Bandai Gobots/Machine Robo Series Toy Thread

[JB0]

Yeah. It isn't a great Blackbird, but it IS way better than most other recent attempts.

[treatment]

TH just posted Spay-C Space Robo:

http://www.taghobby.com/1-0/1-1/action-toys-machine-robo-series-08%e3%80%8a%e5%a4%a9%e5%a8%81%e5%8b%87%e5%a3%ab%e3%80%8bspace-robo/

[mikeszekely]

So we've got Leader-1, Cy-Kill, and Turbo. Just need Scooter, Coptur, and Crasher...

[CoreyD]

Maybe someday well get Royal-T?

[dizman]

The more important question is if we are going to get Cessna Robo

[David Hingtgen]

I think Cop-Tur is out, sadly. They can only do characters from the Japanese show. These are very much "toys of the Japanese SHOW CHARACTERS", not new versions of the toys from Tonka/GoBots. There's a difference. And that means a lot of the "prominent in the US" characters, are not available.

Anyone know if any of the ships were on the Japanese anime? I so want Dive-Dive and Man-O-War.

[JB0]

TH just posted Spay-C Space Robo:

http://www.taghobby.com/1-0/1-1/action-toys-machine-robo-series-08%e3%80%8a%e5%a4%a9%e5%a8%81%e5%8b%87%e5%a3%ab%e3%80%8bspace-robo/

mr0802.jpg

NOT MY SHUTTLE ROBO!

If they do the Super GoBots version, I will be ALL over it. I think he's named Big Shuttle Robo in Japan, because of course he is.

[technoblue]

Space Robo looks fantastic.

[M'Kyuun]

I'm totally sold on Blackbird and Space. Those grey hinges in Blackbird's jet mode need some black paint, though. But, yeah, both look good overall. I realize it's close to the animation, but I wish they'd found a better solution to Space's nose section backpack- thing's huge comparatively. Even so, these guys are going to be kept within easy reach for constant swooshing.

What I like about this line, and the original MR/Gobots is the attempt to make the vehicle modes look realistic, when the vehicle mode in question is a real world vehicle. That SR-71 isn't perfectly accurate, but he's by far the best transforming SR-71 toy I've seen yet. I've been wondering if these were going to make it to market, so seeing them painted makes me really happy.

Bring on Harrier Robo for the third wave. And Porche, just because. Really, I'm down for any aircraft character they make in this line, and I hope eventually they'll branch from just Revenge of Cronos to the rest of the MR series.

Kinda glad they went with the scale they did now, after some thought. The joints should hold up much better over time, and tightening joints on a smaller fig is pretty easy.

Edit: just looked at Space again- no landing gear that I can see. Bummer.

Edited June 16, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[areaseven]

[Scyla]

I don't understand why they didn't design the bigger drill of Rod Drill so it could slide over the head. With an additional piece it would even cover the face.

[JB0]

I don't understand why the drill isn't chromed.

[technoblue]

Does anyone have any news on Bike Robo or what it is that has delayed him forever?

[Scyla]

I think there was a problem with the initial design and they needed some time to rework the mold removing the issues. There was a statement posted by Action Toys somewhere explaining the issue in more detail.

[technoblue]

Good to know. Thanks, Scyla.

Edit: Posting a link to the news for anyone else who is curious.

http://thefwoosh.com/2016/06/action-toys-machine-robo-bike-robo-delayed

Edited August 1, 2016 by technoblue

[JB0]

Wheels didn't spin, weren't rubber. Showstopper flaws right there.

[M'Kyuun]

Wheels didn't spin, weren't rubber. Showstopper flaws right there.

Fortunately for those of us buying this guy, AT didn't feel the quality was up to par and made changes which have delayed the figure beyond their original estimate. Moves like this give me hope that the next wave will also have issues addressed rather than just being put on the market as-is. It's not like Bike Robo wouldn't have sold, even with messed up wheels. Nostalgia fuels strong desire in alot of fans, and it's not uncommon to see standards lowered if only to get a dream toy that may never again get made.

I'd have thought preorders would be up on all the major retailers after the next batch's pics were shown, but thus far, I haven't seen any. I'm all in for Space and Blackbird, and I'll likely grab Turbo as well. Blockhead, I'm kinda 'eh, either way'.

Edited August 3, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[Jeremy007]

I hope blue jet is not too far off. The proto looks incredible.

