The robot figures transformed into a mixture of generic and specific contemporary machines, plus a handful of Second World War fighter aircraft, and a number of futuristic designs.
GOBOT IDENTIFICATION SERIES
The bulk of the Gobot line was taken from the Machine Robo 600 Series line of figures, which were around 5–8 cm / 2-3 inches high on average. Tonka released the first batch of figures to stores in 1983. In 1991, Hasbro acquired the Gobots range from Tonka Inc. 1987 was the final year in which new Gobots were released. Tank and Dozer simply stood up to transform).
Gobots were also largely considered by fans and the marketplace to be overly simplistic when compared to the more sophisticated Transformers line whereas Transformers characters had iconic names (e.g., Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime) and multi-faceted transformation cycles (where the robot often did not resemble the vehicle), Gobots characters had much more obvious names (e.g., Scooter who changed into a scooter, Tank who changed into a tank, Dozer who changed into a bulldozer, etc.) and simplified transformation cycles (e.g. The line sold well initially, but was overtaken by Transformers, something often attributed to Hasbro's much better promotion and media tie-ins – for example, Gobot figures had no character profiles on their packaging, whereas Hasbro included tech spec biographies for each character on the back of the card or box. Introduced in 1984 by Tonka Inc., the Gobots toys created the robot "sensation" that swept the nation for a short time. The figures were all given individual names, in contrast to the simple designations they received in Japan. In another similarity to Transformers, Tonka decided to make the figures sentient robots, rather than human-piloted mecha as they had been in Japan, and divided them into two factions – the good Guardians and evil Renegades (although early figures were simply described as ‘Friendly’ or ‘Enemy’ on the packaging). In 1983, Tonka decided to import the line into America after realizing Hasbro was doing the same with Takara’s Diaclone and Microman's Microchange lines, which became Transformers after crossing the Pacific. The Gobot toyline was based on figures produced by Popy of Japan (later Bandai), named Machine Robo.
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