1971 - Orbit Grippidee Gravidee by Asahi / Tomy

[Joe K.]

As seen in this January through June 1971, library-bound copy of Toys and Novelties magazine:

The date can be further pinpointed to the April 1971 issue as seen in the lower right hand corner of the above image.

Here's a related Robot Talk thread:

Elsewhere in the book is this Play-Doh Robot Oddkins set:

Unable to narrow down the date, other than to say it's from the first half of 1971.

The recently ended listing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOYS-AND-NOVELTIES-JAN-THRU-JUNE-T0Y-CATALOG-TO-THE-TRADE-1971-/231579844629?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35eb3c0015&nma=true&si=NTudGCwwZusQVJ2OIFGADJLGEsM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[robothunter]

I remember this. I was so cool to be able to make Play-Doh robots. I wasn't playing with or collecting robots back then but my neighbor's kid had this and I took notice of it being very cool at the time.

[brad55me]

Thanks for posting the 2 pages of the Toys and Novelties Magazine, Joe. The 2 pages feature the various Grippidee Gravidee sets that I am a collector of, including sets I have such as the Zoom and Boom Buggy and the Snail Mini-Grip Gravidee. I am looking forward to finding an Orbit GG, but so far no luck there. I've found that the Mini Grip sets are inferior to the original GG sets, due to a lousy connecting system that almost guarantees connector breakage, and a single track that holds up poorly when put to to test of having the Space Ships or Snail travel along it. However, it is endlessly interesting for me to learn more and more about the variations Tomy created with this line of toys, and from what I've learned, there seems almost an endless variety of sets that were produced between 1968 and 1974. Very cool toy!

[plasticaugie]

I have been picking up FAO catalogs when I can. This Gripidee set is in the off season for use through August 31, 1972. It is listed in the train section. A Horikawa TV robot is shown in the mechanical toys section.