"famous Robots" Owned By Us

[Rotate-O-Matic]

This is very first time starting my own thread so here goes.... I got the idea from reading about Steve's famous blue Planet Robot from the cover of the great book Roboter and was wondering if any other Alphdromers out there also own any "famous" robots that have been in books or magazines or belonged to highly publicized collections.

Sort of like being able to say, "This matchbook once belonged to Elvis and I picked up from the bar as he walked away back in Nashville in the summer of '67." ( I wish!)

So...anybody got any great stories about robots that were once the property of Elvis..........? B)

[dratomic]

Well, no robots, and these are minor bits of fame, but still...

1. The first Renwal Planet Jet space gun I owned appeared in the book Blast Off. I've since sold it, and now Fineas J. Whoopie can tell the same story!

2. One of the fine press Ray Bradbury books I own -- mentioned in the thread on "most interesting/best purchases of the year -- was originally inscribed to a particular, notable, book dealer. It reads: "To ___, thanks and much appreciation, sincerely Ray Bradbury." Then, about two years later, Bradbury and the dealer had a BIG falling out, rendering the sincerity of the previous note somewhat null and void. Makes for a rather notorious copy of the book...

3. It's possible -- remains to be seen -- that my X-16 Space Patrol saucer will be in the upcoming Masudaya book. I await this revelation with bated breath.

That's about it on my end.

[steve]

Interesting topic - aside from my blue Planet Robot - (cover of the book Roboter) my Tremendous Mike was in the July 2001 issue of Antique Toy World.

In in the upcoming (September) book Modern Toys from Japan (based on Maudaya)by William Gallagher - a couple of fellow Alphadromers will have parts of their collection featured.

Other Alphadromer's I know have had pieces from their collections featured in various magazines and books - but that is for them to tell you.

[H.I. Gosses]

Talking about robots on the covers of books,

MY robot is on all the Kitahara books!

[David Kirk]

My Mr. Atomic, well, he was my Mr. Atomic between 1962 and 1981, was in the Griffith collection, so he's been around a bit.

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

Here's the Renwal Planet Jet gun as seen in Blast off page 207. The Helmet is not the one in Blast Off (obviously, it's colors are reversed) but they are a set and must be displayed as such.

When it was photographed for Blast Off it was owned by Justin Pinchot who then sold it to Dratomic. Then Dratomic sold it, this was all I knew untill my birthday last year when It was given to me - very much to my surprise!! My family, Dratomic and Justin were all in on keeping the secret and preventing me from trying to buy the gun myself. I already had the helmet so I was able to display the set together that day. Great birthday needless to say. :D

[Morbius]

Steve was sharp-eyed enough to recognize my Blue Planet robot purchased from Moktar, as the one from the Ira Eichstein collection. I'd heard of him before but never thought I'd receive a piece which was from a major collection.

This is my absolute keeper. When he runs he RUNS!!! Box is wonderful as the day it was on the shelf.

[Morbius]

:D Other views. This piece pales in comparison with a lot of the esoteric items many of you have, but to someone who drives a Tempo, having this is a thrill.

[Guest Brian.]

The C Cell silver Robby in Toni's Future Toys is mine, along with Topolino and the Musical Drummer. Paul, the photographer, took a pile of photos of other pieces but I can't recall which he used. I'll have to compare the scratches to identify them!

[Keith Palmer]

One time while traveling home from vacation, I bought a plastic robot at a Tennessee antique mall. As I was paying for it, the counter guy said....

"I know this robot. It used to belong to Waylon Jennings' little boy. What do they call him... Shooter? Yeah, Shooter. They call him that because one time when he was a little boy, he'd piss on people. Yep, that's why they started calling him Shooter. That's Shooter Jennings' robot, all right. I was there at the big Waylon Jennings auction when the dealer bought it."

Upon hearing this news, I was so completely jacked up that all I could do was reach into the glass candy jar on the counter and pull out a big handful of GooGoo Clusters -- one for every member of my family.

[steve]

Brian - your C celled silver mechanized robot is one of the very finest robots I have ever seen!!!!!

Nice to see the eye patch removed from your avatar - hope that you are well!!!

[Guest Brian.]

Thanks Steve. My eye has almost returned to normal, thank goodness.

[robothunter]

Well this ought to be a fun thread to be part of.

Well the first bit of fame I had was when it was explained to me that among several robots from the Griff auction I picked up, my rare red & purple ME91 Robby tank was the one from Pierre Boogarts's book Robot shown on page 27.

The book features the collection of the Jean Claude Farhi which was purchased by Al Davidson who was a long time friend of F.H. Griffith. Griff got the toy from Al before his collection was eventually sold off at Christie's and I got it once Griff passed. Best part was that the robot tank was not part of the live auction, but sold months after as part of the internet sales to clear out the hundreds of left-over items from Griff's collection. Got it for a song. I only know of two others in collections in Europe.

Then I had 16 of my current robots photographed for the Bob Malone book Ultimate Robot.

And in September my collection will be the subject of a great article by Dr. Atomic for the magazine Super 7 and the photos are pretty darn good. And my Billiken Robby is on the cover.

[Russell]

Talking about robots on the covers of books,

MY robot is on all the Kitahara books!

.Now I now why i can't get a hold of a hard back copy of Kitahara's first book, you've got 'em all !!!

I've searched America and Japan over the last couple of years (on-line!) but no luck

If anybody has a copy they are willing to part with please drop me a line.

I did not know this book existed for the first 5 yrs i was collecting, but wondered why the small B/W photo of Chief Robotman at the back was credited as (front cover) Then I saw a dealer one day with a copy of WONDERLAND OF TOYS

Talking of Chief Robotman ............and Seeing Brian's Avatar I have to say....

Brian, I could be mistaken, but the last time I visited you did you have a CRM with plastic Mighty Robot arms?

If you do could you post a picture of him, I'd love to see it, I've never seen another like it.

Rt

ps. Only Famous Robot I have was the Ultraman Leo pictured on p103 of the Griff NY Auction.

I sort of suspect but can't confirm, that maybe it might also be in the Moran book which would be a buzz if it were true. (Moran credits F.H. Griffiths for his help) Wishful thinking perhaps

[steve]

Russell - all of the other pieces from the Griff auction are one and the same from the Moran Battery Operated Toys book. No reason to think yours would not be one and the same. It was Griff"s robots that were featured in the robot and spacetoy section.

So it was you who "took" that fine Ultrman Leo!!! He is one of my favorite character style toys. He has such a bold impressive loot to him.