During October of 2015, Ask Vector Prime was taken over by various guest hosts while Vector was away, tying into the Club's "Another Light" storyline. A poll was taken on the most popular hosts, and Cy-Kill, the fifth host for Renegade Rhetoric, proved to be the most popular host, and as such, got his own page. Cy-Kill is the leader of the Renegades from Challenge of the GoBots.
On November 2, his page was set up. His profile picture is the same as his second profile picture (being a panel of his TransTech counterpart from "Transcendent: Part 5", with pencils by Evan Gauntt, inks by Jake Isenberg, and colors by Josh Perez), and his profile header is the same art of space used as the header for Ask Vector Prime. His about section gives the basic set-up: after returning to his home universe, he's hacked the Axiom Nexus airwaves to continue promoting the Renegade cause.
November 5: Cy-Kill hacked the airwaves earlier this day on Ask Vector Prime, announcing his return.
November 10: Our first post! Now, I'm not gonna go over all the characters again, because that would be way too much work, but I'll go over the technologies mentioned. Vector added a title card later (based on those used in Challenge of the GoBots), giving this episode the name "Opportunity Knocks Part 2", from the phrase "opportunity knocks at every man's door"; that version of the phrase originates from the late 19th century, although the earliest version of the phrase is recorded in medieval France. The idea of "levels" was introduced in the two-part episode "Invasion from the 21st Level", with the GoBots home universe designated as Level 1. The Rogue Star was the Renegade flagship, which first chronologically appeared in the second mini-series, "The GoBotron Saga". Courageous was a Guardian combiner formed from the Last Engineer's ship and four Power Suits, which were generally piloted by Leader-1, Turbo, Scooter, and Small Foot, as Cy-Kill notes in the comments. Cy-Kill recruited his new Renegades back in Axiom Nexus; presumably, in the hypothetical cartoon episode that this post summarizes, they wouldn't have been given an origin beyond being from another universe. Gong was the Renegade time traveler who helped Cy-Kill get back home. Guardian Academy was seen, aptly enough, in the episode "Guardian Academy"; Beamer, Sky Fly, and Guide Star were the Guardian GoBots sold as "Happy Meal" toys at Wendy's. Command Centers were the walking space ships used by the Guardians. The Wendy's GoBots were some of the few to get packaging bios, and as such, that informs their characterization here. Sky Fly was established to be a spy by his, watching the Renegades from high up in the atmosphere. Beamer was depicted as an impetuous bot, always on the look out for Renegades. Guide Star was depicted as a pacifistic computer expert who helps guide the Guardians through space.
November 16: The header is now a screencap of GoBotron, probably from the show's title sequence.
November 17: Another "episode" summary with "Mirror Menace". UNECOM is the government organization on Earth that works with the Guardians throughout the show. The Duplicator Beam's source, the Astro Beam, was the equivalent to the space bridge in the GoBots cartoon. It was established it's effects lasted for forty-eight hours in "Steamer's Defection". Thrusters are the standard Renegade ships. The GoBotron Fortress was a cancelled playset from the toyline; GoBotolis, meanwhile, was the capital of GoBotron introduced in "Lost on GoBotron". I'm not sure if the Cy-Kill clone calling himself "Cy-Kill Prime" is a reference to anything. The idea of "reversing the polarity" is a bit of non-science seen fairly often in 80's cartoons that likely stems from Doctor Who. Bullseye makes his "first" modern appearance here, having only been seen in flashback in the episode ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"".
November 24: The OZSA is the Offworlder Zone Security Administration, police force of Axiom Nexus' lower levels over in TransTech. Cy-Kill's sorium-powered pulsar generator was one of the main McGuffins of Challenge of the GoBots opening mini-series, "Battle for GoBotron". The enslaved humanity created duplicates of Zods, which were destroyed in "The Final Conflict", as mentioned here. Dr. Turgenova was a Soviet scientist and Guardian ally who helped create sorium, as seen in the episdoe "Target Earth". Scooter was brainwashed and sent to disable a UNECOM facility's force field in "It's the Thought that Counts". Cy-Kill was imprisoned on Elba and hypnotized Royal-T and Street Heat in "Escape from Elba"; Royal-T was a series 1 GoBot. The Brainstormer was an interrogation device used by both the Guardians and the Renegades in the cartoon. Braxis infiltrated Cheyenne Mountain and used NORAD's technology to brainwash the world in "Conquest of Earth". Attached is the model sheet for the pulsar generator.
December 1: The "Grungy incident" (Grungy being the toyline-exclusive Renegade Power Suit combiner) happened in an "episode" described on the original Renegade Rhetoric page back on October 20: "Coup de Grunge". The episode summarized here is "Trash and Treachery". The Master Renegade was one of the lead Renegades on pre-GoBot GoBotron, as seen in "The GoBotron Saga"; he became a cyborg, hence the mention of his "irising cybernetic eye". He and Cy-Kill were briefly aligned back in "The GoBotron Saga", but inevitably, the two turned on each other; Cy-Kill considers him little more than a relic from the past that would keep the Renegades from reaching their goals. Zero briefly created a splinter faction of Renegades in "The Third Column". Beta Leonis, or Denebola, is the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Pollution and its dangers was a pretty stock plot "teaching a lesson to kids" episodes for 80's cartoons. Pumper, a firetruck Guardian from series 1, makes his "first cartoon appearance" here, because although a model-sheet was created for him for the "Battle for GoBotron" opening mini-series, he never appeared. (He was mentioned in another post on the original Renegade Rhetoric run as having helped captured Cy-Kill between the "Battle for GoBotron" and "The GoBotron Saga" mini-series, but you'll want to see the annotations on Ask Vector Prime for December 21st for more on that).
I talked about this on the first run's annotations, but just to reiterate; Blades is the name given to the Super GoBot, Night Fright, in the Challenge of the GoBots episode "The Gift". The super-algae is another pseudo-scientific thing you'd see in the GoBots cartoon. The Guardian Council was established since the opening mini-series as leading GoBotron on civilian matters, with Leader-1 being the military commander of the Guardian forces. The algae being more attracted to trash definitely sounds like a fake cartoon thing. All Renegade ships had cloaking devices. Bit dark of an ending there. And one more "stock cartoon" element, with Cy-Kill thinking of Leader-1 making an end of the episode joke where everyone laughs. GoBeing is the name given to non-GoBot GoBotronians in the "The GoBotron Saga". Attached is a size chart from the production materials of Challenge of the GoBots, with the model sheets for the Last Engineer (who created the GoBot bodies), Guardian allies Matt Hunter, Nick Burns, and A.J. Foster, UNECOM General Newcastle, Soviet UNECOM ally Dr. Anya Turgenova, sometimes-Renegade ally Dr. Braxis, and the Master Renegade. The idea of the Master Renegade flying around in Zero puts a very Hanna-Barbera image in my head.
December 4:
Question 1: Rom Stol was the protagonist of the anime Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos. Machine Robo was a Bandai toyline from which Tonka licensed the toys that would become most of their GoBots toyline. In France, the anime was dubbed as Revenge of the GoBots, due to the franchise's popularity in the country. Cy-Kill wonders if the questioner means Rom the Spaceknight, the Parker Brothers toy who had a Marvel comic back in the late 70's and early 80's, and whom is now owned by Hasbro.
Question 2: In Transformers: Armada, Megatron's partner Mini-Con was named Leader-1, after the heroic Guardian leader from GoBots. The Armada cartoon's infamously shoddy production, however, led many Mini-Cons in the show to be called Leader-1, even if Leader-1 had previously appeared and been named in the same episode! Aurex 802.23 Alpha is the world of the "Unicron Trilogy" cartoons.
December 8: I've already talked about Grungy, and I'll go more into Puzzler in a bit. The "episode" summarized here is "Fossil Fallout". Again, Courageous is the Guardian Power Warrior, created by the formation of the four Power Suits and the Last Engineer's ship. Quartex is the home of the Rock Lords, Tonka's sister line to the GoBots franchise, who appeared in the theatrical movie, GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. Nuggit was a heroic Rock Lord, and was an android who turned into a small golden nugget. Boulder was the leader of the heroic Rock Lords, who turned into a piece of tungsten, while Magmar was the leader of the evil faction, turning into a type of igneous rock. The Fossil Lords take a bit of explanation; they were a combiner team designed for Bandai's Machine Robo toyline, and like most of the other Rock Lords that originated from that toyline, were intended to be sold in the Rock Lords toyline in America. The group combined into Fossilsaurus, a saurian form based very loosely on the Tyrannosaurs rex. The components consisted of Jaw Bone, who formed the head; Rib Cage, who formed the upper torso and arms; Hipbone, who formed the lower torso and legs; and Tail Bone, who formed the tail. They were initially planned to be released in a brownish-yellow color scheme, and Jaw Bone showed up in the film with these colors, although he was simply called "the Fossil Lord" in the movie. However, the toy ended up going unreleased in America, and was released in Europe in the original blue and purple colors of the Japanese release.
The Neolithic was the final division of the Stone Age. Jaw Bone's daughter, Ulna, takes her name from one of the bones in the forearm. It's all standard stock plots here, and from here on out, unless it's something very specific, I won't call attention to it. Setting up for some future posts at the end, there...
December 15: In the second mini-series of the cartoon, "The GoBotron Saga", Leader-1 was disassembled by the
Renegades, only to be pieced back together by the Last Engineer in "Flight to Earth". Meanwhile, in the opening "Battle for GoBotron" mini-series, Leader-1 was shot down and nearly fed to the monstrous Zod, only to be saved and recharged by Turbo and Anya over the course of the episodes "Earthbound" and "The Final Conflict". For the rest of the post, we have a summary of "Nightmares of a Leader", a virtual "clip show" made up of various scenes from the episodes of the first season of the cartoon. The Concursatians (the argon-breathing aliens in the space yacht) seem to have their name derived from the Latin word "concurso", meaning "I clash" or "I rove." Leader-1's force field showed up in MANY episodes.
The scenes in Leader-1's nightmares come from many episodes. Professor Ling's time machine sent back the Guardians and Renegades to 217 B.C., where the Renegades initially allied themselves with the Roman Emperor. The Emperor wasn't given a name in the episode itself, but here he's called Commodus, who was indeed a Roman Emperor...from 177 to 192 A.D. Of course, this is an intentional error; the Roman Empire wasn't a thing until 27 B.C., long after the events of "Time Wars" took place. Dr. Go's molecular transfusion gun was a shrink ray, seen in "Cy-Kill's Shrinking Ray", where the Renegades used it on the Guardians. Sentinel, as described in a post in the comments, was built by UNECOM's Dr. Anya Turgenova in "Sentinel". More on that in a bit. Leader-1 was suspected to be a spy by UNECOM in the episode "Wolf in the Fold"; it turned out it was actually the Renegade Bay Boy, posing as the Guardian Heat Seeker. Leader-1 was turned evil by a Power Suit from Fabricon in "A New Suit for Leader-1". Cy-Kill mastered the Earth's plate tectonics in "Ring of Fire".
Leader-1's good memories, meanwhile, include him assisting Wrecks and the mutants of Old GoBotron (more on them in a bit) in "Lost on GoBotron". Ultra Zod was an upgraded form of the reptilian Renegade creature seen in "Ultra Zod". Leader-1 and the Guardians saved the population of the pyramidal planet Tri-Ceti as it was destroyed in "The Renegades' Rampage, Part II". Aliens on a planet in the Omega Prima system built a statue modeled after Leader-1 when he and his Guardians visited the planet in "Dawn World".
Wrecks, as seen in "Lost on GoBotron", was an ancient non-aligned GoBot, and apparently a "Modifier reject", a GoBot who, for whatever reason, was not given an alternate mode by the Modifier. He lived on Old GoBotron, the planet around which modern GoBotron was built, and ran a gladiatorial arena as a front to protect the mutated GoBeings who lived there. Attached is his character model, along with his followers at his feet. Sentinel, meanwhile, was originally built by UNECOM to help defend Earth, only for its A.I. to determine that robotic life was superior to organic, and teamed up with the Renegades. The Guardians turned him on his allies when they revealed that GoBots were cyborgs, and he was last seen chasing them off into space. Attached is his character sheet as well. The enthusiastic questioner asked about a dozen more questions on these things, and eventually, Vector Prime stepped in, pointing them to the Challenge of the GoBots DVDS published as part of Warner Brothers' Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection; the image attached is the cover for the original "Battle for GoBotron", using old promotional art for the cartoon. This is the true first indication that Renegade Rhetoric is a hypothetical "season 2" of Challenge of the GoBots.
