GoBots aka Machine Robo Action Figure Toys
Those who were born in the early 80s or late 70s would be familiar with this robot toy line and its cartoon show. GoBots was somewhat similar to Transformers in which the robot action figures could be transformed into different vehicles like cars, trucks, planes and helicopters. Go Bots initially started out as Machine Robo, a puzzle toy line developed by Popy Pleasure in 1982. Katsushi Murakami designed the toys as small vehicles, which could be reconfigured into robots. The small figures sold well for the price of ¥600. Eventually, the small action figures from Machine Robo series were informally called as the “600 Series”.
Since the first release of the toy line was a success, Popy released larger robot figures with the ScaleRobo DX figures, which were now based on real life vehicles. In 1983, Popy was reabsorbed by Bandai which continued to expand the line and added a few improvements to the growing toy robot industry. Bandai eventually exported the line to Australia, America and Europe towards the end of 1983. Machine Robo was renamed as Machine Men in America and Australia and as Robo Machine in Europe. However, Bandai failed to make an impression in the American market. They eventually chose to license the figures to Tonka. Tonka then renamed the toy series to Go Bots.
Continue reading the rest of this article, or take a moment to shop for classic GoBot robot action toys for sale!
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 1980S GOBOT SPACE SHUTTLE   US $9.99Sale Ends: 32m |
 MOC G-2 GOBOTS Transformers Motormouth/Gearhead US $8.99Sale Ends: 7h 25m |
 Gobots Go bots Renegade Combiner Puzzler incomplete US $5.24Sale Ends: 14h 25m |
 Gobots Go bots Renegade Combiner Monsterous incomplete US $6.49Sale Ends: 14h 43m |
 Gobots Go bots Wendy's Beamer Sky Flyer Breeze Odd Ball US $.99Sale Ends: 15h 7m |
 Vintage Gobots Rock Lords Narlies Lot Narliehog Lizard US $4.99Sale Ends: 15h 13m |
 Big Transformers G1 Lot Thundercats Jetfire Gobots MASK US $83.00Sale Ends: 15h 14m |
 Gobots Go bots Guardian Power Suits GB P1 & GB P2 MOC US $.99Sale Ends: 15h 24m |
 Bandai Machine Robo MR C-6 Boxer Robo NMIB gobots popy US $49.99Sale Ends: 1d 9h 48m |
 Huge Vintage Transformers Lot Robot GoBots US $24.99Sale Ends: 1d 10h 49m |
 GoBots Rock Lords Machine Robo Bandai Japan Robots lot US $4.99Sale Ends: 1d 10h 50m |
 GoBots:Renegade Puzzler Combiner Jig Saw Pocket lot US $.99Sale Ends: 1d 11h 16m |
 Lot Of 9 Rock Lords - GOBOTS - Bandia US $8.00Sale Ends: 1d 13h 9m |
 Transformers GoBot Kaman SH2 Seasprite Helicopter Japan US $14.99Sale Ends: 1d 14h 14m |
 Vintage Hard Plastic GoBot/Rifle Toy Robot-1970's/80's US $9.99Sale Ends: 2d 1h 17m |
 Vintage 117 Pc. Lot of Transformers/GoBots/Misc. Parts US $12.00Sale Ends: 2d 5h 55m |
 Vintage GoBots Go Bots LEADER ONE US $4.99Sale Ends: 2d 8h 9m |
 Vintage GoBots Go Bots FLYTRAP US $4.99Sale Ends: 2d 8h 11m |
In order to boost sales, Bandai created a back-story for their robot action figures. The robots were refugees from the destroyed planet of Romulos. They are defending the planet Earth from the monster robots, Devil Invaders, from Casmozone. However, there was no cartoon series produced only a few animated commercials and manga strips. In America, Go Bots is suffering heavy losses from their competitor, Takara which licensed Hasbro to sell their robot action figure line, the Transformers. Hasbro also tied up with Marvel in order to create an animated series about the robot action figures. This boosted the sales of their action figures, which lead to the slow decline of Go Bots action figures in the American market.
In order to meet the competition, Tonka paired up with Hanna-Barbera to create an animated series. However, the cartoon show produced for the American television is different from Bandai’s original storyline for the action figures. The Gobots were divided into two factions the Guardians and the Renegades. The plot was pretty generic, with the Guardian defending the Earth against the evil Renegades. Among the memorable characters are Leader-1, Turbo, Scooter, and Small Foot from the Guardians and Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur, and Fitor from the Renegades. Strangely though, not all Gobots action figures were featured in the show. Some only got minor roles and an occasional guest appearance. They only appear whenever their unique abilities are required, but they are never featured in the main storyline.
A series of Gobots magazine was also published between the winters of 1986 to 1987 by Telepictures Publishing. It was a quarterly magazine, rather than a comic series, featuring sci-fi articles, a five-page comic strip and an “Ask Leader-1” section. Fans who are nostalgic about this 80s toy line and animated series are collecting rare action figures. The beautifully painted box art is even a bonus treat for collectors.
Classic Gobot action figure toy commercial from the '80s.
