Rebuilding the Gobots

[Mako Crab]

Mmm... yeah. It's gotten stale. Right now I'd really love to see Megatron lose to Cy-kill. Lose bad.

ALSO!
Nanite over at the Allspark found a good match for Good Knight.

And lets make Good Knight a Morgan AeroMax, shall we?



http://www.autoblog.com/2006/06/28/morgan-...ted-production/

[Shockwave]

Ok, I can see how on the surface it might look like rehashing the same joke over and over, but are you actually telling me that several different writers at several different times all wanted to tell the same bad joke? I would actually argue that just because they show Cy-Kill dead doesn't even mean that it was meant to be funny. Showing him and Cop-Tur strung up like slabs of meat isn't especially hilarious. On the surface, Megs killing Cy-Kill might seem like the representation of one brand "killing" another, but up to that point Cy-Kill was the top gladiator in those fights. The writers needed Megatron to defeat someone strong and powerful and they chose Cy-Kill as that bot. I don't see how his death is especially disrespectful when seen from that angle. I just find it impossible to believe that 4 different people all had the same literary intention with it. It's just TOO coincidental. Now if someone can find interviews with all 4 of these people where they actually said that was their intention or some editorial mandate handed down by Hasbro, then I'll believe it. Sorry, but quoting TFWiki, a source which can be edited by literally anyone is like telling me you heard it from your uncle's cousin's ex roommate. Which holds about as much water as a rusty strainer.

[Dominic]

Try to find annotated copies of the DW content. Compilations of "Armada" and I want to say another story had specific references to writers/artists thinking it funny to have dead Go-Bots, because (apparently) the fans need to feel big and vindicated. ("Yay, our nerd hobby won...at something....finally.") The wiki has legit basis on this one.

I am willing to bet the "Megatron: Origins" cameo was meant to be "hehehehehehe Go-Bots suk" more than "lets show how awesome Megatron is by having him kill the awesome that is Cy-Kill".


Dom
-rather likes that new Good Knight idea.

[Shockwave]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that it hasn't happened, in fact I have the compilations you refer to and I think I recall reading the same thing. So I'll grant you DW, but my jury's still out on IDW. Then there's the other thing to consider too: the artists. It might have just been the artists putting them in there and not necessarily the writers. This is very unlikely with Origins, but other IDW appearances...

I dunno, I still think they're inclusion in the fiction at all still leaves the door open for IDW to do something worthwhile with the characters.

[BWprowl]

This thread's made me realize that Go-Bots are really only especially notable with TF fans because they're the *only* competition Transformers has ever had. I mean, with the possible exception of Power Rangers, there aren't any other transforming robot toylines out there for Transformers to compete with. The only other one I can think of is DinoZone/DinoZaurs, which was on shelves next to Beast Wars/Machines (there were some nifty toys among them, but the transformations were mostly blah. Sparse aesthetics too, which I wasn't fond of. Stupid fun cartoon though.) I dunno, I just find it interesting. If there had been other competitors coming in and out against TF over the years, would we really be all that concerned with Go-Bots?

I might actually find it funny if they made a running gag out of BW Megatron killing Gigano Dragon.

[andersonh1]

The only Gobot I've ever owned (and still have) is Jeepers Creepers. Stupid, stupid name, but very nice figure with a good transformation scheme for the size.

[Dominic]

I can see Jeepers Creepers making filthy prank phone calls and such. I kind of like that idea.

I think Prowl is on to something with "Go-Bots" being the only real competition TF had. There were a few other lines of transforming robots. But, most of them were secondary and tertiary market lines, and some of those were TF knock-offs. "Go-Bots" had a number of good toys and substantial media support. Dinozone/Zaurs, (I reflexively call it "Zone") had a cartoon, but as Prowl pointed out, most of the line was recolors. (And, the US did not even get the full line.)

Still, I would rather not see the hobby taking partisan shots at yesterday's competition.


Dom
-Jeepers Creepers likes how Anderson smells when he is scared. And, right now, Anderson smells gooooood.

[Onslaught Six]

I think that another thing to keep in mind was the Japanese robot boom of the early 80s and resulting crash. Much like America's video game crash of the same time period, the market was flooded with crap and nobody knew what to get, so it crashed--and then somebody came along with an idea tweaked just enough to get by and it worked. Granted--part of that was definitely Gundam, in Japan, and if I were to rank all-time consistant mecha in Japan I'd probably put Gundam, Evangelion and then maybe TF. TF doesn't do so well over there because they're sentient, and for some reason the Japanese like their giant robots to be piloted. But they also transform, which pretty much no other line does besides Machine Robo--and that's Bandai anyway, so they have Gundam to worry about.

[Dominic]

I have noticed some people here have a problem with the idea of non-piloted robots. But, at least some of them are fans of the Japanese stuff.

I have no idea why some have a problem with it though. Is there some element of Japanese culture maybe?


Dom
-notes that the big "robots" in "Evengelion" are alive...oh lordy are they.

[Mako Crab]

Gotta' agree with everything being said here. It's not just that the Gobots were the only other transforming robot series out at the time, but their fiction also had similar themes going on that matched them up well against TFs. 2 factions in constant battle that bring their conflict to Earth. It immediately put kids minds into thinking about the comparisons and which was better. And really, Transformers is pretty much still the only major franchise out there about giant, transforming robots. They've got a pretty good monopoly on the market.