The 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog starring Robo Force PART 4: MAXX'S PAD

One crazy trope of old eighties robot cartoons was that the places these mechanical beings lived in were fit less for robos and more suited to hobos. The combination sequence of Mighty Orbots illustrates this perfectly with only Bort in his airplane hangar starting out in a place remotely appropriate for a robot. The other Orbots are living like homeless vagrants, wandering the Arizona desert, embedded in mountains, buried under ice canyons and Crunch even lives in a junkyard. The Voltron lions were like this too, with red lion being kept in the most uncomfortable place on earth-an active volcano! Heck, the Autobots loved volcanoes so much that they didn't even bother moving out of the one their ship crashed into. It's like space robots are the intergalactic equivalent of cucarachas. I can totally sympathize with Leader-1 who decided, hey screw this-we're living in a flying ATAT and it's gonna have a cafeteria.

ROBO FORCE FORTRESS OF STEELE PLAYSET NO. 48078

NEW

Portable Robot Action Stronghold
Solitary, brooding and unapproachable, the Fortress of Steele master environment playset is the home battle fortress of the Robo Force. Designed with three different levels of robotic action and adventure, it features a giant citadel dome that flips over to reveal the master laser siege cannon. A working robot crane and hoist lifts Robo Force Action Robot Figures. Other features include a revolving secret passage console, hidden arsenal compartment, "Jaws of Steele" sliding bulkhead door, working jawbridge escape, flip-over stockade cell, throne chamber, laser swivel guns, robot shuttle sled, weapon rack and more. For ages 4 years and up.

Pack: 4 pcs. Wgt: 14 lbs. Cube: 5

The Fortress of Steele shown in the Toy Fair catalog was a prototype with a few color and mold differences compared to the final production version. The blue shuttle sled pictured eventually became orange, the orange weapons rack eventually became blue and the citadel dome which was blue in the catalog was black on the production version. The lowest level of the fortress in the catalog also lacks the molded details of the final version and the stickers shown are completely different from what ended up being used. But those are all rather minor and for the most part this design pretty much made it all the way to production. At first the inclusion of a crane atop a battle fortress may seem odd but given that every other Robo Force figure and vehicle had some sort of grabbing action it's not entirely out of place. In fact the crane is about the only thing that the fortress has in common with the rest of the line and that's part of the reason I feel the Fortress of Steele was the biggest disappointment of Robo Force.

REALLY COLD ROBOT HOBOS LIVE HERE

Ideal missed out on a huge opportunity to give the Robo Force an awesome place to live when they came up with the Fortress of Steele. While it was great to see these nearly six inch tall robots get a playset, this was no Castle Greyskull. There wasn't anything explicitly robotty about the Fortress of Steele aside from the computer-themed decals on the walls. It was so generic looking it could have been the long lost Kenner Hoth rebel cafeteria playset. It just didn't scream ROBOTS LIVE HERE in the same way that the GoBot Command Center did. I think every doll house should be the ultimate expression of the character of the dolls living inside it whether they are Barbies or as in the case of Robo Force-sentient vacuum cleaners. The gold standard is what Mattel did with Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain. Those couldn't fit in any other toyline because they were so specifically products of the universe of the Masters of the Universe. They weren't just houses but something much more-they were the physical incarnations of their occupants' heroic or evil natures (and also their philosophies of home decor). The Fortress of Steele instead looks like some gigantic arctic cockroach volcano. But if not this, then what would the ideal domicile of gas pump shaped warrior robots be? As it turns out Ideal already knew!

IT'S HARD TO FIND A ZETONIAN HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION THAT'S TOTALLY COOL WITH ROOFTOP MOUNTED DEATH RAYS

In the climax of the Robo Force cartoon the good guy robots attack Nazgar's fortress, which was a huge building in the approximate shape of a Robo Force robot! This was the design I wanted to see in a Robo Force castle, this was the direction they should have gone. I don't even care if they came up with something vaguely resembling their exalted and overhyped hero Maxx Steele, just as long as it looked like a robot it would have been appropriately awesome. I wouldn't be at all surprised if at some point they planned a Nazgar's Fortress playset that looked like this. The GoBots' Thruster who functioned as the evil Renegade Headquarters was the best example of what Robo Force should've had. Unfortunately Thruster looked a little dorky as a vaguely humanoid robotic dollhouse but that's partially due to the compromises in his design that had to be made so he could transform. In Robo Force there was no expectation of transformation, so an all out robot shaped multi-level robothouse could have been done to awesome effect. Oh what I would give to go back in time with all my brilliant ideas that would have saved the Robo Force franchise. Or seeing how silly the whole line was compared to the Transformers and GoBots it would probably have failed anyways, but at least time traveling me would have given the Robo Forcers an awesome cafeteria.

