Early 80's 2" top-like robots with plastic zip-cord

[acroyear]

I'm trying to find out more about these toys from the early 80's (maybe 1982) that really aren't action figures, per se, but could be played with as so. These robots that were about 2 inches tall and had a metal disc, or wheel, in their chest that when the zip-cord (very much like Tron's lightcycles) was put in and yanked, the robot would race off. I have NO IDEA what the name of toys were or if even the robots had individual names. I had a red/orange/yellow one but I'm wondering what other robots are in the line. The only articulation was the arms, at least that was the case with the robot I had. I keep wanting to think these were made by TOMY, but I can't find any information anywhere on the internet. ??

[Thor Laserpunch]

"Beyrobo." I think they're all the same and just produced in different colors.

[acroyear]

Cool. Thanks. I'll look into that.

[StarRunn]

The originals were by Tomy and were called Gyrobots in the United States. There were at least two different designs. I don’t remember if different color schemes were available, but it is likely that there were. The blister card carries a copyright date of 1982, and I bought mine in March of 1983. By November of that same year I found a copy called Spin Robot! This knockoff is pretty faithful to the original. The biggest point of difference is the front panel. On the Tomy version it is a separate piece molded in a different color. On the copy it’s all one piece with no color difference.










The robots are 2.25” tall. Here’s a size comparison shot with a basic G.I. Joe.