BuggyMan

BuggyMan (also Buggyman and Buggy Man and Buggy-Man and The Buggy Man and Lord BuggyMainwaring-Smythe) is a Renegade. He has a sadistic streak as long as his list of aliases.

“	I just love being an uncivil engineer!	”
—BuggyMan, a Renegade who loves his destruction

Fiction

Escape to Planet Earth storybook

The brazen BuggyMan was one of Cy-Kill's goons on GoBotron, where they were imprisoned by Security Forces led by Leader-1. Cy-Kill taught his troops to change their form - with BuggyMan becoming a dune buggy - and plotted an assault on Earth, long watched by GoBotron's scientists. They broke out and escaped the planet on a huge flying saucer before going on a rampage on Earth, where BuggyMan knocked over some oil drums. However, two enterprising young scamps named Pete and Nancy then hacked their computer systems by accident, resulting in the Renegades malfunctioning. This allowed Leader-1 and his troops to track the Renegades and arrive as BuggyMan was kidnapping the pair. Dumper was able to report this back to Leader-1 and the resulting battle saw the kids saved and the Renegades forced into a retreat. Escape to Planet Earth

Challenge of the GoBots cartoon

Voice actor: Bob Ridgely (regular), Peter Cullen (Earthbound and Whiz Kid)

BuggyMan was one of the Renegades stationed at their Fortress on GoBotron, and warned Cy-Kill of the advancing Guardian task force. Battle for GoBotron It was presumably his job to report bad news as later he told Fitor that the Guardians had breached the fortress' outer defences and were storming the central core. Earthbound Cy-Kill's plan to launch a fleet of Zods from Earth to invade GoBotron failed, and BuggyMan was captured along with his comrades. The Final Conflict

After being released, presumably when Cy-Kill instigated a mass break-out from GoBotron's Prison Moon, BuggyMan was among the Renegade army that took control of GoBotron with the aid of the Master Renegade. He was nearby when the few remaining free Guardians and their allies attempted to take parts from Dome 7 to repair Leader-1. BuggyMan sneaked up on Scooter, who converted and tried to escape. The Renegade gave chase in vehicle mode but was caught himself by Sparky, who shoved him off the road into a hole. The Fall of GoBotron He recovered to continue the chase, now backed up by Geeper-Creeper. The pursued Sparky and Scooter across GoBotron until the Guardians hid in a cargo ship launcher. While Geeper-Creeper was fooled by the pair hiding in the launcher, BuggyMan wasn't - and operated the launcher's controls, firing the pair of Guardians off into space on one of the ships. Flight to Earth

In order to destroy a dam and create a distraction for Cy-Kill to steal the Chronos Time Transporter, BuggyMan travelled to Earth via Astrobeam. He successfully caused chaos, allowing Cy-Kill, Crasher and Cop-Tur to travel back to Ancient Rome and change history so the Renegade leader would become President of the United States. BuggyMan remained at large in the present and tried to secure the device as the Guardians attempted to fix the timeline. They were successful but BuggyMan was at least able to use a stealth device to hide his comrades when they returned to the present day, also destroying the Time Transporter itself. Time Wars BuggyMan was later assigned to provide security while the Renegades built Ultra Zod in Waldron, and along with Crasher he captured the UNECOM cadet A.J. Foster when she arrived in the city to visit her aunt and uncle. A.J. later escaped and BuggyMan is tasked with recapturing her but just as he finds her Turbo arrives and puts him out of commission. BuggyMan later returned to guarding the town's captive children at its' airfield but when A.J. returned with Nick Burns to help them escape the Renegade was unable to stop him due to damage to his weaponry, caused by Turbo's attack. While Ultra Zod was completed the machine was soon confronted by the Guardians in Courageous and disabled, forcing a Renegade retreat. Ultra Zod

Along with Crasher and Fly Trap, BuggyMan was part of an attempt to kidnap A.J. and Nick at a stunt car rally. While they were easily able to overcome the cadets' escorts Scooter and Small Foot the Renegades were thwarted when Turbo and Leader-1 arrived in Power Suits, sending them running. This led to Cy-Kill deciding he needed to capture the Suits. Scooter Enhanced BuggyMan was doing a stint on Thruster with Cy-Kill, Crasher and Cop-Tur when they were able to ambush the Command Center. However, before the Renegades could strike a killing blow both ships were captured by the vessel of the alien B'oosa and taken to Kolob, where they were restrained and forced to fight in an arena by Crespas. The first such battle saw BuggyMan overpowered by Turbo. Later Nick built a device that could counter the disruptors both groups had been fitted with and the Renegades escaped the planet. Gameworld

After the capture of the young scientist Buddy, BuggyMan returned to the Renegades' base inside Big Horn Mountain along with Spoiler, Slicks and Fly Trap. They were followed by Scooter and Nick, who stowed away on their Thruster and released Buddy. BuggyMan and Slicks chased them around Roguestar but were thrown off when Scooter disguised the trio as a pile of boxes thanks to his hologram projector, allowing them to get to a shuttle and escape. Whiz Kid Later he was stationed on Earth at a secret Renegade base; while it was soon discovered and destroyed by the Guardians BuggyMan, Tank, Geeper-Creeper and Screw Head were all able to escape thanks to new personal stealth devices. Pacific Overtures

