GoBots Wiki talk:Community Portal

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This is the place for discussion of topics that affect the entire wiki.

Navigation[edit source]

Is there a way to add this talk page to the navigation sidebar?--Khajidha (talk) 18:44, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

There is! Done. Jalaguy (talk) 15:35, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
Thank you.--Khajidha (talk) 07:14, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Style guide[edit source]

So GoBots is a show where a lot of the stuff that's been written about it online has been done "by ear," with folk writing down what they think a name is spelled as. There's a lot we'll likely never know, but there are some things we should iron out now so we're all on the same page when it comes to writing this stuff up. We'll get a "wiki order" of the episodes together soon enough for that purpose, I'm sure, but the one that's jumping out at me today is - Gobotron or GoBotron? Certainly all the modern Transformers media has gone without camelCase, as have the WB DVDs, but from the sources we've been adding to the wiki today, so far all the classic media we've turned up seems to use it, including the "Escape to Planet Earth" storybook, the "GoBotron Saga" VHS cover, and the original Tonka catalogue for the first-year characters. What's anyone think? - Chris McFeely (talk) 21:55, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

I'd go with GoBotron. How things were spelled or parsed in contemporary materials should take precedence. Creedence (talk) 22:08, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
Agreed, GoBotron. Also, I've got just about all the model sheets, so if there are any spelling questions feel free to shoot them my way. --Jimsorenson (talk) 00:54, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
I would prefer "Gobotron", but if the 80's media used "GoBotron", then so be it. I feel we must adhere to what was most official back then. --Sabrblade (talk) 23:40, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

It looks like "RoGun" should have a hyphen in it ("Ro-Gun"), according to the little red dot in the word on the packaging. Thoughts? Creedence (talk) 17:37, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Model Sheets / Spelling[edit source]

On spelling and model sheets, how about the general from the pilot mini-series, Jim? Lindley? Lynley? Linley? - Chris McFeely (talk) 12:20, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Lindley. --Jimsorenson (talk) 12:35, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

How about the alien from "Renegade Alliance"? I'm thinking "Alva-Nar"... - Chris McFeely (talk) 21:20, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Alva-Mar according to the model sheet. --Jimsorenson (talk) 22:12, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
They're super-duper-definitely pronouncing "Nar" with an N in the episode itself, so I guess that was changed in production at some point. - Chris McFeely (talk) 22:36, 17 January 2017 (UTC)
Wouldn't be the first time. It can, at the very least, give us a pretty strong hint as to their intentions regarding parsing. --Jimsorenson (talk) 22:54, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

For "Genius and Son," I'm assuming the scientist is just "Mobius," no silly spelling. Is his invention the "invertor ray" or the "invert-a-ray"? - Chris McFeely (talk) 16:40, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Mobius, yes. I'm afraid I don't have the ray. My guess would be Invertor. --Jimsorenson (talk) 18:47, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
Model sheet doesn't give Mobius a first name, btw, does it? For "Dawn World," is there a name for the spaceship-base the Renegades are making? Scooter seems to call it the "something-star" but his dialogue is so wavering as to be nearly indecipherable. - Chris McFeely (talk) 13:58, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
No and no. They just reuse the Rogue Star models so no extra insight there. --Jimsorenson (talk) 14:56, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
Rats. It's not identical to Roguestar, thought there might be a new model to help... - Chris McFeely (talk) 15:10, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
No, not quite, but if they bothered to make a model I don't have it. --Jimsorenson (talk) 15:34, 21 January 2017 (UTC)

There's a lot of guys in "Lost on GoBotron" that are really hard to peg. "Wrecks" and "Gorn" seem to be a given, do Wrecks's "urchins" have a proper name? There are two gladiators named, one's honestly just an slurring grunt that sounds like "Moar," while I figure the other (who Matt later fights) is "Tung the Ruthless" (I mean, I'd assume it's not literally "tongue"). There's also one later than looks like an elephant, who fights a hairy, fanged one (maybe... "Bondake"? what?) Any hope for these? - Chris McFeely (talk) 22:27, 29 January 2017 (UTC)