December 17: We have a summary of "Six Heads are Better than One" on this day, taking its name from the old proverb "two heads are better than one", derived from an epigram by English writer John Heywood. We got hints for this back in the "Fossil Fallout" summary. The Super Bowl is the big end of the season game of the National Football League in America. The Space Hawks were transforming vehicles that a standard-sized GoBot could fit in, which managed to get an appearance in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. Now, Puzzler and his components were seen in only one episode of the cartoon, "Auto Madic", in which they were created by Cy-Kill from ordinary cars, and remote controlled. Due to their lack of sentience, they were eventually defeated. Now, here's where we get a bit meta-fictional. Because sparks didn't exist in the world where this "second season" aired, because Beast Wars hadn't (and wouldn't, as we will find out), aired, they're described simply as "positronic energy matrices"; sparks were noted to be made out of positrons in the Beast Machines episode "Spark of Darkness". Additionally, his time in Axiom Nexus is simply described as being away in an "alternate dimension". The "laser contaiment field" is equivalent to the laser core, a similar concept to the spark mentioned several times in the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, which modern fiction has retconned to be part of the spark. Cy-Kill obtained these sparks from Axiom Nexus, where he took up residence in Shattered Glass Alpha Trion's old hideout. The sparks he found were those of various TransTechs, abducted by Alpha Trion and replaced with the sparks of his followers as part of his conspiracy to return to his home dimension. His Positronic Animus devices ("animus" being a Roman concept equivalent to the mind and soul) function like Megatron's shell programs in Beast Machines, replacing the mind of the spark with a programmed personality.
Anyway, the animation of Puzzler's components is played as a Frankenstein pastiche. The area of space the Roguestar goes to animate them is the "Nietsneknarf region", which is "Frankenstein" spelt backwards. The Roguestar is equipped with a "Stellar Fulminator Rod", essentially a lightning rod, which Victor Frankenstein used to animate his creation, Adam, in Frankenstein. The "Fulminator" bit derives from "fulminate", for which a now rarely used definition of the word means to be struck by lightning. Their animation by the sparks has given Puzzler's components the "Mighty Skills" called out on the box set's packaging, given names here based on the simple descriptions called out in the packaging: Tic Tac has Super Intelligence (described as the "evil mind behind Puzzler's schemes"), Pocket has Super Karate speed (he was noted to have a "karate hand" that moves faster than the eye can see), Crossword has Super Strength (Crossword was described as having the "crushing strength" of six GoBots), Jig Saw has Super Disguise abilities (he was described as the master of disguises on the team), Rube has Super Sense (he could feel the slightest movement with his super senses, according to his description), and Zig Zag has Super Speed (he was described as having the "furious speed of a striking snake"). Puzzler has access to all of his components' Mighty Skills, as mentioned on his box bio. We will later learn that these "Mighty Skills" come from the original Transformers these sparks belonged to, much later on.
Cy-Kill chose the Liberty Bell because of its status as a symbol of America's independence. We actually have two Guardians who never were mentioned in the original run of Renegade Rhetoric show up here: two series 2 GoBots, Wrong Way the AH-64 Apache helicopter, and Good Knight the Excalibur Roadster. With Rube defeated and not present to combine, Puzzler is unable to access his full strength; his packaging stated that his sole weakness was that if he was not fully combined, he would not be able to access his strength, and be forced to divide into his individual components. The Boomers were exclusive to the toyline, battery-operated motorized toys, which could transform at the push of a button, and launch a ball with the press of another button on their heads. The mold was released in two color scheme as a Guardian and a Renegade, specifically; the Guardian was named Rumble. While the toys' packaging gave them distinct personalities, Renegade Rhetoric depicted them as mass-produced drones, as the show did with their brief apperance in "Mission: GoBotron".
December 22: Today, we have a summary for "Attack of the 50 Foot Guardian", its name taken from the 1958 science fiction film, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. It seems that Scooter's transformation into a giant is inspired by Tonka's "Ride On Scooter" toy, a 26-inch GoBot that could turn into a "scooter" that young children could ride on. The doctors at the University of Cambridge, Bobbie Shafto and Elise Marley, take their names from the English folk songs "Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea" and "Elise Marley". The Tevatron was a particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab. Cy-Kill initially replicated Zod in the opening mini-series, and he continued to use replicas throughout the cartoon. Tinkertoys are an old children's toy invented in 1914, serving as a construction set.
Later that day, the header image was replaced with a screencap of Antarctica from the Challenge of the GoBots episode, "Cold Spell", to tie in with the upcoming Christmas holiday.
December 24: Santa Claus is usually the figure associated with the modern day incarnation of Christmas. Father Christmas is the English personification of Christmas. And Befana is a old woman from Italian folklore who delivers presents to children on Epiphany Eve. "Bah humbug" was Ebeneezer Scrooge's original response to Christmas in the 1843 novella A Christmas Carole.
December 25: We have a Christmas episode today, with "And to All a Good Knight", written by Jim and Chris McFeely. The title of the "episode" references the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. I'm certain most of you know about Santa Claus and the mythology behind his sleigh, elves, and what not. Cy-Kill's pulsar generator and sorium appeared in the "Battle for GoBotron" mini-series that opened the cartoon. Good Knight was shown to be a member of the GoBotron Security Council in the episode "Nova Beam". Anti-Guardian field is a bit of pseudo-science again. Mall Santas should also be obvious; Cop-Tur's confusion is standard with these kind of cartoon plots.
Some more standard Christmas elements; children going to the mall to sit on "Santa's" lap and ask for presents, and bad children getting coal for Christmas. Every year at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, a massive Christmas tree is set up there. Another "reverse the polarity" bit. Looks like Cop-Tur was right after all...
Attached to the post is some drawings by Chris Colgin, showing Cy-Kill and Scooter in the Santa costumes, and Nick and A.J. dressed as elves.
December 28: For the next five days, Jim Sorenson and Chris McFeely wrote up the five part "mini-series" serving as the premier of season 2, the "Robo Rebels Saga", emulating the previous mini-series, "Battle for GoBotron" and "The GoBotron Saga". The first episode of this five-parter is "Rebels Without A Circuit", which takes its title from the 1955 drama film, Rebel Without a Cause. The Monster Renegade Bladez was mentioned by Cy-Kill in the first run several times, hoping to recruit him, and here, we learn his origin, along with meeting a new team of Guardians. Guardian Academy appeared in, appropriately enough, "Guardian Academy". Major Mo, Raizor, Tail Pipe, Super Couper, and Bent Wing were all mentioned in the first run, but chronologically, this would be their first appearance in the "cartoon". Bent Wing is made to be female for the first time here. We saw a similar type of training exercise in "Guardian Academy". The Renegade Dread Launchers infiltrated Guardian Academy in that same episode. Bladez has managed to infiltrate the Guardians as well; he's the one who leaked the location to Gunnyr and the others. Ridge Runner was a meant to be one of the Power Marchers released aside from the Guardian Hitch Hiker and the Renegade Quick-Step; it was cancelled, and images show it as a white and gray boxy robot with red lights. They're depicted as drones here. Zeemon is the leader of the Guardian Council, and of the civilian GoBotron population in general, as we saw many times in the cartoon. In the comics, Cy-Kill confirms that Tail Pipe generally looks like his black and orange toy, rather than the red variant.
December 29: Our second episode, "Fugitives". I believe this is the first time we see the GoBotron Stockades; the Renegades were all imprisoned on the Prison Moon in "Cy-Kill's Escape". Command Centers are, again, the standard Guardian ships. Notably, Bent Wing is able to convert; this might be an intentional "continuity" mistake that the cartoon tended to make, as "Guardian Academy" showed that Guardians didn't get Modified to have an alternate mode until they finished their training. A mecha-mansion is simply a mansion. The Master Renegade was one of the original founders of the faction, back when the GoBots were still GoBeings; he grafted cybernetic parts onto himself, and went to Antares III, creating the Monster GoBots, as seen in "The GoBotron Saga". Alpha Centauri is a real star. Creepy was the last Monster GoBot to appear in the cartoon, serving the Master Renegade in "Quest for New Earth". I've already talked a bunch about the GoBotron Fortress at this point. The bit at the end where Bladez "looms large" over the Command Centers is indicating that would how the scene would appear in animation, probably with Bladez being translucent.
December 30: The next episode is "Double Cross". "Guardian Academy" showed that Guardians-in-training had much weaker blasters.
Later that day, the header was replaced with a screencap from the cartoon of a Renegade Thruster firing on a Guardian Command Center. I wanna say that comes from an episode in "The GoBotron Saga".
December 31: Next up in the saga, "Countdown to Annihilation". The Prison Moon of GoBotron was seen in "Cy-Kill's Escape". The Gravity Collapsar Ray is a very Hanna-Barbera-esque weapon. The Guardian Science Academy is (I believe) new. Bugsie makes his first "chronological" appearance in the modern day here, only appearing in flashback in ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"" previously. The first real appearance of a Quick-Step, here. Some minor stuff in the comments that I've gone over before.
January 1: And the final part, "Graduation Day". Klaws, like Bugsie, makes his first (chronological) appearance in the modern day here. The Master Renegade's newest creation, Dactyl, is based on another cancelled Power Marcher, who was an all-black bird-like Renegade. Because of his monstrous form, he's imagined here as a creation of the Master Renegade. The Monster Renegades (minus Creepy and Bladez) once again defect away from their creator. And an end of the episode laugh finishes us off for the five parter!
January 4: Today's "episode" is "Shock and Awe", a fairly generic phrase, but which has a military meaning coined by strategists Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade, in the 1996 monograph Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance. Braxis fled into space onboard a Renegade ship back in "Braxis Gone Bonkers". I'm not sure if the Silex System is named after anything in particular; "silex" is a word that basically means any type of ground stone. Shock and Awe are fairly generic Godzilla-esque monsters. Attached to a post answering a comment about the monsters is an image of Shock and Awe, drawn by Chris Colgin.
Later that day, the header would be replaced again with an image of UNECOM headquarters. I'm not sure if it's from a specific episode; it might just be a stock shot used in multiple episodes.
January 5: The RoGuns were the identity given to the licensed Arco GoBots toys, which transformed into functioning guns (with cap bullets instead of real ones, obviously) in the initial Renegade Rhetoric run, appearing in "The RoGun Ruckus" and "The RoGuns of Mars". They include: Rifle (the "Cap Rifle" toy), Pistol ("Cap Pistol"), Squirt ("Squirt Gun"), Scope ("Robo-Scope"), and Shotgun ("RoGun Cap Rifle"). Anyway, today;s "episode" is "Of Rocks and RoGuns Part 1", featuring a crossover with the Rock Lords once again. The title is presumably derived from the 1937 novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, who in turn named the book after a paraphrased line in the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns.
This post marks when Renegade Rhetoric posts became longer, emulating the three-act format of the Challenge of the GoBots TV series, often with quotes from the episodes repeated and commercial "stingers". Cy-Kill couldn't of taken part of the events described in this episode, so it's explained as him over-viewing intelligence gathered by Snoop. "Marched like lemmings" refers to the misconception that the animals commit mass suicide, popularized by media like the Walt Disney documentary White Wilderness. Marbles was one of the heroic Rock Lords, with a marble alternate mode. His precognitive abilities were mentioned on his box bio, and saw some use in the GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords movie. Cristobalite is a type of polymorphic mineral, which the counterpart of Marbles in the Japanese Machine Robo toyline, Maskrock, turned into. I can't remember off the top of my head if the "Trans-Galactic Modem" was mentioned in the film, but I feel like it wasn't. The Jewel Lords were part of the "third" wave of Rock Lords toys, with jewel alternate modes. Only Solitaire, the diamond Jewel Lord, showed up in the film, with Flamestone the ruby Rock Lord and Sunstone the amber Rock Lord making their first appearances in-continuity here. The library Clastixandria is named for the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt, which was destroyed over time, although it is popularly thought to have burned. It's also named for clastic rocks, formed from fragments of older rocks. Pyroxentopia is "pyroxene" (materials found in igneous and metamorphic rock) combined with "-topia".
