Conehead is the obvious nickname for this robot. Despite being such an old-style robot this toy was still available in the 1968 Yonezawa catalogue, where it is referred to as the Mechanical Space Robot. The box carries Japanese writing which I cannot decipher but probably means ... Space Robot!

It is remarkable what a new head can do to invigorate a robot. Yonezawa used the body, with no modifications at all, (not even the blue metallic paint) as the basis for two other robots: the Robby Robot astronaut, and the Roby Robot. It is a simple wind-up mechanism with the switch in the lithoed front panel. The arms are feeble flat claws dangling from two dome structures. There's no doubting that the style is that of Robby from the "Forbidden Planet". The legs display the typical bulbous styling so common in robots.

I'm not sure of the order of production of these three related robots. they may even have been contemporary. Conehead has a spectacular head that immediately gives the robot an exotic, almost bizarre appearance. Two vast googly eyes, forming a spark panel, overlap and look like sunglasses. He's got pin-like hard rubber ears and a similar head point. These appendages are fragile and are often replaced.

Conehead is a Japanese superhero, popular in the late 60s. The box art confirms his special qualities for he's acquired rockets in his feet that blast him around a mountain landscape. As usual with these Japanese superheroes, a little boy accompanies him. With no regard to trading standards legislation he's shown with the bellows type arms that you find on the Lost in Space robot.

Part of his success, apart from the basic rarity, lies in the fact that he combines beautifully the traditional western robot design with the distinctive Japanese styling that is now so popular.