The History of The Mighty Orbots: Sued Out of Existence By The Gobots

[@FunkyFu42]

Stylistically Mighty Orbots were superior over a lot of 80's cartoons.. Dezaki's style is visually stunning..

[@ageeksadventureswoohoo9213]

The designs for everything was breathtaking. Its a shame. Sigh

[@Elementa2006]

Most American 80s cartoons animated by TMS tend to be, they also did the animation for shows like Gummi Bears, the early seasons of Ducktales, Galaxy Rangers, Bionic Six and Galaxy High. They assisted in animating 90s cartoons like Batman TAS and Superman TAS. Of course, this is the same Japanese animation studio that gave Anime classics like City Hunter, Space Adventure Cobra and of course Lupin III.

[@markmarderosian4025]

Worked in a small animation studio at the time and we all loved this show. It was great seeing full hand dawn figure animation in a world populated with Punky Brewster and Care Bears, if only as a change of pace. And the animation was fluid, fun and the human characters moved liked real people.

[@frankiejones7858]

You seem like an expert so why does this animation seem more fluid and natural than some of today's animation?

[@animatrix1490]

@@frankiejones7858 For a specific answer: there are tons of good in-betweens between the incredibly strong keyframes. (The key frames are the main poses, what tells the story of the animation, and the in-betweens help keep the motion smooth.) There's also very good layout--that is, turning the storyboards into background paintings and animation which complement one another. This was planned ambitiously and executed well. For a more general answer: Partly expertise/experience, partly budget, and partly technology/processes. Expertise: TMS, the animation studio that created this series, was the same studio which made Akira and had been in animation since at least the 1960s, so they had employees with thousands of hours of practice drawing, painting, animating, and managing large animation projects. Budget: The 1980s was a prosperous time for Japan--a very big boom, actually--so there were quite a few projects in the 80s and through the early 90s that had a lot more budget than had been normal for a production in the 70s. For animation specifically, the movie Akira was something of a watershed as it was the most expensive anime movie ever made but it was also the most profitable anime movie ever made, which encouraged others to push a lot of money into animation in Japan in hopes of having a similar success. Tech/process: Nowadays there are still lots of skilled people, but there's quite a bit less money in the industry. With animation there are always a lot of technical aspects, and some of the cheaper processes (then and now) tend to favor more "flat" designs and fixed, rigged characters with a lot of reusable assets. This takes fewer people to do and it usually takes less long. With better digital tools for color, compositing, deformation, and organization, limited animation can look pretty good these days, so it's usually worth doing to save time and money. I do miss how this stuff looked, though. When it was good it was incredible. People still try and capture this feeling today, like some of Genndy Tartatovsky's work or Hayao Miyazaki; some European studios like Cartoon Saloon and Studio La Cachette; and even some artists on KZbin as well (the shows Lackadaisy and Monkey Wrench, for example).

[@DVDRAR]

​@frankiejones7858 it's a matter of animation companies, this was a thing even back then Back in the 80s, animation looked amazing because they'd outsource to more experienced, and costly, Japanese companies. It was very noticeable when something was animated by a company like Dic or Hanna Barbara compared to something like Toei or TMS. Another big thing was, and still is, price. These shows have a restricting budget and kids usually don't care about whether or not something is animated at 30 FPS with complex colors and art, so it just ends up costing more for very little reward

[@sgzartan]

Back in 1984, my next door neighbors Dad worked for Mattel. I remember seeing the Mighty Orbots toy in the Mattel Catalog while the show was still airing. I was eagerly awaiting the release of that toy. In Spring 1985 I asked him when the toy was going to be in stores and he said because the show was cancelled, so was the toy. Curse you Gobots!!!!!

[@jsttv]

Gobots got a dose of Karma.

[@shuroddaniels2048]

Sounds like "Gobots" were a bunch of haters!!!

[@ZK273]

This show was just too beautiful for this sinful world. ;_;

[@IffyJottere]

Loving that "Galactic Patrol" icon.

[@dnds4]

35 years later, thanks to Dezaki's vision and Araki's execution, this anime still holds up.

