Bandai Gobots/Machine Robo Series Toy Thread

[JB0]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, same basic transformation, but instead of getting Bumblebee you end up with a car so awesome that I still wish it were real.

It is a pretty cool car, but I never owned one. I DID own Bug Bite.

There's also Baron von Joy. Who needs to be mentioned because he's named Baron von Joy.

 

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Man, I'd forgotten about this guy- had to do a search. Totally agree on the car mode- still cool 30+ years later (it'd make a neat future Batmobile). I never was a big fan of the driver cabin-cum-head designs of the DX Machine Robo figures. I guess it works if you consider them piloted mecha, but as sentient robots, I just don't care for it.  

Wasn't sure about the articulation on him; it's actually pretty decent for an 80's figure, with a bit of fore and aft at the hips, 180 deg of knee, 360 at the shoulder but no elbow from what I saw in the vid. That car mode is great though. I'd love to see a reinterpretation that gives him a proper head.

I always thought the cockpit heads were neat. Less so on Psycho, since the open cabin DESTROYS MY SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF!1111 (No, seriously, for some reason I can see a closed cabin as a head, but not an open one)

I am aware I'm in the minority.

[mikeszekely]

35 minutes ago, JB0 said:

It is a pretty cool car, but I never owned one. I DID own Bug Bite.

There's also Baron von Joy. Who needs to be mentioned because he's named Baron von Joy.

 

I always thought the cockpit heads were neat. Less so on Psycho, since the open cabin DESTROYS MY SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF!1111 (No, seriously, for some reason I can see a closed cabin as a head, but not an open one)

I am aware I'm in the minority.

I did have Psycho as a kid, and I played with him long after I quit playing with the other Gobots, because he was just such a cool car.

But as long as we're talking about the Super Gobots with that basic transformation I'm going to bring up Herr Fiend.  Because he had a monocle and a German accent.

 

3 hours ago, renegadeleader1 said:

As long as Lady Armaroid and Cobra are still the drivers!

Oh, shoot, that's right... Psycho was originally from Space Adventure Cobra, not Revenge of Cronos.  There goes my hope of a DX version... 

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Man, I'd forgotten about this guy- had to do a search. Totally agree on the car mode- still cool 30+ years later (it'd make a neat future Batmobile). I never was a big fan of the driver cabin-cum-head designs of the DX Machine Robo figures. I guess it works if you consider them piloted mecha, but as sentient robots, I just don't care for it.  

Wasn't sure about the articulation on him; it's actually pretty decent for an 80's figure, with a bit of fore and aft at the hips, 180 deg of knee, 360 at the shoulder but no elbow from what I saw in the vid. That car mode is great though. I'd love to see a reinterpretation that gives him a proper head.

I thought the eye's drawn on the cartoon were pretty bad, and I loved that there were little people inside the toy, so I don't really want any more of an update than more articulation... but now that we're talking about him and I'm remembering how awesome he already was I'm kind of thinking about lurking on ebay tomorrow and seeing if I can't find one in good shape.

[JB0]

6 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I did have Psycho as a kid, and I played with him long after I quit playing with the other Gobots, because he was just such a cool car.

I played with Bug Bite until he broke. The plastic that made the roof up started cracking, and then he was a convertible. And then the little silver dude-ish thing fell out.  I think he wound up in the trash shortly afterwards.

 

7 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

But as long as we're talking about the Super Gobots with that basic transformation I'm going to bring up Herr Fiend.  Because he had a monocle and a German accent.

Zat is an excellent point! Ze Transformers, they do not have zis monocle!

[JB0]

So, I was looking at videos of some more of these guys(I still only own Screwhead), and it seems like Tank/Battle Robo came out amazingly well. Which is doubly impressive given how lazy the original was(Fold in half at the waist, you're done. Ignore the arms hanging out on the side, please).

Transformation is almost completely different to the original(understandably), but he still gives the same impression in both modes, and he looks like he's still pretty easy to transform(though not AS easy, because how COULD he be?).

While well-articulated, he has very few balljoints(which wouldn't work well with his chunky aesthetic). Swivels in the thigh, the bicep, the wrist... even his flippin' HEAD can rotate, despite being embedded in a giant plastic wedge(DARK MAGIC).

 

On the other hand, he's cyan instead of dark blue, his tank treads and forward guns are too small.

