Battleship Robo MR-54 / MRB-17
This model was originally designed in Japan by Bandai and released for their Machine Robo Series line as Battleship Robo. By this time Tonka's successful rebranding to 'Gobots' and US distribution saw the now more established name 'Man-O-War' applied and adopted for Robo Machine in Europe and the Australian Machine Men release; predominantly to benefit from the Challenge of the Gobots cartoon. Multilingual Robo Machine cardbacks displayed both New Jersey* and Man-O-War in the name section.
* USS New Jersey (BB-62) Iowa-class battleship is the real world ship Battleship Robo's design was modeled on.
Further details are below, on the Series 1 Index and for more in-depth reading see the Toy Line History page.
Region Codes Used: JP Japan / US United States / CA Canada / AU Australia / EU Europe / CHA China
NOTE: Region codes only shown where items were known to be released. This list is accurate yet possibly incomplete.
Gobots 66 Series 3 US/CA Tonka with 3-D Sticker [colours A: see below] 1986*
Robo Machine RM-57 EU Bandai [colours b: see below] 1986
Machine Men AU Bandai [colours B: see below] 1986
Machine Robo Series MR-54 JP Bandai [colours A: see below] 1985
Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos MRB-17 JP Bandai [colours A: see below] 1986
Sold with Transformers Sixliner Bootleg 'Trainempries' CHA WTS [coloured paint details]
Bow of the ship does not fold fully down as per genuine mould versions
Bootleg still shows the Bandai stamping on the rear of the legs
* Unsure whether distributed without 3-D Sticker offer.
** Chrome vs. Silver Painted Face a seemingly small number of silver painted faced figures were distributed on Gobots blister cards. These figures have the Gobots 758 bow sticker with the Machine Robo silver painted face. Man-O-War was one of the last figures released and as with Sky-Jack and other end of run Series 3 figures, some mix and match of part to use up stocks likely occurred.
Colours A [Light Grey, Metal Towers / Grey Body / matching Grey Feet]
Colours B [Dark Grey, Plastic Towers / Light Grey Body / Red Feet]
Gobots / Machine Robo Series: bow number small (port/left side only), towers metal & plastic, wheels metal Robo Machine / Machine Men: bow number large, towers plastic, wheels red plastic.
Note Man-O-War is the only 600 Series figure where the Gobots line followed Machine Robo Series completely while Robo Machine and Machine Men deviated in colour and overall build quality.
Trivia Battleship Robo has the same face as Scooter Robo. This is likely one of many indications the 600 Series was beyond it's life expectancy as far as Bandai was concerned and largely being kept afloat by foreign sales.
Prototype - Unpainted Tower Surround Photos kindly shared by Pil Grim below show a version where the structure around the central tower is unpainted and left the same colour as the main deck and tower. It's unclear whether this was a Battleship Robo or Gobots colour concept or an unpainted test cast.
Prototype - Red Towers There is also a version with red central towers and this version was used for the box images on the Battleship Robo, rainbow box.
Variant Release Comparisons