IDW - Go-Bots #5

Story/Art/Letters: Tom Scioli

Edits: David Hedgecock

Plot

Spay-C gives Turbo a lift up to the ascending Command Center, so they can rescue Scooter inside, Turbo manages to get his way inside, but is ambushed on every floor by the Renegades, however he manages to easily defeat everything that is thrown at him. Eventually he finds his way to the Reprogramming center, where he looks into the records and discovers that Scooter volunteered to have his memories altered so he didn't feel bad about A.J.'s death, but Turbo screwed it up by removing him too early, causing severe brain damage for him!

Turbo smashes into the control room, where he takes down the Renegades guarding Cy-Kill, however Turbo manages to get an upperhand on Cy-Kill and shoots him through the eyes, killing the Renegade leader instantly.

Turbo soon finds and frees Scooter, before returning to the control room to take control of the ship, but Crasher tries to fend him off, after Turbo points out that both Leader-1 and Cy-Kill are dead, their war should die with them, which she agrees to.

Shortly, the Thruster and the Command Center return to the Earth, where Turbo and Crasher reveal their agreed alliance, much to everyone's joy. Major Domo reveals to the astronauts that the dematerializer is actually a time machine and can allow them and Spay-C to return to the past to try and repair their society, however two of the astronauts decide to stay on the current Earth, to try and rebuild it with the remaining humans.

The two ships return to Gobotron where they find the streets smashed up and swarmed with Vamps, led by Braxis, before they have to deal with them though, they are saved by Road Ranger and his allies, who tear through the army and impress everyone assembled, and he leads the assorted group to Gobotropolis to take control of the world.

Later, Spay-C and the remaining two human astronauts enter the dematerializer, hoping that this will work, but even the Go-bots left behind have no idea if it would work, as they may have either been killed upon entry or their own timeline will be replaced by a new one.

Shortly afterwards, Road Ranger, now in charge of Gobotron, decides to finally leave their past behind and separates the planet, freeing Earth, and leaving for another system to call their own.

The remaining humans on Earth say goodbye to the Go-Lems and leave across the seas to rebuild fresh elsewhere, they soon learn that some Go-bots have remained on Earth to defend it, and even them if need be, with Screw Head killing Magmar, who was intending to kill them for intruding on his land.

Whilst on their way to their new home space, Road Ranger starts work on creating an heir for himself, to ignite a new generation on Gobotron, and he urges his friends to do so too, he also decides that he wants to start seeding the multiverse with Gobotrons of their own, each with a name and identity of their own.

Road Ranger, thinking that Cy-Kill and Leader-1 were too dangerous to be reborn, decides to create a new Go-bot using their parts, hoping to create a better version of them both for the future....

Back in the past, Spay-C and his two remaining astronaut passengers return to Earth, before the Go-bot revolution begins, and try to warn their bosses about it's arrival, however their bosses are unhappy with them for returning home too early, but also for somehow losing half of their crew, and refuse to believe them, certain that the government's measures in place to control the Go-bots will hold....as a message alert comes through, informing them of Cy-Kill going rogue....

Characters

Guardian

Command Center - Fortress

Major Domo - Sports Car

Tic Toc - Watch

Pathfinder - Space Ship

Small Foot - Pick-up Truck

Leader-1 - Fighter Jet Dead

Rest-Q - Ambulance (Footage Only)

Other Guardians

Renegade

Cy-Kill/Go-Cyle Red - Motorcycle Killed by Turbo

Crasher - Race Car

Fitor - Jet

Tank - Tank

Buggy Man - Buggy

Crain Brain - Crane

Geeper Creeper - Jeep

Loco - Locomotive Sent to Wild West Era by Turbo

Thruster - Shuttle

Other Renegades

Go-Lem

Boulder - Tungsten

Magmar - Igneous Rock Killed by Screw Head

Granite - Granite

Other Go-Lems

Next Generation Go-Bot

Starscream - Fighter Jet Constructed from Cy-Kill and Leader-1's remains

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Bumblebee (Mentioned)

