To make up a third series of figures Tonka had to resort to commissioning more figures from Bandai and even using rejected Machine Robo prototypes but to no avail GoBots sales slumped by 80% in 1986 and the line was wound down - Tonka instead concentrating on their newer hit Pound Puppies.Īll the various trademarks Tonka had devised for the series, such as the GoBots and Rock Lords brands and the various trademarks associated with them, were thus the property of Hasbro. Challenge of the GoBots finished its' first run on Decemand was not commissioned for a second season a plan to gazump Hasbro once again by getting a feature film out ahead of Transformers the Movie was a pyrrhic victory - GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords arrived in theatres eight months ahead of its' competitor but was a bomb at the box office and what critical notice it drew was mixed. 1986 saw most of the fly-by-night lines wiped out and GoBots began to lose ground in the contracting market. However they struggled to translate the high sales of the small figures to other parts of the range. Tonka's line was in fact doing so well they exhausted the backlog of moulds available from Bandai, even commissioning the Japanese company to make them more. Many of these lines had very poor quality but sold well - if not as well as Transformers and GoBots. The GoBots series was a ratings hit, leading to the 60-episode syndicated series Challenge of the GoBots, but the cartoon did little to help shake GoBots' tag as the more juvenile of the lines.ġ985 saw the demand for all things transforming robot explode, with every toy company in America and beyond trying to get in on the action by either making or licensing figures - Select had Convertors, Ertl had Pow-R-Tron, Buddy-L had Robotron, Mattel had Powerbots, Remco had Zybots, Lanard had Ro-Bots, Village Toys had Convert-A-Bots, Intex had Moto-Bot and so on. In response to the planned Transformers animated mini-series from Marvel Productions, Tonka commissioned one of their own from Hanna-Barbera, with the first episode of the five-part mini-series premiering six weeks after the first episode of Transformers "More Than Meets the Eye" opener. Transformers hit American stores in 1984 and were a hit themselves their more detailed backstory, greater variety and complexity of figures and overall higher-quality feel soon began to make even bigger waves than GoBots had done. Tonka also happily licensed the GoBots branding to anyone willing to pay for it, resulting in an explosion of peripheral merchandise. Larger Machine Robo figures became the Super GoBots and while Tonka themselves didn't have the expertise to make any further figures they were able to design plastic playsets and action toys designed to interact with the toys for the range, while a memorable series of TV commercials with the jingle "Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles" pushed sales even higher. Nevertheless the figures - retailing at $2.99 apiece - were an immediate hit, and were soon followed by a swathe of further releases. Tonka's initial plan for what they called GoBots relied more on speed than detail 28 extant Machine Robo figures were rushed to stores in late 1983 mounted on blister cards with individual names and little else - such was the lack of forward planning the figures didn't even have proper factions, being designated as "Friendly" or "Enemy" GoBots. It is almost certain that Tonka's move was inspired by Hasbro's purchase of Takara's Diaclone and Microchange for what would become Transformers, though no documented proof exists and it is unlikely to ever be officially confirmed. Bandai had tried themselves to do so under the Machine Men name but as their American operation was small at the time they struggled with promotion and distribution, which Tonka could easily improve. In 1983 Tonka struck a deal with Bandai to licence Machine Robo figures in the United States and Canada.
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