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Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Christmas Countdown: Japanese tin Robot the " Attacking Martian" by Horikawa

Without doubt one of my all-time favourite toys was the battery operated Attacking Martian Robot by Horikawa which I was given as a Christmas present by my parents around 1966/67. Unfortunately, my robots battery box was broken which eventually resulted in the toy not operating and being consigned to being a childhood ornament before being given away to a friend.
The Attacking Martian robot by Horikawa was a worldwide retail success in the mid 1960's (until around 1969/70)and became a must have toy for many young kids at this time. It came in three colours, brown (my version), silver , and (the much rarer) gold with chest doors that would open to reveal "working" light guns. I had forgotten all about this robot until around 2010 when I came across a series of robot replicas on sale in a shop in Glasgow which my other half (bless her) bought me (see below) as part of a Christmas present that year. This spurred me on to try to track down any information on the robot toy I had and loved so much as a kid back in the mid 1960's. Not as easy a task as it may sound as I found out that there were numerous Japanese robots on sale in the UK at his time
It wouldn't be until 3 years ago when on a trip to Brighton I came across the magazine below. There in the pages of this book/magazine was a picture of “my" robot along with details of what it would cost (on average) to purchase a mid-1960's model- between £300-£600. Sometimes a picture and my memory of those times will just have to suffice!
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9 comments:

  1. KidDecember 17, 2024 at 3:18 AM

    I'm sure at least one of my classmates in primary school had this robot or one very similar to it, but I never owned it myself. However, up in my loft somewhere are two similar-sized plastic robots from the '80s or '90s which I bought purely because they reminded me of ones like this. I didn't buy my two at the same time, but maybe a year or two apart, and only because one let off smoke if you put oil of some kind into it. They looked exactly the same as each other, but one 'smoked' and the other didn't. Ah, wish I was a child again.

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    1. McSCOTTYDecember 17, 2024 at 1:38 PM

      Sometimes I wish I were a child again as well Kid. Sigh!. I've not seen those smoking robots, they sound interesting though

      Delete
  2. Steve W.December 17, 2024 at 9:25 AM

    My sister had a brown one almost identical to the first one in this post but, as seemed to happen with all toys in the 1960s & '70s, the batteries leaked, wrecking the electrical contacts, and that brought an end to its days of blasting people with its awesome chest cannons.

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    Replies
    1. McSCOTTYDecember 17, 2024 at 1:28 PM

      I think that's what happened to my robots battery pack as well Steve I was gutted .

      Delete
  3. Rip JaggerDecember 17, 2024 at 12:08 PM

    That's one snazzy robot amigo. In that same year of 1967 I was gifted with one of the Zeroids - Zerak the blue robot in fact. I have no earthly idea what became of it.

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  4. McSCOTTYDecember 17, 2024 at 1:32 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. McSCOTTYDecember 17, 2024 at 1:36 PM

    I didn't initially recognise that name so I checked them out online Rip, and I do recall seeing them advertised in US comics in a comic strip style advert. Cool looking robots, I wonder if they were sold in the UK

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    Replies
    1. KidDecember 17, 2024 at 5:40 PM

      Yes, they were, McS. A few of my classmates had them, one even bringing his into school one day to show it off. I think the US ad you speak of is on my blog somewhere, though I don't specifically name them. I might buy one some day, though never had any of them at the time.

      Delete
  6. McSCOTTYDecember 17, 2024 at 6:53 PM

    Thanks for the info Kid. Your blog is where I may have seen that advert.

    ReplyDelete

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