Here's what I have: Tung. Gorn. Kal (snouty guy). Urchin. Wreck. Kalimar. And, uh, Mulla and Mullah. Two different spellings for the same guy, scarred alien with two long streaming things on his bald head. Both with the same date. Sigh. --Jimsorenson (talk) 02:59, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
Hey, not too bad on the guessing front, then! If Kal is the elephant-snout guy, you don't have one for the guy he fights, I take it? Mane of hair, pointed ears, loincloth, rat's tail? - Chris McFeely (talk) 13:19, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
Sadly no. --Jimsorenson (talk) 13:33, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps it's the guy Leader 1 greets 70.194.238.118 13:23, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, I just realized I forgot him! - Chris McFeely (talk) 13:24, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
I think what you hear as Bondake is just supposed to be a general insult like "Fangface". 107.202.57.20 03:29, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
That's what I figured but I can't make out a real word in it! Maybe "bark" something? - Chris McFeely (talk) 13:19, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Is it just "Monster GoBot", or is "Monster Renegade" ever used? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 02:24, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

I can't recall it ever being Monster Renegade, but I wouldn't swear to that. --Jimsorenson (talk) 18:47, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Here's one, Jim - do you have a model sheet for Zeemon in vehicle mode? - Chris McFeely (talk) 23:28, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

Nope. I'm not sure they ever actually made one though. (Unlike Loco, whose vehicle mode I'm also missing.) --Jimsorenson (talk) 01:52, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Exactly what I was thinking after digging into "Doppelganger"! - Chris McFeely (talk) 02:41, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

I feel pretty good about "Renegade Rampage," but figured I'd just check. Tri-Ceti with a hyphen? Trindle? Tindel, perhaps? Trevor and Troylene? I haven't moved on to the second part to see if the other two elders are named, do the model sheets have any names for them? - Chris McFeely (talk) 22:31, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Let's see... We've got Trevor and Troilene, who are both Trindles. No joy on the planet. --Jimsorenson (talk) 01:23, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Jim, do your model sheets shed any light on the two apparent designs for Puzzler that I've mentioned in the notes for "Auto Madic"? Also, doubting it, but I don't suppose they have a first name for Mrs. Cocoa? - Chris McFeely (talk) 23:25, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Hilda and Larry E. Cocoa. The Puzzler model sheet has his right arm together and his left arm split, which seems to me to indicate that both are possible configurations. --Jimsorenson (talk) 00:30, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
Oh nice, I didn't figure she'd have a name! - Chris McFeely (talk) 12:01, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
On the subject of first names, I doubt Doctor Cunningham from "Ancient GoBonauts" had one, did he? "Gameworld" is next on the list; have you any insight on "Crespas" and... "Ba'usa"? There's no guessing that one... - Chris McFeely (talk) 00:02, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
Crespas and B'oosa. No joy on Cunningham. --Jimsorenson (talk) 00:26, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
Ha, there was an apostrophe in it! Anything for the Gameworld itself? Colob, Kolob, Kolab...? Thinking Kolob for the Mormon reference, based on the religiously-influced naming in TF's "The Gambler" by the same author. Does the robot prisoner have a name? - Chris McFeely (talk) 16:05, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
Nope, just the big two. --Jimsorenson (talk) 19:25, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
This is an off the wall one, but how about the farmer from "Nova Beam"? I doubt he has a name but just wondering if there's a more "official" term to describe him with than "farmer." - Chris McFeely (talk) 18:57, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
Didn't he also show up in Wolf in the Fold? 107.202.57.20 19:05, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
In the sense that the model was re-used, but it's enough to create an article for him which is why I'm wondering if there's a good name for it. - Chris McFeely (talk) 20:12, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
In Nova Beam, he's "farmer". In Wolf, he's alternatively "farmer", "dirt farmer", or "dirt-farmer". (There's also a nucleonic converter and a polarity inverter this episode.) --Jimsorenson (talk) 21:00, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

More model sheet trivia: early names!

