I spent a good part of my only-child-childhood with this “robot” called 2-XL from Mego Corporation – I buy old ones off eBay for parts / projects and I finally got around to starting my 2-XL laptop bag project. I bought this green bag specifically because it was “2-XL green” and started to outfit it with the face plate from a broken bot.

The lights light up for now and eventually they’ll only light up when there is a free open Wi-Fi hotspot.

Future versions may use the magnetic tape as fabric and other parts to really geek out…

From Wikipedia “2-XL, in its initial release, was an educational 8-Track based toy, in the shape of a robot that was introduced originally in 1978. 2-XL was the brainchild of Dr. Michael J. Freeman who felt that toys should be both fun and educational at the same time. By utilizing the various tracks on the magnetic audio tapes he could make the toy both interactive and fun for the would be kids at home playing with it.

The toy was released in two different time periods. The original release in 1978 was produced by a toy company called Mego Corporation. It would later be brought back onto the market in 1992 by Tiger Electronics with an updated look and used cassette tapes rather than 8-Track.”

Related:

• Virtual 2-XL – Link.
• 2xlrobot.com – Link.
• 2-XL resource – Link.
• 2-XL tapes and more – Link.