Robotnut Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 I was recently asked to help out with a robot article.The following are entirely my opinions and basedon fact and common knowlege. The points wereall begged, borrowed or stolen, but I was carefulto write it from my own memory and not to copyanyone's exact text. Read it, do what you will withit, enjoy it if you must. Please feel free to critiqueit, as it came out of my little head, which I find isbecoming less reliable lately... :rolleyes:www.robotnut.comWhile toys were made in Japan before WWII, theywere generally simple and poor quality. Before thewar Germany was the world's major toy manufacturer,followed by the US. Obviously during the war, virtuallyall toy manufacturing in Japan and Germany stopped.This almost happened in the US but companies likeMarx and Gilbert convinced Washington to allowtoys to be made, so a sense of normalcy could remainon the home front. After the war the Marshall Plan orplans were enstated to rebuild European and Japaneseindustry. Of General MacArthur's many after war duties,industrial rehabilitation of Japan was job one.The idea was to give Japan all the low profit, high labor,small item manufacturing industries that were no longerattractive in the US. Not to drastically affect US industry,items like cheap cameras, portable radios and toys weresuggested for Japan. The US companies that made theseitems before the war, could now market these importeditems and make more profit than if they made them.US toy importers like Marx, Rosco, Cragstan and Megobegan selling toys manufactured by Masudaya, Nomura,Daiya, Yoshiya, Yonezawa and Horikawa.These first Japanese toys were friction or clockworkpowered, stamped steel and based on many popularAmerican and German toys from before the war.The Japanese with an almost religious zeal to succeed,quickly began to perfect their designs to competeagainst each other. To woo the world's largest toymarket, the US, these former arms manufacturerssoon added unique actions, tin lithography andbattery power to their creations. By the mid 50's,Japan won the toy war and emerged as the worldsnumber one manufacturer, eclipsing the US and Germany.The first toy robot is believed to be the boxy, yellow,clockwork Robot Lilliput from Japan.. Although manycollectors believe this robot to be from the late 1930's,experts are begining to atribute it to the mid 1940's, afterthe war. The next Japanese robot to make an appearance,was the late 1940's Atomic Robot Man. This second robot'sdate of birth is definately known, since it was given outas a promo item at the New York Sci-fi convention in 1950.The box for Atomic Robot Man showed an ironic scene ofthe robot marching through a decimated city, complete withan atomic mushroom cloud...While Japanese toys began to appear in the US shortly afterthe war, most of the first robots were actually Americanmade. The first to show up in the Sears Christmas Bookwas Ideal's crank operated Robert the Robot in 1954.Soon came, Marvelous Mike, The Robot Dog, Z-Man,Big Max and Marx Electric robot, all American made.Japan was about to unlease its secret weapon, in 1955battery operated toys began to arrive from Japan.Batteries were used long before in toys, but this was usuallyonly for lights or noise. The Japanese started to use smallbattery operated motors to power everything from fuzzypoodles, to army tanks and of course robots. This wasfueled by the movie Forbidden Planet, which introducedRobby the Robot in 1956 and by the launch of Sputnik in 57.Robby the Robot is likely the most copied, with a hundredor two variations, many battery operated and Japanese.While none of these "Robby" toys were licensed, all areunmistakable with names like Planet Robot and MechanizedRobot.Unlike other collectables, toy robots are sometimes difficultto attribute. While a "Made in Japan" robot may have anAmerican company logo or well known Japanese makersmark on it, that still doesn't necessarily tell you who made it.Many manufactured items in Japan were subcontracted out,made by piecework in someone's home or bought from anunknown supplier. To complicate things even more, tin toysfrom Japan were even made from recycled materials. You only have to open up an old tin toy to find out that theinside may have the printing from a Japanese tuna can oran imported powdered milk can. Rejected tin from a canningplant would be recycled and reprinted on the reverse side to produce a toy robot or spaceship. Though it is unlikely thatlarger toys were ever made from actual cansOne of the most prolific makers of Japanese battery operatedtoys was the Horikawa company who used the trade logo<SH>. Horikawa sold literally hundreds of different tin robots,rockets and space stations. In fact Horikawa sold so manydifferent robots in the 1950's