The 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog starring Robo Force PART 3: STEELE'S WHEELS

Every action figure has that one big iconic vehicle-the one that sticks in the minds of fans as the ultimate preferred mode of transportation for their little plastic people. For Micronauts it was the Battle Cruiser, Star Wars had the Millennium Falcon and for G.I. Joe it was the Skystriker. But move outside of the 3 3/4 inch scale and giant mega vehicles become rare. Although Robo Force robots were 5 inch tall giants compared to Star Wars and GI Joes, Ideal didn't let that stop them from making appropriately scaled playsets and accessories. Since Robo Force was more of a traditional action figure line it too had its big iconic vehicle, which was unusual for a robot themed line at the time because other toy robots back then usually turned into vehicles instead of drove them. So while everybody else was transforming into Volkswagens and Lamborghinis, the Robo Force was arriving in style in their giant four wheeled space tank-the Command Patroller.

Robo Force Command Patroller Vehicle No. 48077

Master Robot Transport Vehicle and Base Station

NEW This master vehicle/action playset is the ultimate in Robo Force excitement! Freewheeling, with the special "Omni-Directional Steering" for super battle maneuvers, this giant vehicle features a working hatch with telescoping robot lift arm, revolving airlock bay doors, a 360 swivel laser tank turret, front mounted battering ram and laser cannon mounts. Transports 3 Robo Force Action Robot Figures. Of course, it accepts all Robo Force Action Robot Figures. For ages 4 years and up.

Pack: 6 pcs. Wgt: 18 lbs. Cube: 7.2



A quick comparison of the photos in the Ideal Toy Fair catalog and the actual production model (a couple good pictorial reviews can be found at X-Entertainment and The Red Wood Connection) shows that the one used in the Ideal catalog is a prototype with major differences that did not make it to the final version. The most significant are the steel colored tank turret and laser cannons. They almost look like they're unfinished die cast metal! Also the black paint on the section immediately behind the capture claw didn't end up on the final toy.. The loss of the black paint on the production version is especially disappointing because it brings out the accordion like detail of that front section, which mirrors the accordion like arms of the Robo Force robots. It's a small consolation but these prototype colors did make it onto the box art and were how the Command Patroller was depicted in the Robo Force storybooks.

ALSO STREET LEGAL ON ETERNIA!

Children's Palace 11/11/84

If the Robocruiser and Dred Crawler were the sleek sports cars of the Robo Force vehicle line, the Command Patroller was the Cadillac. Whereas the other two were little more than souped up sleds one robot stood on top of, the Command Patroller was a full blown tank that had enough room to transport at least five Robo Force warriors. For about the same price as Megatron or Optimus Prime in 1984 you could buy this giant, 23 1/2 inch long behemoth of a robo transport. It was the Millennium Falcon of the Robo Force line-the biggest vehicle ever made for Maxx Steele and the good robots and it absolutely dwarfed the other vehicles and figures in the line. Heck, it dwarfed vehicles and figures from other lines. It is not unusual to read stories online of people who would use the Command Patroller as a vehicle for their Transformers or He-Mans or other larger than 3-inch scale figures. It even made the top-of-the-line Fortress of Steele seem not as grand when placed next to it. The world wouldn't see a hunk of rolling robot related plastic this big until Fortress Maximus was released in the Transformers line three years later.

