TF Views

Because you know you want it.

The Command Center:
http://www.transformers-universe.com/in ... entid=2362

I had this thing as a kid and will completely agree with how awesome the review makes it sound. (Though, as an adult, I prefer mould and paint to stickers.) My memory is kind of fuzzy, but I recall the facilities being set up a bit differently, (being on different floors and sides of the elevator). Maybe I had a variant, or assembled mine differently? I dunno. (I also recall a different sticker for the detention center.)

For all of the goofiness of GoBots, this is a pretty utilitarian base. There are facilities to house aliens, (hopefully before they are released to proper authorities), several ways to deal with captured enemies, a "trauma center" that we hope is used for repair rather than inflicting trauma on prisoners, and a fueling station complete with prices for the fuel.

I do find it mildly disturbing that the disintergration chamber is on the same floor as the cafe. The security screen near the interrogation chamber is a nice touch.


Dom
-wants sets of this caliber released today.

Gobots feed on the screams of their prisoners.

The command centre was especially nifty because it was made for Gobots, by Tonka, rather than being a repurposed Bandai toy. Certainly came off better than Hasbro's first forays into Transformers after using up Takara's moulds.

...That said, can we agree that for the most part the original Gobots were better toys than the original Transformers? I know this wouldn't have been a popular opinion back in the day, but... The die-cast metal! The compactness! The fact the series was like two years(?) older than TF!

Of course, it had its fair share of duds... Mr. Moto and Wheelie are very good friends.

Toy-wise, no question. GoBot designs were generally sturdier and more cartoon accurate. Hell, even back then, I would have admitted that Gobots were better toys.

Leader-1 was a better toy than Optimus Prime, despite being less that half the size of the core Prime robot. Turbo looked like the damned cartoon, which is more than I can say for many of the larger Autobots.

More than once, I would sit on the floor with a GoBot and a Transformer, wishing that "Transformers" could get it together as well as GoBots did on the toy front. (Make no mistakes though, the comics and later cartoon sold me on TF over GoBots every time.)


Dom
-notes that the US never got the card stock base that kids in the UK had for "Transformers".

I think part of Gobots' problem was that the cartoon made the characters look *exactly* like the toys, right down to unsightly hinges and hollow gaps in their bodies. Leader-1's shoulders were often drawn this way and it made him look like a sad little man. Anyway, saw this on DA!

Card stock base...? You're gonna have to elaborate on that one for me.

I was born in '85, inherited most of my TFs from my big brother, and was lucky enough to catch the tail end of G1 (I still maintain '88 is one of the best years), but the first transforming robot toy I chose off the shelf *myself* was the white Crasher variant, simply named "Porsche Robo" (you damn right I learned some katakana just from buying toys and watching VHSs).

Now that I think back, it's kind of amazing they were still selling the Terrorcons and Seacons as new when I was a kid. They must've already been out for at least three or four years.

How the hell were you imorting at such a young age? Dude, you are my hero.

Now that I think back, it's kind of amazing they were still selling the Terrorcons and Seacons as new when I was a kid.

They were likely surplus/remaindered from previous years. I am sure there are kids who got "Power Core Combiners" this past Christmas. (And, back then, toy inventories were not as tightly controlled as now, so product could sit for years.)


"Transformers: The Vault" (a pretty solid history of the franchise by Hidalgo) has a picture and a brief description of an enormous card stock playset of an Autobot base. Based on the one picture in teh book, the base's foot print is at least a meter square. The picture also implies very thick card stock, given that G1 Autobots are shown standing on unsupported floors. I have searched for pictures, (ideally scans of the details that I could print and attach to card stock), but to no avail.


Dom
-notes that GoBots were often sturdier than TFs....

Oh, THAT thing. Heh, isn't it funny that this thing you know of from a book of obscure stuff is something I got *sick of* as a kid from the comic constantly shilling it every issue. Pretty sure it turned up in a couple of catalogues too, it might be in my Folder of Wonders thread...? Oh no, actually I think it might've just been the same design artist.

But yeah, Gobots. I really do love the monsters. Just lookit this:


1984, folks. 1984. The car mode alone is worth it!

You were a weird, attentive young man, Dom. I didn’t have any Go-Bots as a kid (it was the 90’s, they were, uh, dead), but my brother and I did not differentiate from all the toys and transforming robots we had between us when we played. We knew ‘Transformers’ were the cool ones that actually had names, so we just chucked anything remotely Transformers-line in and they all got in on the action. We had this generic military submarine playset, and we would stand that thing up, pop open a couple panels into a vaguely humanoid approximation, and presto, it was Torpedo, the Decepticons’ new underwater attack expert! The fact that we had only the loosest understanding of Transformers context at the time helped this, I guess. This was partially because the G2 cartoon was on at odd hours, so I only saw a couple episodes, plus I was fucking terrible at processing dialogue and information from shows as a kid. For years I was under the certain impression that the blue tape-deck guy was named ‘Blue Jay’, the fire-engine guy was ‘Vernon’, that Megatron could transform into anything he wanted (probably my tiny brain’s way of reconciling why he was a gun in the show and a tank in the toys), and that there was a female Decepticon who could blow herself up at will named ‘Landmine’ (do NOT ask me where I got that from because I DO NOT KNOW). I got better by the time I got into Beast Wars, but when ‘The Agenda’ rolled around I had no clue what any of the G1 references meant, didn’t recognize any of the cameos, and was completely unfazed by Ravage’s appearance because I had no clue who he was (despite one of my more vivid memories of the G1/G2 cartoon being wondering who that dog guy with the long tongue was, what he turned into and where I could get his toy). God I was a stupid kid.

