Dragon*Con 2017 Transformers vs. GoBots RetroBlasting Panel

[@nu_Ken99]

Very cool seeing how the gobots blended in so perfectly with the hot wheels toys!

[@BrotherApexx]

Great, fun presentation. Most of us Transformers fans know the Japanese toy history but the GoBots info was fascinating. You guys rock!

[@O.G.Trashboat]

Optimus Prime cartoons voice is iconic. I remember hearing it for the 1st time & being in awe.

[@xodiaq]

Peter Cullen GOAT

[@WishItWas1984]

I always find it amazing that no matter how many decades I am a fan and collector, researching and absorbing, there's always more cool history to learn. Thanks for this.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

WishItWas1984. yep

[@HPTBANDIT]

My family was a poor so Transformers was a bit out of our price range. I was more of a Masters of the Universe kid. Thankfully I lived in a neighborhood full of kids who let me play with their Transformers.

[@LucLightWolf121]

Outstanding panel, guys! I wish I could have been there. Keep up the great work! 😊👍👍

[@batangbatugan]

This is why I love Sundays now. Its like waking up on a Saturday morning to watch my favorite cartoons. =) Another packed room guys, congratulations on another great panel!

[@chrisbrewer9942]

Was really glad to see the turn out for the panel. You guys really put in a lot of work doing these and deserve the recognition.

[@KevinWei24]

What a fun video and very informational. I was a Gobot fan as a kid and I still prefer them over the Transformers.

[@ImRobertFinnerty]

This is one of my favorite Retroblasting features yet! I've been dying for someone to go deeper into the history of the Diaclone company.

[@muirdul]

Really awesome panel guys!! The movie was my first introduction to Transformers as a child, so I didn't have any prior attachment or expectations, but I can absolutely understand why you felt the way you did!! For me, now, I still love the 'movie crew' more than the 'arc crew', but it would probably be reversed if I had watched the series before the movie. (Also loved the Rock Lords movie as a kid!!) Anyway, fantastic work as always!!

[@theronmitchell3073]

Awesome panel, so glad someone did this comparison

[@KevinWei24]

As a kid I had Turbo (Hot Wheels sized). But always wanted Scooter. I love the Gobots.

[@gutz1981]

To be fair to G1 Transformers, before Arcee, the show did introduce female transformers in one episode still fighting on Cybertron whose design was similar to Arcee's and they were supposed to be the love interests of the "guys" who left. Elita One was Optimus Prime's girlfriend and in the mythology was rebuilt with a mesh-up of Prime's parts when they were both first damaged by Megatron when Prime was still Orion Pax. For some strange reason, after one episode these girl transformers never if rarely ever showed up again (Elita was shown in a Prime origins episode).

[@The-kr9rb]

@ANTS ON MY WIENER actually one of the writers wanted to add her because his daughter liked transformers

[@edaniels240]

Great sweet memories and I still have alot of them

[@jediknight73]

Great quality video

[@erikhelbing2929]

So awesome, great to find people to laugh and remember all the fun times!! Thank you

[@somarriba333]

So glad you mentioned how the Gobots blend in with the Hot Wheels. That was a HUGE plus for me as a kid. Even though I liked Transformers more, playing with Gobots was fun because of their size. I could fit a LOT in my pockets to take to school....I also did take my Optimus Prime to school and lost his hands. I threw my lunch in the garbage and forgot to take the hands off of the lunch tray and saw them fall in. :( Still have my Optimus though.

[@ShallowEclipse]

I know this is late and don’t know if you still have him or if you’ll read this or have already done so, but you could always go on eBay or check some local toy vendors at any flea market, antique toy mall, or retro shop or something just as close that may be near and look and/ or ask around for replacement hands given how more and more people have gotten into buying/ selling/ trading parts

[@donaldthompson9938]

I really enjoyed this video you covered a lot of good points for both toy lines. I had toys from both of these toy lines. Great memories.

