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.
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