20 Major characters From The Gobots Cartoon - Backstories Explored

20 Major characters From Challenge of the Gobots Cartoon - Backstories Explored
#gobots #80scartoons #saturdaymorningcartoons

[@SJHFoto]

So cool that you did this! I grew up with the Transformers and Gobots. My friend Brian's parents were poor, so he had quite a few Gobot toys while I had Transformers. We would pretend they were in the same universe (along with my friend Deanna's Voltron), and Optimus Prime had to ask Leader-1 for help (or vice versa) or Soundwave and Cy-Kill were scheming together (I wasn't allowed to play with guns, so Soundwave was leader of my Decepticons)

[@Crasher1982]

This show gobots gets more criticism than it deserves. It's actually great, and so are the characters. :)

[@altarush]

Good point.

[@Crasher1982]

@@altarush :)

[@Crasher1982]

@@altarush Thanks. :)

[@murdermusprime7065]

I loved watching both growing up. But it was the Combiners and Dinobots that had me watching Transformers more. But I still love both shows.

[@alanwagner3469]

I agree with your statement 😃

[@DOGGAMMA]

I still watch the The Gobots old episodes ❤

[@freddyvidz]

I wish it streamed for free

[@tomcruisenukedmyaccount5388]

GoBots/Machine Robo toys are underrated. They were easy and not expensive. I preordered some MR third party figures.

[@stevenguajardo6049]

I still have my GoBots. I moved around a lot but I never let my Bots go. What I like about the original GoBots and Transformers is that they were made partially of metal. I think that's why they've lasted so long in my collection. It's nice to see the original cartoons again.

[@leroypowell3]

One of the best attributes of Gobots was the humans. They actually contributed in significant way. There's a lot of criticism about most of the humans in Transformers cartoons but Matt, Nick and AJ were really essential to the story.

[@sunstorm9119]

There really isn't any question as to which cartoon was first... Challenge of the Gobots (9/8/84) started 9 days before Transformers (9/17/84).

[@keithwiggins299]

And almost 40 year's later transformers became the dominant franchise.

[@russellharrell2747]

@@keithwiggins299um, it didn’t take 40 years, more like 3 years later when Gobots ended their toyline.

[@telall]

I still like this show

[@aladoc6832]

Me too

[@arcaderkid8449]

yeah you also forgot to mention, Crasher's Evil Laugh which i always found Memorable, that laugh she pulls off everytime she gets a mission done or defeats one of her opponents, it's easily one of the best moments in anime history. her Laugh is what i remember from the evil 1st Female Villain in robot form.

[@makocrab2223]

Crasher is the best thing about Gobots.

[@SJHFoto]

A fun fact about Crasher is that she was voiced by the same woman who played 'Miss Stacy" in the Anne of Green Gables TV movies with Meegan Follows. It shows how great an actress she is

[@chada75]

Fun Fact: Go-Bots are not fully Mechanical. They have Organic Brains

[@charlesdavis7285]

They were once human in fact like the Engineer and Master Renegade. They were given robot bodies to survive from what I remember.

[@irongunmen9446]

that explains the uncanny head designs...

[@SJHFoto]

Correct. Which is why it makes sense that a good number of them are female

[@kennethpoole5354]

​@@irongunmen9446 I noticed even in transformers a few of the robots head design did look similar. Also one of the aerial bots looks kind of like leader 1 from Go bots

[@joslyncarter4813]

Yup. They have used the designs for some of the GoBots characters for Transformers. I think they even put Crasher in a comic in the last few years. ​@kennethpoole5354

[@knightofelemia1567]

Leader 1 is a good leader but Optimus Prime will always be the better leader. What sucked about Go-Bots was that they all flew making converting to vehicle mode kind was of pointless.

[@NorioAS]

@@victorcreed8866 good point. I always thoght it was a kind of retcon (or a continuity mistake)...

[@MrSheckstr]

Except that converting to plane mode made for quicker more efficient flight …. Its kinds unfair considering you had in transformers robots that transformed into guns, tape recorders and cameras but flew in robot mode at the same speed as jets

[@BigEOT3]

What’s weird is the Machine Robo[which Tonka licensed the toys for Go-Bots] anime looked WAY BETTER and COOLER especially compared to most later Transformers anime[not to diss the efforts of Armada and Cybertron, but Energon did suck].

[@Crasher1982]

They are faster and more durable and maneuverable as vehicles.

