Robot Commando commercial ( Ideal 1961 )

[Danbertex]

Awesome. I wanted one of these so bad. The other cool robotics was the "Rockem-Sockem Robots by Marx" Anybody remember those?

[svengoolie007]

ROBUTT COMMANDO

[sinsagoodmansbrother]

This toy is going for $250.00 dollars on Ebay right now!!!!

[cjamescook]

The hand controller could "translate" a strongly voiced FIRE command into action. The puff of air from your mouth would cause a flat metal plate to move back, thus closing a switch to activate the missile. Primitive, but it worked for a kid. Obviously, you could blow into it to achieve the same thing.

[RahkshiPoopi]

This "Robot Commando" is kinda like one of the Transformers toys.

[Indigosnakes]

My older brother had Robot Commando, I had the Great Garloo. We had them fight one day. Robot Commando was determined the winner because in a head to head pushing match, having more weight and power, he would not only halt the Great Garloo's forward progress, but slowly push him backwards as well. My brother gloated.

[SatansMullet]

I WANT A ROWBUTT COMMANDO!!!!

[Chops1657]

I got this toy when I was 5yrs. old in 1962. Had it for one week then lost it in a house fire. I thought alot about him. I'm OK.

[EMS8643]

While awaiting being moved from a friend's house to mine, during Hurricane Donna in 1960, I remember playing with that toy, that the friend owned. First and only time I got to play with one.

Can be specific, too (looked it up), was Monday, September 12, 1960!

[fastold]

love how the tank rolls over and dies just like in real life :P

[ThoGunArm]

I have that commercial on the "1,001 Classic Commercials" DVD that I got for my birthday.

[fiddlerpin]

Got mine from a customer.  It was under his a/c air handler in the attic. He gave it to me! Got it working too. Fires the missle out of his head and throws plastic balls. Even the controller works. You blew into the controller and a wand inside makes the electrical contact. Had this as a kid. Mom threw it away.

[al3699]

''robot commando fires his secret weapon''

cunningly concealed behind see-through plastic

[sguaraus1984]

lol he is crossed eye!

[prowlus]

Intergalactic planetery!

[quiettman11]

I HAVEJUST AGAIN BECOME AE PROUD OFFICAL____ ROBOT COMMANDO_ FULL FLEGGED "ADMIRAL"!! OF THIS FINE FIGHTING MACHINE!!.MUCH MUST BE DONE IN SECRECY. AS OUR ENEMIES MAY BE LISTENING!!..WE SHALL FIGHT FROM PROTECTING OUR BORDER'S/AND ARE IN FULL SUPORT OF BRINGING IN THE MURDER'S OF 9/11/2001!! BEFORE THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COWARDLY ATTACK!! XX PLEASE KNOW I IN NO WAY MEAN TO DEMEAN THE REAL VICTIMS.OF SAID EVENTS! THIS IS JUST MY HOPES/ AND PRAYERS FOR THESE SOULS.!! GOD BLESS THEM ALL!

[phaloxxx]

is it just me or does he look like a trash bin....lol the trash bin that takes orders from no one...BUT YOU!!! lol FIRE!!!

[stupidstuffx]

The sad thing is that I actually want this thing

[TheRingOfRed]

@stupidstuffx

sad? no way, I imagine this is worth a considerable sum today.

[showmerightnow]

What a GREAT ad! That was mega cool. Thanks for sharing!

[choirboyfromhell1]

He's looking for YOU.

[BigDarvick]

I still have my robot commando. He needs repair. Anyone out there that can help?

[odObo01]

Awsome :D reminds me of my videos (wink)

[terrapinbear]

Not a flying toy.

[StoneFredFlint]

Good Lord! Terminal Nostalgia! Anyone here remember a big old flying saucer that actually hovered? It came out around the same time as Robot Commando and King Zor. And what about Flying Floogle?

[iscrapman]

neat , i wonder if it wworked well ?

[cantopia]

The machinery itself worked very well. It was tough and solidly built. But the voice controller didn't work at all. It was kind of fraudulent. It was supposed to be activated by the force of a shouted command--the force of your breath--but we screamed into the thing and it would only work once in a long while. You pre-set the function on the control pad and then essentially blew into the mouthpiece to close the circuit. I ended up just sticking a pencil in there to press the metal plate back.

[andyjay729]

The first mecha.

[somenonimportantguy]

Can you imagine what would happen if he had the EARLIEST voice recognition command?

Left!

*fires missile into your eye*

Dammit! My eye!