[M'Kyuun]

Odd that he wasn't included in the next wave, or even the first. He looks like he'll likely be a partsformer, similar to Rod Drill, with the option of keeping his head as a short nose, or popping the long nose on him.

[JB0]

Fortunately for those of us buying this guy, AT didn't feel the quality was up to par and made changes which have delayed the figure beyond their original estimate. Moves like this give me hope that the next wave will also have issues addressed rather than just being put on the market as-is. It's not like Bike Robo wouldn't have sold, even with messed up wheels. Nostalgia fuels strong desire in alot of fans, and it's not uncommon to see standards lowered if only to get a dream toy that may never again get made.

I am still not sure if I was being sarcastic or not about "showstoppers", honestly.

But I think it is fortunate the flaws were confined to the wheels. If it'd taken re-working of the main robot instead of a single "accessory", they likely would've released as-is. (I say single because the two wheels share a common design, so any modification to one hits the other automatically)

[M'Kyuun]

Action Toys displayed a number of new protos for upcoming Machine Robo figures at TFCon: http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/10/22/tfcon-chicago-3rd-party-transformers-case-images-round-three-327164 I was hoping Harrier would be in there, too, but no. The train and missile truck guys look well done, though. I'm enjoying this line.

I've never seen Revenge of Cronos; does anyone know who this guy is? http://news.tfw2005.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/DSC07877.jpg

I've been scouring Google, both US and Japan, with no luck determining who he is. It doesn't help that no alt mode was displayed, although he looks like a possible triple changer, though not Triple Jim. Just curious.

Edited October 24, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[JB0]

Hey, the Blackbird looks a lot nicer in jet mode than the last time I saw him. Either paint helps a lot, or they adjusted the tolerances of everything to make it come together.

[M'Kyuun]

I agree. He's not the most accurate Blackbird (the feet and lack of a central tapering spire wreck the anterior profile, which was better done on the original toy), but I love the fact that the robot body forms the fuselage rather than just dangling underneath it like most TFs. Those quibbles aside, I'm looking forward to having him in hand, testing his aerodynamic design throughout the house. I've already PO'd him and Mixer Robo. Mixer's transformation looks simple but interesting.

[M'Kyuun]

Not much love in this thread. Well, Blackbird and Mixer came today, and my first impression is that neither seems as refined as the previous wave. I apologize for lack of pics (I was hoping by now that individually focused reviews would be up. The closest I found to a review thus far were the Knerdout guys https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-004&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla&p=machine+robo+blackbird#id=2&vid=9a165e6d53babbdd9610925a9923d724&action=click They're easier to take with the sound muted).

Blackbird is the more solid of the two; his SR-71 mode comes together nicely, although the entire forward fuselage is very thin especially in side profile. Getting the nose section up and over the head for jet mode is a bit scary for the tight tolerance. Articulation is par for the course: ball joints for head, shoulders, hips, and feet; bicep and thigh rotation on mushroom joints; the knees and elbows are pin joints. The nose has a retracting gear, but the aft fuselage just sits on rounded molded parts of the leg where the engine rotation joints mate to the legs. Blackbird also comes with two weapons that snap over the hands. In jet mode, they peg into the legs near the aforementioned engine joint, but they extend below those rounded parts effectively lifting the entire jet off the ground, rendering the nose gear pointless. Compared to how well Eagle was designed, with fully retractable gear and weapons that conform to the jet mode, these feel very tacked-on and out of place on a reconnaissance jet. I'm not complaining that they gave him weapons, I just wish they'd been designed to conform a little more seamlessly with his alt mode. Still, like Bike Robo's handlebar pieces, they can remain in the box without affecting either mode. I wish they'd scaled him to Eagle, as they'd look more accurate beside each other, and perhaps retracting gear would have been feasible. As it is, though, it's a passable SR-71 without a bunch of robot kibble hanging off the bottom. The head and wide red chest are clearly seen though- no attempts to hide them. Aside from Eagle, this guy was my most anticipated figure since all the protos were shown last year. While not as well crafted as Eagle, I still like him a lot. Both modes are solid, and I can forgive the disparate proportions in jet mode. He swooshes well.

