Mantis Harry

Piperoids are a series of paper robots designed by Takashi Tsunoda in Japan. They come as a series of tubes with various holes and markings that show you how to assemble your robot.

I got a few of these years ago at Kinokuniya in San Francisco, and I built a few with my kids. I must have had another because I found this in a box the other day. They are interesting and unusual designs, and I like the common construction method.

When you open the slim package you have various rigid paper tubes, instructions and a small notecard.
The instructions are a bit difficult at first until you figure out the method to the construction. Each tube has different markings that denote what you have to do with it. The grey sections are cut off and discarded. The dotted lines are bends, and the solid white lines are for cuts. Each piece has a faint number on it, so be sure to check for one when assembling.

This particular kit has a cool name – Mantis Harry. According to the Magnote site, “Intelligent – Harry keeps himself busy and gets impatient when he isn’t solving math problems or working on his daily schedule. In his heart, he actually looks down on his fellow PIPEROIDs. He loves himself and knows that he can do ‘better’ than others. He actually prefers to stay in town rather in the jungle, as it allows him to gaze upon himself in the mirrors and windows.”

You start with the head; cutting, folding, bending and inserting.

Then the body, then the legs.

When you are done, you get a remarkably sturdy paper toy.

This paper is thicker and rigid than your regular printer paper, so Mantis Harry holds his shape well. The tubes that slide inside each other are just a bit different in thickness so each joint has a good, firm grip.

It’s hard to believe that this expressive character came from those tubes.

Oh! Part of the packaging becomes a little stand with nameplate!

Piperoids are distributed in the USA by Magnote, but you can find them online
pretty easily.