02/09/2004 Entry: "New Article: Robo Force "Fortress of Steele!""

Thanks to all who shared birthday well-wishes -- got drunk, got money, and that's about all I could ask for. Today's article is a tribute to one of my favorite action figure playsets from yesteryear -- the Robo Force "Fortress of Steele!" Yeah, it's not as beloved as Castle Grayskull, but it's just as big and it came with thirty times as many stickers. Don't misjudge by the article layout -- it's actually a pretty long one. I was just feeling funky and roboty. Anyway, busy few weeks coming up, involving some travel, which is sort of unusual for someone like me. Shouldn't really impact the update rate, but if it does, that's why.

Chestnuts roasted by Brrent @ 02/09/2004 04:23 PM EST

I also didn't mean to write the EXACT same things as Andrea, her post wasn't there when I was typing I swear.

Chestnuts roasted by Brrent @ 02/09/2004 04:24 PM EST

That was kinda eerie, wasn't it?

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 02/09/2004 04:25 PM EST

I had the original Max Steele, and one other from the line that I can't recall. I always loved those toys, but never got anything else from Roboforce for some reason.

Chestnuts roasted by alienmagic @ 02/09/2004 04:26 PM EST

I can only imagine how much it would hurt to have the entire "fortress of Steel" dropped directly on my nutsack - Ouch.

Chestnuts roasted by Nizzler @ 02/09/2004 04:27 PM EST

Man, Max Steele. I used to LOVE that toy when I was a kid. OK, I only had 2 or 3 (Hun-dred, Max and maybe 1 more) but they were so different from all the other action figures that you just had to have em' as a kid.
I miss my ol' Hun-dred. Now I wish Matt never brough it up!

Chestnuts roasted by SURugger @ 02/09/2004 04:29 PM EST

I had max steele too, lol and a robotic car that held 1 robot and you pumped the thing with air and it sped along! How far would it speed along you ask? or don't? As long as the balloon in the vehicles dome had air. (pushed on a switch). I dont remember why the hell I had these... Maybe I bullied a geek and took them. *shrugs* Nice article and site.

Chestnuts roasted by Rabid Dog @ 02/09/2004 04:33 PM EST

wow, i never knew i had one of these, but then the arms! i remember the arms!

Chestnuts roasted by ultramonkey23 @ 02/09/2004 04:36 PM EST

I had the Robo Force hide out but I got it after the original players had been lost. I used Fisher Price people instead and my brother's Transformers.

Chestnuts roasted by Ugly Duckling @ 02/09/2004 04:39 PM EST

Wow, I've never posted here before but I think I have that play set! I remeber that bubble thing at the top. I was friends with a rich kid that had every playset immaginable, along with gobs of figures to go with them. He had the M.A.S.K. playset, the Justice League playset, etc. He had a wide array of Transformers to boot. Eventually his family moved away from my neighborhood and they had small a garage sale. Either I purchased this playset or he gave it to me. I never knew what it was for! So as Matt did, I used it for all my other figures. That was years ago, and I never have spoken to him again, God I wish I got all his old toys. So now I have an offical place to put my Hun-Dred(now I know what that weird robot in my toy chest is). By the way,I was just home from college and dug up my old Pocket Power toys from Sega. I know they are either late 80's or early 90's but I remeber how popluar those used to be. For those who don't remeber they were small credit card sized holders that had pop-out toys. Most of them were vehicles that had zip-cords like Orko that would make them go. Sorry that I got off topic, just wanted to know if anyone remeber those.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 04:44 PM EST

Ye Gods! I had that friggin fortress! I was looking at it and I said to myself, "Self,this hunk of plastic looks VERY familiar." Then I saw the dome of licorice and it popped in my head that I had that thing. It was the dome that I remember fondly! And nice reference about 'C.O.P.S.' Everyone looks at me like I screwed the pooch when I ask if they remember that show. I had one figure from that series. I dunno the guy but I do remember he had a robo-dog and it had a police siren on top and had foil inside and he had a lil red stick sticking under his belly. Yeah it looked REALLY wrong but you spun the stick and the lil siren spun and if shone in the right light it...uh...looked like a siren.
Has anyone else but me had the Crash Test Dummie action figures and kickass car? Or the infamous Police Academy action figures?

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 04:47 PM EST

I had some Crash Test Dummy figs, they have some new ones out now you know.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 04:50 PM EST

THANK YOU! I've been trying to order myself a new Hun-Dred for a while, but I couldn't remember their names. My friends just laughed at me when I spoke with reverence for "those awesome suctioncup-ass robot things."