The Tower Tumbler, I believe, is new, although it might be related to Stonehead (which I'll go into more later). Slimestone was an evil Rock Lord, who turned into a piece of silver. Sticks "N Stones were two fused evil Rock Lords, who turned into a piece of fused anthracite and magnetite, according to his box bio. The Narlies were an oddity of the Rock Lords toyline, animals with felt "fur" and pull-back motors. Snarlie-Narlie was the biggest of them, an evil bull who was described as the "king" of the evil Narlies. He's specifically described as a "Narlibull" here. Most Narlies were labeled evil, aside from the Narliehogs and Narliephants. Narlilions and Narlibats are obviously lions and bats. Snarlie-Narlie, Narlilions, and Narlibats were all part of series 2 of the Narlies. Slimestone's toy was armed with a "Slime Gun". Spikestone was one of two "Rockasaurs" released in the toyline, rocks who became dinosaur-like creatures; he looked vaguely like a Triceratops. Some Rockasaurs showed up in the film, although they weren't either of the two from the toyline. Tachylyte is a form of basaltic volcanic glass. Most of the rock puns in the comments are fairly explanatory: tuff is rock formed from volcanic ash, while gneiss is a form of metamorphic rock.
January 6: Now for "Of Rocks and RoGuns Part 2". The Rock Pot was one of two vehicles in the Rock Lords, Boulder's personal vehicle which had wheels connected to a "conveyor belt" that picked up Rock Lords and Narlies, and had a seat for a Rock Lord and a Narlie perch. It showed up briefly in the movie. The specs on its package stated its speed was 150 miles per hour. The flashback Boulder has probably would have actually happened in the episode, hence it being specifically called out as such. Squirt is accidentally referred to as Pistol several times in this post. The Rock Lords origin as having once been organic beings who were fused with rock to prevent radiation from a star having gone nova from killing them was told in the movie, and is expanded upon here. The term "Ro-Being" to GoBeing, the name for GoBotron's indigenous inhabitants pre-GoBot-ization. This "AI" that would reactivate Clastixandria is obviously Nuggit, the heroic robotic Rock Lord who turns into a "nugget" of gold. The Tower Tumbler is accidentally referred to as the Tumbler Tower several times. Here, Flamestone and Sunstone get name-checked for the first time.
Saberstone and Spearhead were series 3 Rock Lords, who had no information on their packaging on them, and saw very limited release. Saberstone was sort of a muted pink, tentacled Rock Lord with a flat, oval shaped head, and apparently was established to be female by some piece of fiction, although I have no idea from where; it's claimed on the SuperToyArchive website, at least. Spearhead, meanwhile, was a blue Rock Lord with a toothy mouth and a visor. Narlibaboons and Narligators are equivalent to baboons and alligators. Tombstone was an evil, vaguely serpentine Rock Lord who turned into a piece of quartz.
January 7: Today's episode is "In Zod We Trust", which has its name derived from the United States of America's official motto, "In God We Trust", combined with the reptilian Renegade starring in the episode. Cape Canaveral is where the Kennedy Space Center, one of NASA's launch sites, is located. As revealed in a comment on the post, the movie Apollo and Matt went to see was the 1995 docudrama film Apollo 13. As previously mentioned, General Newcastle is a high-ranking member of UNECOM.
Zod's super-intelligent British accent might be a reference to Shattered Glass Grimlock, who gained the same accent after granted true life, but it might just also be a silly cartoon-style thing. The Guardian's fleet was heavily damaged during Cy-Kill's return in "Opportunity Knocks Part 2". The Procyon Systems is orbited around Procyon, one of the stars in the Canis Major constellation. Melville is Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick; the phrase Zod quotes is probably "from hell's heart I stab at thee" or something like that. Leader-1's force field making him "large" enough to not get sucked out sounds like another Hanna-Barbera-style quirk.
At the end of day, a new banner was set up: rendering the title Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric in the style of the old GoBots franchise logo, with "Trans" and "Formers" taking the place of "Go" and "Bots", and "Renegade Rhetoric" taking the place of "Might Robots, Might Vehicles".
January 8: The Victory manga depicted Deathsaurus as having a soft spot for human children, and even adopted a son, Solon Kitakaze. Today's episode is "Babysitting". The Snake Nebula is located in the Ophiuchus constellation. Mal'Filius and his parent don't appear to be references to anything in particular, though the former's name is derived from "filius," the Latin word for "son." Not too much to go on with this episode. Cop-Tur's "catchphrase" of saying "sorr-eeee" started with the episode "Renegade Alliance. The bit about Turbo being "translucent" in Cy-Kill's minds eye is to represent how the episode would likely look animated. Another end of the episode laugh as Turbo accidentally wastes their wish.
January 11: Today's episode "The Guardian Smashers". The titular human bad guys are lead by Trident, a cyborg mercenary seen in "Trident's Triple Threat". Professor Frost and his weather-altering Climatizer were seen in "Cold Spell". The crime boss Mr. Murchison was seen in "Crime Wave". UNECOM archaeologist and secret Renegade spy Doctor Cunningham is from "In Search of Ancient GoBonauts". Traitorous UNECOM Major Benedict was seen in "The Seer". Dr. Helstrom and his psychic amplifier was seen in "Renegade Carnival". The Horn of Gabriel refers to the traditional Christian belief that the archangel Gabriel will blow a trumpet to announce the start of Judgement Day, though it technically does not specify him doing this anywhere in the Bible. Its ability to blow down walls specifically calls to the legendary Battle of Jericho, where the Israelites blew their trumpets seven times on the seventh day to knock down the walls of the city. Frost's inventions (the Lightning Suit, the Volcano Spear cybernetic arm, and the tornadopacks) are all new inventions based on the theme of "weather."
The Guardian Auxiliary League is a similar concept to DC Comics' Legion of Substitute Heroes, or Transformers own equivalent to the concept, with the Substitute Autobots from Animated. Their membership includes: super-intelligent teenager girl Buddy from "Whiz Kid"; racers Don and Greg who helped Turbo out in "Speed Is of the Essence"; psychic human Mira Shaw from "Renegade Carnival"; expert in Atlantean history Professor Janus, who used the Atlantean Amulet of Power in "Terror in Atlantis"; and Doctor Aeolis, who created the human-compressing device known as the Bionic Condenser in "Clutch of Doom".
January 12: The Challenge of the GoBots cartoon was notable for its multiple female GoBot characters on both sides, as opposed to Sunbow's The Transformers cartoon, which only had a few cartoon-only female Transformers, all of which were on the Autobot side. Today's episode is "Ladies Night", starring some of the female characters from the show. Amazonia IV is named after the Amazons, the warrior women living in Asia Minor from Greek myth. Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt. Valkyries are female figures from Norse mythology, who choose those who live and those who die in battle; a metal helmet with wings is often seen in portrayals of the figures in modern pop culture. Boudica was a Celtic queen who led an uprising against the Roman Empire occupying Britain in the first century A.D. Some standard tests of honor, speed, courage, and so forth here, with a metaphorical prize at the end.
January 13: You all know what mummies, vampires, and werewolves are. Today's episode is "A Wolf in GoBot's Clothing"; the title is derived from the phrase "a wolf in sheep's clothing," which originates in a sermon by Jesus in the Book of Matthew, in the King James version of the Bible. GoBotron's Inner Sphere is the original planet around which the modern GoBotron was built; its inhabitants and their quirks were seen in episodes like "Lost on GoBotron" and "The GoBots That Time Forgot". Moto-wolfs are apparently alien robotic wolves. A standard sort of "character gets called away during attacks and so the others suspect them" kind of plot here. I don't know if the Werewolf Eclipse comic is a reference to anything, but it doesn't appear to be a real one. The Guardian Intelligence Institute appears to be a new invention here. Another end of the episode laugh!
January 14: Today's episode is "Mumbo Jumbo", after the two titular characters; I'll come back to them in a bit. Cy-Kill notes some encounters from season 1; the precognitive blind child is Sean Roberts from "The Seer"; the magical staff that disabled Zod belong to Alaric, as seen in "The Gift"; and the man who is given magical powers by the statues of his ancestors is Tinotchka from "The Last Magic Man". The planet Arcanus IX obviously takes its name from the word "arcane". Mumbo and Jumbo, the evil pair of magicians, take their name from the phrase "mumbo jumbo," describing objects or words with superstitious backgrounds or thought of as nonsensical, believed to be derived from the Mandinka word "Maamajomboo," referring to a masked male dancer that takes part in religious ceremonies. The wizard brother-and-sister team of Hocus and Pocus take their names from the phrase "hocus pocus," a phrase used by magicians which has uncertain origins, with multiple possible origins in both the English and Latin languages, among others. In European folklore, iron is often considered a ward against magic, and is toxic to fairies and the like. Attached to comments on the posts are images of Leader-1 as a jester and Nick as a stable boy, drawn by Christopher Colgin.
January 15: Today's episode is "The Scootonium Scenario", which tells how Cy-Kill ended up in Axiom Nexus for the first run of Renegade: Rhetoric. Larissa is the fifth-closest inner moon of Neptune, named after a nymph and lover of the god Poseidon from Greek mythology (Neptune being Poseidon's Roman name). In our world, atomic element 199 (known there as Scootonium) is still a hypothetical element. Some physics breaking characteristics are associated, like having a boiling point below its freezing point. The Quantum Tunneling Armband and Quantum Tunneling Shield are named for quantum tunneling, a real-life concept in quantum mechanics. I'll admit I have no idea how the real-life thing works, but I get the feeling it probably doesn't work the way it shows here, which uses it for a bit of Hanna-Barbera pseudo-science. Kapteyn's Star is a part of the constellation Pictor, named after 19th-century Dutch astronomer Jacobus Kapteyn. I imagine the bit at the end where Cy-Kill ends up in Axiom Nexus wouldn't have happened in the episode itself. In any case, a panel from the 2008 TransTech comic, "Transcendent: Part 1", is used to represent the processing station. The panel (pencils and inks by Alex Milne, colors by Josh Perez, and letters by Jesse Wittenrich) has quite a few cameos, all listed on the TFWiki page for it; most importantly, however, it features a cameo of Cy-Kill, whose retconned to be the Renegade Rhetoric Cy-Kill here. It's never been said how much time passed in-between the "Transcendent" storyline and the contemporary TransTech fiction Renegade Rhetoric ran alongside with, but Cy-Kill indicated in the past that he stayed there at least a few months, if not years.
January 18: Another start of a two-parter today, with "Once Braxis Twice Shy Part 1" The title is derived from the phrase "once bitten, twice shy," which is first recorded in the 1894 book Folk Phrases of Four Counties by G.G. Northall. Braxis was last seen in the "episode" "Shock and Awe". Two of the Wendy's GoBots toys, Guide Star and Sky Fly, make their appearances before their "debut" in "Opportunity Knocks Part 2", as a homage to the continuity problems later Challenge of the GoBots episodes faced. The UNECOM Decryption Key and Destabilizer Cannon are new ideas here. Rio de Janeiro is a city in Brazil. Dactyl has apparently fallen under Cy-Kill's command since being abandoned by the Master Renegade in "Graduation Day". Heat Seeker makes his first apperance in Renegade Rhetoric here; he was a series 3 GoBot with an F-16 Falcon alternate mode.
January 19: Today is "Once Braxis Twice Shy Part 2". Scooter not having blasters and using holograms instead was a long established part of the cartoon. Pumper makes his first chronological appearance in the cartoon with this post. The Descrambler Circuit is another new idea. "A leopard can't change his spots" is a phrase from the King James version of the Bible.
January 20: To tie in with today's post, the header is changed to a screencap of Stonehead (more on that later) from GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. Today's episode is "Rock and Roll", from the music genre of the same name. High Rollahz were a band mention in the 2003 ibooks novel, Transformers: Hardwired. Band leader Ned Dilettante is an all-new character here. Crackpot was a series 2 Rock Lord, whose toy bio claimed he turned into azurite, a deep-blue copper mineral. The Ingot Ampitheater is named after an ingot, a relatively-pure piece of mineral (often metal). Stonehead was the fortress of Magmar seen in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords, and a playset was designed for the toyline, although it ended up cancelled. Stoneheart was a series 2 Rock Lord who turned into a piece of slate. Stone Hook and Rock Shot were series 1 Shock Rocks, Rock Lords with action features. Stone Hook had a retractable grappling hook, while Rock Shot had a mace one of his arms could throw. The Stone Wing was the other vehicle from the Rock Lords toyline, a buggy with an aerial alternate configuration, and a battering ram (as mentioned here). Stone Hook is revealed here to turn into a piece of obsidian, a type of igneous rock. Narlihogs were Narlie pigs, from series 1 of the Narlies. The Foidolite Forest is named for foidolite, a type of igneous rock. Terra-Roc was the other Rockasaurus from the toyline, a Pterosaur who turned into a green boulder. Basanite is another type of igneous rock. Narlilizards are lizards from the first series of Narlies, and narlirhinos are rhinoceroses from the second series. Stone Hook's "Powered Hook" takes its name from the description of his feature on the Shock Rock card backs. Attached to a comment on the post is an image of Ned Dilettante by Christopher Colgin.