Professor von Joy -- Professor Q.Bot

Re-Volt -- Screamer

Chaos -- Shriek

Traitor -- Buzz

--Jimsorenson (talk) 00:30, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

They should have stuck with those early ones for the Dread Launchers! - Chris McFeely (talk) 12:01, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

I understand that BuggyMan's name was rendered as such on a model sheet?, but how was his name rendered on his toy packaging? Plus, Spatiotemporal Challengers wasn't consistent on his name. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 21:05, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

With the CamelCase on the toy package, as well as in Tonka catalogue entries. - Chris McFeely (talk)
Model sheet is Buggy Man. --Jimsorenson (talk) 18:43, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Getting back to work, so, for "Depth Charge," what's the correct spelling for the two native islanders? "Woki" and "Katu"? - Chris McFeely (talk) 17:04, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Correct. --Jimsorenson (talk) 18:43, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Hey look, I'm back on the horse! So, "The Seer" - Sean? Shawn? Shaun? Does his mum have a first name? - Chris McFeely (talk) 18:14, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Sean, Mrs. Roberts, Major Benedict. --Jimsorenson (talk) 21:04, 3 September 2017 (UTC)
Noice, no need to go back and change anything! - Chris McFeely (talk) 22:22, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Roguestar or Rogue Star?[edit source]

I'm confused. Does Rogue Star have a space or no space? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 07:48, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

It's been presented both ways. However, the original episode title "Quest for Roguestar" presented it without a space, so I take that as gospel unless a more original source turns up. --Xaaron (talk) 12:28, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Model sheets have a space. --Jimsorenson (talk) 13:25, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
Of course they do. :( Well, my preference is to go by the first published spelling over preliminary data like model sheets, but that's just first instinct. Anybody else? --Xaaron (talk) 13:40, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
As Jim's already detailed a few instances where model sheets use alternate names to what's in the finished episodes, I'm 100% behind "Roguestar" based on its on-screen use. - Chris McFeely (talk) 13:46, 1 February 2017 (UTC)
I wasn't necessarily suggesting the space based on the model sheet. Though I usually hear a space when Cy-Kill says the name. I'd want to listen to the other characters, though, because it might just be hammy.--Jimsorenson (talk) 01:23, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Pics from tfwiki[edit source]

I assume we can simply reupload any relevant pics (say of the TF released Bug Bites) here as long as we copy over the attributions as well? --Khajidha (talk) 14:28, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

Action Toys Machine Robo figures (and Machine Robo as a whole)[edit source]

Should photos and information about the Action Toys Machine Robo figures be added to the relevant pages, even though the toys are for Machine Robo and technically not GoBots? And, in general, where does the wiki stand on Machine Robo information being included? I only ask because I couldn't find anything that said how we're going forward in that regard. Boy Blunderous (talk) 00:21, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Work on Machine Robo pages has barely started, but I'm under the impression that the plan is to eventually cover it in full. If that's the case, the Action Toys figures would belong on the same page as the Revenge of Cronos characters. (Which, I'm guessing, would be the same page as the original Machine Robo for all of them except Blue Jet and Rod Drill.) NovaSaber (talk) 01:04, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Renegade Rhetoric[edit source]

Do we have a consensus on how to document Renegade Rhetoric on this wiki, particularly the "season 2 episodes"? I've made a few character pages with storylinks to the titles of the "episodes" instead of "Renegade Rhetoric, Mo/Da/Year". Also, do we ultimately plan to have separate "episode" pages for the new 65, keep it on a single Renegade Rhetoric page, or what? --Xaaron (talk) 15:43, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

I'd say that the "Renegade Rhetoric Mo/Da/Year" would be equivalent to comic/magazine issue numbers while the "episode titles" would be the equivalent of the story titles within a magazine/comic. Make of that what you will. --Khajidha (talk) 16:44, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
I'd always figured we'd give each of the new "episodes" a page for itself that we'd link to in the character write-ups. - Chris McFeely (talk) 17:28, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Echoes and Fragments[edit source]

Will it be necessary to duplicate a page for "Echoes and Fragments" on this wiki, or will it be sufficient to just use interwiki links where necessary? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 13:36, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Continuity Notes[edit source]

I really don't think the gray continuity notes defining each Fun Publication universe are necessary for every character's Fiction section. We pulled back from using so many on the TFwiki, and I think we should do the same here. The details of how CotG, RR, and Withered Hope continuities compare to each other can be described on their individual pages. Each character doesn't need gray notes about it. --Xaaron (talk) 21:16, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Von Joy and Herr Go[edit source]

Do we have a consensus on whether these character pages should be made at their toy name or cartoon name? --Xaaron (talk) 16:20, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

