Obscure toy of the week: Panda SAM

The Super Animal Machine or SAM for short comes from a design team called Red Magic based Hong Kong who also make the more well known CiBoys.

Apparently they are supposed to be aliens who have come to earth disguised as animals, although the only ones they make are variants on pandas. I’ve scratched my head about this one and the only logical reason I can find for the name is that they could have been called SPAM (Super Panda Animal Machines) or something similar which would never do. Anyway, daft name aside, the are so darn cute.

What I really love about these, apart from the cuteness, is that they are really solid and weighty. It’s nice to feel something that is really there and not something flimsy and breakable. They are around three inches tall and both theirs heads and legs are attached via ball and socket joints so that they can be posed at a jaunty angle.

You can pick a few up from online stores in the u.k for around the three pound mark but to get a better range you need to order from ebay stores in Hong Kong, just don’t buy more than £15 worth at once or you will be stung for shocking customs handling fees.

My amazing dancing toy collection.

A couple of years back, I finally got a house big enough to allow me to take my entire toy collection out of  storage and….

Da da daaaaaaaaa…..   Out of their boxes. Even now I hear the screams of geeks and fan-boys perforating my eardrums.

So there I was, for two days straight, open box, put figure in glass cabinet, carefully put box back in storage, repeat. Bliss!

There they were, qee, dunny, evirobs, murakami, bearbrick ,micronauts, secret base and star wars. All standing to attention on their little plastic feet.

Then after a week or so, after the novelty had worn off I noticed something quite peculiar. Some of my toys had gone for a walk on their shelves, some were even huddled together as if planning some dastardly scheme….. Strange!

Now I could understand if some had fallen over, I’m quite heavy footed and a bit clumsy so you expect a few casualties, but this was far more subtle.  Were they indeed up to something? Were they planning to get me whilst I slept, perhaps even overcome me with fumes from all their little vinyl bodies or maybe they were going to make a break for the border.

This carried on for a while before I worked out what what was going on.  It was the washing machine. The spin cycle was sending vibrations though my glass cabinets and jiggling my little plastic friends about.

Reality can be quite a let down.

What is a Squiggly Norman?

This is the question that I’ve been asking myself since I made the first one back in 1998. Is it a toy? Is it art? Is it a really uncomfortable cushion?

Well, it’s eleven years later and after much lollygagging (why isn’t that in my spell check?) and the addition of some facial features, I still don’t have a clue. So what is it? Any suggestions? Clean ones please.