I PASSED THE CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS!!!

Post by **Sades** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:55 pm

I... I really, really want that Gobot poster.

Catalyst Dragon · Post by **Catalyst Dragon** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:55 am

I don't know how many episodes I saw as a kid and I haven't even considered trying to watch them as an adult. But the only one I remember is this episode where Leader One is transforming as he flys into the air and as soon as his transformation is done, Crusher shoots him down and it's apparently a big deal, I remember it going to commercial after that... don't remember any more of the episode or any others.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:53 pm

Skyquake87 wrote:P.S. Thanks also for the Robo Machine Wedge recommendation. I've held onto that and its an awesome, awesome book

Hell yeh, full-on toy porn... Though I've never even looked at the MRR/MRM sections.

I derive perverse satisfaction from my Night Fright being in better condition in the one in the book, though.

Halfshell wrote:GoBOTRON?

Yeh, that's a bit weird... The legal bumpf on the Tonka cards officially parses the line as GoBots (which I ignore on the grounds it's a bitch to type repeatedly, a la GoDaiKin - I did admit this on the site somewhere, but I think whatever it was got junked... really should sort that out at some point), and I could see Go Bots from the logo, which has it as

GO
BOTS

but the first 'o' in lowercase is a weird one. Huh.

Catalyst Dragon wrote:this episode where Leader One is transforming as he flys into the air and as soon as his transformation is done, Crusher shoots him down and it's apparently a big deal

Episode 08 (my numbering)/Episode 43 (everyone else's numbering): The Fall of Gobotron, the third episode in The Gobotron Saga. Leader One's a spectacularly underwhelming leader even in relative terms, it felt like every other plot revolved around him being injured or captured or whatever.

Summerhayes · Post by **Summerhayes** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:13 pm

I've never really had much exposure to the GoBots. It was a little before my time; I only discovered Transformers because of repeats, VHS and toys lingering on the shelves.
Saying that, your guide is morbidly addictive; like documentaries about Hitler. Also, I still hold that when the Asylum made "Transmorphers" they should have tried to get the GoBots license.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:39 pm

Yeh, in a way it's kind-of a shame that it's a completely dead franchise - Hasbro have no real use for most/all of it, but at the same time aren't going to let anyone else have it just in case; it's one of the few things that's never going to come back, not even as some dreadful limited series on a lame Image imprint. Hasbro have even been pre-emptively tetchy when Machine Robo's had a resurgence in Japan just in case...

It makes it all the more of a shame that Tonka and Hanna Barbera made such an arse of it back in the 1980s. That said, I do think there would be considerable mileage if it was somehow possible to crack the Eagle comic continuity open - the straightforward bastard robots invade Earth storyline coupled with the way Gobots doesn't have a fandom that insists on having all the major characters stay basially the same as they were when they first appeared would make an interesting contrast to the shit IDW are shovelling out.

Challenge is widely avaliable on Ver Toob for those interested: -

is about as good a place to start as any. "All I've got left are... MY WHEELS!", and so on.

Shrapnel Clone · Post by **Shrapnel Clone** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:05 am

Cliffjumper wrote:the way Gobots doesn't have a fandom that insists on having all the major characters stay basially the same as they were when they first appeared

If your main characters are Scooter, Leader-1 and Cy-Kill, yes, I can imagine that they want things to change.

Why do I try to keep watching this stuff? Everytime I do, it feels like something in me dies. Possibly my brain.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:13 am

Cy-Kill's actually got a bit of charm to him, actually... The voice acting is properly OTT, not whining ear-grating shite like Welker or Latta, which means he doesn't offend your ears every time he speaks. He's also strangely genre-savvy - Cy-Kill always seems like he's just about to realise that he's rubbish and Renegade leader is a stupid way to make a living. It's as if he learnt to be a bad bguy from watching bad 1980s cartoons.

Leader-1, on the other hand, is probably the least inspiring head good guy you could come up with. Honestly, if you think cartoon Prime could be an idiot, Leader-1 has to be seen to be believed. He's almost totally reliant on Scooter and Turbo to save the day (usually then turning round with comments like "Good work, everyone, teamwork is what the Guardians are all about!"), he's captured or disabled in something like 1 in every 3 episodes, he regularly gets beaten up in single combat and his special power is only actually any use if he's getting his arse kicked.

The Renegades are actually more sympathetic, 1) because they rarely do any harm and 2) because they actually seem to get on rather than going through an endless cycle of losing their team-mates' trust in a half-arsed way (seriously, the number of episodes which feature Guardians jumping to the conclusion that one of thir tam-mates has gone bad, rather than suspecting cloning, mind-control etc...) and then redeeming themselves. One of the best things about Gobots, actually, is that there's no Starscream shit going on for the most of it - and when it does, it's Zero, who kicks Cy-Kill's arse, takes over and nearly wins.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:54 pm

I will bet good money now that at some point down the line Classics Wreak-Gar will get a cheapo repaint into Cy-Kill. "Fracture" set a precedent and there really aren't any other characters who could fit the design so well (a couple of obscure G2 guys and Override? Cy-Kill positively pisses over all of them).