[@bootblacking]

Big truth

[@slapittywapitty8173]

Looked great AND...The MUSIC! What WAS that - Jazz/Disco fusion? ;-)

[@JoseBronxRican]

@@slapittywapitty8173 You may know by now, but... Yuji Ohno! I became a fan of his thru this show, long before I ever heard of "Lupin III". His soundtracks are scattered over youtube from time to time, except... this one. Still holding out hope the music will turn up, somehow.

[@cebrum1]

That was one of my favorite show back in the 80’s. Even as a kid I was so mesmerized by how sharp, crisp and vivid the visuals were! At that time I just knew that The Mighty Orbots was the next step in cartoon/visual evolution. That’s why I was so shocked (and disappointed) when it was cancelled.

[@michellemullins4588]

Cebrum1, I also like the Mighty Orbots! That was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon when I was 10!

[@AlmostAnimixers]

Imagine being accused of being a rip-off of Gobots. I'm not surprised that that's where the story ended. You don't come back from that.

[@hanzohattori2492]

considering the gobots were considered the "poor man's transformers" these orbots must have been really bad...never seen or heard of them until this video

[@marcusgurley9495]

It was absolutely NOTHING like GoBots. It was a good Saturday morning show. Check it out.

[@hanzohattori2492]

@@marcusgurley9495 will do.

[@crispycritterz]

@@hanzohattori2492 I STRONGLY recommend you watch the series. The stories were really good for the time. The writing was top shelf. The visuals were outstanding, (done in a comic book style.)

[@hanzohattori2492]

@@crispycritterz is it on KZbin?

[@Gojitron1]

....and Gobots went on to be remembered as "not Transformers" til the end of time. Karma?

[@qdllc]

GoBots was incredibly lame.

[@TheBrettAbides]

"The K-Mart of Transformers." (from Clerks 2)

[@stinkypinkeee5085]

@@TheBrettAbides GoBots were out first...

[@TheBrettAbides]

@@stinkypinkeee5085 That doesn't change the fact that they're still the K-Mart of Transformers.

[@floydjohnson7888]

@@TheBrettAbides HB's animated series based on the Tonka line struck me as having weaker writing and production than Marvel Productions' "Transformers". Even with the "each episode stands on its own", the latter gave us flashes of character development.

[@sanfordgreene106]

The Mighty Orbots intro was the ONLY intro that could give "Thunder Cats " a run for its money!

[@Enigma2K99]

Transformers G1 would like a word...

[@leonardstokes6036]

Agreed. I was 14 years old in 1984, a freshman in High School slowly phasing out cartoons. But yet it was something about The Mighty Orbots that made me wanna watch cartoons another year or two.

[@fortkavanagh]

So that's what happened to Orbots, that sucks, I really enjoyed the cartoon

[@alanguages]

Likewise.

[@valecrassus7835]

Yeah, I hadn’t heard in so much detail but had looked it up several years ago and found out the short version that it was Tonka’s fault. I really liked the cartoon as a kid and wondered why it just vanished with no toys.

[@norbertop.niebres6320]

I loved the cartoon. It reminded me of the Transformers.

[@norbertop.niebres6320]

I would buy it.

[@turinturambar6795]

the only thing i remember about mighty orbots from my childhood is the theme song which stated in the video is exceptional

[@ChenowethGames]

This was one of my favorite shows as a kid. Way better than Gobots imho. The theme makes me all nostalgic.

[@ageeksadventureswoohoo9213]

Omg love the video of leader one working at a coffee shop trying to sell a script to prime and Megatron

[@jwalk31]

it was waaaaay better.

[@HappyConsoleGamer]

The Mighty Orbots had the best opening song ever!

[@SecretGalaxyTV]

It's certainly gotten a lot of votes over the years

[@irahpaddock8979]

Too hyperbolic Johnny.

[@gigadrill0000]

Still in my head today. Did not know about the dvd release have to search for it.

[@chinito77]

I'd say third with Galaxy Rangers at second and Thundercats at first.

