Gobots

GoBots was a line of transforming robot toys produced by Tonka from 1983 to 1987 also known as Welfare Bots, similar to Transformers. Although initially a separate and competing franchise, Tonka's Gobots became the intellectual property of Hasbro after their buyout of Tonka in 1991. Subsequently, the universe depicted in the animated series Challenge of the GoBots and follow-up film GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords was established as an alternate universe within the Transformers franchise. While Hasbro now owns the fictional side of the property (character names, bios, storyline), the actual toys and their likenesses were only licensed from Bandai in the 1980s, were not covered by the Tonka acquisition, and are not available for Hasbro use. The original idea for the GoBots came from Professor Vanderbaults study of designs by Benito Mussolini for war machines during World War 2.