[@ericreese4553]

Thanks for posting this. I missed this panel and really wanted to see you guys always 5 things going on at the same time at Dragon Con. I did catch the G.I. Joe jumping the SHAC panel it was fantastic. Thanks guys.

[@Mbq-sh6bj]

This video was so great! You two and your channel are hilarious and extremely niche entertaining! (And thorough! Tons of stuff you've said about Go-Bots & Transformers, I've always thought but never said out loud.) Thank you so much for this video!

[@artkingofwholefoods74]

You guys are Great! 😂 lots of interesting, and funny talk!!!

[@johngil4702]

As a kid I wish I thought of mixing GoBots into my Matchbox/Hot Wheels sets. Great presentation guys!

[@cybertronnation9247]

Brilliant panel guys! I wasn't there but since I am a Transformers fan and collector I really liked this presentation by you guys! Can't wait for what is coming next!

[@shoestringscifi]

Great video! As a kid, I was firmly in the Transformers camp. As an adult, with near zero interest in any of the fiction, I'm kind of neutral. I do think Puzzler was superior to any G1 combiner, by virtue of being self-contained and needing no easily misplaced accessories to combine. Only as an adult did I recognize how super-cool the Power Warrior / Power Suits were.

[@j2times2006]

man some really annoying comments from the crowd. awesome job by this duo. learned a few things i didn't know

[@TheNightBadger]

This was great... there was one thing unmentioned though... a major factor in the enjoyment of the Transformers over the Go-Bots... the repeated-by-all-kids-who-played-with-them 'transforming' sound! On top of that, I can still recall Soundwave being a major pull at the time - almost to scale with an actual Walkman, and you could put transforming tapes inside him [mind blown!] Things like that and Optimus Prime coming with a cool trailer just made Transformers seem _cooler_ than Go-Bots. I also remember how much of a factor the rub symbols were at the time for making Transformers seem better than Go-Bots - little things like that can make a huge difference. And I think the overall branding was better.

[@icarusprime]

You guys did a great job and thanks for sharing your panel. Why is there always that one guy that thinks they can shout out and "discuss" their thoughts during presentations like this? It is so annoying and disrespectful. Like dude in front shut it and just sit back and enjoy; if they want participation they will ask for it.

[@YomTube]

this was great. loads of great info presented in a fun and interesting way. looking forward to the other vids.

[@mattleuty5285]

I swear I will be at one of these someday!! This was a great presentation guys and thanks for the nostalgia hit by showing that picture of the Gnarleys (apologies if incorrectly spelt) but yeah I had the black one and I hadn't seen the furry guy in years. Anyway you were fantastic.

[@glyph2011]

What a great panel!! Really informative!

[@Matth3w2012]

Thank you Michael and Melinda - it is great to see you back!

[@jojst1]

Real excited to be able to watch this. Luchtime, Transformers, GoBots and RetroBlasting...not bad!

[@1980Triumph]

As a kid who grew in the 80's I never really heard bad words against the Gobots, sure we all loved Transformers more but there was some Gobots love, it is when we got older that people really trashed the product and I do not get it. Gobots sure enough is not a better property but Transformers is flawed as a product too, looking back the original run of figures are mostly terrible. They are classics but the scaling and how they reference the cartoon kind of ruined them for me as I got older. I like them both and I collect both, there is room in my heart for all things Transformers and Gobots, though I do love Transformers more.

[@1sdrummer2]

1980Triumph it's called retro -justification. Humans do it all the time.

[@1980Triumph]

True

[@oatmealboy6]

There was a few key Gobots who made into the ranks of the Autobots and Decepticons in my play pattern. Flip Top the helicopter a cool design that after was part of all the strike teams (which usually included SideSwipe, Topspin Bluestreak and Brawn) as their eyes in the sky, and he could hold his copter blade like a cool cutting weapon. Dive Dive was kind of lame, but was the only submarine, so good for reporting from the ocean floor. Vamp was cool, and I used her as the Decepticons' Frankensteinian doctor. Leader One ironically was just a random jet that would fly in formation as a aerial bot but be shot down first to raise the dramatic stakes. I think the Commandrons from McDonald's got better roles in my Transformer adventures than Leader One did.

