By Astrobeam to GoBotron
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| By Astrobeam to GoBotron | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | World International Publishing Limited | ||||||||||||
| First published | Autumn 1985 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 1986 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Uncredited | ||||||||||||
| Artist | Uncredited | ||||||||||||
After being caught in a Renegade trap the human allies find themselves on GoBotron mixed up in a plot to destroy the Guardians.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Matt, Nick and A.J. arrive in secret at a railway yard having received a video message from Commander Henderson regarding information that could expose Doctor Braxis' dealings with the Renegades. They make it to the designated boxcar which they find empty. Climbing in, they notice a steam shunter appear, which folds out into the Renegade Loco - who then grabs the boxcar and flies away. As he does this Braxis appears to gloat that they fell for his fake message.
The captives are taken to Thruster, hidden in a desert valley. There they are greeted by Cy-Kill, Cop-Tur and Crasher who state they are going to help them destroy the Earth. The trio of humans are locked in glass boxes and the Astrobeam is wheeled out. They are struck by it and are engulfed in a flash of colours, as Cy-Kill shrieks that they will never see their home planet again.
Arriving on GoBotron they find themselves in a vast underground chamber filled with screens and switches. Controlling the transport systems are two massive GoBots. One of them, Baron Von Joy, gloats his superiority to the humans and commands the other, Psycho, to take them to their doom.
Psycho morphs into his giant car mode, shoves the humans inside and locks his doors. When they arrive on the surface Psycho reveals Cy-Kill’s plan. They have announced a truce with the Guardians, but they will merely use this as a chance to attack. Psycho will shoot down the Guardian ship, then fatally poison the three humans. When the Council of Guardians finds their bodies near the wreckage, the humans will be blamed for the ship's destruction. Subsequently the Council will think Leader-1 has turned against them causing a schism in the Guardian leadership, which will allow the Renegades to conquer them.
Suddenly Turbo appears and shoots at Psycho, damaging his cab and knocking him to the ground. The trio quickly scramble into Turbo as he converts to car mode as he tells them they will be shielded from the Astrobeam's effects. As they suddenly arrive back on earth Turbo explains that Leader-1 had sent Scooter to follow them earlier, and had followed them after they were captured. At Thruster he had heard Cy-Kill’s plan . Leader-1 was able to trap the Renegades in his forcefield which meant they were able to use the Astrobeam to rescue the humans. With Matt, Nick and A.J. safe Scooter and Turbo join Leader-1, and eventually the Renegades are forced to fall back and retreat in Thruster.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Guardians | Renegades | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Notes[edit | edit source]
- Mention is made of Matt’s suspension at NASA following the destruction of the shuttle Intrepid, which happened in the cartoon's debut episode "Battle for GoBotron".
- New character Commander Henderson is mentioned as being part of the NASA commission that also occurred in that episode - though the only two characters featured in that scene were Braxis and General Newcastle. Either the story's writer was only working on a partial overview of the miniseries and independently created this character to fulfil the same role or this is supposed to be General Newcastle, who is otherwise absence from the annual.
- The Astrobeam device is described as having wheels, matching its appearance in the cartoon.
- The Super GoBots characters are described as being “biggest GoBots that Matt, A.J. and Nick had ever seen”. Presumably this is based on the Super GoBots toys compared to the normal GoBot toys, as opposed to the cartoon where they were generally normal sized.
- There’s no mass shifting in Psycho’s transformation; he simply turns in to a giant Volkswagen Beetle.
- Baron Von Joy is a Renegade as opposed to a Guardian as in the toyline. Next year’s annual will fix this while also addressing that he used to be a Renegade.
- This story was also adapted for the Adventures of the GoBots audio cassette pack by Tempo.
Errors[edit | edit source]
- Cop-Tur is coloured grey in one picture.
- Psycho is both described and drawn as Bug Bite, this is error continues throughout the annual. Next year’s annual will not fix this.
- Psycho is misspelt "Pyscho" at one point.
Adaptations[edit | edit source]
- An audio version of the story was included on Tempo's Adventures of the GoBots cassette.