Also, I used to have the Robo-Force Pop-O-Matic bubble board game, which also had lots and lots of superfluous guns attached. stuff blew up. It rocked. You remember that game, Matt? If you ever see it... wow.

Chestnuts roasted by BuckoSama @ 02/09/2004 04:53 PM EST

I had that thing for a brief period of time when I was a wee tike. I got it for like a buck and a TMNT trivia book from a friend of mine. It was mostly incomplete, but fun while it lasted. I eventually traded it back to him for the book and the dollar again. Oh, what a fool I was.

Chestnuts roasted by Frostor @ 02/09/2004 04:53 PM EST

WOOHOO! First Post! My dial-up and I shall take over the world!

Sorry, I was just looking for the "first post" comments by people who have the 3rd or 4th post. No luck, so I had to make my own.

"MEOW!" Sizzle tail!

Chestnuts roasted by rizz @ 02/09/2004 04:54 PM EST

They do? Sweet Jeebus! I wish I still had that car,it was the only toy car at the time with its own airbags. Granted the steering wheel would pop off upon impact and set off the dummies and appendages would fly. But dammit it was all in the name of safety! The airbag did its job if it wasnt for the steering wheel of evil,something Mr. Sinister would hatch upon the innocent or maybe Dr. Doom...or Aldo Montoya.

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 04:55 PM EST

Yeah, the Crasah Test
Dummies car was totally kickass. Egon and Peter Venkman got in SOOOO many fatal accidents in that one, and my Michael Knight Figure would always have to be the first one on the scene, crying, "OH GOD, WHY??"

Chestnuts roasted by BuckoSama @ 02/09/2004 04:55 PM EST

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3174545740&category=19198#ebayphotohosting

hells yeah!

Chestnuts roasted by BuckoSama @ 02/09/2004 05:00 PM EST

Somehow we got from Max Steele to Crash Dummies, but here ya go Josh...

http://www.hotwheels.com/us/product.asp?id=12609&category_id=8326&category_type_id=12

sorta 'dumbed' down now though...

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 05:12 PM EST

Matt must have had a really good birthday, he's showin' us the robot love. Once, this one kid had a RoboForce robot, and had it suctioned to his dad's car trunk, intending to shoot at it with a water gun, and had gone in to find a particular gun. His dad made a pizza run without checking, but the robot was stuck right on the back, just out of sight. The robot was never seen again.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 02/09/2004 05:13 PM EST

Damn those arent like the originals whatsoever...they look like real people and WAY too happy to be involved in accidents if you ask me.

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 05:17 PM EST

MATT: Do you remember the Super Powers line of figures? They made a huge Justice League hall of justice playset, can you find pics or possibly review it?

Also, where's a wrestling feature when we need one?

Chestnuts roasted by Gerald Furnari @ 02/09/2004 05:20 PM EST

Bah!!! Call me a freak, (and I know 5 of you will) but Japan will continue to kick all ass in the world of dope robots!!!! You can't put these piddly-ass "Lost in Space" type trash-bots against the likes of Voltron/Gundam/the Transformers/Robotech Vertiechs (Matt shoud REALLY do an article about that fad)/etc. in the same room and keep a straight face! Fuck-a-Maxx-Steele.

I'm going to take my medicine now.

Chestnuts roasted by Phandral @ 02/09/2004 05:23 PM EST

Gerald: use the search, I've reviewed that playset looong ago.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 02/09/2004 05:27 PM EST

i always wonderd about that playset.i never got any of the max steel stuff when i was a kid but i wanted it.i thought the gripping arms kicked mucho ass

Chestnuts roasted by meef @ 02/09/2004 05:41 PM EST

Another great article about some robot thingie I never heard of until now. Atleast I can comfort myself with the warm memory of my two police academy action figures.. I do wonder what happened to them.

Chestnuts roasted by Iivuli @ 02/09/2004 05:41 PM EST

i had that fortress!!! to bad my grandmother bought it for me at a goodwill shop so i had no cool it was max steele. i used army ants and food fighters instead to play with it...

QUESTION: when i was younger i had these skateboarder figures BUT this is the catch...they were skaters who got into really horrible accidents i.e. lamp post jammed into throat and kid slaming into brick wall...they also had wheels that worked..

Chestnuts roasted by nelson @ 02/09/2004 05:42 PM EST

also..i always remembered that bubble to spin inside out revealing another ...thingiee.

