MONTH OF THE BOOTLEG AND THE KNOCK-OFF AT TOYS FROM THE PAST!
I found this box a few years ago at a flea market. It is a transformers-like combiner (or "gestalt") robot made in Taiwan. The set comprises 2 cars (both look quite futuristic) and 1 jet, plus some chromed accesories. The names are Ex-Caeser, Atlas-Carbot and Atlas-Jetbot. They combine into Super Atlas Bot.
I have made pictures of each part, although I ddin´t try to transform or combine them, since this toys are often quite fragile, and not very well done. I think this set was made in the late 80s, maybe first for the American and European markets, and it probably came to Spain later, in 1991 or 1992. When I found it, it was with many other cheap toys from the early 90s, I guess it was the classic street vendor of toys and candies that goes from one fair to the next. During the 80s, most toys were made in Hong-Kong, but starting in 1992 or 1993, Chinese toys were more and more common, and quality decreased.
To my knowledge, these three robots are not copies of any Transformers robot, they are not bootlegs, but knock-offs. However, I think some of these accesories are actual copies of other made by Hasbro or Takara.
The toys are made basically in white plastic, with parts in bright orange, blue and other appealing colours. Stickers are similar to Hasbro´s: colourful but without silver background, and the general appearance is, I would say, like a G2 Transformer. It could be easily mistaken by a G2.
Something I find great about knock-offs are their imaginative packaging. The box is also colourful and makes a great impression. Just like the "expensive" transformers, the box has some windows that reveal the actual contents of the box. It also has a flap to be hung in some kind of display case. The labels used and the names are very exotic, with an abuse of superlatives, like "Double Joint Power Up", ". The back of the box has the instructions, how to transform each part and how to combine them into Super Atlas Bot, but they contain several spelling errors, which is also typical in many Asian knock-off toys from the 90s.
FACTS and FIGURES:
- Name: SUPER ATLAS BOT (LH-747)
- Toy Line: Super Caser
- Year: Around 1989
- Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Taiwan)
- Size of the figures: Around 8 cm long
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