Motortron

Review by JoshB

We all know bootlegs are like kryptonite to me, so when this bad boy came up I had to have him, and I don’t regret it one bit.

His name is MOTORTRON, and he is packaged in a box meant to mimic classic G1 Transformers.

Of course Motortron is a bootleg of another toy, and an obscure one at that. He’s a bootleg of the Bandai DX Popynica Winner 2, from the show Wingman. Winner 2 is Wingman’s transformable bike. The original toy is a brightly decorated transformable motorcycle that has a fixed pose plastic wingman figure on the back.

Well, this version has the same mold for the cycle, but an entirely different one for the rider.

First though, let’s talk about the box, as that is what drew me here in the first place. The box is purposely made up to look like a G1 Transformers box, right down to the grid pattern and the red gradient.

But what really gets me is the painted art on the back.

Original G1 Transformers had these beautiful painted collages of all the different transformers at the time. The bootleggers took this one step further, and made a beautiful painted collage of all the bootlegs they were putting out at the time. Brilliant! Can you name them all?

The toy itself came packaged in vehicle mode, sealed in a bubble on a card that was slid in to the box.

Unlike a lot of other bootlegs, this is actually an awesome toy in its own right. The materials and build quality are excellent, for the most part. The only weak point is the rider.

The bike is made out of hard ABS plastic, diecast metal, and rubber for the tires. The rider is made out of a softer PVC, and is very cheap looking compared to the bike. He doesn’t sit down properly, and the mold lines are weak.

The bike, however, is another matter. This thing is solid, and is more in the theme of a DX Machine Robo than anything. Transformation is simple: open the shell, pull down the solid metal legs, pull the tail section up, split the fuel tank and unfold the arms, push the front wheel down, then close the shell again. Simple and fun.

So, it’s an awkward robot, but it’s got the same spindly claw hands that the DX Machine Robo toys had, as well as the Godaikin Vavilos and New Super Abega. Coincidentally, all released around the same time. Perhaps the same designer worked on all these toys?

On the original toy, Wingman is supposed to ride this robot, even when transformed, but on the bootleg it just doesn’t work as well.

Motortron is a fun, obscure bootleg from the 80’s, and worth the purchase if you come across one.