Toys in The Great Robot Book
The Great Robot Book*, published in 1985, is a 104-page book all about robots. Written by Wanda and Texe Marrs, the B&W book was clearly written to capitalize on the robot buzz and popularity of the time.
The book discusses robots in fiction and the real world, and throughout is illustrated with photos and drawings of all sorts of robots. Most of the book I’ve only flipped through, but the 6-page section titled “Toy Robots for Fun and Adventure” deserved a quick read. Not the greatest of material on robot toys of the mid-eighties, but when you’re collecting together information from an era it doesn’t hurt to get a peek at what was published at the time.
In the book GoBots, Transformers, and Ideal’s Robo Force get the most coverage, with the GoBots filling the largest space across the 6-pages devoted to robot toys. Transformers, surprisingly, get a little less space than Robo Force, but I’m assuming that’s a completely random result of the book-creation process and doesn’t have any real meaning.
“With a few intricate twists and turns that only children and maybe a few smart adults can master, these brightly colored and unusual robots become an assortment of mighty vehicles, ranging from elegant Royal British jets and red-hot racers to shiny motorcycles and menacing helicopters.”
Related articles
- “Robot Roll Call” in 1984 Featuring Transformers, GoBots, and Robo Force (battlegrip.com)
- 1984 Super GoBots Commercial (battlegrip.com)
- Review – Bug Bots Dragon Drone (1984) (battlegrip.com)