Reasons Why Gobots Are Better Than Transformers

[Pascal]

For the most part, the smaller Gobots had more realistic alternate modes, sometimes better transformations (heck, that little grey SUV is almost as complex as a current deluxe) and better and more intensive use of die-cast. Super Gobots were kickass. Gobots bases sucked though. Puzzler tops all G1 combiners for being all integrated (floppier though because of all the die-cast).

[Elrod the Albino]

Cool Gobot names include:

 

Turbo

Fly Trap

Slicks

Block Head

Pathfinder

Night Ranger (Sister Christian!)

Wrong Way

Scratch

Zero

Tux

Twin Spin

Snoop

Stallion

Vanguard (good name, lame because he's a van)

Stinger

Heat Seeker

Taipipe

Hornet

Bullseye

Skyjack

[Elrod the Albino]

Appaling names include:

 

CyKill

Tank

Fitor

Cop-tur

Loco

Spay-C

Buggy Man

Dumper

Pumper

Dozer

Hans-Cuff (seriously?)

Dive-Dive

Royal-T

Screwhead (!)

Crain Brain

Rest-Q

Jeeper Creeper

Good Knight (Bond Girl name?)

Sparky

Major Mo (wth does that mean?)

Bad Boy (bi-curious?)

Bugsie

Klaws (sp bothers me)

Bladez (again sp)

Treds (sp)

Man-O-War

Gunnyr (seriously you can't just use a different spelling to make it cool)

 

 

and No 1

 

 

Mr Moto the ATV

[Soundwinder]

I like that Gobots had a lot more variety in their alt-modes. Sure, G1 had the Microchange bots, which were my favorites, but Gobots had some vehicles that WEREN'T just basic cars, trucks, planes, and military vehicles.

 

It's taken us 20 years to get a dumptruck. They had one in their first year.

 

But their names were lame, the vast majority of them seemed to be poorly designed (by which I mean just had poor transformations), and really jsut weren't up to the quality of Transformers of the time.

[Stormtrooper53]

It's taken us 20 years to get a dumptruck. They had one in their first year.

 

Uhhhh...Long Haul??

[Soundwinder]

... well, that's embarrassing. I meant to say garbage truck, because I saw your post where you mentioned Dumper... who I now realize is a dump truck, not a garbage truck.

 

And my brain saw apparantly knew that, and said dump truck. Making me correct... but wronger.

 

... I blame finals.

[Stormtrooper53]

:tflaugh

[Galzamus]

I THINK I HAD DUMPER!! ... I need to dig out those freaks..

[MikePrime]

I'd very much like a garbage truck in some Transformers toyline.

[Goktimus Prime]

Wideload and Landfill, although technically dump trucks, are described as garbage trucks. Dump trucks are used to haul and dump rubbish after all. But I guess you guys mean garbage collecting trucks. It'd work in a Mini-Con team IMO.

 

*realizes that some TF names are equally as retarded*

Not really during the 80s around the time that Go-Bots was around. Transformer names started sucking in early Beast Wars (e.g.: Cheetor, Rhinox, Insecticon, Dinobot, B'Boom etc), but then they started getting better with the names after the Beast Wars cartoon came out (e.g.: Rampage, Depth Charge etc)... but then started sucking again in Beast Machines (Tankor?! That's reeeaaaally Gobottish) - but just when we thought that was bad, we saw some absolutely craptacular names in RiD (X-Brawn?!)... and yeah, things haven't really been the same since.

 

In short, Hasbro and Tonka are really not good with coming up with character names... or fiction.

 

(Rantage Engine: ON)

 

Gobots originally had no fiction or real names. Gobots were originally called Machine Men and had names like F-15 Man, Shuttle Man, Buggy Man, Tank Man, Coptor Man etc - in fact, some of them kept their Machine Men names after they changed to Gobots (e.g.: Tank Man and Buggy Man were still called the same names in Gobots).

 

The man... ...the buggy...

...the legend.