It was suggested here that the Professor Baron be at just "Von Joy", and here that the Doctor Fiend be at "Doctor Go" (and Tux be at "Stretch") for how he, and Stretch, were notable enough to be at their fiction names instead of their toy names, while all others with fiction names that differ from their toy names weren't as notable to be at anything other than their toy names. --Sabrblade (talk) 16:51, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
If Go/Fiend goes at his cartoon name, should that be "Doctor Go" or "Dr. Go"? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 17:02, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
I see more instances of "Doctor" than "Dr." on this Wiki. But maybe Jim has an official spelling from a model sheet or something. --Sabrblade (talk) 15:20, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
Model sheet says Dr. Go. --Jimsorenson (talk) 20:36, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Also, Mr. Moto, Mister Moto, Motosan, or Moto-San? --Xaaron (talk) 19:13, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Toy is "Mr. Moto". That trumps the Et Tu, Cy-Kill model sheet "Motosan". --Jimsorenson (talk) 20:36, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
"Last Sunset" also went with "Mr. Moto". S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 22:27, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Power Suits?[edit source]

How to set up Power Suits articles? Separate pages for each model? One page for all four Power Suits? One page for all eight Power Suits, or separate Guardian and Renegade Power Suit pages? Courageous and Power Suits on one page or separate ones? Other questions I've forgotten? --Xaaron (talk) 18:13, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

Without thinking too deeply about it, I'd already imagined one page for Power Suits, to talk about their individual powers and include fictional write-ups that that didn't involve forming Courageous in the cartoon, another page for Power Warriors, and then individual pages for Courgeous (the ship and the combiner together), Grungy, and Nemesis. - Chris McFeely (talk) 21:13, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

"The Long Game"[edit source]

The Long Game is a "Dreamwave comics" story from the Quadwal universe where GoBots surpassed Transformers. It takes place between the two five-part episode sagas in the original cartoon, explaining how Cy-Kill wound up imprisoned between The Final Conflict and Cy-Kill's Escape. On TFwiki, I imagine we'd make a separate header in the Fiction sections for a Dreamwave short story retcon like this, a la Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?. Given the more streamlined presentation we're going for on GBwiki, though, I think we should just leave it under the Renegade Rhetoric header where applicable, with or without a Note explaining. Thoughts? --Xaaron (talk) 13:17, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Rock Lords?[edit source]

So are we going to make character pages for them? --Darth Gonzo (talk) 03:30, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

Feel free. --Xaaron (talk) 15:32, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Alliance with Machine Robo Wiki[edit source]

Hi, I'm the admin on the Machine Robo Wiki. I discussed this on The AllSpark, but I should probably discuss it here. I'm currently having a very distressing situation on Fandom (formerly Wikia) with another Wiki I was admin on. I got very sick for several months at the beginning of the year. Some guy went to Wikia and convinced somebody that the wiki was abandoned and got himself bureaucrat status and went on a huge deletion spree. Tons of character bios gone, with his justification usually two words: "not needed". Over a decade's worth of work destroyed. This guy took away my admin status because I vehemently disagreed with him and he took that as a personal attack.

This situation terrified me and made me realize it could happen to any Wikia wiki. So I want to reach out to this Wiki and give you all full permission to take ANYTHING from machinerobo.fandom.com. Images and even whole pages verbatim if you want. I believe having this info in two places makes everything safer in case "my" wiki gets taken over someday. This is a one-way alliance I'm proposing. I will not take anything from your Wiki unless I get explicit permission from you.

I whole have a whole trove of image files I've been meaning to upload to my wiki, but never got around to. Let me know if you want them. I've seen all the Machine Robo anime, minus most of Machine Robo Rescue (I didn't care for that one much.) Please feel free to ask me anything you want about Machine Robo and its assorted fiction. I'd like to support this wiki too in any way I can. Evan199X (talk) 15:25, 10 May 2019 (UTC)

Counter-X is no more[edit source]

I, Starscream, now lead the Decep... Reneg... You know what, just go to https://web.archive.org/web/20181104100444/http://counter-x.net/

71.121.143.152 04:13, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

Photographs?[edit source]

I have noticed that many pages do not have photos, especially of the toys. Often those photos that do exist are scans from a toy catalog. Is there a reason for this? I have a substantial Gobot collection, a nice DSLR and lights and a lightbox and associated paraphernalia. If it would help I can take photos of the toys I own and post those. I would take photos in RAW and try to do minimum editing to get an authentic look that matches the toy as much as possible. I also assure you I am not a professional photographer, just a bit of a camera nut, I would do this because I think Gobots are underappreciated, I am not looking for credit or money.