January 21: Today's episode is "Double Dribble", taken from an illegal move in basketball, which is the overall theme of the episode. Fan Vivian Grannell helped suggest the premise for this episode. Treds was a Series 3 GoBot with a M-1 Abrams tank mode.
This takes a bit of explanation. The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They had a Hanna-Barbera cartoon based off of them called (obviously enough) Harlem Globetrotters, and they even appeared in several episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Being made by Hanna-Barbera, the crossover makes sense here. Number #22 is Freddie "Curly" Neal, whose cartoon counterpart was voiced by Stu Gilliam. Naismith radiation is named for Canadian-American physical educator James Naismith, who wrote the original basketball rule book. Scooter does the "little guy proves himself in the basketball game" trope. Attached to a comment on the post is Turbo in his basketball jersey, drawn by Christopher Colgin.
January 25:
Post 1: As Renegade Rhetoric approaches its end, we start getting multiple episodes per day, now. Back during the original run, Cy-Kill expressed some worry that Monsterous would fall under the Monster GoBots influence, but fortunately for him, that hasn't happened. I feel like South Claw and Stinger is a wrestling pun, although I'm not sure.
Today's first episode is "One Born Every Minute"; the title is derived from the phrase "there's a sucker born every minute", attributed to 19th century American spokesman P.T. Barnum. Doctor Blanco doesn't appear to be a reference to anything or anything one; his surname is Spanish for "white". It's made quite clear in this "episode" that any personality that Puzzler's components had back during their original TransTech lives is buried here, like the Vehicon Generals in Beast Machines. The transmutation ring, as mentioned, is based on the alchemists quest to turn other elements into gold. Texas A&M University is a public research college in College Station, Texas. The Optical Waveform Field Inverter is a new thing here. The Power Marchers make another appearance, this episode. Another end of the episode laugh!
Post 2: The second episode is "The Mole Men of Prototheria", featuring the classic trope of an underground civilization of humans cut off from the world. ZĂĽrich is the largest city in Switzerland, while the Alps are a mountain range that pass through much of Europe, with a large section of it in Switzerland. Moles, specifically, are mammals that live underground, digging through the soil, though the description here sounds closer to naked mole rats. The underground city, Prototheria, takes its name from the subclass of mammals that monotremes (the egg-laying mammals, including the platypus and the echidna) belong to. "Take me to your leader" is a cliche phrase used in science-fiction literature, believed to originate from a 1953 cartoon by Alex Graham in The New Yorker magazine. King Talpidae takes his name from Talpidae, the family to which moles belong. King Talpidae's "fight to the death" doesn't actually end in death, as the cartoon would never be allowed to show that on television. Lady Scaptonyx takes her name from the genus of the long-tailed mole, Scaptonyx fusicaudus. The term "Monopole Mines" is a term that comes from American software developer Eric S. Raymond's essay on science fiction and its shared jargon, "SF Words and Prototype Worlds". A bit more than sometimes, I'd say, Turbo.
January 26:
Post 1: The first episode today is "Trouble at 20,000 Light Years". The name of the episode, and its general plot, is inspired by the 1963 The Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", in which a passenger on an airplane notices a gremlin on the outside of the plane, which no one else can see. Gremlins are small, mischievous creatures, popularized in World War II by RAF pilots as a folkloric "explanation" for equipment malfunctions, and by Roald Dahl in his children's novel The Gremlins. "Not the most luminous of bulbs" is a fancy way of saying "not the brightest light bulb". Photonic crystals are a real-world concept; materials using the name showed up in IDW Publishing's Transformers comics, though there it was the crystal that was inside the Matrix of Leadership. Roto-imps are an obvious gremlin pastiche. The scene with Scooter and Leader-1 going into an abandoned spaceship and accidentally pick up a murderous monster seems very, very loosely inspired by the 1979 film Alien. Gobo's name is obviously derived from GoBot. Gobo's ability to duplicate is inspired by the Gremlins seen in the 1984 horror comedy Gremlins, where exposure to water caused them to multiply. Mega Gobo just straight up dies, holy crap.
Post 2: The second episode today is "Cy-Kill's Ninjas", inspired by the ninja craze of 1980's American media; the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon had a similar episode with "Enter the Nightbird". Stallion and Stinger tended to work together in the cartoon. The reciprocating positronic jammer is another vaguely "science-y" sounding machine created here, in the vein of the original cartoon. Mount Hotaka is a real mountain in Japan. The Ashi Dojo is a new creation; apparently, "ashi" means "legs" or "foot" in Japanese, so it might be a reference to the Foot Clan from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A dojo, meanwhile, is a place for meditation, traditionally seen in the martial arts. The sensei has the kind of "mystical" abilities you'd see ninjas use in various pieces of fiction; Snake-Eyes' abilities in the Marvel G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic is a good example. Seiza is the Japanese word for the traditional Japanese way of sitting. A gi is a karategi, the formal Japanese name for the traditional outfit used in Karate. Taro, the sensei's son, has a standard common Japanese name, which means a number of things depending on the context, such as "heroic, "masculine", and other terms. Ninjitsu is the strategy and tactics practiced by ninjas. Silicon Valley is a region in California where the majority of the world's leading companies in technological innovation are located. The reciprocating positronic jammer erasing the GoBots ninja training despite them having organic brains seems like the kind of mistake the cartoon would make. Unless I'm missing something, "after rains fall, the Earth is harder than before" is just a generic, "wise" sounding made-up proverb, not a reference to anything.
January 27:
Post 1: Cy-Kill's former friendship with Leader-1 was the subject of the episode ""Et Tu. Cy-Kill"". The first episode of today is "The Arithmetic of Memory", which takes its title from a line in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. Another stock plot episode with "amnesiac character tricked by the bad guys". Amanda is just a random side character. Only the three Secret Riders show up in this episode, their "fourth" member Throttle (a Super GoBot added to the group by "Quest for New Earth") not present. Crasher was revealed to have a crush on Leader-1 after being mind-probed by the Guardians in "Conquest of Earth". GoBotolis and the Brainstormer show up again. A white flag has been used throughout history by those surrendering to their opponents, mentioned earliest in accounts from the first century A.D. from the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire. Zeemon would be a martyr, as he's the head of the civilian GoBots.
Post 2: The second episode of today is "Riders and Rebels" The Secret Riders became full-fledged Guardians in "Guardian Academy", while the Robo Rebels graduated in "Graduation Day". Tri-Trak has come a long way from the hot-headed young Guardian he was shown to be in "Guardian Academy". The Scientific Moon of GoBotron appears to be new, though it might be related to the Computer Moon seen in the episode "The Gift". The Macroscopic Continuum Distorter is another new piece of technology; Professor Von Joy was the Guardians' lead scientist. Souper Couper and Raizor were shown to be jerks in the "Robo Rebels Saga", while Tail Pipe was shown to be the most level headed of the Robo Rebels, and Bent Wing was shown to be hot-headed. Leader-1's reaction to the two groups flying off is pretty funny.
January 28:
Post 1: The first episode today is "Bears and Bulls". It takes its title from the ideas of "bull" and "bear markets", meaning upward and downward market trends, respectively. The terms were first used by 18th century English writer Thomas Mortimer in his book, Every Man his own Broker. Like Guide Star and Sky Fly in "Once Braxis Twice Shy Part 1", Beamer appears as a full-fledged Guardian here, despite being described as a new graduate of the Guardian Academy in "Opportunity Knocks Part 2", homaging the continuity errors that affected many characters' debuts in the last dozen or so episodes of the cartoon. Drake J. Hinkleford IV is your standard evil business man; I don't think he's a reference to anything in particular, though given his first two initials, his occupation, and some of his speech patterns, he might be a slight pastiche of American businessmen and 45th United States President, Donald Trump. The New York Stock Exchange is located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan. I can't tell if RAL is a reference to anything, or for what it might actually stand for, but it's pretty illegal. The S&P 500 is a stock market index, ranking the 500 largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. General Thurston is, again, a new character. Area 51 is a highly-classified United States Air Force base in Nevada, often connected to UFO conspiracy theories. The Earth Defense Command is a version of the organization seen in the third season of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, though there, they were allied with the Autobots and actually had Earth's best interests in mind. The titular bear and bull are a lot more literal than first implied. "Philistine" is an insult used against those perceived to lack an appreciation of culture, derived from the name of a group of people who lived in the south coast of Canaan, known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites. Leader-1 straight up just leaves Hinkleford to die; this surprising callous nature of his was seen several times in the cartoon, such as in the episode "Sentinel", where Leader-1 hopes that the titular robot can go find some other planet to "purify".
Post 2: The second episode is "Scylla and Charybdis"; Charybdis labs and the Scylla-Waves take their names from the sea monsters from Greek mythology. The blue what Leviathan takes his name from a massive sea serpent reference several times in the Tanakh and the Bible, and would later be used as a word to describe whales. Whales and dolphins, of course, are noted for their high intelligence among non-human animals. The oceans join the United Nations in the end. Cy-Kill wouldn't be the worse person to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
January 29:
Post 1: The first episode for today is "On the Rocks"; the title is derived from the term "on the rocks," meaning a relationship in a bad state, derived from a nautical term that means when a ship is stuck on rocks, damaging the hull. It also is a phrase in bartending, meaning to have a drink with ice cubes. This, chronologically, is the first appearance of the Rock Lords in the cartoon, proper, after their debut in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. Sedimentary rocks are one of the three types of rocks, formed by the accumulation of smaller particles over time. Pulver-Eyes was one of the Series 2 Rock Lords; his toy packaging claimed her turned into a piece of dolomite, a type of sedimentary rock. Rock Roller makes his first appearance in the cartoon here; he was one of the Series 1 Shock Rocks, who had a pull-back motor gimmick in his blue rock mode. Narliphants were in series 1 of the Narlies, an elephant version; Pulver-Eyes had one as a pet, as seen in the film. Bug Bite makes his first appearance as a Renegade proper, after his appearance in "The GoBots That Time Forgot". Chronologically, the Master Renegade was last seen during the "Robo Rebels Saga", while Dr. Braxis was last seen in "Braxis Gone Bonkers". The GoBotron Fortress was a cancelled playset from the toyline, representing a Guardian base. I feel like Cy-Kill referring to Leader-1 as a "senile old fool" was meant for Zeemon instead. Attached to a comment on the post is an image of the GoBotron Fortress by Christopher Colgin; the design is referenced from the front view of the Fortress, seen only in a few catalogs. Several Rumble units are also there, patrolling the area.
Post 2: Another two episodes today as part of a two-parter, starting with "Renegade Victory Part 1". The planet upon with the Time Portal is located is Saeculum Gamma, which takes its name from the term "saeculum", a term used by the Etruscans and the Romans as the length of time between an event and the death of the final person who was around for said event. The Cataclysm that forced the GoBeings to become GoBots was referred to in "The GoBotron Saga". Leader-1's pre-GoBot name is Luther Unum; his last name is derived from "unus", the Latin word for one. Luther works as an archivist; Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots from Transformers, was seen as an archivist prior to recieving the Matrix in Dreamwave Productions' The War Within mini-series and most prominently in the various pieces of media in the "Aligned" continuity, including the novel Transformers: Exodus and the Transformers: Prime cartoon. In this alternate timeline, Zero, the traitorous Renegade who split away from Cy-Kill's faction in "The Third Column", is the Renegade Viceroy of Earth, while Dr. Braxis serves as America's president. Major Mo and Matt, meanwhile, have formed an underground Guardian resistance cell. The idea of a group of individuals being protected from changes in the timeline due to some field likely stems from similar ideas seen in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Voyager. Guide Star appears to have become a full fledged Guardian earlier in this timeline, as "Opportunity Knocks Part 2" indicated he had only recently graduated from Guardian Academy before Cy-Kill's return from Axiom Nexus. Decker Decker, meanwhile, only became a Renegade in the modern day after a period of absence from GoBotron, as seen in "Brother's Keeper". Nothing too notable in the comments, just talk of Cy-Kill's throne room.
