![]() ![]() ![]() While Challenge of the GoBots initially held up well against the initial onslaught of Transformers paraphernalia, the line began to flag in 1985. Although the GoBots were cheaper and thus more desirable (at least for parents), the line was outdone by the Transformers, who sported descriptive bios, diverse transformations, and a massive cast. The line limped into 1986 with a hastily-produced feature film, Battle of the Rock Lords, a commercial and critical flop that more or less signalled the end of the GoBots. The GoBots were largely forgotten, even after Hasbro bought Tonka in 1991. By the mid 2000s, the Transformers toyline and ancillary fiction began incorporating a few sly winks to its old competitor. In 2010, it was finally declared that the GoBots were, in fact, actually part of the ''Transformers'' multiverse, albeit very distant analogues- and that two GoBots were dimension-hopping Transformers (Fun Publications' prose stories for Transformers Timelines had Bug Bite join the Decepticons after gaining a new body that resembled a white version of the Autobot Bumblebee, while supplementary material for Transformers: Animated established that Porter C. Powell's limo was transformed into the Renegade Stretch by an AllSpark fragment before Powell and Isaac Sumdac got rid of him by teleporting him to the GoBots universe). In 2015, Facebook's Ask Vector Prime feature was temporarily usurped by Renegade Rhetoric, hosted by Cy-Kill himself (and eventually spinning off as its own separate Facebook page). The feature was decidedly tongue-in-cheek, as Cy-Kill was more than happy to take potshots at the Transformers universe. The bulk of the answers described plots for a "season 2" of Challenge of the GoBots, produced in an alternate reality. In our reality, at least, the GoBots exist in a kind of legal limbo: Hasbro owns the rights to the characters and the premise, allowing them to get away with things such as "Renegade Rhetoric." note The feature was produced by Fun Publications, the former operator of the official Transformers fan club. (via their 1996 merger with Turner Broadcasting, which acquired H-B in 1991) owns the distribution rights to the cartoon note Which is now available as an MOD DVD release as part of the Warner Archive collection (under the "Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection" name)., and Hasbro's toymaking competitor Bandai maintains control of the original Machine Robo molds. ![]() Don't go expecting a major revival any time soon. ![]()
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