This does bring up some questions of standards. What resolution should the photos be? What level of wear is permissible on the toys (none, some sticker wear, some paint wear, etc.?) Or is a photo of a toy even missing a small part better than no photo?

I think for the most part the reason we do not have many photos is just cause not a lot of people own them, and we don't really want to grab images from other sites. If you're willing to, I think you should go right ahead. As long as they're, say, 90% complete, they should be fine, so long as the paint wear and sticker wear isn't extremely noticeable. Personally speaking, I'd prefer that they'd be as close to complete as possible; if it's just 1 gun missing, it should be fine, but if it's a major part of their alt-mode, like say, Cy-Kill's wheels or Cop-Tur's rotors, I'd prefer if they'd have them.
Have no real idea about resolution, but like, so long as they're as big as what's on TFWiki, so not super tiny. But yeah, go ahead if you want, it'd be extremely helpful. Escargon (talk) 00:22, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Started. See pages for Tank, Snoop and Leader 1. I also have the other Leader 1 toys but am still working on those photos. If these are fine I will upload more slowly over time as I have time to take and edit them. I also took photos for Tux and Fitor but I think the existing images are fine unless we want complete consistency in style. Also one of Snoop's arms is not extended (I realized too late), I'll replace that photo in time.
Those look pretty good to me; as long as the toy is in that quality of what you've uploaded so far, I'd say go ahead and keep on. And yeah, I'd say don't replace Fitor's and Tux's. Escargon (talk) 23:18, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Great Transformers Wiki![edit source]

Not so much on the Gobots, though. Is it worth adding anything or is this wiki just a satellite for the egos at the TF version?

Counter-X < The Liberator[edit source]

With Counter-X dead and the Wayback Machine being dicey how about linking to The Liberator - http://www.the-liberator.net/site-files/robot-toys/gobots-machine-robo-series-index.htm It has some phenomenal galleries of the figures, including a ton of rarities. Thoughts? Carry-All (talk) 23:56, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

I would say so, absolutely. Escargon (talk) 15:10, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
Super, I'll try to add some in as I go =) Carry-All (talk) 15:27, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

Plans and Questions[edit source]

1. Toy Pictures - I sold my Gobots collection about 10-15 years ago when boring old real life got in the way, so I don't have them to take pictures. I do still have the pictures I took of them for the ebay listings, however. Sadly they predated smart phones and were taken on a middle-range digital camera then optimised etc. so they're pretty small. Personally I think they're better than nothing and in some cases better than the airbrushed and/or prototype pictures. There is an example at http://gbwiki.shoutwiki.com/wiki/File:22_Screw_Head.jpg, which is about as big as I can make them. I do think we need some sort of visual representation of the figures on the page, however potato it is. I had about 95% of the Western figures and a dozen or so Japanese exclusives.

2. MR Wedge - are scans from this eligible for upload? The book was one of the few bits I kept. I *will not* cover-to-cover scan it as it's beautiful and that would wreck the spine and it's worth a bomb now if nothing else, but stuff that's towards the edges of the page would be doable, and I can maybe play around with taking pictures of some bits with a smart phone.

3. Challenge - somewhere I still have my DVDs and will hook them out to work on the other episode summaries. However, they're the old VHS bootleg set so won't be much use for screencaps as many were off-air recordings. I am considering getting the Vol 2 DVD to do caps properly but it's not cheap so I need to see if I'm going to stay the course editing here first as there's still a lot I can add without spending any money

4. Battle of the Rock Lords - am I right in thinking this is still not out on DVD? I have a good quality VHS transfer I can screencap if that's the case. Carry-All (talk) 11:50, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

