They may be smaller than expected but the amount of movement and detail in these Machine Robo figures by Action Toys is impressive.
Let me start this off by saying I wasn’t a GoBots kid. I knew about the toys, I think I even had the drill guy and some kind of Porsche that had a funky robot mode. I even seem to remember giving the cartoon a try but it didn’t stick. Vague memories of a scooter guy being annoying and the cartoony faces throwing me off even as an eight year old. No, I was a steadfast Transformers follower through and through.
Doing some research I now know that the Porsche was Baron von Joy and it does look exactly as a I remember it.
You may have had a different experience, but for even prepubescent Robo this was just lazy. Pretty much a car bent in half. And I think that sums up my GoBot experience as a child. Laziness. Cheap knock-offs of the far superior Transformers toys at the time. They had their charm I’m sure, but given the choice I always chose Transformers. Unless there were no TF to be found. That’s probably how I ended up with the drill and Captain Windshield Face.
But a few weeks ago new pictures of the Machine Robo line from Action Toys started popping up and I started feeling myself gravitate towards them. I knew the biggies like Cy-Kill and Leader-1 (or Bike Robo and Eagle Robo as I now know they were called) and I had a faint memory of Screw Head (Rod Drill) but good looking toys are good looking toys. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get you interested in a property you would have otherwise glossed over.
Plus it’s awesome to have “Robo” constantly being flashed in your face. Just me? Okay.
The figures are based on the Revenge of Cronos which apparently had altered representations of the characters, differing from both the GoBots cartoon and the original toys. There is enough resemblance to spark some nostalgia but different enough to not bring back that childhood disdain for the property. At least in my case.
The only thing that throws me off is the height. 4.5 to 5 inches seems small but at the same time I may be unfairly comparing this line to Masterpiece Transformers. Granted, even at this size the articulation looks fantastic. Some of these poses are spectacular.
Rod Drill (or Screw Head)
Battle Robo (or Tank)
Eagle Robo (or Leader-1)
Bike Robo (or Cy-Kill)
BigBadToyStore has pre-orders up for all four figures. $40 to $46 may seem like a lot, but remember they are imports. They also each come with some pretty nifty looking display bases to use in both vehicle and robot modes. Basically though, they seem to be great figures in general. Like I said, I was never a GoBots kind of guy but these may have just swayed me.
I’m sorry, Optimus.
