Give it up for ABS in this thread.
Love these cheap-o train station mecha sets. The plastic is crummy and the transformations 'imaginative' at best, but the box art is killer. It's sort of refreshing to see toys that try to sell kids on the packaging- seems like box art has fallen by the wayside these days.
The airplane robot is called Eagle Rider. Pretty simple transformation, but the design pleases me. It's well done for an original design- sort of a Southern Cross flavor- more so when you consider that these are not high end toys at all.
Oops. Blew the arm off this one right out of the box. It is called F-1 Rider. I never found out what the robot mode is supposed to look like. I think he comes in yellow as well.
This is an older gift set that I bought a while ago. There are actual styrofoam inserts in there, meaning that it is probably pre-1990. It's a collection of various combiner robots that were normally sold separately. My favorite is the one on the right, which is made up of three military vehicles. It's called "Survival Monster"- how cool is that? I think that should be the new name of Man vs. Wild.
The older these are the better. Over the years, they were reproduced in varying levels of quality, and a lot of them were ultimately sold as candy toys. I've even found one that is still being manufactured today.
I have a soft spot in my heart for these guys because they remind me of my first visit to Japan in 1990. Being a big Transformers fan, it blew my mind to see transforming robot toys being casually sold at the corner grocery store and train station kiosks. Whenever I see them, it reminds me of that feeling of amazement that I had when buying toys in Japan for the first time.
Another of my recent obsessions: Mugenbine candy toys. Yes, these are the descendants of Gobots. This guy is called "Mugen Arthur"- look at those decals trying to fly off the sword. He's just that powerful. I need to buy some glue.
Don't let those diecast diehards have all the fun- post your cool plastic toys here.