 

On the third hand, it DOES further the impression that these aren't a single line so much as a random collection of unrelated toys.

(I just used my entire daily allotment of parentheses in this post)

Edited May 3, 2018 by JB0

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

 

On the third hand, it DOES further the impression that these aren't a single line so much as a random collection of unrelated toys.

I'd imagine this is because AT has multiple designers working on the line. They even have their designers listed in the box.

[mikeszekely]

Got a present today...

Sticker on his right knee is peeling, the wheels don't peg into his shoulders very securely, the shoulder joints are pretty loose, and he's got pretty significant chrome wear... but he's complete with both wheels, with both tires still on said wheels, and his engine piece.  It's pretty tough to find a complete Cy-Kill, and at around $40 shipped I think I still paid less than I would for an incomplete Cy-Kill and buying the missing pieces separately, so I'm pretty happy.  And I should have a Super Gobots Cy-Kill next week, and Action Toys' smaller Bike Robo is paid for in my stack but I'm holding off and seeing if I want to add anything else before I ship.

Now, a question for you guys... do you think I should leave Cy-Kill as is?  Or, should I remove the stickers, paint the knees, and touch up the chrome with a Molotow liquid chrome pen?

Definitely strongly considering picking up more old Gobots.  I think because I had so many at a younger age than Transformers they're definitely triggering more memories and more nostalgic feels for me.  I'm more interested in trying to track down the old Gobots toys in reasonable condition than I am in the regular Action Toys Machine Robo line.  But I'm still all in on any other DX Machine Robo toys they want to do.

[JB0]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'd imagine this is because AT has multiple designers working on the line. They even have their designers listed in the box.

Even acoounting for that... apparently Drill Robo and Eagle Robo are the same designer, and they take almost completely opposite approaches.

 

Nice Cy-kill. I'd probably touch the knees up, but leave the chrome alone. 

[mikeszekely]

Curious about the smaller Action Toys' Machine Robot figures and eager to finish off my Cy-Kill collection, I went ahead and picked up the smaller Bike Robo figure from their non-DX line.

Of the four Cy-Kill/Bike Robo figures I have, this one is perhaps the most stylized with more thigh detail and a rather different pelvis.  He's also missing the handlebars on his shoulders (more on this in a bit), but that's definitely anime-accurate.  And unlike the DX version, which very much comes across as an MP Cy-Kill in Bike Robo packaging, the smaller Bike Robo definitely feels like it's trying to capture the style of the Revenge of Cronos anime.

He's also a very tiny figure, falling in between the original Cy-Kill and the Super Gobots Cy-Kill in size.  To give you another reference, he's a little taller than a modern Hasbro Legends-class toy, but shorter than your average modern Deluxe-class.

He certainly comes with a lot of accessories, split between two trays.  The first tray consists of Bike Robo himself and his personal accessories: his wheels, an axe that I assume is either from the anime or an invention of the designer, two handlebars, a kickstand, and a stand adapter.  The other tray has the parts to build a display base.  This is the only time I'm going to talk about the display base, but part of the reason they're in a separate tray is because the same parts come with every figure in Action Toys' non-DX Machine Robo line.

The parts of the base can be configured in a variety of ways.  Here's two suggested in the instructions.  If you have more Machine Robo figures and more bases they can be linked together in larger and more elaborate ways.

Bike Robo's articulation is... so-so.  His head is on a ball joint, and he can't really look up but he can look down a bit.  His head can also swivel, but it requires him to look down so the back of his head clears his torso.  His shoulders are hinged inside his torso for transformation, then the arms are attached on ball joints, but combined they still only give him 35-45 degrees of lateral movement.  They do, however, rotate fine and provide a slight forward/backward butterfly joint.  His biceps can swivel, and his elbows can bend 90 degrees.  No wrist or hand articulation.  His waist can swivel.  He has a very slight ab crunch, but it feels less like an intentional joint and more like his waist wasn't tolerances properly around with the diecast in his torso.  His hips are ball joints, and he can kick a little over 90 degrees forward, about 45 degrees backward, and about 60 degrees laterally.  He has actual thigh swivels, although his knees also swivel in addition to bending something like 160 degrees on, you guessed it, ball joints.  The front of his feet are also on ball joints so he can tilt his feet up and down, as well as pivot (at least for the front half of his foot).

He can hold his axe just fine in either hand.

