This story first appeared in the Dec. 1 edition of the Kansan.
When Raymond Olais was in college at Emporia State University, he drove from Kansas back to San Francisco where he grew up.
It’s on that trip that he fell in love with Gigantor, a Japanese toy robot that he wanted to purchase and take home.
But he had a problem. He and his wife, Patrice, had $150 left for the trip back to Kansas, and Gigantor cost about $75. That was when gas was “cheap” compared to today. But buying the robot would bust their budget.
“I had $150 in cash left after our trip,” said Olais, 55, an art teacher at Newton High School, where Patrice also teaches art. “But I saw this beautiful robot, and I wanted it.
“Patrice told me to go ahead and buy it. But even though we could have squeaked by getting home, we still had to live once we got back, and so I turned it down.”
To this day, Olais, who in 1978 began collecting robots and space toys, has his heart set on finding another Gigantor like the one he saw long ago — about 18 inches tall with a tiny robot that fits inside one of the robot’s legs.
But now, an original is likely to cost about $1,200 to $1,500 — another kind of budget buster. Nevertheless, he is searching for one affordable enough to add to his collection of more than 200 such items, many of them displayed in his living room.
Space age hits movies, hearts
Robots and space toys became popular in the 1950s after themes of outer space, science fiction and extra terrestrials hit the movie and book industry.
The movie “Forbidden Planet” evoked Olais’ first $12-purchase, The Big Chief Man Robot. Other movies at the time which birthed a plethora of robots and space toys included “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “War of the Worlds.”
“This was all part of the new space age we grew up in, and it was a sign of the times, a sort of escapism, a desire to go beyond this world,” Olais said.
With almost 30 years of collecting under his belt, he’s seen a lot of changes in the collection world.
Today, there are two extremes of buyers — those who want originals or remakes from the past and those who want originals from today. And then there are generalists and more modest collectors, such as Olais.
Robots and space toys made in the 1950s in such places as China, Japan, Russia and the United States are the originals that are now in great demand by dealers and high-end collectors.
To deal with more popular demand for less cost, vinyls are now made of the originals. A vinyl remake could cost about $20, when the original today sells for about $200 or more.
“And then other people are going to the other extreme, searching for very new ones,” he said. “Artists at various galleries are creating limited editions of vinyl alien-type characters that aren’t part of any movie or book, past or present.”
One can find some of the ever-popular vinyl, inexpensive robots and space toys such as characters from Star Wars at those large chain stores such as Target or Wal-Mart. But many collectors go to e-Bay to find their treasures. Sometimes they go to local flea markets, though buyers can occasionally find an original there.
“Collectors are on the hunt all the time,” he said. “I think the joy of the hunt is more thrilling than the find. It is always such a great thing for a collector to find an original space toy or robot from a box in someone’s attic.”
Olais doesn’t search for expensive and obscure originals to resell.
But his coffers are still vast and fill a huge glass case that fits against a living room wall.
Other items are displayed in his basement and are stored in boxes. One unusual piece in his collection hangs on his wall — a painting he did of Captain Robot, one of toy robots from Japan.
Olais’ collection also includes Sonicon Rocket, an original space toy from the late 1950s/early 1960s. Olais himself created Elbarbon (the bearded one) from aluminum scrap pieces and rivets during a jewelry-making class at Wichita State University last spring.
“I needed to be recertified to earn a master’s degree, so I took this jewelry class as part of my requirements,” he said. “I wanted it to resemble some of the toys I’ve seen from Third World countries that are built with rivets and nuts and bolts.
“I’ve been thinking that instead of going to buy more items, I should build some more myself. With the bad economy, maybe that would be the wisest thing to do.”
Olais doesn’t consider himself a big-time dealer, a Trek fan or even a lover of Star Wars.
Nevertheless, he will always be fond of robots and space toys and what they represent — a yearning in the human spirit for something beyond this world, he said.
“There’s something about us humans that always causes us to look beyond ourselves,” he said. “And all these toys and robots are symbols of that for me. And as for Gigantor, he’s the one I’m looking for. Someday, I’ll find him.”