On to Mixer. Initially I hadn't much interest in this figure, until I started looking at various pics and noticed that his transformation looked unique and interesting. I wasn't wrong. However, while his truck mode snaps together very solidly, the same can't be said for his bot mode, unless I'm missing something. I even consulted the directions, which I seldom ever do for any transforming toy , but the the waist area, which hinges to both the panel forming the truck's windshield and grill, and to the armature to which the drum mounts, does not seem to solidly lock into anything, so friction keeps it in place. Again, I may not be doing something right, and I'll have to spend more time messing with him. Articulation-wise, his head is mounted within the aft section of drum, which itself rotates 90 deg to peg into the cab section. Neat design. Alas, due to the very confined area in the aft drum, his head has very minimal rotation left and right, and that's it. There are two points of articulation to the shoulders: swivels connected to ball joints for the fender & wheel well parts, which allow fore and aft movement as well as rotation, and also a joint in the upper arm/shoulder that allows the arms to swing out away from the body. I'm not crazy about how it looks, as the ball joints sit a little too low, but it is what it is and it gets the job done. The hips, elbows, and feet are on ball joints. The knees are pin joints and the thigh swivels on a mushroom joint. The rear wheel assembly is also mounted to a spring-loaded rotation joint, requiring the assembly be pulled out away from the leg to be rotated 90 deg for transformation. I'll also mention that both the rear wheel assemblies and the concrete drum are both die cast, giving him a bit of heft. For those who are color sticklers, the red paint on the wheel assemblies does not perfectly match the red plastic-neither in hue nor shine. I'll add here that Blackbird's engines, which are also die-cast, have a shiny coat of black paint that does not match the duller black plastic. It doesn't bother me, but YMMV. The transformation is what really sold me on getting this guy, and in that regard, it's a simple but clever design. I won't give it away here, but I'm sure reviews will be available soon to show how it works. Weapons-wise, Mixer comes with two Bowie knives, which are ok for bot mode, but look unsightly pegged to his forearms forming the aft section of his truck cab. Again, I'm glad they gave him weapons; I just wish they blended with his vehicle mode so as not to be so blatant. I own all of the new MR figs except Rod Drill, and of those five, Mixer is the weakest design IMO. The shoulders mount too low, his head movement is the most limited (even more than Bike's or Battle's), and the waist has a lot of play. The latter is an issue that may be my fault, though, and I hope I'm just doing something wrong. His cement truck mode is nice, and the drum rotates, although his face can be seen clearly as the drum spins. The aft section can't be held from rotating, as it's attached by an offset rotation joint for transformation. For what it's worth, it's true to the original toy.

IMHO, neither of these figs feel as refined as the first wave figs. However, I do like them, and I'm looking forward to the next releases, most likely Turbo and Space. I hope eventually they'll get around to making Harrier Robo.

Edited November 24, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[treatment]

fyi.

emgo's recently posted some yt-reviews...

 

 

[treatment]

Josh of CDX reviews ActionToys' DX CyKill Bike Robo...

 

[mikeszekely]

I've mostly passed on Action Toys' Machine Robo line. I just couldn't get behind $40+ for tiny toys full of ball joints, especially when they were leaning hard on the Revenge of Cronos designs (so they don't look like Gobots), and simultaneously being limited by the Revenge of Cronos license (Eagle Robo and Bike Robo were fine, and we'd seen a prototype of Supercar Robo, but no Scooter Robo, Porsche Robo, or Gyro Robo meant half the Gobots main cast is missing).

With the optional and very obviously Hanna-Barbera Cy-Kill faces, though, the new Bike Robo DX is probably as close to a Masterpiece Cy-Kill as I'm ever going to get, so I have him pre-ordered. I'll grab a similarly-sized Eagle Robo DX if they do one, especially if he also comes with optional Leader-1 parts. Doubt I'd pick up any others, though, and my dream of having MP-style figures of the main six Gobots will likely remain unfulfilled.

