MR-18 Truck Robo | Road Ranger

Challenge of the GoBots has endeared and found a cult following after the toyline and its animated series went off-air. The concept and stories that built the mythology was not as polished as Transformers, but presented a solid range of transforming figures that populated the world of Gobotron. Since being acquired by Hasbro they have incorporated some of the characters in their stories even producing toys that have “Go-Bots” or just straight up Gobots in them. But the comicbooks were these characters shined in 2018/2019 run of the mini-series redefining their narrative introducing Road Ranger as its New Leader.

Road Ranger is the American name for the character that appeared in some episodes of Hanna-Barbera animated “Challenge of the GoBots” series and was one of the important characters in the GoBot mini-series published by IDW in November 2018 to May 2019 with writer/artist Tom Scioli redefining the mythology.

Back in the 1980s, there was no comicbook series in the US supporting the fledgling toyline that was manufactured by Bandai and imported by Tonka into what are the Gobots toys. In other parts of the world, they were still known as Machin Robo, and Road Ranger was MR-18 Truck Robo.

In Asia, even before the GoBots was aired in local television the toys started appearing in local stores in their window-less white boxes and once you open one of these toys there the figure sits on a white Styrofoam wrapped in dust jacket plastic wrapping ready to be played by kids all over the world











Not that kind of Truck

Road Ranger is the same figure released in Japan and other markets based on its Machine Robo colors. There have been several releases after 1983, but those iterations have only minor changes in how it was packaged and slight change in the shade of colors for the character as the rest is the same.

Like all basic GoBots figures they stand around 2-3 inches tall, but Road Ranger is 3.5 inches in height close to how tall a vintage G.I. Joe action figure. Back then toys are made in high-quality material as most Machine Robo produced by Bandai (formerly Poppy in Japan) have diecast parts in them with this figure the entire cab of the truck is made of diecast while the rest use high-quality plastic.

For a figure that has been produced in 1982, the quality of the figure is still there though this probably depends on the storage or playwear as this one acquired back in 2005 still has tight shoulder joints the only part that’s articulated in this figure. The chrome has worn out evidently due to how it was stored or kept by the previous owner, but the colors have not totally faded.

Robot to Articulated Lorry in Less than a Minute

GoBots are simplified in design and engineering with Road Ranger you just fold his arms to the side while the lower leg part unfolds at the same time you pull it down to hide his head and reveal the articulated link part in truck mode.

When it was originally released there’s a sticker sheet that you need to apply on the vehicle mode as well as in robot mode. But due to the age of the toy, the sticker for the vehicle mold tends to deteriorate and tends to lose its adhesive for the reason you won’t find it anymore.















The Truck Guy they Never Wanted that They Have

For the kids who can’t afford an Optimus Prime, this figure tends to be the ‘placeholder’ truck guy in the majority of their collection in their childhood. There are others too but Road Ranger tends to be that bot with those colors. Though the vehicle mode is entirely different you can see how this figure really was a letdown for those kids deprived by not having an Optimus Prime.

But now when you try to look for old GoBots toys they tend to command interest in collectability since Bandai lost the rights to produce these characters from Hasbro. The acquisition of Tonka that owned the rights for the characters and their appearances has hindered Bandai to reissue the same characters from their Machine Robo toyline. Going back to 2003 Bandai found a way to present a different kind of Machine Robo with “Machine Robo Rescue” that have some of those familiar faces making an appearance and some new characters as well.





Gekisou Sentai Roooooad Ranger!

Road Ranger may not be the transformer everyone wanted, but it sure did inspire those kids back then to set their sights on the actual Truck Guy growing up. These days you’ll never find this figure, but if you do it might not command value like its other famous contemporaries.

Tom Scioli breathes life to this character larger than life, and if you have read the GoBots mini-series this is sure going to be your favorite GoBot by now despite the figure being outdated and considered a vintage. Besides that there’s no GoBot better a placeholder than this Truck Guy for those deprived growing up not get an Optimus this sure was the best of the lot and that’s Prime.