Tank

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Tank is a Renegade, and as his name suggests imagination is not his forte. He's large but ponderous, both in terms of physical and mental attributes. However his toughness, strength and firepower are all formidable enough to just about outweigh his stupidity and keep Tank as a fixture in Cy-Kill's plans.

Fiction[edit | edit source]

Escape to Planet Earth storybook[edit | edit source]

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Despite being lumbering and dumb, Tank was Cy-Kill's right-hand man on GoBotron, where they were imprisoned by Security Forces led by Leader-1. Cy-Kill taught his troops to change their form - with Tank getting the ability to turn into an armoured destroyer - 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 Tank personally crushed an outhouse before racing to the World TV station, where the Renegades planned to broadcast to Earth to tell the humans they had been conquered. However, two enterprising young scamps named Pete and Nancy then hacked their computer systems by accident, resulting in the Renegades malfunctioning - with Tank being sent backwards and forwards between his two modes over and over. This allowed Leader-1 and his troops to track the Renegades and force them into a retreat. Escape to Planet Earth

Challenge of the GoBots cartoon[edit | edit source]

Voice actor: Peter Cullen
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Tank was one of the Renegades stationed in the Renegade Fortress on GoBotron as Cy-Kill showed off the Astrobeam prototype he had recently stolen from the Guardians.Battle for GoBotron He later bunkered down in the fortress as the Guardians lay siege to their position. While Leader-1 had been captured by the Renegades his comrades Turbo and Scooter were still at large, immune to the pulsar generator that had put the human race under Renegade control. The pair were spotted in New York by the controlled General Lindley, so Tank was summoned by Astrobeam to head the attempt to destroy them. Together with the freed Nick Burns and A.J. Foster the Guardians tried to take refuge in the subway but Tank's weaponry scored a direct hit on the entrance, seemingly killing them. He was then returned to GoBotron, just as Staks, Path Finder and Hans-Cuff began to make their way further into the Fortress. However, Tank confidently informed Fitor that even if the battle for the Fortress was lost, Cy-Kill would win the war on Earth. Earthbound He was captured by the Guardians soon afterwards and transported away by Hans-Cuff, while Cy-Kill in fact lost the war. The Final Conflict

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After presumably escaping Guardian custody, Tank returned to GoBotron when Cy-Kill and the Master Renegade led a successful assault on the planet from Roguestar. Along with Cop-Tur he tried to stop the Last Engineer, Leader-1 and their remaining allies from escaping the planet in the ship Courageous. However, Turbo kept them busy until the ship launched, with the Guardian slipping past them when the blast of the engines filled the corridor. The pair pursued him until they were ordered to join Crasher and Fitor in chasing after Courageous; however, Turbo had stowed away on their Thruster, knocking out Tank and causing them to fire on Crasher. Both Thrusters fell out of hyperspeed, while Turbo was knocked out. Cop-Tur turned his ship around for repairs. He and Tank gave Turbo a working over before dropping him off at the Renegades' detention area in an abandoned Command Center. Flight to Earth He and Cop-Tur were then on Roguestar when the Master Renegade seized control of the Renegade ship, going along with his orders to avoid being shot with his Transgressor gun until Cy-Kill was able to revive and knock the GoBeing out. However, the Master Renegade's brief disastrous control of the battle had wrecked their strategy and Roguestar escaped under its' stealth device, conceding GoBotron to the Guardians once again. Return to GoBotron

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Along with Crasher and Screw Head, Tank was responsible for guarding Cy-Kill's new Electromagnetic Neutralizer. When Turbo investigated the signals the group were able to severely damage the Guardian and chase him to Barstow, but withdrew when they lost contact. Speed Is of the Essence He was once again teamed up with Crasher and Screw Head for a raid on Lunar Enterprises' Mine #6 on the surface of Earth's Moon. The raid was a success despite Path Finder attempting to intervene; the Renegades left her injured before leaving.The Quest for Roguestar When Cy-Kill's Thruster disappeared he joined Fitor and Screw Head in taking a second Thruster to search for them. Initially they ran into Hans-Cuff, onboard a Command Center with Scratch, Blaster and Small Foot, before Fitor realised both groups were searching for lost craft. A temporary truce was struck until both groups found their missing commanders, who had been kidnapped and made to fight on Kolob before overthrowing Crespas. Gameworld Tank, Screw Head, Geeper-Creeper and BuggyMan were all assigned to a new base on Earth when it was found by Leader-1, Turbo, Scooter and Wrong Way. While the base was destroyed the Renegades were able to easily escape due to their new personal stealth devices. He was later one of the Renegades secreted at a peace conference in Vienna, planning to assassinate the leading Guardians. However, Scooter's new decoder revealed the ploy and the Renegades were forced into retreat.Pacific Overtures

