In 1984 when every major toy robot line was a joint venture between American distributors and Japanese manufacturers, American toy company Ideal launched Robo Force. It was unique amongst toy robots properties in that it was an American designed and distributed line of squat, non-humanoid, non-transforming robots vaguely resembling vaccuum cleaners. The Robo Force design was essentially the evolutionary descendant of Ideal's 1968 line of popular motorized toy robots, the Zeroids. Unfortunately by 1984 the Robo Force aesthetic looked rather retro and dated compared to its contemporaries-the more modern looking Transformers, GoBots and other transforming robots from Japan. After the initial release in 1984 the toys were cancelled. Significant inventories existed well into and beyond the 1985 Christmas season and it took some drastic clearances but by the end of 1986 most retailers had liquidated all of their stock.