You can connect him to the display base by building in in some configuration with the jointed arm, then using his personal connector at the the end.  A tab pegs in under his crotch then sits under the figure.  It's worth mentioning, by the way, that each joint slides into an arm via a simple peg so the joints can swivel, plus the joints themselves are pretty strong ratchets.  The weakest link is the part that connects them to the base, as it's a little loose and prone to popping out.

As for his other partsforming bits, you can actually leave the kickstand attached where it goes in bike mode, and just angle it so his legs can still close.  As for the handlebars, I don't know if it was intentional or not but they can plug into his heels and act as heel spurs.

Since Bike Robo and DX Bike Robo share the same designer the engineering is extremely similar between the two figures, most notably the way the engine unfolds from the inside of their legs.  Little Bike Robo eschews the translucent orange plastic used by his big brother (and the older Cy-Kill toys) in favor of orange paint.  That's fine, mind you, but I wonder why they didn't make the top black like the original toy and Revenge of Cronos?  Another thing I find sort of curious is that even though he's a smaller bike than Super Cy-Kill their wheels and tires are very close in size.

Not going to lie, even though I found a place to stow them in robot mode I'm not a fan of the partsforming handlebars.  I'm also not a fan of the unsightly hollowed-out squares on the showing on the wrists.  That's a Hasbro move right there.

I do find it interesting, though, that he's got a screw in pretty much the exact same spot as the original Bike Robo/Cy-Kill toy, at the front of the seat.

You can store Bike Robo's axe in bike mode by poking the handle between his legs and sliding the skinnier part of it up into the notch where his stand connector tabs in.  This is an official thing you can see in the instructions, but it looks pretty dumb.  As for the stand, I guess you can set the bike on it.  The way the arm of the base connects to both the base and to Bike Robo means you're probably not going to pose him in bike mode on the arm without something popping off.

As the first new Bike Robo/Cy-Kill toy (that I'm aware of) to come along in 30+ years, Action Toys' definitely built themselves a neat little figure.  It's got more articulation than either of the earlier figures from the '80s, and although he's technically got even more partsforming bits you can find places to stow them so you're not losing the engine piece like you probably did with your original Cy-Kill.  And, although he's a bit bigger than the original toy, so are my hands, so the way Bike Robo feels in my adult hands sort of feels in my mind the way the smaller toy felt to my child hands, if that makes sense.  However, I think price was Bike Robo's first downfall, as he was retailing for around $40-$50 from most places.  For a figure that's smaller than a Hasbro Deluxe with a similar level of engineering and mediocre articulation that feels a little steep.  If this guy had been $30 or under I probably wouldn't have waited nearly a year to pick him up (and they probably could have hit that price point if they'd skipped the display base).

At this point in history there's also DX Bike Robo to consider.  Yes, it's a toy that costs over double the smaller figure, but in addition to being double the size DX Bike Robo has the magnets, the extra Hanna-Barbera Cy-Kill faces, silver paint instead of silvery plastic, ratcheted universal joints instead of ball joints, better range in the elbows and shoulders, an actual ab-crunch, a transformation that doesn't involve removing the handlebars, and other small engineering tweaks.  Bike Robo feels like a nice modern Gobots toy, DX Bike Robo feels like a premium Masterpiece sort of toy.  It's a toy that's so superior to its smaller cousin that the higher price tag feels a lot more fair.

My gut tells me that if you already bought Bike Robo, or you're already into the smaller Machine Robo line, you're probably not regretting your purchase.  However, I'm going to say that at this point I can't really recommend him.  While he is cheaper than the DX version I really do think you get more for your money with the DX version anyway.  The only advantage the smaller figure really has at this point is that there are more Machine Robo figures available in that line but so far Bike Robo is alone in the DX line.  But it's only a matter of time before that changes, too; I've already heard rumors that a DX Eagle Robo will be their next release, and like Bike Robo he's going to come with some more Hanna-Barbera options than the smaller toy.  So unless you're already into the smaller Machine Robo line just skip Bike Robo and pick up the DX Bike Robo instead.

[M'Kyuun]

I have Bike Robo, and at this point, I'm more into the smaller figures, but I agree with everything both positive and negative. The detachable handlebars I can live with, but the one element that irks me to no end is the head mold and how it barely allows the head to rotate. This was a completely preventable bit of under-engineering- pretty lazy, most likely to cut costs by eliminating the need for one or two additional parts. They fixed this on the DX, as they should for its size and price, but c,mon, the same fix could have been applied here, too. Oh well, it is what it is, and I still think it's a neat little figure.

