By William Gallagher
A recent auction of a “Machine Man” robot selling for almost $160,000 created a stir about this robot and the associated
“Gang of Five” family of robots based on the same stampings. These 15-inch-tall, battery-operated robots, were produced by Masudaya of Japan. Masudaya is Japan’s oldest operating toy company, tracing its history back to 1724. Their MT (T over M) logo (for Masudaya Toy) has been used since the 1920s. In the 1930s it established a Modern Toy laboratory and later added Modern Toy to its logo causing many to think that MT stood for Modern Toys. It is hard to imagine a toy company that is approaching its 300th year in business.
Masudaya did not produce as many robots as some other Japanese toy companies. However, it is famous for producing a series of five skirted robots over a period of seven years. Robot collectors have affectionately named this very collectible group of robots the “Gang of Five.”
After spending almost two years in development, Masudaya completed the world’s first radio remote-controlled toy—a 14”long tin bus—in 1955. Among the “Gang of Five,” the first radio-controlled robot toy was the Radicon, produced in 1957. Although this was Masudaya’s second Radicon toy, it was a technically more difficult toy to stamp and manufacture. At 15” tall, it was an extremely large robot for its time.
The Non-Stop Robot followed the Radicon Robot in 1959. The Non-Stop Robot is referred to as the “Lavender Robot” because of its lavender color. It used the same body but had the function of non-stop action.
A special order from one of Masudaya’s American customers led to the production of a red-colored robot variation based on the Non-Stop Lavender robot. Its name was Giant Machine Man. The quantity produced was very small, resulting in this robot’s extreme rarity today.
In 1962, the Giant Sonic Robot was released. This robot also had non-stop action with a supersonic sound.
In 1964, Shooting Giant Robot or Target Robot was added to the line. It came with a dart-shooting pistol. Hitting the target caused the robot to turn and go away from you before returning again.
While Masudaya is famous for these toys that came to be known as the “Gang of Five,” the skirted robots were not successful at the time—making them rare today.
If we only knew then what we know now!