I Was Asked To Help With An Robot Article

[Robotnut]

I was recently asked to help out with a robot article.

The following are entirely my opinions and based

on fact and common knowlege. The points were

all begged, borrowed or stolen, but I was careful

to write it from my own memory and not to copy

anyone's exact text. Read it, do what you will with

it, enjoy it if you must. Please feel free to critique

it, as it came out of my little head, which I find is

becoming less reliable lately... :rolleyes:

www.robotnut.com

While toys were made in Japan before WWII, they

were generally simple and poor quality. Before the

war Germany was the world's major toy manufacturer,

followed by the US. Obviously during the war, virtually

all toy manufacturing in Japan and Germany stopped.

This almost happened in the US but companies like

Marx and Gilbert convinced Washington to allow

toys to be made, so a sense of normalcy could remain

on the home front. After the war the Marshall Plan or

plans were enstated to rebuild European and Japanese

industry. 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 longer

attractive in the US. Not to drastically affect US industry,

items like cheap cameras, portable radios and toys were

suggested for Japan. The US companies that made these

items before the war, could now market these imported

items and make more profit than if they made them.

US toy importers like Marx, Rosco, Cragstan and Mego

began selling toys manufactured by Masudaya, Nomura,

Daiya, Yoshiya, Yonezawa and Horikawa.

These first Japanese toys were friction or clockwork

powered, stamped steel and based on many popular

American and German toys from before the war.

The Japanese with an almost religious zeal to succeed,

quickly began to perfect their designs to compete

against each other. To woo the world's largest toy

market, the US, these former arms manufacturers

soon added unique actions, tin lithography and

battery power to their creations. By the mid 50's,

Japan won the toy war and emerged as the worlds

number one manufacturer, eclipsing the US and Germany.

The first toy robot is believed to be the boxy, yellow,

clockwork Robot Lilliput from Japan.. Although many

collectors believe this robot to be from the late 1930's,

experts are begining to atribute it to the mid 1940's, after

the war. The next Japanese robot to make an appearance,

was the late 1940's Atomic Robot Man. This second robot's

date of birth is definately known, since it was given out

as a promo item at the New York Sci-fi convention in 1950.

The box for Atomic Robot Man showed an ironic scene of

the robot marching through a decimated city, complete with

an atomic mushroom cloud...

While Japanese toys began to appear in the US shortly after

the war, most of the first robots were actually American

made. The first to show up in the Sears Christmas Book

was 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 1955

battery operated toys began to arrive from Japan.

Batteries were used long before in toys, but this was usually

only for lights or noise. The Japanese started to use small

battery operated motors to power everything from fuzzy

poodles, to army tanks and of course robots. This was

fueled by the movie Forbidden Planet, which introduced

Robby the Robot in 1956 and by the launch of Sputnik in 57.

Robby the Robot is likely the most copied, with a hundred

or two variations, many battery operated and Japanese.

While none of these "Robby" toys were licensed, all are

unmistakable with names like Planet Robot and Mechanized

Robot.

Unlike other collectables, toy robots are sometimes difficult

to attribute. While a "Made in Japan" robot may have an

American company logo or well known Japanese makers

mark 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 an

unknown supplier. To complicate things even more, tin toys

from Japan were even made from recycled materials.

You only have to open up an old tin toy to find out that the

inside may have the printing from a Japanese tuna can or

an imported powdered milk can. Rejected tin from a canning

plant would be recycled 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

One of the most prolific makers of Japanese battery operated

toys 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 many

different robots in the 1950's through 80's that new

variations 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 not

a manufacturer. Most of their robots, as well as the toys

of other famous companies, were actually made by the

Metal House company of Tokyo. While virtually all of the

well know Japanese robot and space toy sellers of the

past no longer exist, Metal House still does. A family

business which started before the war, Metal House still

makes battery operated tin robots in limited quantities

for collectors.

Now where do things stand today ?

The robots of yesterday are actually enjoying a renaissance.

Engineers and artists alike consider these surviving robots as

important pieces of technology and some as modern art.

Collectors, world wide, willingly spend hundreds or thousands

of dollars for toy robots that were once thought of as cheap

imported junk. It's not unusual for a toy that cost $3.95 forty

years ago, to sell for $10,000 , $25,000 or $50,000 today

at a Sotheby's or Christie's auction. Also don't let the notion of

only a single Japanese toy maker still making classic tin robots

discourage you. In recent years, China has become the new

home of the robot. Seeing a healthy appetite for all things

robotic, shops in China are now churning out these metal

marvels in biblical numbers. Today a humble collector can

purchase an exact functioning replica of a $5000 or $10,000

vintage robot for $50 to $100. While this may concern many

"well healed" collectors, others believe these reincarnated

robots will only drum up new interest and bring new blood

into the hobby...

[dratomic]

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?

[robot polishing his rocket]

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 inside

may have the printing from a Japanese tuna can or imported

powdered milk. It is unlikely that larger toys were ever made

from actual cans. Rejected tin from a canning plant would be

reprinted 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 inside

may have the printing from a Japanese tuna can or an imported

powdered milk can. Rejected tin from a canning plant would be

recycled 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. :)

[steve]

Well done-reads very well!

[Papatoad]

Well, what do you know. I learned a thing or too. Nice job.

[Robotnut]

Thanks for your comments...

I actually tossed this blurb together last night

after the family was in bed as you can tell from

the post time. I'm actually helping another writer

with a larger piece about Japanese toy making

after the war. Dr Atomic made some constructive

comments off this board and if you look back up

Robot Polisher's suggestion did improve the

flow of that paragraph... :)

Over the years, I've written everything from

poetry, to technical instructions and comedy.

Although several of my pieces have been

published 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 about

a boy and his magical collection of toy robots.

Although it was rejected by some of the world's

finest publishers, I've yet to get a bite. I'm

currently working on a Sci-fi novel that is based

on a bizarre poem I wrote back in high school.

Writing is one of those things I'll continue to

do, whether it turns out to profitable or not.

Your comments are always appreciated...

Take care, Darryl