Yonezawa’s Smoking Space Man Robot stands tall as one of the most iconic tin toy robots from Japan’s golden age of tin toy robots. Standing at an impressive twelve inches, this mechanical marvel boasts features that set it apart from its contemporaries. Along with its light-up eyes and an illuminated color wheel rotating under its dome, what truly distinguishes it is its ability to puff smoke from its mouth, using a small heated wire igniting a bit of cotton soaked in oil, creating clouds of smoke as the robot pauses in its stride, defying the constraints of modern safety regulations with its nostalgic charm.

Smoking Space Man was offered in both blue and metallic gray variants, with a rare mint green version adding to its allure. The metallic gray iteration, featuring subtle design tweaks such as a metal on/off switch, debuted a year earlier under the Linemar brand. These early smokers from Yonezawa are revered for their exceptional craftsmanship, constructed from heavy gauge tin. More recently, it was reproduced by Tin Tom Toy, paying homage to its retro charm and ensuring that new generations could obtain it without breaking the bank.