Horikawa Piston Robot Factory Prototypes

[target]

How come no one on the board is talking about these from Horikawa/SH/Metal House robot's . Has anyone seen these at the Museum or versions of this in Japan ? They are truly awesome looking !

[RoboCopy]

I find it amazing* that someone seems to have a continuous supply of these 40y old "proto types"

* hard to believe

[Morbius]

These all look 'too new', don't seem to be aged at all. I'm a styrene vintage model builder as well... I wonder if these bright glossy plastic arms/legs/tinted bodies are being newly manufactured with the old moulds. Yes they just keep on 'discovering' new never before seen items. They are beautiful 'bots but how big is this mysterious cabinet of prototypes that no one has frequented inside for 40 years or so? I see 'em come up, I say to myself they're nice, then I move on to the stuff I know is truly vintage. If these interest some collector at that $ level (some I've seen have been quite high) then there IS a market and as Seinfeld once said "...not that there's anything wrong with that."

I'd say they've got to be considered more of a NEW ROBOT than vintage OR repop OR prototype. Just my opinion, no disrespect intended to the parties involved.

[Brian..]

Yes, Michael, new robots masquerading as old.

[dratomic]

Because they're not prototypes. They're modern robots assembled in extremely limited numbers and then called prototypes in the hope that the term will lend them some caché among collectors. But it's disingenuous -- the terms "prototype" or "preproduction" imply the piece is an early stage in the development of a production toy. These aren't -- they were never meant to launch a new line of robots. They're cobbled together by factories/companies looking for quick sales.

I wish companies would sell these things for what they are: limited edition toys. Instead, they cause confusion by bandying around terminology that doesn't apply, and misleading collectors who might be new to the hobby (or to the world of prototypes and preproduction pieces).

By the way, this has nothing to do with vintage vs. modern. Modern toys -- even reproductions -- have prototypes and preproduction stages that are really fun to collect, and help tell the story behind the toys. I just hate when the terminology is used to trick people into thinking they have something they don't.

So yes, they're nice looking, limited edition toys. But that's all they are.

[Morbius]

"I wish companies would sell these things for what they are: limited edition toys. Instead, they cause confusion by bandying around terminology that doesn't apply"

Dr.A., that's exactly what I was thinking.

[dratomic]

Yeah, every time I see one of these things listed as a prototype I cringe. Prototype of WHAT? Not something that ever went into production. So... Unproduced prototype? That'd be a fair assumption since of course prototypes for toys that never made it to market exist.

But these robots were made to be sold. So they're not prototypes, they're production pieces. Limited edition, sure. But let's not try to make them into something they're not.

Prototypes are important because they're part of the process -- not because they're rare, or they're variations, or anything like that. They're steps in a journey that ultimately leads to the toys we love; they provide insight into the toy making process; they give us history and context and further increase our understanding of these toys. Some of them -- sculpts, models, hand-made pieces -- are literally works of art.

Yeah, it's fun that they're rare -- no doubt about it. But that's not what really makes them so cool. The companies that put these things out and call them prototypes, they don't understand any of that. They're just looking for an easy marketing angle.

Sorry! Couldn't help the little rant! Just ignore me, I'm being crotchety! ;)

[target]

Well I found these to be unique . I am not sure when they were made or how many other unique variations there may be. We need Gernot to comment here if he has seen these at Metal House during his trips to Japan. If not where do they come from .....?

[dratomic]

Oh yeah, definitely unique. And in this case, nice looking, too. I just quibble with their being called prototypes. Not disagreeing with anything else.

[gernot]

It is difficult to tell or define what these robots are.

These are different from the limited series of recent metal House robots which have been put together from left over production parts.

I cannot recall having seen exactly one of these (piston robots), but I remember to have seen similar ones looking basically the same as the original robots but using different colored parts like arms, feet, head or any of the transparent parts.

These seem to be really one of a kind pieces, but it is hard to tell or verify if these have been made originally during or before the original production. The piston robot came out in the 70s,, it might be possible that some of the plastic parts like arms, legs or the transparent parts have been made as samples in different colors during that time or in advance of the production.

So there is a chance that these really could be called prototypes or robots made partly from pre-produced parts.

However it is also possible nowadays to reproduce any part, especially plastic, but it is a hard effort and would make no sense just to produce one ot two pieces. However, I do not know the truth in this case. Everything is possible but my feeling says these are original pieces and not new produced.

Why: Because have seen similar pieces (but very view and not these) in the house of one of the brothers of Metal House, Mr. Shinji Miyazawa, the youngest of the three brothers of former Metal House Co.

Now the sad news: Unfortunately Mr. Shinji-san passed away just recently in May this year. I received this message during my last trip to Japan in June. I am sad that I could not visit him again before he passed away. He was a really nice person and a genius for inventing robot features. We should open a separate topic for this matter and show some pieces he created in the 70s and 80s up to recent years.

So there is a possibility in this case that these pieces are coming from his collection of pre-produced toys.

[gernot]

This is a picture I took in 2010 in Shinjis House, this is an authentic Prototype piece with Green Plastic head.

The other picture shows mr. Shinji Miyazawa in 2010 during my visit.

I hope he will meet all our friends in Robot Heaven (Henk Gosses, Pit Kuhl, Bob Coolen) and all the other great friends that have passed away.

[Roboto]

So sad to hear a great Master of Robots has passed away. I also have seen photos and perhaps they should be called Limited run or Samples. That green headed piston is an excellent one of a kind just like these samples from MH.

[Roboto]

Here are a few larger photos of both very nice looking samples. Some parts look new while others are from older stock. I like how they have added both new/old parts as one. The tin Litho on the dark blue version really stands out.

[roboz]

I'd call these concept robots. If you track back to the start of Metal House's limited series & 'prototypes' what you will see is elements that did make it into their production robots. For instance the Mr Atomic Light panel , Various Eyes , Grill , Mouth , Dials , The Hex robot head etc. So like a concept car, these Robots introduce you to tech & design cues for later models. ( I am referring to the original cobbled prototypes) As for the actual age of these particular robots pictured , who knows?

I have some vintage Robots/Space toys from the 50's that look brand spanking new.

I would think in the factory they were well taken care of so mint condition wouldn't surprise me especially horikawas/MH produced through the 80's 90's . Shinzi included a letter for my changeman which is cool. I seriously doubt they are manufacturing new components for 1 offs. Seems kind of pointless. Fact is they are Japanese in Origin & from the actual factory so even if they are cobbling stuff together it's still a one off from the factory. That said personally I'll stick to the 50's 60's era for the most part but If I had the Scratch these are pretty cool & I hope this isn't a swan song close out sale for MH

[Roboto]

I also hope that MH will still be able to make unique limited editions of Robots in the years to come. They have started to use what ever they have left in new old stock and hopefully many collectors will buy there products. Look what they have done with the Dino parts when the Machine gun robot was released in a limited run. They still seem to turn there spare parts into great working and looking robots. We may even see much older parts being made into new editions.