Who puts the future in your hands? Robotix of course. Who gives you robots to command? Again, Robotix. Robotix toys were first sold and marketed by Milton Bradley from 1984 until 1986. They were a sort of a hybrid plastic erector system that allowed you to build dino-style robots that you controlled through a multi-button controller. You could get them to do simple tasks like pick stuff up and walk.
Pretty basic stuff, but the magic really started when your friend also got a set and you could fight each other. One Christmas, me and a friend of mine both got these, and we had dino-robot battles for months. When the battles ended they were used to add some spice to playing with GI-Joe figures. Ain’t nothing cooler than Snake-Eyes smashing into Cobra’s base in a giant motorized dinosaur.
I was playing around with my set a few months ago and started scanning the manual. You can see the cover, which I included as the featured image, you see above.
And this is my favorite sample build. But if I remember correctly, its high center of gravity made it a bad choice for the fight pit.
Robotix was also turned into an animated show. It was a six-minute cartoon that was lumped into the infamous Super Sunday half-hour. The show played alongside the classic “Jem and the Holograms” and The Inhumanoids. Sadly, unlike Jem and Inhumanoids the show was never picked up for a normal run, and they only animated one season.
It was also a Marvel comic:
If you missed this show, you are in luck. The show was bundled together and released as “Robotix – The Movie”. I recently watched this film and boy does it have a lot in common with the Transformers.
I think it’s only a matter of time before Michael Bay starts work on a multi-million dollar version of Robotix, so run to eBay and pick up as many Robotix sets as you can get your sticky paws on. They are bound to be collector’s items…or maybe not.
Watch the entire series online here:
