No, this toy doesn't have anything to do with the awesome space-age robot that appeared in Tobor the Great (1954), although it does share his name.
Instead, this Tobor was advertised during The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) and thus was promptly added to every child's Christmas wish-list that year.
Tobor, the toy's box reminds us, is "robot spelled backwards."
Using "u-drive it" technology, Tobor "the telesonic robot" is "under your control." You can use a "telesonic commander" -- really a conventional wireless remote control device -- to make the robot circle, move forward, circle again, and even "pick up" the robot's "support module."
Tobor the Telesonic Robot runs on three wheels, and is a pretty nifty hunk of black plastic, at least if you grew up in the 1970s and remember the toy. I no longer have mine, alas, and even so, prefer the complexity of something like Milton Bradley's Big Trak. That toy could be programmed with a keypad to go forward, fire laser blasts, or circle. It could also pull a trailer behind it. By contrast, Tobor is a kind of glorified remote control car. But if you collect vintage robots -- which Joel and I do -- he's an absolute must from the disco decade and the age of the Star Wars Craze.
Below, a Tobor TV commercial...
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