Robo Force Invades the Glyos System
Robo Force, released by Ideal in 1984, shouldn’t be an unknown line to anyone who has followed battlegrip.com since its launch. I’ve written about the toys before and have even posted reviews — Robo Force Hun-Dred review here, Robo Force Maxx Steele review here — of two of the old robot toys. It was a far cooler line than many of us realized at the time and it is unfortunate that the Robo Force designs were lost in the wave of transforming robot toys that also hit shelves in the mid-eighties.
Robo Force Returns in 2013
Almost three decades after the original launch of the Robo Force series the line is set for a reboot and relaunch . . . completely compatible with the Onell Design Glyos System toys! John Kent, new owner of the Robo Force property, made the announcement in the Moderately Geeky Podcast and it’s about time! You see, John mentioned this to me back at NYCC and I’ve been dying for more information and an official announcement of the planned Robo Force relaunch.
What is Robo Force?
i-mockery.com’s Robo Force section, combined with the Wikipedia entry on the old series, should give you all of the information you need about the eighties Robo Force line. What I find especially impressive is just how much faith Ideal/CBS sank into the line; at launch we had story books, sheets, a clock, and every other bit of merchandising you would have wanted when you were a kid in 1984 and 1985. And during a call with John Kent yesterday even he marveled at how Robo Force merchandise from the past keeps getting uncovered from the archives of the eighties.
But it’s the toys that are most important to fans of the Robo Force line. You can see my two reviews — Robo Force Hun-Dred review here, Robo Force Maxx Steele review here — for my thoughts on the basic toys, but looking back at those reviews (one of which is four years old) I can say that if I were to review any of these today I would focus more on the charm and retro-feel of the toys. Boxy, suction-cupped base robot toys that had more heft to them than most action figures of the time, the Robo Force robots had a timeless look to them and feel to me like the could have been released at any point in the sixties or seventies. The fact they were released in the eighties is a little shocking and likely what contributed to the short lifespan of the toys on store shelves.
When Will We See the New Toys?
In my talk with John Kent yesterday I asked about the timeline and scheduling of the new line. Design work has been happening for months (I had a quick peek at concept art/design sketches a few months ago) and it is possible that we’ll see the first few robot toys released during 2013. But knowing how the creative and manufacturing processes work, and what can happen when they collide with reality and calendars, I’m going to just say that as soon as I get firm release details I’ll be sharing them here at battlegrip.com. And while we wait for me to get some info we can always keep an eye on the official Robo Force website and Kent’s Twitter feed for whatever happens to slip out.
Special thanks to the Glyos News Dump where I first saw that the Robo Force/Glyos news had been made public.
Related articles
- Spotted Online – Robo Force Patent Drawings (battlegrip.com)
- Spotted Online – Robo Force Vulgar Review at CollectionDX (battlegrip.com)
- Glyos System Launch on Friday, February 1st (battlegrip.com)
How wonderfully retro! Robo-Force brings me straight down memory lane. I still have 2 of them in my parents’ basement. The fact that they’re compatible with the Glyos System toys is great! I can’t wait to see what the toys will look like!
@Paul – Same here. I’m hoping to get a peek at the latest design concepts when I’m at NYTF next month.
pumped to see Kents take on these guys and the Mordles
I never bought any of these as a child, but I did have Maxx Steele given to me by my friend’s mom as a gift. I had no idea what it was, but knew his name as it was written right on his chest! I later found Hun-Dredd at a yard sale & I think to this day they are the only 2 I own. I’m looking forward to John’s take on these guys as well as the Mordles. I’ll be at NYTF next month also Phil, we’ll have to see if we can meet up.