WHERE WE'RE GOING WE DON'T NEED DELOREANS



One crazy thing about the Command Patroller's portrayal in the various Robo Force media was that it was just as likely to be seen flying through the air or in space as it was rolling along the ground, despite not having any discernible wings or rockets to propel it. Most of the time the artists just drew giant plumes of fire emanating from the back of the Patroller as if there was rocket propulsion back there. They could get away with this more believably in the case of the smaller Robocruiser and Dred Crawler but when the Command Patroller flies through the air it just looks silly, especially with those four huge tires hanging there. And just like the Robocruiser was always getting demolished, the Robo Force guys managed to crash the Command Patroller in the book "Robo Force and the Mountain of Burning Ice". Unlike the Robocruisers and Dred Crawlers that had multiples flying around at any given moment, it's not clear if there was only one Command Patroller in the Robo Force fiction. I'm also not sure if the Command Patroller itself was a sentient being. In all the books I've read there's only one shown at a time and it never talks. But what is clear is that in the world of Robo Force, unless he turns in to a car you shouldn't trust a robot with your keys.

Playworld 12/16/84	LaBelle's 12/19/85

ALL COMMAND AND NO CONQUER

Unfortunately Robo Force got canceled before Hun-Dred and the evil robot empire could get their turbo robot megaship the Conquest Destroyer made into a toy. Although that sucks, Robo Force did at least get its Millennium Falcon in the Command Patroller. The best vehicles in an action figure line will evoke the theme of the line with their design. They will capture the spirit of the franchise with their style and appearance and the Command Patroller did exactly this. It screamed 'Robo Force' with its Max Steele color palette and boated, balloony shapes. Yet it would not be entirely out of place in any sci-fi action figure line that could use a good giant futuristic looking flying tank. It's a little sad to see ads from stores where the last command this robo rocket rod had was to patrol the clearance bin. It is perhaps the greatest overlooked, unremembered iconic vehicle of the Toy Robots Wars of the 1980s. Even robot loving kids who did have one at the time probably were disappointed it wasn't a Transformer and they didn't appreciate it. But their Skeletors probably did.

The 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog starring Robo Force PART 2: Assortment 48076-The Robocruiser and Dred Crawler!

Robo Force was structured more like traditional action figure line instead of a robot figure line like Transformers or GoBots. This meant the Robo Force figures were the core of the line and would exist entirely at the entry level price point while the more expensive items would be vehicles and playsets. This is the way most non-robot action figure assortments like He-Man or G.I. Joe were structured in the 80s, with the mid and high level price point items being extensions of the brand the figures could interact with. Transformers and GoBots were able to circumvent this pattern by initially just offering larger robots to fit the various pricing tiers. The downside was that when they did experiment with vehicles and playsets, the robots were in so many different size classes that not all of them interacted well with the other toys. But from day one Robo Force had the action figure advantage where all of the figures were guaranteed to work well with the playsets because there were no scale conflicts. In order to fill the mid and high price points, Ideal just made bigger and bigger Robo Force vehicles. And for only five bucks more than a figure you could get the least expensive vehicles in the Robo Force line-the Robocruiser and Dred Crawler.

Robo Force Vehicle Assortment
No. 48076

Robo Force Robocruiser
Air Activated ACTION ATTACK VEHICLE

This "good guy" robot action vehicle features a unique air activation system: insert the special "Air Bot" activator into the nozzle on the vehicle, squeeze, and the vehicle starts to move! Air is the secret. The "Air Bot" pumps up a balloon that makes the motor start and the periscope rise, indicating the fuel status. There's a working robot transport lift that picks up robots plus laser swivel cannons and more. The vehicle accepts all Robo Force Action Robot Figures. 2 "AA" batteries required (not included)
For ages 4 years and up.

Pack: 12pcs. Wgt: 1.4 lbs. Cube: 6.2
Robo Force Dred Crawler
Air Activated ACTION ATTACK VEHICLE

The enemies of the Robo Force attack in this motorized action vehicle, which features a unique air activation system: insert the special "Air Bot" activator into the nozzle on the vehicle, squeeze, and the vehicle starts to move! Air is the secret. The "Air Bot" pumps up a balloon that makes the motor start and the periscope rise, indicating the fuel status. There's a working pincer attack clawand laser swivel cannons. Accepts all Robo Force Action Robot Figures. 2 "AA" batteries required (not included).
For ages 4 years and up.

