I think overall Gobots tend to have a surprising level of quality. It's too bad that Tonka dropped the ball on their marketing - imagine if Puzzler was named something cool and imposing like "Menasor" - kids from the 80s might have different memories of the toyline :)
In an alternate universe, when Gobots were as popular as 80's Transformers toys: Cy-Kill: "Renegades! Merge to become Puzzler!" Puzzler: "NOTHING DEFEATS THE PUZZLER! NOTHING!"
Honestly it took a good while for transformers combiners to surpass this in terms of engineering and playability. Kudos to tonka for this gem, pathetic as its legacy ended up being
while I'm a hard core transformers fan I gotta admit these toys and what they combine into were pretty advanced for their time and while I love transformers most of the gobot toys looked more impressive then most 80's transformers toys. while transformer toys from the 90's to today are much better then gobots. still I would love to have all 6 of these dudes
I know this is an old review, and you probably won't see this, but I gotta say. This is a great review of a really-underrated and overlooked combiner. I'm more than tempted to go through eBay and look for him, now!
It's nice to see a high quality review of this guy.... I've had his legs for the last two decades and have wondered what he looked like. It's amazing how advanced this GoBot was when compared to his contemporaries in the G1 line. If the rest of the GoBots would have been as advanced as he was, maybe that line might have survived.....
I have that orange gobot too! Never knew it was part of a combiner. I found it in a old box, but never messed with it much. Now I kinda want to track down the others, the combiner form is quite impressive.
I agree with you completely, man. For 30 years ago, this was really excellent design. And I kinda like the way the pelvis car sticks out. Gives him some character. Thanks for showing him off!
You may not realize this, but you just solved a mystery for me that I've had for almost 25 years. I own Crossword still, and never knew who or what the heck he was. I knew he was a combiner of some sort, but I never knew he was a Gobot, and let alone part of a six piece combiner. Thank you, Peaugh, thank you. Guess I might give the other five a little hunt down myself to finally checkout Puzzler.
I'm really glad you have Puzzler such a wonderful review Peaugh. Having collected Gobots for years I usually find myself defending them at Botcon by folks saying the normal 'they're not as good as Transformers, or 'they're just cheap knock offs) when in reality many of them are better converting figures that Transformers at the same price. I'm hoping more fans start respecting the toy line based on all the toys achieved even back then and not judge it by just the cartoon.
Oh this was great! Brigs back so many good memories from childhood. I was one of the few kids that Preferred the go-bot cartoon/toys over transformers. Cy-kill, Crasher and Cop-tor FTW!! Would love to see more retro go-bot vids like this.
I remember these Puzzler toys. I always regret not getting the entire set. In my world, the Puzzlers were heroic Guardian robots. They were the opposite of the Monstrous team of Renegade monster robots.
Devastator came out in 1985. Puzzler is great as far as swivel in the waist and the arms. Puzzler doesn't have the extra connection parts like Devastator, which is a plus.
I'd picked this guy up a few years back & thought he was a pretty cool figure, *especially* for a Gobot. I managed to find all 6 figures together in a bag of misc. cars at Goodwill, but even the current 'going' price is pretty nice these days! I *LOVED* the fact that he didn't need any misc. combiner pieces like all the TF combiners did...
I dig this set. I always wanted this as a kid, but never got it until not to long ago. And I lucked out on it. Some guy was selling Gobots for a dollar a piece and this set was in the bunch. So I only paid $6 for Puzzler. I have him displayed next to my Devastator. They look good together.
Gobots got as much love as teansformers in the eighties... yes we made fun of them, like a red headed step child, but we ALL had them and played with them amd watched the show, and loved them... they were all over the playground at recess
While watching your review, I dug my Puzzler set out and transformed it with you. I've had it since it originally came out and traded with a friend to get it. It's funny, but over the years, the friend has come and gone, but the memory and this toy still remain. It's weird to think that next year the toy will be 30 years old.
