Transformers Venting thread!

[Sky Shadow]

I most definitely remember Machine Men coming out here in 1983,

Correct! People may (or may) not remember the first "now you see it, now you don't" commercials that accompanied the first line of Machine Men in 1983, (Cycle Man, Tank Man, Aero Man, Copter Man, Train Man and Racer Man.) Which is - yes - why it's always pissed me off when people call GoBots/Machine Men knockoff or rip-offs of Transformers. 1. Transformers came out second. 2. G. I. Joe was a rip-off of Barbie, which was in turn a rip-off of Bild Lilli, but nobody feels the need to bring that up all the time. And that one's actually true. Toys have evolved organically through the years and nobody needs to call one a rip-off of the other. If we didn't have the toys of the past, we wouldn't have the toys of today. Without Bild Lilli we wouldn't have Barbie, without Barbie we wouldn't have G.I. Joe, without G.I. Joe we wouldn't have Henshin Cyborg, without Henshin Cybrog we wouldn't have Microman, without Microman we wouldn't have Micro Change and Diaclone, and without Micro Change and Diaclone we wouldn't have Transformers.

[CBratron]

I didn't realise that there were people adamantly stating that Transformers came out first, and GoBots came out later to cash in on the craze?

That's the problem with common sense. It's all gut instinct and unconfirmed reasoning. "I remember them most and they were a bigger success. Therefore Transformers came first".

Ask a child (or anyone who hasn't already had eyes explained to them) "How do your eyes work?" and answer will be "beams coming out of your eyes" or some similar variant of that explanation.

People are stupider than you think and only education changes that.

[GoktimusPrime]

I feel similarly frustrated when people assume that the G1 cartoon came out before the toys. Like on the official TF FB page when they uploaded an image of the upcoming Jetfire toy, there were heaps of posts about people saying things like:

>Err, dont you mean skyfire!
>That is not jetfire that is skyfire
>The figure shown in that picture is Skyfire from G1 Transformers
>SKYFIRE!!
>HIS NAME IS SKYFIRE!!!! sorry just had to say it. :/
>is Jetfire the new name for Skyfire?
>Skyfire...ITS SKYFIRE!!! Please use his original name!!! >~<
>This is Skyfire


...thankfully there were also plenty of other people who promptly pointed out the truth.

[Sinnertwin]

GoBots, Transformers. Who cares?

[DELTAprime]

According to Jordan on Toy Hunter when the people at Tonka found out that Hasbro had acquired the rights to Microman and Diaclone and was working on Transformers, Tonka acquired the rights to Machine Robo and then moved quickly to beat Hasbro to market.

So Go Bots was a reaction to Transformers, but Go Bots ended up hitting the market first.

[Hursticon]

GoBots, Transformers. Who cares?

Pfft!... I know right? - We all know where "transforming" is REALLY at.

[griffin]

Hmmm... Frank Welker did a voice in Gobots.
Traitor, or double-agent?

[GoktimusPrime]

GoBots, Transformers. Who cares?

Blasphemy!

So Go Bots was a reaction to Transformers, but Go Bots ended up hitting the market first.

Yeah, but the end result is that GoBots came first.

Hmmm... Frank Welker did a voice in Gobots.
Traitor, or double-agent?

Playah.

[Hursticon]

Hmmm... Frank Welker did a voice in Gobots.
Traitor, or double-agent?

Well, this just confuses everything in that case.

[griffin]

Well, this just confuses everything in that case.

Wow, I didn't even know about that cartoon. The moment the narrator started speaking and the sound effects, it was like listening to a Transformers episode.