Originally designed by MARK in Japan and released for their Robo Car line as, 'Soarer Robo', MARK also brought this figure to the West via Select seeing it distributed as the Convertors Mini Bot, 'Sports'.
The MARK Robo Car release includes black windows and 'Soarer' door and boot stickers that were supplied on a separate sheet. The plastic sections came in a number of colours unlike the Convertors version that only came in red.
Some MARK packaging boxes were crudely translated into English, some as a box re-design and some partially modified with stickers. Notable is the Italian release via GIG, still also branded MARK where this figure was re-titled, 'Soarer', dropping Robo from its name.
MARK also distributed Sports for their Robot Changers line sold in Europe. Uncharacteristically it retained the same name vs. other Convertors / Robot Changers crossovers where the names were different.
Sports is mostly diecast metal and based on a 1983 Toyota Soarer.
See main Convertors index page for more details.
Region Codes Used: JP Japan / US United States / CA Canada / EU Europe / AU Australia
NOTE: Location codes only shown where items were known to be released. This list is accurate yet likely to be incomplete.
Convertors Mini Bot US/CA/AU Select 1984
Robot Changers EU MARK 1984
Robo Car JP MARK 1984
Robo Car JP MARK (blue robot body variant) 1984*
Robo Car IT MARK 1984
* Soarer Robo (Sports) and Ace Robo (Van) were also released by MARK in a two pack with some having variant colour plastic chest pieces. Those variant colour chest sections occasionally appeared on Convertors figures further suggesting Robo Car and Convertors models were assembled or at least packaged in the same factory.
Manufacturing Error Below is a MARK Japanese released Robo Car blue body front section incorrectly assembled with a red inner section sealed into a Convertors blister. This further goes to support the presumption Convertors and Robo Car were prepared for distribution in the same factory.
Car Robo / Sports Blue Front Manufacturing Error