[@Crasher1982]

Vehicle modes give them abilities they don't have if they just fly in their humanlike standup mode. Like faster speed.

[@eulaliomayen5443]

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.... LOVE THE GO-BOTS...

[@robertfrazier6563]

I like Fitor ( He's the Gobot combo version of Shockwave & Cyclonus )

[@Munkyo99]

more like soundwave and cyclonus ( he's the comunicatons specialist) shockwave is more like Dr.Go

[@tanleeseng9569]

Thanks a lot for the very informative video explaining the backstory behind the characters. Long to see the day this franchise getting a well deserved reboot or better yet some kind of crossover with Transformers 🤞🏻.

[@jamescoleman5020]

Still got Leader-1,Turbo, Scooter goth color Cy-Kill,and some of Super Gobots.

[@OpenBiolabsGuy]

Drax attacking a Cykill cosplayer in the GOTG Christmas special was an unexpected easter egg.

[@victorcreed8866]

I may have missed it if you mentioned it but Transformers are robots and gobots are cyborgs

[@aggressiveattitudeera887]

I can't be the only kid who dreamt of a Transformers/Go-Bots crossover.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

They were marketed as "Machine Men" in New Zealand. We got "Train Robo" who had an extremely simple transformation, but it was a totally novel gimmick at the time, and it blew our minds. But shortly after, Transformers came out, and we forgot all about Machine Men. It was the Transformers cartoon that stuck with me, though. It was my formative franchise. Go-bots seems fun, but I can definitely see why it has a reputation as Transformers' weaker cousin. It's not Go-bots' fault, but when you have two competing franchises that are so similar, there can be only one winner.

[@edt5976]

I hate to burst your bubble but transformer was out way before gobots.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

@@edt5976 Go-bots were released in 1983. Transformers in '84.

[@sy8jr80]

thank you, this makes me want to re-watch the gobots, it has been years

[@willofdodge1]

Skeeter, leader 1 and thats all I remember and some dude welding "Thisss will hold them"

[@paulx7620]

Ohh I loved these!

[@maynardsdick]

Anyone else wishing we could hear this in Wesley Willis' voice?

[@smittycal]

Follow up gotta be Battle of the Rock Lords 😂

[@paulx7620]

Ohhhh yeah I remember those too, mainly the gold nugget dude 👍

[@user-my7lm1qn6q]

My favourite gobot character is Bugbite.

[@BlackArroToons]

This is a very entertaining classic Hanna Barbera show about the Gobots. Really enjoyed watching the story of Leader 1, Turbo and Scooter vs Cy-Kill, Crasher and Copter. The style is more cartoony, but appealing IMO. Great show, thanks.

[@DOI_ARTS]

Cykill with a 6 o'clock shadow is still hilarious

[@scottmahoney1230]

The Tonka line of GoBots were the first line of transformation robots to enter the market first for 6 months before the Hasbro Transformers came to market. But Hasbro and it's developers got the marketing out on it's product with 1st the Marvel line of comics with the anticipation of the 84 G1 cartoon. They were neck and neck in the market change until Transformers took the lead and never looked back.

[@christopherwebb3517]

Gobots were the first to make it to the US market, but the first generation of Transformers were taken from two separate Japanese transforming robot toy lines, both of which predate the Gobots toy line. So yes, the Gobots line is older than the Transformer line because there was no "Transformers" line in Japan prior to it being created in the US, but all of the individual toys that made up the first series of Transformers were older than the Gobots - they were just originally from different lines.

[@oceanpacific886]

Excellent video 😊

[@NgaiOlaudah]

Young man, the owner/producer of Marvelous Videos, I believe that it's your voice i hear under the cartoon video clips... Well, I must say you have created a fine work here in a very careful breakdown and narrative of the birth and struggles of The Gobots! I was the actor who portrayed Turbo and i REALLY like and admire your work here... thank you... oh, and you must know... I had a lot of fun performing in that serial with all the other members of the ensemble! Frankly, I miss all of them... speaking for them I am glad that you loved our efforts. Good luck. LEADER ONE, THIS IS TURBO, COMING BACK TO BASE... TIME TO GO!! blessings, arthur b (Ngai)

[@triphazard6802]

Gobots were generally smaller and cheaper than Transformers so i would often use them as TF characters. Leader 1 was Starscream, Slicks was Mirage, Cy Kill was Wreck Gar and Road Ranger was Ultra Magnus.