Machine Men mini-comics

BuggyMan was one of the Enemy Machine Men from Robotron who joined Cy-Kill in targeting the peaceful planet Earth for conquest. Along with his comrades, BuggyMan soon forced the Friendly Machine Men into a retreat while causing huge destruction. Space Wars

Robo Machine featuring Challenge of the GoBots annuals

The Buggy Man and Crasher attacked a power station close to the sea on Earth but were discovered and chased by Turbo and Hans-Cuff. His off-roading skills allowed the Buggy Man to trick Hans-Cuff into becoming bogged down - at which point Doctor Braxis appeared in Geeper-Creeper and shot the Guardian with his new freeze ray, leaving Hans-Cuff stuck between robot and car modes. Battle of the Beams Along with Geeper-Creeper, he later cornered Scooter on a lake during a pitched battle, but the pair were knocked into the water by Turbo. He was later preparing to Astrobeam the Guardians somewhere nasty when a gigantic, drugged-up Scooter arrived to destroy whatever plausibility remained in the story. Scooter Strides Out Later he was part of the team of Renegades building what would become Zod at Silvermoon mine; however, they disappeared before the Guardians could attack in force. The Secret of Silvermoon Mine Buggy Man was one of the huge army of Renegades gathered by Cy-Kill at Mauna Mauna; however his schemes to keep the Guardians busy were all largely failures, and Buggy Man was taken out along with Crasher and Bad Boy when Dozer collapsed one of the island's ancient temples on him as the battle turned against them. The Battle at the End of the Earth

Fun Publications

Renegade Rhetoric

Cy-Kill considered BuggyMan a solid officer among the Renegades. He takes the initiative and shows good judgment in the field. Cy-Kill often employed BuggyMan as a subcommander captaining his own Thruster during assaults. Renegade Rhetoric 2016/10/17 When the Guardians and UNECOM began working on the Space Hawk project, Cy-Kill dispatched BuggyMan to kidnap Anya Turgenova so the Renegades could Brainstorm her for the project's secrets. The Hawks of Space Part 1 BuggyMan and Crasher joined Cy-Kill in pursuit of the Master Renegade's minion, Creepy. They disabled his ship, the Dromon, and boarded it to capture the Monster GoBot. Just as the Guardians intercepted Cy-Kill's crew aboard the craft, however, they were all teleported to the other side of the galaxy by a group known as the Overseers. The GoBots were enslaved by the Overseers and affixed with special cuffs that disabled their power packs and conversion abilities. A bizarre side effect was the change to the color of their superstructures, with BuggyMan becoming an eye-popping orange.

BuggyMan and Leader-1 were assigned to work in the recycling center. Leader-1 fashioned a key from the scrap to free himself and BuggyMan, and together they collected Creepy and the other Guardians and Renegades for an alliance of convenience. The GoBots were confronted by A.N.Ubi.S., the Overseer's ultimate weapon, but they managed to defeat it. Cy-Kill forced the Overseers to use their matter-superposition ray to send the GoBots home, and the parties went their separate ways once they returned. Chains of Doom While on Axiom Nexus, musing how to integrate his new Renegades into the old guard, Cy-Kill considered BuggyMan a good and stable new partner for the obsessive Clutch. Renegade Rhetoric 2016/10/16 The Master Renegade had created a second set of Power Suits for the Renegades, but abandoned them and escaped with the ship necessary to form the Power Warrior, Grungy. Nevertheless, Doctor Go was able to recreate the central component, forming a tank unit called Nemesis. BuggyMan, Decker Decker, Block Head, and Loco used the Power Suits at Cy-Kill's direction to amplify their powers, and Cy-Kill himself controlled the tank module when they all linked up to form Nemesis.

Seeing an opportunity to disrupt the tri-planet alliance treaty being held on Quartex, Cy-Kill and the Renegades joined forces with Magmar to attack UNECOM, the Guardians, and Boulder's Good Rock Lords. The battle initially seemed evenly matched as Cy-Kill pitted Puzzler and Monsterous against the Power Warrior Courageous and the Fossil Lord's Fossilsaurus. He held BuggyMan and cohorts in reserve, however, unleashing his third combiner Nemesis at a key moment in the battle. The tide turned in favor of the Renegades, and Nemesis captured Leader-1 and Boulder. Combiner Wars Part 1 Unfortunately, the Guardians and humans used teamwork and Cy-Kill's own ego to drive a rift between him and his allies. The captives were rescued, and a united heroic effort was prepared for the Combiners now. BuggyMan and Nemesis were defeated, and Cy-Kill was seemingly lost forever as he plunged into boiling lava. Combiner Wars Part 2

Go-Bots comic

BuggyMan was one of the rogue Go-Bots who joined Cy-Kill's rebellion against mankind and subsequent face-off against Leader-1's own army of Go-Bots.Issue 2

