I'm always on the lookout for odd and weird transforming robot toys, especially from the late 70's, 80's and early 90's. While I have found a lot of interesting toys from all over the world, today's subject is kind of a first for me.
I say kind of a first for me because while I'm familiar with this mold, this one hails from Venezuela. Released by a company called Matrisa. I've not been able to find any information on this company, but from the packaging it appears these were licensed from Village Toys. They are the ones responsible for Convert-A-Bots in the US...which in turn "borrowed" many of the molds from Mark/Select, also known as Converters in the US.
When I saw this boxed sample online I couldn't resist purchasing it. I figured the toy would be crap, but it's so odd and it had the original box how could I not pick it up? I'm told by another reputable collector that the instruction booklet was originally affixed to the area to the right of the toy...which makes sense. I love how colorful the box is and the grid like pattern used reminds me of the original run of Transformers. Coincidence?
On the back of the box we get to see each toy released in the line...which was just 3 toys. However I do believe based on eBay listings I've seen that these molds were released in various colors. How many different colors I have no idea, but I have seen a red "Mustang" toy online.
Out of the package we have the toy itself, "Camioneta", a blue monochrome instruction booklet and a unused sticker sheet. The booklet again shows the 3 different models and a brief transformation sequence. The stickers feel they are printed on cheap paper and I highly doubt they would actually stick to the toy if I were to try and apply them. I do like the animation style stickers for the alt mode's windows and I'm sure those orange/yellow stripes would help break up the black color used for the alt mode. The chest and waist sticker were already applied to the toy when I purchased it. When I took the photos I felt like those stickers would fall of if they were messed with too much.
If this toy looks familiar yet it's because it was released as the character "Van" by Select in their Convertors line. By the way, here is a great and informative website for Convertors and lots of other similar toys.
Camioneta seems to be the same mold as Van, however the quality of the plastic and metal used is far inferior. For starters the legs are off with one side just a tad longer than the other. This causes the figure to "lean" to this right. The head sculpt appears to be 1:1, however Camioneta's is cast in a sold red plastic with zero paint apps. The stickers used seem to be original to this release.
There is very little articulation in this figure. The arms rotate a full 360 degrees, but do offer a level of resistance. This may be to the transformation or to the quality (or lack there of) of the materials used. The legs bend as well, but that's more because of the transformation. Thankfully the toy does stand on his own fairly well with no addition support.
It may be hard to read in the above image, but the markings on the inner part of the legs are the same as the Convert-A-Bots version of this mold.
Camioneta's alt mode is that of a minivan. I can't quite place what real model it may be based on...perhaps a Toyota? As you can see it doesn't hold together all that well. I believe it's because of the lack of quality plastic and metal used. The tires aren't plastic, but more of a rubber...however they are hard and not soft. Perhaps this is due to it's age? At least I don't see these tires cracking and falling apart as I've seen with other toys from this time period.
From the rear you can see the issue with the legs. I still can't tell if it's the pin that connects the legs or if there is a problem with the mold itself. Since this is the only time I've seen this toy I can't say of the issue exists in other specimens.
While the overall quality of this toy leaves a lot to be desired, I find this quite fascinating and I'd love to find additional (boxed) specimens. I'm always on the lookout for these types of toys as I love learning about their history and then sharing what I find with others. If anyone reading this has any information I'd love it if you'd share it with me in the comments.
These look familiar. I think I had one in my Transformers collection as a kid?
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