 

The original fiction and names for Transformers during G1 came from Marvel Comics. Marvel editors and writers like Denny O'Neil, Jim Shooter and Bob Budiansky was responsible for creating the core fictional premise and the Transformer names during G1 - especially Budiansky. Autobots, Decepticons, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Dinobots, Sideswipe, Wheeljack etc etc etc. - all came from Marvel. And that's why the Transformers' names sound like super hero and villain names. Their characters read like comic heroes and villains (e.g.: they have special abilities and weaknesses). Heck, Budiansky even wrote Transformers Universe in the same format as Marvel Universe. The Transformers cartoon was produced by Marvel Productions Ltd (under contract from Sunbow).

 

 

Tonka reacted to this by recreating Machine Men as "Gobots" and commissioning Hanna Barbera to create a fictional background for their toys. I don't know if it was Tonka or Hanna Barbera who came up with the new Gobot names (I suspect it was Tonka) - but either way overall they sucked compared to Transformer names during the 80s.

 

e.g.:

Leader-1 VS Optimus Prime

Cy-Kill VS Megatron

Fi-Tor VS Starscream

Cop-Tur VS Soundwave

Turbo VS Sideswipe

Tank Man VS Warpath

Buggy Man VS Beachcomber

Bad Boy VS Powerglide

Bug Bite VS Bumblebee

...etc.

 

Then there was Tonka's attempt to save the Gobot line... ROCK LORDS?! Okay seriously - look at this from a kid's POV. Here's a robot... that transforms into a fcuking ROCK.

 

W T F ?

 

If anyone's even seen the Gobots movie (Battle of the Rock Lords) you'll know how incredibly lame they were...

a. They moved about in rock mode. Yeah, they could roll and even fly.

b. They ate rocks for fuel. Now I could understand that some rocks could contain minerals that could be converted into fuel... but they munched it like apples. One cool thing about Maccadam's Old Oil House in Transformers is that you see Transformers "drinking" fuel via pipes connected to fuel ports in their chests, or dumping Energon into repositories... they didn't "drink" like freakin' organics. Oh wait... the Gobots were originally organic creatures... (-_-)

 

...the only remotely interesting thing about the movie was the opening credits... only because you saw Margot Kidder and Telly Savalas' names appear. That would be the only thing worth mentioning about that movie IMO.

 

When Transformers started sinking, Hasbro tried to revive it with Transformers Generation 2. While that wasn't a raving success, it was a better attempt than freakin' Rock Lords. At least with G2 you can understand Hasbro's rationale - they were sticking with the "tried and true," re-releasing classic G1 moulds with new colours (some of which really sucked, but others were okay - I really like G2 Sideswipe's colours) and attempting to "jazz up" the cartoon with CGI (in execution it turned out to be an awful idea) and then commissioning Marvel to produce a new series of comics. Hasbro were basically thinking about revamping the "classic" Transformer characters and figures to start the line - and then they actually improved it by releasing new innovative designs like improved durability, detailed sculpting and articulated robot modes. Late G2 saw some pretty cool designs like the Laser Rods, Hero Prime and Megs, Cyberjets and the G2 Gobots (who doesn't love Spychangers? ;)). So even though G2 ultimately failed to substantially revive the TF franchise, you could see that HasTak were making an effort (even if it was somewhat misguided at the beginning).

 

But HasTak then took the innovative designs they had introduced in G2 and reinvented the line by giving us Beast Wars! And thus the Transformers Renaissance was born. :)

 

Rock Lords on the other hand... what the fcuk was Tonka thinking?!? (o_O) Then you had Gem Lords... *sigh*

 

(Rantage Engine: OFF)

 

And don't believe me - history speaks for itself. After Rock Lords and Gem Lords, Gobots died on its arse and Tonka was shortly after bought out by Hasbro. While G2 wasn't a smashing success, it was successful enough to allow Transformers to survive. Then Beast Wars came along and Transformers changed from surviving to thriving and things have just gone up and up since then.