*Laughs at your human concept of pain*

[ToyKingWonder]

Some of the other writers are correct. The original controller simply had closely aligned metal plates in the mouthpiece. You blew into it to make contact, after you preset what you wanted to robot to do. There was actually litigation against Ideal for this misrepresentation. I will post a video shortly of my restoration of this piece, with additional details on the lawsuit. So, there is no voice recognition. This is still a very fine toy, and repairable if you have the nerve!

[ToyKingWonder]

I just restored mine after a gear broke inside and the rocket and ball firing actions would no longer work. I just got it working yesterday, July 13th 2009. I had a new gear made, but had to drill out the rivets and take the whole thing apart. I ended up keeping the original controller intact but I fabricated a new controller and cable. Most of these now are stiff and the controllers are broken. So I kept mine for display and have an ugly, but working, control box. The robot now works!

[MyFoodsRtouching]

Crazy-eyed slap-fightin' Sum'beeyutch!

[ILoveZandra]

why was it LAVENDER?

[cantopia]

It wasn't lavender. That must be due to faded film stock. Mine was dark blue. But then again mine had a yellow lid for the top of its head, not transparent, so maybe they made it in different styles.

[hrlaser]

The RC in this old teevee ad was a prototype.. note the pale lavender body and transparent parts.. if it still exists somewhere, it'd be worth a freakin' fortune!.. the Designer / inventor was Marvin Glass, who also designed Garloo, Odd Ogg, a mechanical lion, dog, and other huge, battery-op plastic toys for Ideal in the early 1960s..

[zerodevice]

well, i wonder what would the inventor of this toy thinks when he sees "Qrio" or "Aibo" (by sony), today.

it sure beat the hell out of this robot.

[inkybinky786]

they had voice recognition back then/

[zerodevice]

yeah.. that's wat i was thinking... like.. for real?

[hrlaser]

Robot Commando didn't have ANY kind of voice recognition.. the wired remote control has a dial.. you'd turn the dial to "turn left" "turn right" "forward" "fire rocket" "fire missile" and then shout the command into the mic which was nothing more than a thin metal plate that made contact with a pin behind it.. you could simply blow into it instead of speak.. then, dep. on where the dial was set, he'd do what you "commanded".. I have a MINT working RC 10 feet away from me.. $10 or $20 in 1961

[MightySaturn5]

Interesting hr...still, its a pretty smart idea for the non digital age

[loumag7]

Man I had this toy in 1963.I should have saved it.

[OwlsInTowelsINC]

He's looking... for... ME???

*hides*

[mediamadman747]

But we'll still have "basic cable," right?

[abacab987]

And that is the good news EmmeJayKay. The bad news is we are going into another "Great Depression" due to the manipulation of currency by the Federal Reserve. They are a group of magnates who control the financial world, and are above the Law and Government. New tunnel networks and DUM (Deep Underground Bases) are their hideouts. We will be at war, and then reduced to primitive communism, while they own the earth and all resources. we will have no right to breed, travel, farm, or become educated

[EmmeJayKay]

You know, the more I watch these toy ads from the 60s, when my dad would have been in his tweens, the more I can understand my grandparent's attitudes regarding youth, TV and modern culture. When my grandma was 6, it was The Great Depression. She lived in a two room house; parent's bedroom and the living room/kitchen where she slept with sisters. Great uncle slept on the porch. Outhouse outside. When my dad was about the same age, he had his own room and they were selling this.

[thestudmuf]

Does anyone have a Robot Commando in working order? A friend of mine is moving away and I would like to buy one for him because it is his childhood memory. Thanks!

[hrlaser]

There are plenty of them on eBay.. working and not working.. expect to pay anywhere from $150.00 to $900.00, depending on condition, working or not working, if it comes with the balls and rockets, cosmetics, and if it has the original instruction sheet and box.. the empty box ALONE sometimes sells for $200.00.. since most of them were thrown out.. some guys make a hobby of restoring broken ones and re-selling them.. just do an eBay search.. you'll find some for sale ALL the time..

[psychospeakempire]

my brother had one of these. I had Great Garloo. we'd make them fight. it was awesome.

5 *****

[mediamadman747]

I've ALWAYS loved that shade of lavender.

[jugglingembalmer]

There's no way in hell that toy is voice activated!

[kutzbill]

No, I was so pissed when I got it. You had to move the white knob to what you wanted it to do, and then blow into the hand unit to activate it. It had some kind if sail switch to turn it off and on.

[JalapenoWaffles]

Thats a cool toy. Even today

[DBark11]

Lorraine: Your husband and I served in the "Comander Brigade" at what seems to be the same time frame! Tell him that many of us fellow "Command Fighters" get together and trade "war stories"! Yes this was one of the early "Smart Weapons" a great leap forward!! Strangley....I went to a "Veteran's" hospital...... well they sudjested I get "treatment" but not phyiscal???!! Must have been a "secret op" we were in!!