[@IffyJottere]

o/ Go! Mighty Orbots! They're coming together to fight for what's right, everywhere! Mighty Orbots! Protecting the world from the shadow of evil and doom! Orbots! Champions of justice and truth! o/ Ohno! Tor! Bort! Bo! Boo! Crunch! o/ Go! Mighty Orbots! Mechanical heroes, they're fighting for me and for you! Orbots! o/

[@orinanime]

This is one of your best retrospectives ever. Fun tidbit: I'm an 80s/90s kid. My mother was a kid in the 60s. And SHE was the Orbots fan in the family. She loved that show. And would rock out to that theme song.

[@Wirraburra07]

Parents like that are awesome! I'm envious!

[@ericpeterson8732]

I love your mom! She sounds great!

[@kingmarkseven17]

I guess Tonka's failure with the Gobots was just karma for them destroying the Mighty Orbots. Sucked for us who liked ALL giant robot shows but I can't say Tonka didn't deserve it now. The spoiler alert part her had me dyin 😂😂

[@ageeksadventureswoohoo9213]

Omg seriously! Gobots were just... Eh.

[@odizm5196]

Haveing the gobot line unicroned (absorb) by transformers & Hasbro Years later is karma from destroying the mighty orbots

[@TI2_EvilTwin]

Tonka with their little MIGHTY GOBOTS was just mad because they ain't have a thing over Hasbro's TRANSFORMERS, that's all. That's why Tonka started exacting revenge and venting it out on the creators of THE MIGHTY ORBOTS. As always though, Karma has some tendencies to come back to haunt folk - eventually in the form of Hasbro swallowing up Tonka. This is a testimony for us all to watch the types of socioeconomic vibes that we put out there.

[@DVDRAR]

It was their own fault for trying to buy Kenner, now we have those cruddy Star Wars figurines clogging the shelves and it's all Tonka's fault

[@OldManTheseDays]

Best intro ever. This show was sooo good... love that you're giving it some love.

[@ageeksadventureswoohoo9213]

Omg seriously. Ok so the song was so 80s but so awesome epic 80s!!!! Horns rock instruments like john williams meets aerosmith lol

[@bancoran]

The "Transformers Animated" intro is a direct reference to this.

[@mgvillanmp478]

I LOVED this cartoon always wondered what happened and why they stopped it

[@maycontainviolence5587]

The animation for Mighty Orbots was so far ahead of GO-BOTS, no wonder they felt threatened Tonka should not have won this case. I'm glad they got crushed eventually. Glad to be catching them now. It's a great vintage show.

[@Lone432345]

I'm surprised that Tonka didnt sue the dude who came up with Pet Rocks. You know, because of Rock Lords.

[@FCastle23]

Holy crap this is the cartoon I was trying to remember. You are, once again, my hero.

[@andrejg4136]

Man, Mighty Orbots combined still looked a lot like God Mars. I kept expecting Orbots to finish its foe with an overpowered stock footage broadsword slash.

[@CollectionDX]

Great video of a little known show. Thanks again for the shout out! Go Mighty Orbots!

[@icebergo6]

THE...BEST...OPENING...SEQUENCE...OF ANY SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON, EVER! I was hooked on that alone. So cool. There was nothing like it at the time...not on the weekend. Its hard to imagine now but the artwork was incredibly detailed with lightning fast, seizure inducing graphics.

[@RedAlertIt]

Years later, the orbots got a shout out of sort when Derrick J Wyat quoted the series as a prime inspiration for his 2007 Transformers Animated series.

[@gigadrill0000]

Sweet

[@MrTrickstercoyote]

Thank You! Couldn't remember the name but liked the show when I was a kid. Been trying to describe it to people for decades, with no success

[@zxcibe5744]

Same here but could not remember the name.

[@Larry]

The characters ring a bell, one of those repressed '80s memories again :D BTW could you ever have a look at the Police Academy cartoon and toys in a future episode? It was Kenner's last license acquisition, am I right?

[@SecretGalaxyTV]

BRB. Adding Police Academy to the list...

[@peterparker6584]

hey Larry, funny seeing you here. At any rate I do believe he's Artie done police Academy. The animated series. I know somebody did in the last year pretty sure it was this fellow. If you look at up on KZbin, you'll find the video. And for the record, I do believe you're right that was around the time Kanner went into the great abyss.

[@freddyvidz]

@@SecretGalaxyTV I loves the show and the toys.

[@Despondencymusic]

Yay! A Larry sighting!

