While Challenge of the GoBots initially held up well against the initial onslaught of Transformers paraphernalia, the line began to flag in 1985. The only "themes" to a faction are that anything that turns into a monstrous-looking robot or vehicle is a Renegade and their type of voice: the Guardians have booming, echoing voices while the Renegades have a more electronic sound to them. Likewise, there's no commonality of design within each faction. The characters, as well as the toys, have no identifying insignias or markings to indicate their allegiance, although it's clearly indicated on the packaging. GoBots have no clear divide between the two factions. Other characters rotate in "guest-star" roles. Cy-Kill, Cop-Tur and Crasher), who are virtually ever-present. The series generally focuses on the "lead" three robots from each faction (Leader-1, Turbo and Scooter vs. The GoBots' origin as organic beings accounts for the presence of genders among the characters - in fact, GoBots stands out among 80's cartoons for having a diverse cast: not only does it include more female characters than the original Transformers, it also includes a woman of colour as a major protagonist! At the time of the series, this massive construction effort is still ongoing, accounting for the metal world's peculiar "apple-core" shape. The Guardians then began converting the otherwise-dead world into a completely metal-sheathed City Planet, breaking up entire uninhabited worldlets for the necessary materials. The characters rarely have guns, instead shooting energy blasts out of their fists.ĭespite the tagline of "Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles", the GoBots are in fact Cyborgs - alien humanoids who transferred their brains into robot bodies after their civil war had ruined their planet's biosphere. The Renegades are led by the evil Cy-Kill, with Crasher and Cop-Tur among their ranks. The Guardians are led by Leader-1, accompanied by Turbo and Scooter. The series deals with two opposing forces of transforming robots from the planet Gobotron: the heroic Guardians and the evil Renegades. Catching wind of Hasbro's Stateside release of Diaclone and Microchange toys, Tonka hastily commissioned Hanna-Barbera to create an animated series, anticipating Hasbro's own Transformers media blitz. In 1983, Tonka acquired the North American license for Bandai's Machine Robo line of toys, perhaps as a response to its chief rival Hasbro's acquisition of Takara's Diaclone and Microchange figures.
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