And yeah, the axe, like a number of weapon choices in the line, is odd, and the storage thereof in vehicle mode is crappy. I also dislike the obvious Bowie knives mounted to the sides of Concrete- just terrible.

Imay change my stance once I get a look at DX Eagle- I love the small version, but if they improve on him even more, I'll be tempted.

[treatment]

Chachi reviews Shuttle Robo and Missile Tank Robo:

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by treatment

[M'Kyuun]

Missile Robo is easily one of the best molds in this line.  It has a really cool transformation that also imparts realistic functionality to the missile deck, allowing it to rotate as well as incline. The lack of small wheels to help it roll better may be considered its only real weakness, but I can live with it. It's a fantastic update, and just a fun a figure to transform and pose.

Shuttle Robo's a nice update, but he doesn't feel as solid in his shuttle mode; there's a bit of flex due to how his arms form the backbone of the shuttle and the hip panels fill in the gap below them. Still, I'm glad they made him, and like the rest of the line, is a nice update to the old MR/Gobot toy. He also features some of the better weapon storage in the line.

Hoping Turbo and Loco, for which proto pics have been shown, make it to production. I was hoping this line would succeed, as I'd love to have an updated Harrier Robo.

[mikeszekely]

This thread's been quiet.

Well, my love of old Gobots is no secret.  Not to you guys, and not to my brother, who found the Loco figure we had as kids and he gave it to me for Christmas.  Which prompted me to order Action Toys Steam Robo.

Eh... I think aesthetically he's kind of a mixed bag.  The basics are there; the silver with red dots on his shins, his yellow belt with two black dots and a red hexagon, the plate with "D-5147" on his chest, his red shades, the head that's designed to look like he's wearing a conductor's hat.  But the red sticker on the original toy's tummy has been replaced with some mashed up hinges that they couldn't even bother to color red, his belt has two little squares cut out of it, his face is a simple, bland frown like you might have found on one of the older 3P Transfomers, and his head looks rather incomplete without the front engine on top.  And that's before I even bring up that the insides of his forearms are as hollow as a Hasbro Deluxe, despite costing more than double.

I'm not sure what's going on with Action Toys and scale, either.  I don't have many of their Machine Robo figures, really just Steam Robo and Bike Robo (plus Bike Robo DX), and I can tell you that Steam Robo is over a head taller than Bike Robo.  The original toys are the same size, they Loco and Cy-Kill looked to be the same size in the cartoon, and Bike Robo and Steam Robo looked to be the same size in the anime, so I don't really understand the size discrepancy.  I guess you could say that a steam engine is bigger than a motorcycle, but with that logic Steam Robo should be a lot more than a head taller.

Steam Robo's accessories are pretty basic.  He comes with the parts to make the stand that all their non-DX Machine Robo figures come with.  I'm not going to get into detail on them; you can scroll up a bit to read my Bike Robo review if you need to know more.  Other than the stand Steam Robo comes with a stand adapter that plugs into his butt and a pistol.

I think Steam Robo's articulation is better than Bike Robo's, but nothing amazing.  His head is on a ball joint that can swivel as well as look up and down, but I couldn't get any tilt out of him.  His shoulders are ball joints for rotation, a slight butterfly, and about 75 degrees of lateral motion.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His fists can fold in for transformation, but they don't swivel.  His waist does swivel.  His hips are ball joints that can go forward and backward a little over 90 degrees, or laterally 90 degrees.  His thighs can swivel.  His knees bend 90 degrees on a soft ratchet or some other detented joint.  The front of his foot is on a ball joint so it can tilt up or down, or rotate on the ball for a faux ankle pivot.  The handle of the pistol plugs into either fist.

You guys know that I'm not the biggest fan of ball joints.  I call Hasbro out when they don't use universal joints for the hips on a $20 Deluxe, you better believe I think Action Toys should be using some better hardware on a $50 toy.  Ditch the elaborate stand, if they have to.

The use of ball joints by itself would be bad enough, but this figure is poorly toleranced.  His hips are a little looser than I'd like.  His toes and the hinges that fold his hands in are looser than anyone will like, and the toes are a bit of a problem because his feet don't sit flat.  He's got heels that extend beyond the bottom of his feet, so his toes kind of have to point down to keep his legs straight.  And worst of all, the poor tolerances aren't limited to the joints.  His lower legs split in half and unfold for transformation.  There are two tabs that are supposed to hold the halves of his legs together, but the slots are too large for the tabs.  There's zero friction holding them in, so simply picking him up is enough to have his legs start flopping apart.

