| 1960 CAA "rocket" |
| wood w/metal fins |
This blog is an ongoing listing of space toys, superheroes and just about anything I find worthwhile saving as a collector. Please enjoy !
| 1960 CAA "rocket" |
| wood w/metal fins |
| Pollux (Dougal) Delacoste, France, 1965 |
Here is a strange rubber toy found at the feira... made in Czechoslovakia. It is strange how babies in these countries are completely strapped down before being put in their craddles. The word cocoon comes to mind, but is there really a scientific reason to do this ?
| Wrapped baby, Czechoslovakia, 1970's ? |
No idea who made these figurines but they are pretty detailed for monochrome plastic ... Maybe part of a board game ?
| Snowtrooper and Snowspeeder pilot ? |
| Alien Trash Monster (Dianoga), Kenner, USA, 1977 |
You have to admit Kenner product-designers did a great job when all the source-material they had were some movie stills of only the eye-part of the beast...
Computers were all the rage in 1970. Well, a year earlier it helped us land a man on the moon.
So no wonder that the toy business hooked in on that wave. Anything futuristic had to be run by computers, with computers... right ? This red sleek car had a programable chassis based on pre-cut cards and was sold with a bunch of cones to organize wild slalom competitions !
| Computacar, Mettoy, Hong Kong, 1970 |
| Chevrolet Astrovette ! |
| The Daltons, Quick Hamburger Restaurants, China, 1996 |
| Lucky Luke, Jolly Jumper and Rantanplan, Quick, China, 1996 |
| Yamato, 1/850, Nomura, Japan, 1970's |
| Boy this thing is heavy ! Pure diecast |
| for navigating the sea of stars... |
| Robot, Ferrero ? Italy ?, 1980's ? |
| Motor bicycle, maker ?, 1970's |
| ... is this green thing where you put gasoline ? |
| At least he wears a helmet ! |
The real thing was quite popular in France ...
In the USA you had GI JOE, here in Europe he was redubbed ACTION MAN. Not a doll... an action figurine ! Most of the early ones wore military outfits, but this astronaut is pretty much up to specs with the first spacesuits of the Gemini and Mercury missions at NASA. (see more about Action Man here).
The original suits were made by the (now defunct) tire company B.F. GOODRICH and were at the time as critical as any of the other equipment developped for NASA to get people in space. See more about this here.
| Action Man Astronaut Set, Palitoy, 1967 |
| Robocon, Popy, Japan, 1970's |
This is one of the toys that makes me smile, and a perfect addition to the other Robocons in the collection.
| Electric Robot and Son, MARX toys, USA, 1955 |
It took me a number of years, but I finally got to pair these two...
Another classic US-design. This robot is a pure example of the atomic 50'ies - with a grin that is either laughing at you or trying to teach kids to brush their teeth ! (hey, I ate too much oily candy and now my mouth is looking like a radiator !)
Finish it up with a Morse Code chart on the back of his head (yes, robots of that time did not speak in Bits and Bytes, but in Morse - through a buzzer system...) and a son that is very often missing in action, and you have the all mighty skirted Mr. Electric Robot.
Together with Robert - they are some of Marx's best.
| Glass eyes... there goes toy safety in the fifties ! |
| A diaper on a robot ? Oil leaks ? |
| Artoo Potatoo with Princess Tater Hasbro, 2002, China |
| World Jet Airlines, Crown (?), Hong Kong, 1970's |