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

Toy Hax Toy Stage - Castle Dungeon - Masters of the Universe Background

If you have never heard of Toy Hax, then you have been missing out on something wonderful. This site provides repro labels, mainly Transformers, but also some of the best backgrounds for action figures produced. They have many sub sections, including Masters of the Universe. Each of their designs also come in various sizes to meet your choice of figure scale or type of shelving you utilize for displays. This post will look at the large size Castle Dungeon. The Castle Dungeon is obviously intended be a section of Castle Grayskull. From left to right, there is a descending stairwell, computer console, weapons rack, and prison cell. The cell features dark red eyes in a pitch black room. The floor pieces have to be purchased separately but they are a lovely representation of the stone of Grayskull's floors. I bought these to go with my MOTUC collection that I had in my classroom but I am pleasantly surprised that the large size works alright with the vintage figure...

Spirit of Jaga Custom and other repurposed DC Primal Age Figures

Funko went for the fences when they took on the DC license for their Savage World line. We all know the story of how that went down so I won't meander in it further. A lot of the figures have stood out to me and I have been looking for ways to utilize them in my MOTU/Thundercats/Fantasy figure collection. Previously, I made a post about the Batcave playset and how I now use it for Castle Plundar. Months later, it is still a great set. Now, I've been getting more of the figures. First let's look at King Shark. (Amazon stock photo) I'm actually embarrassed it took me this long, but I finally realized he would be a great addition to the Mutants. I didn't want to keep the DC name but I also didn't want to go with Sharkian (Jackalman, Monkian, Vultureman). I always appreciated that Ssslythe had a name that had nothing to do with his species but more to do with his character. He is a slimy, slow moving manipulator. The name gives that off. So I ren...

Toy Biz Batman Batmobile

Recently, I learned that the Toy Biz Batmobile was a two seater! Talk about a game changer. I loved my Kenner Batmobile, it had the engine missile, machine guns, and the pop out/rotating fire effect, but it could only hold Batman. As a 1966 Batman devotee, I always wanted Robin to ride batarang so that he could hear lectures about automobile safety as he approached his 16th birthday. It took a bit of searching but I found a pretty good one in $50 range on Ebay. The stickers were included but I decided not to apply them. I love the chrome features over the gold hubcaps on the Kenner Batmobile. The passenger seat is everything for me with this. The gear shift opens secret missile launchers in the front. The Bat Trunk was an interesting feature. It has a lot of depth, which I guess can be useful for taking criminals to Arkham, or disposing of their bodies. I guess everyone has competing views of the Caped Crusaders thes...

Imperial Beasts Lot

When the vintage Masters of the Universe line came out, it was an out of the park, smash hit. Other companies wanted in on that MOTU cash so they produced similar toys for children to add to their collections. One of these companies was Imperial and two of their lines were Dragons, Knights, and Daggers and Robots, Lasers, and Galaxies. The box art alone were enough to tell children that He-Man would approve of these toys. Image from http://mastersofthe80s.tumblr.com/post/147954847359 Image from https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/08/20/robots-lasers-galaxies-mammoth-marauder-imperial-1984/ As a kid I had a Mammoth Marauder and I loved it. Over the years, I was left with only the seat. Trying to find it online had proved torturous as fans had discovered their value and I refused to pay $100 for a rubber elephant. Fate turned a new page for me this week, however, as one Ebayer decided to liquidate his massive collection of Imperial beasts. I decided to g...

Kre-O G.I. Joe Battle Wagon

G.I. Joe has always had amazing vehicles for your figures to interact with. As the line grew, so did the imaginations of the creators, as each year seemed to provide us with something bigger than the one before. After the U.S.S. Flagg and the Defiant, bigger was no longer an option but that didn't stop G.I. Joe from just going big and bold with their designs. The 1990s era of the line is not universally loved but they gave us plenty of big vehicles, including the Battle Wagon. The Battle Wagon was heavily marketed as an essential item for Joe fans of the time, especially in the DIC cartoon. Unfortunately, I never had it as a kid. It was a high price tag item and, honestly, I never remember seeing it in stores. When I was in college, my younger brother bought two of them on ebay. Being able to see them in person, I had to agree it was worth the hype that Hasbro put around it. I've now moved away from collecting traditional Joes. I'm older and I want my nephews and nieces ...

Ubernerd, Beyond Loserdome

Search This Blog