Pack: 12pcs. Wgt: 1.4 lbs. Cube: 6.2
DRED AIR

Although the Dred Crawler and Robo Cruiser were designed to hold any Robo Force figure, the Toy Fair catalog and packaging would depict them being piloted by the leaders of the respective Robo Force factions, Max Steele and Hun-Dred. The color schemes of the vehicles compliment those two figures so well that I wonder if they were not designed with these drivers specifically in mind. On a minor note, once again what we get with the vehicle descriptions in the Toy Fair catalog is only a vague allusion to robot war, with one side described as the "good guys" and the other their enemies. But what was not vague was the exciting description of the vehicles' propulsion systems-a bizarre combination of pump action and battery powered motorization. I really like the idea of a starting mechanism different from the traditional on/off switch other battery powered toys had. And although the Dred Crawler and Robocruiser had the same propulsion system they were two totally different designs, with the Crawler being the more sleek and low to the ground of the two. I am so sorely tempted to get myself a Dred Crawler off eBay just to figure out the specifics of how the propulsion system works because it sounds so fascinating. It is both ridiculous and brilliant how Ideal combined the concepts of air power and electricity within a theme of advanced robotic technology.



ZEEP-ZEEP (TAKE ME TO YOUR CRUISER)

The Air Bots struck me as very similar to the Astromech Droid concept from Star Wars, except in Robo Force they actually contributed something important to the function of the vehicle toys beyond just sitting in them. You actually needed the Air Bot to start the toy. If you look closely at the catalog pictures you may notice that the Air Bots differed greatly in design from the actual production versions. You can see the final production versions in the excerpt above I've scanned from a Robo Force promo ad that appeared in Robo Force magazine. (Check out the entire ad here.) Although they're the same design used in both vehicles just colored differently, the prototype Air Bots shown in the Toy Fair catalog have a much more bloated look to them. Strangely enough both Air Bot variations appeared in the Robo Force books, with the pack-in comic "Showdown in Space" using the final production version and the prototype showing up on the Dred Crawler being piloted by Hun-Dred on the cover of "The Maxx Steele Trap". Although they appeared by default whenever a Robocruiser or Dred Crawler was shown in a Robo Force book, the Air Bots didn't get much characterization. "Showdown in Space" is the only instance of the Air Bots being featured on their own outside of a vehicle in any Robo Force book or comic I've ever found, with the Air Bot from the Robocruiser piloted by Wrecker even getting some speaking lines!

YOU GOTTA CRUISE BEFORE YOU CAN CRAWL

Actually even the Robocruiser isn't used much in the Robo Force fiction beyond very brief appearances. While the Robocruiser may have dominated when it came to newspaper ad appearances, by far the most common of these two vehicles in the Robo Force media was the Dred Crawler. Dred Crawlers are constantly featured in almost every Robo Force book. They're the main mode of transportation of Hun-Dred and his crew and consequently they're seen almost every time the bad guys show up. It's almost as if there were a concerted effort to push the Dred Crawler over the Robo Crusier in the advertising materials. I don't know why this would be necessary given that I think the Dred Crawler is the cooler looking of the two. Ideal may have felt that the bad guys wouldn't sell as well as the good guys, or maybe it was just that with the addition of the Command Patroller the good guys had more vehicles and less space to devote to each of them. Whatever the reason, there is a definite imbalance between the frequency of Dred Crawler vs. Robocruiser in the Robo Force fiction, with the bias totally in favor of showcasing the Dred Crawler. In "Showdown in Space" Wrecker even pilots a Dred Crawler after his Robocrusier is blown up!

Playworld 11/15/84	Playworld 12/02/84	Playworld 11/14/85

THE GOOD NEWS IS IT'S A ROBOT DRIVING A CAR-THE BAD NEWS IS IT'S A ROBOT DRIVING A CAR

Perhaps the biggest advantage to Robo Force being based on completely original sci-fi robot designs is that its vehicles couldn't be criticized as being out of scale with the rest of the line. Oftentimes with toys like Star Wars' AT-AT or the Millennium Falcon compromises had to be made to fit the figures while still making the vehicles in a compact scale so proportions would look a bit off. But with Robo Force there is no preordained idea of scale, proportion or what the vehicle was supposed to look like, so everything looked right! I don't think the GoBots ever reached this level of figure/vehicle integration with their Sky Hawk and Power Suits, and the Transformers wouldn't come close until they became more traditional action figures with their Action Master line over 5 years later. But until then it was Robo Force that would find the perfect balance between action figure and toy robot line, melding perfectly the sci-fi robot with a variety of accessories and environments to interact with. Although Robo Force may have gotten laughed at for being robots that couldn't turn into vehicles at a time when everybody else was doing it, they had at least one advantage. The difference between Robo Force and Transformers is when Maxx Steele's car dies he has it fixed. When Sam Witwicky's car dies he has a funeral.

