This Christmas, buy your kid a laser

When Toys "R" Us went out of business, everyone was sad for Geoffrey. When the first one opened back up recently, folks were happy for Geoffrey. Nobody however, gave a crap about the TRU Robot. Here in this 1986 he shows dear old Dad who was about to steal his kids allowance to buy meth some way cool Laser Tag guns by Worlds of Wonder! Wonder whatever happened to that robot? Oh well, hey parents, shop at Toys "R" Us for your Christmas presents! It costs 50% more than Walmart!

Kellog's Starbots

Earlier today (yesterday for you) I was opening a Kinder Joy Egg and my prize was a fun little robot that transformed into a boat. Not my first robot from a Kinder Egg, but one that really surprised me. Because it made me think a whole lot about Starbots. Starbots (for those who might not know) was a cereal premium from the mid-80's that found a special place in the hearts of people like you and me.

Starbots weren't just cheap plastic toys, they were cheap plastic transforming robots in a time when Transformers and Gobots were in hot competition with each other. Transformers were always generally expensive toys. Gobots, Convertors, not so much, but Transformers... yeah. For us from blue collar families there were sometimes pretty wide gaps in between getting a new Autobot or Decepticon due to that. However, a box of cereal? Your ass was getting one every week and holy crap STARBOTS. They were basic and they sure were fun. Available in a variety of colors and it was up to pure random chance over which one you got that week. You know, they might be one of the reasons I like blind packaged things so much.

ROBOT Jet

I've made my fondness for the Dollar Tree 'ROBOT' toy line known before. It's a pretty easy to buy line of robot toys of dubious legality available for the whopping price of 1$ each. One figure from the line managed to escape my grasp until this weekend when a quick stop found it in my hands. Seeing as the figures don't have names... it's a jet.

The best things are often under your nose

I don't claim to know everything. There's a million of people on the internet who do, but I don't. It's just not plausible being a functioning adult to know every little thing, you can try, but it is what it is. For years I've been seeing images of this neat little robot dude and never knew anything about it. Just thought it was neat looking and assumed it was a part of some line or collection I wasn't paying attention too. I mean, this has been going on for years seeing this little robot dude who's in a variety of colors and a few sculpt variations. I've always though it looked neat, but like I said, just absent minded on it.

So earlier today (to you it was yesterday, but for me it was today), my curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to look into this neat little robot dude. Well holy crap it's a Hot Wheels toy that's been in steady availability since the mid 80's. I've probably looked it over a million times somehow. I mean, as a kid I was a big fan of the Speed Demons line and he was part of that and I somehow never saw him until adulthood.

The car is named Zombot, but also known as Computer Warrior and Phantomachine in some instances. My mind is completely blown on this as like most kids I had a ton of Hot Wheels, but I was seriously into the Speed Demons line and still casually look at the cars when I'm in stores. Occasionally still buying some. They're just neat, you know?.

So this cool robot guy I've been noticing for YEARS has somehow slipped completely past me and I'm astounded. I'm not going to go crazy, but I'm definitely going to attempt to grab a few versions when I can. Considering the amount of loose Hot Wheels in boxes I see in various stores and shows, it shouldn't be too hard. Know how I just said those boxes of loose Hot Wheels? I always go through them and usually advise others too because often smaller Transformers and Gobots will end up in those and you can score some good finds usually cheap by just digging though them. I've done this so often that I've probably passed over a million Zombots doing so. I'm both amused and baffled by this.

Super Robot Red Baron opening

I kinda want a toy of him

I don't know why people keep saying it's a real life Transformer. 

It's clearly a Brave guy.

Mobile Suit Jaeger

Seeing how Pacific Rim is a live action robot cartoon (for some people the point is now out of the atmosphere over their heads), Legendary Pictures has this awesome poster for Uprising in Japan. Drawn by Masami Obari, it intentionally invokes Gundam imagery. Hopefully the film is successful over there as here it did similar to the originals numbers. I don't expect another sequel (I never thought this one would ever happen), but man would love more.