Skip to main content

GoBots: Guardian Command Center


If there is one thing that gave GoBots a leg up on Transformers it was that they had playsets. They had two official, two unofficial, and one unproduced set. Playsets go a long way with me and if you've followed this blog for awhile that shouldn't be a surprise to you. Probably the most important GoBot playset was the Guardian Command Center. I never had one growing up but I did get a brand new one from Dallas Vintage Toys this week.



There is always a magical feeling when you get something brand new. It is a little bit like time travel for the emotions. Everything here was brand new but unfortunately it had water damage, as you can see in the pictures. This wasn't a huge problem but it did cause me grief in the stickers department. The entire sheet had developed a few layers of grime from dust and being in a water damaged box. I was able to clean it a little bit but some of the stickers were unusable. To compensate I ended up finding some repro stickers from various Star Wars vehicles and playsets online. I like the end result and I might work on adding some more.


The directions were in really bad shape and unsavable. I took pictures of each page before getting rid of them.







The set also included a mini comic. The story inside predates the cartoon but unlike the Masters of the Universe mini comics, this one really didn't improve on the overall story, save for the fact that it gives an explanation for why the GoBots look like Earth vehicles.


The exterior of the Command Center:


Walker mode. This guy is scaled pretty well.



Spaceship mode.




The back hatch.






One of my favorite stickers above the head.

And now the interior:


Trauma Center/Med Bay



The Interrogation Center.



The cool red screen was supposed to help identify Guardians and Renegades. It was a cool concept. The included stickers could be applied to your figures. These were some of the beyond saving stickers unfortunately.


Notice how the top row stickers became F's for Friendly and the bottom row became E's for Enemy. A pretty thoughtful add on that they didn't need to include.



The Detention Center and, yikes, De-Materializer. Guess you could only cross Leader 1 so many times.



Again, yikes, the Reprogramming Center.



Perhaps for the best, the GoBot Cafeteria sticker was damaged.
So this became a computer terminal.



The GoBot Maintenance/Refueling area


I feel like there is a lot of unused space here.
I'm going to try to find some things to add to the area. 
Maybe a maintenance lift.



The Vertical Transportation Module. Again, notice the details here. 
The sticker labels each floor of the Command Center. Pretty cool.


And finally, the Strategic Command/Strategy Center.


I still might add in some more buttons and computers.



All in all, a pretty cool toy. It really bummed me out to have the sticker sheet so dirty, especially because there are not a lot of options to replace them. No one has them scanned online and the only place selling replacements is Toy Hax but $66 is ridiculous. However, they do have Guardian and Renegade insignias that I might pick up. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Funko Savage World Thundercats Wave 2

2018 was an exciting time for me because we finally received Thundercats in the same scale as Masters of the Universe! It was a dream come true for myself and, I'm sure, many other children of the 80's. The excitement was unfortunately short lived as the factory that Funko worked with screwed up the plastics used on hip articulation. Many figure arrived with broken or soon to be broken crotches and Funko was dealt a pretty serious black eye. However, they worked hard to fix that issue but that also pushed back Wave 2 of Thundercats over a year. During that time, they went ahead with a mass market retail approach for a DC Comics universe in the Savage World style. While there were some nice toys in this line, especially the Bat Cave, the overall appeal to general audiences didn't seem to be there. A lot of planned Savage World lines seemed to get axed because of the gamble not paying off. Thankfully, Thundercats Wave 2 made the cut and began arriving this past quarter...

Mega Bloks Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016 - Lord Zedd and Custom Squatt

So, 29 Blind Bags later, I completed the official collection with Lord Zedd. I've really enjoyed this series. Sure it is not the most detailed or articulated but there is just a certain fun factor that radiates from these figures. And now that it is complete, my focus has turned to what customs I can create. I've already posted about Rita Repulsa. By Zedd, she looks pretty great. Now I've added another custom with Squatt. It was challenging finding which lego pieces would best reflect the character. Here are my current Evil Space Alien leaders. I still have a few more in the works.

Will It Motu or Notu? Schleich Big Knights Castle

Schleich has been around for quite while. They specialize in super detailed animals and fantasy creatures. More recently, they have been adding figurines and now "action figures". These toys are all pretty awesome and are in a 3 3/4 scale, like Star Wars and G.I. Joe. They have been making playsets and dioramas, as well, and a few of them really caught my eye. Since I have been on a vintage MOTU binge, my mind immediately began trying to figure out just how well these playsets would scale with my toys. I asked sellers on Amazon.com who responded negatively, but it didn't sit well with me. Being a toy collector for as long as I have been, my mind has become pretty adept at this. Many of you, I'm sure, can say the same. I decided to reach out on He-Man.org. Nobody was negative on it but they weren't really sure either. One member, Barbecue17, had the playset I was thinking about and had covered it on his blog, which you can check out here -  http://www.actionfig...

Replacement MOTU leg connectors by Rama and Amos Del Retro

Back in February, I came across a post on one of the Masters of the Universe Facebook fan pages about replacement leg connectors from a group in Argentina. I had already known about the screw and o-ring method, thanks to He-Bro -  http://he-man.us/Innovations/BrokenLegs.html , and I had used it on a broken Teela earlier this year. It worked well but it doesn't feel permanent. I have a feeling that I will have to replace that sometime soon in the near future. Plus, I am having to actually damage the figure by screwing eye hooks in their legs. Anyway, these new leg connectors felt like something worth looking into. If you go to their website, www.stands-rama.com , they have a tutorial posted on how these work: Now, my spanish isn't great but I kind of got the idea of how these work. Heat the legs, push the connectors through the crotch and attach. Seems easy enough. I searched for some more tutorials and found this one from Toy Palloi: And this one from Michael Mercy: ...

Toy Biz Marvel Superheroes Spider-man Attack Tower

My Christmas Toy Biz Marvel Superheroes haul continued with the Spider-Man Attack Tower, thanks to my brothers. I was able to get the Marvel Superheroes Training Center back in 2019 and it was something I never thought I would ever own. The same goes with this set. These were things I used to salivate over on the back of my action figure cards while growing up. Especially with the short life span this line had. Obviously, the whole set is a gimmick-filled toy made to destroy your Spider-Man's joints but it is still pretty cool. I look forward to using it as a display piece in the future. Preparing to launch over the hurdle. The height is adjustable in case your Spider-Man doesn't break and craves more thrills. Spidey's got a spot to practice his web shooting. You can also practice his web slinging as he goes after the Doom training dummies.  These stickers are amazing quality. Seriously, check out the definition h...