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!"
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!
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
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.....
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
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!
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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...
Me and my kid were just looking at one of these last night on eBay and wouldn't you know it...TH-cam has your video on my TH-cam homepage. How creepy is that? Nice vid.
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.
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!
To me, the Gobots were alot like the Auto-Mini bots back in it's day.Very simple transform and no articulation. The Gobots probably would have fared much better, if they were marketed better, and had a a nicely done Cartoon Series to support it. The cartoon series--was a real doozer!!!
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.
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!
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.
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 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
Gobots is severely underrated. A self contained combiner from the early 80's and the line itself was scaled very well unlike Transformers.
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
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
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
He actually looks and articulates better than the transformers combiners of the same time period.
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!
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
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.....
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
I love how you dont have to add on a bunch of extra bullshit on him like you have to do on devastator.
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!
Actually this one is a lot more advanced than I expected ut would be, for being a Gobot combiner!
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.
I had no idea this guy even existed! It is one serious amazing combiner.
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 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.
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!
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
You these come together better then the Transformers with the support bar and how hands are combined.
I like how a good number of Gobots are just normal cars. The kind of cars you might be driven to school in.
Im buying it on ebay a couples of day ago for 200 € and im very happy to buying it! It remembers my childhood!!!
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!
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 is honestly really awesome for the time. Here's hoping a third party company comes along and creates a new version of him.
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.
+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!
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 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.
Wow...I played with some of these when I was kid... I’m nearly 40...brings back good memories 👍🏿
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.
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 I've had Pocket hanging around my house for ever. Nice to know what he was from finally.
I had the red and yellow as a child, so at least they could connect!
Finally got a complete set a few years ago
How have I never seen this thing, wow. My folks mostly got me gobots in the 80s but I never knew about the combiners.
I always trashed this toy, but now hearing you point out it came out the same year Devastator did, I can appreciate it more.
I never had these when I was a kid,but I wanted them,Awsome review.
i had these as a kid....loved them!
I'm impressed by how these guys look.
This totally needs a 3rd party version..
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've had Puzzler since the early 90's. Got it at a garage sale. Nearly 35 years old, and still in great condition.
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.
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.
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
Very cool review. I'd love to see more GoBots reviews from you in the future.
Its pretty damned good. Loved the gobot toys.
The combined mode makes up for the bad robots
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
The "pointy car section" cannot be unseen!
I
And all with no combiner kibble! Take that, Devastator! Of course I only say that in the kindest way possible.
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.
Fantastic video, I love this guy, might need one
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.
GO BOTS are cool because of their simplicity, lower cost to collect, smaller footprint on shelf
I kind of think of Toy World's Throttlebot combiner as a tribute to Puzzler. Awesome!
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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 really wanted this when I was a kid.
This looks like a really good set.
i also bought this on ebay a few months back on a wim
surprisingly a really nice toy for the era
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...
why did they take such a badass robot design and name it “puzzler” of all things. literally the nerdiest dorkiest name possible
Me and my kid were just looking at one of these last night on eBay and wouldn't you know it...TH-cam has your video on my TH-cam homepage. How creepy is that? Nice vid.
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.
they're basically the Stunticons in the Gobots universe...
They could really do with being remade with today's toy tech, like a Classics/Universe/Generations style. They look pretty good.
this set is so cool!!!! baltmatrix gave puzzler every negative comment possible..........
i'm a transformers guy but this looks cool
i could say it looks better than the cartoon version of itself
7:24 Jigsaw has a Guardian Mode, LOL!
"For some reason, Zig-zag just doesn't want to stay straight."
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!
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
nice, used to have this when i was a growing up.
Great find, and good review mate!
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.
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.
Jigsaw is like the original barricade. An evil police car
To me, the Gobots were alot like the Auto-Mini bots back in it's day.Very simple transform and no articulation. The Gobots probably would have fared much better, if they were marketed better, and had a a nicely done Cartoon Series to support it. The cartoon series--was a real doozer!!!
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.
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!
Ok now I need a puzzler.
So cool
wow i had all of them wen i was a kid never knew they fit togather
this guys looks pretty damn 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.
peaugh ty for posting this vid of these go-bots i actually have one of them and now i know wat he is and wat he belongs to ty ^^
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 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.
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.
Dare I say it, this seems better designed than most G-1 combiners
Ok