum tube, fork and spoon, scrounged bolts, nuts and screws from garage sales, a pair of spring loaded door bumpers and some industrial strength epoxy in this assemblage.

I hope that I did not destroy some valuable cultural relic in the bot making process.  Emmie does love her robot. 


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Another Killer Robot

This is a member of the Tube Bot army Claire and I put together earlier this year.  Components include:  two types of Jello molds, friction locking devices from unknown electrical parts, pieces of space heater element, various transistor era bits and a genuine vacuum tube which may or may not work.  Two part epoxy is our friend, but building season (the cold, dark months) doesn't allow enough ventilation.

At some point we will go back and add LEDs to make the tube glow.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"R" is for ROBOT Type


The sun was coming into the kitchen just so on Saturday morning.  So I put off the ritual grinding of the beans (much to the chagrin of my wife) long enough to grab the camera and bits to have some fun.  So hard to pass on good light...


The large type came with a random baggie full of mismatched goodness from an antique mall.  My wife was surprised there were enough letters there to make whole words.  Try and ignore the dust bunny residue for the moment.  The robot is a miniature reproduction of the Radar Robot.  The actual Radar Robot deserves his own post at some point in the future.


Radar Robot hadn't had his daily oil fix and was a little grumpy...



The gingercat is not going to be happy about what happened to her nanobugs.


As horrible as this robot rampage seems, there have been far worse in the course of American history:


For you youngsters: that is "Tricky" Dick Nixon in the background.  I remember the summer of Watergate all to well since it preempted cartoons and Godzilla movie reruns.  Oh, notice the lack of type dust bunnies?

Friday, September 23, 2011

Z Man The Brain Car - About My Profile Photo

If you look really hard, you can find photos of me on the Interweb.  I'm on enough standards committees that this is inevitable.  Given a choice, I travel incognito.  As of this writing, my profile is a cryptic robot looking guy.  He goes by the name of Z Man The Brain and is one of the first, if not the first, programmable battery powered toys.

Who is this masked man?  He looks vaguely like some modern custom vinyl piece but also very retro.  Truth is, he's in love with his car.


Mine is not a perfect example as he is missing missiles, tail lights and a motor.  However, he is a pretty rare, if obscure, toy.  A pristine one would cost more than a couple of really nice typewriters.  I like Z Man because he is different and not found in everyone's robot collection.

Z Man was produced around 1956 by a long defunct company.  One of the regulars on Alphadrome put together great information including the original patents.  Yes, patents.  Programmable toys were something new and different in 1956.
Source:  http://danefield.com/alpha/forums/topic/10802-1956-z-man-the-brain-patent-drawings/

So, how did he work?  If you flip down his visor, you find this:
Timing Switch Assembly
Simple binary - you move the switches in or out to define a turn. The disc spins and closes a connection. That is translated into running one of two front drive motors.  In that respect, he is similar to the Chevrolet Volt.
Drive Motor
The whole system is somewhat recursive.  The front drive motors move it along and the rear wheels operate a timing gear that spins the disc to send power to the front wheels.  Repurposing another motor to get this running is on my long to do list.

Rear Wheel with Timing Gear Shaft
The timing system also automatically fired missiles at semi-random intervals.


This toy came in several variations, primarily with different front end grill treatments.  Based on the fact that mine looks like the patent drawing (no grill) I would guess he is from an early production run.  Z Man is very much a product of the Space Age and is a valuable part of the household robot and space toy population.






Thursday, September 8, 2011

Most Awesome-ish Combining Robot Knock Off

Among the promised subjects of this blog are Japanese giant robots.  For my inaugural post, I'm opting for "interesting" and "strange".  Some would say this combiner, lovingly crafted by Taiwan's mysterious B/O company in 1985, is ugly beyond words.

But I say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  In the case of the Super Combination 17 in 1 Robot, the beholder's eye can barely take in all of its majesty... and semi-random parts.  There are elements from multiple Sentai combining Voltron robots.  There are miscellaneous pieces copied from many sources.  This thing is huge and the box is even huger and more entertaining than the combined robot. 

For an incredibly detailed review and more information than you would ever want to know about this creation, go to:
 
http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/abs/combination_robot_bo_17in1

Before you run screaming in terror, let me assure you that the next Japanese robot I feature will be full of Shogun Warrior Jumbo awesomeness. 

The Super Combination Robot is presented for your viewing pleasure followed by a very nice Taiwan copy of the Voltron Lionbot.



First we have an original Voltron yellow lion next to the leg of the 17 in 1 etc.  The sword in the mouth is a giveaway that this is a knock off.  It also has shoulder mounted rocket launchers unavailable to US children in licensed toy form.  You could put an eye out with that thing - that is if the lead containing chrome didn't kill you first.


Here is the 17 in 1 in its full majesty.  You might have noticed mine is missing the front of a fighter jet.  Believe me, that is a good thing.

 For all of its strangeness, it does have interesting details like pop up domes that shoot spring loaded missiles.



Sometimes words are simply inadequate.


 So here is an exacting copy of the real thing.

 Such pleasant looking lions.


Well, even the original combiners were perhaps a little strange, but in a good way.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Toy Transformer


This is what happens to broken vintage technology in our house.

The Toy Transformer is one of my favorite junkbots. The transformer itself is pretty old school, low tech, but it looks interesting and it is close to 100% metal. That tends to be a recurring theme in our junk creations. The latest creations also incorporate salvaged switches, motors and LEDs.

The vacuum tube is the visual that makes this bot work. The combination looks somewhat authoritarian and strikes fear in the hearts of broken toys. The Transformer particularly enjoys the innards of Happy Meal toys, circuit bending and voiding warranties. He's getting pretty good with a soldering iron and wants a plasma cutter for Christmas (and an old Tickle Me Elmo – don't ask).