Earlier today I reviewed Commander Cash from Toy Island's Robocop the TV Series action figure line. The toy was hardly one that could be considered stellar, but he has a certain undeniable charm to him. Continuing with that trend, I'm not reviewing the Toy Island Robocop action figure. This is not the version from the TV series however (Shame too as it's the best version of that character in this scale) but one that was released in 1993.



By 1993 Robocop's popularity was already waning. Robocop 3 made only $10 million dollars at the theatre despite being budgeted at over $22 million. The law of diminishing returns was in full effect and not even Frank Miller's screenplay could save the film. Peter Weller backed out of the title role and Kenner's Robocop and the Ultra Police toyline had been dead for a few years. That's when a little known company named Toy Island stepped in and actually raised the bar for Robocop toys.

Packaging:
The package for this Robocop toy differs from Commander Cash quite greatly. Since this wasn't based on the TV show it's more of a "general" Robocop line. Although these figures were largely released in conjunction with the third Robocop movie. It uses a pretty standard Robocop logo and actually has some decent cartoon artwork of our metal machine hero on the front.



Unfortunately that's about the last good thing on the card. The bland red background makes this toy feel a bit cheap and the ridiculous captions such as "Ratta-tat-tat" and "Just Touch Him" distract it from being too awesome. I'm amused by the call to "just touch him" seeing as how they actually don't mention that this Robocop makes noises. You're just invited to touch him. Kinda creepy Murphy.



The back of the package is jammed full of scenes from Robocop 3 which I'm surprised they didn't use on the front and features a look at the other figures they made for this movie. As it turns out, they just made a bunch of Robocops in various scales. I believe the 8 inch Robocop was a bit cheesy, but as I recall the 12 inch Robocop kicked ass.



Subsequently they made many variants of this Robocop figure. Which I just also happen to own. There is a version with his recharging station, featuring a hilarious "Beep, Buzz, Whirr" caption as well as another invite to molest him.



Finally we have a Flight Pack version that comes with, well a flight pack. His caption simply says "Whoosh!" and of course the required touchy feely invitation. All three of these cards feature unique cartoon graphics of Robocop though, so Toy Island should be applauded for that. Technically the card art on the front of the other two look much better than the one we're reviewing today but aside from the accessories these figures are all the same. Unless you guys bombard the comments section with requests to review the others, I'll probably just review this one.

Articulation:
Remember when I was ragging on Kenner for their big 5 points of articulation on their Robocop figures? Well Toy Island matches them here with 5 points of articulation as well. HOWEVER, the articulation is a bit different. Since this Robocop is electronic, his eye visor lights up. That means that his head cannot turn. So where does his fifth point of articulation come in at? Well his hand is removable but also turnable. So he has one hand that can turn. EXCITING!



Interestingly the TV show version that would come out just a year later from this company offers joints at the knees and elbows as well as head turning movement. A bit of a shame they didn't do this here, but I guess the electronics inside prevented them from doing that.



Sculpt:
Since this figure is the exact same size as Kenner's Robocop, you obviously have to compare the two. Well here's the deal, this Robocop is vastly superior to Kenner's. The sculpt isn't perfect but it's much more screen accurate as well as just better rounded overall. The first thing you'll notice is that the chest features all the proper sculpting elements including several that Kenner left out. Of course he also has a button dead center in the middle of his chest that activates his lights and sounds, but it doesn't detract from the sculpt too bad.



The other things you'll notice is that his hands are the proper black, as is his torso section. Kenner fudged it and made them all silver. This Robocop looks very screen accurate for this scale and it's surprising considering how small Toy Island is as a company. The speaker system is hidden inside the black torso and is almost completely invisibly unless you're really hunting for it.


Come quietly or there will be... trouble. No, you.
The arms and legs also pack a considerable amount of more detail than the Kenner versions from a few years before. However the arms do seem a bit small. They are slightly skinnier than the Kenner versions arms and from certain angles it definitely looks like he's got puny arms.



