The Energon Pub

by **babylon queen** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:40 pm

If they had better cartoons, toys or if there were better storylines or animation or if the characters were better? If the Rock Lords have never been invented?

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 1:25 am

Did you see how the Japanese presented their version of Gobots in their 47 episode Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos?

They basically used the same products in CotGB. Maybe Hasbro and Marvel caught the lightning in the bottle back then.........or as in "Highlander" parlance, "There can be only One"

News Credits: 1 · by **Duke of Luns** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:50 am

The GoBots needed a better animated series and names. The toys were fine, and in some cases are better than Trasformers of comparable size and price at the time.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:14 am

babylon queen wrote:If they had better cartoons, toys or if there were better storylines or animation or if the characters were better? If the Rock Lords have never been invented?

The cartoon would have been a good start if done right. However, Tonka made the mistake of trying to rush things by contracting Hanna-Barbera. Although they were the master in keeping animation cheap yet effective, they didn't have much expertise in the Action/Adventure genre. Importing Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos would not have worked, just for the reason it came a few years too late (1986) to make a difference. It did get a sequel series, Machine Robo: Battle Hackers (which got canceled at 31 episodes) and some OVA's, but they all had the same Robo with some new ones. Not enough to make a good difference. Both did feature the Rock Lords, with the Fossil Lords as primary protagonists in the later series.

Down to the toys themselves, the Machine Robo have their charm, especially if they have die cast metal. And they were diverse and willing to experiment with the Big, DX, W and Combiners (I wanted Puzzler...) for starters. Ultimately they were for the most part more simplistic in style compared to Takara's offerings. There are some gems in there though. Tonka's own designs... don't get me started :lol:

So yeah, it could have been done much better if it was done just a tad slower and with a bit more forethought. The turtle always wins the race, as Hasbro has proven.

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:15 pm

babylon queen wrote:If they had better cartoons, toys or if there were better storylines or animation or if the characters were better? If the Rock Lords have never been invented?

It's funny because the question and the answer are the same thing. "Would Go-bots have been better if it was better?"

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:00 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
babylon queen wrote:If they had better cartoons, toys or if there were better storylines or animation or if the characters were better? If the Rock Lords have never been invented?

The cartoon would have been a good start if done right. However, Tonka made the mistake of trying to rush things by contracting Hanna-Barbera. Although they were the master in keeping animation cheap yet effective, they didn't have much expertise in the Action/Adventure genre. Importing Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos would not have worked, just for the reason it came a few years too late (1986) to make a difference. It did get a sequel series, Machine Robo: Battle Hackers (which got canceled at 31 episodes) and some OVA's, but they all had the same Robo with some new ones. Not enough to make a good difference. Both did feature the Rock Lords, with the Fossil Lords as primary protagonists in the later series.

Down to the toys themselves, the Machine Robo have their charm, especially if they have die cast metal. And they were diverse and willing to experiment with the Big, DX, W and Combiners (I wanted Puzzler...) for starters. Ultimately they were for the most part more simplistic in style compared to Takara's offerings. There are some gems in there though. Tonka's own designs... don't get me started

So yeah, it could have been done much better if it was done just a tad slower and with a bit more forethought. The turtle always wins the race, as Hasbro has proven.

Puzzler? I really wanted that Devastator wannabee! The components iirc had die-cast frames (car body and not the robot torsos as in the Stunticons) and rubber tires! If that was implemented with the Stunticons.............mmmmmmmm, I get the goose pimples thinking what could have been.

News Credits: 767 · by **Dead Metal** » Sun Sep 28, 2014 6:44 am

I heard that for a while the Go-Bots where much more popular than the TF, but the distribution of the toys was terrible and Hasbro had much better and aggressive marketing, even going so far as advertising TFs in Go-Bots comics and during their cartoon's time slot.

So yeah, Go-Bots would have been better had they been better.