Is this a Transformer? Is this a Go-Bot? It’s a monkey!

Talk about forgotten lines… I totally forgot that Rescue Bots had a precursor in the ancient times. The ancient times way back in 2002. Big, chunky and simple Transformers aimed at very young children have been a thing since forever!

Well, I got a Go-Bot who is also a Transformer who is also a monke. Mmmm, Monke.

Oh right, review time!

Alternate mode

Can you guess what Gorillabot turns into? Yup, he turns into a gorilla.

He’s a bright and colorful monke with some interesting proportions. He somehow looks correct and wrong at the same time. Which is interesting.

The biggest problem is his head. While the head itself looks quite nice, it looks disconnected from the body due to the transformation. Him having toes at the back of his hands is also weird.

For playability and posability… there’s not much. There’s some posability but it’s effectively useless. His arms can move in and out at the shoulders while he has sideways bending elbows. His legs rotate as well as go in and out at the hips. Lastly, he rotates at the thighs.

Transformation

Gorillabot has an effective auto-transformation gimmick. It also doesn’t work exactly how you’d expect it to. It’s effectively a one-step transformation but you need to arrange the arms and legs properly for each mode.

My favourite part of the transformation though… Gorillabot gives birth to both his robot mode and his gorilla mode head. It’s really funny.

Robot mode

Gorillabot turns from a gorilla into a gorilla-like robot. Kudos to the designers though since he’s noticeably distinct in either mode. Also, he actually looks pretty great.

His proportions and interesting colors make him look heroic but friendly at the same time. It’s impressive that a Transformer aimed at children has so many painted details but that’s just how Hasbro rolled back in the day. I’d honestly be quite interested to see a Generations style update of old Gorillabot here.

Gorillabot’s posability… leaves a lot to be desired. His arms rotate at the shoulders as well as go forward and back. He has bicep swivels. His legs move forward and back at the hips. His knees can bend… just barely. Lastly, he swivels below his knees.

Gimmicks

The gimmick of the Go-Bots/Playskool Big Adventure line was that the Transformers were hardy and easy to transform.

It’s all true. Gorillabot looks pretty much pristine 19 years later even though I got him used. His transformation is also still super smooth after all these years.

As mentioned above, the transformation is done in pretty much one step and nothing ever gets stuck like some of the newer One-Step Changers. Impressive monke.

Toy or collectible?

…

I don’t know.

Gorillabot is a very well done child’s toy. He’s built tough and is as fun as… a barrel of monkeys. Younger kids would absolutely love this guy.

However, I have absolutely no idea how much Gorillabot should cost. I got him pretty cheap at RM30 ($7) but I never see him for sale online these days. So I don’t know how much he should cost since he’s a decently old figure.

I’d say he’d be a great buy for a young kid at a certain price. I’d think he’d be worth it at RM80 ($20) which is the price of a new regular Rescue Bot these days. He’s a bit smaller but he’s so much more robust feeling in the hand than them.

Closing

Gorillabot is a strange oddity that I happened to wind up buying. He’s definitely an interesting one to have in your collection that would also make for a great gift for a child.

Gorillabot isn’t a Transformer you need to hunt down but you probably won’t regret adding him into your collection.