GoBots thread

[Gomess]

Hmm... Official? Presumably this is, "Officially what Tux WOULD have looked like in Animated..." Can only hope it doesn't confuse younger fans into thinking he was. That's the kind of "easter egg" that would've just annoyed me as a kid. "But why would Hasbro lie??"

But see, there's the evidence that Gobots are still enjoyed- albeit ironically- by TF fans, so I'm not sure why they're not just totally absorbed into the IP! Just make them TF characters already! Hohum.

[Mako Crab]

Well. . . official in the sense that he appeared in the TF Allspark Almanac, but otherwise, not so much.

[Gomess]

See, I know Dom'll disagree with me, but that's still fanfic as far as I'm concerned. Just TF fans in "high positions" of the TF milieu abusing their position to wank-- er, *express* themselves in "humorous ways". Kinda sad.

Now, a 26 year-old professional writer wanting to write a story about a robot hearse with a metal tophat that believes he draws strength from eating dead humans? Nothing sad there!

>_>

(But hey, Animated's style grew on me the more I watched it, and I must admit it's quite a cool rendition of Tux. Definitely not "My Style", but it would've been cool to see him in action.)

Another fun thing I noticed about Gobots: Lack of accessories. This links nicely with Puzzler being held up as OMG ZERO-KIBBLE COMBINARRR; you can count the number of Gobots that had weapons or whatever on one hand (metaphor). Dozer, Jeeper Creeper, Pumper... I guess the helicopters with all their ubiquitously detachable rotors? Twin Spin's were the best.

[Dominic]

Powermaster hearse!Tux with dead Nebulan

needs to happen

i'm sorry

but it does

If the Fan Club does this, I am holding you personally responsible.

One thing I really don't recall about the Gobots cartoon is the characters having much personality, despite the fact the storyline got pretty flippin' high concept later on, with "Old Gobotron" and "the Last Engineer", all that stuff. But the personalities? It never even seemed to have the basic tropes that TF did. Anyone got a better memory of this than me?

YouTube would confirm this, at least from the few episodes that I tried to make it through.

Most GoBots were "hi than bye" types. The would show up once or twice, and then be shunted off somewhere. Think TF2K/RiD or BWII, but with less flair.

This was not unusual in the 80s. But, "GoBots" was especially bad at it, which probably hurt the franchise in the long run.

See, I know Dom'll disagree with me, but that's still fanfic as far as I'm concerned. Just TF fans in "high positions" of the TF milieu abusing their position to wank-- er, *express* themselves in "humorous ways". Kinda sad.

How is it fanfic when the content is officially licensed by Hasbro? The writer being a fan before landing the job means nothing. I am not a fan of the Almanac at all, but I am not going to dispute it being official.

Another fun thing I noticed about Gobots: Lack of accessories. This links nicely with Puzzler being held up as OMG ZERO-KIBBLE COMBINARRR;

Puzzler's gun. Do not forget the gun.

But, in general, you are right. Most GoBots were self-contained. Of the (relatively few) guys who did have extra pieces, some of them could be attached in both form. And, of those that could not, the pieces were not strictly necessary, (such as Puzzler's gun), unlike many TFs (as was the case with Prime's hands).


Dom
-still finds Tux kind of creepy in that "Kraven's Last Hunt" way....

[Gomess]

How is it fanfic when the content is officially licensed by Hasbro? The writer being a fan before landing the job means nothing. I am not a fan of the Almanac at all, but I am not going to dispute it being official.

Neither am I.... But what I am saying- and what I assumed you of all people would get- is that things like Animated Tux are just as "fanficcy" (if, as you ALWAYS do, we assume "fanficcy" is more connotative of certain qualities and ethics than a simple medium) as actual fanfic. When the line of quality between official and fanfic is that thin, what does it even matter that something's officially licensed? That I should like it better? Or accept it as "fact" within the fictional universe? lawl

Yeah, Tux was totally in Animated. He was.. uh.. just always stood behind Bulkhead. Shame really.

Are there Gobots episodes on YouTube? I had a little look and couldn't find any. So I figured I'd see if there were DVDs (hey, I've got a tenner to burn), and all I could find was the opening story arc. Y no boxset? Very odd. Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors got one, for goodness' sake.

Anyway, I'm particularly interested in the lady Gobots, since it was common practice at the time to have one actor do all the female voices, as there usually weren't more than two female characters. So I wonder just how diverse the (admittedly large!) cast of lady Gobots are. By my count, there's THREE in each faction, including Vamp, which is great; a monstrous female 'bot decades before Stryka. Really curious about her voice.

[Dominic]

Try starting from Google and using "Gobots" and "YouTube" (and variations of both/either) as terms. I know I found episodes less than a year ago.

Still, I cannot say that it will be worth the time.


Dom
-found female GoBots less annoyng that female TFs....

[Gomess]

Yeup, tried it, nothing. More perturbed there's almost no good DVD releases, to be honest (and yeah, I generally look to import from the US).

Of the six lady Gobots I know of, NONE of them is pink. Except, like Crasher's face? That's actually amazing.

[Shockwave]

Ok, so this is pretty amazing: Tux, awesome as he is, was originally cast in black, not white. His actual animated debut wasn't Challenge of the Gobots, but the Machine Robo anime, Revenge of Cronos, where he appears in this earlier colour scheme... as a functioning hearse. Suddenly, the tophat doesn't mean "old-fashioned thug", but "undertaker". Suddenly, Tux is dark as sh!t.

Powermaster hearse!Tux with dead Nebulan

needs to happen

i'm sorry

but it does

Even with my Anti-Gobot attitude I could still get 100% behind this. Maybe he could be called Tuxreaper! And instead of the dead Nebulan being a powermaster, it could transform into a scythe instead. Like a melee targetmaster. "Weaponmaster"? Maybe the Nebulan was the test subject for the "master" process and died from it and Tuxreaper just kept it as a weapon anyway.

[Gomess]

A scythe is just about the biggest possible challenge in TF desin terms. X] It'd have to fold up like origami to make a humanoid shape.

I dunno though, if Tux had any kind of weapon I'd assume one of his fingers contained a garrotte. He looks more like a Victorian hitman than anything. And I do love concealed weapons!

[Ursus mellifera]

A scythe is just about the biggest possible challenge in TF desin terms. X] It'd have to fold up like origami to make a humanoid shape.

I dunno though, if Tux had any kind of weapon I'd assume one of his fingers contained a garrotte. He looks more like a Victorian hitman than anything. And I do love concealed weapons!

The garrotte is a great idea. Maybe instead of just being a dead Nebulon, Tux's Powermaster could be this hideous cyborg made out of Cybertronian technology and dead Nebulon parts?

I like the scythe, but maybe he could just have one as opposed to it turning into anything.

Maybe his new name could be Crypt?