Actually, how about a BotCon Gobots set? Wreak-Gar as Cy-Kill, Classics Starscream as Leader-One...err... one of the ROTF sports cars as Crasher? Nope, perhaps not such a good idea...

Prowl1984 · Post by **Prowl1984** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 5:13 pm

Looked up the intro on teh tube, don't really remember the show but as it turns out i've got that f-15 one! also got an Apache helicopter, not sure if it's a GoBot but it's definitely not at TF.

coinilius · Post by **coinilius** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:42 am

Just wanted to add that I also bought Machine Robo Wedge pretty much on the recommendation of your site Cliffjumper and I have to say that it was a great purchase - As much as GoBots the cartoon might have sucked, I had very fond memories of the toys (as Machine Men as they were here in Australia at the time) - it's a shame that it didn't include the oversized Spay-C walkie talkie set though (as that is the absolute most awesome tie-in toy ever)

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:21 pm

Mmm, I do love that sort of toy porn book - I must get around to getting Generations in print some time to go with Wedge and the Chokogin book I have. It's just such a shame the same thing never quite seems to have caught on in the West...

I think my favourite piece of random merch is the My First Cy-Kill: -

http://www.toyarchive.com/Gobots/Novelt ... Kill1a.jpg

Look at him! He's huge and adorable!

Weird... Going back to STA for the first time in years to get the link and saw this: -
http://www.toyarchive.com/Gobots/Novelt ... ctica.html
That's... not an episode... is it? I can't even remember a space olympics one full stop...

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:32 pm

An unmade episode? One that somehow fell through the download cracks?

Generations is an absolutely gorgeous book. Even in these days of Wiki's full of pictures of every toy I still take it down every now and again. It's just so pretty. Shame I've no idea what the text is saying.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:20 pm

It would seem Warner's are planning to put out Challenge of the Gobots as part of their "Manufacture on Demand" service (which has apparently seen several Hanna-Barbara shows get released).

Not sure of the rights issues, but as Warner's are a proper big company they've presumably looked into them before announcing this. I guess Hasbro were just happy to take the minimum fee such a release is likely to generate as it's money for old rope they didn't make in the first place? Though there's also the possibility it will fall through between this announcement and actual release.

Still think Cliffy, if it does happen you'll be able to watch the entire show again in full glorious remastered DVD quality. Good new eh?

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Challe ... nned/14988

Now, if Warner's could just sort out some kind of deal with Fox over the 60's Batman show then I'll be impressed. It's got to be the only program of that level of success not to have seen any home media release yet surely?

[Link courtesy of one of my infrequent Allspark visits].

EDIT: And according to the Allspark thread this service is bare bones minimimum stuff, on DVD-R's with no menus or restoration. So it might not actually be much better than the bootlegs...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:01 pm

The masters are presumably better than off-air recordings, though I wouldn't pay for it. Good news for the surprisingly large number of people who like the thing, though.

I suspect Hasbro are much less likely to take issue if the brand isn't in stores 'competing' with Transformers (hey, allied with the MRR thing, it would seem they are more than a little paranoid about it, which is silly... Takara have every reason to be shit-scared of Bandai, Hasbro not so much)... Burn To Demand would mean people would have to go looking for it, and Hasbro will happily take whatever minimal percentage they get for allowing use of their trademarks in return for absolutely no effort whatsoever on their own part.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:11 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:The masters are presumably better than off-air recordings, though I wouldn't pay for it. Good news for the surprisingly large number of people who like the thing, though.

Though some people at the Allspark thread are suggesting that some of the other releases are taken from VHS copies (mind, that seems to be even more obscure stuff, and as all of Gobots wasn't released on video they'd have to get the prints from elsewhere anyway).

I suspect Hasbro are much less likely to take issue if the brand isn't in stores 'competing' with Transformers (hey, allied with the MRR thing, it would seem they are more than a little paranoid about it, which is silly... Takara have every reason to be shit-scared of Bandai, Hasbro not so much)... Burn To Demand would mean people would have to go looking for it, and Hasbro will happily take whatever minimal percentage they get for allowing use of their trademarks in return for absolutely no effort whatsoever on their own part.

The suggestion seems to be Warners have always had the rights to release the show on DVD without Hasbro permission, but have just never shown any interest. The set up seems to be the same as the 60's Batman film, Fox might not be able to release the show but their original deals on the movie with relation to exploitation outside of theatres allow them to release it on DVD regardless of the original intent being just for airplane showings or whether Warner's would like them to or not. If the original contracts included home media release rights in perpetuity then they don't need Hasbro permission, even if they do have to chuck some money at them as the current rights holders.

Mind, that's all from the same thread so I'm not sure how reliable this speculation, especially as Hasbro aren't the people they made the deals with at the time.

DrSpengler · Post by **DrSpengler** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:15 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:EDIT: And according to the Allspark thread this service is bare bones minimimum stuff, on DVD-R's with no menus or restoration. So it might not actually be much better than the bootlegs...

