Now, this is a bit of an obscure one. Dah Yang are a Taiwanese company who made all sorts of toys, and back in the 1980s Kinsman seems to be their line of robots - the most spotted (i.e. what came out of Google...) is something called the Robot Machine or Robot Conveyor, a rather neat battery-operated item (see picture to the left). Dah Yang themselves are actually still going, take a look at their site .

Until recently, I knew next to nothing about this line... I still don't know a whole lot, but I did recently acquire a boxed Andro-Bike from the line. As well as some other interesting snippets (such as the toys apparently being licensed from Bandai), this also featured a picture of the range on the back, or at least some of it. Sorry about the dodgy copy above, taken with a digital camera - as soon as I have a scanner this thing will be hitting the plate. As well as showing off some of the larger, electronic toys, this has pictures of the smaller plastic transforming figures that I'm particularly interested.

Despite only owning two of the figures, one of which is a bit pathetic, I rather like the Kinsman line - while there only seem to be a small handful of moulds, these are pretty imaginative for a line of such small standing, at a time when most second division manufacturers were making very simple, childish toys, or just grabbing whatever they could from other companies. Shame they're so bloody hard to find, really.

I'm not going to waffle on about the larger toys, seeing as I know nothing about them whatsoever. Instead, I'm going to cover the smaller toys that I either know something about, or can at least make some educated guesses with =)

'NISSAN'

No idea what this figure was actually called, of course, but the car mode is clearly based on a Nissan 300ZX Fairlady (the same car was used by Bandai for the Machine Robo Fairlady Robo, released in the West as Gobots/Robo Machine Major Mo). The toy is 4.5" long and made entirely from plastic, but it's respectable quality stuff, meaning a solid, sturdy vehicle.

The detail level is fair - there are some engraved details, and the transparent windscreen is a nice touch. Best of all are the big chunky wheels - slightly out of scale, but is does lend a rough and tumble look to the thing. An interesting feature is the front bumper rotates so (I'm guessing) the robot head can look out. I mean, it looks weird, but it's interesting. The only sticker on the car is the line logo - a drawing of a robot head pretty much the same as this one's robot mode (and the same as the one on the Kinsman packaging).

The transformation sequence itself is quite nice - while the layout is the same old arms from doors, legs from the back end, face underneath thing, it's nicely done, and having the legs slide instead of flipping around is a quality move. The figure is filled with these, such as the elbows on the arms and the separate feet, and the head can look up a little because of that weird gimmick mentioned above.

Overall, the thing does look impressive, standing around 5" tall and covered in chrome. And is it me, or do those legs and feet look rather similar to those of the Transformers figure Tracks? The level of detail on the robot mode is terrific, and the chrome adds an extra layer of quality. Even the head cast is great - this is often where more obscure robot lines fall down, but this one is a detailed sculpt with a noble character to it.

The only real blemish is the shoulders being attached at the hip - the erstwhile front wheels are placed to hide the joints somewhat, but it does hurt any articulation. Regardless of the minor faults, this is a pretty neat figure, and one I'm glad I picked up.

As well as this blue version, the toy was also issued in two other colour schemes - red and white. I only have the blue one; click here for a picture of the red example, courtesy of Super Toy Archive owner Alex Bickmore; or here for a tiny picture of the white one, taken from the back of the box.

'JEEP'

This figure seems to follow much the same lines as the Nissan, simply being a transforming vehicle. It's difficult to make too much out from the pictures I have, but the design owes a fair amount to the Transformers figure Hound I think it's fair to say.

The legs and arms are less complex - the former seem to come out of the dies of the jeep, while the legs are a single piece that folds down through 180°. The chromed gun would seem to be capable of being mounted in the back of the jeep mode as well, which is a nice touch.

As well as the red version, the back of box scene shows the olive green version twice. I think this was an error - I'm 73% sure I've seen a yellow variant on ebay about a year or so ago - regrettably I didn't bid on the thing; even though I had no idea what it was at the time, it did look neat, I think I just didn't have the money. I've included both pictures of the green version here anyway, just because the toy looks pretty neat.

'PICKUP'

I actually had this one as a kid... Christmas 1985, along with the Transformers Sideswipe and Tracks. Actually, Tracks was my brother's, I was just older and bigger (at the time, anyway - these days he could probably throw me through a wall).

Anyway, this one had a friction motor as well, even if the design was along the same lines as the Jeep and the Nissan. The poor chap doubled up as Hoist for a few years (as it was the green version) - not sure what exactly happened to him when Hoist proper arrived, either a stint as Hound or retirement seems likely.

I do remember that the motor was in a hinged box on the back - partly so the bulk of the cab could slide back for the robot mode, but also so it could swing down behind him, allowing the robot to whizz along the floor like the pick up mode can.

I do like the way this set-up is optional, the figure being balanced enough that it could stay on his back if required - not many toys with motorised robot modes give you the option, and thus usually end up looking like trolleys with robots on the top. I don't remember the gun being able to mount in the back of the truck, however - looking at the second pickup mode, it looks like it's just being carried in there, so maybe it's just the angle the toy in the first is at.

ANDRO-BIKE

This guy is a bit of a different direction... The three moulds shown above are covered because either they're well-made, or they look well made. The Andro-Bike is covered because I have him...

There were three Andro-Vehicles made - Andro-Bike, Andro-Plane and Andro-Tank. They are small figures, roughly the size of a standard Gobot, entirely made out of plastic and with friction motors. These motors work in both modes, either allowing the vehicle mode to move along, or the robot to walk.

The toy's a bit of a freak, to be honest. While the alternate mode does vaguely resemble a motorcycle of some sort, it's very stumpy - the picture to the left is not distorted, believe it or not.

The transformation is trickier than it looks, mainly because the little posts you can just make out on the rear wheels slip inside the handlebars, forming the legs (well, they don't actually touch the ground, but it's clear what they're meant to be). The payoff is the motor moves these and Andro-Bike's weird little arms along when the motor's used. Aside from this, there's really not much else to do with him (though the neck does turn...). Andro-Bike is cute, but only for about five minutes...

If anyone has any more information on Kinsman, or would like to sell me the jeep and/or the pickup truck, please contact me =)