# Retro Robots.....the great untapped market?



## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

We've got some neat retro rockets, UFO's and a Nautilus from Pegasus and Atlantis but no company has yet done any retro robots. The only ones I can think of that have been done in styrene are Robby the Robot and the B9.


I'd love to have some robots from Sky Captain in particular but obviously there's old shows like Undersea Kingdom and others. I know Robby and the B9 are probably the most famous old robots but there could be a market if old rocketships and UFO's sell.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Right on, S.G.! How about Tobor the Great,​









the Annihilatons [from _Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe_ (1940],










Bela Lugosi's goofy robot from _The Phantom Creeps_ (1939),









or The Colossus of New York?










Some of these goons have been kitted, but never as injection-molded kits in the same 1/11 scale as The LiS Robot and Robby.​




​


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## ThingMaker (Feb 22, 2014)

I agree. I'd LOVE some retro robots (preferably 1/6 scale).


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

Maybe even "John" from "Voyage to a prehistoric Planet"?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The OP won't like it but most of those are available in resin...

I'd go for some in plastic though. Some would be pretty cool. It makes you wonder when a kit company puts out a Gorilla in a propeller beanie. I would think a cool robot would sell just as well. 

I always liked Box from Logan's Run.


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## portland182 (Jul 19, 2003)

Some more suggestions

Captain Proton's Robot - based on the Republic serials Robot, might be good.

The Iron Giant

Sentinels from the Matrix series

Gort

Cops from THX 1138

Johnny 5 from Short Circuit

Johnny Cab from Total Recall - cross over car / robot kit

An accurate Maria from Metropolis - seems to be hard to get right

Jim


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

djnick66 said:


> It makes you wonder when a kit company puts out a Gorilla in a propeller beanie. I would think a cool robot would sell just as well.


Yeah, but would a robot present all these different possibilities?
http://www.tylisaari.com/models/gallery/ms/other/kogar.htm


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Mangus Robot Fighter comics would be great for model robots, and with custom made or scratch built bases these robots would be real interesting builds. Karl


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

TAY666 said:


> Yeah, but would a robot present all these different possibilities?
> http://www.tylisaari.com/models/gallery/ms/other/kogar.htm


Moot point since there is only one plastic kit and the other stuff is all resin aftermarket that has nothing to do with the comapny that made the kit in the first place.

Many of the old movie/serial robots were used again and again too.


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

djnick66 said:


> Moot point since there is only one plastic kit and the other stuff is all resin aftermarket that has nothing to do with the comapny that made the kit in the first place.


Yes, but you have to have the styrene kit to be able to use the aftermarket parts.
So, you need to buy a kit for each version you want to build.
It's one of the reasons I have over 2 dozen Kogar kits at this point.
I need 10 just to build one of each verson. A few I want to build multiples of.
And who knows what other conversions might be coming down the line.

Which is why some of these companies provide test shots to the aftermarket guys.
So the extra goodies can be ready around the same time the kits hit the shelves.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

portland182 said:


> Some more suggestions
> 
> Captain Proton's Robot - based on the Republic serials Robot, might be good.
> 
> ...





The Captain Proton robot from what I can see is very similar to the Undersea Kingdom robots and Dr Satan so that could be a good choice as it seems to have been used in a few different series. 

The Iron Giant's another good choice as this (and the Sky Captain robots) are mainly the type of robots I'm talking about. They look as if they've been made from tin/steel etc with prominent rivets. Unfortunately R2 dropped the IG.

Gort I'm not so bothered about as there's a good diecast of him.




As for the Sentinels from the Matrix, THX1138 robots, Johnny 5 and Johnny Cab 

I wouldn't call any of those retro. I'm talking about robots from the 30s, 40s, 50s and possibly 60s.


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## ThingMaker (Feb 22, 2014)

Box from Logan's Run would be cool too.