The 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog starring Robo Force PART 1: Assortment 48075-Meet the Robo Force!

1984 was a perfect storm of toy robots marketing in North America. Tonka launched their GoBots in late 1983 and they'd be among the most popular toys the following year. Hasbro debuted The Transformers at Toyfair 1984 and they would go on to break the sales record for a first year toyline. '84 would also see the launch of another brand of robot action figures that were totally unlike anything else released that year. It was Robo Force, Ideal's nontransforming, 5 1/2 inch tall action warrior robots with crusher arms and gripper bases! Although Robo Force would be canceled after its debut and nothing new was released beyond the initial line of figures and vehicles, Ideal initially gave the line a tremendous marketing push that forever etched it into the memories of an entire generation of toy robots-loving kids growing up in the eighties. Of course Hasbro would dominate in 1985 with the market supremacy of The Transformers overwhelming Robo Force along with countless knockoffs and imitations looking to cash in on the transforming robot craze. But back in 1984 before there was a clear winner in the Toy Robots Wars of the 1980s there was a variety of options and ideas of what a toy robot could be. The unique direction Ideal went with the Robo Force designs would make them a true standout among the overwhelming flood of toy robot Volkswagens and their transforming dinosaur cohorts. So to celebrate the line that reminded us there is more to being a robot than just turning into a Lamborghini, I want to take a look at where Robo Force essentially began-in the pages of the 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog!

But before we delve into Ideal's sales pitch to the retail chains, I think it's important to understand that Ideal developed this line totally independently of outside influences. According to a ToyFare interview with Paul Kirchner (the artist who drew the pack-in comics), Ideal was totally blindsided by the more popular GoBots and Transformers competing alongside Robo Force in 1984. Robo Force wasn't an attempt to cash in on the toy robot action figure boom of '84-'85, it was just timed fortunately (or unfortunately) enough to be in the running when transforming toy robot mania hit America. 1984 was not the first time toy robots of Japanese origin would invade the U.S., as kids who lived through the Shogun Warriors and Micronauts era of the late 70s can attest. It was also not the first time Ideal launched a toy robot line. Almost twenty years earlier it was Ideal who came out with the very first mainstream American toy robots ever-the Zeroids. But 1984 would be the first year that Ideal's American born and bred robot designs would go up directly against the radically different toy robots from Japan. And the rest, as they say, is....page 98 of the 1984 Ideal ToyFair catalog:

NEW Robo Force Action Robot Figures Assortment No. 48075
Warrior Robots with Crusher Arms & Gripper Bases

Assortment consists of the following figures: Wrecker The Demolisher, Coptor The Enforcer, Maxx Steele The Leader, S.O.T.A. The Creator, Blazer The Ignitor, Sentinel The Protector, Vulgar The Destroyer, Enemy The Dictator, Hun-Dred The Conqueror and Cruel The Detonator.

Robo Force delivers the action that ordinary poseable "action figures" only promise-and in a theme that's as "now" as tomorrow! Each of the 10 different figures has pushbutton-activated, moving crusher arms, suction gripper base and a 360° swivel waist. And each has a different set of detachable, interchangeable weaponry, conceal-and-reveal warrior gadgetry, hidden compartments and working accessories. Complete with full color Robo Force comic book/cross-sell brochure, Robo Force fan club offer and more.
For ages 4 years and up.
Pack:24 pcs. Wgt: 14 lbs. Cube:2.2

THIS IS WHAT SEPARATES THE -TRONIANS FROM THE -OIDS!