[M'Kyuun]

I have most of the current assortment; still need to get Shuttle and Missile Tank. I concur that $40+ for such small figures is a bit expensive; I wish they'd been closer to $20. But, these are niche, and no-one else is doing them, so I guess I'm glad they're not more expensive than they are. And for the price, they're not bad little figures. Mine all have nice paint apps, generally have tight joints, good fit and finish, and the engineering is pretty solid, with some ingenious transformations. So, I'm happy with them. The Revenge of Chronos cast limitation is probably the biggest negative, as it means a number of characters we knew from Gobots won't get made, at least under current license. My hope is that AT will eventually get the broader MR license and produce the rest of the characters. As for MR vs Gobot looks, I prefer the stoic MR faces, although I'll admit that the Gobot faces would have more character, as can be seen with DX Bike Robo. I don't have much association with Gobots, as I didn't watch the cartoon too much, so my memories are vague. Even as a kid, it seemed corny, at least cornier than Transformers. Well, Transformers first season, anyway. Crasher would be cool though. I'm surprised how slowly AT is churning these guys out, especially since they've had protos for some of them for several years now- still waiting for Supercar (Turbo) and Blue Jet (Fitor).

[Kuma Style]

[M'Kyuun]

Damn, Kuma; you sell it, man.  Beautiful pic of a beautiful figure.

[Kuma Style]

ty.

[mikeszekely]

On 2/3/2018 at 11:19 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I don't have much association with Gobots, as I didn't watch the cartoon too much, so my memories are vague. Even as a kid, it seemed corny, at least cornier than Transformers.

As a kid, I definitely preferred Transformers, but also as a kid in the '80s I was into pretty much anything with giant robots; Transformers, Gobots, Tranzor Z, Robotech, Voltron, Mighty Orbots, whatever I could get.  The other thing, which I've talked about sometimes, is that we were kind of poor when I was a kid.  My dad was a blue collar worker who got laid off and was out of work for nearly a year, and my mom had actually dropped out of high school to marry my dad at 15 and was a stay-at-home mom until I was much older.  As much as I loved Transformers, my parents really couldn't afford more than a minibot until after the '86 movie.  Most of the Transformers I had as a kid were post-movie.  The only season 1 and 2 toys I had were all three Insecticons, Seaspray, Powerglide, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe, and I'd find out as an adult that of those Sideswipe probably came from my uncle.

Gobots, on the other hand, were cheap enough that my parents were able to pad out one or two holidays with several of them.  So not only did I watch the cartoon nearly as much as Transformers, I had a ton of Gobots.  When things were better, I even had some of the bigger ones like Zod, The Command Center, Thruster, Puzzler, and a few Super Gobots.  In fact, for me some Gobots were used as Transformers.  I used to pretend Loco was Astrotrain and Res-Q was Ratchet.

So, yeah, while licensing issues or a perceived lack of interest in Gobots (maybe they didn't have Gobots in China?) means my dreams are unlikely to come true any time soon, I'd still like larger Masterpiece-style toys of at least Leader-1, Cy-Kill, Turbo, Crasher, Scooter, and Cop-Tur with the Hanna-Barbera aesthetic (ok, maybe Zod, too).

[M'Kyuun]

Similar circumstances on my end, down to my dad's also being laid off for about a year, although as a factory maintenance worker and a good welder, he still managed to get jobs here and there. I digress. Anyway,I had Coptur and Dive-Dive (a knock-off, actually, that I got for a b-day, and still have sitting on my desk today). My toy interests were split between LEGO, Diablock sets (an Japanese building system that was similar but incompatible with LEGO, but I liked it nonetheless) and Transformers. Of these three, TFs constituted the minority share. By the time I graduated high school and entered the AF, I had about 20 or so Transformers. From as far back as memory serves, I have also loved pretty much anything 'robot', especially if there was transformation involved. The only anime I was familiar with growing up were G-Force (Battle of the Planets, or Gatchaman) and Speed Racer from a very young age (early 70's), then Mighty Orbots, Ulysses 31, Galaxy Rangers, and Pole Position in the 80's. I never saw Voltron; I saw the toys in the ole Sears and JC Penney catalogs, though. But, having no idea what they were, I didn't really develop an interest in it until much later, and then purely b/c they were cool mecha. Thinking back, I believe Robotech toys were in those catalogs, too, but again, I never saw it growing up or I would most definitely have been hooked. Alas, as a kid my only association for the VF-1 was Jetfire, but I remember very clearly seeing cheap knock-off toys of the VF-1 everywhere (still have one from the Dollar Store somewhere.) I still remember seeing Jetfire on the shelf at Fisher's Big Wheel (Mike might recognize this store), a dept store we had in PA, and sadly leaving it there b/c I couldn't afford it. I later found out some neighborhood kids had Jetfire, so I got to play around with him briefly during a visit- bittersweet memory, that. They were rough on their stuff, so it probably didn't last beyond a year or so.   My only brush with G1 Megatron to date was in HS, as I was giving a ride to someone in Band, and there was a school play practice happening that day. As it happens, they needed a gun prop, and someone had supplied them with- Megatron! So, I managed to get my eager grubbies on it and transform it through a full cycle before reluctantly handing it back. As for Gobots, I remember in the beginning not being too impressed with them, but by the second or third year they were out, they were looking better and better with more complex transformations. But finances being limited, I stuck to building blocks and TFs, as well as the odd toy here and there. I became the proud owner of a transforming set of binoculars we won at an auction; many years later, I learned that it was a Diaclone  . Pretty cool. I still have it somewhere. So, back to topic, since I didn't have many TFs or Gobots as a kid, I'm really pleased that Action Toys picked up the MR license, even in its limited form, as these were some neat toys that have been begging for updates for a long time.  I have Bike, Eagle, Concrete, Tank, and Blackbird so far, with Shuttle and Missile Tank in my pile at TFSource, and I hope they'll continue on with as many characters as they can under the Revenge of Kronos title. For those with fond Gobots memories, I hope Action Toys will find a way to get a broader license, as there are a lot of figures I'd personally love to have updates for, especially all the aircraft.