I still have mine from when I was a kid. I didn't know they were sold separately, I think mine came as a set. It was well played with. I loved GoBots when I was a kid. I never owned any Transformers.
I remember having these guys, much akin to all my Transformers, G.I.Joes, Go-Bots, and Macross toys, they were well played with, stored poorly and became a nasty mess... As long as they were enjoyed, they had a good life
They really went all out with these names didn't they. I still have a load of Gobots at home. I wonder if they'll ever be fully embraced into mainstream Transformers instead of just cameos or stolen names.
Ooh...I kinda dig this guy. Six-man combiner? Check. Innovative (for its time) design choices? Check. Team comprised entirely of 80s sportscars, at least two of which are classic Japanese designs that I have a massive fanboner for? Oh, hells yeah.
It's pretty sad that Puzzler looks to be the better combiner, at least as far as bang for your buck goes, than TFC's Uranos. I really like how the front of the cars for part of the torso. It's a unique aesthetic that I wish other combiners would use. I'm honestly tired of the whole "this guy is the torso and these guys are the limbs" thing. I wish there were more non-Scramble City combiners. If that Toy World Throttlebot combiner is as self-contained as Puzzler, I may have to try and get it.
The other Gobots had from my youth were:Scooter,Tux,Renegade,Spoons,Stalion,Streetheat.Personally I preferred the more costly Hasbro Transformer toys line to Tonka's Gobot toy line!
Cool to see you do a vintage review. This is like the Stunticons of Gobots. This was probably one of the coolest Combiners. I still am not understanding how the Toyworld's figures are a hommage as they aren't even the same style of vehicle.
Oh man, this brings back memories! I have all of them, except Rube. I swear I had him in the past, though, I just probably lost him in storage, just like half of my Superion and almost all of Menasor...
I still have a handful of Go-Bots, they where a lot of fun & normaly only a dollar or two at KBToys. They just suffered from bad marketing, still fun toys with diverse transformations
They were literally rival toylines from rival toy companies. Not all Transformers fans have any problems with them though, most just tease them for being so dinky and basic.
Because their parents were either poor or stingy and got them Go-Bots for christmas while their friends got Transformers and then they got bullied at playgrounds over it. And they never got over it, just like they're still salty about Optimus Prime dying, too.
Autobot Commander Ironhide honestly, retro justification. It's the process by which an outcome is retroactively justified. Gobots were equal quality, both sold well, and both fell out of fashion about the same time. However, Hasbro had a much better business partner in Takara than Tonka had in Bandi and Tonka made some really bad business decisions that lead it to go out of business. This of course allowed TF to continue while GB disappeared. In the intervening years (usually by those who came slightly after the giant robot heyday), a mythology started that Gobots were an inferior knock off that no one liked and only poor kids bought.
I was never fussy transformers and gobots were both cool. I had turbo the tank head guy who was really cool since he could either stand on his feet or have them pulled forward so he could roll on his tank tracks in robot mode some futuristic car guy who's name I have no clue and a couple of plus the command center all really cool went great with my transformers
Me and my kid were just looking at one of these last night on eBay and wouldn't you know it...RUclips has your video on my RUclips homepage. How creepy is that? Nice vid.
I actually prefer puzzler over transformers combiners, simply because it was all in one. You don't need 20 other parts to put it together. I just wish they would've continued!
Peaugh, I really want to thank you for doing this review for two reasons. 1. Everyone I know only knows about Transformers and I really like Go-Bots. 2. In the 4 years I've had this figure, I never figured out how to secure the chest using that metal piece near the head of the main robot.
Forgot all about this guy. Never was a Go-Bot fan, though I do admire a gestalt that does not have all the fiddly bits that most of the TF combiners had. Would have been curious to see a side-by-side with G1 Devastator.