But I digress, the one memory I do have of Go-Bots is that my second-or-third grade classroom had this big, cool, Go-Bots storybook on the class bookshelf, and I would read it *all the time* because, hey, transforming alien robots. Interestingly, I consistently misread Cop-Tur’s name as ‘Cop-Tor’, and I still maintain that that’s at least a marginally better name. I did think Cy-Kill was a pretty badass name though.

(The bookshelf also had that ‘Attack of the Insecticons’ CYOA book, which I probably read more than the Go-Bots book, because at least I had brand recognition for that one)

These days, I think it’s kinda cool that Hasbro has held onto the Go-Bots property after acquiring Tonka, and still throws it a bone every now and then (Fracture). I still want to see them repaint Animated Oil Slick as Cy-Kill, since it would work SO perfectly, and a new Tux wouldn’t disappoint either (and Good Knight too, Good Knight kicks ass!). And I think the naming conventions are hilarious enough to parody them with fan-character Tank-U, who exists entirely to use that name as a joke about…Go-Bots names. I’d also like to see a new version of the G2 Transformer who was *named* Gobots, because that just amuses me, for some stupid reason.

Drawing similar battle lines, I actually didn’t mind the Beast Era’s primary transforming-animal competition, Dinozone/Dino-Zaurs, even though I only had one toy (Dino-Tricera. The things were like Kay-Bee exclusives and I hardly ever got to go there, okay!). Did dig the cartoon on the same level that Energon would eventually appeal on though (even though the Dinozone cartoon actually swung closer to Armada. In fact, to this day I remain convinced that Armada purposefully ripped off elements of Dinozone.).

I’d really like to see some another company roll out a ‘competitive’ line with TFs these days, though the decades of engineering and design experience HasTak has means no other company could logically compete. It’s not like those three-or-four GI Joe competitors, where all they have to do is put out 3.75” articulated soldier guys with a bunch of weapons on the shelf for three dollars less, and they can sink their competition to the point of generalizing and irrelevance.

Some of the names were amazing. Cop-Tur. ???? Rest-Q. ?!?!?!? BAD BOY.

Tux was a Renegade, right? That's great. One of my problems with the G1 cartoon was that ethnicity was reserved for the good guys, for unfortunately obvious reasons. The closest the Decepticons got to cultural identity was Rumble's New Yorkness. Femaleness was initially reserved for the goodies too, actually, so thank god for Crasher and Smallfoot.

The Gobots cartoon didn't have the gravitas that G1 did, but it was a heckuva lot more progressive in some respects.

EDIT: And before I forget, let's all pay our respects to the ORIGINAL Shellformer:



DOUBLE EDIT: Well, TFU weren't blocking hotlinked images a minute ago. >=| Anyway, it's Klaws, Google him yourself.

GoBot Monsters were fun. I had a scorpion/tank and some weird purple thing

We had this generic military submarine playset, and we would stand that thing up, pop open a couple panels into a vaguely humanoid approximation, and presto, it was Torpedo, the Decepticons’ new underwater attack expert!

I just could not do that as a kid. I would not see a robot. I would see an upended sub. I might have tried to modify the sub in some way, and ended up destroying it. But, just standing it up and calling it good? Nope. Could not have done that. (I actually destroyed many toys in failed attempts at customizing.)

This was partially because the G2 cartoon was on at odd hours, so I only saw a couple episodes, plus I was fucking terrible at processing dialogue and information from shows as a kid.

I was pretty spotty at this as well. (Even now, I tend to overload on information and end up shutting some things out when I get overwhelmed. You should see my "to sort" mail pile.) But, for whatever reason, "Transformes" burned itself in to my brain. The comics, the cartoons, the character profiles (text and art), the whole damned thing.

And, that is what helped it beat "GoBots" for my attention, and I wager the attention of other kids.

Yeah, Turbo was a better toy than Windcharger. (My Windcharger broke after less than a week, and I treat my Windcharger keychain like it is made of egg shell.) But, I could have told you about Windcharger the character. Yeah, that GoBot base was amazing. But, I could have told you that the Ark (and I knew the name) had a drone that said 'repair, repair" when it deployed. Yeah, that little red and blue truck was a better toy than Huffer. But, I knew that Huffer just wanted to go home and was a good friend to Optimus Prime.

Wheeljack was a craptastic toy. But, dammit, his ears blinked on the cartoon and he was a scientist.

Insecticons’ CYOA book,

There you go. Yet another example of "Transformers" IP being powerful. Damn, I still remember "Project Brain Drain". Just when I started to come to terms with "Transformers: the Movie"..... BAMMO! Oh my lord, you could not win with that book. But, "Transformers" made me care if I won, emotional scarring be damned.

I’d really like to see some another company roll out a ‘competitive’ line with TFs these days, though the decades of engineering and design experience HasTak has means no other company could logically compete.

And, IP management. Seriously, that gave TF the edge back in the 80s.

Engineering wise, I have seen some good figures. MARS (i think it is called) are not bad looking for the price. Those actually tempt me on occassion. (A lack of money and space restrains me.)

It’s not like those three-or-four GI Joe competitors, where all they have to do is put out 3.75” articulated soldier guys with a bunch of weapons on the shelf for three dollars less, and they can sink their competition to the point of generalizing and irrelevance.

Aside from standouts like "Xtreme Detail", most of those other lines have inferior moulding and paint work though. (Aside, anyone else recall the *really* bad "Corps!" comic Devil's Due published right after they lost "GI Joe"?)


Dom
-still trying not to look at or comment on the image Crab posted because it is just causing sadness.