While I have a lot of fond memories of 80's & 90's toys, Computer Warriors is not one of them. I vaguely remember seeing this line, but with it's short life space (it ran from 1989 to 1990) and no animated series to accompany the toys, I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't have a strong connection to this line. That isn't a dig meant towards this line as it does have some great designs. I'd love to dive deeper into the series, however price and availability are issues.
The premises behind the series is decent, but the real star of the show are the toys themselves...well at least some of them. I don't have the cool computer, Pepsi can or even the transformable soccer ball. The only sealed example I could find (and afford) was one from the basic series with that being Romm and his transforming PC Board. The artwork used on the packaging was beautiful and really painted a great picture of what it would be like to play w/ the various toys. Like with a lot of 80's toys, there was a small bio for the character on the back of the packaging.
My first impression upon removing the toy from it's aging blister card was a little underwhelming. The PC Board (that transforms into a glider) was made of a very thin plastic. You'll notice it's gold and yes, it does suffer from GPS (Gold Plastic Syndrome). Shortly after I finished taking these pictures part of the board snapped in half. This is a known issue with old gold plastic so I should have thought to handle it with more care.
In addition to the included Romm figure, there is a small gray blaster and an additional piece that holds the figure in place when in glider mode.
One side of the PC Board has pre-applied stickers that gives it a rather convincing look of circuitry, while the back of the board has molded details. The board is rather small and made of thin plastic, but overall it looks pretty decent. There are small ports on each side that allow the two included accessories to be attached when in glider mode.
The small harness can be attached the bottom of the board allowing the Romm figure to be attached. I assume this was more for storage so that everything could be kept in once place when not in play?
Transforming the PC Board into glider mode is rather simple, just rotate each side down and out to for the wings. Attach the harness to the middle and the gun onto the tip. For the most part, Romm fits snugly into the harness. When handling/transforming the toy, just be mindful of those "hinges" on each side as they can become brittle.
Romm here is the heroic leader of the Computer Warriors faction. All of the Computer Warrior figures are just 2 inches tall with 4 points of articulation - shoulders/legs. The back of the figures are made to look like computer circuitry. I had some photos to show this detail, but they got corrupted as I took these images years ago.
Overall I like the idea behind this line. There were some great toy lines back in the 80's that featured smaller figures (Dino-Riders, M.A.S.K. all come to mind) so I liked the smaller play pattern. Of course I'm also a fan of transforming toys so had this series had better exposure and possibly some sort of media tie in (there was an animated VHS "series" released) then maybe more kids would have been on board?
If you are in the market to acquire some Computer Warrior toys, packaged and sealed specimens can be found on eBay, but be prepared to pay for some of the larger sets.
Definitely interesting. Neat to see.
ReplyDeleteThere are so much more elaborate/cool sets than this cheapie!
DeleteI've never heard of these before. And while it doesn't look like it would've been very fun to play with as a kid, as an adult now, I think that they look very neat. Even the packaging is cool.
ReplyDelete