7301 Convertible Andro Vehicles - Dah Yang
Shown as Andro-Plane or Andro Plane depending on packaging, this Kinsman robot was originally released by Bandai to the Japanese market as part of their Pokerobo (Pocket Robot) toy line. Some of the Andro sub-series packaging clearly state the toys are licensed from Bandai while others of the same figure and card don't carry this information. It's unclear whether it was added or removed. Andro-Plane with a hyphen is the spelling printed on the toy's chest sticker.
The three Andro toys are based on the same principle. They all have friction motors (push forward repeatedly to spin the flywheel motor up) and high and low gears switched by turning the head. As turning the head is part of the mode change, this cleverly changes the robot from driving to walking speed.
In robot mode the toy's arms move up and down as it rolls forward. Some Kinsman packaging includes the text, 'Andros box and race each other in order to build robot skills'. The Japanese instruction sheet also shows this was the intended play idea.
While the other Kinsman Andro toys were sold in two colour schemes, the Andro-Plane was only released in blue. In contrast, the Pokerobo Type I release saw many more colour variants vs. its couterparts.
The Kinsman Andro toys were sold in small, window fronted boxes and on traditional blister cards. At this time it's not confirmed whether this was specifically a regional choice or a change to all distributions. The box designer chose an odd approach to the window. Where traditionally the window plastic would be glued to the inside of the box, the Andro box card is coated in a thin yet reasonably durable plastic film. This covers the entire box including the window cutout. The film negates a need for glossy printing, however all of the specs that appear to be dust on the example below are micro scratches on plastic that catch the light. For the limited time they stayed on retail shelves pre repeated handling, it worked quite well and added a level of water protection.
See Kinsman main index for further details.
Region Codes Used: US United States / UK United Kingdom / JP Japan / FR France / IT Italy - Location codes only shown where items were known to be released.
This list is accurate yet likely to be incomplete. If you are able to confirm release in other regions please get in contact.
Kinsman 7301 US Dah Yang 1985
Kinsman 7301 UK Kingsonic 1985*
Kinsman 7301 IT AL-Es 1985*
Kinsman 7301 AVi 1985*
Pokerobo JP Bandai (white) 1984
Pokerobo JP Bandai (all yellow)[Pokerobo sticker] 1984
Pokerobo JP Bandai (all light blue)[Pokerobo sticker] 1984
Pokerobo JP Bandai (red head, white arms) 1984**
Pokerobo JP Bandai (dark blue head, light blue arms) 1984**
Pokerobo JP Bandai (dark green head, light green arms) 1984**
It's quite likely other colours and colour combinations were released.
* boxes showing regional importers / distributors still featured the Dah Yang logo.
** also sold with inverted colour sceme / arm and head colour swapped
It appears Pokerobo Type I may have been released during a transitional period at Bandai. The packaging for Type I is different to Types II and III and only Type I's has the Mameet company name included with Bandai's. Types II and III were released in far fewer colour schemes and only received one set of stickers. It feels like a line they committed to and then needed withdraw from with the minimum delivered to meet retain agreements. Regardless, is still excellent across the range for the low retail price.
Type I was released with any of the three chest or eye sticker combinations seen on that model; Chest stickers - V shaped, 3 blue circles or 4 yellow circles with POKEROBO text.
Trivia The Pokerobo boxes also show the company name Mameet (formerly Tonka Japan) that was a Japanese regional subsidiary of Bandai. Mameet was absorbed into Bandai in March of 1983, so while Pokerobo was released in 1984, it's likely to have been in the design phase if not completed by 1982 / '83.
Kinsman stamped Made in Taiwan
Pokerobo stamped Made in Japan
