Yes! It was the final boss! Mine spent it's life loading every single one of my hundreds of hot wheels and matchbox cars into and out of everything at a snails pace.
Thank you so much for the memories! I still have both my original Armatron and the Armatron mobile. I hacked my Armatron as an engineering student in the early 1980s; complete computer control using a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 computer (because the IBM PC was unaffordable at that time). Programmed it to assemble cheese crackers for a college robotics club meeting. Ah, those were the nerd days!
I remember seeing articles on computer mags back then on how to hack it to work with your Trs-80 etc. there were also mods to make the computer talk using a speak n spell.
I can feel and hear every part of this toy just by looking at you play with it. We had two, one for each of my older brothers and these things would go for years without batteries and be spun around and thrown about and still work when they got power. Memories.
I didn't own one myself, but I did play with one at a friend's house. Radio Shack was a fun store when it existed, it was the go-to place for all sorts of DIY electronics, they had all the little switches and pieces you'd need for things like building your own radio, and they sold the RF adapter my NES needed to plug into our tv. They started making their own science-themed toys along the way like this beauty. Circuit City wasn't really a sad loss, they were just a copy of Best Buy and sold things like tv's and speakers, but Radio Shack was a really unique store chain serving both the adults' public need for little mechanical gizmos that made everything else work, and the interested kids who would grow into the tech wizards of the future. It was sad when they finally shut down, it was the end of an era here.
@@mummygiraffepresentsclassi8722 Oh, that makes sense. I know I've heard the name before in connection with computers. I just also remembered there's a Superman comic book that was sponsored by Radio Shack and featured some computer kids, it might have been mentioned there.
@@mkeolver omg I literally did that. Google "Micro Machines aircraft carrier" lol. I completely forgot about my micro machines. Thanks for reminding me. Damn..
I had one, and DID take it apart. Yes it's meant to be that loud because that DC motor is constantly turning and engaging with the gear train. Even the joysticks aren't electronic inputs they just push plastic actuators back and forth. The motor just turns constantly, and whatever way you move the joysticks just engage the correct mechanisms to the geartrain.
I sure picked a good time to start binging your channel! found you from your snow white and the seven clever boys video today cuz i looked it up for some reason
No joke. I worked at Radio Shack 2001-2004. One day someone came in, shortly after christmas, and brought one of those in to try to return it because 'it was obviously missing pieces'. We told them we could not return a toy from the 80's and they said "well, we dont want it..." and just left it there. My coworkers and I had a LOT of fun screwing around with it until the district manager came in one day, found it in the back room and threw it away!
Reading the comments here has made me realize that Octavia's subscribers are all elder millennials since about 70% of us had one, 20% wanted one and the last 10% are young folks who weren't around in the stone ages back before the internet, mobile phones and mobile phones with internet. 😂
IRMA GERD! I had one of these as a kid and I LOVED IT! As a little guy with a Hot Wheels collection I loved loading my little cars into big toy trucks or plane. It lasted through 4 kids and I think my mom gave it away years ago and have no idea who has it now. As for the noise they are pretty loud although there shouldn't be knocking or binding when you're moving the arm but mine was quite noisey too and still worked for decades. Thanks kiddo this was a walk down memory lane. You never know when you're gonna make someone feel warm and fuzzy . PS : try doing art with it. We used to put a paint brush or pen in it and add some celo tape to keep it tight. Then draw away.
I don't know what it is about 80s toys but they all seem impossible to reassemble. I remember disassembling (destroying) my Dad's bigtrack. I will feel the shame forever.
I'd have loved being one of these on Christmas morning back then. Just moving stuff from one place to another & coming up with creative ways to put it to use.
you allways make me smile. you are such a nice person. you even be some kind of idol for me! the inspiration i learned is: even if you arent perfect, you still can do youtube videos and stand in public. your content is the finest on youtube about retro gaming stuff. you are on one level with the biggest creators we have ever seen. thats my honest opinion!
...i had the *MOBILE ARMITRON* from *RADIOSHACK* from the late 80s and it held a revered place in my toy collection.❤ you for doing this vid. Edit; *ZOIDS* in the commercial!
If anybody is intersted on how this (and other Tomy-Toys) look and work on the inside, check out Randi Rain - she restores these things all the time. Fascinating stuff.