Oh I had bunch of real Go-Bots made by Tonka they were allot cheaper to buy than the Transformers were, but some of those had gold plastic syndrome which fell apart after opening, and others were made out of cheap plastic that I had arms & legs break off even when I'm properily converting them. Why I am not going to start a Go-Bots collection soon.
If a 3rd party developer came out and upgraded this guy like they did Devastator, this thing could easily be even more awesome, Imagine an updated version of this guy!
Puzzler is FAR better than devastator. As a playable kids toy, puzzler is far superior. Pieces of Devastator just fall off all the time. If you want a bit more obscure try monsterous, he's not bad either, puzzler I think is better, but monsterous isn't bad either.
I bought Puzzler about a year ago and, yeah, he's just about my favorite combiner. I'm thinking about buying the other GoBor combiner 'Monstrous' next!
![Tee Grizzley - Robbery 8 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/34_vkNV6wrU/mqdefault.jpg)
I think overall Gobots tend to have a surprising level of quality. It's too bad that Tonka dropped the ball on their marketing - imagine if Puzzler was named something cool and imposing like "Menasor" - kids from the 80s might have different memories of the toyline :)
Transformer combiner names are awesome you right..lol
In an alternate universe, when Gobots were as popular as 80's Transformers toys: Cy-Kill: "Renegades! Merge to become Puzzler!"
Puzzler: "NOTHING DEFEATS THE PUZZLER! NOTHING!"
"NOTHING LITTLE ONE"? What would you say about ME"? LOL
Gobots is severely underrated. A self contained combiner from the early 80's and the line itself was scaled very well unlike Transformers.
Still have mine! The best part is he doesn't require excess parts. Unlike Transformers that usually require fists, feet and a head.
Brian's Man Cave And convenient for storage, so you don't have to lose any parts.
And the square small heads on all the limb robots. They always look out of scale with the leaders
Honestly it took a good while for transformers combiners to surpass this in terms of engineering and playability. Kudos to tonka for this gem, pathetic as its legacy ended up being
while I'm a hard core transformers fan I gotta admit these toys and what they combine into were pretty advanced for their time and while I love transformers most of the gobot toys looked more impressive then most 80's transformers toys.
while transformer toys from the 90's to today are much better then gobots.
still I would love to have all 6 of these dudes
He actually looks and articulates better than the transformers combiners of the same time period.
I really hope Action Toys decide to do release an updated version in their Machine Robo revamp.
Yes! And Courageous and Grungy!
My wallet winced, I don't know if I would be able to resist. They gotta do Hans Cuff and Crasher too. Fingers crossed!
@@balloonman8796 If they did do a Crasher, it would be white instead of black. As the version that appeared in the anime show was white.
@@georgeowain Hey that's cool with me, always liked that color scheme too
I love how you dont have to add on a bunch of extra bullshit on him like you have to do on devastator.
I know this is an old review, and you probably won't see this, but I gotta say. This is a great review of a really-underrated and overlooked combiner. I'm more than tempted to go through eBay and look for him, now!
It's nice to see a high quality review of this guy.... I've had his legs for the last two decades and have wondered what he looked like. It's amazing how advanced this GoBot was when compared to his contemporaries in the G1 line.
If the rest of the GoBots would have been as advanced as he was, maybe that line might have survived.....
Actually this one is a lot more advanced than I expected ut would be, for being a Gobot combiner!
I have that orange gobot too! Never knew it was part of a combiner. I found it in a old box, but never messed with it much. Now I kinda want to track down the others, the combiner form is quite impressive.
I had no idea this guy even existed! It is one serious amazing combiner.
I agree with you completely, man. For 30 years ago, this was really excellent design. And I kinda like the way the pelvis car sticks out. Gives him some character. Thanks for showing him off!
Holy hell I remember this!!! I had all six! I haven’t thought about this in 30 years... The nostalgia is strong with this one.
