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06/27/2003 Entry: "Kronoform Robot Watches."

What were Kronoforms? Those wristwatches that transformed into robots, silly. Most commonly seen in cheap, knockoff versions over the years, these watches actually had an official start. Made by Takara, Kronoforms were 'time warriors that tell time.' Clever. Verrry clever. The tribute includes a link to download what's probably the only commercial Kronoforms ever had, starring a feisty character known only as 'Robot Kid.'

REPLIES: 38 comments

Hey, does anyone else notice that they look like Soundwave? I used to have a Kronoform watch, and my God were they awesome. I just realized that the battle station and the solar creature look so much alike. I also realized that I have made no mention of being the first post. Damn! I just did it again. Who would win in a fight, Soundwave or Photog? How's THAT for a fight choice? My robot says that it's time for me to post!

Chestnuts roasted by Bansheex @ 06/27/2003 05:25 PM EST

Photog! Please!

Chestnuts roasted by Rono @ 06/27/2003 05:37 PM EST

Matt says: "Also, and a little off topic, if you spelled and pronounced 'Takara' backwards as 'Arakat,' it still sounds like a Japanese company that makes transforming robot watches. Amazing, right?"

Actually, Matt, though you are a god amongst us mere mortals and make me wish I had ovaries and could have your babies, Arakat could not be a Japanese word, since all Japanese words end in either a vowel or N.

Given the Bitner story, it's probably a better idea for us not to delve too deeply into what happened to Kid Kronoform after this commercial.

Chestnuts roasted by Hellpop (formerly known as Jeremy Henderson) @ 06/27/2003 05:55 PM EST

Matt, I'm sorry if I appear insensitive. Day after day you pass us humor and joy, and what do I do? Complain about pictures of a nonexistant MOTU character. I'm sorry. X-E forever! Photog someday will return!

Chestnuts roasted by Rono @ 06/27/2003 05:57 PM EST

You learn something new every day!

And judging from the list of known sushi restaurants I've just played in my head, you're absolutely right.

Damn. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 06/27/2003 05:58 PM EST

Okay what about Photog vs Reflector the camera that was made up of three decepticons. At least it would be camera vs camera. Camera camera Gamera Gamera.

Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 06/27/2003 06:23 PM EST

*sniff*

I only ever had a calculator watch when I was a kid. And a really cheap, crappy one at that. Even for my tiny prying fingers it was all but impossible to press the correct buttons. You required a needle or similar object for precise manipulation. Also, I think the battery stopped working after a month or two.

Chestnuts roasted by JC @ 06/27/2003 06:49 PM EST

I was a sad little bastard who never enjoyed the wonders of a watch that turned into a robot. Actually I never had a watch that turned into anything, except for several that turned into non-working watches.

A friend of mine had a watch that you could play Q-Bert on, which I thought was pretty much the pinnacle of human technological achievement at the time, even though I had never liked Q-Bert.

Actually, I was bought few toys back then, except for Star Wars stuff. My parents apparently decided I would be allowed one obsession that they'd coddle me on, so Star Wars toys I had in mad abundance (personal favorite: the Dagobah playset, with foam rubber quicksand pit action!). The only Transformers I owned were Bumblebee (who I gleefully smashed with a rock) and Starscream, who admittedly did rule.

Even sadder: the only GI Joe figure I owned? Grunt.

Chestnuts roasted by Hellpop (formerly known as Jeremy Henderson) @ 06/27/2003 07:28 PM EST

I don't know why nobody's mentioned this yet...but...in that commercial starring Robot Kid, that has bot to be the worst lip synch I've ever seen.

Kronofooooorms.

Chestnuts roasted by Kev @ 06/27/2003 07:36 PM EST

I don't know Hellpop, Look at the great drama we got from the Saga de Bitner. How would we go getting the info on "Robot kid"?

Chestnuts roasted by Bigshow7771 @ 06/27/2003 08:00 PM EST

I was fortuante in that I always had cool watches, but all ended in tragedy. Kronoform? Fell apart after many years. I had the bad-ass Dick Tracey communicator watch. My friend smashed that with a hammer (Serious!) I had a watch that transformed from a Stealth Fighter into a robot, that got lost in a dirt fight, much like Matt's Ravage. I feel for you brother. It always hurts. I have one that survived though. It was one of the watches with the metal "snappy" band made of metal. Remember those? BTW, Photog would kick Reflector's useless ass. Holla! If ya hear me!

