14 Blogs and Sites About Retro Toys, Automata and All That Stuff You Love

Come Back Again, We May Add To The List

It's funny how many sites republish Amazon feeds or other automated content about toys, and how few places write and publish something really unique and interesting. Few but not zero, fortunately. We are not alone, there are some other lovely blogs and sites with a lot of high quality information and pictures about retro and mechanical toys and vintage automata.

Of course I'm not that crazy to share the sites with you, they are all our competitors. The article is over, good bye!

Here are my soldiers, they'll guard the good sites from your eyes!

If you are still here you have probably realized I was trying to be funny. Here's the list of sites and blogs, and I'll be happy to know about more like these:

1. TOYSREVILs "I Like Toys"

This blog isn't all about retro. In fact it discusses a lot of very modern stuff like Android toys. The reason it is here is that it reviews a lot of cool toys like this one and this one. I want that wooden sharky freak!

2. Handmade Charlotte

She's a mother of five and she doesn't make toys (I would be surprised if she had time to make them). Charlotte collects links to lovely handmade toys made by designers all over the world. What do you say about this or this for example? I'd say "super cool".

3. Paperkraft.net

It's stuff like this and this which make Paperkraft.net one of my favorite blogs about toys. Best of all, most of the designs have instructions so you can make the toys yourself.

4. Toy Reviews and News

This blog is interested because of its vintage toy reviews (which I have kindly linked to above) and stuff like this. If you are interested in other types of toys, check the other sections too - it's a good blog after all.

5. Cuteable

Cuteable is not just about toys, but has a strong focus on plush and handmade toys like these and these. Lynsey and Matt (the blog authors) show great taste about vintage and handmade toys.

6. The Toy Report

These guys are good and sometimes funny. They review all kind of toys and I guess you'll like most reviews like this one which is about robot kits. Or why not the one about wooden train tables (or am I wrong? My post about mechanical wooden trains isn't very popular yet).

7. Child of The 1980's

Now we really start to talk retro! This guy posts about many things, not just toys. Stuff like this pop-up pirate post and the one about polystyrene gliders won my sympathies and made me include it here. OK, I'll tell the truth, the fact that I'm also a kid of the 80s played its role here.

8. Modern Mechanix

If you love automata and mechanical toys you will love the Modern Mechanix blog. And not just because ot the robots section and the post about mechanical toys from 1932. It's just the cool mix of retro, mechanics and science that makes this blog a lovely read for you and me.

9. Automata and Mechanical Toys

This isn't really a blog, it's a static site that rarely changes. If you are interested to know how cam toys and crank toys work, the explanations and drawings in it are priceless. It's one of the main inspirations for our site. There is quite nice stuff in the gallery but the most valuable page is the one that explains the mechanisms.

10. Do You Remember

Do You Remember is a blog about memories from the 70s. They have a huge list of toys, and some of them like this robot, are really cool. Are there any kids of the 70s reading here? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

11. The Automata/Automation Blog

Now this is exactly the type of blogs we love most - videos, drawings and comments about automata and mechanical toys from anywhere and any time. The posts are short and don't contain much info, but the selections the author publishes are lovely. Good job, Dug! And don't forget to visit his main site. By the way Dug is a real toy maker.

12. Da Vinci Automata

A very interesting and unusual blog. This guy writes on the "Clockpunk genre of Science Fiction". Honestly, first time I hear it! Anyway, after seeing posts like this and this I could not resist including it.

13. Cybernetic Zoo

It isn't just about toys and just about mechanical. As our history of mechanical toys shows the first toys were actually kind-of robots, steam machines and mechanical men. Well, this site is about that, and about early robotics, and about tons of super cool stuff like that. I love it.

14. Science Toy Maker

Science Toy Maker is a great site if you have kids and want them to learn science in a fun way. There are easy DYI instructions for making all kind of mechanical toys like an oscillating woodpecker or a flying dragon fly.

Fourteen so far! Not that bad considering the sea of crappy commercial sites with no content I had to browse through to find the few one that deserve your attention. And can you believe, before starting this site I was wondering "do people really need another site about toys".

Enjoy the list. Let me know if you know a great site or blog that's not here. I'll gladly update the resource.