Hello everyone and welcome to Rewind Toys!
Most of us know the Transformers, aside from being a series of hit or miss mega blockbuster movies and having a number of successful series including the new Netflix Series War of Cybertron, which I recommend, the toy line and original cartoon are both fairly present even today, but I wonder, if you were to ask kids today if they knew what a GoBot was, would they? If not it’s a shame, because, while they get a lot of gruff for being inferior, some of the GoBots were pretty cool, and to be fair, they were here first!
Let’s start with some history! The GoBot toy line was based on a series of figures called Machine Robo, and yes, they found their roots in Japan. Produced by Popy, which was a division of Bandai, the Machine Robo were Mechs with human pilots, but when Tonka decided to release the line in the United States they scrapped the Mech aspect and made them sentient.
As I mentioned, the GoBots were here first. I’m not saying the Transformers wouldn’t have existed in the US without them, but they definitely paved the way and set the stage for a fad that would sweep the nation. GoBots hit the scene in 1983, a year before the Transformers. GoBots weren’t as big as Transformers, around 2-3 inches in height, they were easier to “transform” and they stayed in form better overall. They weren’t as intricate and so not “as cool” to some I suppose, but they were also not as expensive. They were about the same size, and cost as Transformers Mini Vehicle. There were a few larger GoBots, like the Space-Ship base and larger versions of Cy-Kill and Leader 1, the leaders of the two factions, and there were also a few odd variants, for example cap guns.
Let’s look at those two factions and then we’ll get back to the toys themselves.
Originally these guys came out and you would see either Fiend or Enemy on the package and that was how you knew if they were good or bad, but eventually we were given team titles. The good guys, led by the airplane Leader 1, were the Guardians, and the bad guys, headed by the crazy motorcycle Cy-Kill, were the Renegades. Of course, a cartoon came out which helped to give us a back story on both teams.
Challenge of the GoBots was released from Hannah Babbara in 1984 and comprised of 65 episodes. There was also the movie in 1986, GoBots Battle of the Rock Lords. We won’t really go into the Rock Lords here today (and I’m not talking about Ozzie) but eventually we will discuss them.
So, the cartoon established that the GoBots are not really robots, but a race of extraterrestrial humanoid alien cyborgs, who, after a great catastrophe, put their brains into these new forms. For the most part it focused on 3 good guys, Leader 1, Scooter and Turbo, and 3 bad guys, Cy-Kill, Cop-Tur and crasher. There were a few human allies as well. The rest of the GoBots made guest appearances throughout and one of the cool things were the female robots, something Transformers lacked a bit of until later.
Ok, so we have a series, even if it wasn’t a great one, it still helped the toy line, which did fairly well.
As we mentioned most of the robots came from the Machine Robo 600 series, but Tonka did have some original designs. There was the Guardian Command Center and Renegade Thruster playsets, as well as the motorized Renegade Zod. There were also two versions of the Power Warrior (Think Voltron, multiple robots that form together to create a bigger robot). These were for both the Guardians and the Renegades and used molds from Machine Robo. The Nemesis Power Warrior had a tank for the center and was released only in Japan.
Like a lot of the toy lines we mention there was a playset, the Gobotron Fortress, that many saw in catalogues, that never was released.
Ok, now let’s get complicated shall we!
In 1991, Hasbro bought out Tonka, so the and received the Gobot trademarks; but the molds for the action figures remain the property of Bandai. What this meant was the name could be used by Hasbro but not the original toys. The trademarks have been used a bunch, in 1993, a series of figures in 95, there was even Playskools Transformers: Gobots in 2002. There have been a few exclusives that reference GoBots, all recolors of other Transformer molds, like the 2007 Transformers movie themed Fracture whose scheme was based on Crasher, and Revenge of the Fallen figures Deadlift based on Spoons and Reverb based on Dart.
There was also the 07 Botcon exclusive Bug bite, which was just an off-white repaint of Classic Bumblebee. It was the second Bug Bite toy in Transformers. The first Bug Bite was a Japanese-exclusive white repaint of G1 Bumblebee. The reason for this was that both Bumblebee and Bug Bite were both VW Bugs, although in robot mode they looked somewhat different. Still, Hasbro retained the VW aspect and name. They changed Bug Bite to white because, well, the original was yellow, meaning it would have been the same as Bumblebee so, change the color and voila! A new, GoBot themed Transformer!
Personally, I always liked the GoBots, and I liked the Mini Vehicle Transformers which were based off the GoBot line. I loved Transformers of course, but GoBots had their place and it was way easier to talk my parents into buying me one when we were at the store.
So what are they worth? For that I refer to the good folks at Toyworth.com
And of course, a little eBay sleuthing. Originally these guys retailed for $3.99 way back in 1983. These days they range depending on the character, from $15-30 average on card, and $5-10 loose. A nice Leader 1 will probably cost you around $50, Scooter $35-40. The prices make these a little easier to get even today and they are a great edition to any 80’s Toy collection!
So there you have it, the basics of the GoBot series. As I said, there was another line, The Rock Lords, which were a flawed concept, but I still loved them… I mean who wants a rock? Anyway that’s for another entry!
If you haven’t joined my Facebook page you are missing some cool info and fun discussions so head over and give us a follow! @RewindToyspage . You can email us, RewindToypodcast@gmail.com and listen to the Rewind Toy Podcast.
You can also visit our sponsor, Entertainment Earth, and I promise if you do you will not be disappointed! https://www.entertainmentearth.com/?id=RE-010201518
I appreciate everyone who have read, shared and subscribed!
Until next we speak, remember, when it comes to Rewind Toys, the search is half the fun!
Jason Emmitt, signing off.
