'Powered Guardian Robot ATC (All Terrain Cycle)' - Land Fighter and Honda ATC
Unlike the bulk of Gobots figures the Power Gobots Secret Riders were not originally part of Bandai's Machine Robo toy line. They began life in the Bandai side line Zenmai Kahen (Spring-powered Variable) Winch Robo. It was only after the Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos anime was underway that they were offered as part of 'DASH Machine Robo' in Japan and Power Gobots in the United States and Canada.
Prior to that all three had been sold in Europe for Robo Machine and Australia as Machine Men under the sub-line 'Winchers'; even though one doesn't have a winch function.
Secret Riders and their global counterparts are a lot of fun, however on closer inspection do feel a little out of place in the Gobots line and are clearly sourced from a previous offering. The inclusion of the ride-on sled feature and that they cross over into self justifying as being interesting transforming puzzle models vs. robust play in the dirt action toys as desired by the West speaks volumes of their Japanese origins.
It's worth noting that in Japan, while the Variable Winch Robot toys were a lower price point version of Bandai's larger, battery operated 'The Winch Robo' line, in the West the toy were less connected. In Europe and Australia both loosely made it into Bandai's Robo Machine and Machine Men lines respectively and in North America Tonka didn't release them for Gobots at all and instead Mattel distributed them as Powerbots.
Region Codes Used: JP Japan / US United States / CA Canada / EU Europe / AU Australia (region list is correct however likely incomplete)
Power Gobots Secret Riders US / CA Tonka [Grey Wheel Rims, Darker Red, Tri-Trak text stickers] 1986
Robo Machine Winchers EU Bandai [White Rims, Lighter Red, Honda ATC 200X Stickers] 1985
Machine Men Winchers AU Bandai [White Rims, Lighter Red, Honda ATC 200X Stickers] 1985
DASH Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos JP Bandai [Grey Rims, Red, Landfighter Stickers*] 1986
Tri-Trak's alt mode is based on the 1985 Honda ATC200X and the real life photo example below shows how successful this transfornation is considering the shape limitations set by the real ATC.
* The Machine Robo Landfighter version is essentially identical to the Gobots release with, 'LANDFIGHTER' stickers placed over the Tri-Trak ones.
For the Power Gobots Secret Riders release the Honda ATC and 200X stickers were replaced with 'Tri-Trak' or trim detail with some omitted entirely. Mudguard flame stickers were added and the toe foil stickers removed.
Prototypes: The 1985 Bandai 'Robo Machine Series' catalogue included only an illustrated version of Honda ATC. The alt mode looked more true to one of the larger 200ATC models (possibly the S) resulting in a more ambitious and buff robot form. It was also shown as planned to have yellow wheel rims.
The box art for the Power Gobots Secret Riders release shows a version of Tri-Trak still with most of the Japanese, EU and AU markings with unproduced gold wheel rims. It's possible this could indicate there was at one point a gold rimmed version an artist copied or copied a photo of as a reference. As the art is heavily linked to the non-US release and likely created before the US version was finalised it could be speculated that the white rims of those versions were originally planned to be coated in gold but it didn't make it to production.
Prototype (see below) a prototype was shown in the catalogue section of the third Australian Machine Men comic, "The Combat". Presumably the marketing department didn't have a photograph of the robot mode yet so an illustrated version was used. The prototype has blue paint on the forks, black paint around the light and different tyres and rims. The lack of cast lines on the tyres suggest they may be rubber vs. the hollow, two part hard plastic cast tyres released on the production version. The main, black strut in front of the engine (forearms) is also one piece strongly suggesting this is a non-transforming mockup.
