Robotech Robolinks
The license for Combination Warrior Blockman was sold to Revell in the USA. Revell decided to rebrand Combination Warrior Blockman as Robotech Robolinks in order to draw upon the popularity of their existing Robotech license, itself supported by the Robotech cartoon.
Playing up the modularity of Blockman, and in line with toyline trends of the time, Revell used the tagline “The Most Transformable Robots In The Galaxy!” to promote Robotech Robolinks. Unfortunately, this may not have been perceived as true (ummm, Transformers?!), especially for the single-Blockman robot sets.
The entire Robotech Robolinks line was released in the USA in 1985. All of the original Japanese assortment of early 1984 (i.e., the A series and C series) were present in some form, with the different price points organised as different Force numbers: Force 1X for A-0X, Force 2X for A-1X, Force 3X for C-0X, and Force 4X for C-1X. The USA also received two large exclusive sets, Force 5X, which corresponded to the D series that had been planned for the Combination Warrior Blockman line but was never released in Japan. No giftsets were released in the USA.
Robotech Robolinks sets are relatively common, and for many collectors will have been a gateway for their interest in Blockman. Funnily enough, the larger sets are the most common to find second-hand, with the smallest sets (Force 1X) being quite rare.
At least some Robotech Robolinks sets were exported to Australia and sold in upmarket department store Myer. I am unsure whether Robotech Robolinks were released in Canada, so if you have any information about this, please get in touch via email or through the Blockman Link Facebook group.
The Robolinks name was also used for an unlicensed miniaturised plastic Blockman series that was sold in gumball machines in the USA. There is no evidence to support this use of the brand being sanctioned by Revell. More information on these can be found on the Blockman Link home page.
The Robotech Connection
Robotech was an American animated series owned by Harmony Gold and created by dubbing and editing three originally unrelated Japanese mecha animé. Toylines situated within the Robotech franchise have been marketed by several different companies.
Revell held the license for an assortment of Robotech model sets, and expanded their offerings by grouping a number of robot toys sourced from Japanese companies under the Robotech banner, with a consistent grey-with red-lines packaging design. For the most part these robot toys were completely unrelated to Harmony Gold’s Robotech cartoon. The Robotech Insectoids, based on an insect robot toy produced by Shinsei, are another example of this.
The link between Robotech Robolinks and the wider Robotech fiction is only really established by a fairly tangential story in the Robolinks instruction manuals. Hence, brand-name aside, Blockman is only really connected to Robotech as part of a marketing strategy.
As a Blockman information site, Blockman Link only covers the Robotech brand in terms of Blockman releases, however if you are interested in learning more about the Robotech cartoon or toyline there is a range of information available online.
