Review – Robo Force Hun-Dred

“Arch-enemy of the Robo Force and the leader of the evil robot empire, Hun-Dred has laser guns, crushers for hands and a killer instinct. Hun-Dred is a crude, cruel robot warrior-for-hire. He has but one sense: the ability to sense fear. Destruction is the fate of anyone — or any thing — that stands in his way. He does it with a powerful personal arsenal — pop-up laser weapons are concealed beneath his snap-out weapon hood, and he is expert in the use of his twin hand-held attack weapons.”
— from the back of the box

Recently, while searching the web for “metal actions figures” — I was trying to track down a toy that I remembered but couldn’t remember the name (Eagle Force, if you’re interested) — I ran across a toy line that I had completely forgotten about: Robo Force!

Watch the commercial on YouTube!

The instant I saw the toys — The Official Robo Force page shows the entire line — I remembered these weird, suction-cup based robot toys.

Christmas, 1985. We were living in Aneta, North Dakota and even though I wanted Transformers toys I mostly ended up with some cars, the usual sweater, and a couple of other assorted items including two suction-cup-based robots. They spent a little time in pitched battles with my Transformers collection but, for the most part, the toys didn’t get a lot of time out of the toy box. After a year or so they were forgotten and I’ve no idea what ever happened to them.

Hun-Dred the Conqueror

About 6″ tall — like the other nine robots in the series — Hun-Dred the Conqueror is actually a pretty cool toy, even if he’s packed with gimmick features. The suction cup on the base, in place of legs, allows the robot to stick to smooth surfaces (at least for thirty seconds or so, after which point the 25-year old suction cup gives out) which — when you’re thirteen and love robots — is neat. My other robot toys couldn’t stick to the window and — despite years of improved articulation, advanced sculpting and manufacturing, and an overall improvement in toy quality — my new robot toys can’t stick to the window. Robo Force robots can!

In the photo above you can see Hun-Dred’s evil, menacing robot face, complete with evil red eyes. Well, if you take a peek at the animation at right you can see what Hun-Dred hides behind those evil eyes: powerful, killer laser cannons! The concealment feature isn’t automated in any way, but the arms . . .

Notice in the image at left that Hun-Dred’s arms are accordion-like devices. That’s because of his “crusher arms” — push a button on Hun-Dred’s back and his arms close together with enough force to crush . . . well, I don’t think Hun-Dred could crush a fly but the action’s kinda neat. Pointless, but neat. An article at X-Entertainment puts it simply as:

“To this day I’m not entirely sure what purpose the stretchy arms were meant to serve…all they really did was make the figures look like gas tanks. But for some reason, it works. “

As a toy, Hun-Dred’s actually a solid, well-constructed piece. From my ancient experience with him — which is admittedly fuzzy — you can toss Hun-Dred down the stairs, drop him from the roof of the garage, and submerge him in the bathtub and he’ll come through in excellent shape. The arms, if you’re not careful, stretch and stop “crushing,” but that’s the only weak point on the toy.

If you’re a fan of articulation, and love your toys to have multiple points of articulation so that you can pose them in a variety of different ways, Hun-Dred (and, in fact, all of the Robo Force robots) is going to disappoint you. His arms move up and down. Done. That’s it, no other movement. (Unless you count the crushing arms, which I don’t because you have to hold the button in to keep the arms held together.)

Closing Thoughts

A mostly forgotten, unwanted toy from the eighties, Hun-Dred is a great addition to any toy collector’s collection of eighties robot toys. He doesn’t transform — which is unusual for a robot toy from 1984 — but his unique look and goofy gimmicks makes him stand out from the other toys of the year. Hun-Dred’s not a great toy, but he’s a fun toy and, in the end, that’s what really matters in a toy.

If you’d like another look at the Robo Force line, beyond what’s here and on the other pages I linked to, don’t miss this page at www.theoldrobots.com.

Philip Reed loves to search for old junk on the internet, even if it sometimes leads to sparking unnecessary memories which then lead to tracking down old toys. Like Hun-Dred, for example. But Hun-Dred will look cool on the shelf and now, after over twenty years without him, I’ll never again forget the lame line known as Robo Force.