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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jul 30, 2015 17:11:03 GMT -6
Go-Bots toys were simpler then Transformers. I believe they were targeted for a younger age group and weren't as well built. I had both as a kid and I recall getting Go-Bots with the original Japanese text from my dad's visits to Chinatown in SF on his business trips. I didn't really care for the original set of Go-Bot figures but the Go-Bots Deluxe line was great and close to being on par with Transformers. I don't recall the names but I still have several of the Deluxe line of Go-Bots: Yellow VW bug, Orange 18 Wheeler with Car Carrier, and the Futuristic car. The license must have been worth enough for Hasbro to take it over from Tonka... Like drbo says above, they have a lot more detail and realism in vehicle mode, and Gobots touched on some stuff like classic cars and WWII planes. I don't really think they are simpler--there are quite a few Gobots who have pretty novel or even tricky transformations for such small toys, and some manage to pack comparatively large robot modes into quite compact vehicles (Fly Trap or Defendor, for instance). I think because Transformers won the toy war, they are just remembered more fondly and their faults are overlooked.
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aoiddr
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Sept 4, 2015 19:28:22 GMT -6
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Post by aoiddr on Oct 4, 2015 16:40:27 GMT -6
When I was little, I had tons of GoBots and Convertors (and Rock Lords), but not really much of any Transformers stuff. I guess it was because I liked having bugs and animals more than vehicles. The GoBots Command Center is a really cool vehicle, though, as it could almost be something out of Star Wars.
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digktialx
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Feb 25, 2015 17:31:50 GMT -6
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Post by digktialx on Oct 4, 2015 21:17:49 GMT -6
When I was little, I had tons of GoBots and Convertors (and Rock Lords), but not really much of any Transformers stuff. I guess it was because I liked having bugs and animals more than vehicles. The GoBots Command Center is a really cool vehicle, though, as it could almost be something out of Star Wars. I do still have that Command Center too. It feels very inspired by the Star Wars AT-AT doesn't it? Its still in good shape but missing a few pieces but it was a cool toy I used to play with it mostly in command mode rather then vehicle mode. In regard to the other comments I didn't consider that the majority of the Go-Bots were actually better smaller vehicles then the Transformer line. I was never a particular fan of the small transformer toys either. The Go-Bots got more attention then the similar smaller Transformers at least in my playtime. With all the k/os of the new MP Transformers I'm surprised nobody has taken the time to do a MP Go-Bot line. I would think that would have some promise at least with the more iconic characters. I mean Hasbro is already doing the Transformers and they have the Go-Bot ip... -dx
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aoiddr
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Post by aoiddr on Oct 6, 2015 22:33:30 GMT -6
I guess it's largely because the property hasn't interested Hollywood enough for there to be a revival. Even the cartoon series was regulated to the Warner Archives burn-on-demand site.
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Post by bowspearer on Jun 7, 2016 2:44:57 GMT -6
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jun 8, 2016 12:03:17 GMT -6
They're not something you would confuse with MP TFs. They're only about 4-5" tall.
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Post by bowspearer on Jun 21, 2016 20:04:37 GMT -6
What does size have to do with anything? Masterpiece Figures have been a variety of sizes since at least MP-13 - with Laserbeak, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy, Ratbat, Buzz-Saw and Bumblebee all coming in at around that size or smaller.
How these figures were sold is irrelevant too; figure sets have been around since G1, with interactivity varying from Soundwave and Laserbeak/Buzz-saw to Starscream and Megatron in "Goodbye Megatron". How these figures were packaged and sold in no way, shape or form changes their functionality or whether if sold on their own, they would still be Masterpiece figures.
Also, to head off any claims about the Cassettes being nothing more than accessories for Soundwave, if you go back to the Micro Change line it was the Cassettes which were released first (designations MC-01- MC-03), well before Soundwave or "Cassette Man" as he was known (designation MC-10), while the design mandate for the cassette player Micro Change figures to interact with the Cassettes was clearly so strong that they built a storage compartment into MC-21 Radiocasse Robo (Blaster) just so the design would have that interactivity. That ignores the fact that while the Transformers line did treat those characters as Soundwave's minions, they were clearly characters in their own right - with G2 Gobot Frenzy, Beast Wars Ravage and Alternators Rumble, as well as both versions of Alternators Ravage, all existing as characters and toys in their own right, with absolutely no feature-based interactivity with Soundwave. The closest any of these figures comes is G2 Gobot Frenzy and even then it's solely as one of 3 Decepticon Gobots and he has the same interactivity with Soundwave that he has with any of the other Gobots, such as Bumblebee, Blowout and Optimus Prime.
