Radon is a radioactive element, so that’s kind of scary and cool, but Exceller? Nobody likes an overachiever. I wonder if Exnon comes from Xenon, another element. Switching the ‘x’ and the ‘e’ gives it a crunchier sound, and it’s easier for kids to say. I can just see some guy in a cheap suit looking at his kid’s chemistry textbook and rattling off names for his company’s knockoff robots.
Then again, Avatar is a pretty Hindu word meaning a god who comes to Earth and assumes human form. Too bad Jim Cameron’s shitty movie ruined it forever.
The art on the cards is smart and polished. The robots themselves are not, but they didn’t have to be. Notice the line at the bottom: “Scaled to play with all fantasy figures”. The kids could figure that out from one look at the package, but the parents (and grandparents, etc.) couldn’t. And knockoffs were what the parents brought home either (1) thinking they were the real deal, or more likely (2) as a stop gap measure to keep us from pestering them for the real deal, which was either too expensive, perpetually out of stock, or both.
There was a “battle beast” line in this series as well. I’m keeping an eye out.
2 Warps to Neptune 
Let’s talk about the Pic “N” Save sticker on it. Those stores always seemed to be the bottom of the barrel in that K-Mart style store.
My mom was always dragging me to Pic n Save. I hated that store.
lol. Same here, back in the day. But now Big Lots (I hate that name) has become a cheap go-to for quick toy fixes for my kid. I forgot the name of that GI Joe knockoff series they stock, but right around this time of year they fill their shelves up with it for the X-Mas season. I have a few of the vehicles and playlets. The soldier’s faces are painted horribly but the vehicles and accessories aren’t half bad.
These figures are awesome by themselves, but I collect 80s toys with Pic N Save prices on them so that makes those two even more awesome. I realize I’m about ten years late here, but it’s never too late to appreciate cool robots.