Other Go-Bot

Spay-C - Space Shuttle Returned to Pre-Revolution Era

Turbo - Race Car

Scooter - Scooter

Road Ranger - Truck

Vamp Army - Monstrous Cars Destroyed by Road Ranger and Allies

Bug Bite - VW Beetle

Von Joy - Sports Car

Zeemon - Sports Car

Destroyer - Tank

Staks - Truck

Screw Head - Drill Tank

Dive-Dive - Submarine

Human

Charlotte Scott Returned to Pre-Revolution Era

Venyamin Alexander Returned to Pre-Revolution Era

Lee Spencer

Other Astronaut

Professor Braxis Killed by Road Ranger

Primitive Humans 

Nick Burns Skeleton inside Leader-1's Body

NASA Bosses (In the Pre-Revolution Era Only)

Matt Hunter (Flashback Only)

A.J. Foster (Flashback Only)

Cy-Kill's Creator (Flashback Only)

T. Coriander Banks (Flashback Only)

Native Americans (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Okay...now Earth, which has been trapped inside of Gobotron for centuries (maybe much more) also has land borders, generally associated with farmland (see picture just above)....WHERE DO THEY GET THEIR SUNLIGHT?!?!
• Also, despite previous appearances from the last two issues, we see there is an ocean around the ISLAND they have been on in this story so far...what happened to the desolate landscape from the previous issues?!
• Fitor gets incinerated by Turbo in the fuel station, but he's later seen perfectly fine in the control room with Cy-Kill. Now, it may be possible that he survived the explosive looking fire...but how did he get back to Cy-Kill with no injuries?
• Turbo mentions how his showdown with Loco has "been a long time coming"...but I'm pretty sure this is the first we've ever seen them together!
• Cy-Kill mentions that Leader-1 had control of all disintegrations and regenerations on Go-bots, with the later reveal that the Dematerializer is actually a Time Tunnel (aka a time machine) this implies that there's a recall switch on it for people sent back in time to be recalled again, unless by regeneration they mean reconstruction from scratch.
• It's revealed that Cy-Kill's original name was Go-Cycle Red, and he was designed for other Go-bots to use him for transport (most likely for those without land-based or other appropriate alternate modes)
• Two of the astronauts remain on the current Earth to help rebuild it, with Charlotte and the other one going back in time with Spay-C. I would give their names, but we don't know which one is which because they've never really been name-checked in the series properly. From last issue's dialogue, one of the astronauts to remain appears to be the completely unnamed one, the other one is the black astronaut, so just judging by their names, I'd guess he is Lee Spencer (he doesn't look too Russian)..so don't moan at me if I got it wrong in the end.
• Turbo mentions that he HAS been to the surface of Gobotron in the past, so I guess he abandoned Leader-1 and his cause after the planet was sealed inside the artificial world?
• How did Braxis and the Vamp army make it to Gobotron before the Command Center and Thruster? Is there a tunnel leading from Earth to the outer world? (As it isn't seen later either btw)
• Road Ranger mentions how he has never been to Earth and was born on Gobotron....then why does he have a very Earth-looking alternate mode? If he was born and developed to live on Gobotron, then he would have treads rather than wheels, which are mostly suited for a friction based ground, like on Earth rather than a smooth and metallic world like Gobotron.
• In the scene showing Cy-Kill and Leader-1 "playing" as a test, we see T. Coriander Banks and someone else, who based on his hair colour and Gobotics background I'll guess is Braxis in the background.
• Umm...why are Leader-1 and Cy-Kill being developed together? One's a military weapon and the other is a transport tool...shouldn't there be different departments for these different types of Go-bot?
• Loco wound up in the Wild West working as a steam locomotive when he was thrown through time
• There's no Moon around orbiting Earth when Gobotron is separated....THEY'RE ALL GUNNA DIE!!!
• Despite being clearly named "Go-Lems" in this story, the map at the end of the story calls them "Rock Lords".... 
• It's heavily implied that Road Ranger's "son", who is an "optimized" version of himself, is going to be Optimus Prime, we can also assume based on appearance, the Bug Bite's "son" will be Bumblebee.
• Inside Leader-1's corpse we see the long dead skeleton of Nick Burns, who was killed during Leader-1 and Cy-Kill's battle at the end of ISSUE ONE! How is there still a skeleton in there?!?
• The combined rebirth of Cy-Kill and Leader-1 is unmistakably Starscream, which makes me somewhat ashamed that I never realized that putting Cy-Kill's colour scheme onto Leader-1 would give us a Starscream look-alike!
• We see on the last page that the astronauts arrive back on Earth just as Cy-kill goes rogue and is about to start his revolution, and we also learn that a space station in Earth's orbit, designed by Go-bots is actually named "Gobotron", explaining the starting point of the future planet around the Earth! We can assume that following the revolution, the Go-bots went into orbit and expanded on the satellite, eventually covering the Earth and growing outwards...YIKES!
• It's left open to interpretation whether the astronauts succeeded in stopping the revolution, but considering we get a panel on the next page showing a scene from issue one of Leader-1 on a mission, we can assume that everything will still happen as before.
• One has to wonder however, what is going to happen with the Spay-C and astronauts that are already alive in this time frame? Will the older versions of themselves seek them out for added help or are they just going to stay in deep space until Spay-C returns them home like he did in issue three?
• Okay, super theory time, considering the ending implying that the Gobots are going to become the Transformers, and that Earth is being rebuilt, AND all the disparaging references to the Transformers as Go-bots in the GI Joe vs Transformers series, I'm willing to assume that this series has in fact been a prequel to Tom Scioli's previous GI Joe vs Transformers series, eventually both worlds have forgotten about the other, in most ways, Earth is rebuilt to look like it did in the last 20th century, but still with space craft and other stupidly advanced things, and they have an innate hatred of transforming robots due to the old stories. Even the Go-Lems can be explained as having combined into one, and becoming the robot mode of Atlas from the last issue of that series!
• Either that, or this is just another set of toys that Scarlett is playing with in the mental asylum after having murdered her family and half the staff last time :)