Never had one, but I remember playing with one in a robotics class I took as a kid. Pretty interesting that it has so many degrees of freedom with only one motor. I am a 90's kid so I missed out on this era of RadioShack, but I still miss it. It was a great store for tinkerers in its day (before it devolved into a redundant mobile phone store).
I bought an Armatron in 1984 when I was in my final year at University.... my flimsy rationalization of buying a child's toy was that I could try and connect it up to my computer (a Commodore PET). That particular project predictably never got started let alone completed, but I still have it somewhere in storage. I took it apart to see how it could be modified to be computer controlled, so I got a good understanding of how it worked, but decided it would probably be easier to build one from scratch that to interface into the complicated array of gears and clutches. My fellow students all ripped the piss out of me for buying it, but that didn't stop them spending hours playing with it in the communal kitchen/dining area of the student flats we were in. By the way, don't worry about over stressing it - it has little clutches designed to slip if you try to push an axis too far, something gets stuck, or you try to lift something too heavy. The load clicking noises aren't gears slipping, its the spring clutches just unloading the stress.
I was hacking mine at about that same time as you. Couldnt reverse engineer all those gears and solved it by adding 6 pairs of solenoids to move the levers directly. Then a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 with an external 8-bit decoder IO board. Got me an A in my final engineering class.
we sell like 3 different robot arms at my work and now that motors are cheaper you can have one for each part of the movement so theres no constant grinding noise but they still make a whole bunch of noise when in operation and theyre still incredibly slow moving
Would of loved this as a kid. I really miss RadioShack. That was my favorite store when I was a kid and when I was a teenager. All the toys, electronic stuff, and electronic parts so much fun.
I bought one back then, I wasn't a kid anymore but I had a magazine that had instructions on how to modify it to connect it to a computer. I never ended up doing it and I do not know what happened to the robot or the magazine but it's possible I still have the latter.
I didn't have one of these as a kid, although I remember seeing them in the Tandy catalogue. But in 1985 I got a Tomy Verbot, similar in that it was a single motor attached to a complex gearbox.
This was ubiquitous in the late 1980s into the 1990s in Radio Shack. Every store had one on display and it was in every catalog. This was a rebadged TOMY toy, and it doesn't have the charm of their other 1983-1984 robot that made it big during the video game crash. As a kid, it seemed a little cool but it was clear it couldn't do much, like every robot toy. I think if you had the patience you could have fun. Many of these devices would be better now because back then there was no computer control and remote control was expensive. Now it isn't.
Yep, had one of those as a kid and it was as awesome at the time as can be expected. Flying a drone is child's play once you have mastered the Armatron.
My dad had one of these when I was growing up. I don't remember the extra bits so I don't know if those were lost by toddler-me or if he bought it second-hand. And yes, I tried taking it apart when I was a kid. That was a mistake.
i love these videos where you review old gadget type toys. I remember seeing things like this in the catalogs when I was a kids, and all we had wasa few inches of photo and a 2 line description to go on and I used to find it fascinating. So its so great to actualy see this tuff in use and see what it really did.
Random trivia - the faces for the Thomas the Tank Engine models were made by Tim Staffell who was the singer who left the band "Smile" to be replaced by one Freddie Mercury who then went on to change the band name to "Queen".
I had one of these things as a kid. It really was crazy advanced for a kids toy in the 80s. I get jealous sometimes of all the cool toys kids have these days, but I feel like this is one that can still compete with all the new stuff. Nothing will ever beat lawn darts though.
I played with one of these in a Radio Shack back in the 80s and was surprised at how loud it was. About ten years ago, I found one of these in the trash, along with pretty much all the little accessories. This was during "bulk trash pickup", where the city will haul away almost anything you put on the curb for free, and people clean out out their homes, throwing out all sorts of stuff. I brought it home along with a ton of other stuff, but never got around to trying it. Shortly afterward, I had a situation which necessitated an emergency cleaning, and to my eternal regret, I tossed it, and many other things I'd collected from the trash. I don't even know if it worked. :( I also seem to recall once reading an article discussing building some kind of interface to allow it to be controlled by a C64, so you could program the movements.
