Review – Lanard Ro-Bots (1984)
I reviewed one of these Landard Ro-Bots toys over seven years ago (review here), and looking back at that review I can see that I didn’t fully appreciate the cheesy fun of the cheap transforming robot toys of the eighties. I was admittedly harsh to the toy in the review, and seven years of experience and aging have my opinions flipped completely; this is a great toy if you’re into the obscure transforming robot toys of that era.
Super Change Robo (Turbo Type)
Over at CollectionDX, we find a review of the Super Change Robo (Turbo Type), this exact Lanard transforming robot toy in a far more impressive package. The review at CollectionDX says of the situation:
“Turns out while we were busy importing Japanese robots into toy lines in the US, it appears at least one line was reverse-imported back to Japan.”
That’s 100% awesome!
Vehicle Mode
If you read my earlier Lanard Ro-Bots review, then you’ll see that I was brutal in my comments on the car mode. I still agree with myself that this is a chunky toy-like toy car, but that’s where the agreements with 2009 me end. As the CollectionDX review puts it, there’s a “certain awkward charm” to this toy. That beefy car mode gives it a character of its own and playing with this version has me appreciating the red version in ways I never did before.
Robot Mode
Standing 6-inches tall, Ro-Bots is taller and meatier than many of the Transformers toys Hasbro released in 1984. I’m not finding a price tag for these toys, but my guess is that these were priced around $5 or so and probably sold mainly at K-Mart when they were new. That’s pure speculation, though, so if anyone has concrete info on release and price, I’d love to hear it.
The robot mode isn’t the greatest — look at that face! — and I can kinda forgive past me for the harsh review in 2009. Still, this is absolutely a transforming robot toy and that made it an incredible toy way back in 1984. And today I can happily report that I’m enjoying this way more than I did when I looked at its brother seven years ago.
Closing Thoughts
After this review, my 2009 review, and the review at CollectionDX we’ve probably seen enough of the Lanard Ro-Bots for quite some time. I’d love to find some sales material on the line — a dealer catalog or even consumer ads — but unless we get really lucky, I doubt that’s going to happen. Hmmmm. Maybe if I try and call Lanard, there will be someone there who knows of company archives and can help us out . . .
Just read the original review — wow, you really unleashed! Hahaha!
@Wolf – I clearly wasn’t enjoying the design way back then. I have a much better appreciation of bad toys these days.
I thought you were going to say they reminded you of the mini-bots of Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and Bumper. Their transformation is almost identical. I actually owned one of these as a small child, and recently spent a few sleepless nights trying to dig around and identify what the hell he actually was, as it definitely did not survive my childhood. I finally stumbled on that same not as glowing review and had a few good laughs as a result.