Convert-A-Bots: Porsche

Trying to find information on this series of transforming toys by Village Toys hasn't been easy, nor has finding packaged samples. I picked up "Porsche" several years back, but just recently got around to opening the toy for review purposes.

The packing overall was in OK condition. The blister card is rather flimsy and the blister bubble was brittle...perhaps partly due to it's age (circa 1983) and combination of cheap plastic used? The front uses artwork of a generic robot that appears to be the same regardless of the character. The back is just basically a cross sell for other toys under the Village Toys umbrella.

I'm not sure I noticed this until I pulled the toy out of it's packaging, but there is some yellowing to the right side. This of course isn't uncommon for 1980's white plastic, but still a bummer none the less. If you are familiar with Gobots or any other similar transforming toy of this size, you (kind of) know what you're getting. Made mostly of plastic, surprisingly there are bits of diecast metal as well. I can't tell if the tires are a hard rubber or just black plastic, but the rear wheels are a little wonky on mine thanks to the wheel pegs (or is it the chrome wheels?). 

Transformation is pretty straight forward. Lift the car hood on the back of the robot, covering the robot face. Straighten the arms and press them in towards the body. Push the legs together and up into the body.

The overall quality is OK at best so I wasn't even going to try to peel these 30+ year old stickers. I'm not sure how well they would have adhered to the toy when it was new so I wasn't going to take the chance. Remember when toys had trademarked logos like this?

I can only recommend these Convert-A-Bots to diehard collectors. The 80's were a interesting time period of transforming toys and I'm not sure where I'd rank these, but they are interesting none the less.

Los de Convertibles: Camioneta

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.

Convert-A-Bots: Sporty Sedan

One of the things that I enjoy most about having this blog is discovering and sharing toys that are at least new to me. Of course this means I have bought a few things for the sake of the blog, but today's topic is one that I gladly jumped on.

While I try not to get too distracted in my collecting, choosing to focus on primarily Transformers, sometimes I can't help to wander over into the realm of generic transforming robots. We all know of Go-Bots, but what about some of the other similar scaled transforming toy lines. While doing some research on a little die-cast transforming truck I got awhile back, I discovered a small line of transforming toys created by a company called Village Toys. Trying to find some background info on Village Toys hasn't turned up much, but color me intrigued.

Turns out these Convert-A-Bots can be found pretty easily on the secondary market, however it seems a lot of people mistaken them for Go-Bots or Convertors or even Zybots. I was surprised that I found a carded specimen. He didn't stay sealed for very long though...

The packaging actually lists these as Mini Convert-A-Bots and as you can tell from the very generic back. the various toys in the series are called different things. Those Pow-R-Bots look very familiar. I'm sure my mom bought me one of those from Revco (and old local drug store) back in the day.

This is really all I know about the manufacturer. They were based out of Illinois and apparently a division of a company called J Shin Corporation. All of my Google searches bring up for Village Toys are of dolls surprisingly. Really surprised to see these were made in Korea and not in China. Seems like everything comes from China these days!

The packaging is very non-descript. I could gander and say the red grid background was used to cash off the early success of Transformers, but this release predates Transformers by at least a year so that isn't the case. Packaged in robot mode, you can see a small sticker sheet included behind the robot. Notice there isn't an official name for this robot.

There we go, freed from his plastic and cardboard prison where he has spent the last 31 years! Hard to believe this toy is that old. Out of the package I was surprised at how sturdy he felt. The die-cast metal used for the chest is very solid and the paint seems of good quality. Obviously the silver paint applications to the face are a bit sloppy, but that doesn't surprise me at all. Plastic feels light, but not too cheap. Wheels are actually rubber...or something that resembles rubber. They aren't rubbery soft, but they aren't hard like the wheels on a Hot Wheels car. The two factory applied stickers seem to be holding on very well.

  

  

There aren't any included instructions on how to transform the toy from robot to car, but then again if you need instructions you may just want to put the toy down now and walk away. I'm not a huge car guy so I can't really make out what make or model this car is supposed to be, so I'll just refer to it as a sporty sedan.

The almost glittery dark grey plastic looks nice in person. The car features a translucent plastic windshield, side windows and a sun roof. The back windows are molded into the body of the car and sadly they lack any paint apps. The front grill and wheels are made of a silver painted chrome like plastic. If you look carefully it's almost like some of the wheels are either too big or too small for the tires...or is it the other way around? The car rolls freely on a hard, smooth surface. The molded car interior's blue plastic works well with the dark color of the car.

The included sticker sheet has black window stickers along with some stickers that most likely are to be applied to the bottom of each side of the car. I was going to labeled this review as Soarer based on the stickers, but officially I don't think he has a name. I almost applied the stickers, but after 30 years I wasn't sure if they would even stick to the toy.

Overall this is a pretty cool little transforming car. It's very easy to see how he could be mistaken for a Go-Bot or another similar toy. There aren't any distinguishing markings on the toy, so I don't know if Village Toys created the mold for this toy or simply "borrowed" it from another company. I fear the latter may be the case as the little truck I have is from this same line, but is nearly identical to a truck from Select's Convertors line of toys.

If you are a fan of the small Hot Wheels size transforming toys then I think you would like this, however to most collectors this would be a throw away novelty at best. For me however, it finds a nice little spot in my odd-ball collection of transforming robot toys.