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.
@@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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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 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!
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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. 😂
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
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.
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 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
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.
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.
@Octaviusking I hope you'll be pleased to know that I purchased an Armatron from EBay last week. New in box, hadn't even had the stickers applied yet. I named it "Hench Gubbins" in your honor.
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 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.
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 as a kid. It was a regularly used toy of mine for many years. As you say, one its own the Armatron isn't all that interesting. But it's great when used with other toys. Many of my G.I. Joes were crushed to death trying to defeat the Armatron. 😁 It was great being an '80's kid. I really think we had the best toys.
I remember this in the store at the time but I never had one. Would have loved it thought and I'm a little surprised when I think back my daddy who was a scientist and all never suggested buying one. Maybe if it had been in Edmond Scientific. Sure I was 5 in late 1984, but they sold it more than one year. It reminds me of this cool robot that I sawr at Family day at Martin Marietta which is where Daddy worked and the arm could do cool stuff like that. It was pretty much a box with an arm, but a genuine in life real robot. Had a poster of it for years till it got damaged.
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.
Back in the 80s when this toy was new, a lot of computer hobbyists would buy these and hack them to be controlled by their computer so you could program it to perform repeated functions. I used to work in a computer store back then and there was a guy from the local Commodore user's group who had two of them being controlled from his Commodore 64.
Never had one myself, but I did get to play with two different units, but in my memory, it was branded as a Tomy product, so Tomy must have been releasing under their own version while simultaneously letting Radio Shack license it. Still, it was nice to see all of the accessories.
I had one as a kid, it really was hours of fun. From what I remember, no one was ever any good at using it. It was like DDR or Guitar Hero of it's day, the most entertaining thing was not doing well but doing poorly and laughing 😊
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" "
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 would have loved this as a kid, also hi Trifs 💚
Triffs says hi too
"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.
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 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. 👍
1:12 I want all the toys!
Also, yay, Trifles ❤
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.
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.
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!!!!!
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 always wanted one of these. A friend had one, we got bored after a few minutes but I still wanted one 😂
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.
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.
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 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.
This was one of my favorites as a child. I still remember the sound.
Radio Shack had the most awesome stuff in the 80s ❤
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?
Turned Craig Charles radio off for this! That is the biggest compliment I can give you. Do more yassss King!
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.
I had one of these as a kid, and bought one for my kid around a decade ago.
I used to play with the display model at the local Radio Shack. They had robots, rc cars, totally awesome 80s toy store!
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.
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 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.
Oh wow... you just unlocked a core memory. I had that robot elephant thing at 1:15. I completely forget about that.
Consider me appropriately tingled. Thanks, Octavius!
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 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!
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.
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'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?!
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 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 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 have no problem with you subjecting us to more of this type of thing. Nice Devo reference btw 😄
I never had this as a kid, but a few friends did, and I can tell you that YES it was ALWAYS that loud....
I bought one of these in 1982. I still have it. It still works. It's still fun.
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.
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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
Props for the Devo reference, big fan. And suitable given the 80s theme.
Wow, I remember that toy back in the 80's. I, of course, never had it. My mom would get me Joes, though.
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
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 had this as a kid. It was one of my favorite things along with Big Trak, a programmable futuristic "tank".
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.
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. 😂
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
I saw a video years ago where a guy was restoring one of these. The rubber belts inside tend to perish after a while.
I bet kids would still love this toy...
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?
A couple weeks ago I found a video of some lad who bought a broken one and fixed it as a video. The insides are kinda incredible.
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.
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!
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.
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
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 HAD one of these as a kid. I loved it so much.
Next, we get Octavius to manage a JCB digger hard hat and all !
I haven't seen these things before but I would have loved it when I was a kid.
I remember seeing this thing as a kid and always wanting one, but they were never sold here in my country.
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.
Best Channel of All Time on RUclips This is it. Give all the awards!
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.
@Octaviusking I hope you'll be pleased to know that I purchased an Armatron from EBay last week. New in box, hadn't even had the stickers applied yet.
I named it "Hench Gubbins" in your honor.
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 LOVED mine as a kid. I used it to play with my transformers and GI joes!!!
I loved mine. Kids were all about toys back then
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 had one of those, great fun trying to pickup a doughnut with it 😀
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 as a kid. It was a regularly used toy of mine for many years. As you say, one its own the Armatron isn't all that interesting. But it's great when used with other toys. Many of my G.I. Joes were crushed to death trying to defeat the Armatron. 😁 It was great being an '80's kid. I really think we had the best toys.
Deffo need more of this!
Detective Trifles is amazing. That fury critter knows how to do lunch !
Hey I love your dark approach to reviewing video games and their peripherals
I had one of these, good times picking and putting things down.
I have one right here at home ! ( the first one)it has some deffects but works!
I always wanted one of these. And still do.
I remember this in the store at the time but I never had one. Would have loved it thought and I'm a little surprised when I think back my daddy who was a scientist and all never suggested buying one. Maybe if it had been in Edmond Scientific. Sure I was 5 in late 1984, but they sold it more than one year. It reminds me of this cool robot that I sawr at Family day at Martin Marietta which is where Daddy worked and the arm could do cool stuff like that. It was pretty much a box with an arm, but a genuine in life real robot. Had a poster of it for years till it got damaged.
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.
its good to see you back, sarah. and CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS on your degree. :D
Honestly, even now, I feel like this would be bit of a conversation piece in a room.
this channel is so comforting.
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.
Skutters’ dad
They DID have the ability to make rude gestures!
Put my childhood memories away!! Mine broke a plastic part and never worked right. Ironically today I could 3d print a replacement :(
I had one as a kid. I recently found another and picked it up.
Back in the 80s when this toy was new, a lot of computer hobbyists would buy these and hack them to be controlled by their computer so you could program it to perform repeated functions. I used to work in a computer store back then and there was a guy from the local Commodore user's group who had two of them being controlled from his Commodore 64.
Never had one myself, but I did get to play with two different units, but in my memory, it was branded as a Tomy product, so Tomy must have been releasing under their own version while simultaneously letting Radio Shack license it.
Still, it was nice to see all of the accessories.
I had one of those. Amazing toy!
I had one as a kid, it really was hours of fun. From what I remember, no one was ever any good at using it. It was like DDR or Guitar Hero of it's day, the most entertaining thing was not doing well but doing poorly and laughing 😊
i had one as a kid, it was junk but awesome. i mainly remember the sound of the gears when it went to far