[@1980Triumph]

LOL, that is good, there is always room to include them. Surprisingly I never mixed them in play.

[@Tr0nzoid]

That trendy bashing happens all the time, often by people who had nothing to do with the stuff when it was new. It happens about Go-Bots, Pac-Man on Atari, Betamax, New Coke to name a few. I don't get why the appeal of compact Hot Wheels -sized/action figure-sized transforming figures can't be understood by so many. I would have liked to have seen the line flourish with more playsets.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Well,this expands most available information from KZbin about the toys being presented.How I love watching those japanese transformers commercial moreso to collect all these toys

[@vaderfett3229]

Great Video as always guys - informative and entertaining!

[@utubepunk]

Your presentations rock! Really enjoyed the ninja one, too.

[@MrArukimasu]

Fantastic talk as usual! I'm always impressed by the level of research you put in and the quality of your work

[@Pernection]

MrArukimasu and that poster!

[@garrettgonzales7614]

Probably the only PowerPoint to not put you to sleep.

[@ducaticanine]

love your channel. always looking forward to new videos, wish there were more. thx!

[@retroblasting]

+carmine just posted a new one

[@seancwilich8852]

Very good panel. Pretty funny at some points & good explanation with everything. :)

[@KronnangDunn]

Awesome presentation. You only forgot to mention that the GoBots universe and mythos has been officially part of Transformers since 1991...

[@Halcyon4799]

Another awesome con panel. I have watched them all l, hope to someday get to see one in person. Great Job Melinda and Mike (sorry)Michael

[@mizunopearl]

Long time fan, I love your reviews on toys and your presentation was very informative. Keep up the good work!

[@retroblasting]

Thanks so much!

[@stephaniemckeever812]

RetroBlasting cool video but i HATE the name "gobots"....As someone who lives in ireland we got "robo machine" which was the original western release (as opposed to "machine robo") by bandai before tonka got their grubby little hands on the brand and released the "gobots".

[@stephaniemckeever812]

RetroBlasting fantastic panel.you guys really know your stuff.just subbed to your yt channel. ☺👍

[@42ndLife]

For the record: I'm the kid that wanted the rock. I almost had all of them.

[@raymondburnett6468]

I wanted Shoe from Chinpokomon

[@frankdavf4599]

very entertaining panel! thanks RB!

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Yknow , I liked the Gobots & Transformers. I loved CyKill and Megatron. Primes death to me was a bonus as an 80s villian defeated his foe!

[@LowellLucasJr.]

bigevilworldwide1 same here bro! The villians always had the best cast of characters! Sad shame about Galvatrons figure back then, but his current figures make up for it! As a kid, I played every baddy on the playground from Shredder, Cobra Commander & Mumra, to Skeletor and of coarse...MEGATRON

[@DragmaKerp]

Very good panel... I loved it

[@bpo1975]

Great panel, great discussion.

[@TOKYOTOYBANZAI]

Microman FTW. Great history lesson guys! I had always wondered about Gobots since I wasn't as educated about them.

[@6sh0tchangerreviews]

What a great panel, good catch on this dude.

[@jasonirelan7257]

One set of Gobots that are worth mentioning are the ones put out by the fast food restaurant Wendy's. A lot of the toys themselves weren't as good like Guide Star, but at least they came with bios. I had a barber give me an unopened Guardian that turned into a jet when I lived in Edgewater, but I don't know where it is, and I don't remember the name. The fact that they came with bios is interesting because it's like the old G1 Transformers, except those had mottos and specs.

[@jasonirelan7257]

Timothy Ward Yes, that's the one.

[@damonr.1098]

I saw the GoBots movie on cable TV. What a disaster. I did see the animated Transformers movie on the big screen on Labor Day 1986. The best of the bunch so far.

[@MarkDemeo]

this was another great,fun panel,i always look forward to them. i have maybe an odd opinion of go bots and transformers,i liked the go bot toys more because they were cheaper and easier to put them in their alt mode,but i liked the transformers cartoon more than those toys.