Post 3: The third post is "Renegade Victory Part 2". Turbo utters his catchphrase "tiiiimee to go!" for the first time in Renegade Rhetoric; a weird quip first used in "Invasion from the 21st Level, Part I", derived from his matter-of-fact statement upon leaving GoBotron to intercept the Renegades in "Battle for GoBotron". The Museum of Guardian Failures is new, obviously. The stolen Command Center is accidentally referred to as a Thruster once or twice. Pincher is still a member of the Renegades in the altered timeline; he was created from an unfortunate GoBot as an ambassador to the Monster GoBots Vamp and Scorp, as seen in "Flight to Earth". Major Mo dies, though his main universe counterpart will be fine, of course. The GoBots voices all had mechanical modulation added to the actors' delivery, separate from the human characters standard voices. Cy-Kill justifies how Luther wouldn't remember Cy-Kill in the comments, despite the two being depicted as friends in ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"".
February 1:
Post 1: The first episode today is "Human Resources", derived from a term meaning the people who make up a workforce. The Last Engineer settled with some humans on New Earth in the Orion 6 system in the episode "Quest for New Earth". The episode today is a "our super powered characters become mere humans", a plot that The Transformers cartoon also did with "Only Human". Lieutenant Kelly Jeffries appeared in "Quest for New Earth", where she and the Last Engineer expressed romantic interest in one another; they're now married and expecting a son. Chronologically, the last appearance of the Master Renegade was in "Trash and Treachery". The Master Renegade shooting right into the "camera" is how the first commercial break would happen if this were a real episode. The polymorphic inducer and polymorphic amplifier are more new pieces of technology. The Last Engineer has been turned into a cyborg parrot. This is the final appearance, chronologically, of the Master Renegade in the series. Creepy and Bladez were last seen accompanying the Master Renegade in "Coup de Grunge". In the comments, Cy-Kill provides a picture of the humanized GoBots, drawn and colored by Liam Shalloo; from left to right is Turbo, Leader-1, Scooter, Cop-Tur, Cy-Kill, and Crasher.
Post 2: The second episode today is "All Tomorrow's Utopias", named after the song "All Tomorrow's Parties" by The Velvet Underground. The Maximals and Predacons were the descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons in Beast Wars: Transformers. Far-flung future plot, you know the drill. The League of Worlds is presumably named for the League of Nations, the failed precursor to the United Nations. President Jake Hunter is the descendant of Guardian ally Matt Hunter. GoBotron has been undergoing rebuilding for quite some time, as seen in "Mission: GoBotron" and GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. The present-day Astro Beam is only able to transport someone for 48 hours, before returning them to their original location, as first established in "Steamer's Defection". Chronologically, the present-day Weird Wing will not join up with the Renegades until "Opportunity Knocks Part 2" when he returns with Cy-Kill and the other new Renegade recruits.
February 2:
Post 1: Braxis was arrested at the end of "Once Braxis Twice Shy Part 2". Today's episode is "Braxis' Big Score", presumably named for the 1972 action-crime film, Shaft's Big Score! Brasnya and its capital of Zyargy was seen in IDW Publishing's comic mini-series, The Transformers: Escalation, a former Soviet Union country in Eastern Europe that had tensions with modern Russia. Field Marshall Vlasenko and Minister Turov are new characters; Cy-Kill notes that they talk in what sounds like "fake Russian" and "vaguely Russian accents", as Hanna-Barbera would have likely done. Doctor Braxis was previously imprisoned in Tri-State Prison in "Nova Beam". A Mil Mi-24 is a Russian helicopter gunship; Night Fright/Blades turns into one. Braxis' first name was given as Zebediah in "Braxis Gone Bonkers". I believe this is the first time Braxis' nationality is established as Canadian. The T-10 tank was a Soviet tank produced during the Cold War.
Post 2: The second episode is "Opportunity Knocks Part 1", which covers the first half of the two-parter that started off the second round of Renegade Rhetoric. Cy-Kill was sent to Axiom Nexus in "The Scootonium Scenario". Part of the episode is Cy-Kill recruiting Renegades from amongst the Cybertronians in Axiom Nexus (though in the real "episode", they wouldn't have been specified as such); those events were already covered in the original run of Renegade Rhetoric, so they aren't repeated here, aside from Cy-Kill indicating when certain scenes, like his fight with Fright Face, would line up with the other scenes of the episode. Gong was apparently recruited by Fitor to go rescue Cy-Kill. The final paragraph all describes events that would have happened in "Opportunity Knocks Part 2". As a reminder, Gong was one of two Tonka-made GoBot watches in the toyline; the other was the Guardian Tic Toc. He was said to be a trickster in the original run of Ask Vector Prime; it also established that Vec-Tor is the name of the Guardian version of Vector Prime. An alternate version of the GoBots were noted to have technology with very different principles by the TransTech, as seen in "Withered Hope", which has allowed them to pierce the Shroud relatively easily. Exor and the Insectagons (as they were named on the model sheets; they were just called Insectoids in the show) appeared in the two-parter, "Invasion from the 21st Level". We get an exact time for how long passed in Cy-Kill's home universe while he was in Axiom Nexus; there was a period of almost 8 years between his arrival in "Transcendent: Part 1" and his return home at the end of the first run.
Vector Prime chimes in about Gong's "invasion", noting that he and Unicron's servant, Sideways (as properly introduced in Transformers: Armada) once created a combined Transformers/GoBots universe. The Omega Lock was introduced in Transformers: Cybertron as an artifact that could bring Primus back online, though its depiction here as the core of Cybertron/GoBotron is a bit more in-line with its depiction in Transformers: Prime. Back in Ask Sideways, Sideways claimed he caused the Cataclysm affecting the GoBot universe seen in "Withered Hope" by messing up that GoBotron's Omega Lock. The Iocus cluster is the universal cluster name the TransTech give to universe where various side-merchandise toylines and other realities of unclear delineation are placed, including those that have elements of multiple franchises, as established in The Complete AllSpark Almanac. "Cluster frag" is obviously derived from "clusterfuck", supposedly coined by 1960s American hippie poet, Ed Sanders. Vector Prime's student, Blueshift, takes his name from Velocitronian theoretical scientist Blueshift, seen in the Transformers: Exiles novel. His "paper" will be seen over on Ask Vector Prime proper.
February 3:
Post 1: Our first episode today is "Chains of Doom". In the GoBots toyline, several toys were released in alternate color schemes, which this episode gives a backstory for. Quadwal is the universal cluster name for the "real world", as given in The AllSpark Almanac. Cy-Kill had been tracking down Creepy and Bladez since the Master Renegade's capture in "Human Resources". Creepy's ship, the Dromon, is presumably the one that showed up in "Quest for New Earth"; it takes its name from a type of Byzantine warship. Jackanapes is an insulting word used for someone seen as selfish; it's derived from the nickname of William de la Pole, the 1st Duke of Suffolk. The Overseers use several Egyptian archetypes, such as their ship being pyramidal in form. Leader-1's toy was redecoed in blue for series 2 of the toyline. Cy-Kill was redecoed in black and green for series 2 as well. Conversely, Blaster's toy was originally released in orange, and he showed up as such in "The Final Conflict"; for most of the cartoon, he used his series 2 green and yellow coloration. BuggyMan, like Leader-1 and Cy-Kill, was released in orange for series 2. Crasher, like Blaster, was originally released in white and blue colors, her colors in the cartoon being the black her series 2 toy would use. Strangely, Tail Pipe's toy was released in series 3 with both the black and orange coloration and red coloration available at the same time. Creepy's green and purple toy was sold as part of a mail-away promotion in 1985. Space coal is presumably just coal in space. Presumably. The A.N.Ubi.S. is named for Anubis, the Egyptian canine-headed god of death.
Post 2: Our second episode today is "Going Loco". The Robo Rebels visit Earth for the very first time, after graduating Guardian Academy in "Graduation Day". Los JĂłvenes Dude Ranch's name hints at its secret; Los JĂłvenes means "young" in Spanish. Wild Bill Hickok was a 19th-century American Old West folk hero, known for his many exploits, many of which he made up himself. Davy Crockett was a 19th-century American folk hero, referred to as the "King of the Wild Frontier". Calamity Jane was a 19th-century American frontierswoman, associated with Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill. Jesse James was a 19th-century American outlaw. Annie Oakley was a 19th-to-20th century American sharpshooter. And Ponce de LeĂłn was a 16th-century Spanish conquistador, who is often represented in popular culture as having searched for the mythical Fountain of Youth, though there is no evidence this was the case; his first name was Juan. The Fountain of Youth, in real-life, was supposedly in Bimini, in the modern-day Bahamas. Vain Train appears here, "erroneously", as another homage to the erroneous debuts of various characters in the last dozen or so episode of characters in Challenge of the GoBots; he's not supposed to appear until "Brother's Keeper", where he was a former Guardian turned to the side of the Renegades by Cy-Kill's machinations. Chronitons are sub-atomic particles seen in various pieces of Star Trek media. An agglutination is a clumping of particles. Loco was shown to have a dislike for Crasher in "Trident's Triple Threat" and "Renegade Carnival".
February 4:
Post 1:The first episode today is "Go-Girl", written by Chris McFeely. A "superhero" episode. Professor Macdonald Guffin and his new element, MacGuffium, take their names from the concept of a "MacGuffin," a object, device, event, or something other in fiction that is used to drive the plot forward, coined by Angus MacPhail and popularized by Alfred Hitchcock. A.J.'s transformation into Go-Girl is inspired by the origin of the Incredible Hulk, as seen in The Incredible Hulk #1, where Dr. Bruce Banner pushed young teenager Rick Jones out of the way of a gamma bomb. The bit where A.J. saves a child in a burning building seems inspired by a similar scene from Spider-Man 2. Small Foot's role as the "Go-Mobile" is inspired by Batman's Batmobile. Cy-Kill had a lot of seemingly pointless schemes in the cartoon. Excelsior was the catchphrase of Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee. Attached to a comment on the post is A.J. in her Go-Girl outfit, as drawn by Christopher Colgin and (I want to say) colored by Chris McFeely.
Post 2: The second episode is "Space Pirates of the Helix Nebula", featuring pirates, of course. The Helix Nebula is located in the Aquarius constellation. The Jolly Roger is the traditional, black, skull-and-bones flag used by pirate vessels. Greenbeard is named for English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Greenbeard's skull asteroid is neat. The Flying Dragon doesn't appear to be a specific reference. The planet Marasma apparently either comes from an Italian word meaning "confusion", or a Basque word meaning "spider". A schooner is a type of sailing ship. The Ouroboros contingency is named for an ancient Egyptian symbol of a snake eating its own tail. SPF stands for "sun protection factor", the measure of how well sunscreen works against the sun's ultraviolet rays. Attached to a comment is a picture of Cop-Tur in his pirate clothes with a cyborg parrot, drawn by Christopher Colgin. Pirates are often depicted in pop-culture with parrots, while parrots are often named Polly. Polly looks similar to the polymorphed parrot Last Engineer seen in "Human Resources"; the joke here is that the animation team in the universe where the cartoon had a second season reused the same model for both parrots, as Vector Prime chimes in. Vector Prime mentions Polly, the pet parrot of G.I. Joe sailor Shipwreck, as seen in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. In Tom Scioli's Transformers vs. G.I. Joe maxi-series from IDW Publishing, Polly and Shipwreck were implanted with cybernetics after being injured in a Cobra attack.
February 5:
Post 1: We have our two-part "series finale" today, starting with "Combiner Wars Part 1". The episodes take their titles from the Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars toyline, and like the toyline, this episode focuses heavily on Combiners. Nemesis was a cancelled Renegade Power Suit combiner from the GoBots toyline, with the central torso and head formed by a tank. Dr. Go had obtained scans of the Master Renegade-built Power Warrior, Grungy, back in "Coup de Grunge", and has been working on it every since. The stone modes for Spearhead and Saberstone are given for the first time; Spearhead turns into kyanite, a blue mineral found in both metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, while Spearhead turns into garnet, a maroon-red gemstone. The Action Shock Rocks were Dragon Stone, Blast Rock, and Stun Stone, Rock Lords with an autotransformation feature that converted when they were placed on the ground and a button on their underside was depressed; here, they're depicted as robotic sentries. Jaw Bone and his Fossil Lords have begun to ally after the events of "Fossil Fallout". Ferrous rocks contain iron. Dacite is a type of volcanic igneous rock. The Ingot Ampitheater appeared in "Rock and Roll". The lost artificial intelligence created to re-power Clastixandria was mentioned (and heavily implied to be Nuggit) in the two-part "Of Rocks and RoGuns". The Last Engineer was last seen in "Human Resources", having married human Kelly Jeffries; the two were expecting a son they would name Matthew, and it appears he's been born. Magmar's toy weapon was called an "ax-rifle" on the packaging. The episode would end with Cy-Kill laughing. Cy-Kill finally reacts to Vector Prime placing the title cards for episodes in the comments.