[@slapittywapitty8173]

@@SecretGalaxyTV: How do you check (ahead-of-time) if other toy corps have 'similar' IP patents/trademarks?

[@ComicFiction]

Loved The Mighty Orbots! Thanks for the history lesson.

[@maguffle]

I used to LOVE this cartoon. I bought the boxes set at SDCC last year. Anytime I see something about Mighty Orbots I watch it! Thanks for the vid!

[@BoisegangGaming]

Had this show survived the lawsuit, the IP would probably have been gobbled up by Hasbro.

[@mitchfletcher2386]

And they would've probably become part of the TFU.

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Would have been an infinitely better outcome than what actually ended up happening. Go-Bots at least live on in some form in the Transformers universe, and the Mighty Orbots just faded into obscurity. :/

[@ChristopherDrum]

Not only was the opening theme great, but the show itself was really cool. I especially enjoyed the one where the dark carnival created mirror clones of the humans who control Earth's defense shield. Ohno becoming human on Wish Planet, left her unable to become the heart of the combined robot. The jewels that turned out to be dragon eggs. The final battle with Umbra. It's all burned into my memory far more deeply than any 13-episode series that I only had the chance to watch during its first run has any right to be.

[@markmolino6091]

Ah the Mighty Orbots what an underrated cartoon show ,a cross between Transformers and Voltron ,but just didn't get the love that it deserved.

[@scottsoenksen842]

I always wondered what happened to the show. It's so disappointing when a show you love abruptly goes off the air. I really loved the show!

[@oliverortiz8507]

This show's animation was pure art and stood out from.anything in that era. I was mesmerized when I saw this.

[@stormbreaker9194]

THIS was the episode I've been waiting for!

[@jamese3169]

This is one of my favorite cartoons. Thank you for doing this one.

[@ksaun4573]

Loved Mighty Orbots as a kid. Always wondered what happened to the show. Great video! Would've been great if that toy was released!

[@Ruffian71]

Another great 80’s cartoon… It’s a downright shame it only lasted 13 episodes. I’m remember watching all of them in ABC as a kid. When you’re a kid & things just ‘disappear’ from TV you’re somewhat traumatized & wonder what happened to my favorite new show. 😉

[@STB-jh7od]

I loved this series and bought the DVD set. I hated Muppet Babies and Smurfs.

[@barrybryan9676]

Yes! I loved the Mighty Orbots one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons.

[@timothylewis2527]

Loved this series so much as a kid. I saw it before I even knew of Voltron.

[@GarbledReverie]

Yes! This is the one I've been waiting for! After you did Bionic Six, I knew you'd eventually get around to Mighty Orbots. This was a really cool concept and execution by talented people that just never caught on. In some slightly better universe there's a new Mighty Orbots series on Netflix and everyone is like 'Volt-ron? What's that?'

[@bootblacking]

Great show, great theme song, strong characters. One of my favorite aspects of the show is that Mighty Orbots didn't rely on an "gotta end the episode" attack like Voltron's Blazing Sword. Every monster was a unique problem.

[@Summertimeblues28]

Wow you finally found a cartoon from the 80’s that I honestly don’t remember. Looks like it was pretty awesome! Well played Larson. You’ve won this round.

[@WidebodyLotty]

I remember loving this show during its brief run while I was a kid. When it abruptly went off the air, I remember missing the cartoon for a long time. There were no Google searches back then to explain what happened to the cartoon. It’s disappearance was a mystery to me up until watching this video.

[@ericrook78]

How is this on DVD but the the Bionic Six isn't?!? Don't get me wrong, now that I've been made aware of this cartoon, I'll be getting the DVDs, but I still want the Bionic Six on DVD!!!!!!

[@MoveInSilence23]

Bionic Six was the ish

[@n34z3r]

YES!!! Loved BIONIC SIX. I used to record them to VHS because....we loved it.

[@jorgetomas380]

RIIIIGHT. Smh. I was obsessed with Bionic6!

[@AGD-Andon]

I loved this show! I asked my mom for my first alarm clock to wake up early so I could watch it. Then it just disappeared and I never knew anyone who knew it existed. For years I thought I had imagined it all. Thank you for posting this.

