Flip And Fold Fashions (Tomy)

Flip And Fold Fashions
Tomy
1978 - 1980

 1978 Flip And Fold Fashion

 1980 Flip And Fold Fashion

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Omnibot 2000 and Friends (Tomy)

Omnibot 2000 and Friends
Tomy
1980

Want a robot that will do your every bidding around the house? How about eleven of them? That was the goal of Tomy in 1980 when they released a series of robots in conjunction with their highly popular Omnibot 2000.

Omnibot worked by way of inserting a cassette tape into its built in player which you would record (and re-record) various commands on. In conjunction with its built in digital clock which featured alarms which could be preset to initiate the time frame in which each command would be executed made the robot one of the most advanced at home robots of its time.

Tomy produced multiple sizes of the Omnibot in order to make it affordable and accessible to as many households as possible. Of course, there was a downside to this. Downsizing from the original 2000 model meant smaller robots with less features.

Omnibot 2000

Omnibot

Omnibot Jr.

With the massive popularity of Omnibot, Tomy expanded the line into multiple different iterations. Dingbot (shown below) is actually the smallest iteration of the original Omnibot - Of course with very limited features. Spotbot was the ultimate robotic pet. It would wag and chase its tail and run around your room. In the event of bumping its nose into a wall would change directions.

Dingbot*Spotbot

Flipbot didn't do much beyond run around your room looking for objects to crash over. Why? Because when it fell it would use its arms to right itself and seek out other objects to fall over. Dustbot was actually a miniature vacuum which would rove around your room looking for items to clean up. Be careful with your action figure weapons and accessories. If Dustbot found it on the floor, it was gone!

Flipbot*Dustbot

Crackbot roves around in circles waiving his arms and head in frantic motions as if he's lost his mind. When you make a sound, such as clapping, he'd stop, look around, and then continue on his mad frenzy. There was certainly a missed opportunity with Hootbot. He could have been the perfect digital alarm clock, but instead only hoots, flaps his wings and moves his head. Pity.

Crackbot*Hootbot

Chatbot was the ultimate butler. With his tray he could serve drinks, all while speaking. Verbot was a robot who could respond to minimal commands such as to come to you and smile.

Chatbot*Verbot

Tomy also produced a miniature line of wind-up toys called Pocket Bots. Each robot could walk when wound up and in some cases also swiveled their arms around. Cool if you're into wind up toys and / or robots, but really nothing more to them beyond that.

The last item produced for Omnibot was the Robot Link from Computer Magic. This software and link cable allowed you to pre-program your robots via your personal home computer saving on time and batteries. It also allowed for you to extend the minimal programming of the robots through additional commands.

Robot Link

It's unfortunate that these days most Omnibots (and related robots) are sold for parts due to the majority of them not working or the controllers missing (which render them 100% useless). As such, if you find one in a tested and working condition with all its facets you can expect to pay quite a bit. Because prices are all over the place, it's also difficult to determine what the price point is. We've seen them sell for around $250.00 and we've seen them sell for a lot more. The determining factor seems to be the buyer - Which we suppose is always the case anyway.

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Tron (Tomy)

Tron
Tomy
1982

These days the original film, Tron, has more of a cult following than a fan base.  That's not to say that those who do follow it aren't "fans", but that unlike other highly successful films which even casual viewers can leisurely view here and there, the bottom line with Tron is you either like it, or you don't.  Even at the time of its release, while it received great reviews for its visual work, many critics felt rather harsh towards the actual story.  In short, many considered it to be boring and lacking any depth.

During its production phase, Disney had high hopes for the film.  So much so that they even licensed with Tomy to create a line of toys based on it.  Much like the film, the toys dazzled a very select few, and failed to sell as well as anyone hoped.  It came and went with just four figures and two vehicles.

Tron*Flynn

 

 

The figures were designed using colored, yet translucent(ish) plastic which was highlighted with white lines to depict the CGI costumes from the movie.  There were two "good guys" (blue), and two "bad guys" (red).  Three of the figures came with little white discs, and the Warrior figure included a staff.

 

Sark*Warrior

 

Probably the best items to come from the line are the two Light Cycle vehicles which included a plastic "rip and ride" feature.  Basically, you inserted the flexible plastic "cord" which had "teeth" on it, pulled it out fast, which in turn spun the wheels to make it go when you put it down.

 



Light Cycle (yellow)*Light Cycle (red)

 

These days, the original Tomy Tron toys sell much better than they used to - Mainly because many toy collectors find the line to be cheap and easily accessible.  Though there are still die hard fans of Tron who have added these pieces to their collections as well.  Their popularity was also mildly boosted in 2002 when Neca released them all again using the same molds and package designs.  Neca even included a blue Light Cycle in the bunch along with the yellow and red ones.

Join us next time when we take a look at Clash of Titans!

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Star Wars - Super Deformed (Hasbro)

With the Power of the Jedi line up of 3 3/4 action figures running strong, Hasbro was eager to continue branching out into further Star Wars based areas. One of these extensions was the Super Deformed, or Palm Talkers.

The concept was designed to look like over exaggerations of each character, making them almost cartoony, a popular art style of this period thanks to several shows running on Cartoon Network, as well as several monthly comic book titles from independent artists.

Each non-posable character had little metal studs at the bottom which when placed in the palm of ones hand would activate sounds and voices from the films.

A total of six Super Deformed characters were released under the Power of the Jedi line; Boba Fett, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, R2-D2, and a Stormtrooper.


When the Revenge of the Sith line was released, Super Deformed characters made a reappearance, now known simply as Super D.

The majority of the eight characters released were simply repacks of the now first series. The only two new figures produced were Darth Maul and Yoda.

The packaging was redesigned to be a carded bubble as opposed to the first figures which were released in mini window boxes.

Much like the Power of the Jedi wave of deforms, the Revenge of the Sith line found little success in the toy isles. Characters like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and occasionally the droids and Stormtrooper were picked up, but for the most part the majority of the line eventually made its way to the clearance isles.

In a world where there seems to be an overabundance of Star Wars merchandise, it's difficult to gauge which items will rocket into people's collections, and which will die a stagnant death in stores. Unfortunately Super Deformed figures were the latter.

**********BONUS**********

Tomy released similar deformed characters for the Episode I Palm Talkers. They were essentially the same concept, though contained a much more Japanese look and feel to the packaging in hopes of grabbing the attention of the Otaku crowd. Much like the other retail versions, they didn't impress many.



Still, much like anything, Super Deformed Star Wars "figures" have their homes in certain collections where they remain treasures. Due to their lack of collectability, or rather, the desire for them to be collected by the majority of fans, they also offer a great conversation piece for their uniqueness. They weren't bad item’s, they just weren't the next best thing.

Join us Friday as we continue our Star Wars 35th anniversary celebration with our look at Power of the Force 12" Collector's Series!

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