Post 2: And now, the series finale, "Combiner Wars Part 2". Brimstone was a series 2 Rock Lord who turned into a piece of...brimstone. The Narlibaboon was a series 2 Narlie patterend off of a baboon. The Blast Rock and Stun Stone Action Shock Rocks were marketed as good, hence them being reprogrammed onto the Guardians' side. The bit where Leader-1 and Boulder discuss whether or not Cy-Kill and Magmar are gone is reminiscent of the season 1 finale of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, "Heavy Metal War", where, after Megatron and the Decepticons are sent down into a stream of lava, Spike Witwicky asks Optimus Prime if the war is truly over, with the episode ending on Megatron emerging from the magma. Vec-Tor shows up in the cartoon for the first time, after having been mentioned many times previously. The Guardian prison planet of Elba was seen in "Escape from Elba", named after the Mediterranean island where French Emperor Napoleon was exiled after he was deposed. Nuggit is confirmed to the the A.I. that would restore the knowledge of the Ro-Beings to the Clastixandria library, as mentioned in "Of Rocks and RoGuns Part 2". The Rock Lords origin was given in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. The Foidolite Forest previously appeared in "Rock and Roll".
April 30: Surprisingly, a new post appeared today, being sent from Wheeljack, signifying a second, different Renegade Rhetoric story. A few days later...
May 2: The avatar is changed from Cy-Kill's to that of the Transformers: Universe Spy Changer Wheeljack, as depicted on the "cover" for the "prose story" "Brain Problem Situation" (with art by Chris Colgin), described back during the first run of Ask Vector Prime as the inverse of the TransTech story "Withered Hope". It featured the Cybertron of Primax 085.0 Eta/Strata 1 (the world of the audiobook series The Transformers: The Battle for Planet Earth) threatened by the planet Moebius from Gargent 087.0 Kappa/Strata 22 (the world of Challenge of the GoBots game released for the Commodore 64, the Amstrad CPC, and the ZX Spectrum) with the destruction of the Transformers' homeworld, and eventually, their universe. To save their world, a group of Autobots reformatted themselves into the Spy Changers to visit this world, falling into conflict with the Guardians and nearly being tricked by the Renegades. Ultimately, the Guardians realized their error and helped the Autobots save their homeworld. Go to the Ask Vector Prime page for more on that. The Spy Changer connection, of course, came from the fact that the Spy Changers were redecoes of toys from the Transformers: Generation 2 Go-Bots subline.
The initial Spy Changer group consisted of the toys released at Family Dollar and Dollar General stores as part of the Transformers: Universe toyline, originally sold at KB Toys under no specific subline. The group consisted of Wheeljack, of course (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Daytonus); Optimus Prime (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Scourge); Hoist (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Brawn); Jazz (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Side Burn); Prowl (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Prowl 2); and Silverstreak (redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Side Swipe). Ask Vector Prime indicated the group was later joined by Trailbreaker. Trailbreaker's Spy Changer form was repurposed from the Transformers: Universe Spy Changer Ironhide toy sold with Spy Changer Ultra Magnus as a Wal-Mart exclusive. Redecoed from Transformers: Robots in Disguise Ironhide (himself redecoed from Transformers: Generation 2 Go-Bot Motormouth), the toy was originally designed to be Trailbreaker, but due to trademark issues surrounding the name, the toy was instead released as Ironhide. They're joined here by Red Alert, repurposed from the Wal-Mart exclusive Transformers: Universe Spy Changer Prowl, sold with Optimus Prime. The toy (also a redeco of Transformers: Robots in Disguise Prowl 2) was colored in homage to the original Generation 1 Red Alert, hence its repurposing as Red Alert. The 22nd Strata is the name the Autobots gave to the world of the GoBots that threatened their Cybertron; it's based on the "levels" system Braxis invented that I've previously talken about. In the fourth audio book of The Battle for Planet Earth, Espionage!!!!, the Decepticons had their base on Earth destroyed, and Ask Vector Prime indicated they were quickly defeated. Megatron has escaped, with his Decepticons referred to as Renegades, the evil faction from GoBots. The Reality Beacon was given by the Autobots to the Guardians in case they ever needed help, as stated in Ask Vector Prime. The Autobots called their home dimension Strata 1. The Reality Bridge was created by the Autobots to let them travel to Strata 22. Taco Bell is a real-world resteraunt chain. The world they've ended up in, as later posts would indicate, is an amalgamation of various Earths throughout the multiverse, with characters from across the franchise inhabiting it. From what little I can piece together, Megatron escaped during his trial, and fled to this unknown world, with Optimus Prime being captured. The Autobots followed, though their equipment has either been damaged or isn't enough, hence the choppiness of the signal. Then they got into an altercation with a police officer, and probably accidentally initiated first contact with this Earth. Optimus Prime being kidnapped by the Decepticons probably owes something to the initial 12 issue arc of the Marvel The Transformers comic, where Optimus Prime's decapitated head was held by Shockwave and his forces.
May 3: Unit:E was a crossover masterminded by Rik Alvarez, which would of featured, aside from Transformers: G.I. Joe, ROM, Micronauts, M.A.S.K., Jem and the Holograms, Action Man, Dungeons & Dragons, Centurions, Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, Candyland, and Inhumanoids, among others. Ultimately, however, the crossover only saw a promotional comic released at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. Project Chimera was an intiative sponsored by the techno-terrorist group MECH to reverse engineer Cybertronian technology in Transformers: Prime, which lead to the creation of Nemesis Prime, as seen in the episode "Nemesis Prime". Our first hints at what's happened to Optimus, there...
May 5: Nightracer was the exclusive toy of BotCon 1995, a Transformers: Generation 2 female Decepticon Go-Bot, who was redecoed from the Autobot Go-Bot High Beam. Crash Test is new; it would be revealed four days later, with the release of the Of Masters and Mayhem prose story "The Truth We Make" that this was the name given by that story's author, Justin Severson, to the Transformers: Generation 2 unreleaed "GTP Racer" Go-Bot, the mold that would later be released as Transformers: Robots in Disguise Daytonus. Sumdac Systems was the leading robotics company of the world in Transformers Animated, its founder Isaac having reverse-engineered his robots from the decapitated head of Megatron. The "Society of Ultimate Villainy" is an alternate version of the group that showed up in the Transformers Animated episode, "SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy". Meltdown (Prometheus Black) was a supervillain that showed up in several episodes of Transformers Animated, a former entrepreneur and biotechnologist who was mutated by Cybertronian fluid, causing him to constantly excrete a high corrosive acid. Wheeljack's freeze ray is presumably a version of his Instant Immobilizer, seen in The Transformers episode "The Immobilizer". Quake-Maker was a supervillain who could generate tectonic activity, seen in issue #1 of Titan Magazines' Transformers Animated Comic, published over in the United Kingdom. Trident was a cyborg with a mechanical arm who allied himself with the Renegades, seen in the Challenge of the GoBots episode "Trident's Triple Threat". Jazz faces off Circuit Breaker, AKA Josie Beller, a supervillain from the original Marvel The Transformers comic, who developed a suit that allowed her to fly and disrupt circuitry after being paralyzed by Shockwave. Marvel Comics ensured they owned the rights to her character by having her appear in Secret Wars II issue #3 before her appearance in the comic, so her name is cut out halfway through by static. Jazz faced off against her a couple times, including in issue #9 of the US comic and in issue #41 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic. Nanosec (Nino Sexton) was a supervillain with a speed-enhancing suit from Transformers Animated, and is the only original member of the Society of Ultimate Villainy to show up here. Sergeant Chaos (Brendon J. Khendsovan) was a part of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon toyline, specifically the smaller "Human Alliance" figures. He was a traitorous member of NEST allied with the Decepticon Icepick. The police chief her is Captain Fanzone, the Detriot chief of police from Transformers Animated. Destronium was a substance introduced in the Transformers Animated episode "Nanosec", where Megatron provided Nanosec with his suit in exchange for the speedster aquiring it.
May 7: Noting truly new today.
May 9: Metro City was the main locale of the 2001 Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon. The International Exhibition Center was seen in the Transformers: Robots in Disguise episode "Mirage's Betrayal". Professor Peter Anthony Morris showed up several times in the Marvel UK The Transformers comic; introduced in issue #45, he created the neural relay link, which allowed him to control the Dinobot Swoop, and later, the human-built robot Centurion. The Brainwave Scanner was a creation of Doctor Venom, from Marvel's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic. Holomatter avatars were hardlight holograms used by the Transformers to blend in with the native species without having to transform, introduced in IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Infiltraion comic mini-series. Siouxsie Sioux is an English musician. Lenny Montana was an American actor and wrestler who played hitman Luca Brasi in the 1972 crime drama, The Godfather. Sector 7 was the secretive United States government agency founded after the discovery of Megatron and the AllSpark in the 2007 live-action Transformers film. Triple-I is the nickname of the Intelligence and Information Institute introduced in issue #14 of the Marvel The Transformers comic, a branch of the United States goverment tasked with dealing with the Transformers. Nick Burns was a cadet at UNECOM and one of the main human allies of the Guardians from Challenge of the GoBots.
May 10: Uh-oh.
May 12: The Decepticon Earth Base is in an abandoned mineshaft; Megatron and his Earthbound Decepticons stayed in a similar location throughout season 2 of Transformers Animated. The Decepticons have been upgraded into their Go-Bot forms from Transformers: Generation 2; they're stated to be an improvement on the Autobot's Spy Changer technology using the Project Chimera technology and Destronium, incorporating the flight capabilities and hand blasters of the actual GoBots that the Spy Changers were created to mimick; hence, they're a "second generation" of Go-Bots. Megatron and Frenzy's Go-Bot toys were redecoed from the Autobot Blowout. Soundwave's was redecoed from the Autobot Gearhead. Rumble and Crash-Test's molds were eventually redecoed into Silverstreak and Wheeljack. Nightracer is the only one whose alt-mode isn't stated, as her mold turns into a concept car, rather than any specific real-life one. Optimus Prime has been reprogrammed by the Brainwave Scanner into the evil Nemesis Prime, repurposed from the Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Scourge toy that his Spy Changer form was redecoed from. It also feels like a reference to the aformentioned orginal 12 issue arc of the Marvel The Transformers comic, where the Autobots believed they had found Prime's head only to find it was a Decepticon created copy that proceeded to use Prime's body to attack them.
May 16: "It never rains but it pours" is a proverb that's been around since at least the early 18th century. Crown City was the main locale on Earth for the 2015 Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon. The salvage yard Wheeljack mentions is the Vintage Salvage Depot for the Discriminating Nostalgist owned by Denny Clay, where the Autobots would hide out in Transformers: Robots in Disguise; "Rusty" is Russel Clay, Denny's son.
May 19: Like Rhinox when he was briefly reprogrammed to be a Predacon in the Beast Wars: Transformers episode "Dark Designs", Nemesis Prime has backfired on Megatron, with the Decepticon forces now split.
July 14: The posts for Wheeljack were meant to continue on for a while longer, but with the Collectors' Club discontinuing the Facebook pages as it was winding down, it looked like there would be no closure. Thankfully, this final post was allowed, combining several and finishing off the story.
The D-5 supertrain is combined from several train-based ideas and concepts from throughout the franchise. The D-5 bit comes from "Grandpa", the nickname for a D-51 Stanwich Steamer train seen in the 2001 Transformers: Robots in Disguise episode "Secret Weapon: D-5". The Fully Automated Rapid Transit System was a light-rail-transport line in Detroit first seen in "Transform and Roll Out", the first episode of Transformers Animated. Jaspar, Nevada was the main locale on Earth for where much of Transformers: Prime took place. The "local nurse" is June Darby, mother of Jack Darby and ally of the Autobots from Transformers: Prime. Ding Dong and Chi Chi were the cats of Miko Nakadai, mentioned in the Transformers: Prime episode "Darkness Rising, Part 4". The D-5 supertrain's design is based on the licensed The Transformers Electric Train and Battle Set. The train had four cars: the locomotive (which had a Search Mode that it turned into by flipping out several panels); a gondola car (which had a flip out Proton Laser Cannon); a box car not mentioned here (which could unfold into a Weapon Center); and a caboose (which transformed into the avian Hawkfighter). The train's "Red Mode" self-destruct is in reference to Sixtrain from Transformers: Operation Combination, who, when his components were re-released in the 2003 The Transformers: Micromaster; came in a variant coloration called "[name] Red Mode", which represented a powered up form of Sixtrain fueled by a fragment of the Matrix of Leadership. Kelly was a young woman who constantly found her self caught up in the battles between the Autobots and Predacons in the 2001 Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon. "The grandpa of all train-based weapon systems" is obviously in reference to the D-5's nickname.
