One of the most famous Gobots, Leader-1 began life in 1983 as MR-25, the Eagle Robo, released in Japan by Bandai as part of the Machine Robo line. The original version was planned to be white, but in the end a grey scheme was settled on. The figure was successful, so much so that it was chosen to be remade to a larger scale in the Big Machine Robo sub-series in 1985.

Meanwhile in 1983, Tonka purchased the rights to release the line in America, and decided to follow Hasbro's projected Transformers line by adding a fiction to the figures with a TV series to promote the line. The Eagle Robo figure was chosen to be the leader of the heroic faction, the Guardians. Leader-1's Gobots number mirrored his MR designation despite his early release (at a best guess, initially Tonka just carried over the designations, before the decision was made to omit several Japanese releases, at which point the gaps were filled in). The BMR mould was indeed issued in the Super Gobot range in 1985, while the smaller version was given a brand new blue/white colour scheme in 1986 and re-released.

In Brazil, two different recolours of the figure were issued by Glasslite (a blue/white version - different to the Tonka recolour - and a red/blue version) as Sonik in the Mutante series, while Bandai would do a slightly different version for the Best of Machine Robo sets. In 1993, the original version was released for the Robo Machines line. Hasbro would eventually acquire Tonka, a deal which included all the trademarks from the Gobots line. This meant that in 2002, Megatron from the Transformers Armada line had a Mini-Con partner named Leader-1 as Hasbro strove to prevent the trademark from lapsing.

The jet mode isn't bad. The F-15 Eagle is a nice enough plane, though this perhaps isn't the best rendering. There is some nice detail work on the jet, but while the colour scheme is fairly realistic, it's certainly bloody dull (not that the 1986 car crash is the way to go or anything). There are also some very large lines where parts move for the robot mode, which breaks up the look of the plane.

The scale of the F-15 is at about 1/144, which means the decals, while realistically small, don't serve to break up all the grey. A Japanese SDF version might have been a little more interesting (not sure if they had F-15s in 1983, but...), though a bit of artistic license wouldn't have hurt either. The whole mode is actually quite clumsy… the little engine outlets and the clear plastic (as opposed to painted) cockpit are nice touches, but when there are massive runner lines and such a horrid undercarriage layout, what's the point?

There's also a lot of hollow, thin plastic on Leader-1 - both pairs of wings are prone to stress fractures because of this, while bent undercarriage is another common problem. And to top it all off, the wings and nose work loose very easily, meaning a jet with drooping parts.

The transformation, while fairly inventive, is sadly what causes all these problems. The basic sequence was repeated on other Gobots like Mach-3 and Gunnyr, though those benefited from sturdier construction (albeit at the cost of their looks). The nose is a fairly loose piece of apparatus, rather than the stiffer mechanism on Mach-3.

The arms are also basically C-shaped tubes, and get stress factors and bend fairly easily. On the plus side, Leader-1 doesn't look bad, really. The black things and waist break up the grey nicely, as do the well-rationed robot mode stickers.

The most striking thing is the head design - while several figures (Sky Jack, Ace etc.) ended up looking like Leader-1's cartoon visage, Leader-1's toy has rather a different design, a rather striking gold visor and gasmask-like faceplate arrangement. The arms do have a fair degree of articulation, but the robot mode really isn't anything special.