Brendan Dawes
The Art of Form and Code

The Dawesome Robots and Space Toy Collection

From a young age I've always loved science-fiction and especially robots, first brought on after seeing Forbidden Planet for the first time, with the now iconic Robby the Robot. A few years ago I bought a box of about twelve vintage toy robots from Ebay and as luck would have it some of them were actually ones collectors will often seek out. After some more investigation and learning some more about the different makes I've now been adding to these initial purchases, concentrating on mainly Japanese robots from the Horikawa brand, often manufactured by Metal House Robots. Originally I started with a few replicas but now I concentrate on originals ideally with the box, even better if the box is the Japanese version. Below are some of my favourites from my collection so far.

Talking Robot
Talking Robot [Cragstan-Yonezawa 1963]
Mr. Robot
Mr. Robot [Cragstan-Yonezawa 1960]
Attacking Martian with Lighted Eyes
Attacking Martian with Lighted Eyes [Horikawa 1964]
Super Astronaut
Super Astronaut [Horikawa 1963]
Robby
Robby the Robot [Osaka Tin Toy Institute 1997]
Super Astronaut
Super Astronaut [Horikawa 1977]
Sounding Robot
Sounding Robot [Horikawa 1981]
Monster Robot
Monster Robot [Possibly Mike Toys 1979]
Sentinel Piston Robot
Sentinel Piston Robot [Kamco 1980s]
Saturn Robot
Saturn Robot [Kamco 1980s]
Smoking Robot
Smoking Robot [1980s]
Action Robot
Action Robot [SOMA H.K. 1970s]
Planet Robot
Planet Robot [Ha Ha Toys]
Super Space Capsule
Super Space Capsule [Horikawa 1969]
Robot Dog
Robot Dog [Yoshiya 1956]
Bump 'n' Go Space Explorer
Bump 'n' Go Space Explorer [Yoshiya 1965]
Space Tank
Space Tank [Masudaya 1962]

Resources

Alphadrome Robot and Space Toy Database

The Old Robots Website

Attacking Martian

Vintage Space Toys

Vintage Toys: Robots and Space Toys

The Wonderful World of Vintage Robots