[@oldskooljoypad]

Great panel thanks for sharing

[@mmorpger0558]

Why'd you say there was only one female robot in Transformers? They had an entire episode devoted to Nightbird, the ninja female robot Megatron had a crush on. Then they had the episode with Elita One, Chromia, Moonracer, and Firestar, plus two background female Autobots. They showed Ariel, Elita One's previous form in another episode. Then after season 2, in the TF the movie world, they added some Arcee clones and I think they had an ancient female with a crossbow named Beta.

[@SpacedCobraIII]

Yeah also the initial reason for the lack of fembots was they were thought to be extinct, which Shockwave specifically mentions when he encounters them in the second season. Yes I know how geeky this comment is. =P

[@captainobvious9233]

I used to have a big collection of Go Bots. Not sure what happened to them. Many Years ago I sold all my childhood Joes and Transformers, but the Go-Bots where not amongst them. I may have gotten rid of them long before that or maybe... just maybe they are still hidden in the attic somewhere.

[@redklok585]

Rock Lords = if you're bad, the Transformer Santa will bring you will be a lump of coal.

[@GamerMastodon]

I had one, lol

[@thomasthompson2431]

Back in the early eighties, in the UK, the Eagle Comic had a Robo Machine ( a UK release name of gobots) comic strip, one of those two page black and white strips that continued on for weeks and weeks to get a full story, it ended with many of them leaving in the command centre and then a giant Cy-Kil standing over a group of Humans making some Exposition about the coming of Zod ( Dinosaur headed Motor Tricyle guy)

[@mrheroprimes]

we do people keep forgetting about elita one and her team from the season 2 episode the search for alpha trion. Arcee was not the first female Autobots for Pete sake's why dose this miss information every time. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a37Wo3ptiJicn80

[@chipperwilliams7854]

This was great! Good job!

[@AXSLA3]

Don't forget in Transformers, he Decepticons deviced a matter transferral machine that could bring objects from Earth to Cybertron, and little later they try to send back a transformer, for that they use Bumblebee as "volunteer" (who finally made it to turn back to Cybertron. And in a couple of episodes, somewhat the Decepticons manage to move Cybertron out of orbit until it comes close to Earth, causing cataclismical results on Earth due to the gravity pool, and in those episodes Starscream flies from Earth to Cybertron and back. It is after these episodes that you start to see new Autobots and Depecticons (you could say they travelled to Earth by that time). Also, in Marvel comics, they created a Dimensional Bridge so as to connect Cybertron with Earth, during this time some Autobots in Cybertron crossed that bridge to Earth, those were Blaster, Perceptor, Powerglide, Cosmos, Seaspray, Beachcomber, and Warpath.

[@bartdman95]

You guys and gals are awesome as always. Are you planning up upload the LIVE Q & A video you did? I do like to watch it again. :) God Speed.

[@retroblasting]

+Bart 'D Man 95 Lobby Wurkz live Q&A? When and where did this happen?

[@bartdman95]

It happened when you guys were testing your equipment a few weeks ago. You were filming it live in the studio with the toys in the background. You even panned the camera to show you USS FLAG. :D I remember TEDDY RUBSKIN was watching too. :) Or maybe that was in a parallel earth and my computer got the broadcast by accident. ^_^ It was so early in my timezone when you did it. I was almost dawn, the sun was just getting up. I was getting ready to go out for work. I forgot to turn off my computer. It could have been an awesome dream. hehehehehe

[@gutz1981]

The ONLY excuse I could ever come up with with how the Transformers (Especially the Autobots) were so easily killed in the movie and not in the show was because throughout the first 2 seasons, the decepticons main objective was to find energon to win the war and get back to Cybertron and refuel it as well. So come the movie when the Decepticons won and took back Cybertron they were at 100% power form, where as the Autobots were still struggling for energy (Something Prime even mentioned as to why they cannot beat the Decepticons and why Autobot city which was a damn power generator for them was the main target by Megatron. In a way there is logic to that if in the show both parties were at say 50% and come the movie, they were 100% vs 60-70%.

