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Welcome to the page of the Automaton!
The characters we call ROBOTS!
Toy or otherwise...
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| EAT LEAD SUCKERS! |
I begin with Exhibit A...
My first ever toy robot...
A REAL walking, talking, machine gun firing master of the imagination...
Forgive the slightly out of focus picture above. It is a framegrab of an old family movie of
mine of the actual toy itself, in pristine Christmas Morning condition, from around the year 1965 or 66...
This was one of my all-time favorite toys. I remember him to this day. I might even call him my
very first 12" toy.
He sets the tone for all to come.
And, until recently, I thought I had lost the chance of ever having a robot remotely similar
to him,
until a new buddy of mine, Bruce, from Nova Scotia sent me a brand spanking new one!
Talk about re-living your dreams!
ROCK ON OLD BOYS! BLAST 'EM!
| An ecstatic Les with his new Robot! |
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| And yes! He works!!!! |
And now for some MOVIE Robots!
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| You're not seeing double...That's two sets |
The ROBOT GORT and Klaatu
These two model sets represent, on the left, the original 12" Billiken vinyl kit pair of
the two characters from the 1951 movie
The Day the Earth Stood Still
and on the right a set of resin recasts. I am not into recasts at all, but I found
the set in resin years before a recent and renowned customer wanted the originals builtup, so what the heck, here they all
are together for your comparitive curiousity.
By the way, I think GORT is the most powerful single character ever portrayed on film
short of a god or, well, GOD.
Why? Because he's a one man Death Star!
He can singlehandedly destroy an entire planet!
That's what Klaatu said.
Works for me!
Next up!
From the 1926 German Science Fiction Classic METROPOLIS
No...it's not Maria...that's the girl Freder fell in love with...
This is the robot...
ULTIMA FUTURA AUTOMATON
I painted this bad metal girl by hand, tinting her in warm and cool hues that make
her look like heated metal.
I had seen another version of this old Tsukuda figure kit painted by a comics artist
I met in Atlanta, Georgia years ago, and it struck me how he had taken to painting the figure in his own style rather than
resembling a clean metal robot like in the movie.
So, when I decided to finally take this one on, and paint the bland gold vinyl
myself, I decided that she was worthy of the same treatment, only a bit less stylized, and more reflective of the tone of
the film's cryptic science...more of an Alchemy and Black Magic look than electronic and modern sheen.
This was 1926 after all. There hadn't been many movie robots before this one.
I hope you like my results.
More ROBOTS to come!
I dedicate this page to Kevin, and any other serious robotoholics out there!
You know who you are!
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