The Dan Dare gun

Dan Dare Atomic Jet Gun, Crescent Toys, U.K., 1952

The Americans got Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, but their British counterparts quickly got their own Sci-Fi hero. Dan Dare (created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories) appeared on the cover of the first issue of the weekly comic strip magazine, Eagle, on 14 April 1950. Later on the stories were broadcasted in the form of a Radio Luxembourg serial for five years from 2 July 1951.

HAHAHAHAHA !

Laughing robot, Yonezawa, Japan, 1980's

I am all plastic and will laugh at you at a touch of my head... Also got a black cousin somewhere... and a silver one.... and ?

Going home ?

E.T. plush, ?, China, 2010's

Put your sweater on ! It's just plain cold in space !

Buck's raygun

This one came in a number of colours. Basically a flash light and buzzer. It came with a handy little leaflet with the Morse code...

Buck Rogers Sonic Ray Gun, Norton-Honer Mfg., USA, 1952

Ulysse's ELIOS

Elios, Popy, Singapore, 1980's

Another really cool ship is this Elios from the Ulysse 31 series. Fully transformable, from a flying saucer to... this.

Robotan

Robotan, Popy, Japan, 1980's

Do you know this one ? It went to the Arabic markets... but is pure Japanese cutiness !

Let's play a movie !

V35 movie viewer, MUPI, Italy, 1979

Before the VHS, and the DVD, and the Blueray...
Kids had to crank it up to see a mute 30 second film of their heroes.

It was better than the viewmaster - because it had "movement"... But each and every system had different cartridges and none seemed compatible with one another... Normalize, folks ! normalize...

Blues in space

Spaceman, ???

This one is tiny. Really tiny. (3.3 cm - about the size of the small CO-MA astronauts)

The cool thing though is he does have a helmet. Anyone knows who he is ? Maker ? Has a certain 1980's flair...

Modernism

Here you have a bunch of modern loose bots found at fleamarkets and Chinese thrift stores ...

 Most of these are of Chinese origin.

Voltron

Lionbot, R.O.C., Taiwan, 1980's

This one came in a huge box. I got it as a travelling student in the South of Spain (Malaga I think), and carried it in my backpack for a number of days. It visited the Alhambra in Granada and went for tapas on the banks of the Guadalquivir. Olé ! Still need to get rid of some of the sand in the packaging...

Where is your sombrero amigo ?

Somewhere between Acapulco and Mexico city, there is the scrambler unit that was traded in for one of these big hats and a shot of tequila !

Mazinger Z (missing Scrambler) ,?,Mexico, 1980's

Space Robot Trooper

 A modern take on the Yoshiya original toy.

Space Trooper Robot, HA-HA toys (Yoshiya copy)
China, 2010's

And of course based on this guy:

On Melmac, we have 1st class, 2nd class and ham.

Alf, ?, 1980's

Other quotes from my favorite alien ?

• Haaa! I kill me.
• Putting humans in charge of the earth, is the cosmic equivalence of letting Eddie Murphy direct.
• If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it's run over by a car, you don't want it.
• I can see you're still one sandwich short of a picnic.
• Raining cats? You open the skylight and I'll get the relish.
• Hey, Willie. Let's throw a cat on the barbie.
• The only good cat is a stir-fried cat.
• I'm on a new diet. I can eat as much of whatever I want.
• [ALF is trying to hypnotize Lucky] You are getting sleepy. You... are no longer a cat. You are a bagel.
• Like my old skeelball coach used to say: "Find something you're not good at, and then don't do it."

Rouge...

Minirobot, Franco American Novety Co., Hong Kong
1960's

Tiny but not ugly... Existed in other colours too.

Daitarn - 3 : Spara i Pugni !

Daitarn 3 - AL-ES SNC Di Monza - Hong Kong
1970's

Another great classic robot show that travelled to Italy straight from Japan, without ever stopping by on the french TV sets. A pitty...

Space Tank and Robot.

Flashing Lights ? Check
Flashing robot's face ? Check.
Spring loaded missiles ? Check.
I think this one is ready to go. All it needs is fresh batteries !

Space Tank, Chi Li Toys, Taiwan, 1980's

Oh no James...

James Bond DB6, Husky, UK,1968

James Bond DB5, Corgi, UK, 1970's

For queen and country... and before out favorite agent got his hands on BMW's and other German metal, his ride and the one that defines him was this... the DB5. This is one of Corgi Toys best selling toys ever, and no wonder ! It has all the gimmicks of the real one: ejectable seat, bullet screen and submachine guns in the grille. Earlier models also had tire-slasher and revolving license plates. Gama and Gilbert and lots of other toy companies got their try at the same model - some like Husky with a DB6 instead of a DB5... 

All in all one of the Hall-of-Fame toys of entire generations. 

One of the original ads for the Corgi model - 1966

And the model continues to live on... with more details but less play-value... A good example of what toy safety standarts did to kill spring loaded mechanisms... 

James Bond DB5 - Eaglemoss - China - 2006

Battle Fever

Battle Shark, Popy, Japan, 1980's

Anyone saw this in their childhood ? One of the first Sentai (=series with live actors) with super robots...

Battle Fever Robot (goes inside ship)
Popy, Japan, 1980's

Open your heart to me, baby !

If you need to save the planet, do it with heart ! This is why this little bot is one of the most humane characters of all manga and cartoons...

Billiken, Japan, 2010's

Astro Boy / Tetsuwan Atom

Unknown Pyro desintegrator rifles...

Space rifle, Sirolite,

Portugal, 1950's

These ones will require some information. Facts: 

1. they were found in Guimarães (Portugal). 
2. no markings whatsoever
3. they are a copy of the famous Pyro rifle, but with slight details (3 vents instead of 5 on the barrel  plain crank, no name on the painted part of the stock...)
4. size is the same as Pyro
5. mechanism works the same way (you turn the crank and the barrel moves in and out and in...)

Twins, how nice... 

Barrel detail - upper parts move at turn of crank

For comparaison, here are some pictures of the "Real Mc Coy" made in USA by Pyro (stock/archive photos - not mine)

Pyrotomic desintegrator rifle (red), USA,
1953 

Some came with white lettering ?

and in bronze...

Batarangs

Batman has definitely an Australian boomerang-throwing ancestor somewhere... From Aborigines to Gotham... just one throw away.

Batman, Fast Food toy, China, 2010's

Big Red

Astronaut, Marx, USA, 1970's

This looks like a Gemini suit to me... What do you guys think ? Marx made a number of "oversized" figurines in the USA, from prom/beauty "cuty" queens to american presidents. These are part of their space - line.

Ceji Aviscoupe

Aviscoupe, Ceji, Hong Kong, 1978

I know it is a Takara toy and that it came out of their Magnemo line. Ceji Arbois got the rights for this toy in France and sold it with French packaging. Little magnets on the wings allow to change the configuration of the ship, or just make up for a "lost wing due to explosion" during playtime....