In order: 1. The Screw Head photos look good. I would be okay with any photos of that quality! 2. Actually, I know we have scans of it somewhere; let me find it, would be easier than wrecking your own copy. 3. Using them for episode summaries is fine by me (I know some of the old bootlegs are missing scenes, so maybe skip those episodes if there are any). In terms of screencaps, we would prefer nice clean images, so don't feel compelled to add them; just writing things up is equally as helpful! 4. Yep, no DVD release. Screencaps from the VHS transfer are okay for this one. Escargon (talk) 14:50, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
Outstanding! Wedge scans would be cool but if they don't turn up it shouldn't be a major problem. Many thanks for the response =) Carry-All (talk) 14:56, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

Scans[edit source]

Would links to scans of long out of print and never realistically likely to be put into print material on somewhere like Imgur be permissible as external links, in the way that toy mini-comics are at TFWiki? I'm thinking particularly of the Eagle strips, the Magazine, the storybooks and the annuals. Carry-All (talk) 13:08, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

Absolutely. Escargon (talk) 17:37, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
Excellent, thanks =) Carry-All (talk) 09:45, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

Wiki-linking dates[edit source]

This seems pointless and an artefact of TF Wiki formatting. In contrast to Transformers, with 35 years of merchandise and more than half of it in the internet era where solicitations, news reports etc. can be accurately collated. For GoBots and even Machine Robo there's a lot less - basically episode transmissions of four series, the publishing dates of 5 issues of a comic and births/deaths of people, lots of which we don't seem to have. As such I feel linking individual dates is unsuitable for this particular Wiki, as there is close to a finite amount to cover. Years not so much, as there's a good chance of eventually collating all the information into decent, worthwhile articles - with the caveat that it's done only for years where some aspect of the franchise or other was active (and that it waits until it's not just a wall of red links) - I see no point in having a 1967 page just listing Sparky Marcus' birthday. Solid dates are so rare that in the theoretical situation that GoBots somehow makes a huge mainstream comeback and has films, 50 new toys a year, two monthly comics and an annual TV series they could be Wiki-linked then. As things stand and are realistically likely to stand for our lifetimes and beyond they're just another source of ugly red-links that no-one is ever likely to create.
I realise, however, that my view might not be universal, so I won't change this policy without some input. Carry-All (talk) 11:43, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

Yes, I agree. There's no point to individual dates. As for years, I'd also agree with making pages for ones relevant to the franchise. Escargon (talk) 17:39, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
Cool, I shall tweak as I edit =)

Carry-All (talk) 09:46, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

1990s - figure this might be a good way of covering "quiet" years; looking at what little there is there only strengthens the thought that linking particular dates is pointless. Carry-All (talk) 18:04, 15 September 2021 (UTC)

Renegade Rhetoric - "episodes"?[edit source]

Trying to sort some of the categories out and it's bothering me to describe Renegade Rhetoric episodes as "episodes" when it comes to categorising, if you know what I mean. I get the meta conceit of it all but unless you know who Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely are you get 2/3rds of the way through each entry before you find out that it's not an episode of a TV show but a Facebook post. I get the choice that's been made re: this place's line on taking Renegade Rhetoric seriously even if I don't particularly agree with it but I think there's a serious danger of straight-batting a fannish bit of nudge-nudge wink-wink to levels that are confusing to more casual visitors, i.e. they aren't episodes, they're prose stories, and categorising them as episodes is inaccurate and even irresponsible. However, I'm aware my bias in this matter might not make me the best judge so I'd like to hear some consensus before I move anything more around, especially as there's a ton of other work that needs doing. Carry-All (talk) 10:17, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

I'm thinking something like Rebels_Without_A_Circuit/Sandbox. Not sure I like the way the template pushes everything down but there definitely needs to be something out-of-universe front-and-centre that says "This was not an episode but a text story written 30 years later". The other option is a note, as per Rebels_Without_A_Circuit/Sandbox2. They need something done, with the switching from the "TV" to "Comic" infobox and the categories updating minimum. I'm still mainly focusing on Revenge of Cronos at the moment, if for no other reason that I'd rather not have to rewatch it again at any point soon because it's largely awful and I have no problem fitting Renegade Rhetoric in before I start seeing what I can do about Battle Hackers. Would love to have some consensus on Template versus Note or if there are better options I haven't thought of, but I'm firmly of the opinion they can't stay the way they are just for the meta lulz. Carry-All (talk) 15:30, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Is there a way to do a site-wide find and replace?[edit source]

