Why do people dislike Go-Bots/Machine Men?

[SilverDragon]

I am curious. So far, it mainly seems to be that they were somehow more 'kiddy' than Transformers-probably due to the names. Names like Leader-1, Cy-Kill and Scooter don't really sound that memorable (of course, in an alternate universe, I'm typing that names like Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream don't really sound that memorable on an Australian Go-Bots forum). Also, the Rock Lords, although there is probably some hypocrisy regarding their unimpressive alt modes when you consider Soundwave and Blaster-at least rocks don't get dated (well, they get carbon-dated, boom-tish).

[Golden Phoenix]

I just thought of it as an ongoing joke that spawns from them sort of "losing" to the Transformers

[shokwave2]

I remember owning a few machine men when i was about 7. One was a white formula 1 car i think. And i remember having a transforming rock, which must have been a Rock Lord. Wow the memories. They weren't that bad.

[Paulbot]

The show is hard to watch. The toys have silly names. But basically it just seems to be an easy joke.

As a kid I could see them as being less desireable as they were smaller on average than Transformers, but I never knocked any back as gifts and I bought a couple too. I have a guidebook to the toys as their designs as still of interest, but I'm in no rush to rewatch the cartoon.

[Sam]

I actually do not hate Gobots / Machine Men, I thought the story of how they came to be was rather interesting.

But I just like the Transformers a lot more.

However..

I'll admit those Gobot names did put me off though. I did not feel they were creative enough (i.e. "Cop-Tur"), and some of those Gobot transformations just looked like a robot lying on the ground and then becoming a "car".

Additionally, some of those Gobots with large torso-sized heads put me off. It was as if a car had the entire front hood for a "head".

Plus Scooter's voice really annoyed me...

I know some of those points seemed picky, but that kinda sums it up for me.

[dirge]

Awful cartoon, some terrible names (Tank Man? Dive-Dive? Hans-Cuff?) and some weird side lines (Rock Gnarlies, anyone?), but the staple toys in the line - the smaller, original, toys, were generally pretty good.

The line didn't fail because of decent toys like Stinger, Pathfinder or Spoons (google them!), but because the fiction backing them up was so poor. An entire side line of rocks just isn't that interesting, either - even if the two headed dude _was_ cool...

[Eruntalon]

On the subject of Gobots, I have a few (about 3 or 4) of the smaller variety for sale if anyone is interested?

[Robzy]

I think people pick on them for a few reasons...

1) They lost the "battle" against Transformers... mainly because they were called something different in each country (GoBots, Machine Men, etc..) unlike the universal "branding" of Transformers.

2) The US cartoon wasn't very good - admittedly it was better than some other 80s cartoons. Transformers was more "gritty" and "realistic" at the time. Ironic when you consider that people have mocked GoBots for being too cartoony, yet totally embraced Transformers Animated when it came out!

3) I think, generally, some TF fans can be quite mean! We're a fickle bunch, and some of us tend to grab hold of something and run with it no matter how rude or insulting we may be!

Personally, I love GoBots/Machine Men... not so much because of the cartoon (having said that, the 5-part Battle for GoBotron, 5-part Gobotron Saga, and Rocklords movie were actually pretty good!), but because the toys, although small, are so damn cool. They really are! Way more interesting than the G1 Minibots (well, most of them anyway).

[Lord_Zed]

I blame an ugly undercurent of racisism toward Gobots.

But yeah mainly I think its because the core Gobot cartoon (In the west anyway) was even sillier than the Transformers cartoon which is saying a lot.

I got no problem with the toys though, a lot of them as has been said are more interesting than the similar sized TF minibots, and they often had more intersting Alt-modes, including some wierd ones. These days I even like the Rocklords while yeah there rocks, the sculpts had personality. But back when I was a kid Transformers had the better mythology and the better backing so they won the war.