I distinctly remember the first time I felt a pang of embarrassment for my fellow Americans. I was in sixth grade. The Transformers fad was in full swing. Toy store shelves were lined with intricate robot creations from the country of Japan. And the best my countrymen could come up with to compete was "Chargertron."
Just as the DEVO-esque theme song proclaimed, they really were robots "like we'd never seen." They looked less like titanic robot warriors than they did kitchen implements (if Ron Popeil piloted a giant robot, I suspect it'd look like Chargertron.) And topping it all off, they featured two of the most apathetic names ever bestowed upon fictional characters: "Protagatron" and "Antagatron." It's right around this time, I suspect, that I first started thinking about moving to Tokyo.
Even the most robot-crazed of my pals didn't ask for these toys for Christmas. I guess that makes the Chargertrons the long-lost relatives of Kore Ja Nai Robo, the "hit" 2001 series of wooden figurines designed to commemorate those special times your parents brought back the wrong robot toy for you as a kid. Then again, why can't I get that damn jingle out of my head? "Switch on, Chargertron..."
That formally hurt to watch.
Posted by: SurfPenguin | January 27, 2009 at 01:21 AM
Wow, what a piece of crap product. I had that fucking jingle vaguely swishing around in my earworm memory forever, I think(along with the Mr T doll song from its TV commercial: "MR T! BADADADA!"). Maybe now that I've heard it again my mind will let it go. One less background process sucking away mental resources!
Posted by: Drew | January 27, 2009 at 06:23 AM
Truly, an unholy union of Hot Wheels, and the Go-Bots' B-list characters.
Posted by: Davecat | January 27, 2009 at 08:31 AM
Into it.
It's only a matter of time before Polysics covers this...if they haven't already?
Posted by: Bernie | January 31, 2009 at 09:39 AM