Chestnuts roasted by Bansheex @ 06/27/2003 08:16 PM EST

I seem to remember having a watch made by takara, that I believe was produced under the Transformers brand name... it was a bird or plane type thing that turned into a robot with little tiny spindly legs that could have doubled as toothpicks... did anyone else have/see one of these ever?

Chestnuts roasted by HaVoK @ 06/27/2003 09:05 PM EST

"'Boats' that look like robots laying down holding their heads on their stomachs, 'planes' with feet for wings" sounds like someone had Sixswitch as a kid...

Chestnuts roasted by Black Zarak @ 06/27/2003 11:14 PM EST

How dare you call Kronoforms "Robot Watches", Robot Kid made it perfectly clear that they are "Robot Time Machines!"

Chestnuts roasted by Outraged @ 06/28/2003 12:56 AM EST

Darnit. I had some hilarious comment but I forgot it. :p crap

Chestnuts roasted by Kiften @ 06/28/2003 01:13 AM EST

I think I had one of those watches. Maybe I am alone in wanting Red and Green LED displays to take their rightful place back on top as the standard for calculators and watches.

As for finding a new Bitner, I liked Richard's post in the Bitner blog about the kid who won the story contest that then became the theme of a very special episode of Punky Brewster.

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 06/28/2003 03:10 AM EST

Solar? Creature?

Solar... creature...

Solar creature.

Nope... no matter how I say it, it still still doesn't make any fuckin' sense. Nevertheless, I remember the commerical and I had a Kronoform. I highly doubt it was an official Takara model, but then again, how many people own a flying disc that was actually made by Frizbee? Not too many, I'm willing to bet. Every now and then, a product comes along and adopts the name of its parent company. That's while I'll never buy a box of adhesive medical strips, but I'll always buy Band Aids. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Lothian @ 06/28/2003 04:05 AM EST

I never had a watch like that, but I did have a Donkey Kong game watch. Thats got to count for something.

Chestnuts roasted by Patrick N @ 06/28/2003 04:39 AM EST

I think finding the "robot kid" would be so much easier than the drawn out Bitner saga.. Hell I don't remember shit about Photog or Bitner but I wore a Kronoform with pride... rock on Kronoform!! and yo robot kid if your out there we'll never forget you.
Okay maybe we did but damnit Matt brought you back.

Chestnuts roasted by Bob's Steakhouse @ 06/28/2003 06:28 AM EST

Actually, "Kronoform" was, in fact, part of the Microman line in Japan. I have an old commercial with a cronoform starring alongside Ravage, Soundwave, Browning(another gun Transformer released during the "Masterforce" line in Japan), and...yeah, that's it.

I still want to know why that kid had a gun in his room...

Chestnuts roasted by Eric @ 06/28/2003 11:03 AM EST

Did takara make those other transforming watches? like the one that became a scorpion?

Chestnuts roasted by cgukcghk @ 06/28/2003 12:52 PM EST

Purple Panda died a while back and now I will really have to explain who he was to people:
http://www.ipiphany.com/davidnohling/index.htm

Nintendo cover bands:
Minibosses
http://www.minibosses.com/

Ice Climbers
http://www.ice-climbers.tk/

Game Over
http://www.nintendometal.com/

The NESkimos
http://www.unf.edu/~hend0008/NESkimos.html

Chestnuts roasted by Richard @ 06/28/2003 07:36 PM EST

Yeah, Takara did make the other watches. The scorpion one was released in the Transformers: Generation 2 line as Scorpia, alongside a Kronoform. They also had Ultra Magnus and Galvatron watches in that line, but they didn't transform. And while I don't recall the Kronoform watches being in any Transformer catalogs, they were sold in stores (albeit hard to find) as Autoceptor and Deceptor. And I'm sure you all remember the little Autobot-symbol shaped watch called, err, Time Warrior? Sure, I remember the obscure stuff but forget the semi-mainstream stuffage.

Oh, and Eric, I have that same ad. A more disturbing one is where the kid hears rustling in the bushes and whips out the Gunrobo...