[@deathtogoogle3015]

That's pretty much how I always saw it. The Decepticons had a stronger position and more secure energy stockpiles, while the Autobots were running low. The Autobots couldn't stand up to a full power assault, and fell far more easily than we'd come to expect.

[@gutz1981]

Exactly, which is what is said pretty much in the first 4 minutes of the movie and was explained in the first and second season what would happen if the decepticons won the war.

[@protobooster7496]

Great panel discussion!

[@frankmarzig1972]

awesome panel, very cool!

[@idunno...someguy3252]

I audibly laughed at the #harambe joke. Great video as always!

[@אנונימיתאנונימי]

Timothy Ward D**ks out for Harambe!

[@thomasmeehan4581]

Awesome job guys!

[@dol_mel7487]

Great job guys also I would love to see you guys review the machine robo anime someday

[@rex-2036]

Great panel, guys! :-D

[@greenechri]

funny and informative. great presentation

[@elseoner2394]

Transformers were my favorite as a kid and I had many but my first transforming robot was a psycho super Gobot and I remember playing with it in school everyday.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

The car that Psycho turns into comes from an episode of an anime called Space Adventure Cobra.

[@Drawkcabi]

I wish I could "like" all your videos a thousand times each and then a thousand more again. Once again, thanks for the nostalgia trip guys. And...I saw Transformers: The Movie in the theaters...twice. I *Loved* it! Kind of makes sense that I'm a Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire fan (since 1998), don't it? First time I saw Transformers: The Movie (on opening day) as soon as it was over I had to run out of the theater and call my friend and tell him the entire movie. You may think me mean for spoiling him, but this was the same friend who told me Darth Vader was Luke's father before I ever saw Empire. In the 80's, when it took years for them to come out on home video, sometimes the only way you got to "see" a movie is a scene by scene recap from someone else who saw it. I also saw Gobots Rocklords in the theater. And I have the movie on DVD, transferred it myself from VHS. ETA: One last thing, have you ever transformed a G1 Prowl (or Blue Streak, or Smoke Screen)? Prowl was my first Transformer, and I guess it's good the animation transformation on Transformers wasn't as faithful to toys as the Gobots were in their cartoon, else it could have been as awkward as Crane Brain.

[@Papa-eb1lt]

Once again a great video. Keep up the from the U.K

[@christopherdeleon2095]

just so you know theirs this 18" or 22" robot from 1985 from matchbox called cargantua: monster of the freeways. its a playset for the matchbox cars, so it would make a great playset for your gobots

[@Noremorse79]

a lot of gobot elemanets were also taken from Robotix , also with Peter Cullen amd Frank Welker

[@zevadprime]

Great panel!

[@soterioncoil2163]

The name: Machine Robo sounds way cooler than GoBots or Transformers to me.

[@אנונימיתאנונימי]

Soterion Coil Indeed, Machine Robo was better then both of those franchises

[@nickmanzo8459]

Gyro Robo was way cooler than the super lame Cop-Tor!

[@jasonirelan7257]

It's amazing how they debate which is better between Gobots and Transformers the same way there's a debate between which is better between Star Trek and Star Wars. With Star Wars, you pretty much get movies; and a lot of times, when you read Star Wars comics, you won't get the same set of characters used repeatedly very often. Star Trek has had several TV series, and they're about to launch another one called Star Trek: Discovery.

[@Elementa2006]

I had Nugget from the Rock Lords line.

[@seancwilich8852]

4:03 I still have that Diaclone toy. I keep it in a bag with the weapons from my Transformer toys.

[@TheKiman2]

I attended this one. It was awesome!!!!!

[@retroblasting]

+TheKiman2 thanks for being there!

[@RhysTheGnome]

You guys are awesome.

[@ScarecrOmega]

I thought Gobots were going to get torn apart but they actually were defended really well, you guys would make good defendant lawyers.

