[REVIEW] [ROBOMACHINE] Water Walk
Thomas Hamann
Manufacturer: Bandai.
Series: Robo Machine
Year released: 1985.
Price paid: 10 Euro.
Intro:
Before the Challenge of the Gobots Robo Machine toy line was released
in Europe there was Robo Machine, which was an almost direct port of
the Japanese Machine Robo line and which featured quite a few of the
molds that would later be released under the Challenge of the Gobots
Robo Machine monicker. The Robo Machine toy line was not suddenly
replaced with Challenge of the Gobots Robo Machine, but rather more
flowed over into it. This explains the existence of transitional
packaging, either featuring Robo Machine toys in Challenge of the
Gobots Robo Machine packaging, or Gobots in Robo Machine packaging
(sometimes with an Challenge of the Gobots sticker added)...or...
packaging that was nor the one nor the other, like the card this toy
comes on...so first topic:
The packaging:
This particular Water Walk comes on a rather interesting card, which
already has the name 'Water Walk' printed on it, but lacks the
Challenge of the Gobots logo. Its card-art also shows the toy in its
original Robo Machine colors: white and dark blue. The actual toy is
tan and brown. The card is mostly blue, with a gradient into purple in
the right lower corner, which also features pictures of the toy's
vehicle and robot modes as card-art. The top right corner of the card
bears the Bandai logo and name, while the left upper corner features
the punched hole for hanging the card on store pegs. Just below is a
large blue Robo Machine logo. Below this is Water Walk's name, with
below it in smaller print the word 'Cessna', which of course indicates
this toy's vehicle type (as well as being the original name of this
toy), followed by 'RM-31', which is this toy's Robo Machine number.
The actual toy is covered by a bubble just below this text, and packed
in robot mode together with its sticker sheet and a catalogue. Already
it can be seen that the toy features some stickers on its arms, which
I'll come back on later.
The back of the card features the Robo Machine logo at the top, as
well as the Bandai name and logo and the words 'REG. DESIGN IN FRANCE
PENDING' and 'MODELE DEPOSE EN FRANCE EN COURS'. Below this all are
the transformation instructions, showing how to change the toy to its
vehicle mode, followed by an overview of some of the other toys
available at that time, some of which are only referred to by their
Robo Machine name, and others by both their Robo Machine and Challenge
of the Gobots Robo Machine name. At the bottom of the card is the
proof of purchase, as well as two stickers containing copyright and
customer information. These stickers show that the packaging had to be
adapted at the last moment.
Removing the toy from the card is simply a matter of cutting off the
bubble.
The catalogue:
The catalogue is the same as the one included with Staks Transport.
See that review for more information on the catalogue.
Sticker sheet:
The sticker sheet included with Water Walk is the same as included
with the Machine Robo and Robo machine 'Cessna' toys, and therefore
features Japanese text and the word 'MR-31'. It provides two stripes
that go on the wing tips, and two stickers reading' CESSNAROBO' and
'MR031' that need to be applied to the arms. However, as stated above,
the arms already feature factory-applied stickers, which each read
'WW089'. They will however fit nicely on the piece of wing just behind
the arms in airplane mode. Stickering instructions are provided on the
sticker sheet. The stickers still stick well after 20 years.
The toy:
Robot mode:
Standing about 8.6 cm tall in robot mode, Water Walk is colored beige
and orange-brown. He features the latter color on his legs and the
front of his upper body, while the rest of him is beige. His face is
painted silver, with a black visor. His face is somewhat shaped as to
ressemble vaguely a pilot's helmet. His chest, waist, and lower legs
feature factory applied metallic stickers that feature the colors
orange, red and black, as well as silver. Water Walk's cockpit is
visible on the back of his head, while his wings hang from his back
like a long coat. His tail section is folded up against his back. Each
of his arms, which are part of the wings in plane mode, feature the
aforementioned factory applied stickers reading 'WW089'. Water Walk
features an astonishing 4 points of useful articulation, all of which
are located in his shoulders. He also features hip articulation, but
tends to fall over when these are used.
Water Walk's molded copyright is located on the inside of his legs.
The right leg reads '© BANDAI' with the BANDAI logo below, while the
left leg reads 'RM-31', with 'MACAU' below.
Transformation to vehicle mode:
Water Walk can easily be changed into vehicle mode, which doesn't mean
that his transformation is unoriginal. His feet need to be folded
down, so his legs can be folded up 'against' his chest. In fect, the
legs don't end up against the chest, as they form the floats of Water
Walk's floatplane vehicle mode. Instead, folding down the feet makes
two spacers fold out, which fit in between the legs and the robot
chest. Water Walk's transformation is completed by folding out each of
his arms and folding the wings up against the arms. Finally the tail
is folded out into position.
Vehicle mode:
Water Walk's vehicle mode is, as mentioned above, a floatplane, more
precisely, a Cessna floatplane. His floats, formed by the legs, and
the bottom half of his fuselage (the front of his upper body) are
colored orange brown, while the rest of his plane mode is beige. He
features a somewhat smoked transparent canopy through which some kind
of control panel can be seen. He features red stripes on his wing tips
(stickers), as well as the other stickers as recounted above. These
stickers are white with blue and white with black, red, and yellow
print, respectively. The robot face is vesible from below, as well as
the hands and some other robot bits. He is pretty well detailed, and
rolls around on four tiny black wheels that are mostly hidden in the
floats. He is about 8 cm long, and has a wingspan of 12.7 cm.
Conclusion:
This incarnation of Water Walk is somewhat interesting, as it features
the stisckers of the Machine Robo version and the Gobot toy with its
own unique stickers all in one package.
Recommended.
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website: http://www.geocities.com/hamann_td/