Over the next few hundred years or so Go-Bots became the dominant species on Earth, building their own planet Gobotron around it, with Leader-1 and Cy-Kill remaining locked in conflict. BuggyMan stayed with Cy-Kill's faction and was part of his entourage when they followed the Guardians back to the half-forgotten planet. Issue 4 He joined Cy-Kill on the stolen Command Center but they had to deal with Turbo, who was on a one-man rescue mission after the Renegades kidnapped Scooter. He did voice concerns with how Cy-Kill immediately began to act like Leader-1 once in charge of the Command Center but had little time to push for legitimate political change before Turbo - having made short work of Fitor, Tank and Loco - drove through the wall and shot most of the Renegades on the bridge, BuggyMan included. Issue 5

Toys

GoBots

Series 1 BuggyMan

GoBots

• BuggyMan (GoBots, 1983)
  • Enemy Robot Car
  • ID Number: 08
  • Accessories: none

BuggyMan was released by Tonka in the first series of GoBots, and converts from robot to Manx Meyer dune buggy in 3 steps. The toy was a repackaging of Buggy Robo from Machine Robo, with no significant changes aside from omitting the extra sticker sheet included with the Japanese release. BuggyMan features a folding windshield, diecast parts and rubber tyres. Some batches of the figure use a blue plastic that is prone to yellowing, while the windscreen can sadly snap or bend. BuggyMan has articulation at the shoulders and the knees, though the latter only lock into place in one position.

• BuggyMan was offered in the first-ever assortment of GoBots figures manufactured in 1983 (#7200). From the second series onwards the blue version was replaced by the recoloured version.
• Bilingual Canadian releases named the figure as Sablo.

• Learn more about BuggyMan at The-Liberator.net

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  Card

Series 2 BuggyMan

• BuggyMan (GoBots, 1984)
  • Enemy Robot Car
  • ID Number: 39
  • Accessories: none

BuggyMan was released by Tonka in the second series of GoBots, and converts from robot to Manx Meyer dune buggy in 3 steps. The figure was recoloured in an orange/black/green scheme and assigned a new GoBot number. As with the concurrently issued recolours of Leader-1 and Cy-Kill Tonka's famous complete absence of any biographical material on the figures means there is no explanation as to what this change means, though it was perhaps an attempt to make the toy look more 'evil'. The new scheme was however not picked up in any media.The recoloured version of BuggyMan was exclusive to the GoBots line and was not issued outside of North America as a result. Due to this it is rarer than the blue version, especially internationally.

• The recoloured BuggyMan was offered in the second series' Enemy assortment (#7254). It was discontinued before the third and final series of figures.

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  Card

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  Toy instructions

Gift Packs

• Renegade 3-Pack #3 (GoBots Gift Pack, 1985)

*Not available in stores This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

• The orange version of BuggyMan was planned to be included in a Gift Pack along with Fitor and for some reason Tail Pipe which was advertised in the 1986 Tonka Catalog but was ultimately not released.

Robo Machine/Machine Men version

Robo Machine

Robo Machines

• Buggy (Robo Machine, 1983)
  • ID number: RM-08
  • Accessories: none

A carded repackage of Buggy Robo, the figure now simply known as Buggy was released by Bandai Europe at the end of of 1983 and included the extra sticker sheet of the Japanese release, right down to the stickers saying "Buggy Robo". It was also the first new figure in the second wave to be packaged on a new blue and purple backing card. While promotional material would later refer to the figure by its' GoBots name, the toy's packaging was never updated.

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  Card

Machine Men

Machine Men

• Buggy Man (Machine Men, 1983)
  • Enemy Robot
  • ID Number: 07
  • Accessories: none

The first toy from the second wave of figures, Buggy Man (sic.) was released by Bandai Australia in 1983. He remained identical to the original Buggy Robo toy, albeit packaged on a blue backing card.

• Buggy Man (Machine Men, 1984)
  • Enemy Robot
  • ID Number: 07
  • Accessories: none

In 1984, the figure was re-released with his GoBots name and faction on a new black backing card depicting a blue-tinted alien landscape.

Machine Men Staks Transport giftset Buggy Man

Staks Transport Collector Pack

• Buggy Man (Machine Men, 1985)
  • Friendly Robot
  • Accessories: none

An exclusive recolour of Buggy Man was included in the Australian Staks Transport Collector Pack, along with recoloured versions of Hans-Cuff, Rest-Q and Turbo. While similar to the Machine Robo Best 5 version of Buggy Robo, the Machine Men version features white paint on the robot mode detailing instead of silver.

Merchandise

Convertible Model Kit

• BuggyMan (1984)

Produced by Monogram, BuggyMan was a plastic snap-fit model kit that once assembled could convert from robot to dune buggy with a friction motor. The origins of the kit are difficult to ascertain, with the only definite conclusion being that it wasn't designed as BuggyMan, and hence has only a passing similarity to the character's other toys.

• Model kit BuggyMan at Super Toy Archive

Notes

• Elements of BuggyMan's robot mode design inspired Bubble Man.
• On more than one occasion BuggyMan was shown as a Guardian on GoBotron during Challenge of the GoBots; as this was often near Hans-Cuff it seems likely he was confused with Night Ranger.