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

There is this robot out there
http://www.tylisaari.com/models/mine/collection/giantrobot01.jpg


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

YES! The more robots, the better!!!:thumbsup:


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

Lets not forget Gog and Magog.

David.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

TAY666 said:


> There is this robot out there
> http://www.tylisaari.com/models/mine/collection/giantrobot01.jpg




Thanks for posting that as it's always good to see what kits are available but not a very good looking robot.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

ThingMaker said:


> Box from Logan's Run would be cool too.




Nice but too modern. Same with Huey, Duey and Luey from Silent Running. I'd love to see plastic kits of them but again they're too modern looking.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Krel said:


> Lets not forget Gog and Magog.


What about Pagog?


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Mark McGovern said:


> Right on, S.G.! How about Tobor the Great,​
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I don't like the Colossus or Phantom Creeps robot as they're too humanoid looking but Tobor's a good example.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

While not the most complicated robot, Kronos was cool

Yeah Logan's Run is newer but its still almost 40 years old now. Time flies you know.

As long as no one makes a kit of Twikki I will be happy


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

djnick66 said:


> While not the most complicated robot, Kronos was cool
> 
> Yeah Logan's Run is newer but its still almost 40 years old now. Time flies you know.
> 
> As long as no one makes a kit of Twikki I will be happy





I know but it still looks more modern to me. I suppose Sky Captain is the best example of what I'm thinking of. A new film but the robots were purposely designed to look retro as if from this old UK comic.................


http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/a/archie.htm


Like robot Archie. Strange looking with big rivets etc.


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## portland182 (Jul 19, 2003)

http://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm.html

every film robot (probably)

Jim


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Thanks for sharing the web site, port'. But the author missed the Annihilatons from _Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe_ (1940). They appeared in episode 3, "The Walking Bombs".


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

How about Magnus the Robot Fighter beating the crap out of some robots.Robby The Robot in 1/6th scale is also obvious.:thumbsup:


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Here's some nice retro Magnus fighter robots..............


http://ahotcupofjoe.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/magnus-robot-fighter.jpg


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

portland182 said:


> http://www.filmsite.org/robotsinfilm.html
> 
> every film robot (probably)
> 
> Jim








Thanks for posting that and interesting site. Some nice and some awful robots on there.

I've got a bit of a soft spot for the Target Earth robot.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

xsavoie said:


> How about Magnus the Robot Fighter beating the crap out of some robots.Robby The Robot in 1/6th scale is also obvious.:thumbsup:


*HEYY!!!* What did Robby ever do to Magnus??!?


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

A couple suggestion from your friendly neighborhood Night-Owl:

-Giant Robot from *Jonny Socko And His Flying Robot*
-The robot from *The Mysterious Dr. Satan*


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Night-Owl said:


> A couple suggestion from your friendly neighborhood Night-Owl:
> 
> -Giant Robot from *Jonny Socko And His Flying Robot*


That was the one I posted (that Sungod didn't think looked good)


Not sure if it's still in production or not, but it looks close enough to the series robot for me.
Then again, I'm not a hardware guy, so I don't really pay much attention to how accurate things are.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

TAY666 said:


> That was the one I posted (that Sungod didn't think looked good)
> 
> 
> Not sure if it's still in production or not, but it looks close enough to the series robot for me.
> Then again, I'm not a hardware guy, so I don't really pay much attention to how accurate things are.












What I don't like about that is the face..................


http://waytofamous.com/5357-jaianto-baba.html


It's like someone planted a cartoonish humanoid face onto a robot body. The Japanese have made some great robots and robot toys over the years but some of them like that I find awful. Thanks again for posting it though.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Here's a nice example of a Magnus robot turned into a model................



http://culttvman.com/main/tom-herings-magnus-robot-fighter-4000-a-d/


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## ThingMaker (Feb 22, 2014)

SUNGOD said:


> Nice but too modern. Same with Huey, Duey and Luey from Silent Running. I'd love to see plastic kits of them but again they're too modern looking.