Just realised that Battleflex doesn't seem to have a space in it... I'll replace the links manually if needs be but just wondering if there was a way to do it quicker. =) Carry-All (talk) 20:51, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Clearing up toy entries?[edit source]

The toy sections can get a bit disorganised and difficult to read when some characters have 3/4 releases under one franchise. I'm not entirely sure how to combat this. 1) Sub-headings by assortment, e.g. http://gbwiki.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Leader-1/Sandbox - breaks it up but clutters the menu and where the carded figures for most of the franchises don't have names it can look really redundant, and would either look very silly for the majority who only have a single figure or be implemented on an ad-hoc basis, which goes against the grain. 2) Padding out the text so it's all about the same height as the pictures. However, there's only so much you can say about most of the figures and so this really would be padding. 3) Shrinking down the thumbs - which would be a shame as they're a really nice size for an at-a-glance look at the toys.

Thoughts from anyone? Carry-All (talk) 14:54, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Revenge of Cronos[edit source]

With the Discotek release getting close, it seems prudent to leave the various redlinks and such be until the Blu-Ray comes along. Most of the stuff that doesn't have entries yet are things we're only about 75% accurate anyway, largely being based on a mix of the Central Park DVDs, aural readings, Hong Kong subs, translations from Japanese websites and so forth. Otherwise I think we're going to be doing a lot of moving and editing unnecessarily, and there's probably going to be enough of that as it is. Carry-All (talk) 10:25, 18 December 2021 (UTC)

Hi, sorry I've not been around, I'm still quite busy and stuff so I'll try to get back with you when I can, but for now: I think this certainty the right approach. Best to wait. Escargon (talk) 17:38, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
No need to apologise, cheers for the thoughts :) Carry-All (talk) 20:02, 18 December 2021 (UTC)

A further thought: I might do a specialised cleanup template for the Revenge pages basically appealing for help from people with the Blu-Ray when it launches. I don't actually have a BluRay player myself and am not entirely sure if/when I'm going to be able to watch the Discotek releases but have high hopes the release with generate enough interest to attract some other voices to the articles and maybe beyond, plus there's the possibility of screenshots which aren't taken from AVIs encoded from HK DVD sets. Something like:

Celebration time!
Official release coming!

This Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos section
is based on older sources and requires cleanup.
You can help GoBots Wiki by correcting it.

I'm a bit torn. On the one hand it makes the entries look a bit amateurish. On the other hand they are amateurish by definition, and there's nothing wrong with saying "Hey, we could do with a hand on this bit". Carry-All (talk) 11:30, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Primary sources[edit source]

It's occurred to me recently that the articles make reference to & paraphrase things like on-packaging bios, the Tonka catalogue profiles and so forth but these don't really have an online "home" to refer anyone to, and I would say a natural reaction for a reader would be to want to know a little more about these fabled profiles given how little character information about GoBots is generally out there. However, you need a bit of Google-Fu and a bit of luck to find this stuff, especially in an easy-to-read format. So I was thinking of proposing a page of nice, straightforward transcriptions here, similar to the Source: pages at TFWiki. Something like Source:Tonka 1984 catalogue and Source:Tonka GoBots packaging. The other alternative is to do so on an external site, but that seems extreme. If the idea is a good one I'm happy to throw together a couple of sandbox articles for further discussion. Carry-All (talk) 12:09, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

User:Carry-All/Sandbox/TonkaPackagingBios
User:Carry-All/Sandbox/TonkaCatalogueBios
Carry-All (talk) 18:49, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
Yes, absolutely go ahead with this sort of thing. Escargon (talk) 21:03, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

Template:TFWiki[edit source]

Hey all, I've made a clone of Template:GBwiki from TFWiki that links back over to the TFWiki character pages, so that we can use it in the external links sections of the respective character pages, just for a bit of added consistency between the two sister wikis. As one should expect, Template:TFWiki works exactly the same way as Template:GBwiki.