From the same year I was born. I still have an Armatron, although it hardly gets any use. If only its grip were stronger, I'd probably find actual uses for it. I suppose you could strap a really lightweight camera to it, and do some awesome complex camera moves for miniature sets.
I really wanted one of these as as kid. I remember being in my local Radio Shack, completely entranced as I tried it out. We were too poor back then, though, so I never got it.
Omg. I had the mobile, and a friend had the standard. We definitely opened them up, cause that's the kind of kids we were. The standard arm mechanism is something to behold. The mobile had separate motors, though IIRC, the gripper open and close weren't two different functions, there's just one gripper "pacman" button, and I think it's on the same motor but reverse rotation from gripper spin.
I remember my brother having this as a kid. Don’t really remember playing with it much, it was fun for like 5 minutes just pick stuff up and put it down, lost interest really quickly. Cool to see it again though, wonder what happened to it and most my childhood toys come to think of it. Mom probably just threw it out or gave it away
If anyone wants to see the level of sheer madness inside this thing search out My Mate Vince, he brought a broken one from eBay and tore it down pretty much all the way. It genuinely is an amazing thing in the way its designed.
I had one of those in the 80s :-) loved that toy. Edit : I had the rifle toy as well as displayed in the commercial... I loved Radio Shack / Tandy stores when i was a wee lad.
I wanted this more than life itself when I was around 8 or so. Not a chance in hell of getting it, but I loved to stare it at whenever we went to the mall.
OMG! I totally remember playing with that as a kid! And yes, it was just as loud 40 years ago. 😂 I always wanted one so I could have it reach down and grab Stormtroopers, rescuing the rebels, with R2D2 at the controls. 😆😆😆
Yup, had this as a kid, it was loud as hell when turned on. I was able to open the container and move the balls to the top per the activity in the manual but only after giving up several times. Eventually the gears stripped and I took it apart in a failed attempt to fix it. These days you could just 3D print replacement parts.
Hah! Forgot about this. I didn't have it but the dude next door did. We would balance small objects on top of each other and then try to pick the whole mess up to see who was the smoothest at the controlls. I never did get this... But I did get the Tomy Omnibot. I still have him although he doesn't work right anymore.
I was obsessed with getting one of these when I saw it at a Radio Shack in 86 or 1987... I was 8 or 9.. and Short Circuit was my favorite film at the time, and Innerspace also fectured a robotic arm like it.. So i saved up and got it... aaaaaand the novelty wore off after about 2 days. I mean, yes.. it was cool... but I quickly realized all it could really pick up was extremely light objects. Also, Nintendo became my next obsession and put all other distractions on hold.
LOVED IT when your rat (Detective Trifles?!) came and quickly swiped the pasta when he/she saw the Armatron going for it!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 massive LOLs! Thanks for coming back into our lives Octavious, you bring a big smile to my face.
I loved it that Christmas! Got bored pretty quickly until I involved my sister’s mice. The rotating bit was particularly funny! They loved it. Probably. We used it to move stones for Pip & Pop’s graves in the New Year. Fond memories.
I got one of these when I was 13 years old. As with all of my toys, I disassembled and reassembled it until I knew how every part of it worked and fit together. Bored in class, I drew out the entire geartrain and mechanical assembly on my desk. That act of vandalism got me into the Pittsburgh Regional Engineering Program, and an eventual full- ride scholarship to Penn State for aerospace engineering. Sadly, I had a crazy mother who hid the acceptance letter from me, so I never found out about the offer until years after it had expired. :(
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/af0phKxitX8/mqdefault.jpg)
this toy was a centerpiece to many of my villainous action figure bases. LOVED this as a kid.
Yes! It was the final boss! Mine spent it's life loading every single one of my hundreds of hot wheels and matchbox cars into and out of everything at a snails pace.
Same. I don't know how many Transformers fell to this beast! ;)
Thank you so much for the memories! I still have both my original Armatron and the Armatron mobile. I hacked my Armatron as an engineering student in the early 1980s; complete computer control using a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 computer (because the IBM PC was unaffordable at that time). Programmed it to assemble cheese crackers for a college robotics club meeting. Ah, those were the nerd days!
I think I love you! 😍😉
Did you know that Jesus once turned a basket of rocks into Goldfish crackers? Clearly your bot was blessed.
