Note: not actually robots. Also, very occasionallynot actually vehicles.

"Autobots versus Decepticons" wasn't the only war between shape-changing robots in the 1980s, as there was an even bigger, if briefer conflict... the war on toy shelves betweenHasbro'sThe Transformers andTonka'sGoBots.

GoBots wasTransformers' main competitor... at least in the realm of "robot-based toy lines". (Among other heavy hitters,Kenner'sStar Wars was cranking outReturn of the Jedi toys aplenty throughout 1983 and 1984.) It is, overall, not looked upon very favorably by thefandom-at-large, with most of the criticisms leveled at the way it was marketed, with goofy character names and a less sophisticated cartoon (and it's not likethe originalTransformers cartoon was exactly highbrow entertainment). ThatGoBots ran for barely three years, as opposed to the seven ofTransformers, only further reinforces the idea thatTransformers was the powerhouse winner between the two.

The series does have its fans and collectors, however. Hasbro also now owns theGoBotsIP thanks to its acquisition of Tonka in the early 1990s... but the relationship between Hasbro andGoBots is...complicated.

The original TonkaGoBots

This was printed in an issue ofthe MarvelTransformers comic. Proving the old adage that, if you can't beat 'em, subvert their publications to your own ends!

Toyline

GoBots made its U.S. premiere at the tail end of1983, just a few months before theoriginalTransformers toyline's debut. It had a similar origin, being mostly made up of pre-existing Japanese toys used under license by an American distributor, in this case theMachine Robo series byBandai spinoff company Popy. The bulk of these figures are roughly the size (and retail price) of aTransformersMini Vehicle, though often more complex and with a much broader variety ofalternate modes. The line was also filled out with some larger original molds, including spaceship-bases, cap guns, and several designs originally intended forMachine Robo which did not actually see release in that series (similarly to how theTransformers "Scramble City" combiners were not-yet-implementedDiaclone designs).

Cartoon

Challenge of the GoBots was produced in the United States by Hanna-Barbera (andWang Film Productions in Taiwan). It aired in some markets outside the US (such as Australia) with the titleChallenge of the Machine Men. The 65-episode series ran in syndication from 1984 through 1985, followed by the feature film,Battle of the Rock Lords in 1986, which was likely rushed to theatres to beatThe Transformers: The Movie to screens. The series focused on a much smaller cast thantheTransformers cartoon, mainly theGuardian trio ofLeader-1,Turbo,Scooter, and their human alliesMatt,Nick, andA.J., against theRenegade triumvirateCy-Kill,Crasher, andCop-Tur, occasionally backed-up by their own human "ally"Dr. Braxis. While many otherGoBots toys were featured throughout the series, they were typically relegated to guest spots, though the GuardianSmall Foot and the RenegadeFitor would show up frequently enough to almost be considered main characters.

One of the most notable aspects of the cartoon was it had multiple recurring female GoBots, in stark contrast to the really, really, really guy-heavy cast ofTransformers. Crasher and Small Foot saw the most screen time, butmany other female GoBots showed up, often in recurring roles. One of the Guardians' human allies was even a woman of color. Chalk it up to Hanna-Barbera's generally more progressive attitudes for their time!

Although the Tonka-toyline-created tagline was "Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles", the background material for the cartoon established that the GoBots are not true robots, but rather aliencyborgs; a race of extraterrestrial humanoids, who, after a great catastrophe, had to put their brains into "GoBot forms" to survive.

GoBots versusTransformers

Despite being first to the market, having many more low-price items than its competitor (theoretically making them more desirable, at least to parents' wallets), and aton of early press coverage stating that it would likely be the victor in the battle of shape-shifting robot toys,GoBots was left in the dust by thevastly better-marketedTransformers. Hasbro also made damn sure to buyevery Japanese transforming toy they could so GoBots couldn't bloody have them.^[1]

The line struggled its way into 1986, with a spin-off toyline (complete with theater-release movie) calledRock Lords featuring transformingrocks. Yes,rocks. Didn't exactly set the world on fire with that one. Shortly after, the line fizzled out, whileTransformers enjoyed a few more years before it too finally "died".

GoBots in the "modern era"

Hasbro and Takara

Following its mid-Eighties demise,GoBots remained a dead line in every regard up until1991. Hasbro bought Tonka and its subsidiaries (including Kenner), acquiring all of Tonka's intellectual property, which included theGoBots IP... sort of. Due to a lot of factors, much of theGoBots property was and still is outside of Hasbro's control.

