Did Your Idaho Christmas Include a Toy Robot?

Robots were all the rage when I was a kid.  They had been staples of old movie serials, and a kid’s show on local TV we watched aired many of those old films.  One of the TV show’s hosts was a guy in a robot costume.

It Was a Simpler but Happy Time

I’ve received some memorable Christmas presents.  I can recite a list from childhood.  Like the toy lunar module that rolled across the floor, beeped, and fell apart in about a month!  But the robots my brother and I received three years earlier were probably the most memorable.  They would noisily roll across the floor, burn up battery power, then stop and open fire.  Two doors on the chests would swing open and ack, ack, ack.

I was in kindergarten that year, and when we went back to school, our teacher set aside a day when we brought in a toy.  I was seriously proud of my robot until Dougie Dennis pulled his robot out of a bag.  His was the mouthy robot from Lost in Space.  I mean, I hadn’t even seen it advertised on TV!

You Can Jog Your Memory Online

I came across a video posted by a collector of old toy robots.  It’s posted below.

Would young people have the same reaction today, in the age of high-tech video games? Look, my daughter had a great time with bubble wrap when she was small, so why not?

Of course, if you can find one of the old robots in good condition, it’s probably in a museum. My brother and I were rough on toys, often burying them outside and later digging them up—if we could even remember the spot. It was a good time.

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