Robotix #1

 

This Marvel comic is based on the toy line of the same name. The premise was that you could make this robot and then if you got really creative, there were all these attachments and hooks and appendages that could turn the Robotix into all sorts of things. So, if the machine was supposed to resemble a T-Rex, you could switch things around and turn it into a flying predator or add a dome apparatus and make it a submersible. Needless to say, the possibilities were marketed as “limitless.” In reality, you make could make 3 or 4 variations on the creature and that was it.

 

I suppose if you bought all of the Robotix vehicles you’d have an unlimited assortment of parts to work with. But, these things weren’t cheap. They were like $30 apiece- and that was in 1985! Plus, if you were like me, your parents could only afford one and that one robot was so lame that you didn’t care to get another one.

 

Anyway, let’s jump to 2013. I was at a comic book show in Raleigh went I came across this book in a bargain bin. I think I spent a quarter or 50 cents on this. I remember hating this toy so much, but I didn’t really know what it’s deal was. So, I decided to grab this in order to find out what the hoopla was all about.

 

Robotix is about this ship that crashes on an alien planet. The planet is a barren waste with very little food or water. The human crew find themselves in the middle of a war between the good Robotix and the evil Terrokors. It seems that these two groups used to be warring humanoids that essentially fought their planet into extinction. Rather than die, the two factions teamed together to invent the Robotix to act as cultivators terraforming their planet back to health while the aliens were safely nestled in suspended animation.

 

When a comet hits the computer responsible for protecting these warring tribes, most of the aliens die and those that survive have their souls placed into these robot terraformers. When the castaways have a similar split amongst their ranks some join the good guys and the rest align with the Terrokors. Amazingly, having a human pilot makes these robots work at peak performance and thus humans and Robotix continue this age old struggle for survival on this desolate planet.

 

That’s the premise behind the Robotix toy line. Man is that a mouthful. In my case, that’s a ton of typing, but I digress. Anyway, the idea behind this was lost to me when I asked for this for Christmas at age 8. Transformers was huge back then and all the toy companies tried to cash in. I guess I got caught up in that hype. The toy, like this comic book is just that- hype.

 

Reading the book as an adult, I see this thing as a 32-page commercial. The Robotix each explain their great features and honestly, that’s about the only substance of this product. I see that somebody at Marvel tried to make this a story about the horrors of war and what it could do to ecology. Thus, this is a hidden allegory for nuclear disarmament. The average 8-year old isn’t going to get that and I think the average adult (in 1985) wasn’t the targeted audience for this book.

 

In other words, the toy line was probably thrown together quickly to cash in on the Transformers craze. The comic was intended to introduce kids to the toy line, but wound up being a little too cerebral. Thus, the audience that this book targets overlooked it, assuming it was fodder for kiddies. How epic comics based on toy lines such as GI Joe, Micronauts, and Rom: Space Knight became cult hits is beyond me. They obviously had a creative spark that spanned generations. Sadly, the only generations this comic transverse are the decades it has spent in the bargain bin.

 

Not Worth Consuming.

 

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.