Review – Robot Racer Pro-Ton (1985)

This is the second of eight Esso Robot Racer toys that we’ve looked at here at battlegrip.com. Last year, many months ago, I reviewed Dromo . . . and then failed to review any of the other seven cheap transforming robot toys in the line (eight designs total, and I have them all!). Sorry about that. I got busy with life and all that and then shoved the robots in a shelf where they’ve sat waiting for me to get back to them. Time to bust out Pro-Ton and see how he compares to other transforming robot toys of 1985.

More Great Art!

These gas station robots aren’t the best transforming robot toys of the eighties, but the packaging is sure a hell of a lot of fun. The entire package is even more amazing when you look at the 1986 newspaper ad for the promotion and see that these were sold for $0.49/each when buying gas. That’s awesome! That means eight fill-ups and $4 later would score an entire set of these robots. That’s considerably less than I paid for the set of eight.

Great Robot

Slightly shorter than Dromo (review here), Pro-Ton features the exact same transformation design as Dromo: Extend the rear of the truck to form legs, flip the arms down, and extend the hands. Done! Transformed and robot is ready for battle. It’s pretty simple, but it’s perfectly cheesy and fun. I expect more from Transformers and GoBots of the eighties, but for a gas station promotion this is excellent.

Closing Thoughts

After Dromo (review here) we can see that Pro-Ton is essentially the same toy with a few minor cosmetic changes. The tooling is different, yes, but the core elements are identical between the two toys. Still, considering its original cost and usage I think this is awesome, and as a gas station promotion it’s just obscure enough to be an exciting addition to my collection of cheap transforming robot toys of the eighties. I like it!