After my 6am swim in City Heights I hankered for a concha. Panchita’s Bakery @panchitasbakery in Golden Hill (I lived a few blocks away after my first divorce) had the goods. Left and saw that Influx @Influx1 on Broadway was open. Still great. Oh, and New Bot Day! I think of this guy as “Carl” – the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 (T-800) from Terminator: Dark Fate who grows a conscience. My prior 101 has a broken leg. Feeling a lot of positive vibes lately. Grow a conscience. Be funny. No fate but what we make. But always be ready for SkyNet to come after you.
New Bot Day! Space Robot (No. 902) is a toy from the late 1960s. He’s a windup toy who walks and has a radar dish on his head that spins. I don’t know much about his manufacturer or origin but love the chrome plastic look. He’s a kitschy addition to my collection!
New Bot Day! Claw is a part of a 1970 toy robot series called Ding-A-Lings. Claw could ride on the Super Loop Skyway a kind of battery powered monorail that could do loops. An interesting cross of robot toy and toy train set. I love finding about robots I had no inkling existed!
New Bot Day! iBoy was given to me today, my birthday! A terrific find from Kelly and made by @classicbot_toy! I have nearly 200 bots and it’s hard to surprise me but she did! Flanked by greeting cards! I am so lucky ❤️
New Bot Day! Welcome Vulgar The Destroyer! Vulgar is a bad guy, fully armed and mean as heck! Beware the drill in his head and the mace blaster he carries! He’s from 1984, where the ROBO Force toy line was a failure, beaten by those Robots in Disguise. ROBO Force robots have suction cup feet which was not the fun selling point some guy thought it could be. Vulgar follows Hun-Dred, leader of the Cult of Dred robot army. Welcome Vulg!
New Bot Day! Robo Shark is from a Super Friends 2012 Aquaman playset for ages 3-8. I don’t think Aquaman needs a robotic shark to travel with though the marketing materials says that’s what happening. Had I gotten this as a kid I’d have made them fight which I suspect kids today do too. I do like Aquaman though, particularly the Brave and the Bold egotistical version, and I dig the Jason Momoa version too despite the DC movies not being rewatchable for me. I love to swim and had I had these toys in the decade I was 3 to 8 I’d be playing with them in the bath, at pools, and in the ocean. Welcome Robo Shark!
New Bot Day! Robbie the Dog Robot is from DC COMICS! He first appeared in Star-Spangled Comics #29 in 1944. Robotman built him to be a companion. He can signal Morse code with his eyes and has high intelligence. I’m happy to have him join the other canine-bots in my bot collection.
New Bot Day! Rusty the Boy Robot is from the 1995 Dark Horse comic in which Rusty idolizes The Big Guy. Rusty is clearly inspired by Astro Boy in the best ways. Alongside Rusty is non-robot hero Lady Maxx, a vinyl creation by Mark Nagata and Max Toy Company. Be earnest & heroic today!
New Bot Day! Cometroid E-05 transforms from egg to robot. Created for Japanese toy line Tamagoras (タマゴラス); the waning He-Man franchise ingested him and other egg-bots in 1984 and called them Meteorbs.
New Bot Day! Welcome Pocket Bot by Tomy from 1978! I think I got one as a stocking stuffer at Christmas. I acquired this one-and-three-quarter inches tall wind-up recently. It has a sharp design despite being a mass-market, cheap toy. A perfect small toy for a kid to bring along when they’re dragged along on parental errands. “Yes, you can bring a toy.”
New Bot Day! Fugitoid was introduced in a 1985 black and white comic Mirage Studios. Fugitoid was a worker bot called Sal who is fused with scientist Dr. Honeycutt. I remember Fugitoid on the stands at Comic Gallery. I didn’t buy it. The comic lasted one issue, but the character was added to the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe.
New Bot Day! V.I.N.CENT is from The Black Hole (1979) and I’ve been seeking this fella to replace the toy I got at a Woolworth’s on Canal Street in New Orleans in 1981. I loved VINCENT for his earnestness and expressive design. Also I wanted to be able to retract my eyes into my shell to protect myself. “Vital Information Necessary CENTralized” is his terrible acronym but my nostalgia is activated when I look at him.
New Bot Day! Old B.O.B. appeared in Disney’s The Black Hole (1979). BOB stands for BiO-sanitation Battalion. He’s old and cantankerous but tells the truth and is key to the story. Slim Pickens’ distinct voice perfectly establishes the character, as does the shabby design. I have great memories of this too-dark, unsettling, hard-to-recommend movie, but I love the bots!
New Bot Day! Cylon Raiders are robotic spacecraft debuting in 2007 in the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. This biomechanical robot is nicknamed “Scar” by Colonial pilots, known for fearsome combat. These Cylons are not as intelligent as the humanoid types, but they are still expertly deadly.
New Bot Day! Daiapolon from 1976 animated tv show UFO戦士ダイアポロン (UFO Robo Dai-Apolon) — sort of football themed because the “pilot” Takeshi kind of plays football but it’s made of 3 ships from an alien world and I love robots because they’re weird!
New Bot Day! Robo-Chi orange bear robot was a McDonald’s giveaway in 2002 and brightens up any morning out.
New Bot Day! MOGUERA (1994) stands for Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-type—it was built by the United Nations out of leftover pieces of Mechagodzilla and was designed to fight SpaceGodzilla. It can transform: Land Moguera & Star Falcon. I took a hiatus for new bots over the holiday: now they’re back!
New Bot Day! From the 2010 Adult Swim Flash game “Robot Unicorn Attack.” No matter what, the Robot Unicorn (with a rainbow mane and tail!) charges forward as long as they can! Learn from the Robot Unicorn and forward gallop into the future and stomp on evil. Giddy-up!
New Bot Day! Merry Christmas 2020! Super Space Giant is a small tin replica of a Horikawa robot design from 1955 or so. He is Dwarfed by Futurama’s Robot Santa and flanked by a little green bot I got at Kobey’s Swap Meet. Merry Christmas & Stay Safe!
New Bot Day! Captain Rex (RX-24) is from a theme park! Built for Disneyland’s Star Tours (1987) attraction piloting a Starspeeder 3000, imperfectly. Paul Rubens provided the voice. After years of service he’s now known as R-3X and is a DJ in Oga’s Cantina at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (2019). Here’s to getting safely back to Disneyland in 2021!
New Bot Day! Evila is a “clever and dangerous sexy robot reporter” from the game Space Channel 5 (originally on Dreamcast, 1999). She joins other videogame bots in the family!
New Bot Day! Robot 18 is what I call this muscular bot. Made by @childrensplace I don’t know how old he is or anything about him. He’s got a Children’s Place marking on one foot and “598177 1243” on the other. Once lost, now found. Welcome Eighteen!
New Bot Day! Bumblebee is an original Transformer (1984) and well-loved enough to be in every version of that franchise. His headlining movie is good! See it. This one transforms into a classic 60s Volkswagen Bug. I like how this one tickles my memories!
New Bot Day! I love this guy but he’s regrettably anonymous. I picked him up in a booth at @designercon 2018. Paid cash, no receipt. Can’t remember the booth. “A&A CHINA” on the back of his helmet. I like him! He seems like a survivor.
of course i like to say hello!
©1996-2023 Joe Crawford RSS