IDW - Go-bots #4

Story/Art/Letters: Tom Scioli

Edits: David Hedgecock

Plot

The Astronaut quartet wander around an overgrown and barren city street on what is now revealed to be Earth, within Gobotron's core. They remove their breathing apparatus before Turbo and Scooter arrive, with Spay-C, who they force to explain what happened.

Spay-C reveals that he learned about the Go-bot revolution against the humans a long time ago, but decided to keep them safe and frozen until it was safe for them, a time that never came.

Soon the Astronauts are taken to see what remains of humanity, a bunch of naked, primitive humans, who idolize Scooter, and Turbo explains that they protect them from whatever comes after them.

The Thruster soon arrives in the skies, having followed the Guardians into the core and some Renegades capture a bunch of humans, including two of the astronauts. Spay-C tries to rescue them, but he is sent plummeting to the ground, seemingly to his death. Soon, Zod is also deployed from the Thruster and begins to wreak havoc on Earth.

Upon impact on the Earth, Leader-1 is given another vision, this time from the god, Courageous, who beckons him to see him.

Leader-1 leads his forces towards where he believes Courageous was leading him, where they come across Spay-C's now deactivated body, and are accosted by Turbo, with Scooter seeming excited to see Leader-1, despite his apparent harm of him in the past. They join forces to retrieve the lazer lance so they can kill Zod and protect the humans and Gobotron alike, and Scooter reveals that he knows where the lance it.

On board the Thruster Cy-Kill rummages through the pile of humans he's just captured and is interested in the "blue ones" (the astronauts) and tries to see what the humans can do, only to discover that it is nothing.

Down below, Scooter leads the Guardians to Skull Rock, where he has seen the lazer lance in a dream, along the way they are attacked by the Go-lems, who ask what they are there for, but decide to let them continue on their trek, before returning to the rocks to meditate.