I remember seeing articles on computer mags back then on how to hack it to work with your Trs-80 etc. there were also mods to make the computer talk using a speak n spell.
"Who are these people who have tiny, tiny milk jugs? I bet they're CEREAL killers" 🙂
DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH AT PUNS XD
Love that joke, it's so punny 😂
That's stupid, man, it's universally stupid!
I am a cereal killer - I once ran over the Honey Monster in heavy fog. His last words as he died in my arms was "tell them about the honey, mummy" "
"As a kid I would have totally used it as a final boss for my other toys to defeat." Over 30 years later now you tell me? I wasted my opportunity.
A kid in the 80s with an Armatron and a BigTrak (with articulated trailer) has all they need to run a robotic manufacturing plant.
Oh hellz yeah, BigTrack! 🤟😎
And a suspicious number of friends that always wanted to hang out at your place.
I can feel and hear every part of this toy just by looking at you play with it. We had two, one for each of my older brothers and these things would go for years without batteries and be spun around and thrown about and still work when they got power. Memories.
I didn't own one myself, but I did play with one at a friend's house. Radio Shack was a fun store when it existed, it was the go-to place for all sorts of DIY electronics, they had all the little switches and pieces you'd need for things like building your own radio, and they sold the RF adapter my NES needed to plug into our tv. They started making their own science-themed toys along the way like this beauty. Circuit City wasn't really a sad loss, they were just a copy of Best Buy and sold things like tv's and speakers, but Radio Shack was a really unique store chain serving both the adults' public need for little mechanical gizmos that made everything else work, and the interested kids who would grow into the tech wizards of the future. It was sad when they finally shut down, it was the end of an era here.
We had Radio Shack in England too, they just called thenselves Tandys 💜💙💜💜
@@mummygiraffepresentsclassi8722 Oh, that makes sense. I know I've heard the name before in connection with computers. I just also remembered there's a Superman comic book that was sponsored by Radio Shack and featured some computer kids, it might have been mentioned there.
I had one of these as a kid and I remember how much I enjoyed using it to pick up the little solid rubber ghosts that came with Ghostbusters figures.
I did that to G. I. Joes
@@mikedrop4421 this would be a fun toy to lift stuff onto the aircraft carrier with. 😁
@@mkeolver omg I literally did that. Google "Micro Machines aircraft carrier" lol. I completely forgot about my micro machines. Thanks for reminding me. Damn..
@@mikedrop4421 I haven't thought about those in a while either. 👍
I would have loved this as a kid, also hi Trifs 💚
Triffs says hi too
1:12 I want all the toys!
Also, yay, Trifles ❤
Turned Craig Charles radio off for this! That is the biggest compliment I can give you. Do more yassss King!
Consider me appropriately tingled. Thanks, Octavius!
I had one, and DID take it apart. Yes it's meant to be that loud because that DC motor is constantly turning and engaging with the gear train. Even the joysticks aren't electronic inputs they just push plastic actuators back and forth. The motor just turns constantly, and whatever way you move the joysticks just engage the correct mechanisms to the geartrain.
I've got to be honest... "Hench Gubbins" isn't a phrase I knew I needed in my life.
We lives and learns, don't we?!
I sure picked a good time to start binging your channel! found you from your snow white and the seven clever boys video today cuz i looked it up for some reason
No joke.
I worked at Radio Shack 2001-2004. One day someone came in, shortly after christmas, and brought one of those in to try to return it because 'it was obviously missing pieces'. We told them we could not return a toy from the 80's and they said "well, we dont want it..." and just left it there.
My coworkers and I had a LOT of fun screwing around with it until the district manager came in one day, found it in the back room and threw it away!
The vandal!!!!!
Reading the comments here has made me realize that Octavia's subscribers are all elder millennials since about 70% of us had one, 20% wanted one and the last 10% are young folks who weren't around in the stone ages back before the internet, mobile phones and mobile phones with internet. 😂
IRMA GERD! I had one of these as a kid and I LOVED IT! As a little guy with a Hot Wheels collection I loved loading my little cars into big toy trucks or plane. It lasted through 4 kids and I think my mom gave it away years ago and have no idea who has it now. As for the noise they are pretty loud although there shouldn't be knocking or binding when you're moving the arm but mine was quite noisey too and still worked for decades. Thanks kiddo this was a walk down memory lane. You never know when you're gonna make someone feel warm and fuzzy .
