Transformers: Go-Bots

GO GO GO-BOTS!

Transformers: Go-Bots was a series active between 2002 and 2005 as part of the overall Transformers franchise. Aimed at preschool children, the series focused upon a team of robots from the city of Botropolis. These robots were sent to Earth to protect it from danger.

Unlike most parts of the franchise, this series didn't have a full-length cartoon. Instead, only four episodes, each 10 minutes long, were produced. As a co-production between toy company Hasbro and Taiwanese studio Wang Film Productions^[1] akin to the third My Little Pony series. Two of them aired in New York and Chicago only, making the cartoon extremely hard to find... unless you go on YouTube, that is.

The toyline itself was distributed through Hasbro's Playskool subsidiary, consisting of chunky-looking robots that had (at first) rather quick transformation schemes. As such, they were marketed like so.

Despite some similarities, this should not be confused with Tonka's version of the Machine Robo franchise.

Tropes used in Transformers: Go-Bots include:

• Acting for Two: Several characters share voice actors, due to the ridiculously small (Voice) cast.
• Badass Car: Speed-Bot
  • Badass Plane: Areo-Bot
• Catch Phrase: "Go Go Go-Bots!"
• Cool Car: Speed-Bot, Mototron and the Racer-Bot Twins.
• Drives Like Crazy: The Racer-Bot Twins and Mototron.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Aero-Bot
  • The Lancer: Speed-Bot
  • The Big Guy: Strong-Bot and Beast-Bot
  • The Smart Guy: Buzzer-Bot
  • The Mentor: The Go-Bot Council
  • The Sixth Ranger: Hauler-Bot
• Four-Fingered Hands: Areo-Bot (on occasions), Silver-Bot, Speed-Bot and Kid-Bot.
• Follow the Leader: This series is quite similar to Lilo and Stitch The Series in it's premise (Aliens that are unaware of their own strength, and the leads have to take them to a good place; or in this case, back to Botropolis for more training).
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Considering that this series has actors from The Ocean Group, this shouldn't be a surprise:
  • Areo-Bot and Beast-Bot are both Toa Whenua.
  • Speed-Bot is Chang Wufei.
  • Buzzer-Bot and Reptron are L.
  • Strong-Bot and Silver-Bot are Red Alert.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The first two episodes only came with one of Speed-Bot's figures, the latter two aired on TV in Chicago and New York (as explained above), and only twice, for that matter.
• Last Episode Upgrade: Go-Brillium.
• Merchandise-Driven: It is Transformers, after all.
• Name's the Same: Despite having a jet for a leader (Aero-Bot) and Wang providing the animation, this series bears no resemblance to Hanna-Barbera's and Tonka's Challenge of the Go-Bots in any way, shape or form.
• Never Say "Die": Surprisingly averted in "Racer-Bot Road Rally", where the word "death" is said at one point.
• No Antagonist: The problem usually stems from one or more reckless, though still good, Go-Bots unaware that they're causing mayhem. They do promise to get better, though.
• Off-Model: Not so bad as Transformers Armada (released at the same time), but still evident.
• Shout-Out: There's a character named Cheetor in the toyline, and Beast-Bot's gorilla form resembles that of Optimus Primal in Beast Machines.
• Spiritual Successor: Transformers Rescue Bots is looking to be this. Also serves as this to Rescue Heroes, both having similar themes and art styles.
• Three Shorts: Sort of - The episodes were separate, but were only 10 minutes long. This made it shorter than the average Transformers episode, which usually (if not always) lasted around 22 minutes.
• Unskilled but Strong: Reptron, considering the damage he makes in his episode
• Verbal Tic: Buzzer-Bot has electronic sound effects peppered into his speech.
• The Voiceless/The Unintelligible: Kid-Bot and Gas-Bot.
• What Could Have Been: According to the TFWiki, there was going to be a BotCon exclusive Go-Bot. Unfortunately, due to Hasbro rejecting the coloring book that would have featured it, this never came to be.

1. ↑ with their Chinese sub-studio Hong Guang