The transformation for the original toy is, like most Gobots, super simple.  Push the arms into the torso, and fold him over.  Steam Robo, on the other hand, has a surprisingly complex transformation that turns his upper body inside out, shifting mass from a top-to-bottom configuration to a front-to-back one, then his legs split apart and unfurl to become the bottom of the engine.  I'm no expert on trains, but it seems to me that Action Robo's goal was a more realistic and realistically proportioned steam engine than the original toy.  Everything fits together solidly here, making this mode the stronger of the two modes.

Again, I'm no expert, but I think this is supposed to be a Japanese D-51 steam engine.  I'm not going to go into great detail about what they got right and what they didn't, because I'm sure that David's got stronger opinions and a better eye than I do for what's right and what's wrong here.  All I'll note is that the D-51 did have some kind of rounded element in front of the smokestack, and I think it's kind of clever of Action Toys to use that element to disguise a hinge (minus points for the itty bitty headlight, though).  Oh, and there's no tender.  You better believe I'm not forgetting about tenders after the crash course I got when I reviewed Siege Astrotrain.

I looked, but I couldn't find a place to store Steam Robo's pistol in steam engine mode.  The obvious (to me) spot would have been in the smokestack, but unlike the original toy it's not hollowed out.  There is a coupler on the front of the engine (which does look to be something a real D-51 had there), but the handle of the gun steams too big to fit in it.

Despite my love of Gobots Action Toys' Machine Robo line hasn't really caught on with me, and Steam Robo is really hammering home why.  Bike Robo DX was an amazing figure and I would literally be willing to pay $100-$120 a pop for them to do almost any Gobot in that exact same size, even without many accessories, as long as they kept the quality and included at least one Hanna-Barbera face.  I'm sure I'm not the only one, as Bike Robo DX was fairly well-received by reviewers and seems to have sold pretty well.  Yet, despite promises that they were working on more Machine Robo DX figures, Action Toys seemed to double down on their regular Machine Robo line.  It's probably not fair to judge that entire line by the two figures that I have from it, but both of mine are little floppy, don't stay tabbed together all that well, come with accessories I don't want or need, and simply aren't up to the level of quality I expect in a $40-$50 toy.  And again I think I'm not the only one who felt that way, as many of the figures in the line took a lot longer to sell out (if they ever did).  Steam Robo is simply not that good, and I don't recommend him.  While I liked Bike Robo better, I didn't recommend him either.  My advice to you, as consumers, is don't buy them.  My advice to Action Toys, as toy makers, is to stop wasting time and money turning what seems like early Fansproject designs into overpriced toys of mediocre quality and give fans the Eagle Robo DX we've been wanting to buy for almost two years now.

[M'Kyuun]

I have all but two of the Action Toys MR line (Rod Drill and Bike Robo DX), and overall, I have a more favorable opinion of the line. There are negatives: Ball joints appear frequently, which we all know breed floppiness; weapon choices are questionable for most, and storage is a mixed bag between really favorable to the alt mode, well hidden, or just tabbed on, or non-existent, as is the case with Loco. I too looked, but could not find a spot to attach his gun anywhere in alt mode. I even tried to hide it inside his alt, but just couldn't make it fit. Pretty crappy. Articulation is pretty standard across the line, generally featuring ball jointed heads, shoulders, hips & feet/toes, pinned elbows and knees, mushroom pegged bicep and thigh rotation joints. A couple of them have pegged heads, usually due to their alt modes/transformation, and a couple have wrist rotation, but both of these are exceptions.