You may not realize this, but you just solved a mystery for me that I've had for almost 25 years. I own Crossword still, and never knew who or what the heck he was. I knew he was a combiner of some sort, but I never knew he was a Gobot, and let alone part of a six piece combiner. Thank you, Peaugh, thank you. Guess I might give the other five a little hunt down myself to finally checkout Puzzler.
I like how a good number of Gobots are just normal cars. The kind of cars you might be driven to school in.
I'm really glad you have Puzzler such a wonderful review Peaugh. Having collected Gobots for years I usually find myself defending them at Botcon by folks saying the normal 'they're not as good as Transformers, or 'they're just cheap knock offs) when in reality many of them are better converting figures that Transformers at the same price.
I'm hoping more fans start respecting the toy line based on all the toys achieved even back then and not judge it by just the cartoon.
Holy crap that is an amazing combiner for the time period... WOW. Thanks Peaugh, first gobots I really respected.
Just got done buying all of mine... using your video to help put them all together... thanks!
Glad I could help!
This is honestly really awesome for the time. Here's hoping a third party company comes along and creates a new version of him.
As far as Gobots go, those are some pretty cool designed robots in both modes. The combined form is pretty cool too.
Yeah I agree
Im buying it on ebay a couples of day ago for 200 € and im very happy to buying it! It remembers my childhood!!!
You these come together better then the Transformers with the support bar and how hands are combined.
Now that brings back memories. Had this as a kid for many years. It sure could survive a beating. I made him apart of my autobot army
Oh cool, you made him a good guy!
Wow! Toys I forgot I had until now. I think I had all, but the white and red one. The feet of the blue and black ones really stick out in my memory.
Oh this was great! Brigs back so many good memories from childhood. I was one of the few kids that Preferred the go-bot cartoon/toys over transformers. Cy-kill, Crasher and Cop-tor FTW!! Would love to see more retro go-bot vids like this.
This totally needs a 3rd party version..
I remember these Puzzler toys. I always regret not getting the entire set. In my world, the Puzzlers were heroic Guardian robots. They were the opposite of the Monstrous team of Renegade monster robots.
+peaugh please do more throwback reviews like these! most of the younger fans need to know about classy vintage stuff too
ghanighetok Will do!
We still have these in our toy collections. My great nephew is here and playing with the T
ransformers now. Can't locate the Gobots...some place SAFE!
Devastator came out in 1985. Puzzler is great as far as swivel in the waist and the arms. Puzzler doesn't have the extra connection parts like Devastator, which is a plus.
Wow...I played with some of these when I was kid... I’m nearly 40...brings back good memories 👍🏿
I had the red and yellow as a child, so at least they could connect!
Finally got a complete set a few years ago
I'd picked this guy up a few years back & thought he was a pretty cool figure, *especially* for a Gobot.
I managed to find all 6 figures together in a bag of misc. cars at Goodwill, but even the current 'going' price is pretty nice these days!
I *LOVED* the fact that he didn't need any misc. combiner pieces like all the TF combiners did...
i had these as a kid....loved them!
I dig this set. I always wanted this as a kid, but never got it until not to long ago. And I lucked out on it. Some guy was selling Gobots for a dollar a piece and this set was in the bunch. So I only paid $6 for Puzzler. I have him displayed next to my Devastator. They look good together.
How have I never seen this thing, wow. My folks mostly got me gobots in the 80s but I never knew about the combiners.
Wow I've had Pocket hanging around my house for ever. Nice to know what he was from finally.
Damn... I remember conning a friend into trading His Tic Tack for my Zig Zag... doesn't sound right when you say it out loud...
anyway #remorse
I've bought mine because of this video, I've bought my Exosquad because of your reviews... And I'm really grateful, these were some great toys! Ciao!
I've had Puzzler since the early 90's. Got it at a garage sale. Nearly 35 years old, and still in great condition.
GO BOTS are cool because of their simplicity, lower cost to collect, smaller footprint on shelf
I always trashed this toy, but now hearing you point out it came out the same year Devastator did, I can appreciate it more.
