Review – Z-Bots Military Combots

Manufacturer: Galoob * Year: 1993 * Ages: 4+

This morning I’m gonna take you guys back almost twenty years — woah, twenty years? — to the early nineties so that we can jump into some fun with the Micro Machines Z-Bots (Wikipedia), tiny robot toys with movable arms, legs, and heads and probably more fun than we were ever supposed to have with little robot toys.

Simple and Durable

Though there are a variety of different Z-Bots action figures (see the Micro Machines Museum) they all share one thing in common: These are very simple designs and quite durable toys. And even if they did break, Z-Bots were pretty cheap and easy to replace. But unless you were terribly destructive with your toys in the early nineties these weren’t all that likely to snap apart when being played with. And they sure are cute little robots.

Kommandor

First up is the humanoid-faced Kommandor, with simple swivels at the neck, hips, and shoulders. As you can see in the photos he has a pretty basic sculpt — like all of the Z-Bots — but that’s part of the charm of these little robot action figures. Like a bootleg toy the back is pretty much untouched when it comes to paint, but I guess that we’re not supposed to turn our toys around or something.

Raydarr

As basic in his design as Kommandor, Raydarr here has a weird cobra-like cowl, a massive arm cannon, and a weird hand held at a weird position. And at 2-inches he’s also just slightly taller than Kommandor, but he’s not nearly as big as the third and final robot in the pack . . .

Tomahawk

A little over 2-inches tall, what makes Tomahawk so massive isn’t just his height but also the fact that he can transform into a flying machine with a 4-inch wingspan. He’s also got more articulation than the other two toys in the pack, with swivel-hinge shoulders, swivel neck and hips, and hinged elbows.

As you can see the toy’s flying mode isn’t all that complex or exciting, but it’s a neat feature and gives just enough more play value to make this the best figure of the three in the pack.

Closing Thoughts

Like the well-loved Battle Beasts (Wikipedia) the Z-Bots are small and simple action figures that offered a lot more play value and fun in their day than was expected. Unlike the Battle Beasts, though, the Z-Bots are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. These are great little robot toys but be careful that you don’t find yourself wanting to grab every single one in the series.

For more fun with Z-Bots don’t miss this focus on Z-Bots at Infinite Hollywood. where you can see a lot more robots than I’ve shown here.

Philip Reed has more tiny toys to share, but doesn’t have all that much time at the moment.