What made Robo Force not just different but radical was the design of the robots and how they incorporated short, squat proportions with accordion like arms, giant suction cup bases and no discernible faces. The easiest and most common jokes about Robo Force are how they resemble vacuum cleaners or gas pumps but the comparisons are valid. I thought it was comedic genius when I wrote a couple years ago that Roboforce robots are what you'd get if a bunch of astromech droids from Star Wars got together to make a heavy metal band called GWAR2-D2. But although I was joking I think the resemblance to R2-D2 belies Robo Force's place in history as the ultimate evolution of the original American perception of what robots in science fiction looked like. I think the chunk-ily proportioned, squat, vaguely humanoid but very vacuum cleaner-ish look was pretty common in the late 60s/early 70s as exemplified with the Zeroids. It's a look I think started with Robby the robot from Lost in Space. Even Twiki from the Buck Rogers tv show had those accordion arms that Robby, the Zeroids and all the Robo Force robots share. There's so many examples in pre-1980s American movies and television of robots being these midgety looking things with weird, oftentimes non-humanoid shapes with some vestiges of vacuum cleaners parts. Then the more traditionally humanoid and less cartoonish looking Japanese idea of what a robot could be took over in the 80s, leaving Robo Force as the evolutionary end of the line for the great American sci-fi robot.

Fishers Drug 05 November 1984


I'M CRUSHING YOUR HEAD!

The text of the Ideal catalog would be echoed in retailer ads for the line, bringing the term "Action Robot Figure" to newspaper ads all over the country. Robo Force was the perfect combination of the action elements from action figures with the toy robot genre, creating figures that had features so bizarre they could only make sense with robots. Aside from the crusher arms, gripper bases, detachable weapons and swiveling waists, each robot also had an additional feature unique to it, usually in the form of some sort of pop out weapon. Robo Force robots could do things no other toy robots before or since could do. Transformers or GoBots oftentimes sacrificed so much for their transformation gimmick that the resulting figures were very low on action features. (Although I gotta admit, turning into a Tyrannosaurus beats sticking to the side of a refrigerator anyday.)

A ROBO FORCE IS A FORCE, OF COURSE, OF COURSE?

The one area where Robo Force fell most notably short was in the development of a strong storyline to accompany the figures and create a mythology behind the toys. Whereas Hasbro and Tonka had their stories of transforming robot Volkswagens amidst the backdrop of alien robot civil war, Robo Force only had the vaguest notion that maybe some of these robots were up to no good, based mostly on their color schemes and job descriptions. There was no clear delineation between good and bad guys aside from how they were grouped on the two page spread introducing the figures and even that was odd because instead of splitting the two factions evenly among ten figures, the good guys got six and the bad guys got four. This is really strange because five of the good guys make very little use of red in their color schemes (while the bad guys use it a lot) and then you have the sixth good guy who's body is almost totally red, plus he's an arsonist. To make matters even more confusing, every robot has "Robo Force" in big letters emblazoned across their torso as if they're all on the same side. The only reason I know the characters' alignments is because it's charted out in the mini pack-in comics and you can usually tell who's fighting with who in the other books and stories, otherwise I'd have no clue just from going off the Toy Fair book. Allegiances or delineations between two opposing sides aren't made explicit anywhere in Ideal's catalog, unlike how Hasbro handled the Transformers in their 1984 toy catalog. That's why the one pair of Robo Force ads I found pictured below from 1985 is so fascinating. Usually retailers would just use whatever flavor text the toy manufacturers provided them when it came time to write ad descriptions. And those texts usually came straight off the copy from the Toy Fair catalogs. But in these Service Merchandise ads from November 3, 1985, the robots are divided into "Heroic" and "Defiant" case assortments. I have no idea where those alignments came from because I've never seen them used in any Robo Force media. The robots shown in the ads don't line up with their good guy/bad guy affiliations as presented in the comics and other books but that could be due to a number of reasons, from laziness to flat out mistakes on the part of the photographers and typesetters. Still, labeling one faction as "Defiant" hints at a possible backstory that would make some sense even if all the robots have "Robo Force" on their chests. Maybe some robots rebelled? Could they all have been part of one big happy Robo Force family and Hun-Dred led a rebellion in defiance of Maxx Steele's leadership? Only the members of the Robo Force know for sure (plus somebody who used to work at at Service Merchandise).

Service Merchandise	11/03/85

GO FORCE YOURSELF!

Well that does it for this look at the first two Robo Force related pages of the 1984 Ideal Toy Fair catalog. Later in the week I'll cover the other assortments including the vehicles, the Fortress of Steele and the other miscellaneous Robo Force merchandise that appeared in the book. You won't want to miss it!