Examples of usage for those who possibly aren't over at TFWiki:

  • For most cases, all you'd need to do is the following:
{{TFWiki|name of TFWiki page}}
  • However, in a case where a TFWiki page uses a parentical, all you'd need to do is just retype the name after another vertical bar like you would for a standard internal wiki link:
{{TFWiki|name of TFWiki page with parenthetical|name of character}}
  • And the result should look like this:
Tfwiki logo alt.png TFWiki.net has content relating to Bug Bite.
The unofficial Transformers knowledge database!

The image and quote also don't have to be final, so I leave it up to the admins or whoever to change them to how they see fit. I saw that the smaller/abbreviated TFWiki logo made by User:Broadside was not being used for anything over on TFWiki, so I thought I'd see how it looked used in this template. As for the quote, it's literally a copy and paste of the disambig box blurb on the main TFWiki page lol.

I've already gone ahead and added it to the six who were released in the e-HOBBY "G1 GoBots" pack, but as I haven't kept up with too much of the GoBots side of things, I don't entirely know how many other pages on here will need to have this template implemented, so I leave that to the more knowledgeable ones. -- Fanofcoolstuff27 (talk) 12:30, 27 December 2021 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks! I'll see about adding it on my next round of passes through the profiles, though I must confess I've never bothered keeping track of which GoBots have been ported over to Transformers. Carry-All (talk) 22:29, 27 December 2021 (UTC)

Uncategorized stuff[edit source]

Hey, so you may have seen in the recent changes log that I have been going through and making categories (mostly just a case of turning a pre-existing red link into a page) and placing things like uncategorized templates to categories based on the system used over on TFWiki (just kinda makes sense to me to have a similar system to find things in if everything is stored in similarly named categories and such). I was wondering if one of the people with the power to, could place the following onto the bottom of the main pages' code, just so it doesn't show up in Uncategorized pages anymore.

<noinclude>[[Category:Top-level categories]]</noinclude>

Also, a few of our uncategorized lists have pages and such that are categorized still showing up in there, so I'm assuming that's a case of a sever needing a refresh or whatever (Idk the technical terms, I barely know basic coding lol, I just remember our tech guy doing something along those lines over on TFWiki to get rid of bugs like that). But yeah, just wanted to point that out. Cheers. -- Fanofcoolstuff27 (talk) 11:44, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

That's excellent stuff thanks! I too am unsure about how to fresh the caches, especially for things like "Wanted pages" and the like. But thank you very much for your work, it is much appreciated! I must confess I have been learning a lot of this stuff on the fly, so there are probably a lot of orphaned images and such there that are my fault :/ Carry-All (talk) 12:42, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

New main page?[edit source]

Main Page/Sandbox?

Carry-All (talk) 22:51, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

IDW "Factions"[edit source]

I've said this before and I'm going to ask again before I change it. The IDW series' appearances are currently split via the toyline/COTG factions, apart from where they're not. Due to it being in flux through the series - for example Spay-C isn't a Guardian because even if we accept that was the name of Leader-1's factions (and both pointedly refer to their followers as "Go-Bots" after the time-shift) he only meets Leader-1 just before the idiot dies. Turbo and Scooter are clearly former Guardians; we see them before Leader-1 forms his cult and after they've left it. Spoons is lumped in with the Guardians through simply not rising up. The Hans-Cuffses rise up against humanity but are never shown with Cy-Kill. Then Road Ranger is a Guardian despite having nothing to do with Leader-1's faction or basically anything else from their war. But in the last issue his Super GoBot crew - including Bug Bite, apparently a Renegade in #2, are now Others, which means if we're treating the 1980s as an arbiter of this sort of thing they should be divvied up between Renegades and Guardians despite not appearing with either group for the most part.

As such, if there are no serious objections in, say, 48hrs or so I'm going to merge all of the Go-Bots in the appearance lists into a single Go-Bots column as this is the only consistent way of doing it, and unlike the current appearance boxes is at least actually consistent.

The only other possible options are "original 80s faction even if it does not fit into what is happening" or "constantly shifting issue by issue depending on a subjective reading of what a character is doing in that particular issue", both of which I feel are problematic in different ways. Them being Go-Bots is the only thing we can say with a huge amount of authority. This isn't Transformers and the characters don't have massive badges stamped all over them, and where we're talking about a 5-issue microcontinuity bullyramming it into the same shape as a COTG article seems needless. Carry-All (talk) 20:38, 4 July 2022 (UTC)