PS : try doing art with it. We used to put a paint brush or pen in it and add some celo tape to keep it tight. Then draw away.
Radio Shack had the most awesome stuff in the 80s ❤
Oh wow... you just unlocked a core memory. I had that robot elephant thing at 1:15. I completely forget about that.
This is basically a toy version of what we call a “pick and place” robot. That is pretty awesome !
Thank you for the video 🍻
I don't know what it is about 80s toys but they all seem impossible to reassemble. I remember disassembling (destroying) my Dad's bigtrack. I will feel the shame forever.
Yeah I know for a fact I'd ruin it if I pulled it apart. Also, OH NO, you dissembled a Bigtrack? WHY?
I'd have loved being one of these on Christmas morning back then. Just moving stuff from one place to another & coming up with creative ways to put it to use.
its good to see you back, sarah. and CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS on your degree. :D
you allways make me smile. you are such a nice person. you even be some kind of idol for me! the inspiration i learned is: even if you arent perfect, you still can do youtube videos and stand in public. your content is the finest on youtube about retro gaming stuff. you are on one level with the biggest creators we have ever seen. thats my honest opinion!
I had one of these as a kid, and bought one for my kid around a decade ago.
I always wanted one of these. A friend had one, we got bored after a few minutes but I still wanted one 😂
...i had the *MOBILE ARMITRON* from *RADIOSHACK* from the late 80s and it held a revered place in my toy collection.❤ you for doing this vid.
Edit; *ZOIDS* in the commercial!
If anybody is intersted on how this (and other Tomy-Toys) look and work on the inside, check out Randi Rain - she restores these things all the time. Fascinating stuff.
OMG I HAD ONE OF THESE!!!! Completely forgot about it!!! Thanks for bringing back the memories!
Never had one, but I remember playing with one in a robotics class I took as a kid. Pretty interesting that it has so many degrees of freedom with only one motor. I am a 90's kid so I missed out on this era of RadioShack, but I still miss it. It was a great store for tinkerers in its day (before it devolved into a redundant mobile phone store).
I have no problem with you subjecting us to more of this type of thing. Nice Devo reference btw 😄
I used to play with the display model at the local Radio Shack. They had robots, rc cars, totally awesome 80s toy store!
Best Channel of All Time on RUclips This is it. Give all the awards!
I bought an Armatron in 1984 when I was in my final year at University.... my flimsy rationalization of buying a child's toy was that I could try and connect it up to my computer (a Commodore PET). That particular project predictably never got started let alone completed, but I still have it somewhere in storage.
I took it apart to see how it could be modified to be computer controlled, so I got a good understanding of how it worked, but decided it would probably be easier to build one from scratch that to interface into the complicated array of gears and clutches.
My fellow students all ripped the piss out of me for buying it, but that didn't stop them spending hours playing with it in the communal kitchen/dining area of the student flats we were in.
By the way, don't worry about over stressing it - it has little clutches designed to slip if you try to push an axis too far, something gets stuck, or you try to lift something too heavy. The load clicking noises aren't gears slipping, its the spring clutches just unloading the stress.
I was hacking mine at about that same time as you. Couldnt reverse engineer all those gears and solved it by adding 6 pairs of solenoids to move the levers directly. Then a Timex-Sinclair TS1000 with an external 8-bit decoder IO board. Got me an A in my final engineering class.
I totally wanted one of these so bad as an 80’s kid! You’re right, Radio Shack had the coolest toys back in the day.
“Battery the size of a car”
Yeah, they’re really big, but look up lantern batteries. I used to have a torch that took one of those.
we sell like 3 different robot arms at my work and now that motors are cheaper you can have one for each part of the movement so theres no constant grinding noise but they still make a whole bunch of noise when in operation and theyre still incredibly slow moving
This was one of my favorites as a child. I still remember the sound.
Next, we get Octavius to manage a JCB digger hard hat and all !
I had one of these as a kid and totally loved it. I played with it a ton. Back then, tech was pretty limited, so it was super cool.
Would of loved this as a kid. I really miss RadioShack. That was my favorite store when I was a kid and when I was a teenager. All the toys, electronic stuff, and electronic parts so much fun.
squeee, i had one in the 80's, lasted to the early 90's - it was so much fun to one who has a high imagination
I bet kids would still love this toy...
