When you think of 80’s sci-fi cartoons featuring teams of robots, you think of Transformers, and then the Go-Bots. Or, if you’re like me, you’re incapable of forgetting the Rock Lords (they turn into rocks). What you don’t think of is Roboforce, the robots with suction cup bases and gimmick arms, which were very briefly in 1984, the hot new thing, and even had an animated one-shot called Robo Force: The Revenge of Nazgar.
41 years later, Roboforce is back with a real animated series that looks and sounds like it fell out of a time machine from 1984. It’s exclusively streaming on Tubi.
Roboforce toys in the 80s.
Roboforce: The Animated Series is an amazing throwback to when cartoons were extended toy commercials, and I mean that as a compliment. The very first episode starts with the team leader, Maxx 89, showcasing his talent for delivering exposition (yes, he says that in the show), as he goes over the history of the original suction cup robots to the new, upgraded models they are 25 years later. Forced back into action when the hot new UA 101 robots that replaced Roboforce fall under the control of a mysterious evil force, it’s up to the old dogs to learn some new tricks.
Before I watched a single minute of Roboforce: The Animated Series, I saw the trailer play over and over on Pluto TV while binging Bar Rescue, and as a child of the 80s, I was legally obligated to see what this show was all about. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that, through the very clunky dialogue, this was an earnest effort to make a slightly darker, slightly more mature take on the 80s sci-fi Saturday Morning Cartoons. It’s still a show for kids, but it’s closer to the Exosquad end of the spectrum than King Arthur and the Knights of Justice.
Maxx 89 in Roboforce: The Animated Series.
It’s also the opening show in a brand new cartoon universe put together by Brian Volk-Weiss, the mad genius behind Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us, in conjunction with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s production company, Seven Bucks. The Nacelleverse, named for Volk-Weiss’ company, is comprised of multiple forgotten cartoons of the 80s and 90s, including one that cameos in Roboforce: The Animated Series, The Biker Mice from Mars. It also includes The C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa which means that maybe, just maybe, we can get a revival series of the greatest cartoon about anthropomorphic cows as defenders of the wild west on top of a giant mesa struck by a meteor from space.
A lot of these cartoons got weird, and thankfully, Roboforce: The Animated Series steers right into the skid and lets its freak flag fly as the six-episode first season progresses. Not only are each of the members of the team given a chance to shine, and yes, each member perfectly aligns with the classic 80s team composition of the brains (S.O.T.A., the blue robot), brawn (Wrecker, black and yellow), attitude (Hun-Dred, black and red), and the stick in the mud, Sentinel (yellow and white). Unlike the cartoons of yesteryear, here there’s this new thing developed starting in the 90s, called character development.
A scene from Roboforce: The Animated Series on Tubi.
That’s harsh, of course, but there’s a world of difference between the characters of Beast Wars and the Gen 1 Transformers, and despite its throwback appearance, Roboforce: The Animated Series ends up embracing modern storytelling. It’s a great decision, and the short series is a fantastic way to launch a new universe that will, hopefully, be continuing soon with Biker Mice from Mars.
I’m holding out hope that someone will snap up the rights to Pirates of Dark Water and finally finish the story of Ren, but it’s still very cool that Volk-Weiss has revived Robo Force and given them the show they should have had in the first place. It’s not perfect, but it rises above being an ad for toys, and this should be required viewing for kids today so they understand what we old folks mean when we talk about Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Roboforce: The Animated Series is streaming now on Tubi.
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