Os GoBots

When I was a kid the rivalry between Gobots and Transformers was rather intense but I thought it was rather pointless, maybe even a little bit silly, because my kid brother and I had tons and tons of the Gobots toys when we were kids. It was another chapter in the pointless rivalry between Gobots and Transformers. Gobots started out small so the Transformers started out small. Transformers had bigger toys then Super Gobots were created. Then Gobots got their Power Warriors while Transformers had their robot combiners, gessalts. I didn't see the point of the Transformers versus Gobots thing when I was a kid and I don't see the point of the Transformers versus Gobots thing now.

I never loved the GoBots. I had the toys and I watched the show, but in a time when kids were obsessed with transforming robots, this cartoon never quite got it right. While the Transformers was never as dark as my all-time favorite cartoon, Voltron, it definitely had more edge than the GoBots. And while the Transformers looked like robots who transformed into vehicles, the GoBots never looked like robots at all but simply walking vehicles (as a child I didn't know how to express this, so I simply said that the GoBots "kept their stuff") and that was the main thing that always bugged me about the show.

That said, the GoBots will always have a place in my heart because I could afford the toys. Most GoBot toys sold for less than $5, while most Transformers went for about $8-$10 (big ones, like Optimus Prime, went for over $20!), and we didn't have that much money. So I had a lot more GoBots than Transformers. The cartoons, however, were free, and it is in that respect that the GoBots left me feeling shortchanged.

Even though "Transformers" is my favorite cartoon ever, I remember liking "Challenge of the GoBots" almost as much, and watching both of them on weekday afternoons after school.

The characters and the animation may have been inferior to "Transformers," but the scripts were good, arguably more consistent than those of "Transformers." Both shows even shared a few of the same writers (Don Glut, Antoni Zalewski, Reed Robbins & Peter Salas.)

Now, of course, I haven't watched GoBots for years, as it's been hard to find. In the mid-90s, a local video rental store had tapes of them, but they closed a long time ago. If I were to see them again, I'm not sure if they would hold up as well as "Transformers," but I would definitely like to give it a try.

What I've seen on YouTube has confirmed my belief in the underrated nature of this show. Some of the show's elements might appear lame at first glance. One such element is character names. Making names that are puns on the character's trans-form was also done quite often in Beast Wars. Another element that has been criticized is the idea of firing lasers out of the fists. It's a good way to compensate for the toys not having guns. Many lead characters also have secondary abilities such as a lightning stomp (Crasher), forcefield (Leader-1), and mind-control powers (CyKill). There are even some things that the GoBots came up with before TFs. The best example is female robots serving as series regulars. This was in place from day one with GoBots, while the Transformers didn't implement it until season 2, and there were no recurring female robots until Arcee was introduced in the Transformers Movie. Racial diversity didn't show up in TF's until Armada introduced Carlos. This is something else GoBots had going from day 1 with the African-American A.J. Foster. You might even say the GoBots invented Powerlinking with their Power Suits. Even the comparatively lighthearted presentation may prove to be a turnoff for some, but if you liked RiD, which had a similar atmosphere, this shouldn't bother you too much. To sum things up, check this show out BEFORE you pass judgment.

This cartoon was fun and so was the series that followed. It was one of those great 1980's cartoons.

There are obvious similarities with Transformers and I think that Transformers was a superior cartoon but this was fun too.

Both the good Gobots and bad Gobots were a lot more 'human' than the Transformers. Scooter was my favourite throughout the series. Also, in the interests of equality we had a few 'female' Gobots.

Like other 1980's cartoon heroes the good Gobots were truly moralistic whilst the bad Gobots were really wicked with no redeeming features at all.

Those who have watched Transformers might not enjoy this as much but it can be enjoyed if you're in the right mood.