[@popculturehero]

It was a huge inspiration for the style of Transformers Animated. Crunch specificly was the inspiration for Bulkhead. The original Orbots series did get printed on Dvd last year. Got my copy.

[@soopahsoopah]

What a shame, that single season of Mighty Orbots was EXCELLENT. Top-notch animation, great voice actors, and killer music.

[@stephens4175]

I remember this show, Thought of it back then as the slickly animated and designed Saturday morning robot forming show, just could never remember its name, used to look forward to it and record it on my top loading VCR with the chorded pause button for commercials. need the box set now. and thank you for explaining what happened to it.

[@SlashTheWeasel]

I remember Orbots very fondly from my childhood and watching it on TV. This entire video answered lot of questions I had even back then. I didn't know this happened.

[@stargrave1866]

Some of the best animation you could find on the dial I loved this show thanks Dan! ...totally had a crush on Bo and Boo...that’s not weird.

[@ericpeterson8732]

Boo was the cute one. Bo reminded me of Storm's personality from the X-Men.

[@ericjefferson6249]

A criminally underrated series! I wish it had lasted longer.

[@medioculus]

Such a shame that such a stylistically refreshing series with potential for more episodes was stomped out. What made this show so great was exactly like you said, because the story wasn't attached to selling any toys. Mighty Orbots captivated me as soon as I saw and heard that legendary opening! That song rocksss🔥👏 I play it on bass still sometimes cause it's catchy and takes me back to being 11. Great job on these vids!

[@ericpeterson8732]

This cancellation was the one that really broke my heart. For decades after, I still had the prison planet episode on VHS, recorded off TV back in 1985.

[@davesaints8023]

🤯 Wow! I remember watching that show. Talk about going down memory lane. Always enjoy the history of the toys and cartoons I use to watch and forgot about

[@Slumberjunk1e]

Don’t know why Im tearing up over here. Thank you soo much for explaining their demise as to why they got extinguished from reaching the heights of awesomeness to being on the silver screen. These damn companies always about $. Family>Money. Subscribed. Sniff. Orbots was one of my faves & even as a child I knew the team that put them together had a hand in creating Thundercats, Bionic 6, Silverhawks & Tigersharks. Every creation taught me the importance of family 😭

[@Chazreal]

I LOVED Mighty Orbots way more than Gobots, absolutely sucks the lesser franchise won. I loved how badly misproportioned Mighty Orbots was when combined! LOL!

[@Chazreal]

Actually as an 80s baby I genuinely deducted that Rob Simmons, Commander of Mighty Orbots, was on the scientific fore front of innovation with his application of molecular expansion technology. That's only because my dad was an engineering executive of Seagate Technologies and he would always tell me that the software and hardware is there, but where is the battery source? Do we genuinely want a multi storey robot with a nuclear generator *defending* us?! No one smashes your dreams quite like parents. ;)

[@badbirdkc]

Such and odd time for cartoons. I didn't realize how short the run of Mighty Orbots was, but I did watch it. But there was so much other weird shit that I seemed to gravitate to: Spiral Zone, Wheeled Warriors, Ulysses, Sparticus, etc. Yeah, I was a fan of your standards: Transformers, He Man, Muppet Babies, Voltron, and all that. But there was just something appealing about those other "off brand" cartoons. Also, I fucking choked for real when I saw the "Lint Licker" bit.

[@b.thomas8926]

Talk about memory lane. I totally forgot about this. Thanks Toy Galaxy!

[@Tai_Jitu]

Thanks for this one! I adored this show, it had some of the best animation of the '80s shows that I loved. I loved the music so much that I kept wishing that they would release an album of it, once I found out (much later) that background music albums were a thing.

[@FCastle23]

I vividly remember trying to not go to my soccer game so I wouldn’t miss this cartoon

[@Tsambaista]

This show was stuck in my head for years cause I remember watching it as a kid. I couldn't recall the title and was searching for Godmars stuff when I found this. What a coincidence.

[@SkotNealey]

MIGHTY ORBOTS WAS THE BEST!!! LOVED their personalities.

[@Funckle73]

I had completely forgotten about this. I remember my favorite was the “transforming” character. Cute host too!