I bought one back then, I wasn't a kid anymore but I had a magazine that had instructions on how to modify it to connect it to a computer. I never ended up doing it and I do not know what happened to the robot or the magazine but it's possible I still have the latter.
I didn't have one of these as a kid, although I remember seeing them in the Tandy catalogue. But in 1985 I got a Tomy Verbot, similar in that it was a single motor attached to a complex gearbox.
I saw a video years ago where a guy was restoring one of these. The rubber belts inside tend to perish after a while.
This was ubiquitous in the late 1980s into the 1990s in Radio Shack. Every store had one on display and it was in every catalog. This was a rebadged TOMY toy, and it doesn't have the charm of their other 1983-1984 robot that made it big during the video game crash.
As a kid, it seemed a little cool but it was clear it couldn't do much, like every robot toy. I think if you had the patience you could have fun. Many of these devices would be better now because back then there was no computer control and remote control was expensive. Now it isn't.
I bought one of these in 1982. I still have it. It still works. It's still fun.
Yep, had one of those as a kid and it was as awesome at the time as can be expected.
Flying a drone is child's play once you have mastered the Armatron.
I absolutely remember this. I didn't have it myself, and haven't thought about it like like 35 years, lol.
My dad had one of these when I was growing up. I don't remember the extra bits so I don't know if those were lost by toddler-me or if he bought it second-hand. And yes, I tried taking it apart when I was a kid. That was a mistake.
i love these videos where you review old gadget type toys. I remember seeing things like this in the catalogs when I was a kids, and all we had wasa few inches of photo and a 2 line description to go on and I used to find it fascinating. So its so great to actualy see this tuff in use and see what it really did.
I never had this as a kid, but a few friends did, and I can tell you that YES it was ALWAYS that loud....
Random trivia - the faces for the Thomas the Tank Engine models were made by Tim Staffell who was the singer who left the band "Smile" to be replaced by one Freddie Mercury who then went on to change the band name to "Queen".
I had one of these things as a kid. It really was crazy advanced for a kids toy in the 80s. I get jealous sometimes of all the cool toys kids have these days, but I feel like this is one that can still compete with all the new stuff. Nothing will ever beat lawn darts though.
Great video you absolute scientist ☺️
I played with one of these in a Radio Shack back in the 80s and was surprised at how loud it was.
About ten years ago, I found one of these in the trash, along with pretty much all the little accessories. This was during "bulk trash pickup", where the city will haul away almost anything you put on the curb for free, and people clean out out their homes, throwing out all sorts of stuff. I brought it home along with a ton of other stuff, but never got around to trying it. Shortly afterward, I had a situation which necessitated an emergency cleaning, and to my eternal regret, I tossed it, and many other things I'd collected from the trash. I don't even know if it worked. :(
I also seem to recall once reading an article discussing building some kind of interface to allow it to be controlled by a C64, so you could program the movements.
From the same year I was born. I still have an Armatron, although it hardly gets any use. If only its grip were stronger, I'd probably find actual uses for it. I suppose you could strap a really lightweight camera to it, and do some awesome complex camera moves for miniature sets.
I have one right here at home ! ( the first one)it has some deffects but works!
I really wanted one of these as as kid. I remember being in my local Radio Shack, completely entranced as I tried it out. We were too poor back then, though, so I never got it.
Deffo need more of this!
Props for the Devo reference, big fan. And suitable given the 80s theme.
Omg. I had the mobile, and a friend had the standard. We definitely opened them up, cause that's the kind of kids we were. The standard arm mechanism is something to behold. The mobile had separate motors, though IIRC, the gripper open and close weren't two different functions, there's just one gripper "pacman" button, and I think it's on the same motor but reverse rotation from gripper spin.
I HAD one of these as a kid. I loved it so much.
I loved the rat mug. Also, I'm pretty sure it was The 8-Bit Guy who had one of these in bits for repairs, if you still need to see the insides.
I remember my brother having this as a kid. Don’t really remember playing with it much, it was fun for like 5 minutes just pick stuff up and put it down, lost interest really quickly. Cool to see it again though, wonder what happened to it and most my childhood toys come to think of it. Mom probably just threw it out or gave it away
Yep I used to have this and played with it a bunch when I was a kid.
