Hmm.. a wind-up toy - do you remember this? Dawson the Dog.
Wonderful. Just to remind you... it shoots across the table; suddenly it transforms into a...
dog. I'll see if I can get him to perform without picking him up...
So one minute it is a dog, next moment it's a truck.
Extraordinary. A very clever idea, and it does about six or seven reversals before it
comes to an end. So that's probably the most sophisticated transformer I have ever come across.
But I have got quite a few of these transformation toys and some of them I've
brought along here to show you. This is probably the simplest of the lot;
I only recently thought of it as a transformation toy, but that is what it is.
It is a duck isn't it, except, well, here is a little clue as to what is
going to happen next. When you tip it just ninety degrees it
turns into... a rabbit. Very clever little transformation. You can see what's
happening now as I turn it, duck or rabbit. So this has got no gears,
no wheels, no elastic bands, no wind-ups, just a
completely separate, simple device, and if you turn from one way to the other,
it transforms from one figure to another figure. Could not be simpler.
The origin of this, at least in my collection I think, started off with the Japanese,
who started coming up some wonderful items which were one thing and then they
turned into a robot; they always had to turn into robots eventually.
The first one, which I must dig out, was a little engine. This one is a
piece of rock. It is shiny, almost like a huge emerald isn't it. But this
transforms into... a robot. It is quite complicated, but it's quite fun.
There is the robot's head, and you've got to pull these bits here, which are
his legs, not sure if it is a robot or a monster actually, it's a bit of both really,
and you've got to put out the arms, look... there is an arm there
and a hooked arm there...
extraordinary isn't it, and he stands on his feet and looks thoroughly dangerous;
What a piece; robot or space monster or something like that.
And he goes back into a rock again. Very interesting and very strange.
Quite complicated to do. Here is another one, made in Britain a few years ago,
it is a motorbike, it is quite fun to play with, you can do that...
it has got a bit of string underneath, which is a clue as to what is going to happen next.
This thing collapses into another toy altogether, which is very well known
and you will recognise it, but to have this starting off as a motorbike is
an extraordinary transformation, when you turn it into...
... and now we have - do you recognise it - a yo-yo.
Well, sort of. It just about works. Amazing. To transform from a yo-yo into a motorbike
and back again.But that is designers for you, wonderful people.
Here is one which I have got probably got about 50 different versions of in my collection...
Eggs which hatch but are really transforming from an oval egg shape, and every one of them
changes into a creature or critter. This particular one opens up into a quite a
glamorous looking praying mantis I think it is. There is his body
and there are his vicious looking arms,
look at his legs, well that's wonderful isn't it;
and these these pieces move to make it look really quite realistic
as a praying mantis. Extraordinary idea. And then it goes back into an egg again.
So every one of these starts off with something, and then turns back into an egg.
That is a very fine version of it. Some of them are semi-animated,
this one here for instance, made of a gooey plastic, so when you turn it
inside out it's a monkey at the moment, but he turns into a sort of gooey eggy thing.
I think if we let that sit on the table, it will slowly open up
with its arms slowly un-sticking from the body
and there is the head coming up. It is all sticky plastic so as you
turn it inside out, it accepts that, but then it wants to go back again, it tries
to become its other shape, which in this case is a sort of monkey creature.
Very strange. And when I first had it, really quite gooey, I think too.
Here is a charming one, a sort of play school type of thing, for very small children.
It is a transformation, but it works so simply. It is a little truck
which they can play with and run across the floor, and if you want to transform it
you just push there. What happens? Wow - a helicopter, complete with a little pilot,
look at that, isn't that beautiful, very nice. 'Fold A Helicopter' they call it,
Fold-A-Copter. To put it back again, even a child can manage this, just bring the two halves up,
push them together, push that down, and it is back into a truck! Now the driver
has disappeared inside. I love that sudden transformation from that, into... that.
That is absolutely magical. So there are quite a few of these around. and
I think I'll just finish up with Dawson's friend here, it is another one I
got from the same people, and it also does a lovely of transformation; in this case
it is a racing car, not a truck, into a sort of different critter. Here we go...
Wow, look at that monster, and then back into a racing car again;
Whoa, wonderful. So I think these toys have
really transformed my life [Tim laughs] Have they transformed yours?