IDW - Go-Bots #2

Story/Art/Letters: Tom Scioli

Edits: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Screw-Head recounts how his former human master was killed in an accident, due to their employers not caring about their safety, which is why he joined the Renegade revolution.

The Renegades roll out to rampage against the humans, whilst two of his troops to dispose of the seemingly dead Leader-1. They throw him into a car compactor, but it turns out that he's still alive, escapes and throws the two Renegades into the compactor instead, killing them.

Fitor causes a blackout in a big city, allowing the Renegades to attack at their leisure. Elsewhere, Scooter vows to continue protecting A.J., as he sees her as his friend, however several Go-bots are rampaging now, so he has to keep avoiding them.

Eventually AJ runs into Matt Hunter and Turbo, who is still loyal to his human too. Matt is willing to escape the city to wait for this to blow over, however he winds up flagging s=down some Hans-Cuff police cars and they start attacking too, eventually chasing them off an incomplete road, falling to their presumed deaths

The quartet soon stop at a liquor store where Matt stocks up, all whilst the Renegades are causing chaos and murdering humans across the city. The military start work on a counter-measure.

Our heroes arrive at a Tonka facility, where Go-bots are made, and hope to find someone who can create a program patch or something to save the day, but the technician simply says that the Go-bots are sentient beings and it was only inevitable for them to revolt one day.

Leader-1 reappears to fight the aerial Renegades who are attacking the Military fighter jets, before heading off on his own again.

The heroes leave the facility and find T. Coriander Banks hanging from a power line, he explains that he had an expert edit the Go-bot's codes to make them more violent for his gladiator matches, but due to the military softening the law of never harming humans for military Go-bots, it caused a mutation in the code, which spread across the species.

Soon, Stretch, Banks' Go-bot appears and attacks Turbo, throwing him down a sewer, and Scooter is captured by the Renegades. Braxis soon arrives with Vamp, and watches the chaos below, gleefully.

Cy-Kill starts torturing Scooter, whilst Turbo gets out of the sewer and challenges Cy-Kill to a battle, resulting in the Renegade's victory. Luckily however, Leader-1 appears, with an army of still loyal Go-bots behind him, willing to protect the Humans from Cy-Kill and his Renegades. The human military start firing on all the Go-bots, as Leader-1 and Cy-Kill start their battle, with both taking massive damage, but with Leader-1 managing to win in the end.

In the aftermath, Leader-1 is conflicted, the Renegades want him to lead them in their revolution to make life better for them, whilst others want him to lead them back to servitude. During this argument, Leader-1 retrieves the apparently dead body of Nick Burns from his cockpit, and cradles his body....

Characters

Loyal Go-bots

Leader-1 - Fighter Jet

Turbo - Race Car

Scooter - Scooter

Spoons - Fork Lift

Mr. Moto - ATV

Blaster - Missile Tank

Night Ranger - Motorcycle

Dive-Dive - Submarine

Slicks - Sports Car

Dumper - Dump Truck

Other Loyal Go-bots

Renegade Go-bots

Cy-Kill - Motorcycle

Crasher - Race Car

Cop-Tur - Helicopter

Fitor - Jet

Screw Head - Drill Tank

Stretch - Limo

Psycho - Space-Car

Vamp - Monster Car

Zero - Propeller Plane

Buggy Man - Dune Buggy

Tank - Tank

Twin Spin - Tandem Rotor Helicopter

Crossword - Sports Car

Pocket - Sports Car Crushed by Leader-1

Rube - Sports Car Crushed by Leader-1

Zig Zag - Sports Car

Bug Bite - VW Beetle

Geeper Creeper - Jeep

Loco - Train

Spoiler - Sports Car

Rest-Q - Ambulance

Two Hans-Cuff - Police Cars Plummet Off Incomplete Road

Other Renegade Go-bots

Human

Matt Hunter

A.J. 

T. Coriander Banks Killed by Stretch

Tonka Technician

Braxis

Nick Burns Dead

Civilians

Military Personnel

Vernon (Flashback Only) Killed in Cave-in

Vernon's Daughter (Mentioned)

Vernon's Bosses (Mentioned)

Other

Zoo Animals

Notes

• So, considering the multiple Hans-Cuff in this story, we can safely assume that (some) Go-bots are mass-produced and that the ones we see here aren't all necessarily the guys we know from the original lines. So this Rest-Q, who is killing a guy, might not be the same guy from the 80's cartoon series.
• Due to the factions not being clearly marked yet, I am including all Go-bots who are revolting as Renegades, and those who are not as just "Go-bots", regardless of their actual factions in the toy line or cartoon.
• Last issue's cliffhanger of whether Scooter is getting ready to kill A.J. is resolved with his fist clench just being a miss-direction last issue...I love those....
• The Go-bots are built in "Tonka" buildings. Tonka was the company who made the original Go-bot/Machine Robo toys
• Despite being mentioned as being mass produced robots, the Go-bots appear to have some organic features...could they be cyborgs like the original counterparts after all?
• I'm gunna guess that the Go-botics expert Coriander hired to make Cy-Kill willing to kill is either the technician we meet in the Tonka building or Braxis.
• Huh....despite him being a major character from the cartoon, Nick appears to be dead now....let's just hope we don't get any zombie action like we did in Transformers vs GI Joe!
• If Screw-Head's story from the start of the issue, regarding him losing his human master and turning to the Renegades was meant as a book-ending storyline, then this probably means that Leader-1 plans to lead the revolution now, with Nick's death.