Toy OTD: Horikawa Rotate-O-Matic Tin Robot (Mid-To-Late '60s)

This is another childhood toy - its back story isn't as involved as the one for my Snoopy music box, but it still sounds a little like something out of The Velveteen Rabbit. Well, if The Velveteen Rabbit were sealed in a tin space suit with machine guns on his chest, anyway.

One of my father's co-workers had a son of his own, and that little boy was this toy's original owner. It seems that the robot had stopped working at some point, but by the time that my dad's friend had repaired it, his son had outgrown the toy. So my dad's friend gave it to my dad, and my dad gave it to me. It's a little sad, thinking about this toy just sitting around waiting to be played with again. Still, it got a new owner, and I can only anthropomorphize toys so much before I start to realize that I have one the biggest toy jails in the country...

Regardless, this is a beautiful toy! There's a lot of bright, colorful detail in the lithos, and the bulk of the robot is solidly constructed. I like the nifty 'astronaut' illustration in the head, and the plastic visor really makes it feel like a helmet. The sunken 'gauges' along the beltline are also awesome-looking. The main body shapes are suitably blocky and mechanical - in fact, they were re-used on several other models!

The walking movement looks great, with the extra bonus of a periodic pause, the chest doors popping open (moving the inner weapons forward), and a body spin as the machine guns noisily open fire, blinking red all the while! Clearly not a great toy for cat owners.

It's not a particularly rare item, but it's old enough and popular enough that it won't be cheap to buy. Here's one for sale on eBay for $165.00 + $11.62 shipping. Enjoy!

Toy OTD: Mega House Panda-Z Figure: Hamugear (Yellow Version, 2004)

Here's another figure from Mega House's Panda-Z line - I've never seen the anime, but the character designs look great! I fell in love with the minute I first saw them. Cute animals driving cute-animal-robots! What more do you want?

Overall, these are great toys - the sculpts and paint work are very strong. The minimalistic details are captured well, and the execution doesn't compromise the design work one bit! There's not a lot of articulation here, but it's not a big deal to me - these designs can only pose so much to begin with, I imagine.

The packaging is a blister on a back card - functional but not exceptionally striking. The biggest minus of these toys is the construction - the legs often warp, which doesn't affect how they display in the blister, but can render the occasional figure wobbly (I have at least two or three from the line that aren't as stable as they could be).

As far as variants go, there's a gray version and a yellow one. The gray variant seems to be cheaper, so I'm assuming it's more common (or less desired, or both).

Originally, I think I bought this figures at Super 7 for less than $20. The price seems to have skyrocketed on eBay for some reason ($225!!), so you'll want to hunt around for better prices. Good luck and be patient - try giving Super 7 a call...

Astro Boy Teaser Online

At last! There's more to see of Imagi's Astro Boy feature! Unfortunately, the designs look pretty watered down. I realize that Tezuka's designs are challenging for CG, but I wish that more of the original manga's graphic appeal had been retained. Oh, well... ultimately, it'll all pivot on the story anyway.

I'm probably just envious... I'd love to direct an Astro Boy movie!