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.
Sky Dancers
Galoob's pull-string flying fairy dolls: yank the cord and the foam-winged doll spun into the air and across the room — often straight into someone's face. Recalled by the millions in 2000.