[@larrychilders6599]

Scarecrow7 they left the tearing apart to Megatron

[@Nothin2seehere-e4z]

I like them. I never understood why some of our fans trash them. They did some stuff right and better then we did.

[@kungfuhustle99]

Awesome panel wish I was there I'm a huge tf fan

[@jasonirelan7257]

There's only one Gobot I have that I know the whereabouts of and that I play with a lot, and that's Bug Bite. God bless, Jason Scott Irelan

[@Townsvilletale]

Hahaha. That Machine Men scan is mine. It's not of an American release. It's an Australian one. Also, the rock Lords picture was from an Australian catalog I scanned, too.

[@rictusmetallicus]

I wasn't interested in GoBots/Transformers in the past, and won't be in the future, but the video is really interesting for the background and history of the franchise. Guess it's really thoroughly researched (that's what RB is known for).

[@shermanium7834]

excellent stuff! An interesting cultural difference to me is how in Japan they were vehicles driven by humans rather than in the US the marketing departments making them sentient beings

[@darknigthangel]

Nobody ever mentions that Hasbro get the GoBots license in the 2000's. The Megatron's minocon in the Armada series was called Leader 1 and in the recent IDW comics in the Megatron origin he fights Cy-kill in the arena and kill him.

[@georgelea4297]

Thanks for the video it's awesome keep up the great work

[@maximpact24]

This was such an easy watch, those 48 minutes just flew by! I could have listened to you guys talk for 48 more. I just can't say enough good things about your channel, keep up the great work! Can we look forward to any more panel videos in the future? ^

[@edaniels240]

Yep 1985 was good year where Red Alert and Leader-1 were the first 2 figures I got

[@mardukmd919]

my allowance limited me to the gobots and the tf casstte tapes until my aunt won at the races and gave me $100 to go buy some toys. i immediately went out and got megatron, soundwave, and jazz. good times!

[@nodahanshin444]

Very well done

[@chriscummings4206]

If I remember correctly, Gobots also had a little magazine you could subscribe to. That might not be saying much since Transformers had comic books but still as a kid I found it was something different and interesting. Ever since the '80s I haven't found any themes that are as good as Transformers and Gobots, Although LEGO Ninjago comes close. G.I.Joe has in my opinion the best all-around story and toyline but it didn't last for very long.

[@Tr0nzoid]

I liked both brands, and didn't compare them in a competitive jock kind of way. I could play with two lines, just like I could play with two of any other lines. I just stuck with Transformers beyond early 1985 because I became exposed to more of them with the cartoon series and toys my then-new friends had. That was kind of unfortunate, since the Go-Bot Command Center had a lot of play value.

[@אנונימיתאנונימי]

Tr00peroid Gobots was the superior toyline but they had the worst ugly cartoon toy commercial..Shame Machine Robo wasn't created earlier instead of that disgustingly ugly Hanna Barbara hippie cartoon.

[@ShallowEclipse]

That cartoon wasn’t all bad to be honest. It was simply the lower quality development put into it (probably a result of lower funding with only one, maybe two stations airing the cartoon. Remember Cartoon Express on the USA channel?). The story and various themes were often rushed instead of being flushed out. The main focus for Hanna-Barbera were shows like the Jetson’s, Flintstones, and various others including the huge cross-over’s between those shows.

[@animatedplastic]

I always thought that crane transformation at the end was from the Transformers show...animation error...didn't know it was from the Gobots:Revenge of Kronos.....now I know...and knowing is half the battle......XD

[@jonhufford6980]

Excellent as always. I appreciate that even though we know transformers isn't your favorite line, u came with your homework done and dotted your i's and crossed your t's. It was professional but also very entertaining. I think I enjoy your panels the best. I'm very interested in Japanese robots but I'm kind of over transformers. They're just too frustrating to collect. When a random loose weapon costs twice as much as the actual toy, somethings wrong. Great job ..

[@Nothin2seehere-e4z]

Transformers did some mixing too, but wasn't until season two were they start to have arielbots and autocons.