Retrobots Revisited: Hot Wheels bots???

 

I realized I've once again gone a while without a robots post (the last one featuring the giant robot I once kept at work), and I hadn't picked up anything recently. However, I did have something I had thought about on and off for a very long time that was going to fit here better than anywhere else. I have already commented that as a kid I was very flexible about what could be a robot, with stormtroopers and COBRA Vipers being a staples of any horde that was needed (see the Sidekick Carl Rogues' Roundup). This time around, I have quite possibly the strangest things I ever used as robots, and certainly among the oddest and most unclassifiable toys I owned back in the day. Here are the the Hot Wheels robot/ monster cars, starting with a lineup of the ones I can still find that I know I had when I was a kid.

The real backstory here, which I can mostly piece together from memory, is that Hot Wheels released a little line in 1986-1987 called Speed Demons. The cars were all designed to look like monsters or other unpleasant creatures on wheels, with most looking at least vaguely robot-like. In further hindsight, they were never as strange in concept as they actually looked. Whatever their shape, they always had a visible seat and steering wheel that were on the same somewhat wobbly 1:64 scale as other Hot Wheels cars, clearly indicating that they were "supposed" to be actual vehicles with human operators. My lot here left to right consists of Turboa, Rodzilla, Sharkruiser, Vampyra, and Ratmobile, the last being introduced in 1988. Not present is a car I couldn't find called Zombot, which actually looks like a gold-colored robot, a reissue I'll get to shortly, and about 4 more with names like Evil Weevil, Cargoyle, Phantomobile and Fangster. Like many Hot Wheels, they have been reissued somewhat regularly, notably as Frightmobiles in the 2000s.

Of course, all the rationales given by the designers immediately went by the wayside when I started getting hold of these. I'm sure the first I acquired was Rodzilla, I think after picking him off the shelf.  He is easily the most complex and impressive of the lot, complete with a turning head. I was entranced enough with him that I quickly elevated him to a literal supervillain, complete with a much more dramatic name I'm not quite sure I remember, fighting Han Solo and Iron Man before Husky and Sidekick Carl emerged as my main heroes. The odd nature of the toy wasn't much of a problem, particularly since my idea of what a lead villain should do was sit at a desk or control panel directing others. (Now I wonder when and how I first saw any of the Bond films with Blofeld, whom I definitely remember simply as "the guy with the white cat".)  As far as I remember, I treated him as on the same scale as my action figures when they were supposed to be face to face, which at two inches in height made him unimposing but still a credible threat. Inevitably, the other monster-cars became his lieutenants, though I can only remember using the bat-creature and maybe the shark.Here's some pics of the group, including a scale shot with the Galaxy Laser Team commander. 

And here's some closeups, to show the detail on Rodzilla. Unfortunately, you can also see how much dust is on them. Usually, if anything, it's not nearly as visible in pics as it is to me, so you know this is bad.

Alas, the monster cars were never a stable choice as villains. In hindsight, I suppose I used Rodzilla as an archvillain because he had an actual point of articulation, plus visible arms you could kind of picture working. He's also the largest by a large margin at almost exactly 2 inches tall, something like 10 to 12 feet at the nominal 1/64 scale. By comparison, Vampyra had what could pass for functional limbs, and the shark at least had a face in a natural position. However, my conceit didn't really work for the others. Turboa just looked like a made-up car, and the Ratmobile looked too much like an actual rat to be truly machine-like. It didn't help that they are fairly easy to lose track of.  I remember replacing the dragon with my Emperor Star Wars figure when I lost him for a while, which is really an indication how much personality I had assigned to him. Once I started getting more of my own action figures, the monster cars were phased out and set aside.

Fast forward, and I continued to see these things in the wild. I repeatedly passed up chances to buy new copies, and ultimately regretted letting a version of the dragon in bright red get away in 2012 or so. I think it was a few years after that when I finally picked up one more. It's called the Double Demon, reportedly from the first wave with  date of 1986. (On the other hand, Rodzilla has been dated 1988, where mine is marked 1987.) By the time I got hold of him, the body was all plastic, and fairly light in feel compared to Vampyra's similar body. Still, the sculpting remains very much in evidence and beautiful, aided by a gold body. Here's a couple close-ups.

With that, I'm wrapping this up. It's been another slightly fractured trip down memory lane, and now that I've dredged it up, there's a good chance I'll be picking up more. What impresses me most is that the manufacturer has actually kept these in production, and I will not be surprised if I see them on the racks again. That's all for now, more to come!