Gobots got as much love as teansformers in the eighties... yes we made fun of them, like a red headed step child, but we ALL had them and played with them amd watched the show, and loved them... they were all over the playground at recess
I never had these when I was a kid,but I wanted them,Awsome review.
Wow, didn't realize Puzzler and Devastator came out the same year. Not a bad Combiner for its time!
why did they take such a badass robot design and name it “puzzler” of all things. literally the nerdiest dorkiest name possible
While watching your review, I dug my Puzzler set out
and transformed it with you. I've had it since it originally
came out and traded with a friend to get it. It's funny, but
over the years, the friend has come and gone, but the memory
and this toy still remain. It's weird to think that next year the
toy will be 30 years old.
I still have mine from when I was a kid. I didn't know they were sold separately, I think mine came as a set. It was well played with. I loved GoBots when I was a kid. I never owned any Transformers.
I had pocket and jigsaw as a kid, since I didn't have a prowl n sunstreaker at the time I used them as substitutes with my Autobots.
The "pointy car section" cannot be unseen!
I
I remember having these guys, much akin to all my Transformers, G.I.Joes, Go-Bots, and Macross toys, they were well played with, stored poorly and became a nasty mess...
As long as they were enjoyed, they had a good life
I'm impressed by how these guys look.
"For some reason, Zig-zag just doesn't want to stay straight."
I so miss this toy / set!!! I got this set and Monsterous as gift sets and I LOVED THEM!!! Seriously payday I am hunting ebay for both.
The combined mode makes up for the bad robots
i also bought this on ebay a few months back on a wim
surprisingly a really nice toy for the era
I kind of think of Toy World's Throttlebot combiner as a tribute to Puzzler. Awesome!
they're basically the Stunticons in the Gobots universe...
Its pretty damned good. Loved the gobot toys.
They really went all out with these names didn't they.
I still have a load of Gobots at home. I wonder if they'll ever be fully embraced into mainstream Transformers instead of just cameos or stolen names.
Ooh...I kinda dig this guy. Six-man combiner? Check. Innovative (for its time) design choices? Check. Team comprised entirely of 80s sportscars, at least two of which are classic Japanese designs that I have a massive fanboner for? Oh, hells yeah.
It's pretty sad that Puzzler looks to be the better combiner, at least as far as bang for your buck goes, than TFC's Uranos. I really like how the front of the cars for part of the torso. It's a unique aesthetic that I wish other combiners would use. I'm honestly tired of the whole "this guy is the torso and these guys are the limbs" thing. I wish there were more non-Scramble City combiners. If that Toy World Throttlebot combiner is as self-contained as Puzzler, I may have to try and get it.
The other Gobots had from my youth were:Scooter,Tux,Renegade,Spoons,Stalion,Streetheat.Personally I preferred the more costly Hasbro Transformer toys line to Tonka's Gobot toy line!
Cool to see you do a vintage review. This is like the Stunticons of Gobots. This was probably one of the coolest Combiners. I still am not understanding how the Toyworld's figures are a hommage as they aren't even the same style of vehicle.
Oh man, this brings back memories! I have all of them, except Rube. I swear I had him in the past, though, I just probably lost him in storage, just like half of my Superion and almost all of Menasor...
I still have a handful of Go-Bots, they where a lot of fun & normaly only a dollar or two at KBToys. They just suffered from bad marketing, still fun toys with diverse transformations
I'm confused, why do Transformers fans frown upon the Go Bots?
They were literally rival toylines from rival toy companies. Not all Transformers fans have any problems with them though, most just tease them for being so dinky and basic.
Because their parents were either poor or stingy and got them Go-Bots for christmas while their friends got Transformers and then they got bullied at playgrounds over it.
And they never got over it, just like they're still salty about Optimus Prime dying, too.