[@travisfields157]

I think you just described over 90% of the boys back in the 80's. 😂 We all wanted Transformers but had to settle for Gobots.

[@russellharrell2747]

Gobots do make good ‘civilian’ transformer characters that can be held hostage or thrown into the smelting pit or recruited to one of the Cybertronian factions.

[@warmachine9846]

The whole reason gobots failed was because it was not as mature as Transformers at the time. The animation the storyline everything about Transformers was more mature more grown up big robots ever was forever hope to be. Given the fact that it was a Hanna-Barbera production I'm surprised they didn't try to stick a talking dog in it. The animation was immature on the level of Super Friends which for the 70 was great. But as we grew up we wanted our cartoons to grow up with us. I think you're reading a whole lot more Indigo Bots than was there. It was good but Transformers was better then and now

[@russellharrell2747]

Ironically it was an early draft of what became the transformers cartoon series that did include a dog.

[@girlgarde]

One of the things I like about Gobots is that it has female Guardians and Renegades and that they aren't treated any differently from the males in their respective factions.

[@upgrade1015]

They were cheaper so I had go bots 🤖

[@cabbitkisser2620]

if hasbro bought out the gobot's. i would love to see hasbro add the gobot's into the transformers.

[@pearsooo6972]

Nice

[@thebigdb1]

Ironically, I think the Japanese cartoon was even better than the American. The Hannah Barbera cartoon did not test well in Japan, so they redid it under the machine robo title. I've only seen maybe a quarter of the series, but I thought it was actually better done than the American because it has elements of the American cartoon mixed with aliens. The sequel to alien. Where the renegades aren't totally evil, but do start initially pirating and attacking mankind on the planet Kronos. But eventually form an alliance with the guardian council and humans to fight off the monster bots who act more like aliens from the second alien movie. Funny thing is if they were able to take that old cartoon and dub it in English and broadcasted on TV today, I got a feeling to do pretty good here in the states! And also what's interesting is the characters in the series have different backgrounds. Crasher for example is no longer a chick. She's a dude in machine robo. And Cy-Kill isn't a villain, but rather more like a street punk, or a anti-hero. Actually a very interesting series. I'd recommend watching it if you haven't!

[@smittycal]

People need to put some respect on Go Bots for real. Plus honestly the Go Bots had a cooler story IMO .

[@thethinkingcatakaneonormie3527]

My favourite 1980's transformering robots, but Gobots has a far more straightforward explanation how they became machines being the ship of Theseus idea that they were organic humanoids who replaced the organic with technology

[@Crasher1982]

"Porsche" is actually pronounced "Poor - sha" I used to make that mistake too.

[@KamenKami]

Real talk Crasher was my favorite. I still have her toy somewhere in the attic.

[@eriknilsson7787]

I watched both when I was young but the Gobots series seemed to have more solid history in who they are as a race. With Transformer, there are as many different origins as there are series with them. You have one in the Prime series, Cyberverse is completely different from G1 and G2.

[@Antonio-hx7yh]

great and underrated show. I liked the toys, they mixed well with my transformers

[@shaunrene1]

Gobots came first over Transformer and i only had Turbo and Leader 1 as toys so I used to use them as villeins to fight my big collection of GI-Joes, in my bedroom bedroom cause they were similar in size. Im 46 years old now and cant belive i remember that lol

[@SJHFoto]

Childhood memories are powerful. I'm 48, and my friend was poor and had a lot of Gobots, while I had Transformers (they were cheaper). So, we would team them up where Optimus Prime and Leader-1 would fight a super dastardly deed that Cy-Kill and Soundwave would cook up (I wasn't allowed to play with guns, so Soundwave was leader of my Decepticons)

[@rajnirvan3336]

I remember having a toy of Fitor

[@upgrade1015]

Haha I had Turbo !!

[@FreihEitner]

Wow... I'm realizing that I apparently never saw more than a handful of GoBots cartoon episodes as a kid in the 1980s. I had a couple of those toys (Zeemon, Fi-Tor) and don't remember them being in the cartoon. Also don't remember the storylines presented here. I obviously jumped ship to Transformers and GI Joe very quickly.

[@Crasher1982]

I personally don't think Crasher and Turbo hated each other as much as they claimed to. Just my opinion.

[@ultramegatrion]

Made "Tank" out of the Cobra HISS....

