Bandai followed up the Scale Robo range with the Big Machine Robo, which scaled up vehicles from the 600 Series. Or, in the case of the first two releases, the entire damn figure.

I've always wondered whether, seeing as this was 1984, whether Tonka asked Bandai nicely for bigger versions of the Gobots leaders, or whether they were in the pipeline when Tonka nabbed the rights, and the American company chose two figures that were in both ranges as their leaders. No idea, though. There's information for you...

I do know the Japanese version had grey arms, thighs and engine parts - these were retained when the toy was issued in 1985 as the Super Gobot version of Cy-Kill. However, in Europe, these parts were changed to silver (the figure also received some very weird new box art) - this is the version shown in the pictures.

Quite what Bandai were on when they decided to scale this one up I don't know. Cy-Kill's original toy works partially due to its' dinky feel - it's acceptable for it be flawed because it's two inches long. When the toy's three times the size, there are a lot less excuses for it being so simplistic.

And this thing really has been largely scaled up - the only difference in motorcycle mode really are the black arms coming from the engine to support the front wheel. This isn't a good move, thought the big spoked wheels and grooved tyres look nice. To be fair, Bandai have used the larger toy to add transparent plastic for the headlight and windshield. Sadly, all the details' been scaled up too the overall feel isn't too good. A toy this size shouldn't have its' hands, legs and face so visible.

What this version does have over the original, however, is sturdiness - the brittle chrome being replaced with thicker, painted plastic. It doesn't look as good, but it won't break as easily. Well, aside from the handlebars, which retain the fragility of the original version.

The transformation is, of course, very similar to the small version, with the exception of the engine and wheels - all the parts are attached to the main figure, and swing around to the back and fold away. In practice, however, his arms get in the way a little bit - you need to pop them out to release the wheels, then pop one back in again when you rotate the engine around. It's not the end of the world, or even difficult, just slightly frustrating. All it would have needed was for the engine to slide down another couple of millimetres...

Cy-Kill's robot mode is nicely proportioned, with the hands a little less bulbous-looking than on the regular version, while the face is nicely cast. However, the original toy's hero status shines through even more here - Cy-Kill just doesn't look particularly evil, I'm afraid. Okay, so he doesn't need yellow teeth or any of the other stuff Hanna-Barbera foisted onto him, but a less pleasant face and darker colour scheme would have helped. The figure also loses the neatness of the original - the kibble on the back not only looks absolutely awful (very unusual for Bandai, who usually thought to make their robots look respectable from the back and sides as well as the front), but it robs the toy of any balance too. It's also amazing how much Cy-Kill loses without the iconic wheels on his shoulders. It's a bit shame the wheels at least weren't retained as separate parts - at this size, they'd be harder to lose, as well. While reviewing the original, I bemoaned the lack of engine storage, so it might seem a tad hypocritical that I'm blasting the Super version for having an answer to that - however, it should also be noted that neither solution is particularly good...

It also has to be said that while the articulation for the small version was passable for something from 1982 that fitted comfortably on the palm of your hand, it's a bit less impressive for a much larger figure made three years later...