Gobots
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- This article is about the Gobot toyline. For uses of the word in the Transformers line, see Gobots (Transformer).
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[edit] Introduction
The Gobots were a line of transforming robot toys produced by Tonka from 1983 to 1986, similar to Transformers.
[edit] History
The Gobot toyline was based on figures produced by Popy and then Bandai in Japan, named Machine Robo. In 1983, Tonka decided to import the line into America, most probably after realising Hasbro were doing the same with Takara’s Diaclone and Microchange lines. In another similarity to Transformers, Tonka decided to make the figures sentient robots, rather than mecha as they had been in Japan, and divided them into two factions – the good Guardians and evil Renegades (though early figures were simply described as ‘Friendly’ or ‘Enemy’ on the packaging). The figures were all given individual names (as opposed 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 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] Releases
Tonka rushed 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, small robots (around 2-3 inches high on average) that turned into vehicles – mainly realistic, present day vehicles, though a number of futuristic designs were also used. 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 5-6 inches tall in robot mode, were released as Super Gobots. 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-style figures, the car-based Puzzler and monster-based Monsterous.
Several other ranges were drawn from existing Bandai figures (such as the Secret Riders).
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] Media
[edit] Cartoons
Main Article Challenge of the Gobots
Hanna Barbera produced a cartoon series to promote the toyline, which ran for 66 22-minute episodes from 1984 to 1985.
[edit] Film
Main Article Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords
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 continuity, as well as features on real-life robots, quiz pages and the like. It ran quarterly from Winter 1985 to Winter 1987, managing eight issues.
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 other European countries, Bandai released the figures as Robo Machines, utilising most of the Tonka names. Later on, when the cartoon arrived, this was changed, or modified (often resulting in clumsy branding such as Robo Machines featuring Challenge of the Gobots). In Australia, the line was released as Mighty Machine Men.
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 moulds 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
- Dreamwave’s Transformers comic titles occasionally featured Gobot cameos in crowd scenes.
- In the 2006 movie Clerks II, Gobots are referred to as "The 'Kmart' of Transformers".