[@theevilascotcompany9255]

I always wondered if the personalities of the three main Renegades in the cartoon were based on the three Kryptonian villains from Superman 2.

[@G1Grimlock94]

Before the Transformers series

[@GeneJ77]

A lot of people don’t remember this cartoon. My favorite character is, Crasher. That lady hot rod black car. That laugh she will do and stomp the ground and cause a earthquake

[@andrewvalentine6977]

While I do remember watching Go-bots I can barely remember it and I don't remember a single character.

[@musatori]

same here

[@brianmcneil1194]

As Transformers are based off of the Japanese Diaclone. In the Go Bots case, they are based off of Machine Robo. The one Guardian that I wished they made a toy of is Steamer.

[@charlesdavis7285]

Didn't know about a Transformer named Little foot. I know there's several characters but again, never heard of that one.

[@Beast_WarsFan597]

These were the original Transformers inspiration.

[@naruto73syfy]

Let's have them team up

[@garethdavies6552]

Im from the UK and by chance I got the F-15 and bike on the right and the blue robot on the left. I always wanted the black Lamborghini. 😂

[@rubberduck306]

UK also. I had a few Transformers and a couple of Gobots. I remember having a silver Porsche 928 and A-10 Thunderbolt/Warthog. Every bit as good as Transformers.

[@Thug-12Na]

Never really was a fan of it but some i liked

[@pooch1013]

Very Good I just wish the narrative reader said something about Leader 1 force field, but it's okay.

[@jameshendersoniii9053]

Cop-Tur's voice was epic!!!

[@Crasher1982]

"gobeings and renegades did not agree on" some the gobeings ARE renegades. Surviving gobeings became gobots all except two that we know of.

[@tureytayno3154]

Hasbro wasted a perfect opportunity to include the Gobots in the Transformers universe after they bought the rights for them. .

[@tyronebee7209]

If the Gobots series had more of a Japanese Amime aesthetic than the cheesey Hanna Barbara Saturday Morning style, the series would have caught on and had more staying power.

[@swazehl9827]

As a kid I thought that Gobots copied Transformers. Without KZbin I wouldn't have known that Gobots was first

[@Drayton42677]

Great Value Transformers

[@ai6894]

Enjoyed the video! But no Zod? Always wondered if Zod the Renagade was always an animalistic brute. Or, was he once an intelligent, armed fortress?

[@johncampbell1191]

GoBots was fun to watch, but I swear the Renegades would scare me as a kid, especially Crasher and Cop-tur.

[@Lovereignsupreme]

Im Turbo,come get some.

[@mdw453]

ironic that it lasted 4 seasons like tramsformers

[@wasabi-in-my-eye3134]

Do the rocklords next. I love gobots

[@ronniewest838]

Religiously Dope‼️

[@dmonsef]

Leader 1 head looks like the Tin Man from the Original Wizard of Oz movie! LOL

[@regicorp6514]

L1 flying in robot form instead of his jet mode it's kinda weird 😐

[@panelvixen]

Cy-Kill has join the Renegades. Never in a million years would have pictured the guy with the word "kill" in his name turning heel. With all the biker bots being released in the past few years not one Cy-Kill? Why hasn't Starscream ever been repainted into Leader-1?

[@shier_it4956]

the go bots! the go bots!

[@zengram]

Crasher the best character of the gobots!

[@Jadlotian]

Fitor was my dude…cy-kill was the best vehicle; like megatron…he and leader 1 were the hardest figures to find

[@dustheg]

Do more go bots like this please love this. Gobots was actually pretty good transformers has gotten all the attention and to be honest it's not really as good as people make it out to be

[@travisfields157]

Ok, I grew up with both, and while you think the Gobots are more geared towards adults, their lack of info and weapons on their toys, compared to the Tech Specs and arsenals in Transformers, made them seem more 'kiddie'. They were cheaper in both price and quality, in all aspects, including animation, and an older child naturally gravitated towards Autobots and Decepticons.

[@marwaniwan3010]

Gobotron , Cybertron

[@Khabudz]

You forgot gaurdian heat seeker. If I remember it correctly he transform in to an F-16 jet.

