Gobots
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- This article is about the Gobot toyline. For uses of the word in the Transformers line, see Gobots (Transformers).
Gobots was a line of transforming robot toys produced by Tonka from 1983 to 1986, similar to Transformers.
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[edit] History
The Gobot toyline was based on figures produced by Popy of Japan (later Bandai), named Machine Robo. In 1983, Tonka decided to import the line into America after realizing Hasbro were doing the same with Takara’s Diaclone and Microchange lines, which became Transformers after crossing the Pacific. In another similarity to Transformers, Tonka decided to make the figures sentient robots, rather than human-piloted mecha as they had been in Japan, and divided them into two factions – the good Guardians and evil Renegades (although early figures were simply described as ‘Friendly’ or ‘Enemy’ on the packaging). The figures were all given individual names, in contrast to the simple designations they received in Japan.
The line sold well initially, but was overtaken by Transformers, something often attributed to Hasbro's much better promotion and media tie-ins – for example, Gobot figures had no character profiles on their packaging, whereas Hasbro included tech spec biographies for each character on the back of the card or box. 1986 was the final year in which new Gobots were released.
[edit] Spelling and Trademark Recycling
The original and official spelling for the name of the Tonka toy line was "GoBots." The name was created by Stuart Tom, a copywriter at Jordan, Case & McGrath, Tonka's advertising agency. Multiple variations of the name have also been used by Hasbro following its acquisition of Tonka in the early 1990's.
One of the characters from the Transformers: Generation 2 toy line is named Gobots, released in 1993, a likely ploy by Hasbro to secure use of the trademark after they had recently acquired the rights to the name. Transformers: Generation 2 also included an assortment of 1:64 scale vehicles called the Go-Bots. Finally, Hasbro also released a series of preschool-age transforming toys through their Playskool division, which were referred to as both Go-Bots and Go-Go-Go-Bots.
however, not every fan knows the correct official spelling, which means any time someone is dealing with a searchbox in a search engine or another website, variations such as gobots, go-bots, or go bots should be utilized as well.
[edit] Software
A Gobots video game was released in 1986 by Ariolasoft on the Commodore 64, [1] Amstrad CPC, [2] and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum [3] [4] computer formats.
[edit] Releases
Tonka released the first batch of figures to stores in 1983. The bulk of the Gobot line was taken from the Machine Robo ‘600 Series’ line of figures, which were around 5-8 cm / 2-3 inches high on average. The robot figures transformed into a mixture of generic and specific contemporary machines, plus a handful of Second World War fighter aircraft, and a number of futuristic designs. This unnamed assortment, usually referred to as ‘Regular’ Gobots, was used throughout the four years Gobots were produced, and was later supplemented by figures from the Machine Robo Devil Invaders sub-line, plus some aborted Machine Robo figures and some commissioned from Bandai by Tonka.
Larger figures, averaging around 12-15 cm (5-6 inches) tall in robot mode, were released as Super Gobots [5]. Some of these were drawn from the Machine Robo Scale Robo DX line, some from the MR Big Machine Robo line (these included larger versions of Leader-1, the Guardian leader, and Cy-Kill, the Renegade leader) and some designs not released in Japan. The line also included two gestalt-style figures, the car-based Puzzler and monster-based Monsterous.
Several other ranges were drawn from existing Bandai figures (such as the Secret Riders [6]).
Tonka did design some toys for the line, including the Guardian Command Center and Renegade Thruster playsets, and the motorised Renegade Zod.
A spin-off line, Rocklords, crossed over with the Gobots in the feature film Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords, but were issued as a separate toyline by Tonka in 1986.
[edit] Gobot Figures
- 'Regular' Gobots
Note that the figures were not always released in numerical order.
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[*] Denotes that the figure was not released as part of Machine Robo. The figures with "MRT" designations were commissioned from Bandai by Tonka; the remainder of the figures unreleased in Japan were Machine Robo prototypes.
[edit] Media
[edit] Cartoons
Hanna Barbera produced a cartoon series to promote the toyline, which ran for 66 22-minute episodes from 1984 to 1985.
