Z-Bots
Galoob's inch-high robots, sold three to a pack and split into two warring camps: Z-Bots, Designed to Defend, against Voids, Made to Menace. A Micro Machines spin-off scaled down to the size of a thumbnail.
Lewis Galoob Toys released Z-Bots in 1992 as part of its Micro Machines line — the packaging read Micro Machines ZBOTS — applying the same logic that had worked on cars to a war between robots. Four series followed, from 1992 to 1994.
The conflict was printed right on the packaging. Z-Bots carried a Z and the tag "Designed to Defend!"; the Voids carried a V and "Made to Menace!" Packs generally held three figures, weighted two-to-one in favor of one side or the other, so the faction you ended up with was largely luck. The range ran to sub-types — Morphbots that transformed, Bitebots with big opening mouths, Linkbots that joined into one larger robot, and others besides — and each design came in two color sets that counted as separate characters, which is a quietly brutal thing to do to a child trying to collect them all.
In 1994, Burger King ran a Z-Bots Kids Meal promotion, which is where a lot of kids met them for the first time — not on a pegboard at the toy store, but at the bottom of a fast-food bag.
Similar items
Micro Machines
Thumbnail-sized cars, playsets, and whole cities scaled down to fit in your pocket — the whole appeal was how impossibly tiny and detailed they were. Sold by a pitchman who talked so fast you could barely keep up.
Monster in My Pocket
Little soft-plastic monsters, each carrying a point value so you knew exactly which ones outranked the rest. The first series ran to 48 of them, moulded in flat single colours — a whole mythology's worth of monsters, priced and sortable, small enough to hide in a fist.
Goody Bags
The sack of cheap toys and candy handed to kids at the end of a birthday party—the actual payoff for showing up. Every parent assembled them; every kid tore through them.
Puppy in My Pocket
Tiny, realistic puppy figurines the size of your thumb, each one a different breed with its own name and personality. Kids collected them, traded them, and spent every cent of allowance chasing the ones they didn't have. More than 140 breeds. The checklist never ended.