Dread Launchers
The Dread Launchers are a team of Renegade GoBots, and were also a subgroup in the GoBots toy line. Each can split into two separate modes.
The team is made up of -
Fiction[edit | edit source]
Challenge of the GoBots cartoon[edit | edit source]
The Dread Launchers pretended to be a trio of aspiring Guardians and enrolled at the Guardian Academy under the identity of the Red Team, up against the Blue Team consisting of Tork, Tri-Trak, Twister, and Staks. This was part of Cy-Kill's latest scheme - if Re-Volt, Chaos and Traitor graduated from the academy Zeemon would be at the Modification ceremony and easy to capture, crippling the Guardians' war effort. The trio of Renegades cheated the testing simulations in order to get the best score through setting Tri-Trak up, further cementing their position when they saved Blue Team from an attack by Vamp, Scorp and Creepy - in fact the Monster GoBots withdrew to make the Red Team look even better. Tri-Trak began to suspect something is up but was caught by Traitor, disabled and left in the academy shooting range while the Red Team attended the graduation. As they had already been put through the modifier once a second trip through gave them the ability to convert into two separate modes. Tri-Trak tried to raise the alarm but the Dread Launchers were able to capture Zeemon. However, the Blue Team were inspired by Tri-Trak to go after them, disabling their hidden Thruster, saving Zeemon and getting to graduate after all as the Secret Riders. The Dread Launchers meanwhile were taken prisoner Guardian Academy, though at least Re-Volt later escaped. Mission: GoBotron
Toys[edit | edit source]
Toys of the three Dread Launchers were issued as part of the third and final series of GoBots in 1986 and were among the tallest figures in the range. The toys were either commissioned by Tonka for the Western market or unused Machine Robo concepts; more likely the former. They were never released in Japan, and are not to be confused with the similar Double Machine Robo that were. In Europe they were issued as the Ultrabots, under the Robo Machine banner. The box flap of the figures contained new painted artwork showing the group battling the Secret Riders.