The toy designs are unquestionably 100% owned by Bandai, direct rivals to Hasbro's partnerTakaraTomy. In 2015, Bandai announced aseries of high-end, super-posable toys based on several of the originalMachine Robo toys that got turned into GoBots, but sold under the original banner. The cartoon seems to have a complicated ownership situation. The entire series was released on DVD byWarner Bros. (who now own Hanna-Barbera) as an online-order-only, "manufactured on demand" series, and is still available today. The episodes themselves bear a copyright to Tonka (though given the nature of distribution contracts, this might be nominal), while the DVD disks and packaging note Hasbro's ownership of GoBots and"all related characters and elements", while asserting a joint Hasbro / Hanna-Barbara ownership of the "program compilation". Someoriginal research fromJim Sorenson suggests that the character designs are owned by Hasbro as well, though he speculates that Hasbro would be unlikely to want to use character designs depicting toys owned by a competitor.

In fact, both Hasbro and Takara have done very little with theGoBots IP overall, seemingly content to bury it outside of periodically using the line's name as atrademark for non-Tonka-GoBots products, primarily forpre-school-aimed toys. Hasbro staked that claim early on with theGeneration 2 Autobot toy "Gobots" in1993, andvarious uses of the name (in various spellings) over the next decade. The name "Leader-1" was trademarked in2003 forArmada Megatron'sMini-Conpartner, but there's been little to no use ofGoBots-original names since. (At one point in development,ArmadaUnicron's Mini-ConDead End was going to be called "Gobotron", but that idea was ultimately discarded.) Remember also that trademarks can expire if not used regularly, leaving them open for other entities to snap them up, so this lack of use leaves much of theGoBots cast names in a sort of rights limbo. Hasbro once again renewed the trademark application in2015, this time for “distribution of motion pictures, ongoing television programs”.^[2]

Hope you're ready to drop some serious funds for these.

In2004, Takara took the first tentative poke at using theGoBots fictional property under theTransformers banner with the "G1 GoBots" set, ane-HOBBY-exclusiveredeco of six recently-reissuedMini Vehicles. Early online images of the set labeled each of the six toys with the name of a GoBot who had thatalternate mode:Bad Boy,Bug Bite,Path Finder,Road Ranger,Small Foot, andTreds. However, Takara eventually dropped the names from the final packaging and promotional materials, leaving only the more defensible "G1 GoBots" group name, with the packed-inbio for the whole group introducing them as visitors from another universe (conveniently not identified), with technologyastoundingly similar to the technology seen in theGoBots cartoon. The toys themselves are not even colored like the GoBots they were briefly named after, using "prototype" color schemes for the original toys, or all-new decos seemingly created without direct inspiration.

A long dry spell followed, until2008 when Hasbro releasedFracture, a Crasher-inspired redeco ofClassics Mirage, as part of aWalmart-exclusive series of toys for thelive-action movie toyline. The toy (as well as the others in that wave) was originally intended as part of the everything-but-the-movie-franchiseUniverse line, and in fact "Fracture" was originally intended tobe Crasher-the-GoBot, having crossed dimensions. Her cardback bio makes reference to GoBot Crasher's personality and powers... but also doesnot actually call her out as a GoBot in any way, not even a sideways "came from another universe" hint. At face value, she's a native Cybertronian. Deco artistJoe Kyde later noted that they had to prove to Hasbro higher-ups that the chosen color scheme actually existed on a real life racing car in order to color her that way, suggesting the desire for a bit of plausible deniability.

After Fracture,GoBots references inTransformers toys were relegated to small visual references. Over in thelive-action film series toylines,2008'sBacktrack (also deco'd by Kyde) and2010'sRevenge of the FallenDeadlift were deliberate deco homages to the GoBotsNight Ranger andSpoons respectively, complete withtampographs of the "MR-**" designation numbers from their originalGoBots toys.2013'sBeast HuntersRipclaw was designed byBill Rawley to sneakily resemble the Monster GoBotVamp. Despite their shared visual origins, all three characters are depicted in fiction as regular, native, Cybertronian Transformers.

So for the longest time, it seemed like Hasbro and Takara were uninterested in having any actual toy product directly, unambiguously branded as a TonkaGoBots character.2020'sGenerations SelectsBug Bite, a modern update of the earlier e-HOBBY toy well established as representing an actual GoBot (see below), received product copy that was reticent on the character's origins, at a time when other contemporary releases likeStingracer andWindstorm were not afraid to reference their ownoutside influences.