Auckland, Jakarta, and Manila are the capitals of New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, respectively. Wuhan, meanwhile, is the capital city of the Hubei province of China. Arbco was an oil company that served as a front for the terrorist organization, Cobra, in the Marvel G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comics. We'll figure out what the exosuits really are in a second. The electro-disruptors as described here sounds like the Electro-Disruptor Rifle that the original Transformers: Generation 1 incarnation of Smokescreen wields. The People's Liberation Army is the real army of China, though the Paranormal Taskforce unit is obviously fictional. Shaoshao Li was former member of the Earth Defense Command and the Kiss Player partner of Hot Rod from Transformers: Kiss Players. Zilong Qian was a high-ranking member of the China's People's Liberation Army Mecha Force, introduced in issue #50 of IDW Publishing's second volume of The Transformers. The exosuits here are based on the Mechas used by him and other members of the army, reversed engineered from Cybertronian technology, converting from jet to robot. They might also have a connection to the S.N.A.K.E. battlesuits used by Cobra from G.I. Joe, given the Arbco connection. Cancer was a member of the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors from Transformers: Super-God Masterforce; his toy was sold in the west as part of The Transformers toyline as the Decepticon Squeezeplay and his Headmaster partner Lokos. Before joining the Decepticons, he was a orphan who was raised at a martial arts dojo. "Cancer" is just a codename here; his slightly unfortunate name comes from the crab constellation of the Zodiac, as his transtector turned into a monstrous crab.
Megatron manages to escape, setting up further adventures. The "strange, purple and green half-wasp half-motorcycle" is Thrustinator. To explain, he was part of the Transformers Collectors' Club's second Transformers Figure Subscription Service, a redeco of Transformers: Beast Wars II Dirgegun with a new head that represented a fusion of Beast Wars: Transformers Waspinator and Beast Machines: Transformers Thrust, as part of the Transformers: Timelines toyline. His appearance in the TransTech comic, "Timeless", indicated that he was partners to the future TransTech Heinrad, trying to repair the multiverse. It was noted a few months ago in a post on Andromeda's page that he and Heinrad had seemingly disappeared; looks like they're still abel to travel the multiverse. The "two-like minded tyrants" Thrustinator mentions are Cy-Kill and Magmar, who we last saw as having escaped Quartex in "Combiner Wars Part 2". The six sparks that the trio have are the TransTech sparks powering Puzzler; their identification here reveals which one is which, matching up with the Puzzler compoenents' Mighty Skills and the special abilities of their Generation 1 counterparts. Blurr; whose counterpart was the fastest Autobot, is Zig Zag (Super Speed); Scavenger, whose Generation 1 Constructicon counterpart was able to sense various tectonic, magnetic, and other activities with the sensors in his shovel, is Rube (Super Sense); Brawn, whose Minibot counterpart was the strongest of the Autobots on the Ark, is Crossword (Super Strength); Perceptor, whose counterpart was the smartest of the Autobots, is Tic Tac (Super Intelligence); Mirage, whose Autobot counterpart was able to create illusions with his electro-disrupter, is Jig Saw (Super Disguise); Banzaitron, whose Decepticon Action Master counterpart was a martial arts master, is Pocket (Super Karate). These were the six mentioned in the #savethesix campaign over on Rook and Andromeda's pages. Of the six, only Scavenger and Perceptor have appeared previously; Scavenger's body was seen being used by his Beast Wars: Uprising counterpart as one of the minions of Shattered Glass Alpha Trion, while Perceptor was one of Vector Prime's old students during his teaching days. And so, our journey ends...
December 31: ...until this one last post! Cy-Kill regains control of the page, to bid us all farewell. He hints at a further 65 episode "third season" of Challenge of the GoBots/Renegade Rhetoric, with him, Magmar, and Megatron travelling the multiverse, fighting against both the Earth/GoBotron/Quartex alliance and the Spy Changers. 64 episode have already happened, with the finale supposedly taking place the next day; Cy-Kill is as overconfidant as ever. It would have been similar to IDW Publishing's Revolutionaries series, crossing over with a number of franchises.
Cy-Kill's new avatar is a croppoed version of the image used as the banner, drawn and colored by Chris Colgin, commissioned for the final chapter of Spatiotemporal Challengers, "Last Sunset", but for whatever reason, was not included with the PDF. It would later see publication in print in Jim Sorenson's 2019 book, Transformers: A Visual History. You can find Colgin's creative process on the poster here: https://iky92791.tumblr.com/post/155322809360/so-finally-i-get-to-show-these-two-pieces-off
The two pieces are done in homage to two posters for the Japanese The Transformers toyline. To commemorate Optimus Prime and Megatron after their "deaths" in The Transformers: The Movie, Takara reissued their toys in giftsets in 1986, as "Goodbye Convoy" and "Goodbye Megatron" (Convoy being Prime's Japanese name). "Convoy" came packaged with "Ligier" and "Alert" (the Japanese names for Mirage and Red Alert), and Megatron came packaged with Starscream. As previously mentioned, the two banner images here are done after posters included with the giftsets; the Guardian poster is based on the "Cybertron Heroes" poster with Prime (Cybertron was the Japanese name for Autobot), and the Renegade poster is based on "Destron Heroes" with Megatron (Destron was the Japanese name for Decepticon), with obviously things like Leader-1 taking the place of Optimus Prime, Cy-Kill the place of Megatron, Zod the place of Trypticon, and so on. The posters feature nearly every member of the Guardians and Renegades, representing the version of the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon seen in "Withered Hope" and Spatiotemporal Challengers, with the GoBots having adopted Cybertronian forms. Only the four major Rock Lords appear due to space constraits, and a few toys that Colgin didn't know about were left out, include: A-Tak from the HO train set, the roller coaster GoBot from the Mystery Tunnel Roller Coaster set, the four Bubble Blowers, the 3-in-1 Communications System, a little promotional toy that turns into the GoBots logo, the Arco Desk-Bot, and the Convertible 2-in-One Walkie Talkies. Also left out was the Monogram GoBots Turbo Teen model, due to both Hasbro not owning the rights to the character and the oddity of it. It DOES include several GoBots who have had no fiction ever, even in Renegade Rhetoric. Most of them are based more on the toys than the cartoon models. All of the characters who were Transformers in Renegade Rhetoric are presumably full-fledged cyborg GoBots here. These two pieces would later be reprinted in Jim Sorenson's 2019 artbook, Transformers: A Visual History. Colgin provided a list of characters with mold origins corresponded to versions of the posters with numbers, so in the lists order:
"Goodbye Leader-1":
1. The Guardian Command Center is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Sky Lynx's shuttle mode, with his legs out to represent the Command Center's walker mode.
2. Flip Top is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo. Flip Top was previously given this form in the second chapter of Spatiotemporal Challengers, "High Noon".
3. Guide Star's body is based on Transformers: Generations Thrilling 30 Payload, with the toy head of The Transformers Beachcomber.
4. Bent Wing is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Autobot Powerglide.
5. Ace is based on Transformers: Dark of the Moon Powerglide.
6. Bolt is based on Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Highbrow, with the head of Transformers: Armada Oval.
7. Bullseye is based on The Transformers Windsweeper, with the head of Transformers: Generation 2 Hooligan.
8. Sky Fly is based on Transformers: Armada Ramjet.
9. Steamer is based on Kids' Transformers Rescue Hero Go-Bots Randy, with the head of The Transformers toy later given the name Bumper.
10. Blaster is based on Transformers: Armada Wreckage.
11. Baron Von Joy/Professor Von Joy is based on Transformers: Alternators Autobot Camshaft, with his torso modified so his head is formed from the windshield, just like the original Von Joy.
12. Jewel Lord Solitaire is based on Transformers: Armada Thunderwing, with the head of Transformers Animated Red Alert.
13. Bullet is based on Transformers: The Headmasters Shouki.
14. Night Ranger is based on Transformers: Cybertron Lugnutz. A cancelled Target exclusive for the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline named Backtrack was a redeco of Lugnutz, seemingly done in homage to Night Ranger; the deco seen here is similar but different.
15. Heroic Rock Lord Boulder is a modified version of McDonald's exclusive Beast Wars: Transformers Under-3, now turing into a rock rather than a lion head. His head is based on the head of Ratchet seen on the RI-C of issue #2 of IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Infiltration.
16. Heroic Rock Lord Nuggit is based on Japanese Beast Wars: Transformers toy Eggbot, with a head based on Fulcrum from IDW Publishing's The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
17. Good Knight is based on Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Hubcap, with the head of Transformers: Armada Incinerator.
18. Small Foot is in her e-HOBBY-exclusive Collector's Edition "G1 GoBots" body, a redeco of The Transformers Gears.
19. Dive-Dive is based on Transformers: Cybertron Deepdive.
20. Shotgun is based on Transformers: War for Cybertron Shockwave, with the head of Rung from IDW Publishing's The Transformers volume 1 and The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
21. Rifle is based on Transformers: Generations Titans Return Galvatron, with his torso modified so that it has the dome-like "head" of Shockwave's Sentinel drones, as seen in the Sunbow The Transformers episode "The Revenge of Bruticus".
22. Scope is based on the 2008 Transformers: Universe Nightstick toy.
23. Squirt is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Decepticon Shockwave, with the head of Transformers: Armada Stormcloud.
24. Pistol is based on Transformers: Prime Arms Micron O.P.
25. Tic Toc, Gong's Guardian counterpart, is based on the Real Gear Robot Meantime from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline. His pose is based on a promotional photo of the Twelth Doctor from Doctor Who. His timepiece on his chest reads 10:29 1984, in reference to the original air date of Challenge of the GoBots, October 29th 1984.
26. This is Scooter Bot/Ride On Scooter, a 26 inch GoBot who could turn into a ridable "scooter", licensed by Tonka to the Sail Toys company for the GoBots toyline. His form here is based on Transformers: Generations Thrilling 30 Metroplex, with a modified face.
27. Spay-C's appearance here is based more on her Super GoBot toy, rather than the original that served as the basis for her cartoon model. Her body is based on Transformers: Operation Combination Raker, while her head is based on Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Sea Spray.
28. Like Small Foot before her, Path Finder was one of the "G1 GoBots", redecoed from The Transformers Cosmos.
29. Royal-T is based on the Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Firefly/Quickslinger mold, with the head of a Transformers: Prime Vehicon.
30. Treds was another member of the "G1 GoBots", redecoed from The Transformers Warpath.
31. Man-O-War was given this body in Spatiotemporal Challengers, based on a protoype of The Transformers Seaspray seen in an early Takara The Transformers catalog.
32. Beamer is based on The Transformers Windcharger.
33. Dart (portrayed as a Guardian in several episodes of Challenge of the GoBots) is based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Knock Out. Coincidentally, this makes him look similar to Knock Out's redeco, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Reverb.
34. Raizor is based on European-exclusive The Transformers Rotorstorm, with the head of Transformers: Armada Gunbarrel.
35. Road Ranger was the final Guardian member of the "G1 GoBots", redecoed from The Transformers Huffer.
36: Mr. Moto/Motosan is based on Transformers: Armada Sureshock.
37. Defendor is based on Brawl from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie, with his head based on the battle mask of Transformers: Classics Jetfire.
38. Dumper is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Long Haul.
39. Dozer is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Bonecrusher with the head of Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Scrapper.
40. Tri-Trak is based on Transformers: Dark of the Moon Backfire, with the head of Transformers: Cybertron Ransack, modified to have a mouthplate.
41. Jack Attack is based on Transformers: Classics Bumblebee, with the head of Transformers: Armada Iceberg.
42. Rest-Q was given this body in Spatiotemporal Challengers, based on a prototype of The Transformers Hubcap seen in Hasbro's Toy Fair 1986 catalo. This prototype was previously used as a Transformer version of Rest-Q, a member of the Elite Guard from the Transformers: Wings Universe stories.
43. Leader-1 was given this body by "High Noon" as well. He's based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Air Raid, with the head of Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Quickslinger.
44. Twister is based on Transformers: Energon Bulkhead, with the head of Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Onslaught.
45. The Hitch Hiker is based on the European exclusive The Transformers Action Master Elite Omega Spreem.
46. The components of Courageous are based on the Transformers: Operation Combination Sky Sweeper, a jet that had its parts come with each member of the Wing Team, and which served as the combiner kibble for Sixwing.
