Gama Trans Robot

Series: Gama Toys
Year: 1985 (approximately)

Prelude: Once upon a time there was a little Super Change Robot called Mechabot-1 and he was destined to become a big bad Transformer called Omega Supreme. He went on a little world tour and upon coming to the land called Germany, he called himself Trans Robot. Fast forward forty years, give or take, and he came into the possession of a guy called Phil. So here we are now. Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Trans Robot is, of course, the same robot that would be sold under the Transformers banner as G1 Omega Supreme. He’s big, he’s chunky, and he carries an entire railway track on his back. The colors are, of course, the original ones from Super Change Robot Mechabot-1, meaning he is mostly dark grey and red. In my opinion those colors look far more menacing than those later sported by Omega, so I’ve taken to calling this guy here Nemesis Supreme in my head. 

Now apart from the different paintjob, there is just one major difference between Trans Robot and Omega Supreme. Both Omega Supreme and the original Mechabot-1 had a tank barrel on the back of the head. For Trans Robot, though, the barrel was cut off and replaced with a plug-in radar antenna. Why? No idea, I can only assume that, this being a German release, the German company didn’t want this to look too much like a war toy. Because, you know, German kids weren’t supposed to play with war toys because of the whole thing that went down forty years or so before this toy was released. Anyway, Trans Robot is the only iteration of this toy to feature a radar dish behind his head instead of a tank barrel.

Otherwise, it’s the same awesome-looking toy it always was. Two surprisingly well-articulated arms sport a giant claw and a huge blaster respectively, the head can turn, and the legs can sort-of move. There is a mechanism inside the chest that makes Trans Robot walk… in theory. See my Omega Supreme review for how it’s supposed to work. Sadly my Trans Robot isn’t walking despite having working electronics. The head still lights up, but for some reason the walking mechanism seems shot. Maybe it can be fixed, we’ll see.

If you look at Trans Robot from the back, you can see that my version isn’t quite complete. Usually there are four red connecting pieces, two larger and two smaller ones, keeping the legs together in the back. Sadly I’m missing one of each. Still, one piece on either side is enough to keep the legs together, so no problems here. Side note: despite being called Trans Robot, he still has the stickers of the original toy on his legs, where you can see the initials “S.C.R. MB-1”.

One of the main features of this toy is, of course, that he’s basically a walking railway. Trans Robot carries six pieces of railway track on his back, the configuration of which is up to you. The standard one sees half a circle on each side, the ends pointing outwards, but you can also have him with a kind of V-shape configuration (see 5th picture) or a full circle (see 6th picture). The latter reminds me of a Stargate and I can hear Omega Supreme utter something like “Operation: Stargate! Chevron Six: Locked!” inside my head. 

Bottom line: Trans Robot is an awesome vintage toy. Sure, he’s nowhere near as well-articulated as modern Transformers figures, but he was never meant to be. He is an amazing robot for the time, combining complex electronics with pretty good articulation and just an overall awesome look. So two thumbs up for this robot mode, though admittedly one of those thumbs is probably for the pure nostalgia value.

Alternate Mode: Like Omega Supreme and Mechabot-1, Trans Robot doesn’t so much transform as fall apart into multiple pieces, which are then reassembled into new component. The largest piece, his torso and head, become a tank. Or, well, possibly a radar truck in his case. The arms can still work as cannons if you want them to (and even swivel around a bit), but the main tank barrel in the center is gone and replaced by the radar dish. In theory this tank can drive, but right now mine only glows.

Trans Robot’s forearms, rucksack, and feet assemble into a rocket with a launching base. Here, my missing one of the bigger red connecting pieces is a bit more severe, as those pieces hold the feet aka the sides of the launch base together. Still, unless you move it around a lot, everything is still stable. Finally, the legs and the track pieces from the back assemble into an oval-shaped railway track around the launch base, there the tank can then circle around (assuming the electronics work). It’s a pretty big layout and barely fits inside my picture studio.

Overall Trans Robot’s alternate mode is still pretty cool, but it’s a big of a hassle to transform him from one mode into the other. Personally I shall leave him in robot mode, but I do remember being a kid in the 1980s and having this guy become this huge base with a tank actually driving around on those tracks? Marvelous! So again, two thumbs up, maybe one-and-a-half of them being for nostalgic value this time.

Remarks: While Takara was the main supplier of transforming robots for Hasbro’s Transformers line in the early days, they were not the only one. Enter Toybox, who supplied their Super Change Robot Mechabot-1 (based on a design by Tomy) to the line, where he was renamed Omega Supreme. Like with many Japanese toy companies, however, there were existing licensing agreements for global distribution for that toy. In the UK he was sold as Omegatron, in Italy he was Megarobot, in France he was Mecabot, and then there is Germany, my home, where he was sold as Trans Robot by a toy company called Gama. Gama was originally founded in 1882 and had created diecast toys for much of its existence, but in the 1980s they also started distributing licensed toys.

There are several interesting things to note about Gama Trans Robot. There is the packaging, which is nearly identical to the Japanese box, just with German phrases and a new logo added. Said logo does have a lot of similarity to the original Transformers logo, of course. I’ve done a lot of online research, but haven’t been able to narrow down the exact release date of this toy any further than between 1984 (where Toybox first released Mechabot-1) and 1986 (where Gama stopped releasing licensed toys). Given the logo, I’d say that the people at Gama had at the very least seen Transformers boxes at that point. The UK release Omegatron came about in 1985, so Trans Robot probably came out that year, too.

I found Trans Robot in a vintage toy store in Berlin called (appropriately enough) Toyboxx, where he was high up a shelf and covered in dust. Despite the two missing connector parts and the non-functional walking mechanism, I was immediately hooked and had to buy him. At home I discovered that the right shoulder joint was broken, too, but I was thankfully able to fix that. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make him walk again, too. We’ll see.

So what’s the final verdict? Well, I have a hard time being subjective here, given the nostalgia value and me having found him on a trip with my lovely wife to my home town of Berlin. Still, there is a reason Hasbro wanted this toy for their line way back then, there is a reason Omega Supreme has endured as a franchise character, and there is a reason that this toy waited all these many years for me to find it on top of a shelf. So to me, this guy here is way awesome and I don’t for one second regret buying him. Objectively, though, I am not sure how appealing he might be to someone who grew up with a different generation of Transformers (or robot toys in general) than myself. I like to think everyone would find something to like about this guy, but how much? Not sure. Still, this is me, these are my reviews, so to hell with it all, this guy is awesome and deserves a fitting rating.

Rating: A