Van Guard was one of five figures created by Bandai for Tonka to pad out the second series of Gobots.

Stamped MRT-42 (denoting Machine Robo Tonka, most likely) he was added to the second series of Gobots in early 1985. The figure wasn't released outside of North America, with Bandai deciding against releasing him as part of Machine Robo (Japan) or Robo Machine (Europe).

The character did go on to have a moderate presence in Hanna-Barbera's Challenge of the Gobots cartoon, however, though he didn't get to do much beyond acting as one of the usual friendly, brave Guardians.

You can probably guess roughly what kind of vehicle Van Guard transforms into. As with the rest of the MRT range, Bandai purposefully chose American vehicles, and so he's modelled on a Dodge Caravan.

The rendering is a little under-whelming, possibly due to the uninspiring nature of the subject. It's a bit of a shame a silvery plastic was chosen - while this fits nicely, it is perhaps a bit too close to the colours used on Scratch. I personally feel he'd have looked better with his colours reversed, with black as his primary scheme (there really aren't enough black Gobots) and silver windows.

The actual quality of the toy isn't quite there, either - the front halves don't join up quite right, resulting in the windscreen having a slight kink in it, while the toy's nearly all plastic - only the front grille/robot thighs being diecast. On the other hand, he does have rubber tyres and a passable level of detail.

Van Guard is, like many Gobots from the second series of regular figures, blessed with an excellent transformation. This involves the front half of the van swinging down to form the legs, and the rear end flipping over the other way, splitting in half to complete the torso, reveal the arms and give him these great-looking 'wings' on his back.

Comparing this to comparable Transformers of the time (such as the Minibots) or the small Convertors figures is a bit of a cheap shot, but worth thinking about. The resultant robot isn't too shabby either. Despite the chunky legs and thin arms, he looks surprisingly sharp. The colour scheme gels nicely, and the stickers work well too. The head sculpt isn't bad, if a little small, with Van Guard having a bit of a different face to the usual chrome jobs.

The articulation is about par for the range, though the figure's good stability means you can perhaps do a bit more with him than some more poseable toys. It's a shame there isn't a bit more detail on the arms, however, these resembling little more than sticks.