Rock Robo

The Rock Robo were an assortment of figures in the Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos toyline, released by Bandai in Japan in 1986.

Each figure converted into a rock, and were the same figures issued as Rock Lords in the West. It is currently unknown if they were designed at Tonka's behest for the American market and then later issued in Japan or designed for the Japanese market and then imported by Tonka. While documentation with solid dates has yet to surface several pieces of circumstantial evidence point to the former; Western catalogues and the film both depict several characters, most notably Boulder, in prototype colours whereas the Japanese equivalents feature the released versions; the Revenge of Cronos line featured very, very few all-new figures; and GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords was released in March 1986 while the Revenge of Cronos series didn't start airing until July. Additionally Tonka internal sales charts showed Rock Lords as their 3rd-best selling line of 1986 with revenue of $30m, suggesting the line was available for much of the year.