Yeah, I've bought a few of the Warner Archives releases in the past. While the no menus or special features or restoration thing is standard across all releases, the end results pretty much depend entirely on the quality of the master.

"Don't be Afraid of the Dark" didn't look so bad, while "The Flight of Dragons" was straight up VHS quality and not a very good one, at that.

Granted, I've seen major retail releases of old cartoons that have looked just as terrible. Lions Gate's releases of the 80s TMNT series actually have VCR video distortions periodically at the top or bottom of the screen!

I'm sure Go-Bots will be watchable in terms of video quality. Perhaps not very pretty, but then, it isn't a very pretty show to begin with.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:01 pm

The Gobots thing has always been complicated by Hasbro's outright ownership of the trademark - it's different from Batman, which has always been owned by DC who have just leased, licensed, whored whatever it to various studios and manufacturers for merchandising purposes. My understanding of the law is that Warners can release the material in theory, but get into tricky legal waters when they put it out with a Hasbro trademark on the front.

As far as I can tell, trademark law is a lot muddier for use of the things on actual material, which is why TBPs don't have to have Bluestreak's name changed and Batman and Superman can be referred to in any TV show... now, if you had someone in a Batman costume you might have trouble, but this is complicated again with Gobots as AFAIK Hasbro don't own any of the visual aspects of Gobots, which were based on toys loaned from Bandai, just the trademarks (to segue, they possibly own Matt Hunter, Nick and AJ plus anyone else who was cartoon-only, who would have been created as work for hire by HB under a Tonka contract, in much the same way they own, say, Spike or Daniel...).

Hasbro have the transforming robot market cornered in the West and are highly unlikely to lose that position... However, they don't believe in taking silly chances, which is why they periodically renew and reuse Gobots trademarks so no-one else can. Presumably someone's realised that a limited internet release of the material can do no harm and green-lighted it with Warners.

DrSpengler · Post by **DrSpengler** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:40 pm

Here's something you may not have seen before, Cliffy:

http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.ph ... 77022&st=0

1985 Toyfair Tonka Catalog with a big emphasis on the GoBots.

Not too well aversed with the toys, myself, but there seems to be some interesting variants in there according to the replies.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:10 pm

Cliffy has kindly sent me some DVDR's of various episodes. I put on The Gobotron Saga this afternoon and made it into the middle of (roughly as it's the edited together movie version) third episode before falling fast asleep and waking up in what seemed to be the middle of another story.

Good stuff first: The opening stuff (which as I've said before I remember really well) with Cy-Kill's escape was awesome and surprisingly brutal, Guardians getting burried in rubble and having their powerpacks forceably ripped out. It helps I've no real clue who's a toy and who's an expendable red shirt. The stuff in the random room full of dead bodies is nicely sinister as well, right up till the point The Boy [is it worth commiting the human names to memory?] started trying to play with what's effectively the head of a corpse as if it were all just shits and giggles.

I'm also going to go with the Guardians responding to the Master Renegade saying "One more step and I'll shot her!" by all taking one step in unison was a deliberate silly joke.

Cy-Kill and Tim Curry are awesome in a good way as well. And it was nice to see my boy Psycho saying a line. What a guy.

Bad stuff:

They really, really overdo the metal on metal walking/touching anything sound the Gobots make everywhere they go, it got quite irritating, especially as it's the same noise whereever they go.

There's also a deeply confusing bit when Crasher and Tankforahead break into the security room and confront Scooter and The Boy planning to take them hostage but the two of them escape by... ducking down in front of the Renegades. Who act as if they can't see them anymore whilst the two goodies discuss their escape and do a runner through an air vent. very odd.

How do Scooter and The Boy not notice "The Last Engineer" has a completely different voice to the tape they watched?

The animation is pretty much terrible as well, overly literal recreations of the toys in some places (resulting in Turbo ending up sitting on his face every time he transforms) or actually making them worse in others, dear God, those faces in vehicle modes... They really didn't get why kids liked transforming robots did they?

I assume I fell asleep during the explanation of why there's a robot head with teleporter eyes in the Guardian prison?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:52 pm

Yeh, basically everything on the Prison Moon is spit and bailing wire. Crasher and Destroyer should be able to rip Nick and Scooter in half without weapons, Cy-Kill and Fitor go sneak escape when there are another couple of dozen Renegades tearing the place up (how the Hell does everyone else escape anyway?), none of the ancient news stuff makes any sense and it seems like the Guardians knew it all anyway but just didn't give a shit until they needed him, and so on...

It is about the only one with any pace, but that's mainly because stuff just keeps happening for no real reason, and it also does feature shitloads of characters - anything with Von Joy and Sparky in it is better than the run of the mill ones. That is literally Psycho's only line in the whole show, by the way.

Words and even pictures can't do enough justice to how bad the animation is - Pincher's first transformation is a corker. Things like Turbo's head being on the bottom of his car mode don't bother me because the figure's like that, so it's a bit hard to fault them. It's the changes to Scooter and Cy-Kill that really get me... Cy-Kill doesn't even transform, he just crouches on a pair of wheels.