A New Suit for Leader-1
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| "A New Suit for Leader-1" | |||||||||
| Production code | 0142-8544 | ||||||||
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera | ||||||||
| Airdate | November 26, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | Reed Robbins and Peter Salas | ||||||||
| Animation studio | Wang Film Productions | ||||||||
The clothes make the man, and the Power Suit makes a Renegade!
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Cy-Kill, Crasher and Cop-Tur attempt to raid a silicon warehouse on Earth but are attacked by Leader-1, Turbo and Scooter. They still get away with some materials but Cy-Kill is tired of his constant defeats to the Guardians. Crasher wishes he was on their side and that gives Cy-Kill an idea, and he begins plotting to get Leader-1 on the side of the Renegades. Fitor suggests that the engineers of the planet Fabricon might be of some help. While there and looking at the planet's exosuits, Dr. Go strikes upon the idea of building one that would control Leader-1, made in the shape of his Power Suit to fool the Guardian into wearing it. Cy-Kill puts him to work on Fabricon. Meanwhile on Earth Leader-1 is asked for an interview by KBLB National News, and says his main hope is just to stop the Renegades. On Fabricon the suit is complete - an exact replica (sic) of Leader-1's Power Suit that will invert the wearer's personality, and can only be removed with a Photon Key. Onboard the Command Center the Guardians pick up a distress call - a meteor shower has entered the Earth's atmosphere and is heading towards Sydney. Leader-1 and Turbo deal with it easily but it was actually set up by the Renegades to cover for Dr. Go to switch the Power Suits over. Fitor then sends a huge meteor towards the planet; as Cy-Kill had hoped Leader-1 realises they will need the Power Suits to deal with it. However, this means Dr. Go is unable to take Leader-1's real Power Suit, instead having to stash it in a storage lock. He gets outside and tells Cy-Kill the inverting Suit is in place.
The Guardians suit up but Leader-1 rapidly realises something is wrong with his; however, he is unable to remove it before his personality inverts. He insults Turbo and Scooter, but they have no time to find out what's wrong and head off to stop the meteor. They take care of the problem but when they returned there's no sign of Leader-1 - who has gone to see Cy-Kill on Roguestar. He fobs off a radio message from A.J., telling her he is on a secret mission. The next day he attends a UNECOM AIL conference where a new powerful computer transmitter is being unveiled, but he simply takes the transmitter chip, taking it to Cy-Kill and telling the Renegades this is just the beginning of their mission to conquer GoBotron. They enter UNECOM's digital components warehouse, where Leader-1 has Dr. Go copy data core modules on GoBotron's security. Meanwhile Zeemon and Path Finder arrive on Earth by Astrobeam, who inform Turbo that Leader-1 has been declared a Renegade by the Guardian Council. At that moment Matt answers an alarm from the warehouse - and Leader-1 taunts the Guardians. They try to stop the theft at the warehouse; Path Finder blasts Cop-Tur, whose stray blades then take out Cy-Kill. Leader-1 gathers them all up and leaves on Thruster.
Cy-Kill is repaired by Fitor on Roguestar but Leader-1 takes command of the Renegades. He laughs off Cy-Kill's attempts to attack him and has Fitor imprison his old rival. Leader-1 then rigs the AIL circuitry to go past GoBotron's defences undetected, needing just the Command Center to complete his plan. On Earth the Guardians are nervous about the forthcoming attack when Cy-Kill suddenly appears in the Command Center. Path Finder shoots him but he insists he hasn't come to fight, warning them of the planned taking of the Command Center before showing them the Photon key and the location of the real Power Suit. Cy-Kill then vanishes as Leader-1 approaches the Command Center - which is actually a hologram. The Guardians have tricked Leader-1 into a containment cell and freeze him with liquid nitrogen. Turbo then uses the key to release Leader-1 from the suit. He is next seen marching the captured Guardians and humans to the Renegades. Cy-Kill and Fitor are furious at the failure and are held at gunpoint by Cop-Tur, Crasher and Dr. Go. However, the whole thing is a ploy - Leader-1 releases the "prisoners", allowing Turbo to blast Crasher, Path Finder to gun down Cop-Tur again and Matt, A.J. and Nick to pin down Dr. Go - allowing Scooter to recover the stolen data on GoBotron. Leader-1 then takes care of Cy-Kill and Fitor. The Renegades are then imprisoned but swiftly escape and are able to frustrate the Guardians' attempt to capture Roguestar by ejecting the ship's control compartment. Cy-Kill is back in charge, and tells Crasher, Cop-Tur and Dr. Go he has plans for them after their treachery.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Guardians | Renegades | Humans | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Gadgets and Powers:
- Scooter creates a hologram of a semi truck to divert Crasher.
