By 1984, Machine Robo was in full swing, its' focus now firmly on present-day vehicles. One such vehicle was the Toyota Hilux MR5, rendered in MR form as the Offroad Robo. The Japanese prototype had a red chest piece, but this was changed before the toy was mass-produced.

The figure appeared at the start of the second series of Gobots, and was available until the line was cancelled in 1986. Small Foot wasn't released at all in Europe (at least, my research hasn't turned up a Robo Machine release yet), which is a little surprising - the cartoon version of Small Foot was a female Guardian who would often feature heavily in a large number of episodes. Maybe Bandai felt the character's weak standing would lead to poor sales?

In recent times, Takara made a botched attempt to remake Small Foot as a Transformer, corroborating with trash-merchants e-Hobby to concoct a hideous yellow-and-orange recolour of Gears… Oddly, considering all that the figure shared with the Gobot was the name (now owned by Takara's partners, Hasbro), Takara decided to release the toy without a name, afraid that Bandai (who own nothing nowadays beyond the original action figure, and would surely have no legal challenge to the proposed monstrosity) would take offence and finish them off…

I'm not a fan of pickup trucks, or 'big foot' cars, so Small Foot's vehicle mode always faced an uphill struggle in my eyes. It doesn't help that it's not very good.

Once again, it's red… Someone at either Bandai or Tonka must have been getting a good deal on job vats of red plastic or something. Sadly, plastic is what makes up most of Small Foot - pins and tyres aside, the vehicle mode is diecast-free… It's a surprising thing for such an early figure, and means Small Foot's vehicle mode compares badly with most of her contemporaries… The well-done stickers (grille and headlights, plus some nifty stripes down the sides - though the latter are spoilt a little by the rear wheel arches disturbing them) and chunky tyres look good, but the painted windows and huge grooves between parts largely undermine the more delicate touches. The hollow area behind the cab doesn't help either, while the removable roll bars serve no real purpose beyond providing a pair of flimsy, easily-lost plastic attachments - at least the front bumper has the excuse it's used on the robot mode…

Small Foot doesn't really fit together too well, and the rather agricultural vehicle mode is a poor combination when the lack of quality in construction is taken into account.

Sadly, Small Foot's transformation doesn't save the figure either - it's what I regard as default for transforming cars, with the back end folding down to form the legs, the arms coming from the sides of the car, with the chest etc. on the underside of the vehicle.

There is a slight variation, in that you have to pull the partially head out of the front by about a quarter of an inch to prevent Small Foot from looking like Wilfrid from The Bash Street Kids… Oh, and the front bumper moves down to the chest. I wonder if making the character female was a joke from a Tonka exec, as it does look a little bit like Small Foot is wearing a brassiere. The proportions of the robot are poor too, with the arms too short and too thin, while the head looks too big for the body. The face sculpt is pretty comical as well, following the trapezium shape of the helmet.

On the plus side, there is a diecast chest piece, which has some nice detail stickers added. This at least breaks up the red and adds a veneer of quality to the thing. Sadly, it's not enough.