[@Outlawstar79]

All Giant robot combiners are welcome in my home, From the heroic Autobots to the Gritty Galaxy Guardians of the Go-bots!...Till All Are One!

[@dreamedweaver7676]

I was born in 1980, thank you for taking the time to put these videos together. I love & miss those years, thanks again for reminding me how awesome it was back then.

[@mattsquires2622]

Nice honorable mention in the WatchMojo most underrated at KZbin channels this week. Way to go Dan

[@jokerz7936]

1984 was a great year for cartoons I still remember waking up the Christmas of 84 and my mum bought me every G.I. Joe and Cobra Figure and Vehicle she could find and had them all built and in a battle formation in front of the tree on Christmas Morning Best Christmas Ever.

[@dinomonzon8853]

Jokerz 79 you were a very lucky kid growing up! 👍

[@jokerz7936]

@@dinomonzon8853 Yeah my mum was great even on a fixed income she made the Holidays amazing what can I say the woman was the Queen of the Layaway. Also she was an action junkie so I grew up on Bond, Rambo, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Segal, Norris, Lee, Bronson, and various Cannon films. 😀

[@CAPCOM784]

You had a good Christmas and what a terrific mom!

[@stinkypinkeee5085]

So you were spoiled as a child...got it...

[@jokerz7936]

@@stinkypinkeee5085 Far from it I had more Gobots than Transformers because Gobots were only a dollar a figure. I remember being excited to go to the Food Bank because the old lady there would give us day old bake goods which were a real treat. But my mother always wanted Christmas to be special so she'd start buying in the Summer and put everything on Layway.

[@georgetrigoiii3229]

Holy shit! Been waiting for this one! I remember watching this on TV but couldn't remember the name until a couple of years ago while looking for Saturday morning cartoons from my childhood on KZbin. Thanks for the episode!

[@gridman2142]

Good news, everyone! The complete Mighty Orbots series is out on DVD now from Warner Archive. Be sure to snag a copy and support the release.

[@Echowhiskeyone]

The Mighty Orbots for some reason remind me of DC Comics "The Metal Men".

[@Hektols]

It's surprising that DC was not the one who sued them, the Metal Men arre also robots created by a genious robot designer with their own powers and the ability to combine.

[@Megared82]

Ironically, there's an issue of Action Comics (#590) where the Metal Men combine into a super robot to battle a chemical monster with Superman's powers.

[@hydrolito]

Rob resembles Robby Reed from Dial h for hero 1966, that resembles earlier Johnny Quest 1964.

[@hydrolito]

1962 Metal Men were 6 robots Gold could inspire ort, iron strong Tor, lead fat could inspire Crunch that was fat. The other 3 robots no direction relation other than resemble female like Platinum. Two other resemble male Mercury and Tin. One Metal Men story all six are combined into one form.

[@ericpeterson8732]

It's the personalities. Both the Metal Men and the Mighty Orbots have such interesting personalities. Also the way they interact with their creators. But I didn't learn about the Metal Men until 1986 and John Byrne's run on Superman. I think they might have had a brief cameo in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it wasn't big enough to appreciate the characters.

[@RawNWigglin]

Mighty Orbots was brilliant. Hard to believe it had only one season, I remember it fondly.

[@sdcrews]

TONKA killed Mighty Orbots! What the crap, man! It wasn't on long but this was another favorite of mine. And like you since WB holds the license now and then don't direct anything to kids that doesn't have DC stamped on it we're poo outta luck. But thank you guys again for spotlighting another classic. Y'all are the best 👍

[@jdewitt]

Yup, I remember this one too! This was one of those shows I couldn't miss on Saturday mornings for a few weeks. I always wondered if there was more to it that I had just missed, but now I know the truth. Screw you Tonka! I remember liking the show, but I was a pretty little kid, and anything with giant robots was awesome, so my taste may be a bit off. Ironically, this and Bionic 6 stuck with me for both having great intro sequences and killer songs. Turns out it's because the same people worked on them, go figure!!!

[@EryxUK]

Would you do a video on the 1970s Microman/Micronauts toys please? I had loads of them as a kid back then and would love to know more about them.

[@shiftee7treez631]

EryxUK , Micronauts toys were fucking amazing!!!!