Inside Skull Rock, the Guardians come across a board of Vamps, including the original one, still holding the living, but mutated body of Braxis inside, who recognizes Scooter from before the war, bringing up A.J. and they humans allies, bringing Turbo to disliking Leader-1 more for her death, however Leader-1 tries to explain that things didn't happen as he is saying, but before they can discuss it further the Vamps attack.

Elsewhere, the Renegades explore Earth, only stopping when they encounter Spay-C's body and use it to determine where the Guardians are. The two astronauts escape, and get inside Spay-C's body, intending a hard reboot of his systems.

Back inside Skull Rock, the Guardians are forced to split up, but Scooter manages to find the lazer lance, being held by the physical body of Courageous himself, allowing Leader-1 to take it, and Courageous' body breaks into it's component parts. The Vamps escape, hearing Zod approaching, so the Guardians prepare for battle, donning the Courageous armour components to help fight.

Before they can use the lance on Zod, Cy-Kill steals it, and breaks it in half, despite how bad it looks, the Go-lems appear and cause a chasm to form, causing all the Renegades, including Zod to fall into it.

Cop-Tur manages to stay on high ground, and challenges Leader-1 to a leadership battle, but he is easily beaten down by Leader-1. Soon, Leader-1 leads a team, wielding the two halves of the lance to go after Zod and after a short battle, they manage to use it, deactivating the giant Go-bot.

The team make it back up to the surface, ready to celebrate their success, when the Command Center arrives and starts shooting at the Guardians, and abducts some of them, including Scooter, revealing the ship has been taken over by the Renegades, and they leave to parts unknown.

In the aftermath, Leader-1 is found to have been hit by the Command Center's guns, and has seemingly died, the group inter him within the torso section of the Courageous god and mourn his life and death. Turbo, Spay-C and the astronauts decide to go after the Renegades to rescue Scooter and the others, unaware that Eno, the Leader-1 looking angel is watching over them, being beckoned to the afterlife by Nick Burns, Leader-1's former human partner....

Characters

Guardian

Leader-1 - Fighter Jet Seemingly Killed by Command Center gunfire

Small Foot - 4x4 Truck

Bolt - Twin propeller Plane

Blaster - Missile Tank

Scratch - 4x4 Truck

Royal-T - Harrier Jet

Pathfinder - Spaceship

Major Domo - Sports Car

Rest-Q - Ambulance

Sparky - Sports Car

Good Knight - Vintage Car

Dozer - Bulldozer

Command Center - Fortress Captured by Renegades

Guardian Army

Renegade

Cy-Kill - Motorcycle

Crasher - Race Car

Cop-Tur - Helicopter Defeated by Leader-1

Fitor - Jet

Tank - Tank

Warpath - Gunship

Waterwalk - Seaplane

Loco - Locomotive Engine

Buggyman - Beach Buggy

Screw Head - Drill Tank

Zod Killed by Lazer Lance 

Thruster - Space Ship

Renegade Army

Go-lem

Boulder - Tungsten

Solitaire - Diamond

Nuggit - Gold

Granite - Granite

Marbles - Cristobalite

Pulver-Eyes - Dolomite

Brimstone - Brimstone

Stick n' Stones - Coal and Magnetite

Tombstone - Quartz

Spearhead - Kyanite

Magmar - Igneous Rock (Mentioned)

Other Go-bot

Turbo - Race Car

Scooter - Scooter Abducted by Renegades

Spay-C - Space Shuttle

Multiple Vamps - Monstrous Cars

God Courageous - Power Suits 

Dark Angel Eno - Fighter Jet (In Afterlife, possibly Leader-1?)