Chestnuts roasted by nelson @ 02/09/2004 05:43 PM EST

nelson, were those skateboard figures small?? maybe 1-2 inches tall?? I don't remeber the EXACT name of them but I do remeber them.
Matt: you know how all the Kenner toy vehicles came with booklets with current toy lines etc. as well as the transformer booklets that had pictures of all the transformers for that year. I have a bunch of those and was thinking of scanning them all. Do you have a use for something like that? If so let me know and I can start scanning them when I get back home in March.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 05:48 PM EST

I vaguely remember those skateboarders actually. I forgot the names though. While we are on this,anyone remember these lil blue inanimate ant action figures with green rubber bulb asses that could be removed for some reason. They were all dressed in war garb,like a scuba ant,a General,etc. They had a ton of them and I think they had red ones but I had the blue ants.

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 05:49 PM EST

Hey, speaking of Crash Test Dummies... anyone remember the SNES game? I can still remember the cheesy jokes:
Dummy1:Hey, could you give me a hand?
*Dummy2 removes his hand and gives it to him.*

Chestnuts roasted by 9volt @ 02/09/2004 05:50 PM EST

Josh, those were, I believe, called Army Ants. I had a few of those too. Also, does any one remeber fake FOOD that was dressed up in army gear?? They had vehicles too.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 06:12 PM EST

Army Ants ruled.

Bobo -- those other guys were Food Fighters. Search the blog, they're one of the earliest entries.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 02/09/2004 06:15 PM EST

Thanks Matt. Food and War, is there any better combination?

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 06:18 PM EST

I think I speak for all the girls when I say a certain someone is looking rather cutie as always :)

Chestnuts roasted by Kristal @ 02/09/2004 06:24 PM EST

Cool article!

My favorite obscure 80s robots were the Starriors though. They were pimp as all get out! Windable motor action features on all of em, and the most billy badass base (even if it was kinda small) in any toyline of the time. It usually was used as my Autobot or Decepticon defense base, with that long ass Stomper Tank bendable mountain track leading to it, and Crossbows & Catapults wall bricks used as walls and other various defensive obstacles on the way.

Even at 10 and 11 I was quite the armchair tactician.

Matt's figures had parties, mine were involved in deep and intricate wars...

Chestnuts roasted by Bloodcat @ 02/09/2004 06:39 PM EST

Bloodcat-- Starriors are great. I have a few of those and a wind-up dinosaur that they could ride on. I always wanted to open them up to get at the gold guys who rode inside of them. I think robo love needs to come back, there was a time in the 80's where robots were the rage, I know I was obsessed with them. Anyone remeber the TV show Mr. Wizards World and his cool robot??

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 06:52 PM EST

Army Ants! Yes good call! I also had these sheep in commando garb. They were some angry little farm animals. Didn't do a damn thing except the generic missle packs and what not. The sheep were pretty much just there. I seem to pick up toys that never quite took off,like the dinosaurs with lasers and guns attached to their heads and bodies. What was up with attaching weapons to animals back then?

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 07:03 PM EST

Josh--those were Dino Riders (I think) and they kicked ass. They even had a few VHS cartoon tapes. I was obsessed with Dinosaurs too! Its those small toy lines that were the best.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/09/2004 07:16 PM EST

I remember my favorite one was the raptor. Because it just reeked of evilness and not in a sadistic clown kinda way.

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/09/2004 07:27 PM EST

Matt has Axis and Allies ! ! !
Hey Matt, the way you decribe your attention span, you must not play it. If you do they have seperate Europe and Pacific versions.

Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 02/09/2004 07:29 PM EST

Maybe it's just the Rhino virus, but this was the first really laugh out loud article in awhile for me. X-Ellent job Matt.

Anyone else think Matt looks more distinguished in this article?

Chestnuts roasted by TOP1214 @ 02/09/2004 07:54 PM EST

I remember having one or two Robo Force figures,but not the Fortress.

Chestnuts roasted by Overlord @ 02/09/2004 08:00 PM EST

My parents moved out of there house and I had to look through all the toys my brothers and I had collected. I gave away all of my Robo Force characters (6 of them) and the playset and the vehicle to some little kids. I hope they are using them well

Chestnuts roasted by Branden @ 02/09/2004 08:06 PM EST

*waves*
i dont think roboforce ever took off in iceland, we were all hypnotized by He-man, and to somewhat lesser extent, transformers. But do any of you guys remember tv-shows called "Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future"? 'course, i'm sure i could have the name wrong, i didn't speak english when i was.. oh, seven or eight, i forget.

Chestnuts roasted by dalai @ 02/09/2004 08:06 PM EST

Hey matt, great article. I had that fortress as a kid, but regretfully sold at along with my millions (and millions) of Star Wars figures at a garage sale some years and years and years ago. If you don't mind, I'd like to pimp my website for others to see. In the same vein as X-E, but with a comic book slant. Just check it out and write to in the forums.

