Retroist Gobots Podcast
Welcome to the 24th episode of the 15th season of the Retroist Podcast. Today’s episode, number 297, is all about the transforming robots toys that are not The Transformers, The Gobots. I consider this the 5th part of my series on The Transformers and I reference that toy line a few times.
My story at the beginning of the show still bothers me. Not so much for the loss, but more my loss of trust in adults. Sometimes, I guess it just doesn’t seem worth the effort to make your kid do the right thing. Maybe it’s embarrassing? Not sure, but I haven’t forgotten.
Then I move onto the subject of the show. This is a bigger overview. So I talk about the toys, TV show, movie, music, video game, board game, magazine, and more. I might have done this in two episodes, but thought I would make it a slightly longer single episode.
The Gobots are mostly mentioned in comparison to The Transformers. I do it myself in this episode. That doesn’t always do The Gobots justice. It was a solid show and toy line whose creativity should be better appreciated and not just compared.
Listen and download The Gobots Podcast
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Production Notes
24th episode of the new season and the 297th episode of the Retroist Podcast. Much more than I expected for this season and still going.
This is sorta the 5th episode in my Transformers podcast series. This was encouraged by a few people, and I want to thank everyone for the encouragement.
My story about the Gobots was like a bucket of cold water at the time. Years later I would find out it wasn’t uncommon. I lost a beloved stuffed animal this way and didn’t learn until I was much older. Even after all this time, it still makes me angry.
I almost turned this into two episodes, but ultimately decided to make it one episode. That meant I needed to cut down a bunch of stuff.
I edited out some stuff about Machine Robo and some details about the Gobots toyline itself. I didn’t think the details about the various toys would be needed for the overview.
Had a little more about Tonka and the stuff they did. Cut that down.
Had to cut down the cast again. I like talking about these people, so some names might stick with people.
Gobots animation really grew on me during this rewatch. They could have done a bit more with the Transformations and feature the characters as their toys. On the surface, Gobots and Transformers are not that different, but their approach to the material in the animation just feels and looks very different.
I feel like I learned about Arthur Burghardt before.
Because they are not as popular as the Transformers, the details of behind the scenes stuff just isn’t accessible.
I had a much longer description of the movie plot. Cut out about half of its final form.
The cast is huge, and my discussion of them was also huge. I went back in and moved through a lot of actors that I had to pass on discussing.
I had some music from the show and video game. I cut that out.
Cut out 3 other commercial from the Gobots. It was just getting too long.
I had a fun time with getting to look at both the TV guide and the film listings section this episode.
One of my favorite parts of the podcast has been revisiting my old movie listings. Great to return to that part of my life in a small way. Going to the movies was a great escape and one of my favorite summer activities.
I now post the episode on YouTube for people to find and stream. You can find the link in the listen section above. It will appear there from now on. I will continue to mention it here until it becomes normal.
Right now, you can find the Gobots series on the Internet Archive. No longer how long it will be there.
Do you listen to older episodes of the show? Just curious how far you go back when you do? Only hear from a few people on this question, so I will keep putting it here and see who spots it.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.
Great episode. I had 2 Gobots as a kid. I didn't appreciate them at the time but I've grown to over the years. I think the Transformers world building was more intriguing to me. Also, the design and transformations. On a side note, I also lost many things to theft as a kid. Made me choose my friends wisely.
Big fan of the Go-bots, actually played with the Go-bots more than the Transformers really. I don't remember the details of the cartoon but I'm planning on checking it out over on the archive like you mentioned. I noticed this is episode 297, you're approaching a nice milestone, any big plans for "300"?