Turbo (G1)

The name or term "Turbo" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Turbo (disambiguation).

Turbo is (possibly) an Autobot from the Estrela portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Obscurest street fight in history.

Turbo is a Bat-Robô. He goes vroom, crashes, and then becomes an invincible robot!

Sometimes he sounds like he's from Brooklyn.

Fiction

TransTech

In Axiom Nexus, the offworlder zone for extra-dimensional travellers on TransTech Cybertron, Turbo was a member of the Malignus Revolutionary Army. The Malignus were a band of street toughs and minor criminals, but ultimately amounted to little more than a nuisance to the Security Administration and Freelance Police Legion.

On one occasion, Turbo was playing scraps with Jipe and the boys when two punks came in looking for a bot named Bug Bite. Turbo told them to slag off until the kid named Bad Boy tried to get rough with him. The scrappy little punk blindsided him with a right cross! The two rough-housed for awhile until Turbo was impressed with the kid's chops, and gave the GoBots the info they was looking for. Withered Hope

Toys

Transformers

• Turbo (Bat-Robô, 1985)

Released only in Brazil by Estrela, Turbo transforms into a Nissan Fairlady 300ZX. The toy features a friction-driven motor, which, as part of its gimmick, is used to trigger its transformation. After pulling it back, the car drives forward until it hits something with its front bumper, whereupon it springs up into robot mode and then will roll back the other way as a robot.

Turbo was released simultaneously in red/grey and light blue/grey color schemes. It is unknown which, if either, is more difficult to come by.

Notes

• The Turbo mold was originally made in Japan. It was sold there in 1985 by a company called Fujisho (株式会社不二商) as the "Fairlady 300ZX" in a toyline called Attack Change Machine Powertron (アタックチェンジマシーン パワートロン). The toy was also released in 1985 by the Ertl Company, sold in their Pow-R-Trons line in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Ertl's use of the mold included the heroic Turboid (yellow/grey), evil Fy-Ton (black/grey), and "Knight Rider" (black/red, based on the TV show, possibly only available in the UK).
• Confusingly, the 1985 advertisement for Fujisho's Powertrons shows them as already having their Ertl stickers, which are also present in their packaging stock photos. Furthermore, while a 1986 Tokyo Toy Show catalog has the Fujisho Powertrons in unique decos, all of the samples on the Japanese aftermarket retain Ertl's color schemes, stickers, and copyright stamps! As Fujisho had a large business as a toy importer (including LEGO, Fisher-Price, Märklin, and Ravensburger), it is difficult to say whether Fujisho put the Ertl stock they were already making into localized Japanese packaging, or if they actually re-imported the toys from Ertl for the Japanese market (meaning someone else in Japan was responsible for their original creation).
• It is likewise uncertain what company Estrela licensed the Bat-Robô molds from, as the only copyright stamps on them are for Estrela itself (which state the toys were physically made in Brazil). In any event, the color schemes Estrela used appear to be unique to South America.
• Due to the lack of faction symbols on the toy or packaging, it is not explicit what faction Turbo fights for. However, the toy does use Hasbro's Autobot style packaging, so we're going to default to Autobot (at least, outside of Axiom Nexus; the Bat-Robôs were not sold under the Optimus / Malignus series).

External links

• Bat-Robôs at Super Toy Archive