Wheely weird
You know it is love, when your heart skips a beat, as you stare at the glow of the auction screen. Going out to dinner this month seems like less of a priority , and eating instant ramen becomes a standby pastime. When the objective part of your brain fights back, and tells you it is a fucked up toy, while your geek gets all hot a bothered by its camp factor. Yeah the arms are short and gimpy. Yeah the thing is small, and yeah the wheels in the chest seem like a good idea, but don’t translate to the most fun toy in the world.
With a wink and a sigh, the love of the funk will wash away the power of the practical demons that try to whisper in your ear. Screw reality, screw practicality, I want super deformed soulfulness, gimp arms and all.
Riding the high from my last Kamen Rider tin discovery, prompts a scanning the net for more of the same.
In the special Tin edition of Figure Oh, I see three Kamen tins. The famed( and coveted) Bullmark battery op, the elusive Angel version 1 walker, and this guy. This particular toy interested me simply because unlike the others it had an almost kid-like proportion. I picture elves making this toy.
The only other tin that I know of with this function is a piece that might have predated it by a few years..most likey the late 60’s. I am not sure of the size of this HORIKAWA FLYING ROBOT, but they appear to share the same concept.
This Kamen is made by Bullmark and appears to be made around the same time as the battery op, predating both Angel tins.
This is by far the smallest tin walker I have ever seen. Shocking is a word that comes to mind, when it arrived in the mail. Expecting it to be in the standard 9-10 inches, it seemed dwarfed at the 6-6.5 or so inches it clocks in at. It feels akin to the Super Robot mini Marmit tins of a few years back. This however almost adds to its charm, as its size gives it a fragility and presence that is gemlike.
It mainly functions by reving the wheels on the chest off the floor and placing it on its legs. The motion of the wheels activates the walking mechanism, which moves the toy forward. As another option, the toys arms can be repositioned, and placed flat on his belly, pushing along the floor while making the classic “badadadadadadadada” whine. This of course is his “flying” position… though I don’t recall Kamen ever flying.
It is pure and unadulterated toy. It has no slickness, nor modernity. The function is awkward at best and the construction though solid, feels minature and vulnerable.
That is what makes it work. It pretends to be nothing more than what it is… a childs plaything.
