GoBots Explored - This Brilliant Innovative Cartoon Always Gets Overshadowed By Transformers

The Transformers franchise has thrived throughout the years, both on the small and large screens, thanks to Michael Bay's huge, and occasionally monstrous, live-action adaptations. The toys are once again selling like hotcakes, flying off shelves as swiftly as they did in the 1980s, at the zenith of Transformers popularity. GoBots was essentially the same concept as Transformers, however, it was the first on the market, debuting in 1983, about a year before the Transformers. The initial five-part run that began the GoBots series is called Challenge of the GoBots: The Original Mini-Series. Essentially, the plot is similar to that of the original Transformers miniseries — good GoBots, who are Guardians strive to preserve Earth after some villainous GoBots, also known as the Renegades plot to take over the world. From then, it's all action, with shape-shifting cars, young heroes, and wacky characters. Challenge of the Gobots is available on DVD as one of Warner's Archive Collection on a single-layered DVD5 in full-frame. There are no other features included. According to the packaging, this DVD was restored from the actual film elements rather than being copied from an obsolete tape source. Challenge of the GoBots should bring a smile to the faces of nostalgia geeks with a soft spot for this underappreciated transformation series.