Yonezawa – Diamond Planet Robot

As much as I hoped… I never really never expected to have this Holy Grail on my shelves.I only knew the robot from books and saw him 2 times in real in the color red. As much as other robots can be impressive.. nothing beats this Diamond Planet Robot.

This Robot was made by Yonezawa in the early sixties ( 1962 ) and is made to last a decade ! Totally made out of Thick and strong tinplate. Interesting is the fact that there is a ” battery compartment ” at the back of the robot while the robot is powered by a strong windup / clockwork mechanism.  I have seen pictures of the Prototype of this robot that was indeed battery operated. The robot never went into production and the final version was powered with a windup mechanism. This Diamond Planet robot is supposed to be the biggest windup robot ever made. A big windup key goes with the robot but I am still looking for one.

Diamond Planet robot was made in 2 color variations: red with blue arms and ears and blue with red arms and ears. Red is the more common color variation ( I have seen 2 red ones in real and 2 in auction. all red ) the action is the same. In the center of the robot is an ” oxygen ” Meter that goes from left to right, just the same action as Winky Robot ( also made by Yonezawa 🙂

Yonezawa Diamond Planet Robot can be considered as one or maybe THE most wanted and searched for Robot on this planet.
where Masudaya`s Machine Man is ” rare like sjiet ” ( still a great phrase Xris ! 🙂 This Diamond Planet Robot is probably the hardest robot to find and is missing in simply 98 % of all the robot collections. Its estimated that only a handful survived.

This robot made a long journey… a very long one. I bought it from a good friend in Japan but I traced the robot before in Italy, more precise..on one of the islands there. I have no idea how it ended up again in Japan but since he was “born” there, I guess he liked it the most there 🙂 You can see what happens when these robots are stored away in moisture area’s . One side on the left and some scattered spots at the back show the signs of this. The robot has been played with and was then put away in a moisture cellar, something like that. and the moist had its influence on the ” damaged ” parts of the lithoed tin off the robot.

When I received the robot it showed some rust but I was able to clean about 60 % already. The tin and litho is very strong so it’s safe to clean most of the rust. It took me a couple of evenings and the robot is MORE than acceptable again. When I have time I will do the rest. Interesting is that…. ( the robot does not come with the key ) when I cleaned him and touched his on / off switch he came to life. More interesting was the fact that he still sparks as well. His meter moved and the robot drove forwards just like he did when he left the factory… wow these robots are great !

The overall condition is very good and the robot is 100 % original and in perfect working order. The robot is missing his windup key but I will find one, only a matter of time. The robot has never been messed with before. all parts are original and there is no damage, dings or broken parts. There are still some areas with scattered rust but its all concentrated on the left side and some at the back. Its not a mint robot but still an above average example of this holy grail. He displays awesome and yes…… he looks down on his “robot people ” like he is a sort of ” robot god ” very impressive.

Exceedingly rare and scarce robot, even in this condition. I am pretty sure this will be the first AND last example in my collection and why ?… Yonezawa Diamond Planet only shows up once in a lifetime..

If you have any questions about this robot then contact me
on boogo.nl@gmail.com
Marco