Transforming robots explained

A transforming robot is a robot that can change to take on the appearance or form of another object. This type of robot was a very popular toy concept in the 1980s;^[1] such toy robots could typically morph from a humanoid form to that of a vehicle, animal, or commonplace object. The transformation generally was by physically folding/bending/twisting and locking the robot's parts into the new shape, and it very rarely involved disassembling (physically separating) the parts and re-assembling them.

Toylines that used this concept include:

• Transformers (Hasbro and Takara Tomy), a very popular franchise with two robot factions that fought against each other. The robots could transform into a wide range of things, from insects to airplanes
• Gobots and Machine Robo (Tonka, Bandai), mostly die-cast toy robots that could transform into machines like cars, boats and airplanes
• Rock Lords (Tonka, Bandai), robots that could transform into rocks
• NEO Shifters (Mattel, Mega Brands), robots that could transform into flying spheres
• Changeables (McDonald's), could transform into food products such as french fries or hamburgers.
• Escaflowne figures were incredibly popular in Japan in 2005. They changed from a humanoid into a dragon.
• Switch & Go Dinos (VTech), vehicles which transform into dinosaurs.
• Diarobo (ダイヤロボ) (Agatsuma Ltd), road vehicles changed into humans, animals and dinosaurs.
• The VF-1 Valkyrie or variable fighter from the popular Macross/Robotech franchise.
• Convertors (Select) featured the conflict between heroic and evil factions, in this case the heroic Defenders (and their Avarian allies) and the evil Maladroids (and their Insectors allies).

Notes and References

1. Web site: 13 Milestones in the History of Robotics . 2024-08-04 . aventine.org . en.