Chestnuts roasted by cincy 74 @ 02/09/2004 08:30 PM EST

MATT when you go on your trip, can you *please* write an article about it? ^_^

Chestnuts roasted by Rachel Cakes @ 02/09/2004 08:47 PM EST

Woah i had the fortress of steel but i had no idea what went to it! I used to just play with my star wars figures in it. The police academy figures were awesome! I had Hightower,Larvell jones,Eugene tackleberry and for some reason CLAW's head! I also had the police car that would split when you pressed a button. I remember that i really wanted Mahoney's bulldog and tried to make one...sigh just wasnt the same.

Chestnuts roasted by Hyper dingo @ 02/09/2004 09:12 PM EST

i also had crash test dummies and dino riders. Some of my favorite toys back then.

Havent seen a post from killer duck in awhile. Where has the evil ducky gone to? >:O

Chestnuts roasted by heeloyd @ 02/09/2004 09:53 PM EST

he made a ghostbusters reference! i love him more now. have you ever done an article about the ghostbusters firehouse?

Chestnuts roasted by Sideburned Hamster @ 02/09/2004 10:01 PM EST

No idea why this is, but I cracked up at this article a bunch of times. Never knew about Robo Force, but the Ghostbusters line and the stuff about Mumm-Ra and Leia did it for me. I guess I should stop only reading articles about the stuff I know about.

Chestnuts roasted by Styro @ 02/09/2004 11:22 PM EST

I never heard of Max Steele or Robo-force before I started reading X-Entertainment, but my sisters and I did have a "stomping ground" for all of our toys, from Barbies to Thundercats - the Barbie Dream House. There's been many variations on Barbie's pad, but this one, dating (as I recall) from about 1985, was freakin' HUGE. It was two stories, with lacy yellow doors and a balcony. It was so big, my youngest sister would crawl through the first floor when she was a toddler and upset the carefully aranged furniature and toys, much to my parents' amusement and my other sister's and my annoyance.

When my parents bought us the Dream House, we lived in a duplex with a combination living room-playroom where we kept all our toys. A year later, we moved across town to a much smaller house. The Dream House was banished to the attic, only to be removed when we really wanted to play with it. It was left behind the last time we moved, as we were all too old for it at that point. The furnishings were given to our parents' friends' kids.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 02/09/2004 11:37 PM EST

Someone above mentioned the Crash Test Dummies SNES game. I had that sucker, but I don't remember it being any good. I didn't have to pay for it however, thanks to the NBA All-Star Game.

Say Matt I just a found a book I bought a few years ago for novelity purpose and I wondering if you would want it? Its (if you can believe this) a Family Ties book that has an "all-new story based on the hit tv-series" call Alex Gets the Business.

Chestnuts roasted by Emperor_Zorak @ 02/10/2004 12:03 AM EST

Sadly I remember only having the "book with tape" crap that came out and featured one of the good guy ass-suction robots...did anyone ever get all the micro machine sets and put them together to create a micro-scale utopia?

Chestnuts roasted by O'Bannion @ 02/10/2004 03:41 AM EST

I had the ghost busters firehouse too! It had no parts though cause it was from a yard sale. Just the bare structure. Still lots of fun.

Chestnuts roasted by heeloyd @ 02/10/2004 04:13 AM EST

I never really had any big playsets, more of Lego type childhood mine was.
Well, atleast I can put together anything Ikea throws at me if necessary.

Chestnuts roasted by Iivuli @ 02/10/2004 05:32 AM EST

Yes, I remember Robo-Force,
I had that white or gray colored guy who's chest opened up.(Not sure which it was)
Never had the fortress but I did have Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain.. Never hear you talk about Snake Mountain much, It had a microphone that distorted your voice when you spoke into it.(As opposed to beating yourself over the head with it).

Anyway, welcome back from the horrible world of hang-over, I'm there myself right now.

It was worth it tho!

Chestnuts roasted by Cyanyde @ 02/10/2004 06:04 AM EST

Dah, It was Maxx Steele himself!

http://www.i-mockery.com/roboforce/maxx.htm

Talk about lack of respect for a leader! :P

Chestnuts roasted by Cyanyde @ 02/10/2004 06:15 AM EST

Hey Matt, late Happy Birthday. :)

Anyway, I had just one of the Robo-Force figures, pretty sure it was Max Steele himself. And I'm DAMN sure he came with one of those mini-comic books that were included with almost every toy back then... c'mon, Matt... you've gotta scan one of those in an article for us! You know you want to. :)

Chestnuts roasted by LBD "Nytetrayn" @ 02/10/2004 07:59 AM EST

Wow, memories brought back thqat I forgot existed. I had a friend that had the uber maxx steel robot that could do a bunch of tricks and he let me play with it all the time. I was the only one who could get it to work. My secret: Read The Instructions.

