Morphodroids!, Old School Off-Brand! Options

[ZacWilliam1]

So, I want to talk about some old school off-brand. Why? Because I came across this add:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gILgyzIVMUA/Tokw...s1600/Top-2.jpg

on the back of Transformers #12. Yeah, off-brand TFing robots were a dime a dozen in the 80s. As have been bad remote control transforming toys. (And these look BAD). But there was a surprising amount of detail in the add, including some frankly kinda cool character names.

So I searched the web to find anything else I could about them. The only thing I could find was a singular scan of the back of the package. But cool enough it had little bios for these forgotten 80s nobodies. Paraphrasing them here because I love obscure stuff like this...

The Good Guys:

The United Beniforce Galaxies

Sagos – Battle Leader.
(Yellow sports car with “LETHAL” on the hood and red pin-striping.)
He is the most intelligent Morphodroid. Persistent enough for a long fight but lightly armored and relying on agility to survive.

Sage like good guy leader with LETHAL on his hood. Pretty hardcore for the 80s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif)


Valer - Field Commander.
(Red off-road pick-up truck with “Baja” written on it.)
Strong, fast, and armored. Perfect to lead the quick hit-and-run battles that characterize the war. His “persistence level” is low however so he can’t fight for long.

These guys all talk about their "persistance" in a fasion where the word "Stamina" would have made a lot more sense.


Alton – Scout.
(White sports car #11 with red pin striping.)
Fast and intelligent, excels at seeking out and analyzing enemy combatants. Lightly armored and not built for combat.

Jazz-y. Also I kinda want him to be an intellectual food TV host...


Tenac - Close Combat Specialist.
(Black “A-Team” van. Both fire AND lightning deco. Sweet.)
Heavily armored and extremely strong, but very slow.

So we got the sage-like big Leader, the action-oriented combat Leader, Scooter, and Bulkhead. Interestingly, and unusual for the 80s, there are more bad guys than heroes...

And the Evil Guys:

The Maldroid Empire

Malcon – Leader.
(Yellow Pick-up with Purple and Blue stripes and “Tow” on the door.)
Very strong and intelligent, but slowness limits him in combat.

Hmm an evil leader whose intelligent and not great at combat. Weird.


Poizen – Close Combat Warrior.
(Ambulance.)
Strongest Morphodroid and heavily armored. Unbeatable brawler. Only speed and intelligence deter him.

Evil Ambulance Brawler. Awesome.


Nefrex – Scout.
(Black “firebird” sports car.)
Highly intelligent and persistent, excels at analyzing enemy combatants. Not build for combat, he’s cautious about engaging in fighting.

He's like a reverse color copy of Alton. I kind of want them to be Brothers or one guy playing both sides.


Dibolt – Warrior.
(Black pick-up truck.)
Most dangerous Morphodroid. All around combat expert. Only weakness is thin armor

When this guy is killed Dromeo's whole game is thrown off.


Sintar – Reserve.
(Police van.)
Used as back-up and in night combat (due to dark colors). Only heavy armor has kept him alive this long.

And evil Police vehicle! Boy this line was WAY ahead of TFs on this one tiny front.


Anyone actually have one of these?

Is it wrong that I really kinda want to write some Morphodroid fanfic now?


-ZacWilliam, just to be the only one to ever do it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif)

This post has been edited by ZacWilliam1: Jun 24 2012, 04:57 AM

[Naas]

Hmm, they do look pretty old school.

[Asquian]

I had the black A Team van, we kept it at my grandma's house. I loved that thing.


Man, I'll bet these things are impossible to find now.

[orionpax44]

My brother got one of these things for his birthday when we were kids. It was loud when it transformed. He liked it but it got old real quick. I think my dad like it better than us.

This post has been edited by orionpax44: Jun 23 2012, 08:09 AM

[ZacWilliam1]

Man, I'll bet these things are impossible to find now.

Very likely. If you could find one they'd probably be much cheeper than TFs from the same years, but as a super obscure no name product it would likely be nearly impossible to track even a few of them down, never mind a complete set.

My brother got one of these things for his birthday when we were kids. It was loud when it transformed. He liked it but it got old real quick. I think my dad like it better than us.

It's funny, I probably would have been pretty down on these as a kid. I kinda hated remote control anything where the remote was attatched to the toy with a 6-inch wire. It's one type of toy I'm happy seems to have died out. ...But as an adult the retro-obscurity and the story, bios, and names being better than most off brand 80s stuff really kinda draws me.


-ZacWilliam, I kinda want to do art and fanfic to reinvent these into their own little, more detailed universe. Or see Fun Pub or the Alspark Almanac homage them into the TF multiverse.

This post has been edited by ZacWilliam1: Jun 23 2012, 05:17 PM

[Chip]

I'm pretty sure I had Alton. As a kid, I assumed these were similar but different lines because my guy wasn't actually in the ad, and I couldn't imagine the line being that big.

They came with multiple clear guns you could peg into the clear panel on their bellies, and that panel would illuminate with the press of a button. Not a bad gimmick.

[Monzo]

So I searched the web to find anything else I could about them. The only thing I could find was a singular scan of the back of the package.

This, I assume?

http://laloncheradelosrecuerdos.blogspot.c...ph-o-droid.html

Also, going by the ad, it's "Sagos". There's a crease on that package that, I assume, made you misread the name.

[ZacWilliam1]

So I searched the web to find anything else I could about them. The only thing I could find was a singular scan of the back of the package.

This, I assume?

http://laloncheradelosrecuerdos.blogspot.c...ph-o-droid.html

Yup, that's the one. It's funny, there are a ton of geek blogs that have posted and commented on the ad, but only that one Spanish page has any pictures of the toys themselves and....

Oh wow... There was a TV commercial and it survives:

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/108007930...cmp=vid_OEV_P_P

So they come from a world of good and evil inside some kid's wall mounted light sphere, got it. I'm slightly confused with the concept across both adds... Are they giant alien robots engaged in a war disguised as real vehicles or toy ones? And the bit about "you controlling them" yeah they're RC I know, but it's just a bit fuzzy if that's part of the fictional framework as well. They started very strong with the names, and continued decently by having bios (which is more than most 80s off brand Transforming things) but I feel like the overal fiction could have really used a pass by Marvel Comics. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-arcee.gif)

Also, going by the ad, it's "Sagos". There's a crease on that package that, I assume, made you misread the name.

Yup. The crease. Fixing.


-ZacWilliam, I wonder if his sister's name is Saga.

This post has been edited by ZacWilliam1: Jun 24 2012, 04:57 AM