Masudaya Gang Of Five Robots :non Stop,radicon,target Robot,giant Sonic,japan

Here we have the holy grail of any robot collector: 4 robots out of 5 from the famous Gang of Five by Masudaya. Machine Man is missing, which has become priceless and is a lavender in red. We have: Lavender 1957, the most beautiful lithographs of robot gears. It is called Non Stop Robot 1959 The Radicon robot,1957  the only one with a textured surface. The first remote control robot. The Target Robot, with its revolver and arrow, comes towards you. You shoot at its target. It goes in the other direction and then comes back (very difficult to find). The Giant Sonic, with its choo choo noise, with its superb head, different from the other 4, two eyes of different colors that flash.“Gang of Five” family of robots based on the same stampings. These 15-inch-tall, battery-operated robots, were produced by Masudaya of Japan. Masudaya is Japan’s oldest operating toy company, tracing its history back to 1724. Their MT (T over M) logo (for Masudaya Toy) has been used since the 1920s. In the 1930s it established a Modern Toy laboratory and later added Modern Toy to its logo causing many to think that MT stood for Modern Toys. It is hard to imagine a toy company that is approaching its 300th year in business.
Masudaya did not produce as many robots as some other Japanese toy companies. However, it is famous for producing a series of five skirted robots over a period of seven years. Robot collectors have affectionately named this very collectible group of robots the “Gang of Five.”
After spending almost two years in development, Masudaya completed the world’s first radio remote-controlled toy—a 14”long tin bus—in 1955. Among the “Gang of Five,” the first radio-controlled robot toy was the Radicon, produced in 1957. Although this was Masudaya’s second Radicon toy, it was a technically more difficult toy to stamp and manufacture. At 15” tall, it was an extremely large robot for its time.
The Non-Stop Robot followed the Radicon Robot in 1959. The Non-Stop Robot is referred to as the “Lavender Robot” because of its lavender color. It used the same body but had the function of non-stop action.
A special order from one of Masudaya’s American customers led to the production of a red-colored robot variation based on the Non-Stop Lavender robot. Its name was Giant Machine Man. The quantity produced was very small, resulting in this robot’s extreme rarity today.
In 1962, the Giant Sonic Robot was released. This robot also had non-stop action with a supersonic sound.
In 1964, Shooting Giant Robot or Target Robot was added to the line. It came with a dart-shooting pistol. Hitting the target caused the robot to turn and go away from you before returning again.
While Masudaya is famous for these toys that came to be known as the “Gang of Five,” the skirted robots were not successful at the time—making them rare today.(cf Antique toys collector)https://atca-club.org/the-gang-of-five/