David Kirk Posted January 3 Posted January 3 Just guessing, but I'd guess the retractable arms were a very small first run before they realized it wasn't worth the extra trouble and expense. I don't know why, but I was somehow expecting it to be more dramatic! Still, wonderful to see that action exists. I wonder what they had to change in the mechanism. Do the non-retractables have mechanical vestiges of the retractable version if you took them apart? How many retractables are there out there? This is the first I've ever seen.
robothut Posted January 3 Posted January 3 Too bad the yearly Alphadrome crashes That happened way back in the day have deleted so many posts from way back in the day when I first pointed out that there was a retractable arm mechanism in a Thunder robot I was repairing. No one that posted way back then believed me. Finally, the side-by-side proof, even if I am the only one that remembers the original post. Thank you, Ozzy, for the video showing both versions. And yes, David their mechanical vestiges hiding in many of the Japan Thunder robots. Mine in the robot hut has some of the linkage that pulls the hand / arm bellows back when the arm lifts up.
K-9 Posted January 3 Posted January 3 6 hours ago, David Kirk said: Just guessing, but I'd guess the retractable arms were a very small first run before they realized it wasn't worth the extra trouble and expense. Good video Ozzie for comparison between the two versions. The retractable arm mechanism is very cool; I think David may be on to the reason that the fixed arm versions outnumber the retractable arm versions.
zebedee Posted January 3 Posted January 3 Great video on a great robot, thanks for showing the difference in this wonderful toy...
zzrobot Posted January 3 Posted January 3 Retractable one shoulder is larger, and the chrome pieces on the top sides are different also
ADMINDATA Posted January 4 Author Posted January 4 On the close up of the shooting there's a bit of recoil going on with the retractable guns which is really cool
plasticaugie Posted January 4 Posted January 4 On 1/3/2025 at 11:14 AM, robothut said: Mine in the robot hut has some of the linkage that pulls the hand / arm bellows back when the arm lifts up. As clear as mud. Just for the record, the "guns" do not retract into the hands, what you are seeing is the accordion arm pulling back exposing the guns, the hands are retracting. The linkage is attached to the hand. Sometimes reading alphadrome is like an episode of the twilight zone. You can watch this happen in John's video and Ozzie's as well. Sorry if this is coming off like a jerk, lol.
robothut Posted January 5 Posted January 5 It is clear as mud, you are right. I am old and my memory is crap, but as I recall it was 15 or 20 years ago when I did a thunder robot repair for Probably Pat Karris, but it could have been Ozzy or even Ray Rhor. The thunder robot had the effect when operating of the guns in the hands being less visible when the arms were down and more exposed when the arms were up and shooting. I posted to Alphadrome and at the time no had seen this before, so few were on board with what I was trying to say. Now jump forward to just 2 years ago. I did a video on the beat-up original Thunder robot I have in my collection. When I move the arms up manually it looks like the guns are drawn into the arms, the opposite of what the effect should be. But keep in mind that manually moving a mechanical linkage is not the same as letting the mechanics of the toy move the linkage. So when the robot is running on its own power the guns do not look to move in or out on my robot. That is why I was so glad to see Ozzys video showing the gun/ arm movement effect. I think my Thunder robot is either not functioning completely correctly or it was made after they stopped building the robot with the gun movement effect.
ADMINDATA Posted January 5 Author Posted January 5 John yours has the blue tab cover too as well as the 8 bellows ! I bet it also has the flesh colored battery box . My guess is something that retracted the arms disconnected around the hand Trying to figure how why one side of my arm bellows are sort of crooked & droopy looking
plasticaugie Posted January 6 Posted January 6 21 hours ago, robothut said: Now jump forward to just 2 years ago. I did a video on the beat-up original Thunder robot I have in my collection. When I move the arms up manually it looks like the guns are drawn into the arms, the opposite of what the effect should be. But keep in mind that manually moving a mechanical linkage is not the same as letting the mechanics of the toy move the linkage. So when the robot is running on its own power the guns do not look to move in or out on my robot. That is why I was so glad to see Ozzys video showing the gun/ arm movement effect. I think my Thunder robot is either not functioning completely correctly or it was made after they stopped building the robot with the gun movement effect. 21 hours ago, robothut said: Thanks John for making all the videos that you do, it really helps when working on these robots. Some differences that I noticed between the two is that there are usually bare metal studs? near the Asakusa logo. Different colored tabs on the sides of the head as Ozzie mentioned and the switch will only have to places on each side that have been pressed in for tabs, the later short arm version will have the tabs pressed in above and below the switch but still will have the unused pressing on each side as well.
plasticaugie Posted Saturday at 07:53 PM Posted Saturday at 07:53 PM On 1/3/2025 at 9:35 AM, David Kirk said: How many retractables are there out there? This is the first I've ever seen. This is a great question, can we get an estimate from the board. Ozzie has one now, Marco has one, John Rigg has one, so the list is 4 afaik right now. Marco's site has an extensive write up on it, he says he has owned several fixed gun versions, but this is his first 8 ring example that he has seen. Just had a quick look through the collection pages, I didn't find any more examples. Perry , The Collector, Gernot, Henk, Pat K and others have 6 ring Thunders displayed. Quick edit, I checked all my available robot books, Future Toys, Moran (was griffs), Kittihara (multiple books), Morita, multiple Morphy books, and the Green Arrow Graffiti book, even a line drawing in the Payton book, they all picture the 6 ring robot. The only printed reference that shows an actual 8 ring Thunder is the 1985 Grimmet/Carlton calendar, the "Real" Copper Thunder.
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