Chestnuts roasted by Moai Ou @ 06/29/2003 02:10 AM EST

There aren't many things that I wouldn't have done for one of these watches. I did have a calculator watch though. The ultimate sign of coolness. C'mon, go watch Wayne's World and check out Garth's wrist. It didn't transform into a robot, but I still got to pretend that it was a talking computer a la Hasselhoff. I had its batteries replaced at Wal-Mart, and well... The set button was jammed in, I couldn't set the time, and well, that's that. Good thing Wal-Mart doesn't have a nuclear reactor repair and maintenance station back in sporting goods. Hey Matt, do you know where I could download the Sesame Street with R2-D2 and C-3PO? I was looking at some vintage X-E and saw the article about it... very interesting. As an ex avid Sesame Street viewer, I'm kinda glad I wasn't around for that one. I'd do anything to see it now, but seeing the R2/hydrant affair as a child couldn't have been good. Who would have thunk it, R2 always seemed more like a paper shredder kinda guy to me. Bow chick-a wow wow. Thanks for all the great articles, Matt. X-E is happiness.

Chestnuts roasted by phillip @ 06/29/2003 09:06 AM EST

No phillip, a calculator watch was not the ultimate in coolness. And neither was a robot watch. But a robot calculator watch? Wear one of these bad boys, and you can't help but get the honeys!

http://homepage.mac.com/utdesign/watch/watches/robo.html

Chestnuts roasted by Hellpop! @ 06/29/2003 12:45 PM EST

I always hated those kids with the calculator watches. The buttons were so small they had to punch them in with paperclips, but still, it pissed me off.

On the upside, today I made bread.

Chestnuts roasted by Otaku Queen @ 06/29/2003 03:24 PM EST

I just hated the kids that would tell you the seconds when you asked them the time. To this day, I hold a grudge against someone, for no other reason than he did that to me.

Chestnuts roasted by Ubu Rex @ 06/30/2003 03:08 AM EST

way off topic guys but i was driving yesterday and i noticed that we have a bar called "fat daddy's". it is actually right in my neighborhood too, lol. this bar changes names every few months so that is y i haven't mentioned it sooner. for those of you that live in brooklyn, u should check it out. i used to go when it was called bourbon street, :). fat daddy's is in marine park, brooklyn. i wonder if fat daddy actually works there, :)~

Chestnuts roasted by jessica @ 06/30/2003 07:48 AM EST

Maybe if X-E charged the companies the commercials were of for advertising them, he could get the bling bling to wiggy the bandwith, yo. There's somethin' rottin' here, I gonna take the traAash out. Weird Al got a daughter now *double eye-pop 8O*.

That last thing really made no sense.

I once had a Starfox watch which I won from some stupid school fundraiser. It came with a cool velvet-lined case, instructions, and earbud headphones (since it ACTUALLY HAD A HEADPHONE JACK.) I have since lost it all. Didn't Matt talk about that in, like, Zelda form?

Chestnuts roasted by "MR. GAME & WATCH" @ 06/30/2003 01:13 PM EST

Oh yeah-there's also my SUPER GUM WATCH from the Easy Video entry!

How do you post links?

Chestnuts roasted by "MR. GAME & WATCH" @ 06/30/2003 01:16 PM EST

I had an A.M. radio watch that had an earphone. Oh yeah rockin A.M. stations, woo hoo! Yeah it sucked.

Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 06/30/2003 02:07 PM EST

Naturally I have cool watches, I'm Mr. Game and WATCH, dammity! Dammity dam dog!

Chestnuts roasted by "MR. GAME & WATCH" @ 07/01/2003 10:28 AM EST

No one will read this but it took me a long time to find out so I will share with the masses. Takara's Japanese microman line had these spin-offs of tiny robot men that lived among us and could disguise themselves as household items. This is where part of the transformers line came from. The tapes were little tapes, Megatron was a (possibly toy) gun and the small cars like Bumblebee and Huffer were toy cars. That is why they had cartoonish dimensions and looked a whole lot like Takara's Penny Racers. These watches were a spin-off of that line, tiny robot men who atatched themselves to you and pretended to be a watch. The larger vehicles came from another line from transforming cars that had little drivers and no soul of their own. That is why all of the larger original transformer vehicles had opening doors and detailed cockpits. (You have probably seen the drivers with other toys. They are about an 3/4" tall and have magnets for feet.) Hasbro mixed all this stuff up, added a valkerie from Macross as Jetfire, and let you use your imagination that a pistol and an 18 wheeler would turn into the same size robots.

Chestnuts roasted by klatubaradanikto @ 07/01/2003 12:58 PM EST

Hey! Just letting you know, Transfandom.Com posted a short update linking to this atricle!

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