[@XDragokingGames]

EryxUK IIRC, Microman actually came from the original GIJOE figures, imported and rebranded to get away from the war themes considering it was post WW2 Japan. They shrunk them down to save on plastic during the mid 70s and they eventually became the basis for the original Transformers toys

[@XDragokingGames]

So long story short, without GIJOE there would be no Micro Man or Transformers

[@XDragokingGames]

Happy 2BeHere ikr, I wonder what that reunion looks like

[@hanzohattori2492]

@@XDragokingGames so takara import gi joe to Japan to make microman/micronaughts and then Hasbro reimport them to the west to become transformers....weird.

[@jerbojones]

Mighty Orbots was a badass cartoon! I remember watching it and turbo teen right after. Cool ass theme song too!

[@brycevo]

Wow. This is cool. Being sued out of distribution is always fascinating

[@batmanofsanantonio5331]

I LOVED Mighty Orbots!!! That theme song was the best.

[@Galactus314]

Ever notice how Rob sounds EXACTLY like Fry from Futurama? I had to IMDB it to make sure it wasn't Billy West (it wasn't).

[@SecretGalaxyTV]

I checked as well. Still can't believe how much they sound alike.

[@GarbledReverie]

He was voiced by Barry Gordon who was also the voice of Donatello in the original TNMT.

[@GarbledReverie]

Oh, and the Nestle Quick Bunny during the 80's.

[@Galactus314]

Thanks, Andy. Thanks, Dan. How about a Thundarr video?

[@mrdrofficer]

I thought I was one of the few that remembered. Glad I'm so wrong. Really happy so many people loved this short-lived series. It long stood as one of those "I remember ..." things that took me until college to find the name of it again. Thrilled at the footage you all found for this show and will be buying a copy of that DVD now that I know it exists.

[@CS-dd4yf]

I loved the Mighty Orbots, I still watch them on KZbin

[@CAPCOM784]

You should buy the dvd.

[@CS-dd4yf]

@@CAPCOM784 I agree

[@bluedragon807]

Orbots was hands down my favorite 80s cartoon. I was so ready for every episode and they pulled it off so fast. I literally remember the day I was waiting for it to come on and it was gone.

[@kingmarkseven17]

I really don't remember Orbots and I'm 39. That's crazy. I need to watch it now.

[@airporttrucker8529]

You're too young when they premiered. Im 44 and I was 8 or 9 when they premiered on ABC.

[@agentblaque1971]

Wow! This was very informative and well done. I grew up watching most of the cartoons mentioned, and had no idea about the battle for market shares behind the scenes. Thank you for doing this.

[@leyenda6149]

They blanking did it! They blanking did Mighty Orbots! I. Am. Speechless.

[@leyenda6149]

Man, if they do Pole Position next I'm gonna be like a kid in some kind of store🍬

[@DocMicrowave]

One of my favorite shows as a kid. It had a unique look that made it stand out to me. I liked it better than the other robot shows of the time.

[@mekman4]

I remember watching it a bit as a very small kid, I loved the animation but hated the tone and the designs of the robots. They did remind me of the goofiness of the Go-Bots, which made the trash talking, stiffly animated, more violent Transformers and Gi Joe appealing to me instead. I watched Orbots recently and much like season 3 of the original run of the Transformers, I was too young to appreciate the more cohesive stories, better realized science fiction and attention to details which were made for a slightly older audience. You guys, continue the great and informative work.

[@mekman4]

Thank you for the heart and the fantastic work! Love your channel!

[@drewwilliams9332]

I remember this show fondly as a kid. I was sad that the show disappeared back then. I couldn't remember the name and always just thought it was a show about Godmars. Thanks for clearing up my childhood memories.

[@rootfish2671]

The only thing I remember of this cartoon was that my friends and I called it whorebots, we thought that we were so damned funny.

[@ChristopherBibbs]

I loved this show when I was a kid. Thank you for bringing it up.

[@sXeblues]

The title, Mighty Orbots, is actually vaguely familiar to me... I don’t know if it’s something I actually watched as a kid, or if I encountered the title in a retrospective capacity at some point, later on. But, this was a nice little walk down memory lane.