Agreed, not the same vibe as early 20th century robots being discussed here, but still would be awesome to have the Silent Running robots as a nice large scale (1/6) detailed styrene kit. Though I'd argue that Box from Logan's Run does take cues from the older style robots.


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

ThingMaker said:


> Agreed, not the same vibe as early 20th century robots being discussed here, but still would be awesome to have the Silent Running robots as a nice large scale (1/6) detailed styrene kit. Though I'd argue that Box from Logan's Run does take cues from the older style robots.










Yes I'd like to see the SR robots in plastic too (and the USS Valley Forge) even though they look modern. 

As for Box..........I like him but he's not really the type of robot I'm hoping for as his face is like a human face painted silver and the same with Maria from Metropolis. 

She's a stylish robot but again too human looking. I'd like to see some clanky old robots that look more machine like. 

Human faces should be only on Androids to me.


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## markcan (Jan 28, 2013)

I saw some Silent Running robot models at Wonderfest that I hadn't seen before, but I'm not sure if they were resin or plastic. Interestingly, someone has put up some versions you can print on card stock and assemble:

http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~sf-papercraft/sf/Silent.html


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

markcan said:


> I saw some Silent Running robot models at Wonderfest that I hadn't seen before, but I'm not sure if they were resin or plastic. Interestingly, someone has put up some versions you can print on card stock and assemble:
> 
> http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~sf-papercraft/sf/Silent.html







Even though I didn't find out about the Atlantis EVTFSaucers kits from Wonderfest I think we would have heard about any SR robots in plastic so they were probably resin.


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

markcan said:


> I saw some Silent Running robot models at Wonderfest that I hadn't seen before, but I'm not sure if they were resin or plastic.


They were resin.
They were really nice.
They were sold out!


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

ThingMaker said:


> Agreed, not the same vibe as early 20th century robots being discussed here, but still would be awesome to have the Silent Running robots as a nice large scale (1/6) detailed styrene kit. Though I'd argue that Box from Logan's Run does take cues from the older style robots.


Saw these really great versions of Huey Dewey and Louie at Wonderfest. They are produced by "Model Prisoners" and are $55 ea or $150 for the set. ([email protected])


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## ThingMaker (Feb 22, 2014)

Spockr said:


> Saw these really great versions of Huey Dewey and Louie at Wonderfest. They are produced by "Model Prisoners" and are $55 ea or $150 for the set. ([email protected])


What scale are they?


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Not sure of the scale, but this pic might give you a good idea.
http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww143/modelprisoners/WF 2014/WF2014062_zpse1dafac9.jpg


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

ThingMaker said:


> What scale are they?


They are 1/6 scale just under 6" tall 6" wide and 2.5 " deep. Contact Russ at
[email protected]


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## Parts Pit Mike (Jan 3, 2001)

She was mentioned earlier but Maria from Metropolis has better potential sales as she is better known than some of the others mentioned.

Discuss


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

Parts Pit Mike said:


> She was mentioned earlier but Maria from Metropolis has better potential sales as she is better known than some of the others mentioned.
> 
> Discuss


I agree that Metropolis Robot has the potential for really good sale and I'd love to see her done in 1:6th scale. Unfortunately there are two things that get in the way of this happening.

1. The copyright holder Bertina Schulze-Mittendorff who is the daughter of the artist that created the Maria prop for the movie and is very strict about licensing. She is known for sending out C&D orders to copyright violators who have tried to produce replicas without permission in the past.

2. The proportions and complexity of the figure itself make it difficult to recreate accurately.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Y3a said:


> Maybe even "John" from "Voyage to a prehistoric Planet"?


I've always wanted a model of that big Russian robot. Maybe not the most articulate of automatons, but he was strong like bull!


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## SUNGOD (Jan 20, 2006)

Some more Magnus robots looking very Sky Captain-esque......................


http://www.comicvine.com/magnus-robot-fighter-18-magnus-vs-north-am/4000-9345/


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