'With Removable Nuclear Rockets' - Marchon
Bomber is the only Mysterians figure that has three forms; robot, geometric shape and Spaceship.
Its secret compartments reveal 'Defensive Laser Guns (arms)', 'Rocket Launcher Pods (space ship jets & robot legs), targeting sight and a payload named three different things; Nuclear Rockets, Nuclear Bombs and Laser Bombs. In Spaceship mode the body doors are opened to reveal Bomber's payload, you peer through the targeting sight then apply a small amount of pressure to the bomb tail fins to release them.
Bomber also appears to be the most last minute thoughts evident of the Mysterians. The cardback's wording alone is mixed and doesn't feature an example of how the Bomber should be configured in Spaceship mode with the landing gear extended. This is possibly due to what seems to be late stage changes in design; see below for details.
See Mysterians main index for further details.
Region Codes Used: US United States / CA Canada / AU Australia - 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.
Mysterians US/CA/AU Marchon 1984
Prototype / Last Minute Changes The black prototype below matches other Mysterians prototypes in lacking panel corrugations seen on the production releases. It also doesn't include the clearly afterthought shoulder screw supports to prevent the head being pulled back or forward separating the body shell. The front landing gear also has a cosmetic sculpt change updating the roller to appear more like wheels.
What are those holes? At the base of Bomber's head section are two square holes not present on the prototype. The clear intention is to enable the head panel to slide down over the landing gear when deployed. But it doesn't. The landing gear's strut has a slot matching the tab between the holes but it's slightly too far inside the robot. Adding the corrugations compounded the problem. It likely tested fine on a pre-corrugations version, but with use of a different plastic in production and / or slightly out of tolerance moulds the feature doesn't. With very little filing to make the landing gear slot deeper this works as intended. Bomber is shown in the artist's rendition on its blister card flying, gear retracted with the head in concealed position. The other problem with the head
retracted is that the bombing sight is concealed. If the square hole feature worked, Spaceship play would be as on the blister card front; with or without landing gear down and the head only pulled out to reveal the sight when deploying bombs. This late error realisation may have lead to a lack of Spaceship mode being shown on the back of the card. Both the rear card art and Knickerbocker Toy Co.'s (see main index) design art don't show the holes.
Odd robot mode: as discussed above, due to what appears to be a last minute realisation, the blister card shows Bomber in robot mode with all secret panels open. There's no reason for the wings and rear landing gear to be revealed in robot mode. This could also indicate that Marchon weren't prepared to show a semi-realised Spaceship example so included all of the compartments in robot mode to at least show these features. The photos below match the card as that's how it was advertised, however the original design would likely have been for the wheels and wings to be closed when standing.
The black prototype below may have been the colour planned for the final version until close to manufacture. The front of blister card art shows Bomber as black with pink face, arms and legs. As near production prototypes were often used for artist reference this is potentially a hint of what Bomber may have looked like.
Backwards payload: The prototype has its bomb tray installed reversed to the production release. It's unclear whether this was by mistake or if originally the bombs hung below the Spaceship like weird nuclear teats.
Trivia Banned in Australia! Bomber was the figure at the centre of Mysterians begin removed from sale in Australia. The world was at the height of the Cold War and never before closer to the brink of nuclear conflict. It can't be understated how serious this time was and with Bomber advertised using nuclear bombs it wasn't deemed suitable for kids.
Stamped (c) Marchon Inc. 1984 Made in China
CREDIT: Mysterians Bomber on card example kindly shared by theoldrobots.com
Prototype vs. Production Release
Landing gear scult, screw mounts and square holes