47. Mach-3 is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Firefly.
48. Wrong Way is based on The Transformers Spinister.
49. The Space Hawk is based on the Transformers: Prime Star Hammer playset.
50. Major Mo is based on the Transformers: Universe Prowl/Silverstreak mold, with his head from the "cover" of "Echoes and Fragments".
51. Super Couper is based on Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Hubcap.
52. The Rumble unit is based on Beast Machines Blastcharge in his "wheeled robot mode", to simulate the Boomer's odd appearance.
53. Tail Pipe is based on The Transformers: Masterpiece Lambor (Sideswipe), with the head of Transformers: Cybertron Red Alert, modified to have a mouthplate.
54. Zeemon is based on Transformers: Generation 2 Firecracker, modified so that his head is formed by his windshield.
55. Another body from "High Noon", Turbo is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Breakdown.
56. Scratch is based on The Transformers Trailbreaker, with the head of Arcee from the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon.
57. Throttle is based on Transformers: Cybertron Offshoot/Transformers: Classics Dirt Rocket, with the head of Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Wrecker Counterpunch, released as part of the fifh Transformers Figure Subscription Service.
58. Hi-Way is based on the Bus Decepticon seen in issues #6 and #13 of IDW Publishing's Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, modified to become Hi-Way's GoBotic form.
59. Another "High Noon" original. Scooter is based on the Legends-class Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Protectobot Groove toy.
60. Sourced from "High Noon" again, Hans-Cuff is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Protectobot Streetwise.
61. Van Guard is based on The Transformers Skids.
62. Spakry is based on The Transformers Runabout with the head of OTFCC 2003 exclusives, Transformers Universe Roulette and Shadow Striker.
63. Street Heat is based on Transformers: Universe Sunstreaker, with the head of The Transformers: Masterpiece Ironhide.
64. This is Trans Am, a GoBot created for Monogram's licensed line of GoBots model kits. He's based on The Transformers Roadhandler, with the head of Transformers: Robots in Disguise Hot Shot. He wasn't give a faction on his original toy, and so is made a Guardian here.
65. Wrecks was a cartoon-only character from the episode "Lost on GoBotron". He's based on Transformers: Armada Scavenger, with the head of BotCon 2013 Transformers: Timelines Strika. He was unaligned in the episode, but ended it by becoming a Guardian ally.
66. The Ridge Runner is based on the Cybertronian alternate mode of Beast Wars: Transformers Spittor, seen in IDW Publishing's Transformers, Beast Wars: The Gathering comic.
67. Heat Seeker is based on The Transformers Dreadwind.
68. Spy-Eye is based on Transformers: Classics Jetfire with the head of The Transformers Whirl.
69. Apollo is based on Transformers: Armada Sky Blast.
70. Pumper is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Protectobot Hot Spot with the head of Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Hook.
71. The last of the ones from "High Noon", Staks is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, with Prime's head flipped in.
72. This is Radio GoBot, a toy Tonka licensed to Playtime Products for the GoBots toyline, which transformed from a Super Go-Bot inspired robot to a car, and housed an AM radio in his head. He's based Transformers: Robots in Disguise Prowl 2, with his head modified to be formed from the windshield. Like Trans Am, he was not given a faction originally.
73. Tork is based on Transformers: Cybertron Dirt Boss, with the head of Transformers: Armada Spiral.
On "Goodbye Cy-Kill":
1. The Thruster is based on the interstellar shuttle that came with The Transformers Skystalker, given the name of the Thunder Arrow by Transformers: Victory.
2. Twin Spin is based on Transformers: Power Core Combiners Searchlight.
3. The Quick-Step is based on the Hero Mashers Transformers Electronic Grimlock toy.
4. Traitor is based on Transformers: Animated Waspinator with the head of The Transformers Ransack.
5. Geeper-Creeper is based on Transformers: Energon Strongarm.
6. Like Courageous, the Grungy components are based on the Sky Sweeper from Transformers: Operation Combination.
7. Bad Boy was another "G1 GoBot", redecoed from The Transformers Powerglide.
8. Bug Bite was the last of the "G1 GoBots", redecoed from The Transformers Bumblebee (with the retooled head from his toy's reissue in The Transformers Collection. Here, however, he's in his Transformers: Timelines BotCon 2007 toy body, redecoed from Transformers: Classics Bumblebee.
9. In-keeping with the "battle suit" theme, the Nemesis is based on the Transformers: Prime Bumblebee Battle Suit playset.
10. Chaos is based on The Transformers Flywheels, with the head of Transformers: Armada Jetstorm.
11. Decker Decker is based on Bendy-Bus Prime, a prop created by Paramount Home Entertainment and Propshop in conjunction with The Sun as a giveaway promoting the home release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
12. Scales is based on the Beast Machines: Transformers Thrust toy, in its "3-Wheel Mode". Thrust's cockpit has been modified so it becomes part of Scales' head, and it's based on the beast mode head of The Transformers Rippersnapper.
13. Slicks is based on Transformers: Generation 2 Double Clutch, with the head of Transformers: Cybertron Hardtop.
14. Pow Wow is based on The Transformers Crankcase, with the head of Transformers: Armada Blurr (with Blurr's little "wings" removed).
15. Psycho is based on Transformers: Generations Titans Return Psycho, with the cockpit modified to become Pyscho's head.
16. The evil Rock Lord Magmar is based on the Protoform Optimus Prime toy from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline, with the head of Impactor as seen in IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers.
17. Stinger is based on The Transformers: Masterpiece Tracks, with the head of The Transformers Searchlight.
18. Destroyer is based on Transformers: Classics Broadside, with the head flipped in and the turret out to emulate Destroyer's orignal design.
19. Fly Trap is based on Transformers: Rescue Bots Salvage.
20. Herr Fiend/Doctor Go is based on Transformers: Generation 2 Blowout, with his head modified to be formed from the windshield, and a monocle added, which Doctor Go had in Challenge of the GoBots. His license plate reads "HERR32-"; "HERR" is in obvious reference to his toy name, Herr Fiend, though I'm not sure what the "32" could be a reference to
21. Fitor is based on Transformers: Classics Ramjet.
22. BuggyMan was given this design by Spatiotemporal Challengers, based on a prototype for The Transformers Beachcomber seen in an early Takara catalog.
23. R-Navi is BuggyMan's pet from Spatiotemporal Challengers. Its name emulates DNAVI from Beast Wars Neo: Transformers. Its design is based on the fused Waspinator/Thrust from the Beast Machines: Transformers finale "Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future".
24. The Convertible Laser Gun was a factionless toy Tonka licensed to Playtime Products for GoBots, turn from robot to a laser gun with a light-up barrel and sounds. He's based on The Transformers: Masterpiece Destron Laserwave (Shockwave) with the head of The Transformers Onslaught.
25. Crasher is based on Transformers: Classics Mirage. Mirage was redecoed as Decepticon Fracture, a Walmart exclusive from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie homaging Crasher, but Crasher's color layout here is different.
26. Cy-Kill is based on Transformers: Reveal the Shield Wreck-Gar, with his head based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Decepticon Dragstrip.
27. Monsterous is based on The Transformers combiner Monstructor's design from IDW Publishing's comics, introduced in The Transformers: Spotlight: Optimus Prime. His head is based on Beast Wars: Transformers Tripredacus, as it was rendered in the artbook Genesis: The Art of Transformers. His components are: Slog as Fright Face; Birdbrain as Heart Attack; Bristleback as Weird Wing; Wildfly as South Claw; Icepick as Fangs; and Scowl as Gore Jaw. This design was seen in the Beast Wars: Uprising story, "Cultural Approrpiration".
28. Sky-Jack is based on European exclusive The Transformers Talon, with his head based on Transformers: Armada Jolt as it was rendered in the PS2 Transformers game.
29. Zero is based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Ransack, with his head based on Ostaros, the original form of Springer from IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers.
30. Breez is based on Transformers: Power Core Combiners Searchlight, with the head of The Transformers Pipes.
31. Puzzler is based overall on the style of combiners from Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars, while his head is based on Transformers: Rescue Bots Chase. Tic Tac is based on Transformers: Reveal the Shield Turbo Tracks, modified to become a torso. Jig Saw is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Decepticon Blackjack. Crossword is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Dead End. Pocket is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Breakdown. Zig Zag is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Protectobot Streetwise. Rube is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Wheeljack.
32. Water Walk is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Autobot Powerglide, with his eyes modified to include Water Walk's "sunglasses".
33. Stallion is based on The Transformers Trip-Up, with the head of McDonald's exclusive Beast Wars: Transformers Manta Ray.
34. Gunnyr is based on Transformers: Armada Jetstorm.
35. The Evil One was an ancient GoBot seen in "In Search of Ancient GoBonauts". He's based on the Fallen's appearance in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; Ask Vector Prime retconned him into being a version of The Fallen.
36. Tank is based on the Beast Machines Tankor toy, with the head of Trailbreaker/Trailcutter from IDW Publishing's The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
37. Destroyer (confusingly sharing his name with the Super GoBot) was a toy licensed by Tonka to Arco, transforming from a robot to a battleship. He's based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Depthcharge.
38. Clutch is based on Dropkick from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline.
39. Cop-Tur is based on Transformers: Energon Bulkhead with the head of Transformers: Universe Jolt.
40. Vain Train is based on Transformers: The Headmasters Yukikaze. Shouki and Yukikaze were brothers, much like Bullet and Vain Train.
41. Crain Brain is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Hook.
42. Screw Head is based on Transformers: Unite Warriors Nosecone, with his head modified to become the drill, with the face of The Transformers Soundwave.
43. Binoculars, or "Binoc" as he's been nicknamed, was another Arco GoBots toy that transformed into working (if somewhat poorly) binoculars. He's based on the Real Gear Robot Longview from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline.
44. Odd Ball is based on Transformers: Rescue Bots High Tide, with the head of Transformers: Armada Thrust. Another design from "Cultural Appropriation".
45. Stretch/Tux is based on his Transformers Animated incarnation, designed by Laurent Libessart and modified by Derrick J. Wyatt for Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II, with the colors changed and Stretch's mustache removed.
46. Spoons is based on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Dirt Boss, with the head of The Transformers Hook (with an added mouthplate). Dirt Boss was redecoed into the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Deadlift toy, which was in homage to Spoons, but again, Spoons' appearance here is quite different.
47. Gong is based on Real Gear Robot Meantime from the 2007 live-action Transformers movie toyline. Gong's display on his chest reads 10:27 1986, as in October 27, 1986, the date the fictitious season 2 of Challenge of the GoBots as represented by Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric, according to Ask Vector Prime. His pose is a pose struck by the Master in the Doctor Who episode, "The Sound of Drums".
48. Re-Volt is based on The Transformers Doubledealer with the head of The Transformers Treadshot.
49. Like Rumble, Blast is based on Beast Machines: Transformers Blastcharge, in his third "wheeled robot" form.
50. Night Fright is based on Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons Tomahawk, with the head of Transformers: Armada Dune Runner.
51. Snoop is based on Transformers: Armada Terradive, with the head of Nautica from IDW Publishing's The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye (minus her attennae).
52. Zod is based on The Transformers Trypticon.
53. Warpath is based on Transformers: Classics Divebomb.
54. The Renegade's capital starship from the cartoon, the Roguestar, is based on the Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters playset, the Sky Claw.
55. Spoiler is based on The Transformers Free Wheeler.
56. Dactyl is based on Transformers: Armada Laserbeak.
57. Loco is based on Transformers: Return of Convoy D-Go. He has the little "D-5147" sticker from his toy on his chest there.
58. Block Head is based on Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Constructicon Mixmaster.
59. All of the Monster GoBots' designs come from "Cultural Appropriation". Bladez is based on Transformers: Cybertron Unicron (with his armspikes modified to be on the sides of his fists, rather than over them), with his head based on the cartoon version of Thrust from Beast Machines: Transformers.
60. Hornet is based on Transformers Animated Slapper, with added wings for his alternate mode.
61. Scorp is based on Transformers: Energon Scorponok, with his head design altered slightly to better resemble Scorp's.
62. Pincher is based on Transformers: Energon Slugslinger, with the head of Beast Wars: Transformers Manterror as it was drawn in IDW Publishing's Transformers, Beast Wars: The Gathering and Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending.
63. Klaws is based on Transformers: Energon Sharkticon, with the head of The Transformers Venom.
64. Vamp is based on Transformers: Cybertron Megatron, with the head of The Transformers Chop Shop.
65. Bugsie is based on Beast Machines: Transformers Scavenger, with the head of Beast Wars: Transformers Retrax.
66. Creepy is based on Transformers: Cybertron Scrapmetal, with the head of Beast Wars: Transformers Tarantulas.