This will be the tenth anniversary of starting this very
blog and we are just 30 posts shy of reaching the 400th mark so in
the run up to that tenth anniversary 400th post milestone I thought
I would recap some of the popular posts of the past 10 years.
When
things had become rather hectic for me in the studio I enlisted some help and
that help was Omnibot! Having always wanted a robotic sidekick Omnibot (full name
Omnibot 5402 RX also known as the “state of the FUN robot”) he did not
disappoint. Although he had been in my employ since February that year (after
some minor repairs), I devoted a blog post to him on the 5th of
September 2018 mentioning how he carries and retrieves objects, answers the
phone, sends faxes, brings refreshments and leaves birthday greetings for
friends on social media along with the mammoth task of excavating and
cataloging my extensive collection of collectibles and memorabilia for our Omnibot’s
Robot Root-Out series before listing them on eBay to raise funds for projects
and of course not forgetting playing back archival cassette tapes for the
YouTube channel!
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Omnibot
gathering my Honey Monster merchandise collection
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As for future updates, not much to tell really he’s still
archiving my collection and listing on eBay (time of writing this he is rounding
up my collection of Honey Monster merchandise as requested by Kid (right) along with my
collection of Snoots cards) but following on from our staff outing to Hooters last December we hope to see him out and about more, so keep an eye out for
that. On a personal level, I have
derived great pleasure from this ‘seemingly’ forgotten robot range and always
relish discovering more about them, for instance- did you know that Omnibot
once appeared in the Beano?
On May 16th, 1987 in issue number 2339
Omnibot did just that, appearing with Dennis the Menace in this strip that
coincided with the comic’s Tomy competition! Although the cover promotes a "free
competition", with Omnibot as first prize (and R.A.T.S. action figures or a
Knitting Machine as runners up prizes) the contest would not officially launch
until the following issue. In the story drawn by legendary Beano artist David
Sutherland we find Dennis, jealously watching Walter the Softy with his robot
(planting flowers) wishing he had enough brains to build an Anti-Softy robot
when he receives a phone call from the Beano editor- Sure enough, the editor
wants Dennis to test out the new Omnibot robot! Dennis makes full use of
Omnobot’s remote microphone system having him declare “Out of my way Softy!”
before knocking Walter’s robot into the fish pond and loudly blaring a cassette
of Dennis and the Dinmakers! We also learn that not even Gnasher’s sharp teeth
can make a dent to Omnibot’s outer casing before Dennis’s father intervenes,
snatching the remote from Dennis and getting Omnibot to fetch him a glass of
milk. The strip was nothing more than a promotional tool for the competition
but still a lot of fun never the less!
My sincere thanks to Gavin Williams for bringing this to my attention.
I see that Omnibot is by Tomy, which means I have one of his little brothers - a wind-up robot with the same shape of head. (In fact, I've got at least 3 Tomy wind-up robots, but only one of them resembles Omnibot in the cranium department.
ReplyDeleteLooking at your Honey Monster collection, I think I've also got that yo-yo, must dig it out. My large Honey Monster figures (not the huge one in your photo) are 2nd-hand, acquired on ebay, and aren't quite as pristine as yours. Selling any of them?
Ah, Tomy's robot wind-ups- lovely things. I haven’t got any of them myself, but I have many other members of Omnibots extended family (might have to do a Omnibot family reunion post sometime)
DeleteI have the Yo-Yo (to accompany the promotional box) but I am sure that’s in the box with the crockery... Really must get a cabinet for this stuff! “ Selling any of them?” no plans just yet :)