Marchon Road Bots, December of 2008
NOTE: I first posted this back on December 25, 2008 at my old Livejournal blog. A response by Talyn to this morning’s McDonald’s Commandrons post made me realize it would be a great idea to move this content over to battlegrip.com.
After all, it was this post that eventually led to an entire Road Bots category here at battlegrip.com.
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Finally, after years of the toy nagging my brain, I’ve uncovered photos and information about a “transforming robot” toy that I owned when I was younger (a Christmas gift in 1984). According to The Vintage Spotlight the truck robot is a Marchon Roadbot and the Super Toy Archive even had one for sale at one point (it’s gone now).
What I remember the most about this toy is that it was in several pieces and to transform between dump truck and robot you had to pop the pieces apart and then reassemble them. Also, the rear of the truck (the platform the robot stood on) was motorized; pull back and let it go!
You could also make a squat version of the robot by leaving out the “legs” and just sticking the body directly on the motorized platform. I can’t remember its exact size but I want to say it was about six or seven inches tall in robot mode.
(Images from Super Toy Archive.)
Question: Is it Roadbots or Road Bots (or does it even matter)?
I’m happy that I finally found out what this thing was called. Now if I could only track down the metal action figures from about 1981 or 1982. They were shorter than Star Wars figures and modern military. I have no idea what they were called, though, and searching the internet hasn’t uncovered them.
Related articles
- Marchon Road Bots Cementorr, Hookorr, and Loadorr X FOUR!!! (battlegrip.com)
- “Deck the Halls with Squads of Robots” (battlegrip.com)
- Construction King (collectiondx.com)