If transformers g1 cartoon never existed.. (no cartoon at all)would gobots rule the earth..

Machine Men came first. My first Machine Man was Helicopter Man (aka Cop-Tur) which I got in 1983. As I've mentioned before, Go-Bots had the advantage of being substantially cheaper than Transformers, which would have encouraged parents to continue buying them for their kids.

In my previous post, I said that Transformers made a profit in 1984 of US$1,400,000. Sorry, I was wrong. I just checked my information again... in 1984, Transformers made a profit of US$100,000,000, "to become the most successful toy introduction ever." (1)

As we know, in the end, Transformers won the war, Hasbro purchased Tonka and now Transformers even owns the "Go-Bots" name, using it as a character name and later as a faction name in G2, and recently for the PlaySkool TFs.

I loved the irony in Hasbro naming Armada Megatron's Mini-Con "Leader-1" -- Leader-1, formerly leader of the Guardian Go-Bots... now Megatron's Starscream! ;)

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(1) Schodt, F. L. "Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics": The Future, Kodansha International Ltd., 1983, Paperback Edition 1986. p.156