Autobot Commander Ironhide honestly, retro justification. It's the process by which an outcome is retroactively justified. Gobots were equal quality, both sold well, and both fell out of fashion about the same time. However, Hasbro had a much better business partner in Takara than Tonka had in Bandi and Tonka made some really bad business decisions that lead it to go out of business. This of course allowed TF to continue while GB disappeared. In the intervening years (usually by those who came slightly after the giant robot heyday), a mythology started that Gobots were an inferior knock off that no one liked and only poor kids bought.
look at them!!
I was never fussy transformers and gobots were both cool. I had turbo the tank head guy who was really cool since he could either stand on his feet or have them pulled forward so he could roll on his tank tracks in robot mode some futuristic car guy who's name I have no clue and a couple of plus the command center all really cool went great with my transformers
And all with no combiner kibble! Take that, Devastator! Of course I only say that in the kindest way possible.
i'm a transformers guy but this looks cool
i could say it looks better than the cartoon version of itself
I really wanted this when I was a kid.
this set is so cool!!!! baltmatrix gave puzzler every negative comment possible..........
I've been wanting to pick up one of these guys for a few years now, but there's always been something else I wanted to spend my money on more.
As you changed the bots into combine mode, I got why this set can cmmand a high price: a careless child could easily break this to pieces.
They could really do with being remade with today's toy tech, like a Classics/Universe/Generations style. They look pretty good.
Jigsaw is like the original barricade. An evil police car
Me and my kid were just looking at one of these last night on eBay and wouldn't you know it...RUclips has your video on my RUclips homepage. How creepy is that? Nice vid.
I actually prefer puzzler over transformers combiners, simply because it was all in one. You don't need 20 other parts to put it together. I just wish they would've continued!
Peaugh, I really want to thank you for doing this review for two reasons.
1. Everyone I know only knows about Transformers and I really like Go-Bots.
2. In the 4 years I've had this figure, I never figured out how to secure the chest using that metal piece near the head of the main robot.
though i do wish that the front half of jigsaw's vehicle mode folded down to make him look a bit cleaner, he still looks cool
Forgot all about this guy. Never was a Go-Bot fan, though I do admire a gestalt that does not have all the fiddly bits that most of the TF combiners had. Would have been curious to see a side-by-side with G1 Devastator.
Fantastic video, I love this guy, might need one
I asked for the Constructicons for Christmas 1985 and got this instead.
You may have gotten a better deal.
All my friends made fun of it and said it sucked, lol.
Thanks for doing that review Peaugh, I had that toy as a child never really knew the name of it. I will have to keep my eye out for one know.
This looks like a really good set.
So cool
Oh I had bunch of real Go-Bots made by Tonka they were allot cheaper to buy than the Transformers were, but some of those had gold plastic syndrome which fell apart after opening, and others were made out of cheap plastic that I had arms & legs break off even when I'm properily converting them. Why I am not going to start a Go-Bots collection soon.
Very cool review. I'd love to see more GoBots reviews from you in the future.
If a 3rd party developer came out and upgraded this guy like they did Devastator, this thing could easily be even more awesome, Imagine an updated version of this guy!
One of if not The best pieces to come out of the gobots line and still inexpensive
Puzzler is FAR better than devastator. As a playable kids toy, puzzler is far superior. Pieces of Devastator just fall off all the time.
If you want a bit more obscure try monsterous, he's not bad either, puzzler I think is better, but monsterous isn't bad either.
7:24 Jigsaw has a Guardian Mode, LOL!
this guys looks pretty damn cool.
I bought Puzzler about a year ago and, yeah, he's just about my favorite combiner. I'm thinking about buying the other GoBor combiner 'Monstrous' next!
Ok now I need a puzzler.
He just said he just got this set on a whim,which means he just searched and bought it for fun.
I actually found Gobot Pocket at a garage sale along time ago.
I think this is closer to Menasor than Devastator. The only one missing is a semi truck like Motor master.