Andro Base 1 - Androform

'Park 'n Service'

I don't think there's any hiding that the Androform Andro Base 1 is a car garage that's been given a sci-fi touch

The base is stamped Blue-Box 1979 and the first use seems to be as a licensed, Shell themed service, fuel and parking garage titled, 'Modern Multi Park 'N Gas'. This original version is very similar bar having traditional fuel bowsers, Shell branding on the back card and street sign and being devoid of futuristic elements such as the ramp being clear and the orange dome and side curved section. The base was black with the ramp and levels cast in white.

The Andro Base 1 arrived in 1985 with the upper two levels re-sculpted to be more modern; curve added to the side, corner removed, etc. The ramp was cast in clear purple and the white windowed section, the orange dome and its tower along with the orange curved section added. The base sections were re-coloured purple and other than changing stickers, the back card and swapping the fuel bowsers for more futuristic ones, its essentially the same set.

The same mould received a third lease on life in 1987 when Blue-Box released it again. While retaining some of the Androform styling, most of the futuristic elements were removed and the name reverted back to Modern Multi Park N Gas; this time without an apostrophe. A 1987 Blue-Box Toys retailer promotional image shows the same play set still with most of the Andro Base 1's sci-fi features. This version has not yet been sighted and is presumed a mockup or prototype.

Prototype The Andro Base 1 photographed for the front of its box appears to be a prototype. The fuel bowser nozzle arms are white, the ramp and base sections are blue and the upper levels are a metallic silver compared to the flat, light grey of the production version.

Packaging The packaging declares that the Andro Base 1 can be used with "Go-Bots", "Androform", and "Transformer" and shows toys from the Gobots and Diaclone lines. In Australia the 'Go-Bots' text was covered with a sticker printed with, "Machine Men" in yellow on a blue background to match the regional branding for that toy line; both examples are shown below. As with the Andro Base, the Andro Base 1 was reissued in an updated box and in this instance the photo also updated to show more recently distributed compatible toys. Interestingly, some of the toys shown are a mix of those released as Gobots and others exclusive in Japan to Machine Robo Series from which Gobots were sourced.

See main Androform index for more general details.

Region Codes Used: UK United Kingdom / AU Australia / USA United States
NOTE: Location codes only shown where items were known to be released. This list is accurate yet likely to be incomplete.