Chestnuts roasted by Stilewalker @ 02/10/2004 08:24 AM EST

Dear god did you mention Army Ants? I used to have hundreds of those. Hell I still remember the theme song..

*cough*

"'Cause it's HI HI HE for the Ants military, shout out the orders loud and strong! GRAB THE EGGS. For where we go, and the people always know, army ants we go marching along"

*runs away*

I did have this playset, but I never had any of the figures, it was just used as base for Cobra until I had a terror dome ^^

On more sides, Happy end of conception day. Another person with a Feb. Birthday (mine was the 5th) I got smokes and beer for mine, which isn't bad seeing I just went over the quarter century mark.

Last bit, Is Derf out there anywhere, haven't talked to you since the old boards we're put down.

Chestnuts roasted by Toxikfoxx @ 02/10/2004 08:24 AM EST

One more thing (it's never enough) Somone mentioned skateboard toys from the 80's and the ones that I always remember from that era was called The Skateboard gang. They worked with a ripcord kinda device (the chincy plastic ones with the barbs on it) But I'm about the only person that reacalls those.

A couple more obscure ones (some Matt has covered)

Visionaries, personally one of my favorites from back in the day

Another that I forgot the name of, but they we're odd, I think Matt did a blurb about them once. They looked normal, but with you pressed a button (or something) all the air went out of them and they changed into different things. One guy turned into a snake....

Last thing, I didn't own it but my friend did, never figured out what It went too, but I was a bad ass playset. It was all gold, with a snake head on top, a little bigger scale than G.I. joes.

Chestnuts roasted by Toxikfoxx @ 02/10/2004 08:33 AM EST

mr. roboto

Chestnuts roasted by Romo @ 02/10/2004 09:35 AM EST

Time to shave Matt...time to shave

Chestnuts roasted by Cobra Soldier #6 @ 02/10/2004 10:13 AM EST

Nah, see he's goin' for that cool rugged look. He's just tryin' to cover up the baby face he was cursed with.

Chestnuts roasted by Stilewalker @ 02/10/2004 11:25 AM EST

I've been wondering where our pinfeathered avenger has gotten off to myself. Be a-scared, be very a-scared.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 02/10/2004 11:33 AM EST

Oh my God, I didn't catch the reference to C.O.P.S. until someone else commented on it -- I was thinking it was some live action show. Man, I really liked that show. :)

Once again, loved what you wrote. I too am glad my heart doesn't have guns.

Chestnuts roasted by Jen @ 02/10/2004 11:50 AM EST

I wanted to follow Hun-Dreds lead but i cant my name only has one syllable.

Chestnuts roasted by James @ 02/10/2004 12:34 PM EST

Yeah, Duck being absent this long is giving me the heebie-jeebies. I wonder what she is plotting. I'd watch your back if I were you, King. You might end up with a beak stuck in sensitive places...

Chestnuts roasted by Gabbylicious @ 02/10/2004 12:44 PM EST

Checked the Duck's webpage. Odd result. Not concerned. Yet.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 02/10/2004 01:09 PM EST

I had wrecker when I was a kid, but I don't really remember playing with him too much. I think I was way more interested in playing with robots that could change into things instead of robots with stretchy arms.

I still thought the article was great though.

On another subject does anyone know if they're going to release the original He-Man cartoons on DVD? They're already doing transformers and GI Joe, why not He-Man too. The VHS copies I bought from e-bay are too worn out to watch.

Chestnuts roasted by Beerstalker @ 02/10/2004 02:43 PM EST

Not only have you shed light on a series that I thoroughly enjoyed as a kid (I was disgruntled I missed the only TV episode of it--my mother assured me they'd replay it...HAW!), but you've given Axis and Allies a little limelight as well. You never cease to amaze Matt!

P.S.-Robo Force action figures are great for ballistics.

Chestnuts roasted by Slacker @ 02/10/2004 03:14 PM EST

Thank God some others have heard of C.O.P.S.! Seriously,anytime I ask around my stomping ground if anyone has remembered them they furrow their brows in a vain attempt to understand things. I knew I wasnt crazy I knew the damn things existed even for a short while! Oh and I had the Ghostbuster house as well,that damn thing served SO many purposes. I even found a mouse living in their once,scared the hell out of me.

Chestnuts roasted by Josh @ 02/10/2004 03:16 PM EST

That was a great article. I used to have Hun-Dred, but I didn't know that this huge playset even existed. That would be awesome to own.