[@malachitevalkyrie3131]

you know watching this im reminded of lost media where the transformers G1 met the go-bots.. Ive searched and searched for it but cant find any reference to it ever existing

[@TF80s]

Do you mean this fan made mash up? Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXfIdqqQd5aigLssi=QVHdyfhcUgnZNyJ4 Part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoSVqHqtotOXp5osi=IgQQSJi4jgh84Yf0

[@SJHFoto]

Maybe not officially, but my friend Brian and I had many adventures where this happened

[@jasonbartlett7610]

sounds like a bad ChatGPT script read by bad AI

[@Thug-12Na]

Never seen hardly any others then the main characters

[@Phoenix2312]

Its Funny how I ended up coming across this video as in a Facebook Group I am a member of today, There has been a rush of "Go-Bots are the K-Mart of Transformers" and "When you order Transformers from Wish" Go-Bots BEAT Transformers to Market, They were the OG... And, Even as a DIE HARD TRANSFORMERS FAN... There were more Real World Vehicles in Go-Bots / Robo Machines, Bandai and Tonka had more licenses, and in some cases - The Designs of Robo Machines / Go-Bots were simply BETTER!!! A Great Comparison is G1 Transformers COSMOS compared to its equivalent in Go-Bots PATHFINDER... Cosmos looks so Childish, It looks like a babies Teething Toy where Pathfinder LOOKS LIKE A REAL BOYS TOY! Both Franchises were Fantastic in their own right... Both had their good and their bad... And much as my fellow G1 Transformers Nerds will hate me for it - YES, GO-BOTS LED WHERE TRANSFORMERS FOLLOWED... Go-Bots had a Characters that was a HARELY DAVIDOSON before ARCEE had even been created! Go-Bots Had BIKES before Transformers, Go-Bots had a Space Shuttle Before Transformers... Transformers were and remain the better Transforming Robots - Beyond doubt, But we should never dismiss the Go-Bots...

[@riicky83]

You tell the story of how/why Cy-kill became a Renegade but when you came to Cy-kill, the story changes.

[@paulsantos914]

Scooter = Bumblebee

[@Dell4834]

Had every go bot.... transformers were to expensive and could never get one..

[@FanboyMarkJabroni]

Why is there a picture of Jeeper Creeper included with Bad Boy?

[@kascnef]

Go bots only lasted one season and a movie that failed to be like transformers even though the toy line came before transformers by one year

[@user-pr7qf7uy7n]

👍🏽

[@RadioofHorror]

What was the origin of the go bots in their continuity

[@keithwiggins299]

What happened to power warrior and puzzler. The two combiners

[@ShinGallon]

Hot take the 5-part series opener for GoBots was actually great and the show itself is over-criticized. Oh, it wasn't as good as Transformers? AKA that thing 99% of other 80s cartoons was also guilty of? Plus, GoBots had Zod, and Zod is awesome.

[@SJHFoto]

A lot of the 5-parters plot was copied by the Transformers in the Ultimate Doom. So, yea, the Gobots had some neat ideas. I also had the listen-and-play of the 5 parter (it was done by different voice actors, and for some reason left out Nick)

[@eastcoastshine2009]

The fact that Gobots were vulnerable to organic lifeforms (including humans) made them very inferior to Transformers and also the extremely uncreative names of the characters didnt help either!

[@MyHandle4455]

Never understood why this cartoon only focused on three characters per team… terrible marketing decision.

[@terrykirk6951]

Star Scream would beat the air breaks outta Leader 1.

[@DudeLivingLife]

It's a good video, however.

[@Albino_Wolf]

Since the Gobots are now canon and mentioned in the MCU, let's hope that Marvel consider adapting them in a future.

[@tigerbread78]

Where were they mentioned? I thought Hasbro bought the Gobots name

[@Albino_Wolf]

@@tigerbread78 Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special. Mantis mentioned that Drax's cousin got killed by a GoBot since they met someone on Earth dressed as one.

[@tigerbread78]

@albinowolf8453 As Disney don't own the Gobot license they can't show them in their movies, they can make them canon, but not in that sense

[@Albino_Wolf]

@@tigerbread78 That's IF Hasbro allow to do it so. You're right, Hasbro own GoBots the same way as Sony owns Spiderman. But let's what happens then, whether if the GoBots are going to be introduced in the MCU or in the new Hasbro Universe.

[@tigerbread78]

@albinowolf8453 I dunno, people have noticed a nice little humorous remark and taken it super seriously. This reminds me of the over-speculation about the Knights of Ren role in the next Star Wars movie, which turned out to be not much at all.