Toy review: Roboto

Toy review

Roboto is a very special MOTU toy to me, because I’m pretty sure it was my first! I think the reason why it was him is, that he looks cruelty-free, or maybe well-behaved. As a parent, I might also have preferred a Roboto or Horde Trooper over a Beastman or Snakeface.

Roboto is the only MOTU figure with a transparent torso, only Mosquitor has a transparent window in his torso. It looks fantastic, and the material is surprisingly robust. I can’t remember a photo of a broken, or yellowed Roboto. The only issue is the silver color on the boots, which seems to wear off often. You’ll see red plastic shining through.

Roboto’s colors are not as special as I thought first. His arms are blue, and the left hand is red. It is a bit confusing that is hand is formed like a claw, like the evil figures have it. Without doubt Roboto was always on the good side, so I wonder why the chose this kind of hand. The legs are red, with silverish boots. And for some reason the legs are shorter than usual. I could imagine this is to stabilize him better, perhaps the torso is heavier than usual? His “pants” (what is that on a robot?) are violet and a bit higher than usual, most likely because it carries some of the mechanical parts to get the gears in his torso going. The higher waist could also be the reason for shorter legs, so they could match the standard total-size. He’s got one red gear and two smaller, blue gears in his chest, which turn as you turn the waist. That’s a cool feature and makes him look alive somehow. His “jaw” will also move up and down while you turn the body, and that is maybe not so much supporting the impression of a real robot. It makes him look more like a 80s toy robot who can rather not fight, but only make noise and move.

The head is of the same silver color as the boots, and the jaw is red. Overall the silver color makes sure that we know he’s a robot made from steel. First I thought that this would be a quite unique color, which other robots like Horde Trooper and Blast Attak do not have. Wrong! A bit of silver is found on many figures: King Hiss, Fisto, Ram Man, Mekaneck, Two Bad, Rio Blast, Rokkon, Dragstor, Battle Armor He-Man, King Randor, and Snoutspout. Pew what a list. Even shinier metallic gloss is found on Jitsu’s hand, Blast Attak’s torso, Flying Fist He-Man, and Hurricane Hordak, There might be even more.

Back to Roboto. Solid red and blue are used in almost equal amount, maybe in favor to red. The red parts make him look nice and give the impression that he must be a good one. Thinking about it, he shares very much the colors of Mekaneck, except for the pants and face. Plain or neutral, I want to call it standard blue and red are also found on Mantenna, King Randor, Dragstor, Stratos, Webstor, Spikor, and Stonedar. It is not so common, and I must say I don’t like these colors too much. I helps to have it combined with orange or more violet. Trap Jaw has more a pinkish red and I find that much more appealing.

Roboto’s right hand carries a silver weapon, which can be exchanged: You got a double-barreled laser gun, which I like most, you got and axe, and pincers or grippers. The plug connection is surprisingly stable and takes exchanges very well. Except for the fading color on the boots, Roboto has a fantastic quality.

Last thing: Roboto came out in 1985. In 2013 a cartoon called Rick and Morty started, and in 2014 Gearhead was introduced. This is a humanoid with a transparent torso, showing his gears inside. They always remind me on my first MOTU toy.

Sy-Klone

Toy review: Sy-Klone

Toy review

This was a very confusing character to me when I was a child, and it didn’t get better after writing this.

First of all, he wasn’t very present in the cartoon. There is so much info about MOTU out there, that is was easy to find out from this page (amazing!), that he had only two short roles in the cartoon. Also he was never very famous or popular I would say. There are so many more popular figures, that Sy-Klone is just one of the easy to forget ones.

Second: His face and haircut resemble Heman’s a lot. In fact he looks like a wiser, more relaxed 80s version (remember the Jetsons?!) of a future – Heman. This fact was totally ignored in my opinion, it seems almost like the Superman / Clark Kent thing (ok this was recognized by most of us). The name however suggests that he is a clone of someone. As you can read on the linked fandom page, he was considered a cyborg. But the story line wasn’t very straight in the different comics/ cartoon/ books. That is confusing, but also opens the door for your own version, which is great for kids, isn’t it?

Third: His cool sticker shows some kind of universe. But space travels wasn’t a thing in MOTU (BTW the Jetsons were very popular in the 80s). It seemed a bit like a test run whether the customers would ask for more space stuff or not. But was the sticker meant as a screen, or a window to a universe inside him, or just decoration?

Fourth: While I’m writing this, I notice that the name is also very confusing. You’ll find different versions like Cyclone, Sy-Clone, or Syclone. There is a photo of a box on Google with both versions, Sy-Klone and Cy-Klone on it. So maybe there are also regional differences.

Apart from the confusing and weak background story of this figure, this is a cool, high quality toy. I can’t think of any reused parts (except for the face) on other figures. His arms are a little bit like Mantenna’s though… He came with a clip-on shield, that is also unique. It was necessary because of his tiny fists. Sy-Klone is very colorful, in a bright, maybe royal blue, and sun yellow, combined with some wine-red applications. The colors are of very high contrast and exist in almost equal amounts (maybe a bit more blue). IKEA wasn’t that popular these days, so this combination of colors wasn’t prejudiced, though I would say Sy-Klone isn’t exactly beautiful or pleasant to the eye. He is rather flamboyant. The legs got some mold over the years, same as King Randor did.

And there is one coincidence, or maybe a hint from the makers? Other figures with a high amount of royal blue, like Mekaneck, King Randor (the blue cape!), Man-E-Faces, Faker, Two Bad, Dragstor, Roboto have blue combined with red or orange colors. This is much more pleasant than the bright yellow, and obviously very popular amongst MOTU figures. The only other blue – yellow combinations happen on “drums” … Skeletor, and Evil Lyn!!! The standard Skeletor only has the yellow face, but else he is totally blue, same as Evil Lyn. Does this color scheme tell something about the real attitude of the clone Heman space android?! I guess not. Or?

While blue is a standard color for MOTU figures, real yellow is very rarely seen. Buzz Off had to be yellow, sure. Mantenna’s and Mossman’s belt, and even more Panthor’s and Orko’s eyes are really tiny. Heman’s and strangely also Prince Adam’s hair (so similar!) are yellow, but that is it. Merman’s armor is of a greenish yellow. Oh yes, Mekanek’s bumbum weapon is also yellow, but his armor is red, so the contrast is lesser. Not sure why this is the case, in X-men blue and yellow go so well together…

The chest has this 3D like holographic planet-design – which is of good quality and never came off. His wrist can be rotated by a wheel, which works well. His arms have a different joints from the standard figures (and tiny fists!), so that the arms lift up during fast rotation. This means also that he is a bit wobbly, like a doll. This feature is well-made, but also some how isolates him in the MOTU universe. I guess he wasn’t the cheapest in production.

To me his isn’t a standard Master, so for the Titfortat tournament he is one of the special guests…

Sy-Klone
Sy-Klone in UV light, note how much the blue body glows!

Crossover: Bitey smurf

Crossovers

Trapjaw as a smurf, that was quite easy. Both are blue, and a weapon-arm plus the jaw makes him recognizable already.

This was my first ever smurf and it went well, later I struggled again to draw one. It might depend on the size, this drawing is maybe 7cm, the later trail was maybe 2cm only. But wait for the Gargamel!

I don’t like him too much, it went very smurfy and lost all scariness. But every sketch teaches us something, right?

Let’s for second imagine the 80s cartoon character of Trapjaw in a smurf cartoon, that would go well, wouldn’t it? I’m sure there would be a story around indestructible nuts.

Not much ink was needed since pants and hat are white. Somehow almost any color needed to draw MOTUs are found in standard felt tip pen sets.