fall inside a hole

Bandai Machine Robo Series/GoBots (1982-1992)

First written September 9, 2024

Bandai's subsidiary Popy released a series of transforming mech toys that could be twisted and slid between robot and vehicle forms. These toys were fairly early in the 1980s transforming robot toy craze and predated the Takara robot toys that Hasbro would market as Transformers. After trying to market them directly in the United States and Canada as Machine Men (Robot Machine Men in Canada) in 1982, Tonka assisted in marketing the range in North America as GoBots in 1983, wanting to preempt Hasbro's planned localization of Transformers. Much more information about the European and Australian releases and rereleases can be found on this website. At the time of first writing, I have only just found my first GoBot.

Spoons

Spoons is the Tonka GoBots name for the Japanese MR-34 Forklift Robo, releasing in 1984 in both regions. In Japan the die-cast components were painted orange like the rest of the body but for international releases the diecast body was painted cream, apparently an early color change between the two ranges. Spoons is an enemy robot. His forklift form is based on a Komatsu FD-50 forklift.

I found this Spoons sans one tire for the princely sum of two dollars at an oddities shop near a campsite my partner and I stayed at and thrifted around. He was a little dirty and I ended up disassembling him to clean out the tracks that the arms/wheels slide up and down in to get him transforming again.

I like the small rotating pieces on the chest that turn his "34" emblem and the small flap that become the driver's seat. In vehicle mode, the forklift lifts up and down and can angle back. His chassis is marked MR-34 and Bandai.