KO Tomy Space Mobile 27

Tomy Space Rover Side View

I remember coveting this toy as a child because I thought it was a Major Matt Mason accessory. The Space Mobile was on the same page with MMM in the 1968 Sears Christmas Catalog and the figure looked a lot like Mattel's Man in Space. It was natural for a 7 year-old kid to assume that it was indeed a cool Matt Mason accessory instead of a plastic and tin-lithographed, battery-operated toy. Upon closer inspection of the actual figure, the driver only looks superficially like the Major.

Sears Wishbook 1968

The Space Mobile originally appeared as a product listing in both the 1968 and 1969 Sears Christmas Wishbook. In the 1968 Catalog, the ad appears on the bottom of a page featuring the Sears Exclusive Astro Trac Missile Convoy Set. That set must have been what caught my eye, as I indeed acquired it for Christmas that year. The Space Mobile must have been a close-second as a choice of presents, as I distinctly remember it, perhaps more so than the Missile Convoy set itself.

Tomy Space Mobile Box

Tomy Space Mobile Box Contents

Tomy Space Mobile Box Contents

The box has a Tomy logo, and indicates that this was an early attempt by this venerable Japanese toy company to infiltrate the US market. Tomy produced several toys for the US market under other names, usually as Department Store Catalog sales, including Grippidee Gravity, Billy Blastoff for Eldon, and several space-vehicle playsets for Woolworths Department Stores. 

Tomy Space Rover Side View

Tomy Space Rover Side View

As one can tell by comparing the images above, the neat thing about this toy was the wheel articulation. The front and rear set of wheels (4 in the front, another 4 in the rear) allow the vehicle to climb over uneven terrain. On the box the vehicle is shown climbing over a stack of books.

The driver, which looks so much like MMM in the Sears Wishbook, is actually about a 4-inch figure made of hard plastic. The basic shape looks to have been reused for Billy Blastoff and this may be considered Billy's "Great Uncle," a worthy space explorer himself! Once can also find a very similar figure in several other toys, usually as a driver. They all resemble Major Matt Mason, at least superficially, and they are often represented as such in auction sales.

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