[LorraineCZP]

My husband says this was no mere toy, but may indeed have saved 3 countries around the world during the cold war. His robot had a red head and tops of the arms were yellow. The remote that you had to make him move - you had to blow commands in it to make it move.

[georgiaartist]

That is so neat!

[newbienalwayswillbe]

Robit commando!

[audiophile55]

This must have been an early version of Robot. Mine had a red head, and the tops of the arms were yellow. I remember the remote that you had to blow into to get him to move. Yelling the command didn't do the trick, you had to forcefully blow into the remote control. Still, it was probably my all time favorite toy that I wish I still had.

[XDaikueDarkX]

omg my father had this toy im using it for my prokect :O

[mmay068]

I loved my brother's Robot Commando, and wanted one -- and the Mr. Machine. I don't remember the eyes moving, but hey -- what a toy!

[mlwinnig]

Had one too.  Thought it was awesome! A friend's daughter broke it after I terrorized her with it. Mine worked great and I loved it. Thanks for taking my back there, as I don't think I will pay current prices for another. Mine was a darker blue, I think.

[DAVID3CAMER0N]

I loved this toy as a kid. I used to torture my sister with it by using her dolls as targets.

[Daspery1]

My brother had this toy as a kid. It is one of my favorite toys

[morgushong]

you rich bastard

[noraharry]

the boy is my god grandpa.

[hrlaser]

if any of you Baby Boomers want an original Robot Commando again to bring back your childhood, there are always a bunch for sale on eBay.. fully working, boxed examples go for $600.00 and up.. none-working ones with no box for $150.00 to $250.00 or so.. most people selling them are too young to have had one as a kid and don't know much about them so be careful and ask the right questions before you bid on one..

[markbbelgen]

OMG! I loved this toy. This video brings back memories that I had long forgotten. Such a simple toy, but what great fun when you are a kid and still have a childs imagination. Don't laugh, but Mighty Mouse used to beat him every time. I know, it's silly, but you do silly things when you're a kid.

[qwuad60]

Sounds like you had my kind of childhood.

[NirvanaRox1968]

well ill be BACK!!!!!!!!!!

[GregSr]

I had one of these around 1963. Great fun for a very short time. Like most toys, it started falling apart very quickly.

The commercial is ultra low budget!

Still, a great trip down memory lane.

Thanks!

[ZestyDwightO]

My brother David had a Robot Commando. This video brings back wonderful memories.

[bunnyprofane]

His eyes make him look drunk.

WITH POWER!!!!!

[TCMHitchhiker]

LMAO

[hrlaser]

The Robot Commando in this 1961 teevee ad must have been a prototype.. they never produced him in Purple with a clear head lid and clear arms with Silver caps.. I remember seeing this ad back when I was 10-11 in 1961 and I owned a Robot Commando back then.. just one of Ideal's fantastic (and huge!) battery-operated toys designed by the legendary Marvin Glass..

[dwcarkuff]

I had one of these and was crazy about it. It did actually work very well - that whole "microphone" bit, but when you're a kid you don't care that much. You could have fun with a rock if you had to.

[mikethekhotmailcom]

Thanks for posting this. I had this toy and it provided my earliest recollection of being duped. The product's performance was not as compelling as the commercial led a 5 year old to believe it would be. Perhaps what was missing was the announcer narrating the action or the cheap toy planes suspended by fishing line which were so dramatically shot down by that potentiallly cornea piercing sharp rubber tipped bullet propelled at high velocity from Robot Commando's brain cavity

[dwcarkuff]

Man, I had some cool guns as a kid. Stuff they'd never sell today. I had Dick Tracy revolvers that had real brass cartridges with heavy springs that you clicked plastic bullets into. The hammer on the gun would jar the bullet free and it would go flying. Another gun had round cork bullet and the charge from a cap actually shot them out of the gun - in other word a real gun, more or less.

[hrlaser]

back in the 50s, almost all boys had toy guns of some kind.. cap pistols, revolvers, toy tommy guns.. later, they passed laws forcing the tip of the barrell to be bright orange.. now i think the entire gun has to be orange.. there were some VERY cool toys back in the 1960s and early 1960s.. i remember them well, and still own a lot of originals, and collect the ones i can afford to buy off eBay.. look for a cool book called "Toy Bop" by Tom Frey if you want to re-live that era..

[dwcarkuff]

Sadly and probably like most parents, my mom would throw my old toys out after I outgrew them. I see some of that stuff going for a fortune on ebay and it's depressing. I also had a huge baseball card collection - including the greats from the fifties and sixties - Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Willie Mays and on and on. Somehow all of those got thrown out too. I'm sure many have this same story to tell.