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....

Portuguese icecream aliens...

Monocromáticos espaço, Rajá, Portugal, 1970's 

Before Mc D's Happy Meal toys, lots of other companies experimented with prizes in their foodline... Portuguese ice cream brand Rajá made a number of monocromatic figurines from different series (Asterix, Hana Barbara,...). Their line of aliens and spacemen/women was quite impressive and funky. A big spaceship exists to house these figurines, and is very difficult to find.

OK, it's.... it's...

Beneath the mask... a lifeless
plastic face

The shield is pure Kabuki art...

It's a robot with a skull mask swiveling on top of an eighties Pontiac type of car with, I kid you not, a dead horse's head on the bonnet / hood.

Oh yes, it has an axe too... and a name : URO KNIGHT CAR

Uro ? hmmmm... how wrong can you get the naming of a toy... This one is for the top 10 list of very weird and deviant toys.

Uro Knight Car, Dentendo, Taiwan, 1980's

Black rubber... Bat rubber

Batman, ?, ?, ?...

Well, at least you know his name is Bruce. As for the rest (maker's name, country of origin, date of birth) this figurine is a mystery...

More bootlegged Gundams ! You have to love these Chinese...

Turn "A" Gundam, ?, China, 2000's

Nice colour scheme. Batteries light up a little red light on the chest - tinny weenie little laser, if you ask me.

Gundam (Wing ?), ?, China , 2000's

This one is like I like... all gold and silver shinny flashy brittle plastic. FDL find...

Mini Shogun - Robo Kress / Blocker 1

From the Macine Blaster series come this beauty... Over 12 inches high of pure plastic joy. Shooting fists, missile launcher hidden in the belt...hatchet...

Guerrier de l'Espace, TovToy, Hong Kong, 1970's

Tekkaman

Tekkaman, Nakajima, Japan, 1970's

Another unknown serie here in Europe, even though some episodes aired in the USA in 1984. This anime was produced by Tatsunoko productions - the same studio that produced the ever so popular Gatchaman cartoons...

Action Force

Watt / Security Trooper - seems more like a dude in a HAZ-MAT suit...

After the success of the Star Wars line of action figurines, lots of other companies started to use 3.75" figurines for their toy-lines. The same happened with UK based Palitoy, who needed to find urgently a cheaper line of toys to replace their Action Man (GI Joe) 12" figurine lineup. Hence the Action Force line of toys. The designs were military (Ex. SAS figurines) and Sci-Fy, like in this case. The first figurines were built without any joints at elbows or knees, just like the original Star Wars toys. Later on, they would modify the design and merge the AF line with the ever so popular smaller GI Joe action figures.

Sattelite Defense, Palitoy, HK, 1980's

Hey ! I got cannons !

Space Engineer, Palitoy, HK, 1980's

Space Force Space Pilot, Palitoy, HK, 1980's

Plastic mayhem... hmmm maydayhem

Flashray Audio Signal Gun, Arliss, USA,
1950's

"Shots Signal Ray" - "Sends Audio Code" -"Accurate Directional Compass" - "Can't loose Lanyard"

... and of course the official Morse code on the back of the packaging ! Because let's face it... The compass is not going to do you any good on any planet without magnetic poles...

More Sith Shower gel, please !

Nothing better than a Sith to clean a Padawan...

Vader bottle, Grosvenor, China, 2005

... before it became a kitchen appliance

X-3 Magnetron, Corgi, Gt.Britain, 1970's

X-2 Lasertron, Corgi, Gt.Britain, 1970's

When the space toys started gaining in popularity again at the end of the 70ies, both Matchbox and Corgi toys started with a serie of futuristic-looking vehicles. There were 2 others in Corgi's "The Explorers" serie: a green swampboat type of thing called X4 Scanotron and a blue X1 Rocketron. None of these were based on real vehicles or TV shows but they were way cool nevertheless !