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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Machine Robo Change & Glow: Tanker Robo CG-04

I honestly don't know much of the background on these toys other than they were released in the early 90's. It appears they were some of the last Machine Robo toys made. IMO these are some of the best MR toys, but can be hard to track down. I know they were released outside of Japan under the Robo Machine banner, but not sure which molds. Here is my feeble attempt at reviewing a few from my personal collection.

We'll start off with the packaging:



The box is about 4 inches wide and close to 5 inches tall and 2 inches deep. I love the CG art Bandai used on the front of the box. Very beautiful. It does have a top box flap where I'm guessing these were originally hung on pegs in the retail stores. I've tucked it into the top of the box to give it a more uniform look. The back of the box shows off this line's gimmick, being lights and sound. This particular toy has it's button on the front grill of the truck's cab. Pressing the button illuminates the front yellow lights and emits a siren like sound. Unfortunately the battery in mine is close to being dead so the gimmick doesn't work too well. I've looked all over and I can't figure out how to replace the battery (if it's at all possible).

Next we'll look at the toy itself in robot mode:


Toy comes packaged in a clear plastic form fitting tray in robot mode.








The gas tank is detachable and each end slides into the center effectively forming a backpack for the robot. The torso and thighs are all made of die-cast metal, with the rest being plastic molded in a dark yellow. Silver chrome covers the grill and robot's head.

Thankfully the gas tank is a made of a light weight gray plastic so it doesn't make the robot top heavy when attached. His feet are quite large so the robot stands up very well on his own.

Now let's take a look at the vehicle mode:


    

The front portion of the truck does slightly pivot from side to side, but because of the robot's arms being behind the truck cab, it does limit the range of motion. Overall length of the truck is 5 1/2 inches. With attaching the tanker, it's a rather bland looking flat bed. The wheels are molded black plastic and are free wheeling. My only complaint with this mode is that the robot's head/face is exposed as you can clearly see in the pictures. Other than that the robot parts are fairly well concealed.

Not much was included outside of the black & white instruction sheet and sticker sheet, but there was a little insert showing off the first few releases from the line. I'm still looking for some of these early releases for myself. The designs for the police car, fire truck & ambulance look very solid.






Overall I love this toy. I purchased it some time ago on Yahoo! Japan auctions for 1,000 yen. There isn't much articulation outside the robot's arms and legs to some degree, but the overall design is a winner. I would have preferred paint apps to stickers as some of them don't want to adhere to the toy very well. Of all the Change & Glows I have the stickers work best on this particular toy. Even with the battery being dead, this is a fun little toy and a great addition to anyone's Machine Robo or Go-Bots collection.

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