I do not think I have it any more unfortunately.
If anyone wants to see the level of sheer madness inside this thing search out My Mate Vince, he brought a broken one from eBay and tore it down pretty much all the way. It genuinely is an amazing thing in the way its designed.
I had one that was a version that was on wheels and could be driven around via RC as well. Was one of my favorite Christmas presents, in 85 maybe?
this channel is so comforting.
and the day is immediately better! YAAAAY Octi vid!
I had one of those in the 80s :-) loved that toy.
Edit : I had the rifle toy as well as displayed in the commercial... I loved Radio Shack / Tandy stores when i was a wee lad.
I wanted this more than life itself when I was around 8 or so. Not a chance in hell of getting it, but I loved to stare it at whenever we went to the mall.
I always wanted one of these. And still do.
Skutters’ dad
They DID have the ability to make rude gestures!
I loved mine. Kids were all about toys back then
I got that mobile Armatron for Xmas one year, and in war of the Autobots vs. Decepticons, Armatron crushed them both in 5 seconds flat.
I had this as a kid. It was one of my favorite things along with Big Trak, a programmable futuristic "tank".
I remember seeing this thing as a kid and always wanting one, but they were never sold here in my country.
I LOVED mine as a kid. I used it to play with my transformers and GI joes!!!
OMG! I totally remember playing with that as a kid! And yes, it was just as loud 40 years ago. 😂 I always wanted one so I could have it reach down and grab Stormtroopers, rescuing the rebels, with R2D2 at the controls. 😆😆😆
I haven't seen these things before but I would have loved it when I was a kid.
Yup, had this as a kid, it was loud as hell when turned on. I was able to open the container and move the balls to the top per the activity in the manual but only after giving up several times. Eventually the gears stripped and I took it apart in a failed attempt to fix it. These days you could just 3D print replacement parts.
I just like when you pick up the ball, it fades into the greenscreen.
Hah! Forgot about this. I didn't have it but the dude next door did. We would balance small objects on top of each other and then try to pick the whole mess up to see who was the smoothest at the controlls.
I never did get this... But I did get the Tomy Omnibot. I still have him although he doesn't work right anymore.
Wow, I remember that toy back in the 80's. I, of course, never had it. My mom would get me Joes, though.
I still want one of these. Off to eBay!
I've got a vague memory of having one, but TBH, I'm not entirely sure if I did have one, or merely saw the ads and dreamed of it.
I had one of those. Amazing toy!
I was obsessed with getting one of these when I saw it at a Radio Shack in 86 or 1987... I was 8 or 9.. and Short Circuit was my favorite film at the time, and Innerspace also fectured a robotic arm like it.. So i saved up and got it... aaaaaand the novelty wore off after about 2 days. I mean, yes.. it was cool... but I quickly realized all it could really pick up was extremely light objects. Also, Nintendo became my next obsession and put all other distractions on hold.
I had one of these, good times picking and putting things down.
LOVED IT when your rat (Detective Trifles?!) came and quickly swiped the pasta when he/she saw the Armatron going for it!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 massive LOLs! Thanks for coming back into our lives Octavious, you bring a big smile to my face.
Watch their Twitch. It's just hours of the rats being jerks.
I had one as a kid. I recently found another and picked it up.
Hey I love your dark approach to reviewing video games and their peripherals
I still have mine. Loves it.
I loved it that Christmas! Got bored pretty quickly until I involved my sister’s mice. The rotating bit was particularly funny! They loved it. Probably.
We used it to move stones for Pip & Pop’s graves in the New Year. Fond memories.
had one....played with it every day.
I got one of these when I was 13 years old. As with all of my toys, I disassembled and reassembled it until I knew how every part of it worked and fit together.
Bored in class, I drew out the entire geartrain and mechanical assembly on my desk. That act of vandalism got me into the Pittsburgh Regional Engineering Program, and an eventual full- ride scholarship to Penn State for aerospace engineering. Sadly, I had a crazy mother who hid the acceptance letter from me, so I never found out about the offer until years after it had expired. :(
i had one as a kid, it was junk but awesome. i mainly remember the sound of the gears when it went to far