Out of This World Toys

by Douglas R. Kelly

Science fiction movies made during the 1950s are among life’s greatest pleasures for at least two reasons. One, we didn’t know as much—as individuals or as a species—as we do now, so anything was possible. And two, some of these wonderful stories produced incredibly cool toys that, 70 years later, are keeping fans and collectors on the hunt.

MGM’s Forbidden Planet, released in 1956, has to be the leader in the merchandising category. Actors like Walter Pidgeon and Anne Francis brought Irving Block’s and Allen Adler’s story to life, but anyone who’s seen the film knows that a non-human steals the show: Robby the Robot, a walking collection of mechanical parts and electronics that nonetheless has a distinct personality. If you haven’t yet seen Forbidden Planet, I won’t spoil it for you; but with inter-planetary travel, cutting-edge-for-the-time special effects, and of course Robby the Robot, I can tell you that it’s 98 minutes well spent.

Tinplate toy makers in Japan jumped on the bandwagon early on, with outfits like Yonezawa and Nomura producing versions of Robby with names like Moon Robot and Space Trooper. The common feature of these various versions was the transparent helmet worn by the robot in the film. Like tinplate toy cars made during the 1950s, these early tin robots now command high prices, especially in original condition with the original box, and price tags in the thousands of dollars aren’t uncommon.

Years later, the Japanese company Masudaya came to the rescue of cash-strapped collectors when it released a plastic four-inch-tall version of Robby with a wind-up motor. When this thing hit the stores back in 1984, I was instantly smitten and bought two of them for $4.95 each, a bargain considering they were the only game in town if you wanted an affordable example of the legendary robot. Years later, I sold one of the two for more than $100, but I now wish I’d kept it. Because, you know … two is better than one. It’s a great model of Robby, and the box came with a gold foam insert that kinda looks like a transporter chamber. This little guy has had pride of place on one of my shelves for 40 years and yes, he’s in my Will so my daughters can fight over him after I check out.

Since that time, numerous other versions of Robby have been produced, some of them with terrific lights and sound effects. Forbidden Planet later inspired other great science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Wars and Lost in Space. Today, there is even a Robby the Robot YouTube channel. Forbidden Planet also helped create a market for space toys. One of these was the Major Matt Mason line made by Mattel starting in 1966, which rocked my world when a Matt action figure riding his space sled appeared under the Christmas tree. The 8-year-old me thought this was about the coolest thing he’d ever seen, and over the next couple of years, I managed to acquire the alien Callisto figure and Matt Mason’s battery-powered lunar crawler. For a space-crazy kid like me, this was maximum fun, and Matt and Callisto took my friends and me on adventures all over our living rooms and backyards.

The Major Matt Mason figures occasionally turn up today (though in far fewer numbers than, say, GI Joe figures), but the fact they were made as “bendy” toys (meaning posable) creates two problems. The paint finish on these 6-inch figures was easily damaged as kids put them through their paces in various poses; and the wires inside the figures, which enable the bending and posing, tended to break. The result is many surviving examples have “floppy” arms and legs, and repairing a broken wire is more or less impossible. Near mint or better examples of Matt and the other figures (with intact wires) generally sell for $100 and up.

Strangely, Matt and company had the market to themselves because, at the time, there was no action figures available of the Star Trek TV show characters – despite the show debuting the same year as Major Matt Mason and running until 1969. The Star Trek figures made by Mego didn’t debut until 1974, so Matt and his crew had things their own way as the United States landed a man on the moon and returned him safely to Earth.

 

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Douglas R. Kelly is the editor of Marine Technology magazine. His byline has appeared in Antiques Roadshow Insider; Back Issue; Diecast Collector; RetroFan; and Buildings magazines.