Its well known that im a huge fan of the famous LP Robots and its a personal mission of mine to find as many variants of the bell shaped figure as I can. Ive had s et of the rubber ones since I was about 7, having bought them from Woolworths along with the usual collection of 'Teachers Pets' or 'rubber jigglers' as they seem to be named in the US. I next came upon them in the Apollo Moon Exploring sets, in tiny chrome figures. Since then, ive discovered or been shown many examples in different materials and forms. Historically, I always considered them to be armoured or suited aliens as opposed to robots and always though my angry little friend was the leader and came from Jupiter!
I asked Maverick Collecting for his take on the mysterious Robots:
"Although much harder to find than the Astronauts, I'm assumimg all six are available in each type, just haven't tracked them down yet.
First we have the chromium-plated ones, in both scales, then a Matt silver on a hardish vinyl (the only one I've found, either robot or astronaut), note also he has been converted to novelty status already with the addition of a key-chain loop. Then some soft ethylene gunmetal small scale, which match the similar astronauts (they look silver in the photograph, but it's just flash-wash). All the above are wearing the LP Monster-in-a-starburst' on the base underside.
The rest are marked with an uneven HONG KONG, the first three - running round the suction-cup, the second three - running down the suction cup. I would think these were not LP, but may have come from the same factory, only the moulds have been re-cut on the second (lower) sample.
2nd pic
Again with the full Monster-mark, these accomany an unpainted white astronaut, and will probably come in the middle of the above sample issue-time wise."
And just for good measure ive added in a couple of shots of my little collection. On the base of the sucker cupped figures are the letters 'ATS' in a kind of motif - anyone any clues as to the identity ?
I agree: these are armoured aliens, possibly cybernetically enhanced, not robots.
ReplyDeleteATS - All Terrain Sucker! Seriously, I don't know. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteATS - Acme Thurster Scooter? Hihi!
ReplyDeleteHmm, that was supposed to be, "thruster".
ReplyDeleteCan we have edit tools, please ^_^
I stated in the original Plastic Warrior follow-up article on these, that I thought there was a conection with 2000AD comic, and the 'Sam Slade - Robo-hunter' strip.
ReplyDeleteI have as yet to unpack my 2000's but when I do I'm pretty sure I'll find similarities. Perticularly with the rocket-booted Robot (third column in my 'living graph, or; green key-ring).
The robots seem to have been a later addition - The large 'painted both sides' astronauts being early 60's, the smaller chromed ones then comming in with Spacex and GA in (1967?...ish), the robots only then join them in generic/un-branded carded sets in the early 70's.
All conjecture, but, it's probably fair to say (given the other posts here tonight) that the Sam Slade artist had a handfull to hand, as that comic started in '77 and SS wasn't amoung the first storylines?
As I worshiped 2000AD, if the artist thought they were Robots, then they are Robots!
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ReplyDeleteMaverick, if you do come across any similarities in 2000AD, I'd certainly like to see them, please. I love seeing comic connections. There is this cover, which has a vague resemblance to Wotan (although nowhere near as handsome as he):
ReplyDeletehttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/3717386471_94c30585c9.jpg
But as for you and the artist considering these to be robots, well ... (Toad shakes head ^_^)
Yes, there's a definate influence from Wotans favorite there, but there was one storyline in which there was some big revolution by the Robots and several of them were LP'ish. Also the wheeled one I'm slowly turning into a Police Robo-bike (see the post on my blog) has similarities with one of the Robots from the seperate strip about the Robot salvage crew who go about like the A-team, sorting out troubles and collecting garbage, but I can't remeber the name? Same artist? I think they were ex-military? One was called Mec-quake?
ReplyDeleteAs to Aliens? Let me ruffle your feathers with my intellectual/geek/pedant head on...
Any two similar species must - under the laws of nature - look similar...Rabbits and Hares.
Any two close Species must - under the laws of nature - look similar...Horses and Zebras
Any two close species must - under the laws of nature - look similar...Sapiens and Neandertall or Mamutt and Masterdon.
Any two geological-timewise vaugley related species must - under the laws of nature - look similar...Horses and Cows, all Birds, all Bats etc...!
So, we have 6 fellows here one of whom has Wheels, another - jet-boots, some have antenae, some don't...they have to be Robots!
To smooth your feathers slightly...they could concivably be Androids, with a small piece of living tissue in the brain-box al la Darlek's?
Toads not have feathers (^_^)
ReplyDelete-----------------------
Your comparison of species is specious (hihi) ...
On Earth:
(1) "species" does not have a definition which is universally accepted by naturalists - it is at best ill-defined.
(2) Assignment to a "species" is at best haphazard and mutable.
(3) There are no "laws of nature".
Even among Humans themselves, there are any number of variations: compare Pygmies and Sumo Wrestlers - an enormous variance.
As for the creatures (whatever they are):
(1) Who said they are even from the same planet, let alone similar species - they have technology!
(2) Are you so sure they do not go through different life-stages as do tadpoles-frogs or caterpillars-butterflies?
(3) Could they possibly be "enhanced" animals? ie, they have "upgraded" their bodies by adding, say, wheels?
(4) Could they simply be wearing the wheels or armour? (remember how western eyes thought horse-mounted tribesmen were a single, new type of creature?).
(5) Could one or more of the creatures actually be members of different species trained to perform tasks (rather like Humans train dogs to help the blind, or monkeys as home-helps)?
(6) Could the variations we see among these creatures (minus the technology) be little more than something akin to those differences among Humans - Caucasian, Asian, Afro-Caribbean, etc.?
Your case is unproven so far. I put to you another scenario: the creator(s) of those robots (within the word of Sam Slade, which was one of great violence and degeneration) was so bereft of imagination that he found it necessary to seek inspiration for his designs in the body-forms of aliens.
Maverick: on which of your blogs do you have the Police Robo-bike? You have so much amazing posts, it will take me a week (at least) just to catch up! ^_^
ReplyDeleteI'm keeping out of this one!
ReplyDeleteI was a huge fan of 2000 ad until fairly recently. There were several robot based stories starting with Sam Slade and then Ro-Busters in Starlord which gradually combined with ABC Warriors in 2000 ad.
ReplyDeleteI cant for the life of me recall any art with a similarity to the LP robots, although that cover is very like my fave!
As to the aliens/robots debate - they could be a union of various species (and include robots and cyborgs) like Halo's Covenant.
2000 AD reminds me of carefree Student days! Strontium Dog was a favourite. I sometimes come across stacks of them at Car Boots but have never parted with cash. I love that WOTAN cover! It's clearly the same robotandroidaliencyborgwotbot!
ReplyDeleteRobotandroidaliencyborgwotbot? Try repeating that four times very quickly!
ReplyDeleteI never got to like 2000 AD. Found it far too violent and dystopian - a bit like real life, come to think of it
^_^
PT - What if one of the 'Tadpoles' want's to change into a 'Frog' (why would anybody WANT to be French - little bigot joke there!) in the middle of a battle?
ReplyDeleteGo to 'smallescaleworld' and just click LP in the index down the RHS. It's nothing special, I undercoated him grey and highlighted the panel lines etc with a mapping pen. Still need/want (one day!) to dark the tyres, grease-up the engine and wash/drybrush. Then a blue light on his helmet and paint his pointy-sticky thing to represent a traffic baton!
Thanks, Maverick - your instructions got me there.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to finish that paint job some day - I certainly want to see it. I can't help but think of the policeman in The Phantom Tollbooth (yes, I know that was a unicycle) ^_^