Human

Lee Spencer

Venyamin Alexander

Charlotte Scott

Other Astronaut

Professor Braxis Attached to Original Vamp

Primitive Humans

A.J. (Flashback Only) Dead

Nick Burns (In Afterlife) Dead

Notes

• This issue continues the Planet of the Apes motif from last issue by showing the remains of human civilization and even primitive humans
• Two more astronauts are named in story now, Lee and Venyamin, leaving just the fourth one annoyingly unnamed.
• It's confirmed in this issue that some time has indeed passed between issues two and three, as we see A.J. having aged and mentioned to have died elderly, albeit as a hero.
• Spay-C is revealed to have learned about the Go-bot revolution before arriving on Gobotron, but kept it from his humans to protect them
• Umm...why are the astronauts removing their helmets, just because they are on Earth? This Erath has been encased inside another planet's core for years...it might not have a good atmosphere!
• It's unclear is Screw Head is a Guardian or Renegade here, or even if he was working with Turbo on Earth like Scooter, but since most other characters are in their traditional factions now, we can assume he's just a "good" Renegade.
• Despite how barren it looked last issue, we see lost of cities and remnants of humanity on Earth
• The traditionally named Rock Lords are revealed to be "Go-Lems" here, and were created by "the gods" rather than humans before the revolution.
• Cop-Tur. who is normally seen as loyal beyond compare (like G1 cartoon Soundwave) but here is shown to be seemingly planning to overthrow Cy-Kill and Leader-1, a role more similar to Starscream, or Zero in Go-bots lore.
• It's revealed/hinted that Eno from last issue is actually Leader-1 from the afterlife, his name coming from the "one" in his name being reversed, which itself comes from the after-life version of Nick Burns, who speaks in reverse.  

IDW - Go-Bots #3

Story/Art/Letters: Tom Scioli

Edits: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Spay-C, on his long-term space mission releases his Astronaut passengers from cryo-stasis, and informs them that they have arrived at an "unknown" world, where they explore, but are soon attacked by some insectoid Go-bots and a larger Zod robot, however they are rescued by Leader-1 and his Guardians, before Spay-C is captured, with his humans inside his body.

They are taken to the Command Center, where Spay-C lets the humans into the air ducts to try and spy on the Guardians, where they overhear that Leader-1 is having a power struggle due to the constant attacks from Zod.

Later, the astronauts see the code to Spay-C's cell, when Leader-1 enters to speak to his prisoner, but is maddened when Spay-C mentions Earth, and orders for him to be dematerialized in the morning.

That night, Leader-1 is met by Eno, a self-appointed dark angel, who tells him that the Lazer Lance, the only thing that can stop Zod, is inside the core of Gobotron.

Later, the humans let Spay-C out of his cell, and he tries to tell them something that he's been keeping secret, but is stopped when some Guardians appear to escort him to the dematerializer. Spay-C tries to fight for his freedom, but Leader-1 decides to spare him, as he believes that Spay-C's appearance and his recent visit from Eno may be connected.

Elsewhere, Cy-Kill has recruited Zod to his Renegades, and as payment he feeds him some random Go-Bots.

The Guardians head to the edge of the world and prepare for the trip to the core the next day, the astronauts start to become worried that Spay-C is spending time with the other Go-Bots.

The Renegades attack the Command Center, but are deflected when the Command Center closes it's shell and launches into space. The Renegades quickly follow in their Thruster shuttle, which manages to grapple the Command Center, they manage to break loose, but need a bit of time to charge the hyper-jump away, so all the fliers leave the Command Center to fight the Renegades, until they are ready, once they are, they return to the ship and jump away.

The Renegades jump as well to find the Guardians, unaware that they jumped to the other side of the planet and prepare to open the shell to the core.

Once they land, Spay-C runs away, with Leader-1 allowing it as he needs to find his way. Soon, Spay-C encounters the Go-Bots Turbo and Scooter, the former is hostile towards him, assuming he's a Guardian, and insists on him releasing his humans from his chest. After quickly speaking to the humans, he realizes that Spay-C hasn't told them where they are and attacks Spay-C, letting the humans race away on their buggy.