Chestnuts roasted by Chaos Mage @ 02/10/2004 03:31 PM EST

I saw the Fortress of Steele in a thrift store about a month ago and I had absolutely no clue what it was, and I consider myself somewhat of an "expert" on action figures. A collector was selling it, so it was $15 for basically the main part of the set and absolutely no other accessories. It's not marked anywhere, but I knew it had to be from the 1980's. With some research that night, I discovered what I had seen, and I agree with you Matt, it looked much more fun to play with other figures in it than Robo Force figures.

Unfortunately, I never "mixed" my action figures, so I can't recall any wacky adventures. Although I had this dream once where Snake-Eyes stole both the Sword of Omens and He-Man's Power Sword, and then Herc Armstrong from Inhumanoids married Cheetara, and then Wheeljack and Peter Venkmen fought the Cracken from Clash of the Titans, and then Cy-Kill and Run Amuck Duck from Battle Beasts ate some crackers together, and I'm sure Robo Force's Fortress of Steele was in there somewhere. Nah, this is just a lie. I did have a dream though where everybody was turning into killer gorillas for no reason.

Chestnuts roasted by Darth Monkey @ 02/10/2004 04:07 PM EST

I had a skateboard gang figure too! I remember the ripcord thingy that made it go and the board was pink and yellow? i dont remember what was on the board though. -_-

Chestnuts roasted by heeloyd @ 02/10/2004 05:08 PM EST

I'm sure this site has come up before in other of these blog discussions..but this has pretty much everything we've been talking about..

http://www.virtualtoychest.com

C.O.P.S and crooks, MAX Steele, etc. I just found the website myself and I thought I'd pass it along incase any of you never been there.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/10/2004 05:45 PM EST

Oh damn, I checked that websites Max Steel thing..its that damn 12-inch GI-Joe knock off line.

Chestnuts roasted by BoboSmak @ 02/10/2004 05:46 PM EST

Have one great birthday Matt, you deserve it.

Chestnuts roasted by Lincoln @ 02/10/2004 06:52 PM EST

I checked out that Imockery link and low and behold "Blazer" looks alot like Photog? Anyone else see that?

Anyways happy birthday Matt and please post all the Photog art from way back when.

Chestnuts roasted by Yeti Hunter @ 02/10/2004 07:15 PM EST

Goddamit, I LOVED these toys as a kid, Matt. Thank you.

Chestnuts roasted by JC @ 02/10/2004 11:22 PM EST

I, too, have had problems with playset stickers. Fuck, I still do.

I recently bought a WWE Stunt Action ring, and had to apply ring apron stickers. The two WWE.com ones and the RAW one went on, no problem. The Smackdown! one on the other hand, went on all crooked, and when I tried to remove it, it ripped! Motherfucker!

Such rage! Only a review of "Mac and Me" can subdue my playset induced anger.

Chestnuts roasted by A-wel Cruiz @ 02/11/2004 02:27 AM EST

i used to love robo force. i had the one with a drill on his head. i thought roboforce slapped a monkey wityh it's own severed arse.

Chestnuts roasted by 'tin man @ 02/11/2004 07:31 AM EST

Damn, You got me playing with toys again Matt, I made this little comic strip with my Digital Camera and a few things I found in the Dollarstore, Enjoy!

http://cyanyde.kicks-ass.net/army.html

Chestnuts roasted by Cyanyde @ 02/11/2004 09:39 AM EST

Great article Matt... brings back the memories, as always. By the way, have you been hitting the weights? Your arms look big in that picture at the top of the article page. Anyway, keep up the good work :)

Chestnuts roasted by Trent @ 02/11/2004 09:51 AM EST

"O, mist-filled pits, dark, dank, unclear. Touch all before me with frost-fingered fear!" - I still have the two Visionaries from back then, Arzon and Cravex.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 02/11/2004 11:35 AM EST

Dude...T-shirt? The hell? Ain't ya freezin yer ass off?

Oh, and I think I'll follow Hun-dred's lead and hyphenate my name. It's like an English activity we did back in elementary... split the words into syllables.

Chestnuts roasted by Nacho-khaki @ 02/11/2004 12:17 PM EST

Hey, Didnt Lego buy out max steele or something? and now you can like rip apart his arms and legs and replace them with other peoples arms and legs...no wait...thats something else nevermind.
My brother used to have this robot and it moved in cirlces and beeped. That was cool until it freaked our dog out and the Dog body slammed it...Po'robot...
Great Article Matt! Although it left me with some very very wrong pictures of Princess Leia...

