Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a form of game that requires assembling small interlocking pieces of a picture. They're mainly for old people and hipsters, but branded examples were and are still top bait for grandparents who want to get young family members something featuring their favourite show or character while also being passive-aggressively disproving of their enjoyment. There were several series of puzzles based on the GoBots brand; perhaps the best illustration of how out of kilter they were with their forced audience is that sealed examples of most of them turn up on auction sites frequently and fetch next to no money.
Golden[edit | edit source]
Golden, an imprint of Western Publishing, produced at least six jigsaws based on GoBots in 1984/1985 for the North American market.
200-piece jigsaws[edit | edit source]
These all featured a large action scene of a character's vehicle mode with a smaller inset image of their robot mode, just to make them as unexciting as humanly possible.
Frame tray jigsaws[edit | edit source]
A frame tray jigsaw includes a frame that effectively does the corners for you. Aimed at younger children, they generally feature fewer pieces and are usually designed to be portable to some degree. At least two designs were made - one featuring Leader-1, Cy-Kill, Turbo and Cop-Tur fighting on GoBotron, the other featuring Cop-Tur chasing Turbo in vehicle modes.
Waddingtons[edit | edit source]
In the UK the licence for such things went to Waddingtons, original creators of Cluedo. They produced at least four designs. Unlike Golden they didn't commission fresh art; however, instead they used the gorgeous painted art Tonka commissioned early in the launch of GoBots which made it onto a disappointingly small amount of merchandise, including the first series of Super GoBots. Best of all, each included a poster of said artwork, helping push the puzzles up to a second hand value of up to 99p each. Due to the UK wing of Bandai's flip-flop marketing the jigsaws were branded as Challenge of the GoBots featuring Robo Machine.