Soon they take air and ground samples and discover the horrible truth, the barren rock world they are on, is actually Earth!

Characters

Guardian

Leader-1 - Fighter Jet

Royal-T - Harrier Jet

Blaster - Missile Tank

Major Domo - Sports Car

Heatseeker - Fighter Jet

Dumper - Dump Truck Eaten by Zod

Dozer - Bulldozer

Small Foot - 4x4 Truck

Rest-Q - Ambulance

Tic Toc - Wristwatch 

Path Finder - Spaceship

Bullseye - Bomber Plane

Command Center - Fortress 

Guardian Army

Renegade

Cy-Kill - Motorcycle

Fitor - Jet

Cop-Tur - Helicopter

Twin Spin - Tandem Rotor Helicopter Crushed by Command Center

Psycho - Space-Car

Tank - Tank

Pincher - Bat-Jet

Scorp - Scorpion-Tank

Klaws - Attack pod

Heart Attack - Monster Spaceship

Hornet - Flying Tank

Zod

Thruster - Space Shuttle

Renegade Army

Other Go-Bot

Spay-C - Space Shuttle

Turbo - Race Car

Scooter - Scooter

Road Ranger - Truck

Eno, the Dark Angel - Fighter Jet

Trade Federation Envoys

Boulder - Tungsten

Nuggit - Gold

Solitaire - Diamond

Wild Command Centers 

Dead Go-Bots (Heads Only) Killed by Leader-1

Human

Charlotte Scott

Lee Spencer

Venyamin Alexander

Other Astronaut

Notes

• Spay-C and his mission in space was previously mentioned in issue 1, though not by name in that issue.
• The four astronauts are not named in this issue (bar Charlotte's first name being mentioned) but three of them were named in solicits...
• So...how long has passed between issue 2 and 3? I'm assuming at least a hundred years or so to explain Earth's changed geography and Gobotron being built around it, and Turbo doesn't seem to be too amazed by the appearance of Humans after however long....but we aren't told here...yet...
• The Command Center is a part of a sub-species of Go-Bots that are found wild on Gobotron. It's unclear if they are just evolved from Earth animals or naturally "grew" on the planet?
• Why can Turbo smell the humans inside Spay-C, but none of the Guardians can?
• Why does Gobotron have air ducts?
• The keypad for Spay-C's cell appears to be based on a Simon game...a Hasbro product...I wonder why....
• Eno's design is based on a late-toyline repaint of Leader-1
• The Lazer Lance is an accessory that came with the original Zod toy, that turned him on and off.
• The serious security issue with the Command Center, being that the front of it is exposed, like in most playsets, is addressed here, and it's revealed that it can slam it's shell closed in this mode for defence...fair play!
• The Astronauts appear to be kind of stupid...they are immediately distrustful of Spay-C, for no real reason (considering they are willing to trust him enough to fly inside him for long space travel). However they chat with Turbo when he approaches them with a gun, stating they think Spay-C is being weird....WHAT?!
• The core of Gobotron being originally an organic world is a concept kept from the 80's cartoon, though it wasn't Earth in that continuity
• Scooter's new vocal tics appear to be based on his annoying voice from the 80's cartoon again, which here is explained as basically being due to brain damage.
• We see the Rock Lords at the end of this issue (and the cover preview for next issue mentions them too) It's unclear if these were previously made Go-Bots from before the revolution (for whatever reason) or if they naturally formed, or evolved from humans here. In the original they were an alien race from the planet Quartex.
• Maybe the humans we've been following so far became the Rock Lords?

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.

IDW - Go-bots #1

Story/Art/Letters: Tom Scioli

Edits: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Greg Goldstein 

Plot

Go-bots are a commodity in this world, with some like Leader-1 working in the military with Nick Burns, Scooter as transport for a student named A.J. and Turbo as Matt Hunter's racing car. The robotic species are all over the world and are integrated amongst the human population to make their lives easier.

