While still designed by Bandai, as part of Series 3, Spy-Eye was not released in Japan for Machine Robo.
Additional Details on the Super Gobots Index Page
Region Codes Used: US United States / CA Canada / AU Australia / EU Europe
NOTE: Location codes only shown where items were known to be released. This list is accurate yet likely to be incomplete.
Super Gobots Series 3 036 US/CA Tonka 1986
Robo Machine Super Gobots EU Bandai (black and yellow checkered strip sticker) 1986*
Super Machine Men AU Bandai 1986**
Stamping
Super Gobots stamped (c) Bandai 1985 Made in Japan
Robo Machine Super Gobots (c) Bandai 1985 Made in S'Pore
* The European Robo Machine box art shows Spy-Eye with red hands, feet/jets and canopy; opaque.
** Super Machine Men figure guides showed Spy-Eye without the additional sticker sheet applied and so without a boxed copy to reference it is currently unconfirmed which version was released in Australia. Additionally in some marketing material Spy-Eye's name was spelt 'Spy Eye' without the hyphen and whether that is how the name was displayed on the packaging is also yet to be confirmed.
Prototype A prototype for Spy-Eye was featured in a Tonka product trade catalogue displaying grey hands, upper legs and feet, darker green camouflage and a white sticker with the numbers 927 in black on the tail. The disc mechanisms in the shoulders that allow the nose section to invert was coloured to match the main body sections vs. left bare metal in the production release. The head sculpt featured a smaller eye and more pronounced ears. In this catalogue the figure's name was spelt 'Spy Eye' without the hyphen and possibly ties in with the way Machine Men marketing also spelt the name. The same prototype model appeared as part of an assortment photograph on the rear of some figure packaging boxes.
CREDIT Prototype image kindly supplied by Jörg Zimmermann.
