THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF GERRY ANDERSON 1929 - 2012, CREATOR OF THUNDERBIRDS & CENTURY 21 TOYS.

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Ground Control

What's your favourite type of motion for your toys? Friction drive? Remote Control? Battery-operated mystery action? Is there a modern form of motion that's completely new in toys?

5 comments:

WOTAN said...

Probably the best application of power is in Starcom - a form of 'self winding clockwork energises weapons, hatches, cargo bays and all manner of transformation. Tomy Zoids used clockwork wind up motors for a range of models too.

Ive added solar panels to capsela models to great effect too!

Richard Bensam said...

I feel most sentimental about pullback motors, i.e., the type where you roll the toy backwards, winding up an internal spring so when you let go it zips forward. I was least keen on battery power. But my favorite motive power source is the human hand: I preferred wheeled toys that didn't move by themselves!

Andy B said...

I'm with Richard, human hand every time.
I hated toys with wheels where there shouldn't be any, such as the Thunderbirds JR toys. Craft that were supposed to fly shouldn't be limited to the carpet!

Bill Everatt said...

Me too! I can still remember when I was a Six-Year-Old thinking; "Thunderbird One does not have big wheels there!" and "Why does Thunderbird Five look nothing like the real one!" That's why I liked the SWORD Zero X so much as it was reasonably accurate. IMHO

Yorkie said...

I used to saw off the wheels and the sticking out plastic section that held them. Unfortunately there was then a rather large gap in the toy. Aargh!

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