The Challenge of the Gobots debuted before (Sept, 8th 1984) the Transformers series (Sept, 17th 1984). Transformers is great, but give credit where credit is due. The Gobots series was presented on American television first, plain and simple. Haters should check their facts before they claim copyright infringement and all the other petty charges that have been leveled at Hanna-Barbera for the Gobots series over the last 30 years.
Transformers was not even anything like the Gobots and vice versa. Who ever said you can't have two, or five, or eighty shows about transforming robots? The fact that people still argue over who did what first is so pointless. Things do not happen in a vacuum, ideas, innovations, and inventions happen spontaneously within the cultural zeitgeist, few if any are ever planned.
Besides, both American cartoon series were based on a mega-popular line of Japanese toys from the 1970's and several Japanese anime series from the early 1980's. Tonka and Hasbro were simply adapting Japanese toy design, animation, and stylizing to American audiences. Bottom line, one is not better than the other, however, in America Gobots came first and in large part paved the way for Transformers to take American children by storm.
Transformers was not even anything like the Gobots and vice versa. Who ever said you can't have two, or five, or eighty shows about transforming robots? The fact that people still argue over who did what first is so pointless. Things do not happen in a vacuum, ideas, innovations, and inventions happen spontaneously within the cultural zeitgeist, few if any are ever planned.
Besides, both American cartoon series were based on a mega-popular line of Japanese toys from the 1970's and several Japanese anime series from the early 1980's. Tonka and Hasbro were simply adapting Japanese toy design, animation, and stylizing to American audiences. Bottom line, one is not better than the other, however, in America Gobots came first and in large part paved the way for Transformers to take American children by storm.