...Which apparently lasted until late2021, and the announcement ofWar for Cybertron: Kingdom Golden Disk Collection "Autobot Road Ranger", another modern e-HOBBY update, called out by its marketing material to be "the GoBot you were waiting for" brought into the Transformers' conflict by aquantum surge-poweredtime vortex. The fiction of the Golden Disk Collection was prophetic ofKingdom's immediate successor,Transformers: Legacy, which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the brand by pulling characters from all across theTransformersmultiverse, including its ancestorDiaclone.Legacy saw the release of "Decepticon Crasher", an update of the 2008 Fracture toy–though with no mention of her GoBot heritage, and product copy that says the toy is "inspired by the character’s appearance in the Transformers comics", making her adifferent Crasher altogether! In the world of converting toy robots, we guess the only constant is change.

Following up on that change, in 2024 we saw the release of the "Go-Bot Guardians 3-pack" includingTreds,Smallfoot andPathfinder in theGenerations Selects line duringLegacy United, a far cry from the shy, wishy-washy Go-Bots acknowledgment of years past, this 3-pack proudly displays a loud and prominent original Go-Bots banner on both the packaging and the accompanying promotional video, Pathfinder's included flag accessory even bears the Guardian logo.

Hasbro licensees

In fiction, GoBots made some "appearances" inTransformers comics... mainly byvarious Cybertron-native Cy-Kills getting killed, a gag that wasnot at all hack and tiresome each and every time it happened over and over again, wow so clever.^[3] "GoBots" was also a frequent "cute" term of derision for human characters to use in reference to the Transformers in various comics. It's extremely likely that these references would have remained evenif Hasbro didn't have some fingers in theGoBots IP.

WhileGoBots-as-GoBots has been virtually nonexistent in the mass-marketTransformers outlets, Hasbro licenseeFun Publications has not been shy about making more overt ties to the former competitor.

Bandai isvery unhappy.

BotCon 2007 followed up on the earlier e-HOBBY use of the GoBots and continued the story begun there, specifically naming the box set's whiteBumblebeeredeco "Bugbite"[sic], thus firming up the connection that was always implied... though his bio card only hints at him being more than just another Decepticon, and the accompanying comic stopped just short of outright stating that Bug Bite was a displaced GoBot. He explained that he came from another universe, seeking to destroy the cause of theCataclysm threatening his reality, which lines up with the G1 Gobots bio information from the e-HOBBY set, but again, did not outright name his home... juuuust inching towards the line but not actually crossing it. The storyline was followed up in the2008Transformers Collectors' Club online-exclusive text story "Withered Hope", whichunambiguously cemented the G1 GoBots as being GoBots from theGoBots universe as depicted in theChallenge of the GoBots cartoon.

GoBots-as-GoBots once again lay fallow for a while after "Withered Hope". Occasionally side-references would be made in-fiction, mostly in the form ofShattered Glass andTransTech iterations of GoBots as native Cybertronians. In 2010, the Collectors' Club membership "freebie" toyDion came withCop-Tur, a blue redeco of the toy's mold-mateMini-ConJolt. Though his characterization was inspired by theGoBots Cop-Tur (the blue deco was actually a result of thegang-molding with the Dion toy rather than a deliberate choice), they were quick to declare that he was a native Cybertronian,not a displaced GoBot. In2013 a "Withered Hope" follow-up story arc calledSpatiotemporal Challengers was announced,part one of which eventually saw release onJanuary 7,2016.

The 2010IDW bookTransformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II, a retrospective covering the third season ofTransformers Animated, would take things further. In the profile forStretch, a character created for the book based onPorter C. Powell'sGoBots-homage limousine from the show, it was heavily implied that he wound up in the actualChallenge of the Gobots cartoon universe after the events of the book. Additionally, a news story in the multiversal newspaperALTernity Today gaveChallenge of the Gobots auniversal stream designation, thus implicitly pulling it into the multiverse. Finally, the book used its ubiquitousCybertronix text to, among many pop-culture references, introduce new installments ofAsk Vector Prime, a feature from the Hasbro website during theCybertron series. These question-and-answer segments were not limited to events and characters fromtheAnimated cartoon universe, and one declared that Gobotron was another manifestation of the Transformers'transdimensional creator-godPrimus.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying,Come and see!

