Saturday morning cartoons: Gobots.
Wiki:"Challenge of the GoBots (also known as Mighty Machine Men) is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, based on the Gobots toy-line released from Tonka. Most of the toys were imported from the Japanese Machine Robo toy line.
GoBots dealt with two opposing forces of transforming robots from the planet Gobotron: the heroic Guardians and the evil Renegades. The Guardians were led by Leader-1 with others including Turbo and Scooter. The Renegades were led by Cy-Kill, with Crasher and Cop-Tur among their ranks. The characters rarely had guns, instead shooting energy blasts out of their fists. Unlike Transformers, GoBots had regular female characters. However, the females were built like the males (only Crasher receiving any distinguishable female features). The GoBots' origin as organic beings accounted for the presence of genders among the robots.
In the 2006 movie Clerks II, Gobots are referred to as "the Kmart Transformers". Clips from the Gobots were used in Errol Morris' Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.
The webcomic Lilformers, features Gobots from time to time, as hopeful Transformers
In the animated series Challenge of the Gobots, Cy-Kill was the leader of the evil Renegades. He was originally a member of the Guardians and friend of Leader-1. He wanted to be the sole ruler of Gobotron to better protect it (since he felt he was the mightiest guardian), but Leader-1 believed in democracy. This led Cy-Kill to break away from the Guardians and become the leader of the Renegades. He sought to conquer the Gobot homeworld and have all the power for himself. He was very ruthless and a thorn in the side of the Guardians.
The toy of Cy-Kill was originally Bandai's Bike Robo from their Machine Robo toyline. Bike Robo was a heroic character in red, white, and blue colors. Tonka, however, decided to make this character a villain. The Tonka version was originally released in the red, white, and blue, but in the final year of the toy line this was changed to a more "evil" black and green color scheme. The animated version, however, had already been drawn in the original colors and so he stayed that way on TVA larger "Super GoBot" Cy-Kill was later released, based on the Bandai Big Bike Robo figure. As one of the lead characters from the TV series, Cy-Kill featured on numerous items of merchandise as well.
Bad motorcycle, good toy: Cy-Kill
Scooter was the Guardians’ resident inventor. He was highly intelligent, and equipped with an array of equipment that allowed him to hack into computers and the like. Scooter was also equipped with a hologram projector, allowing him to create illusions either to confuse enemies or provide himself with cover. He was unarmed, but briefly tried having blasters fitted in place of his hologram projector – however, he eventually realized the latter was more in tune with his personality, and switched back. He enjoys a friendly rivalry with fellow Guardian Turbo,
Joking about the stronger Guardian’s lack of intelligence. Since his arrival on Earth, Scooter has become good friends with the young human astronaut Nick Burns, finding him to be something of a kindred spirit. However, one thing they don’t have in common is that Scooter is a complete coward – Nick regularly has to coax his Gobot friend into action in tight situations. Scooter is simply the youngest Guardian in appearance, personality and voice.
Scooter’s toy was a re-release of the Machine Robo Scooter Robo figure. It was first issued by Tonka in 1983, and remained available throughout the production of the Gobots toy line. It was also released in Europe. In 1993, the figure was reissued as part of Bandai’s Robo Machines line.
Bad motorcycle, good toy: Cy-Kill
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