Review – Pow-R-Trons “Fy-Ton” (1985)

Last week we saw an old newspaper ad that included the Ertl Pow-R-Trons toys (ad posted here). In order to give you an even better look at these cheap transforming robot toys from 1985 I figured it would be fun to share pics and thoughts on one of the toys from the line. Fortunately, I happened to have one of the old Pow-R-Trons sitting patiently, so away we go!

Packaging

Unfortunate placement of the toy on the card obscures a fun painting, and even worse was that the artwork was damaged when I removed the toy from the card. It’s probably too much to hope that someone knows where we can see the original painting without any damage, right? Anyway, the card design is pure eighties, and the back of the card even ties nicely into the Pow-R-Trons commercial (which we saw in 2013).

One point: On the back of the card the robot is “Fyton” while printed on the car is “Fy-Ton.” I suspect the spelling with an unnecessary hyphen is the correct version of this robot’s name.

Car Mode

At 4.5-inches long, this Pow-R-Trons car is a chunk of hefty plastic with a revving motor. Push the car forward on the floor, pick it up, push it forward again, pick it up, and repeat and repeat until you hear the motor buzzing then drop the car to the floor and it races forward until . . .

Transformation Design

The Pow-R-Trons gimmick is auto-transformation, and it handles that fairly nicely. When the car bumps into a wall or other obstacle, the trigger unlocks the transformation mechanism, and the robot pops up from the car form.

What’s impressive is that the auto-transformation design is more reliable than we see in toys that use the Transformers Jumpstarters design (toys like the 1984 FlipTrons Re-Flexx and 2012 Spider-Man Flip and Attack Spider Racer). This may be a cheap transforming robot toy from the eighties, but the Pow-R-Trons robot performs as promised and transforms smoothly and quickly.

Robot Mode

At 5.5-inches tall, this Pow-R-Trons robot towers over many of Hasbro’s Transformers toys from 1984 and 1985. Unfortunately, size and weight is about all the toy has going for it since it’s an ugly little beast with zero articulation. This makes a fun addition to a collection of transforming robot toys from the eighties, but that’s about the end of the value in the robot. I like it because it’s terrible, not because it’s a great toy.

Knight Rider Model

These last two pics show the same robot with different stickers and coloring, marking this alternate Pow-R-Trons transforming robot toy as a Knight Rider toy. Yeah, that’s weird. It looks cool, though, and the pair together are fabulous and drive home the eighties feel of the design.

Closing Thoughts

I doubt anyone is going to argue when I say that this is an okay toy that’s completely forgettable. The Pow-R-Trons line didn’t last long, but if we look at this toyarchive.com page then we find the same mold offered as Transformers Bat-Robo toys. What? Okay, that’s gonna require some more research.