Apr 11, 2011

BATTERY OPERATED ROBOT TOYS WITH STORMTROOPER HEADS

There's a whole bunch of cool battery operated robot toys that I'll be talking about in this post. Most of them walk, make noise, and have blinking lights, but they all share something terribly intriguing in common: a knock-off stormtrooper head! I'll be telling you about the kinds of variations these guys have, and I'll list every version that I know of in a handy checklist at the end of this post.

Here's a Galaxy Warrior from 1979.



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Its box mentions "AMICO" and "CDI PRODUCT", so I'm assuming they're involved in the manufacturing and/or distribution of our buddy here.

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The door on the toy's chest opens up and a device with light-up guns can come forward.

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Two of the most obvious differences to spot in the stormtrooper 'bots are their color and their head shape. These came in black or silver (and I know of one white version, too). See the photo below? I'll be referring to the head shape on the left as "big-head" and the right one as "small-head".

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This silver small-head version has the same opening chest feature shown earlier, though the colors are a bit different, along with the sticker.

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There's a few common changes in these various robots. Some have claws while others have more human-like hands. There are multiple designs for the chest doors, including one that is mostly yellow with a green pie-chart in the top right of each door and two half-circle gauges in the middle.

Some look completely different compared to the Galaxy Warrior I showed above. Judging from photos I've seen, there's robots that have a body and legs that appear to be connected to each other. In addition to that, instead of having doors on its chest it has a large section that looks like it may be able to light up.

There's robots that have screens on their bodies and some sort of antenna coming out of their left shoulder.

My favorite form of these stormtrooper head toys is the awesome glow in the dark "Space Warrior" version. The reason I prefer this one is because its box somewhat resembles vintage Star Wars product packaging. And c'mon, who doesn't want a glowy robot seemingly floatin' around in the dark?

Although it's not a Star Wars knockoff, I thought it'd be interesting to show you the toy pictured below. It has the same body as the big-head black Galaxy Warrior. The only difference is that it has the orange insides like the silver robot I have. I think its name is "Moon Explorer".

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There's been many robot toys that have used these legs, arms, or other elements. Some, I know, date back at least to the 1960s if not further, and some were made of tin.

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This guy kinda gives me the creeps, to be honest. I feel like there's a troll or something living inside my cool robot toy and is peeking out to spy on me.

I saw an incredible photo from an early 80's Hong Kong toy trade show catalogue that shows a big-head silver robot... standing behind a different toy that is clearly a rip off of R2-D2! Two orange legs with large feet come off the sides of a white cylindrical body with a blue dome. There's a few flag designs (including the USA's and the UK's) wrapping around the body, and below that are two protruding guns. Since it's just a trade show catalogue there's no telling if the R2 was ever mass produced for sale, but it's still really exciting knowing that the idea was ever conceived.
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"CONFIRMED TO EXIST" CHECKLISTS (I'll update these if I come across any more variations)

BOXES FOR "STORMTROOPER-HEAD" ROBOT TOYS

Galaxy Warrior
- Black, big-head, red feet, black insides, yellow triangles on doors, claws

Silver Warrior
- Silver, big-head, red feet, red doors, pie-charts on doors, orange insides, claws

Space Robot Series
- (Window box)

Space Warrior (glow in the dark)
- Black, big-head, black feet, "21" on door, claws, "GLOWS IN THE DARK" in green spiky balloon
- Black, big-head, black feet, "21" on door, claws, "GLOWS IN THE DARK" in blue spiky balloon

Star Robot (version with doors)
- Black, big-head, black feet, triangles on doors, black insides, claws
- Silver, big-head, red doors, red feet, pie-chart on doors, orange insides, claws
- Silver, big-head, red doors, red feet, orange insides, claws, "SONIC CONTROL" written at the top of the box's front

Star Robot (version without doors)
- Black, big-head, red feet/base, claws

Super Astronaut
- Illustration of Silver, red feet, triangles on doors, orange insides, claws

Super Space Commander
- Illustration of black, red foot robot with screen on body and red antenna coming out of its shoulder
- Illustration of silver, red foot robot with screen on body and red antenna coming out of its shoulder

THE "STORMTROOPER-HEAD" ROBOT TOY ITSELF (The titles indicate which box I'm guessing they originally came in)

Galaxy Warrior
- Black, big-head, red feet, yellow triangles on doors, black insides, claws

Star Robot (version with doors)
- Silver, big-head, red feet, red doors, pie-chart on doors, claws

Star Robot (version without doors)
- Black, big-head, red feet/base, claws

Space Warrior (glow in the dark)
- Black, big-head, black feet, "21" on door, green eyes/mouth/chin, claws

Silver Warrior
- Silver, big-head, red feet, pie-charts on doors, claws

Name unknown
- Black, big-head, black feet, yellow triangles on doors, hands
- Black, small head, red feet, claws, TV screen on body, red antennae coming off of its left shoulder
- Black, big-head, black feet, hands, green eyes/mouth/chin
- Silver, small-head, red feet, yellow triangles on doors, orange insides, claws
- Silver, big-head, silver feet, red doors, hands, green eyes/mouth/chin
- Silver, big-head, silver feet, red doors, triangles on doors, hands, black eyes/mouth/chin
- White, big-head, red feet, blue eyes/claws/sides of knees, image on chest

4 comments:

  1. Hi, I was reading though your page and saw that you were wondering if there was a black star robot. and figure I let you know that there was cause I picked one up not to long ago.

    "Whether there's a black "Star Robot" is unknown to me."

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  2. Another bit of info the robot dubbed "galaxy warrior" was made by a company called "Galoob" you may better know them for making the Tiny little cars called "Micro Machines" Just thought that would maybe interest you a bit. Thanks for the great blog.

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  3. Thanks for the info! I've updated the page to include both of the helpful notes that you gave me. Thanks also for calling my blog "great"!

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  4. Hi any information on the white storm trooper with red boots and blue claws eyes light up and inside glows. I just picked one up and can not find any info

    ReplyDelete