#753 COMPUTER FORCE/ COMPUTER WARRIORS – PC BOARD WITH ROMM (1989)

I am fascinated by this new discovery. I completely ignored the existence of this toyline of small figures (they are the size of a Dino Riders or a M.A.S.K. figure), until I found one unit carded for sale on eBay. I bidded and won this nice card for very little money.

The idea behind Computer Force is that there is an army of little hi-tech soldiers hidden in everyday objects like a can of Pepsi, an alarm clock or like in my case, a pc motherboard. Objects turn from their stealth form to assault form very easily, just like M.A.S.K. vehicles, an carry the figures which are included with each set.

I do not know much about the series. The pc motherboard comes with ROMM, who, according to the description, is the heroic leader of the Computer Force. So, if this guy is the heroic leader, there is surely another faction of bad guys to fight. The figure is great and is decorated in a very different way on its back. Note that the motherboard transforms into some kind of delta wing, or light plane, on top of which, the figure sits. In stealth form, the figure lies on top of the board, and like a chamaleon, it is hidden thanks to its camo pattern on the back, consisting of electronic parts over a golden circuit board.

I’d love to lean more about this series. On the backcard we read that in 1989 only a few toys were available, since the pencil sharpener and the Pepsi Cola can would be available „later“, in 1990. Interestingly, the first playsets seem to be all related to computers and electronic, while the pencil sharpener and the can... not much. At some point the toyline’s name was changed from „Computer Force“ to „Computer Warriors“, maybe due to legal issues.

The toy has been distributed with a single card for all European markets, and it comes in 6 languages. As you can see it is a Mattel toy... or not. Actually it was made in China by another company, named Young Kowng Plastic Factory in China FOR Mattel. Surely not the first case of a toyline made by a small company for a big one.

The line was not so short as I expected, there were a dozen of playsets made, each with one figure, except the Personal Computer superplayset that came with two figures. This motherboard is the smallest and cheapest toy you could buy from this toyline, together with other 3 more similar pc boards. The rest were bigger playsets, all of them were made more or less in 1:1 scale to reality, I mean, the flashlight is the size of a real flashlight, the Pepsi can is the size of an actual can, and so on.
Another thing I love about this series are the names of the figures: Romm, Chip, Cursor, Debug, Minus, Asynk, Null... all concepts taken from computer science.

If you want to see picture of all the other playsets and figures, please visit this interesting webpage: http://www.parrygamepreserve.com/toys/computerWarriors/

Wow! Note the four mini pc boards over the keyboard of the Computer playset!

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PC BOARD WITH ROMM
• Toy Line: COMPUTER FORCE / COMPUTER WARRIORS
• Year: 1989
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.) / Young Kowng Plastic Factory (China)
• Size of the figures: Around 4 cm