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Sunday, August 31, 2014

The origins of gaming...

Galaxy Invader 1000, Gakken, Japan
1980's
It is nice to go back in time, and this is one of my time machines...

No thrills, just little blue and red LED ships flying over the screen. Way back, this is all we kids had. And it was wonderfull. And it still is... Shinny plastic, cool design, ... and only one big bad-ass red button. Didn't need to read any manual to understand what it did. Sweet !

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Bécassine, c'est ma ...



Bécassine is a French "Icône", maybe as much as the Eiffel Tower or the Camembert. Bécassine is a comic strip and the name of its heroine, appearing for the first time in the first issue of La Semaine de Suzetteon February 2, 1905. She is considered the first female protagonist in the history of comics.

Read more about this character here.

Bécassine, Hornby, United Kingdom,
1934 - 1948

Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Irish Dandy...

Dandy, ?; ?, 1960's


I have no idea where this plastic/celluloid figurine came from. Charlie McCarthy meets the Green Goblin or something ?

Just from another period where toys could smoke...

Hey, where is Popeye ?

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Hail to the King !

1960' - 1970's, Japan
Robot King, Yonezawa, 




















Simple design, bug-eyes and a radar instead of a crown... Who's in charge ? He is... Hail to the King !

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Zero-X

Zero X, Bandai, Japan, 1960's
 The Thunderbirds TV serie became such a hit that an actual movie was made in 1966, Thunderbirds are Go. This here is the original toy of the Zero-X craft made by Bandai.

All of the other Thunderbird
vehicles also available...


Friday, August 8, 2014

Oh la qui voilà ?

Inspector Gadget, ? (P&M marking - Maia e Borges ?), 1980's,
Portugal ?
Not really a superhero - more like the anti-version of it. But he did have some very cool robotic attachments!
Vaguely copied from Inspecteur Clouseau? Where is Peter Sellers when you need him ?


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Police robots... a new way to fight crime ?

Patlabor Ingram robot, ?, China, 2000's
Not very far off from the Japanese version of Robocop... this is the Ingram Robot. Controlled from the inside by specially trained police agents, these robots are the best of the best in law enforcement...


Sunday, August 3, 2014

Nekur Space Ship - Jet Oto

Turkish company NEKUR made a number of spacetoys. This is one of them. The "JET OTO" ship came with different colors and numbers on the nose - but all had N.K.880 markings on the side.

Space Ship, Nekur, Turkey, 1960's