- Dr. Go can plug into computer data storages using wires in his chest, uploading an entire database into his mind. The information then lights up on his windscreen.
- Leader-1 can project energy beams from his eyes (either thanks to the Power Suit or not) which can levitate and transport the Renegades.
- Path Finder can fire an energy beam from her visor.
- Scooter lures Leader-1 into a cage by making him believe he's walking up the Commander Center's entrance ramp.
- Scooter's retractable chest wire can extract the data Dr. Go downloaded into his chest using his own plugs.
Continuity errors[edit | edit source]
- The Guardian Power Suits look completely different this episode, without even the most remote resemblance to the toys or previous appearances.
- It's really difficult to find out what exactly the Fabricon leader is getting out of all of this. No money seems to change hands and there's no threat involved but at the same time he's not exactly a cackling maniac or anything.
- Dr. Go can go invisible and walk around the Command Center undetected and this is the best use the Renegades can think of for such a talent?
- If Leader-1's plan was for the Guardians to never know they were in the digital storage vault, why did he get on the monitor and laugh maniacally at them?
- Why does Leader-1 need the Command Center if he plans to completely bypass GoBotron's security anyway?
- From the time Cy-Kill infiltrates the Command Center to Leader-1 revealing his true colors to the Renegades, both factions are carrying hand-held blasters. Before and after this brief window, everyone is using their traditional hand-blasters.
- The final few minutes approach "Ring of Fire" levels of nonsense, as Cy-Kill and Cop-Tur burn through the wall of their cell to find... a rocky tunnel left over from the construction of Roguestar, presumably. Then all five Renegades are suddenly on a Thruster without the Guardians having noticed it launch from the ship they're on. Then at the touch of a button they just pop off Roguestar's control room. It all just about makes sense but it's really not explained well by the script or animation.
Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]
- When Leader-1 shoots Cop-Tur at the start he backs into Cy-Kill and Crasher and all three drop the huge wooden crates, which fall apart. But there's only debris for wooden crates, making it look like they were just stealing wooden crates.
- Crasher's vehicle mode is absolutely tiny compared to the hologram truck.
- When UNECOM calls and asks the Guardians to intercept the meteors, two shots show them in front of a space background even though they haven't taken off yet.
- When Dr. Go is (apparently) carrying the Power Suit while invisible to dispose of it, the Suit has Leader-1's face as if he were inside it.
- General Newcastle's hair hasn't gone gray yet when we first see him.
- Path Finder's head gets weird after Leader-1's transmission from the vault. It's flatter, longer, and strangely mixes with her neck.
Real-world references[edit | edit source]
- Scooter's hologram of a giant red semi-cab with smokestacks and its blue trailer bears an odd resemblance to someone we know. That can't be doing Road Ranger's self-esteem any good.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The KBLB reporter looks almost normal, which makes her very unusual for a human from the series.
- Cy-Kill taps his foot impatiently while waiting for the exosuit to be built.
Home video releases[edit | edit source]
- DVD
2015 — Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume Two (Warner Archive Collection)
