Tuesday, April 29, 2014

PansonWorks - how cute can you get ?

Getter
Boss Robot
Grandizer

 PansonWorks made a serie of adorable figurines of some of my favorite Shoguns. Made by Banpresto (China) in the 2010's... These were originally not sold but could be won as prizes in Japan.


Robocon and Princess
Black and White and regular Mazinger

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Build it yourself !

Wooden robot kit, Wu & Wu entertainment, China, 2010's

A nice box for this "repro" old robot model kit. Incredibly, there were a number of robots made as wooden kits in Japan in the 50ies. They even had moving mechanisms. This one here, well, .... just some wooden blocks to glue together and paint (paint, glue and brush included). But the idea is nice though, and the box spectacular !


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Car transporter of the future ?

When French toymaker Majorette made this thing, they really watched Blade Runner the night before...
Other color versions exist of this truck, as well as a "Spiderman" version.





Strangely, it is the set of back wheels that steer the truck - they do rotate.

Majorette Auto transport ref. 5001, China, 2000

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Let's go to the movies, bot !

New Space Explorer, Horikawa, Japan, 1970's

OK, it's not technically a bot, since he/it has an astronaut face... but hey ! He walks, stops, litho panel on his chest goes down and... Hollywoods' best. 

Now, where is the popcorn ? 





Thursday, April 10, 2014

Go Go Go... Goldorak !

From all the heroes of French TV in the 70ies, this was number one. Go Nagai's Grendizer may have been a hit in a lot of other countries, but nowhere did it get the success it got in France. We (read: kids from the 70ies) are "la génération Goldorak". And what a generation !




Grendizer (front)
Japan, 1976-77 ?
(and back), Bandai

 This is the 8 inch vinyl version made by Bandai at the time of the first TV broadcasts of the cartoon in Japan.


Strange header-card... no time enough to draw a correct one ?
Or were they just using "old stock" ?

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Going on a trip ?

Vintage postcard reproduction, Froydind, Belgium,
2010 

I just love the space-suit for the dog ! check www.froydind.be.

Bootlegs... China's best !

Power-Man, ?, China, 2000's
I know some collectors only do collect these... I just love them because : 1) they are cheap (yes, we do have a financial crisis over here in Portugal) and 2) they are much more naive than most of the "licensed" toys that try to get up to the latest detail of the particular movie / cartoon or serie.

Then also, they are stupidly fragile. Give these to any kid and they will last 2 or 3 hours max without loosing an arm or head, catch fire or give a lead-paint or other nasty chemical reaction to your cherished ones... So, from the collectors point of view - really fragile is really hard to find in good condition in 20-30 years, right ? Fisher Price toys are not that hard to find because they can withstand an Elephant playing with them... These? Not even an ant...