Pick-Up (Bat-Robô)

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This article is about the Bat-Robô. For the Malignus, see Pick-Up (Malignus).

Pick-Up is possibly an Autobot from the Estrela portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

GOOOAAAL!

Pick-Up is a Bat-Robô. He goes vroom, crashes, and then becomes an invincible robot!

1 Toys
- 1.1 Transformers
2 Notes
3 External links
4 References

Toys

Transformers

Pick-Up (Bat-Robô, 1986?^[1])

Released only in Brazil by Estrela, Pick-Up transforms into a Datsun Truck.^[2] The toy features a friction-driven motor, which, as part of its gimmick, is used to trigger its transformation. After pulling it back, the truck drives forward until it hits something with its front bumper, whereupon it springs up into robot mode and then will roll back the other way as a robot.

Pick-Up was released simultaneously in orange/black/dark grey and green/blue/light grey color schemes. It is unknown which, if either, is more difficult to come by.

Notes

The Pick-Up mold was originally made in Japan,^[3] designed by Masahiro Tao^[4] for Asahi Tsusho KK (朝日通商株式会社), otherwise known the Asahi Corporation. After being created in 1984, it seems the design was shortly thereafter licensed by the Ertl Company in 1985 and sold in their Pow-R-Trons line in North America, the United Kingdom,^[5] and Europe. Ertl's use of the mold included the evil Distroid (grey/black truck) and the heroic Zoomer (red/black truck).^[6]
From there, the Pow-R-Trons trucks were sold in 1985^[7] by Fujisho (株式会社不二商) - a sister company or subsidiary of Asahi with a large business as a toy importer^[8] - who marketed Ertl's unchanged toys as the "Dattora Turbo"^[9] (ダットラターボ) in a short-lived Japanese toyline called Attack Change Machine Powertron (アタックチェンジマシーンパワートロン).^[10] As far as can be discerned, Asahi seems to have made the physical toys for Ertl, then had Fujisho put the Ertl stock they were already making into localized packaging for Japan.
While a 1986 Tokyo Toy Show catalog has the Powertrons being offered by Asahi Tsusho itself in unique decos,^[11] all of the samples on the Japanese aftermarket retain Ertl's color schemes, stickers, and copyright stamps, suggesting the toys weren't sold in Japan either before or after Asahi's collaboration with Ertl.
It is uncertain what company Estrela licensed the Bat-Robô molds from, as the only copyright stamps on them are for Estrela itself (which state the toys were physically made in Brazil). In any event, the color schemes Estrela used appear to be unique to South America.
Due to the lack of faction symbols on the toy or packaging, it is not explicit what faction Pick-Up fights for. However, the toy does use Hasbro's Autobot style packaging, so we're going to default to Autobot.
Thanks to Estrela's habit of re-using names and only giving bios to about half their products, it's unclear just who this Pick-Up is. We're treating him as his own character, but it's possible he's a new version of Gears, who was named "Pick-Up" in Brazil. It's similarly unclear what relation either of these Pick-Ups have with the evil Malignus Pick-Up. Fun!