One night, after winning a Gobot race, Matt and Turbo are invited to a secret event by T. Coriander Banks, where they witness a Go-bot gladiator match and are forced into a fight with Cy-Kill. Turbo manages to save Matt and escape, but not before Turbo makes Cy-Kill question his actions by fighting for the amusement of humans.

Later, Matt and Turbo return with the police to find the humans at the gladiator match all killed, leading the duo to believe that Cy-Kill killed them and has now gone rogue.

Leader-1 and Nick head to the Go-bot Command Centre in the Pentagon where they are tasked with locating Cy-Kill and other Renegade Go-bots that have been popping up recently. They are taken to see a gas station attendant who was badly beaten by Crasher before being robbed for all the station's weapons, gas and money.

Soon, the duo find a caravan of Go-bots without their human masters, led by Cy-Kill. Leader-1 attacks the group and winds up in combat with Cy-kill. During the battle, Nick gets injured from inside Leader-1's chassis, and Leader-1 is knocked down and restrained whilst the Renegades get some military codes from Leader-1 and escape, leaving him behind to die.

Elsewhere, A.J. has been invited to dinner with her college professor, Braxis after asking her to be his assistant. He also asks her to go into her basement, so she can meet his personal Go-bot, Vamp, but when down there Vamp appears to try and attack her. Scooter breaks into the basement to let A.J. out and Braxis insists that he was just playing a joke on her and they leave.

Outside, A.J. sees the Go-bots attacking ther masters and Scooter explains that the Asimov codes that the Go-bots have to obey have been reversed and now the Go-bots are having a revolution.

A.J. asks her Go-bot if he's going to hurt her, as he clenches his fist....

Characters

Renegade Go-bots

Cy-kill - Motorcycle

Crasher - Race Car

Cop-Tur - Helicopter

Stretch - Limousine 

Tank - Tank

Fitor - Jet

Spoons - Forklift Truck

Screw Head - Drill Tank

Geeper Creeper - Jeep

Loco - Train

Vamp - Monster

Bug Bite - VW Beetle

Water Walk - Seaplane
Other Renegades

Other Go-bots

Leader-1 - Fighter Jet

Turbo - Race Car

Scooter - Scooter

Hans-Cuff - Police Car

Glad-iator Killed by Cy-kill

Other Gladiators Dead

Go-bot Racers - Race Cars

Rest-Q - Ambulance (Footage Only)

Zeemon - Sports Car (Footage Only)

Spay-C - Space Shuttle (Footage Only)

Human

Matt Hunter

Nick Burns

A.J.

Professor Braxis

T. Coriander Banks

Gas Station Attendant Injured by Crasher

Pentagon Staff

Police Officers

Enemy Fighters Most Killed by Nick and Leader-1

Hostages Rescued by Nick and Leader-1

Race Drivers

Race Track Pit Girls

Post-race Party Goers

Gladiator Patrons Killed by Cy-Kill

Random Pedestrians

Condor (Voice Only)

Beaky (Voice Only) Killed by Enemy Fighters

Notes

• This series is not (seemingly) in continuity with the Challenge of the Go-bots cartoon, but it's own series. In this continuity the Go-bots are man-made machines rather than alien cyborgs.
• From what we've seen of the series so far, it appears to follow the basic premise of a machine revolution, like in "I, Robot" or the backstories for the Terminator and Transmorphers franchises
• The Guardians are not a named faction in this continuity so far, so I'll just be referring to them as Go-bots in the character list
• Scioli really missed out on a nice reference in this issue. In the gladiator pit, Cy-Kill's opponent should have been Megatron to mirror the times he's appeared in Transformers fiction.
• Several of the characters are shown in either new colour schemes or ones based on alternate toy colour schemes
• There is a Go-bot Command Center inside the Pentagon. It is currently unknown whether it resembles the toy and cartoon counterpart, or is just a name re-use yet.
• The Asimov laws mentioned at the end of this issue appear to be the same ones that fiction states that robots need to follow, ie no killing humans or allowing them to die by inaction.