In all cases, you are talking about officially licensed or in house produced figures that have been made with increased articulation and animation accuracy likeness. In fact the only reason that sizes vary with Masterpiece Transformers is that in the case of Transformers, they are all being made in scale with the animation scale guide, while the "Masterpiece" Machine Robo Figures are clearly going for trying to fit more into a smaller package size - something that they can much do much more easily given that the robot mode animation models in "Revenge of Cronos" were far more toy accurate than those used in Transformers.
In short, the size argument simply doesn't hold water and neither do any of the other arguments.
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ucsf
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Mar 5, 2014 7:52:38 GMT -6
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Post by ucsf on Jun 24, 2016 14:10:03 GMT -6
These new iterations do have decent molds, and it's cler that all the figures are going to made it to e-tailers, that were shown before in different cons. But after that.. ho knows.. I still love the line, even in this new, slightly renamed system, so i hope that many of the old characters gonna be redone.
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Post by bowspearer on Jul 2, 2016 4:43:39 GMT -6
ucsf I'm not really sure it can be called a "slightly renamed system", because the problem when observing this line from a Western perspective is that the view is inherently topsy-turvy; up is down and down is up. After all, it's not really a "renamed system" so much as a correctly named system which we're looking at from the perspective of our first experiences being with these figures as a completely re-branded toyline. In fact one thing I find interesting is how these designs really are faithful to Revenge of Chronos, yet at the same time, in many regards, radically different to how they'd be if this was a Challenge of the Gobots accurate line (Cy-kill comes immediately to mind here). I'd actually draw a parallel - and an extreme one at that - for example, of the difference between Masterpiece Ironhide and a Diaclone V2.0 Nissan Onebox Vanette if Takara ever does one. The fact is that we're so used to relating these toys to the cartoons they were paired with while we were growing up and how they impacted on our own personal collective mythology, that it's all too easy to forget that these figures were in fact rebranded and repackaged figures that have histories that go back further and in some cases are radically more different, than our childhood experiences would ever have hinted at. At the end of the day, it all makes for a rather interesting study in the history of modern mythology, popular culture and modern, transnational consumerism.
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ucsf
Garage Sale Scavenger
Mar 5, 2014 7:52:38 GMT -6
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Post by ucsf on Jul 2, 2016 5:00:08 GMT -6
I'm not well-educated in this topic, I know. And you're right, the cartoon series actually what really keeps getting back to our mind. So the new material really have strong bond to the original Go-Bots myth. That is even more awesome than I was thinking.
Actually I am glad that the current releases have the opportunity to be not just a TF wannabe line, but with well done proportions and good transformations, the figures itself might get more attention, like what they should have received over the past decades.
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Post by bowspearer on Jul 2, 2016 5:48:32 GMT -6
ucsf Honestly, I think "well educated" is a relative term. I've looked at a fair bit here and there but I have no doubt that others have dug further in various cases. Alot of this stuff is really a treasure trove of info waiting to be dug up. And I agree the new figures have hit the right note - people complain about things like no die cast, but it's a blessing; die cast worked in the original figures because they were essentially bricks that might have had some articulation that made them look like they could be posed in a range of positions, but ultimately they were balanced in a manner so that they were really only poseable standing straight up and maybe with arms out. I have no doubt that die cast on these figures would have been a hindrance and made balancing them in various poses a nightmare. Also I actually think it's great we're not seeing them at retail in Western markets; the line would most likely die a slow and painful death if that happened due to the double whammy of the average pop culture geek barely remembering Machine Men - if at all - and being most likely even less aware of Revenge of Chronos. In fact the only places I think that the line would have a chance of surviving in retail, are Japan and the markets which Bandai of Japan/Bandai Asia have directly marketed the Machine Robo line to, under that branding. It's possible that might change with time, but I'd rather have the line as it is and doing well enough to warrant a Wave 2, which has already been anounced
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