It looks like the geometric spaceship cockpit window artist strikes again! Here we have the Willis Robotron control panel overlay, with a nice selection of 6 colors which match the original color scheme of the upright cabinet pretty well. Unfortunately that’s where the similarities end and the designer took artistic license to go crazy with the geometric shapes. Unless of course the artist was trying to capture the frantic, chaotic game play of Robotron with suggestive geometric shapes? While not a bad design, it just doesn’t scream Robotron to me. I’ve always felt that replacement overlays would have been a great opportunity to improve on the original design and create something fun and interesting, to draw in the player and earn a few more tokens. I’m not sure this one makes that happen. I do like the clean screen printing work and the quality production that is synonymous with the Willis name. They did know how to produce a quality product. I imagine the artist was given a short time frame, they had a small budget and likely knew very little about the game itself. If you’re collecting Willis art, this one is a little harder to find in good shape. I have a few and they all have some amount of damage. Sporting the same © 1983 by WILLIS ™ style logo, the Willis Robotron replacement control panel overlay is a great piece of arcade history, even if you don’t want it on your cabinet. I’ve seen a few of these in the wild, but if you have one please drop me a line and share.

From the original Tokens Only post dated 09-05-2008

Willis Robotron, Stargate and Zaxxon cpo’s

I got a response to a WTB post in RGVAC from Chris L.  He had a handful of Willis overlays available and we quickly struck a deal.  I soon received a Robotron, Stargate and Zaxxon cpo rolled up in a heavy duty mailing tube.  While I already have a Robotron and Stargate, the price was right and I was hoping to find them in better shape than the ones I already have.  The Zaxxon would be a new addition.
The Robotron was OK, but it didn’t like being rolled very much and ended up with some creases, was missing all the punch outs and had some damage on the top edge.

The cpo is labeled “©1982 Willis” and “Wico No 26-3200”.

Willis Robotron cpo

The next one was Stargate which was in fantastic shape, other than missing just about every punch out.  This one is labeled with the “©1982 Willis” but there isn’t a Wico part number on it.

Willis Stargate cpo

The last one is the Zaxxon which was also in fantastic shape.  Just missing most of the punch outs and some minor creasing on the right side.  Great piece of artwork IMHO.  Labeled “©1982 Willis” and “Wico No 26-3163”.

Willis Zaxxon cpo

This was an early post on my site as I was just starting to figure out what I wanted to share.  This would eventually lead to the Willis artwork gallery and posting about all things Willis I could find.  If you have any interesting knowledge about Willis that you’d like to share, please drop me a line, thanks!