First off, big thanks to Battlegrip for pointing this out. It had totally flown under my radar.
As longtime Poesters are no doubt aware, I’m a big fan of the 1984 Ideal toy line Robo Force. They were fun, if somewhat goofy, robot figures with suction cups and accordion arms that could “grasp” when a button was pushed on the back. I wrote an article about them for ToyFare years ago where I interviewed Paul Kirchner, one of the creators behind the line. The article had a sidebar about unproduced Robo Force toys, including Tiltor, the Changer.
The line was quickly pushed out of the market by the juggernaut that was Transformers, but apparently at least one Tiltor did make it out into the wild somehow. A collector and diehard Robo Force fan found one on eBay – for twenty-five bucks. You can see the story of the discovery of the figure here, along with plenty of photos. Then head over to Roboplastic Apocalypse for a transcript of a podcast wherein the saga of Robo Force and Tiltor is discussed at length. Like, at. length. But I kid – it’s a great, fun read.
Monte
I have finally read this article. Fascinating stuff!
Just curious: Did you ever sell that old Robo Force HQ, Poe?
Poe
I did, I traded it in at Comicazi.
Chris Field
You know, I had one Robo-Force robot when I was a kid. The solid 'clunk' when you clapped its claws together was surprisingly satisfying. I remember absolutely nothing else about that toy, not even which character it was, but I still remember that sound of plastic hitting plastic.
Monte
I never had any of these figures back in the day, but their retrofuture quaintess is very endearing.
I wish Toyfare hadn't folded… and that they'd hired me and paid me a million dollars.
Monte
Also, Toyfinity seems like a cool site. Not sure how I never knew about it sooner.
Aaron
Robo Force was great. I still remember when my parents bought me the playset and a few figures. That was a good day.