 

 

 

[mikeszekely]

51 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Anyway,I had Coptur and Dive-Dive

Dive-Dive!  I had one, too!  I insisted on taking him in the bathtub with me.

52 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

By the time I graduated high school and entered the AF, I had about 20 or so Transformers.

 

52 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

and Speed Racer from a very young age (early 70's)

I think this might also have something to do with why I feel more strongly about the Hanna-Barbera look for Gobots vs. the Machine Robo look.  I'm guessing I'm a little younger.  I was four, four and a half when both Gobots and Transformers first aired on TV.  I was old enough to follow the plots and learn the characters, young enough not to realize how bad they were, and just the right age for thinking the only thing cooler than robots and cars* were robots that turned into cars.

*On an unrelated note, one of my earliest memories was my dad talking to my uncle about VCRs.  We couldn't really afford one, but since my dad worked the second shift then he was attracted to the idea of taping all the prime time TV he was missing.  I asked my dad what a VCR was, and he tried to explain that it was a box that would let you record a show so you could watch it whenever you wanted.  I didn't really understand the recording part, since I was maybe three at the time, but the idea of watching a show when you wanted to struck a chord with me.  "You mean I could watch K.I.T.T. whenver I want?!"  In that moment, I probably wanted a VCR more than my dad did.

[M'Kyuun]

I was thirteen when Transformers came on the scene in '84. I was just blown away by the concept of real world vehicles becoming these 'good' looking robots (they had decent proportions and weren't all wonky) watching the promos leading up to the show. It was a life-changing moment; transforming mecha has become my single greatest interest ever since, and that was actually fueled much earlier by G-Force's mecha, esp the centipede mech which could disassemble and reassemble.  When the promos ran, I thought Prime was a combination of his cab and trailer; I was a little disappointed to find out he wasn't- but then there was Motormaster, who was cool in concept, not so much the toy. A couple of the third parties have done a decent job on him, though. Anyway, I guess being older, I generally wanted a little more maturity in my shows, and I've always felt, and still feel, that the first season, especially the introductory three-episodes, had a maturity and gravitas to the writing and plotting that just wasn't seen in too many cartoons at the time. It lost that from second season onward, as the writers were given carte blanche to write whatever just to keep the show going and advertise those toys. So I pretty much stopped watching Transformers with any regularity, and there are likely still episodes I've never seen, and many I did but don't remember  b/c they were so corny. From time to time, Gobots would be on, and I'd watch it for as long as I could take it. Crasher was cool, so I liked it when she featured, and Coptur, because he was a helicopter and I was fascinated with them at the time. The one element of Gobots that I loved, and preferred over Transformers, was that the transformations were animated to copy the toys, almost exactly. I thought that was awesome- Transformers was so fudged; they may as well have had them do a Tasmanian Devil twirl.  Actually, they did in TF:A- just remembered that...too funny. 

VCR's were a revolution unto themselves- totally changed how you thought about watching tv, and opened up a whole new world of watching movies. We never went to the movies, and my interests were diametrically opposed to my parents', so when we finally got one in my early teens, I loved it. Man, those were the days. We thought we had it good!