Review – Switch-A-Robots Blast-Bot (1986)
The Sears representative said the amazing robots that change from one thing to another will be among the most popular items this year.
– Dick Shea, “Variety of toys available today almost staggers the imagination”, The Evening News, November 28, 1985
Seriously, the popularity of transforming robot toys between 1984 and 1986 led to some bizarre toys for kids. Today I’m delighted to share with you the Blast-Bot transforming candy dispenser. The toy was produced by Topps in 1986 as part of their Switch-A-Robots toy/candy line. Looking at it the first thing I noticed about Blast-Bot was that the poor guy’s candy had decomposed inside his body. Blast-Bot has sticky parts!
The above photo of the packaged Blast-Bot shows a black stain along the bottom of the cardback. That stain is the deteriorating candy and the last thirty years have not been kind to the toy or its packaging. As soon as I had snapped photos of the packaged toy I jumped into the (messy) act of releasing Blast-Bot from the blister.
It’s unfortunate the packaging was damaged. If this cardback weren’t so sticky, I would have tossed it onto the scanner to get a better quality capture of the back artwork. That illustration showing “Blast-Bot in Action” needs saved in as clean a condition as possible.
Vehicle Mode
Technically a partsforming robot toy, Blast-Bot changes from a robot into a toy car . . . and it’s as sad a car as it is a robot. The head forms some sorta gun contraption on the top of the car while one set of the wheels pop off and shift to a new location. The wheels absorbed most of the sticky over the years, so while this toy may have rolled smoothly decades ago all it can do today is kinda stick there.
Robot Mode
Standing a little over 3.5-inches tall, the all-plastic Blast-Bot robot has a swivel head, sticking wheels, and no arms at all. Hey, the toy was designed to entice kids into buying candy and not as an action figure; we’re lucky this thing even transforms between modes! If there was ever any doubt as to my claim that cheap transforming robot toys were big in the eighties, then I think this adorably awful toy/candy dispenser proves I am right. How else do you explain the existence of this hunk of cheesy junk?
Closing Thoughts
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Topps makes more than trading cards, but this awesful Switch-A-Robots candy dispenser is here to remind us that Topps also makes candy. I’m having a hell of a time finding more information about this line on the web. I keep encountering the dispensers for sale, but any thoughts or descriptions are evading me or don’t exist. I guess it’s up to me to research and post pics and info.
You’re welcome, world.