Robot Helicopter

Robot Helicopter, sometimes known as Helicopter Wincher, is a Renegade.

Fiction

Machine Men mini-comics

During a battle between the Friendly Machine Men and Enemy Machine Men on Earth, Helicopter Wincher and the Battle Base, piloted by Vamp, were called in as Enemy reinforcements, facing off against the Friendly Winch Truck. The Combat Helicopter Wincher was able to blast Winch Truck before he could finish converting to robot mode. Challenge of the Machine Men

Toys

Robo Machine

Robot Helicopter

• Robot Helicopter (1985)
  • Accessories: large gun, small gun

Robot Helicopter was released by Bandai in Robo Machine, and converts from robot to helicopter. The toy was a repackaging of JetHeli from Zenmai Kahen Winch Robo. It features a electric motor and working winch in vehicle mode; the figure can also 'walk' in robot mode, though it's more of a judder thanks to the mechanisms that resemble pistons pushing against a flat surface. Robot Helicopter is effectively an oversized version of the same mould used for Twister with a fully motorised winch gimmick and walking action; it is often mistaken for a European version of Twister but is considerably larger Though weirdly the fists of the robot barely retract in robot mode when they completely retract in the smaller version, while the shoulders are a lot less articulated. As the arms don't feature any of the extra mechanics needed for the toy's increased functions this was presumably a cost-cutting measure.

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  Box

Notes

• Robot Helicopter had no faction on his toy release, but the Machine Men mini-comic depicted him as an Enemy Machine Man, the line's equivalent to the Renegades.
• In the strip Helicopter Wincher initially appeared in the red colour scheme used on the Robo Machine version, which was also advertised in the catalogue section of the mini-comic. For the next issue the recap would change it to blue, like the Machine Men (and original Winch Robo) version of the toy.
• The toy was licensed to Mattel in the USA and issued as the PowerBots figure Flybot.
• An early animation model for Twister's appearance in Challenge of the GoBots uses the same colour scheme as Robot Helicopter; whether Hanna-Barbera Productions got confused about which toy would become the Secret Rider or if it was a coincidence is unknown, and it was changed before the series anyway.