Torchey, true sight is knowledge

Third of 600 in Popular Mechanoids Red Series of Trading Cards. This robot is built with vision including a negative lens, positive cornea, and mono focusing (allowing each 'eye' precise focus and high magnification). To recreate stereoscopic vision, Torchey uses a geometrical system, tracing paraxial rays of light through his optical axis to conclude relative distance, much like a chameleon. This ability does away with the need to turn, and considering the dereliction of any functioning neck mechanism, suits Torchey just fine. 

An experiment several years ago using interferometry saw eight Torcheys combining their amazing capacity to focus, cumulating in a picture of the known universe so beautiful that several scientists observing had to leave the room.  

Lamprey 33s Cigarette Cards

Early one-sheet printing of Lampreys 33's Trading Card inserts.  Many discrepancies are shown between these and the updated Popular Mechanoids  Premium Swap Cards, including backgrounds, the robot's details on the card backs, and even some names of particular mechanoids.  

Lampreys common parent company, with Popular Mechanoids Publishing, Tin Pin Toys, licensed this set of cards essentially to promote their range of newly released domestic and industrial robots. Ambitious executives, eager for share growth, jumped the gun on many of the companies yet to be registered Mechs.
Card 18, for example, Helidron, was still a military secret when the first nicotate stained fingers pulled from their highly addictive packet of Lampreys a card containing fully detailed specifications of what, at the time, was a Government sponsored, covert and arcane  killing machine.       

Tin Pins Trading Card strategy to segment, then target through promotion, was both a success and disaster for the company in the 1930s.  Although much was known about the public's buying habits, their perception of consumerism in an age where up to 80% of sales were made face to face, 60% of household items were often hand made, or included hand made parts, and a disastrous 70% were a once in a lifetime purchase, little was understood about the unconscious guilt driven and pleasure seeking motives for non essential and luxury goods. For a company based on a six month  'concept to sales floor' time frame, and an even more radical two year product life span, this was an age that, to the Tin Pin Board of Directors, seemed mired in the languid quicksand of sensible, quality based trade. A nightmare for the intended 'buy now, buy later' philosophy they expected to drop surreptitiously  into civilisation's Martini 

On reflection, whilst Tin Pins greed based, military funded, technological thrust in the early half of the Twentieth Century can be seen as an amoral assault on all that is good and decent, it also provided many with the means for a quality of life hitherto undreamt of. Buying power increased, tools capable of phenomenal work were placed into the hands of the righteous, wrong doers and indifferent alike.  Ecological disasters, now spawned by few, where once many would have had to have laboured, communities saved in the palm of a hand, or from the size of a suitcase. And armies laid low with the flick of a wrist, and the age of a child. All these events must be weighed by history, and judged in tomorrow,  before we will truly know what to write on the headstone that is Tin Pin Toys Incorporated.       

Bell Monkey- Project EB - 7

Article from Popular Mechanoids Magazine, 1947. 

Popular Mechanoids box detail

Detail from box of Popular Mechanoids Swap Cards, one of the only mentions of Popular  Mechanoids association with Clockwork Comics, due to some of the dubious subject matter Clockwork were printing in the late 40's. Their Horror Comic, ' Slice of Life', was deemed  'not only unsuitable for children, but the overall population' by the State Dept of Education, going further to say, "If this is the calibre of reading literature aimed at today's youth, then expect the collapse of civilisation well before the next generation'. 

Editor of Clockwork Comics, Bill Getz, was reportedly 'extremely pleased' at the reaction.

One story in particular, 'Hold Your Tongue', was single handedly responsible for the initiation of a 'Comics Code' in three different countries. 

Popular Mechanoids Wax Packet Cover

One of the wax wrapper covers from the packets containing 10 cards each.

Flying Siams

Produced en masse, and usually found in groups of several thousand, these robots were deemed a menace in certain countries who ordered far too many, and discovered packs of them turning over rubbish bins, taking cats for joy rides and hitting windows at high speed. 

Elementary satellite, or Elemite.

Spun from 'reverse electron' carbon, 'Elementary Satellite' was created by serious scientists, for serious  science. This did not sit well with the inquisitively programmed robot.Six days after being turned on, 'Elemite' (as he decided to be known ), finishing calculations his creators worked on for 17 years, dropped five decimal places, jammed a hydrocerlean collider with a pencil, and absconded, never to be seen again. 'Built too well' were the only comments left on his extremely short history record.

Popular Mechanoids Antenant

Function follows form, in the case of Antenant.
 Born with a natural complex antenna array, and a strong desire to 'Transmit that which is transmittable'

More Popular Mechanoids

 Bolthed

One of the Red series (Valve and Steel), Red Crystal.

Capacitone, one of the robots who was used for the redeemable Fold out Blue-print cards.