In2015, as a part of the run-up toBotCon, Fun Publications unveiled a number of new Facebook-published features, broadcasting in-universe on theAxiom Nexus News network. One of them was yet another revival of Ask Vector Prime. With a prodigious output of answers to user questions, sometimes more than ten a day, the feature managed to cover the depth and breadth of theTransformers franchise... and the TonkaGoBots. The words "GoBot" or "Gargent" (theuniversal stream designation of theGoBots franchise) show up almost 50 times in the column. NewGoBots universes were introduced, and many characters and concepts were explicitly referenced by name. The first major example of this was whenJim Sorenson Vector took the step of publicly canonizing aGoBots character as aTransformers character: the Evil One, an ancient and villainous GoBot, was said to be the Gargent incarnation ofthe Fallen. A picture was even put up of the Evil One's animation model.^[4] Stretch was explicitly confirmed to bethe GoBot Stretch (and the reason many GoBots look like Earth vehicles). The amount ofGoBots questions shot up once the Evil One question was asked. Vector Prime later described a dimension-hopping encounter where Optimus Prime and a small team ofAutobotSpy Changers teamed up with the Guardians to battle the Renegades,"Brain Problem Situation", marking the second officialGoBots/Transformers crossover. A third crossover, "Echoes and Fragments", would be published in the waning days of the column. Many pieces of production artwork from Hanna Barbara were published, though per the note about free-advertising above none depicted a Bandai toy-based design. Pieces includedTonka toys,ships, andnon-toy characters.

But all of this was insignificant next to a doubling-down on this strategy...

Renegade Rhetoric

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

During a storyline whereinVector Prime was called awayon urgent business, he was replaced by a series of rotating guest hosts, one of which was Cy-Kill—not a covert nod or aTransformers Cy-Kill or even a Cy-Kill under a deniable new body, theactual Hanna-Barbara Cy-Kill with a modified screen capture fromChallenge of the GoBots as his profile picture. Notably, this picture was swiftly replaced by arepurposed illustration ofTransTech Cy-Kill (whose appearance is similar) originally commissioned by Fun Publications. This suggests that, while Fun Publications is able to reference names and events from the cartoon, and even non-toy-basedcharacter models, they draw the line at actual screen captures of characters based on Bandai-owned toy designs.

Over the course of his nine-day run, he proceeded to mention virtually every significantGoBots character and toy (and some that weren't), often sharing biographical and descriptive details. He also went into detail about their adventures, including both detailed descriptions ofChallenge of the GoBots episodes as well as fanciful tales invented wholecloth. This was partly down to leading questions from some fans, who would ask for any information on a specific GoBot and then added that to this very wiki.

When Cy-Killproved to be the most popular of the guest hosts, the column was expanded to its own feature, which concluded onFebruary 5, 2016. The focus of the ongoing column shifted to become about a fictional "second season" of theChallenge of the GoBots cartoon, made up primarily of original stories that lovingly spoofed the identikit children's cartoon plots of the 1980s and 90s. Concurrently with these posts, Ask Vector Primeposted an episode list of this virtual season 2, and explained that these episodes were "produced" in the universal stream ofQuadwal 1215.15 Epsilon, an alternate universe whereGoBots had triumphed overTransformers in the 1980s toy wars, and had many sequels and spin-offs. Each "episode" had atitle-card produced, mirroring those used inChallenge of the GoBots. Many episodes featured original character designs fornew guest stars orexisting cast members innew outfits. Again, whenever a Bandai toy was depicted, it washeavily obscured orcompletely redesigned.Challenge of the GoBotsscreen shots wereoccasionally used asbackground elements, though never depicting any Bandai-owned designs.

Go-Bots (IDW)

Main article:Go-Bots (comic)

In 2018,IDW Publishing announced that theGoBots brand would receive another brief revival, in the form of a five-issue miniseries penned and drawn byTom Scioli, who had previously worked on IDW'sTransformers vs. G.I. Joe comic series. The series, for the most part, was a straight sci-fi tale, mostly independent of both theTransformers mythosand any priorGoBots fiction... until the final issue turned the entire relationship betweenGoBots andTransformers on its head.