This is not meant to be an assassination of Kenner's line, but the big problem with Kenner's Robocop line was that the basic Robocop had a damn cap gun strapped to his back. Kenner in their infinite wisdom never made a regular Robocop that I know of, although they did make several "regular" versions that were in weird colors. I had a perfect Robocop from Kenner... Except he was copper. That irritated the hell out of me as a kid. The back of this Robocop features a really good sculpt and even the fact that he has a battery compartment for the electronics doesn't take away from it.



Of course Kenner has to win somewhere and that's in the head sculpt. Although this head sculpt is decent, it looks a bit cheap. Part of the reason goes back to the electronics again. Since this head is designed to light up, you have use a cheaper plastic to achieve that effect. This also means the helmet isn't removeable. Considering that Peter Weller was no longer under the mask, that may have been a reason as well. There are some pretty noticeable mold lines on the head too, which hurts it's score a bit. Although the mold lines are also on the body they don't seem as prevalent and it fits into the design of the character.


Battling ED-209, errr 260.
Paint wise it's a bit of a mixed bag. He has that perfect blue silver Robocop shine and depending which movie and what angle you're looking at Robocop, he's either blue or silver. This one is definitely blue. However the paint work on the face seems a bit cheap. I suspect that again is as a result of the plastic being used to achieve the light-up effect. Still, this figure looks a lot better than Kenner's version IMO.

Accessories:
Toy Island came up with a lot of really cool accessories for these figures. While Kenner had to resort to making up stuff for their Robocop, Toy Island decided to take stuff from the movies. Of course Kenner only had one movie and a terrible cartoon to work off of, so I'll cut them some slack in that respect. Still Toy Island has to be applauded for their choice of accessories.



This version of Robocop comes with his removeable hand and gun hand (which was featured in Robocop 3) as well as several large guns. He has his patented Auto-9 gun and the sculpt is nearly as good as the one McFarlane made a few years ago. The other guns seem a little bootleg, but the fact that he comes with so many real world guns is pretty impressive.



Although not on this version of the figure, the other versions include some cool accessories as well. The jet pack from Robocop 3 as well as his recharging station. Both sculpts on those look really cool, although they don't have any paint work on them.



Technically not an accessory, but every version of this figure lights up at the visor and makes gun blasting sounds. None of the ones I currently have do it anymore, but you could easily replace the batteries. I had one of these before and I recall it being pretty loud and cool. Certainly much better than loading a bunch of caps into his back.

Additional Notes:
So when I planned this series of reviews, I was so going to review the TV show version of Robocop from Toy Island. I bought it in the mid 1990's and was blown away by how awesome it was. I lost it a few years ago in a move but I bought these Robocops on Ebay a couple of years ago. Much to my chagrin as I dug out these Robocop figures for review I realized I never purchased the TV show version again. So while I fully recommend this Robocop, it's the TV show version from Toy Island that is really their best one. He has more articulation, removable helmet and battle damage. Alas, you guys will just have to wait until I buy another for the review of him.


Guns. Robocop's best friend.
Value:
Thankfully there is a price tag on these as well. Somebody paid $3.99 for them at Toys R Us. That somebody was not me. I don't ever recall seeing these at Toys R Us. Much like Commander Cash, I bought my version of this figure at K*B back in the mid 1990's. Still, that's about what these guys retailed for. Between $3.99-$5.99 I'd guess.



Score Recap:
Packaging - 6
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 5
Accessories - Auto-9, Gun Arm, High Powered Scope Rifle, Machine Gun
Value - 7
Overall - 6.5 out of 10

This version of Robocop is a kid's dream come true. As much as I loved the Robocop Kenner line (and all Kenner lines really) the versions from Toy Island were just better. This figure probably would have scored even higher if I didn't know that Toy Island would make a better version just a year later for the Robocop TV show. I have no idea how Toy Island ended up with the Robocop license, but I really love the toys they produced in the few short years they had it.



Robocop was an awesome 80's movie and a really fun phenomena of the early 1990's. I suspect when it's remade in a few years we may never see the classic Robocop design anymore. These toys are really cheap if you know where to look and if you're looking to supplement your Kenner Robocop collection with some better versions of the Half Man, Half Machine, All Cop himself, I highly recommend them. They aren't the greatest figures by today's standards but they are fine pieces from a time gone by.