Chestnuts roasted by Allie @ 02/11/2004 01:52 PM EST

Matt, maybe this is a stupid question, but why do you give us the option of leaving a homepage if nobody can access it by clicking on our names? Can you change this or something?

Also- Voltron kicks Roboforce's ASS!

Chestnuts roasted by The Return of Long Duck Dong @ 02/11/2004 02:07 PM EST

The other two evil robots were Enemy and Vulgar.

The Robo Force was pretty cool. Though there was no TV series, there were a couple of storybooks and a few even incorporated the "Choose Your Own Adventure" part into them. I remember one with two of the heroes, Wrecker and SOTA, battling a giant version of Vulgar (cliche!) and they had to find a way to make the villain regular size again.

Chestnuts roasted by Bert Raccoon @ 02/11/2004 02:26 PM EST

Had my birthday over the weekend, too. 2/8/83. 21 BABY! YEHA, DRUNKEN MISCHIEF!

Also wanted to say I love the site, Matt. Can't get enough of it. Happy belated b-day to ya :)

Chestnuts roasted by Xmenfan @ 02/11/2004 02:50 PM EST

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that Matt took us all to the motherfucking gun show in that article.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 02/11/2004 03:57 PM EST

Guns 'n' wimmen! And booze for those so inclined

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 02/11/2004 05:10 PM EST

Shit, I had this thing when I was kid. I don't rememberh ow much it cost my dad, but I'm pretty sure it was fairly cheap. That thing got the most use out of all my toys. I didn't have any of the roboforce figures until much later, so it just seemed like a good place for Cobra to hang out at. The only difference I see is that mine had all orange pieces instead of orange and blue. And you're right, that sliding window door thing was a pain in the ass. It took a good 10 years for that thing to loosen up enough to not hurt my fingers trying to open it.
I unfortunately gave mine to a friend 7 or so years ago. By that point, it was pretty much covered in "blast marks" and "blood stains" from all the wars fought on it, and the dome no longer stayed closed.

Chestnuts roasted by Corwin @ 02/12/2004 01:14 AM EST

Robo Force f'n ruled! Scored some figs from ebay couple years ago. I was the only kid I knew who had them growing up. Anyone remember the mail away ship-sled thingy premium? I'd loved to have seen a cartoon series though! Long live Robo Force!

Chestnuts roasted by faroniousd @ 02/13/2004 04:02 AM EST

Man this bring back memories i'd forgotten. I remmeber x-mas 84 my uncle gave these toy to me as a present. I remember there was a yellow and black robot (my fav) and the vehicle pictured in the illustration with the claw. Thanx for the memories.

Chestnuts roasted by garbage pail kid @ 02/13/2004 07:20 AM EST

Dalai,you got it right: "Captain Power & The Soldiers of the Future". I still have my Power Jet XT-7 and the Captain Power training tapes. (Level 3 is actually an interesting story on its own.) I even have my Captain Power figure. I really miss that show. You had to watch it twice, since the Jet's sound effects were louder than the show unless I wanted to tick my parents off.

The only playsets I was able to get as a kid were two Star Wars playsets (Hoth Battle and Dagobah, whose sponge "bog" has since deterorated--literally!) and the GoBot Command Center. You want little stickers? I know why the Autobot minicars had stickers preapplied. There were these stickers you were supposed to put on your GoBots to signify allegence (read through a red plastic lens on the CC just like the Transformer tech specs). The problem was that they were so stinking small that even if you could get them on the darn toy they didn't stay long.

Speaking of GoBots and Transformers, they used to hang out all the time. Skeletor and Modulok visited with Mumm-Ra, too, both "caring" for this two-headed dragon toy made by a generic company, but was big enough to carry MOTU figures in it's saddle. However, since these were the only evil-types outside of an Invid trooper (who would be out of scale) that size (most of my action figures were Star Wars sized) against He-Man, Ram Man, Man-E-Faces, Battle Cat, Lion-O, and Panthro, they needed to hang together. I have this little shelve set that, the way it was set up, I could put one of those Star Wars storybooks (anyone remember those big photo storybooks?) as the "jawbridge" to Castle Greyskull.

The non-Star Wars (but that size--like the Marvel Secret Wars heroes) characters or Minicar Autobots would sometimes take over the Imperial Hoth base, too. It was the place to hang out. Even some of the Lego and Playmobile guys would "chill out". (Sorry, had to do it.)