through 80's that newvariations are being found regularly by collectors.While Horikawa is a well known name in Japanese toys,many don't realize that they were a wholesaler and nota manufacturer. Most of their robots, as well as the toysof other famous companies, were actually made by theMetal House company of Tokyo. While virtually all of thewell know Japanese robot and space toy sellers of thepast no longer exist, Metal House still does. A familybusiness which started before the war, Metal House stillmakes battery operated tin robots in limited quantitiesfor collectors. Now where do things stand today ?The robots of yesterday are actually enjoying a renaissance.Engineers and artists alike consider these surviving robots asimportant pieces of technology and some as modern art.Collectors, world wide, willingly spend hundreds or thousandsof dollars for toy robots that were once thought of as cheapimported junk. It's not unusual for a toy that cost $3.95 fortyyears ago, to sell for $10,000 , $25,000 or $50,000 todayat a Sotheby's or Christie's auction. Also don't let the notion ofonly a single Japanese toy maker still making classic tin robotsdiscourage you. In recent years, China has become the newhome of the robot. Seeing a healthy appetite for all thingsrobotic, shops in China are now churning out these metalmarvels in biblical numbers. Today a humble collector canpurchase an exact functioning replica of a $5000 or $10,000vintage robot for $50 to $100. While this may concern many"well healed" collectors, others believe these reincarnatedrobots will only drum up new interest and bring new bloodinto the hobby... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 Very nice... not knowing as much about all this as many people, I can only assume that you've got your facts correct (it all sounds right to me, anyway). As a magazine editor, though, I CAN say that it reads well - chock full of info without getting bogged down. Everything's layed out in a logical order, and it nicely puts the history of toy robots into an historical context. A nice little summary of our favorite hobby...If you don't mind me asking, what are you writing this for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robot polishing his rocket Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 yes...engaging, informative and quite well written.if i were to edit any of the story, it would be just one very small thing...A VERY SMALL THING, and that would just be the copy flow of one of the paragraphs."You only have to open up an old tin toy to find out that the insidemay have the printing from a Japanese tuna can or importedpowdered milk. It is unlikely that larger toys were ever madefrom actual cans. Rejected tin from a canning plant would bereprinted on the other side for a toy robot or spaceship."would read a touch better:"You only have to open up an old tin toy to find out that the insidemay have the printing from a Japanese tuna can or an importedpowdered milk can. Rejected tin from a canning plant would berecycled and reprinted on the reverse side to produce a toy robot or spaceship. Though it is unlikely that larger toys were ever made from actual cans."my 2 cents worth...on the whole, well done. nice job. if you were in singapore, i would employ you as one of my writers.keep it up. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 Well done-reads very well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papatoad Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 Well, what do you know. I learned a thing or too. Nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robotnut Posted August 12, 2003 Author Share Posted August 12, 2003 Thanks for your comments...I actually tossed this blurb together last nightafter the family was in bed as you can tell fromthe post time. I'm actually helping another writerwith a larger piece about Japanese toy makingafter the war. Dr Atomic made some constructivecomments off this board and if you look back upRobot Polisher's suggestion did improve theflow of that paragraph... :) Over the years, I've written everything frompoetry, to technical instructions and comedy.Although several of my pieces have beenpublished in local papers and educational bulletins,I've yet to get payed for anything I've written.Last year, I completed a children's book abouta boy and his magical collection of toy robots.Although it was rejected by some of the world'sfinest publishers, I've yet to get a bite. I'mcurrently working on a Sci-fi novel that is basedon a bizarre poem I wrote back in high school.Writing is one of those things I'll continue todo, whether it turns out to profitable or not.Your comments are always appreciated... Take care, Darryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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