I was not a big collector of Gobots, having a KO Cop-tur and Dive-Dive, and maybe a couple others I don't remember anymore. Like most, I was hooked by the Transformers story, and I thought the overall presentation of the toys was better, so to them and LEGO went my meager childhood earnings. However, I still looked at them in the stores and in the ole' Sears and JC Penney catalogs (my Mom's preferred method of Christmas acquisitions- the lay-away plan), and became increasingly impressed with the complexity of the toy line as it expanded over the few years it enjoyed on shelves. I remember being blown away by the Puzzler combiner, which, unlike Transformer combiners, eschewed the need for additional parts to form the gestalt. That was revolutionary to me at the time, and ever since I've carried with me the impression that that is how a combiner should be. To that end, kudos to MMC for their current Bruticus figure. Anyway, as a guy unfamiliar with the MR characters/toys, except through web searches, I've been pretty pleased with the AT line thus far. I think they're a little overpriced for what they are, but the majority do have some nice complex engineering, and get enough right to be decent homages to the originals. My biggest complaint, really, is that they're, by necessity, limited only to the Revenge of Cronos characters, which omits a great number of potential characters from the whole MR toy line. That, and their release schedule is glacial at best. Still waiting on Super Car/Turbo and Blue Jet/Fitor whose protos were shown several years ago along side Eagle, Bike and the rest of the figures we already have in hand. Waiting......

Edited January 13, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[Firefox]

Looks like this line is dead.

[M'Kyuun]

Not yet. Blue Jet (Fitor) and Tough Trailer are up for PO on a few sites. Since Action Toys have had a proto since the beginning, I'm hoping Supercar Robo (Turbo) will get a release before they call it quits on the line. I had so hoped that they'd make Harrier Robo, but that's looking rather unlikely at this point.

I rather enjoyed this line; the toys aren't without their flaws, but they're still fun updates to toys for which I never believed updates would exist. Since it's based exclusively on the Japanese Revenge of Cronos movie, and not Gobots, the line was targeted primarily at Japanese MR fans, and restrained by the limited number of MR characters in the movie. I think if they'd been able to crank out more characters recognizable to Western audiences from Gobots, and had Action Toys had a more accelerated release schedule, the line would have enjoyed much greater success. 

Anyway, I have Blue Jet PO'd, and I hold out hope that Supercar will get a release, too, even if it's their swan song. 

[JB0]

I don't know that this is really the right place, but it was brought to my attention that the modern Diaclone line has homages to some non-Diaclone toys... and that one of them is Machine Robo's Bike Robo.

I'm going to make the argument that Diaclone Trirambler is an unlicensed third-party Cy-Kill, and this is appropriate for the thread. Mine is the "D-Caliber" repaint. The original seems to have had black where mine has blue, and blue where mine has red on the legs.

 

 

It's a very teched-up sci-fi reimagining, but in bike mode it's very clearly Cy-Killing it. (There is an alternate transformation where the shoulders hinge down and the arms extend straight forward, but why would you want to do that?)

 

Robot mode is much less directly evocative, but that seems par for the course(find pics of the new Battle Convoy for a weird mirror-universe Optimus Prime). Lots of features that homage the original, but still doing its own thing. The amber visor on the head is inspired by the original's headlight, the wheel-jetpack is a more "practical" version of wheeled shoulders, there's two small yellow bits next to a larger yellow bit in the chest(albeit the larger bit's a cockpit)... and so on.

 

 

There's also a lot of alternate configurations that I do TakaraTomy a disservice by not mentioning, but they're irrelevant to my thesis.

Edited July 1, 2022 by JB0

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, JB0 said:

I don't know that this is really the right place, but it was brought to my attention that the modern Diaclone line has homages to some non-Diaclone toys... and that one of them is Machine Robo's Bike Robo.

I'm going to make the argument that Diaclone Trirambler is an unlicensed third-party Cy-Kill, and this is appropriate for the thread. Mine is the "D-Caliber" repaint. The original seems to have had black where mine has blue, and blue where mine has red on the legs.

 

 

It's a very teched-up sci-fi reimagining, but in bike mode it's very clearly Cy-Killing it. (There is an alternate transformation where the shoulders hinge down and the arms extend straight forward, but why would you want to do that?)

 

Robot mode is much less directly evocative, but that seems par for the course(find pics of the new Battle Convoy for a weird mirror-universe Optimus Prime). Lots of features that homage the original, but still doing its own thing. The amber visor on the head is inspired by the original's headlight, the wheel-jetpack is a more "practical" version of wheeled shoulders, there's two small yellow bits next to a larger yellow bit in the chest(albeit the larger bit's a cockpit)... and so on.

 

 

There's also a lot of alternate configurations that I do TakaraTomy a disservice by not mentioning, but they're irrelevant to my thesis.

