>>7591501Them not being brought to the west is more of a Konami thing I think, but what you say is not wrong, they are considered proto-shinkis, and are closer to SHFs and Figmas despite being a kids toyline. They are jointed similarly to early versions of those lines and even come with alternate hands, in 2004.
Also, I mis-remembered the part about them dropping the mechs. Looking at the link above, they did do mechs later on, but they designed them to not bear weight on the main figure like in pic.