Asakusa – Thunder Robot

I found this robot surprisingly in Belgium where it belonged to an inventory of robots and space toys. The collection was a high end collection and all the toys had been taken care for for many years. The collector decided to sell his robots recently and I bought most of them. this thunder was part of that collection.

Thunder Robot was build in Japan in the early sixties by Asakusa.
Asakusa was a small Japanese Manufacturer that was mainly known for building tin Battery operated model cars. They produced ONE robot in 1957 called Thunder Robot… we all whished they produced more robots because Asukasa`s Thunder Robot became THE Robot Icon of the golden Age, the sixties.

This somewhat bullet shaped robot is all torso and no head or… no torso and all head ? We will probably never find out because there is not much know about Asakusa in Japan. The rare shape of this robot is for sure what makes this robot unique. Did the Asakusa creators found their inspiration in the Maya culture, who knows….

The actions of Thunder Robot leaves nothing to the imagination, its made for total destruction…. Walking around Thunder Robot suddenly raises both arms and reveals 2 “hidden Guns” He starts to fire with a loud ra-ta-ta sound and shaking guns. When all enemies are destroyed, Thunder Robot lowers his arms (guns) and walks forward with flashing lights in search of new enemies.

Asukasa`s Thunder Robot is one of most copied robots from the sixties. Reproductions are mostly made in China ( Ha-ha toys )
Reproductions lack the asukasa logo stamp underneath both feet, the lenses of the eyes are different, battery compartment is different, paint, on-off switch is mounted in a different way, lights in the guns are white ( original has red lights ) and there is more…

The condition of this very rare thunder robot is excellent to  near mint and the robot looks only shows very light playwear and a few small scratches from being played with. This is really a high above average example. The robots antenna is original. Clean battery compartment with some cracks ( common for these robots by the way )  and the robot works fine and strong with all the lights and actions working and spinning antenna. never been messed with before…

You will really have a hard job to upgrade this example !!!

Because of a very short productionrun and a very poor distribution, Asakusa`s Thunder Robot became one of the “Holy Grails” of many collectors. Rare and VERY Scarce and almost impossible to find in this excellent and 100 % working condition.

CFP: Contact me For Price     at     boogo.nl@gmail.com