[edit] Film
In 1986, soon after the end of the Challenge of the Gobots television series, the Gobots co-starred with the Rocklords in an unsuccessful animated feature film, again produced by Hanna Barbera.
[edit] Comics
The closest thing to a Gobot comic was the Gobot Magazine, produced by Telepictures Publishing. This included a short comic strip, based on the Challenge of the Gobots cartoon continuity, as well as features on real-life robots, quiz pages and the like. It ran quarterly from Winter 1986 to Winter 1987, managing five issues. Unlike the Transformers comics, it was aimed at a very young readership.
In the UK, a Robo Machines comic strip was produced, using many of the characters from the Gobot line, but following a different continuity than the cartoon. This was written by Tom Tully, and ran in the second volume of Eagle from November 1984 to July 1985. After Fleetway discontinued their licence agreement, the property was leased to World Distributors, who produced annuals following the cartoon continuity in 1986 and 1987.
[edit] Worldwide
Unlike Transformers, Gobots was released in several different guises around the world.
- In the UK, France and a number of other European countries, Bandai released the figures as Robo Machine, utilising most of the Tonka names. Later on, when the Challenge of the Gobots cartoon arrived, this was changed, or modified (often resulting in clumsy branding such as Robo Machines featuring Challenge of the Gobots or Challenge of the Gobots - A Robo Machine Production).
- In Australia, the line was released as Machine Men. The Machine Men name had been used also by Bandai in an item to market Machine Robo in America in early 1983, but after issuing six figures the line failed. However, Bandai's Australian release was successful enough to retain the Machine Men branding, which was even added to the cartoon when that began airing.
- In Brazil, the line was initially produced by Glasslite as Mutante. The license was later taken over by Mimo.
- It was also translated into Arabic and retitled Hikayat alamaliqa, or A Tale of Giants.
- In Japan, Bandai opted to keep with the Machine Robo line, rather than importing the Gobots.
[edit] Transformers
In 1991, Hasbro took over Tonka, and thus the Gobot trademarks; the molds for the action figures remain the property of Bandai, having only been leased to Tonka, and some were reissued in 1993 for the European Robo Machines line. Since then, these have been used several times – a character called Gobots was released in 1993, a range of figures in 1995 were called the Go-Bots, and Hasbro subsidiary Playskool issued a line named Transformers: Gobots in 2002.
[edit] Cultural references
- Sam McKinney makes mention of GoBots in an episode of Diff'rent Strokes.
- Dreamwave’s Transformers comic titles occasionally featured Gobot cameos in crowd scenes, as well as two robots looking suspiciously like Leader-1 and Cy-Kill meeting their doom in the smelting pools under Shockwave's regime.
- Additionally, the GoBot Cy-Kill appears as an unnamed gladiator who is killed by Megatron in IDW's Megatron Origin mini-series. Crasher makes a cameo as one of the spectators during this battle.
- In the 2006 movie Clerks II, Gobots are referred to as "the Kmart Transformers".
- Gobots are referenced in one episode of the TV show, Robot Chicken.
- In the 1987 film Lethal Weapon, the character Roger Murtaugh says, "I bet you like the Gobots" when speaking to a child.
- The webcomic Lilformers, features Gobots from time to time, as hopeful Transformers
[edit] See also
- Machine Robo
- Robo Machine
- Robo Machines
- Challenge of the Gobots
- Rock Lords
- Gobots (Transformer)
- Transformers
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
- Gobot Section at Toy Archive.com
- Gobot Section at Counter-X.net
- Gobot Section at TFU.info
- Overlord Cy-Kill's Renegade Control Site
- Crasher's Web Page of Mass Destruction
- robot japan's gobots page
- deviantart's gobots page
- deviantart's gobot page
- gobots character episode guide
- Challenge of the Gobots fan page
- a gobots and transformers comparison on Seibertron
- Nick Kelsch's Gobot Icons
- Duke Nostalgia's Gobots Page
- Planet Gobotron A Gobots Messageboard
- a gobots group on yahoo
- retro junk's gobots page
- a high-quality catalog scan
- creator of Gobots campaign
- [http://black20.com/black20-trailer-park/gobots-movie
a parody of the new transformers movie]