Wow, that was a lot to write for a blog comment, wasn't it? :)

Chestnuts roasted by Sha-dow-Wing the Technorganic Autobot @ 02/15/2004 10:44 PM EST

dude i had this thing! i bought it in a garage sale... No guns... but it was the most Badass Micro Machines Star Wars space port i ever had.

of course i sold it. :(

Chestnuts roasted by Bobby @ 02/16/2004 05:27 PM EST

to think i had the Wrecker figure. and it was given to me free at a school christmas party.. sigh all my toys were availible

Chestnuts roasted by Mike @ 02/23/2004 02:55 PM EST

Wondered when you were going to do Robo Force, I loved that set of toys as a kid, had all of them apart from Max steels bigger vehicle (was gonna get it but they'd already gone out of fashion so we couldnt find it anywhere) or the electronic robot erm cos it was expensive and all the manuals talked about it in America.
Although seeing your set just shows me how much damn stuff i managed to lose off mine :(
Wish I didnt scrape max's front off on a wall now, god knows why I did that

Chestnuts roasted by James Hicks @ 02/25/2004 09:18 PM EST

Wow, I had completely forgotten about Robo Force. I know the review was about the fortress, but you forgot to mention one of the coolest features about the robo force: their amazing gripping power! If I remember right, you press a button on the bottom of their bulky backs (can robots with bulky backs be called hunchbacks?) and their arms would close viciously around any hapless action figure, brutally crushing their spine as robot-style justice was dealt out with extreme robot-style prejudice. Oh yeah! Don't EVER criticize their robot hunchbacks! They just don't like it. It is interesting to consider that this feature could have been a "hugging" feature on any other toyline though. Robots don't give hugs though. They...just...kill.
Anyway, you're right; how can this toyline be so neglected and forgotten! What cool toys those were! (wonder if there was a cartoon) By the way, I've been a long-time reader. Your love of retro and all things 80's is awesome, and I have a great time reading your reviews. Thanks!

Chestnuts roasted by Kyle Astronaut @ 03/06/2004 11:36 PM EST

I remember getting a whole bunch of crap in a box from the kid across the road's mum. In it(it was a freaking huge box) was a whole bunch of toys and one giant lump of plastic rock. Turns out it was the fortress of steel, though I never knew at the time. I don't know how but the kid managed to lose almost all of the guns: i think the rear hatch one and the Jabba lounge guns were the only 2 surviving, but that didn't make it any less fun to try and cram as many ninja turtles into it as possible.... Good times, good times.
By the way, most of the figures were in some manner coloured with black permanent marker. Ever seen a brother leo?

Chestnuts roasted by Matty B @ 03/09/2004 03:13 AM EST

I remember getting a whole bunch of crap in a box from the kid across the road's mum. In it(it was a freaking huge box) was a whole bunch of toys and one giant lump of plastic rock. Turns out it was the fortress of steel, though I never knew at the time. I don't know how but the kid managed to lose almost all of the guns: i think the rear hatch one and the Jabba lounge guns were the only 2 surviving, but that didn't make it any less fun to try and cram as many ninja turtles into it as possible.... Good times, good times.
By the way, most of the figures were in some manner coloured with black permanent marker. Ever seen a brother leo?

Chestnuts roasted by Matty B @ 03/09/2004 03:13 AM EST

Dunno if anyone's been to this other site yet, or is even reading this (as the last post was on March 9th & it's now May 11th), but there's a website that has catalog scans of Robo Force toys. These are prototype pics too, stuff shown in the catalogs that where never produced due to the line not lasting that long, very cool:

http://doctorkent.tripod.com/toyinfo/id10.html

-Boglin

Chestnuts roasted by Bogliin @ 05/11/2004 05:08 PM EST

Anyone know who much one of these can go for now a days? Cuz I actually have one that I never played with, and yes a ton of stickers and definately big enough. So I was just wondering.

Chestnuts roasted by Charlie @ 05/17/2004 04:40 PM EST

Hi I was wandering if anyone knows for sure if the Filmation Ghostbusters Ghost Command playset was ever released. Thanks

Chestnuts roasted by Gill @ 05/26/2004 02:04 AM EST

It was released all right. I've got an incomplete one: it misses the flashy neon arrows and some garage tools. Very hard to find stuff.
Still the Ghost Command and Ghost Buggy playsets are the coolest!!!
Shame that Schaper never made a Hauntquarters playset or a Sir Trance-a-Lot figure...

Chestnuts roasted by Wilco @ 06/02/2004 09:31 AM EST

Wow I remember owning a whole bunch of those guys. They were like my favorite robot toy. And I loved robots as a kid. Where can I find them these days?

Chestnuts roasted by DarkPineappler @ 09/17/2004 05:30 PM EST

We never had an Robot Force in germany :(

sad, so sad.

Chestnuts roasted by ShopBoy @ 10/01/2004 09:38 AM EST