On this wiki

On TFWiki, we have historically chronicled the appearances of allGoBots characters who have shown up in crossover fiction with theTransformers franchise by giving them their own articles, as is our standard procedure for all crossover characters from other media. Over the years, however, several arguments have occurred amongst our userbase over whether we should simply expand the wiki's scope to incorporate full coverage of theGoBots brand including the original Bandai toys and theChallenge of the GoBots cartoon, on the basis that Hasbro now owns theGoBots intellectual property, and all current use of the characters and concepts takes place under theTransformers umbrella. Ultimately, it was decided that, retcons or not, the originalGoBots franchise does not warrant coverage on TFWiki outside of the characters' interactions with theTransformers franchise.

Easter eggs

Given the similarity between the properties, as well as the transition from aTransformers competitor to dead product line partially owned by Hasbro, it is perhaps inevitable that there would be a large number ofGoBotsEaster eggs:

• Several GoBots appear in the background in a number ofDreamwaveTransformers comics as visual jokes.
• In theG.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War#5,Cobra Commander refers to the Autobots as "glorified GoBots".
  • Similarly, the laterIDW Publishing seriesTransformers vs. G.I. Joe has the human characters repeatedly refer to the Transformers as "GoBots".
• InIDW Publishing'sMegatron Origin,Cy-Kill is Megatron's first opponent in theForge. He gets a cover appearance and dialogue before being defeated and killed. Further, a robot that is clearly his fellow RenegadeCrasher is part ofClench's inner circle/gladiatorial team, and later fights alongside Megatron.
• In IDW'sBeast Wars: The Ascending #2, the Monster GoBotPincher is shown as a murderedAngolmois Energy junkie.
• In theShattered Glassalternate universe, RenegadeFitor and Guardian Leader-1 (the latter in Cy-Kill's color scheme) are among the evil Autobot forces. What looks like Cy-Kill's claw is seen amongst the cheering throngs joining the evil Autobots too. Heroic DecepticonCrasher is described asBlurr's cousin in Blurr's tech spec, and even appears (with earthquake-like powers) in "Dungeons & Dinobots".
• In "Transcendent: Part 5", the twoAxiom Nexus guards who die at Alpha Trion's hands are designed after Cy-Kill and Scooter. (The fan reaction toCy-Kill andScooter's deaths resulted inPete Sinclair stating that this would be thelast GoBot death scene in Fan Club works.)
  • A cropped image ofTransTech Cy-Kill from this story would later be repurposed as a version of the originalGoBots Cy-Kill.
• The canceled2007 movie toylineTarget-exclusive figureBacktrack was designed as an homage to the Guardian Night Ranger, and even sported Night Ranger's "MR 37" designation number on his license plate.
• Revenge of the FallenDeadlift is an homage to Spoons, bearing Spoons's "MR-34" designation number.
• TheBeast Wars: Uprising story "Head Games" makes off-hand reference to theMonster GoBotsCreepy andVamp. The story "Micro-Aggressions" featuresBladez andPincher in addition to referencingMonsterous,Hornet, andScorp.Ask Vector Prime would confirm that these were indeed dimensionally-displaced Renegade GoBots masquerading asPredacon Cybertronians. Those sneaky GoBots returned in "Cultural Appropriation", which provided more detail about their plans and the current state of the GoBots across the multiverse.
• A gag in the 2018Bumblebee movie hasMemo reading a copy ofGoBots Magazine; a deleted scene furthers the joke by having Memo theorize that Bumblebeeis a GoBot.
• A new version ofCrasher appears as a minor recurring character in the pages ofIDW'sTransformers reboot, while Cy-Kill makes a cameo inissue #38. That same year, Crasher also cameoed inthe fourth issue of IDW'sMy Little Pony crossover.
• Bug Bite, an unalignedMercenary who appeared in bothGenerations Selects and 2020'sEarthrise, is based on theGoBot Renegade of the same name. Just one year later,another version of Bug Bite appeared intheCyberverse cartoon.
• BotBotsGo-Naut's name is a nod toThe GoBots, but also the figure's backside is sculpted in reference to theCourageous toy's torso, complete with a tinyGuardian symbol.
• In one scene ofTransformers One,Elita-1 callsOrion, D-16, andB-127 a bunch of "idiot go-bots" although it's spelt with a hyphen per Hasbro's modern trademark

References

External links

• Our GoBots sister wiki
• GoBots DVDs on Amazon.com:
  • GoBots Mini Series
  • Season 1 part 1
  • Season 1 part 2
• TFU.info GoBots coverage