[@ohdogwow2]

This was my favorite Saturday morning show when it aired. I made a point to watch it. Then it was gone. Being a kid I had no idea why. Years later the fragmented memory of it would pop into my head as an adult. But I couldn't remember the name. So thanks to this channel for letting me remember and know again.

[@DaimosZ]

Kinda weird Tonka tried to sue a company for using the Godmars toy to make an Orbots toy despite Bandai releasing the Godmars toy in the Godaikin line and Tonka didn't own the rights to it.....weird. I also wonder if the decision TMS made came down to copyright issues with Hikari Pro and Mitsuteru Yokoyama who created the manga that Godmars was very loosely based on (and also created landmark manga's turned anime and toku like Tetsujin 28-go and Giant Robo or as the two are respectively known as in the US Gigantor and Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot). Mitsuteru Yokoyama and his company were less than kind licensing to western companies due to bad experiences with companies like Studio Eiken and Toei licensing off shows based on his characters without getting his permission or any royalties in return (a similar issue Go Nagai faced with Toei over the unathorized distribution rights and unpaid royalties of shows based on his work like Mazinger Z and Grendizer) and the title combined robot in Mighty Orbots utilizing a modified Godmars design without Yokoyama's consent I can imagine TMS didn't want to deal with them on top of Tonka either and canned the show.

[@DaimosZ]

@@LatitudeSky I mean now that Yokoyama is dead, his remaining family who run his estate have since almost never allowed animes and live action shows based on his characters and are even less gracious to licensing to other countries due to the tangled copyright web some of his works have gotten into in the west (especially Tetsujin 28 as its Gigantor incarnation). TMS still makes toy based stuff with Bandai from time to time and Mattel has always had a good relationship with Bandai (working with TMS on shows like Saint Seiya and Red Baron 94' and being the former distributor and collaborator of Hot Wheels in Japan), but the other side of Mighty Orbots' demise was specifically because of not being given permission by Mitsuteru Yokoyama to utulize his designs.

[@NitwitsWorld]

@@DaimosZ Damn shame. Could have been the next huge thing years down the line given nowadays people wanna see old things get new revivals.

[@DaimosZ]

@@NitwitsWorld though to be fair this problem plagued a lot of foreign distribution of animes back then. Orbots was just one of them.

[@NitwitsWorld]

@@DaimosZ Sadly has to agree there. This sucks. I know another series that was space cops back in the day. It was called Lensman. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKHQhaykrb16ea8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHycloeop7KXgKM There will never have a new lensman movie or series because the anime killed off any interested in the series. OOF!

[@thadchristian7581]

I still get the theme song stuck in my head today. Loved that show.

[@fireresq7]

Man I loved that show. Best intro music!

[@bancoran]

The music director was none other than the legendary Yuji Ohno, who was also the composer for Lupin the Third. Side note: The opening of Transformers Animated was a tribute to the Orbots intro!

[@fireresq7]

@@bancoran Well he's a genius !I can still sing it in my mind till this day...and Bionic 6 too!

[@bancoran]

@@fireresq7 Oh God, if there are two shows that deserve a reboot...

[@fireresq7]

@@bancoran FACT!

[@lt.creggar5903]

I have fond memories of The Mighty Orbots. Great vid Dan!

[@bigsonny45]

I swear! I was just gonna ask you to do this one! U da best!!!!

[@TheBullshit2011]

Loved that show.. Saturday mornings, good times... good times

[@Gappasaurus]

HELP SUPPORT COLLECTIONDX!!! 💞 The site has been a go-to resource for the collecting community for nearly 20 years, and stalwart captain JoshB needs our help to keep the ship on course 👍🏽

[@medes5597]

Just donated. CollectionDX was invaluable when I was getting into the hobby and still the one website I always make sure to bookmark on new computers.

[@kunjiklub]

Really enjoy these History series videos. You might be interested to know that feux chogokin set shown at the end is actually mine. Bought it at a shop in Taiwan on a trip there in 86. The person holding it is my brother who presented it at a show in SF

[@KingRandor82]

I....kinda want that unlicensed Chinese bootleg toy...

[@skillztube305]

I loved this show as a kid. I recently brought the series dvd set from amazon. ...oh the memories..😌