Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

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Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is a two-player game/toy designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and released by Marx toys in the 1960's. Marx later was acquired by Tyco Toys, which was acquired in 1997 by Mattel, Inc. It is currently marketed by Mattel.

Each player takes control of either the red robot (the "Red Rocker") or the blue robot (the "Blue Bomber"), both of which are standing on a platform reminiscent of a boxing ring. By pushing buttons on a pair of joysticks at the base of the platform, players make their robot punch at their opponent's robot. If a robot's head gets hit with the sufficient force at a suitable angle, its head will pop up, signifying that the other player has won.

The game is remembered for the phrase "Knock his block off!", which refers to the act of causing a robot's head to pop up. This phrase was used on the game's box as well as in television commercials promoting the toy.

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots has enjoyed far-ranging success in the United States, selling in the hundreds of thousands and becoming something of a minor pop-culture phenomenon.

In the late 1990s a reissue of the classic version was developed by Mattel, at approximately half the size of the original model. In addition, an action figure line, a PlayStation game, electronic handhelds, a head-to-head plug and play and bobble head dolls have been recently introduced.

For a period of time in the mid 1990s the blue robot was changed to a darker shade of blue and given a head more like that of Robocop. The red robot was changed to a grey (Though the instructions refered to him as "silver") color but retained his classic head. Their respective names were changed to "Bolt Crusher Bob" and "Gear Grinder Greg". Aside from the cosmetic changes the game remained the same.

In the new GameBoy Advance game, more robots were added, including: "Yellow Yahoo", "Brown Bully", "Orange Oppressor", "Silver Stretcher", "Purple Pyro", "Green Grappler", "Pink Pummeller", and the "Black Bruiser".

[edit] In Popular Culture

In the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it is shown during the Mike Teevee song, in which both robots punch him from each side.

In the episode of Friends titled "The One Where Rachel Tells..." (episode 3 of season 8), Joey and Phoebe are shown playing this game.

In the episode of The Simpsons titled "Simpson Tide", when Homer joins the Navy, Marge expresses her concerns for Homer, who laughs and says "How could a game ever hurt me?", before reminiscing to a time he put his head in between the two robots and beat himself up. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots were later parodied in the episodes "Hungry Hungry Homer" and "Fat Man and Little Boy". In the latter episode, they are called "Sock-Em Knock-Em Cyborgs".

In the Futurama episode "A Fishful of Dollars", Fry gives Bender an "antique robot toy", but when one robot's head gets knocked off, Bender is horrified.

In the Pixar animation film sequel Toy Story 2, the main toys are searching a toy store for 'Al's office', and come across a set of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. They ask them for directions, only for the two to argue about who was being asked, and fight.

They are also seen in the Pixar animation film The Incredibles on one of the shelves inside Mr. Incredible's office, in the lower left corner on the middle shelf.

In the TV series Beast Wars Transformers, Rhinox and Inferno fight in a manner like the game. Rhinox wins and is knocked out by Megatron, Inferno's head is pushed back down by Megatron.

The band Tenacious D also sings about Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots on their debut album on the track "City Hall."

Towards the end of Sierra's Space Quest III computer game is an arcade sequence called "Nuke 'Em Duke 'Em Robots" and featuring two gigantic boxing robots very reminiscent of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em.

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots are featured on Stephen's shelf on The Colbert Report as an oblique reference to the red state/blue state political philosophy.

A life-size version of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots was brought to Burning Man in 2003, 2004 and 2006

In the movie Santa Clause 2 a scene features Scott Calvin giving adults in the faculty Christmas party the presents they wanted. One of the adults gets Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots "in mint condition!" and is seen playing with them when everyone is playing with their presents.

In a 2006 Dodge TV commercial, a life-size Blue Bomber defeats the Red Rocker, then unsuccessfully attempts to destroy a red Dodge Ram by punching the grill before knocking himself out with the force of his final punch.