Well, in all fairness, Machine Robo/ Gobots did have a couple of entries in Mospeada:

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by pengbuzz

[mikeszekely]

15 hours ago, JB0 said:

I'm going to make the argument that Diaclone Trirambler is an unlicensed third-party Cy-Kill

I mean, if they actually made it in Cy-Kill colors then I'd buy it...

[Mog]

What if they go with the black and neon green of Version 2 Cy-Kill?

Edited July 2, 2022 by Mog

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, Mog said:

What if they go with the black and neon green of Version 2 Cy-Kill?

Not for the Diaclone.  But if Action Toys wants to make an easy $100-$150 from me they could re-release their DX Bike Robo in those colors...

[JB0]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I mean, if they actually made it in Cy-Kill colors then I'd buy it...

If they decide to pull a third drink from the same well, I do hope they go for a more explicit homage.

Though ultimately I feel the mold cuts a bit too heroic an outline to really fly as Cy-Kill, it was a neat tip of the hat to that other line of robots in disguise.

...

Or perhaps just too goofy an outline, depending on configuration.

Edited July 2, 2022 by JB0

[no3Ljm]

[no3Ljm]

[no3Ljm]

[Bobby]

Seeing Triple Jim in color like this ... oh man ... so anime accurate ... I'm like Reina in the first pic!

[mikeszekely]

So, wait... Action Toy's not making Machine Robo toys anymore, Bandai is doing it themselves?

I'm assuming that Bike Robo's not going to get the Gobots faces, but I think I might have to buy it anyway.

Edited October 11, 2022 by mikeszekely

[pablumatic]

Those are new Machine Robo molds? I wonder how much different these will be. Larger/smaller?

[no3Ljm]

[no3Ljm]

 

[MKT]

On 10/15/2022 at 6:38 AM, no3Ljm said:

 

 

Just quoting what the designer says in his Triple Jim presentation, words in brackets are my own interpretation:

 

1. Helicopter blades can be folded up and hidden into the toy for Car and Robot mode, unlike the old toy in which the blades are just unplugged and put aside.

2. The cockpit for Car and Heli mode fits Reina in it, whilst there is a smaller cockpit parts-forming option in Robot mode for a more toon accurate look. Although the smaller cockpit will not fit Reina, in the anime Reina is never shown to be inside the cockpit in Robot mode anyway.

3. There is also another slimmer parts-forming option to replace the bulky underside of Heli / the back of Robot mode (bulky part looks to be the rear of Car mode).

4. Reina will have her own sword sized appropriately to her, although it is technically the same sword used by Rom in the anime and looks larger when he wields it (Rom figure in the video appears to be the same figure that came with the already released Pose+ Baikanfu, and Reina here appears to be scaled appropriately to him).

5. There are no plans at moment to release the other bots in Machine Robo, due to licensing complications. (Early in the video, the host commented that while other bots in the anime were adopted from an existing toyline, Triple Jim was a bot conceived specifically to the anime and the toy only came later. Perhaps this is where the licensing complications comes in.)

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by MKT

[no3Ljm]

Megahouse Machine Build Series Bike Robo
March 2023 Release
Y4500

Edited November 2, 2022 by no3Ljm

[no3Ljm]

[M'Kyuun]

Not feeling any compulsion to dive into these new figs, as they really don't do much beyond the Action Toys figs I already have. I liked AT's style, for the most part. I was hoping they'd release Supercar (Turbo) but AFAIK, they never did despite having a fully painted demo model. I was also hoping they'd get around to making Harrier Robo, but I guess that'll never happen now. 😢

[mikeszekely]

I didn't care for the little Action Toys guys too much, but the bigger Bike Robot/Cy-Kill they did is still one of the best toys I own, and I was really hoping they'd at least do an Eagle Robo/Leader-1 to scale with him.  Truthfully, I'd love the entire main cast (so Turbo, Scooter, Cop-Tur, and Crasher, too), but I understand that they were a bit confined within the Revenge of Cronos license.

I might check out this new Bike Robo, since I have both of AT's Bike Robos plus an original Cy-Kill (with both wheels!) and a Super Gobots Cy-Kill.  Kind of want to complete that set.  If it turns out good, maybe Megahouse will do the others (although I'm guessing if they do Porsche Robo it'll be the white one, not Crasher).

[Big s]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:10 PM, no3Ljm said:

Megahouse Machine Build Series Bike Robo
March 2023 Release
Y4500

Had a good laugh at the scene in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.