Mechanical Planet Robot (Schylling)

It's fairly well established at this point that I love robots. I don't know if I really realised how much I love robots until looking at this blog and seeing just how many robot toys I own.  This dude is the grand-daddy of them all. Or close enough. First appearing in a sci-fi adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" starring Leslie Nielsen, Robby the Robot is the most memorable part of "Forbidden Planet." 

Schylling has made a replica of the original Robby the Robot toys sold in the 1950's. This one has a shiny chrome finish. You can wind it up and it walks and there's even a sparking mechanism in its chest that's visible through the translucent sections. The only articulation is in the legs but that's just about all the articulation the original Robby had. After his first film appearance in 1956 he became a science fiction icon and appeared in many other films and TV shows including "Lost in Space" which is probably where I first saw him.

I found this guy in a comic book store in Calgary, AB and it was affordable enough that I just couldn't resist. Around the same time I read a book all about Space Age collectibles that was a lot of fun and spotlighted a lot of other cool old toys but I'm content with this modern reproduction of a genuine classic.

I love the retro box design. I actually have a print hanging on my wall of a slightly different version of this box.

I first saw these replicas for sale in Singapore at the MINT Museum of Toys which has a really awesome collection.

"Oh no! Where's his head?"

Whoop, there it is.

So shiny.

Lovely blue for the "eyes" and red for the "mouth"

It took me a minute to find the key at the bottom of the box...

At first I tried pulling him back like those friction powered toy cars of my youth.

Sturdy black feet.

"The Claw! The Claw!"

Not quite as many details as the full sized Robby but that's to be expected.

I kind of like that he's got some weathering on him.

Here's Robby with some other robots I've spotlighted recently.

He's the biggest and by far the least expensive figure in this pic.

Here are two videos I took of Robby walking. I love the whirring noise he makes which really confused my wife in the other room.

I think my mini-photo-studio is level so it seems like this Planet Robot has trouble with straight lines.

In this next video I tried to zoom in to see the sparking gizmo better.