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When Cy-Kill took control of Doctor Tsuburaya's modifying beam, using it to unleash the monsters Ichigar, Jerigan and Kaitudan on Japan, Tank and Geeper-Creeper were left guarding the scientist when he was forced to work with Doctor Go on a new version of his device. However, the scientist instead created an ultra-bright torch, blinding all three Renegades before escaping.Destroy All Guardians Tank remained loyal to Cy-Kill after several Renegades defected to join Zero. When Cy-Kill went down to Dengon Beta to retrieve the captured Crasher as Leader-1 also recovered Turbo he welched on the deal by also taking Tank. As such when Leader-1 and Cy-Kill came to blows Tank was able to blindside the Guardian and knock him out, though he was fooled into believing Leader-1 escaped by one of Scooter's holograms, though he did at least retrieve his commander from a ravine. The pair returned to Thruster soon afterwards to deal with the next phase of Zero's plans. The Third Column Along with Cy-Kill, Crasher, Cop-Tur, Block Head, Loco and Twin Spin, Tank was part of an attack on a UNECOM base that was thwarted by the psychic Mira Shaw, with Tank also being tricked into flying into the base's forcefield by one of Scooter's holograms. The Renegades later kidnapped Mira and lured the Guardians to a nearby abandoned fairground, helping to capture Leader-1, with Tank rolling out from behind a carousel. However, Turbo and Scooter were eventually able to thwart their plans, cueing up another Renegade retreat.Renegade Carnival

The Robo Machines comic[edit | edit source]

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A petty criminal on Robotron once arrested by Leader One, Tank was one of the first two Robo Machines modified by the evil scientist Stron-Domez. He was part of the botched attempt to assassinate the new president of Robotron at his inauguration but his tracks were disabled by Security Forces guards and he crashed. Their plans wary, the trio escaped the planet and headed to Earth. On arrival he participated in the Renegades' vicious attack on the English town of Cholkham. However, during the fight a fuel tanker was driven into his leg and he stumbled into Cy-Kill. The pair squabbled before the Security Force officers Leader One, Dozer and Hans-Cuff arrived after following them from Robotron. Tank's arm was damaged in the subsequent battle but he was able to heavily damage a nearby school and allow the Renegades to escape. They relocated to a factory in Westbridge where he was repaired by Stron-Domez. However soon afterwards the Security Forces again tracked them down and in the following battle Tank was disabled by Night Ranger. Captured, he was deactivated on board the Command Centre. The Robo Machines, Story 1

The events of his creation, capture and deactivation were relayed to the citizens of Robotron in a news broadcast.The Robo Machines, Story 2

Machine Men mini-comics[edit | edit source]

Tank 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, Tank soon forced the Friendly Machine Men into a retreat while causing huge destruction. However, they regrouped and Tank was goosed by Dozer during the counter-attack.Space Wars

Robo Machine featuring Challenge of the GoBots annuals[edit | edit source]

Tank joined the Renegades in battling the Guardians in a jungle, but he and Fitor were injured and had to be taken back to Thruster for repairs. Scooter Strides Out He was part of the huge Renegade army gathered by Cy-Kill at Mauna Mauna. However, the Guardians were ultimately able to counter them and the Renegades retreated. The Battle at the End of the Earth

Fun Publications[edit | edit source]

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Transformers Timelines[edit | edit source]

During the Diaspora, Tank was dispatched to Level 44 along with other Renegades as well as the RoGuns. Cultural Appropriation TFWikiFavicon.png

Renegade Rhetoric[edit | edit source]

Tank's converted mode was described by Cy-Kill as a GoBeing Pulverizer Mark VII model tank. Renegade Rhetoric 2015/10/15 Tank and Block Head were responsible for guarding Anya Turgenova for the Renegade's Space Hawk project, but Scooter and Tail Pipe managed to sneak by them. The Hawks of Space Part 1 Tank joined Crasher and Hornet in attacking UNECOM to destroy one of their experimental aircraft. Bears and Bulls Tank was one of the Renegade liaisons to Greenbeard and his pirates. He unwittingly allowed Leader-1 and the Guardians to stow away on his vessel to find the pirates' hideout. Space Pirates of the Helix Nebula

"Brain Problem Situation"[edit | edit source]

When the Autobot Spy Changers arrived on Strata 22, Tank was one of Cy-Kill's Renegades who helped drive off the Guardians during a misunderstanding between them and the Spy Changers, and tried to forge an alliance with the dimensional invaders. Brain Problem Situation

"Echoes and Fragments"[edit | edit source]

As Sideways and Gong played with mixing universal streams, the Renegades staged an all-out assault on Autobot City on Earth. Tank was one of the Renegades fighting to breach the Autobot defenses. Later, after Zero tossed the injured Megatron out of the fleeing Astrotrain, the Renegades began debating their new leader. Tank scoffed at the idea of following an egghead like Dr. Go, and a power struggle broke out between various candidates. Echoes and Fragments

Go-Bots comic[edit | edit source]

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Tank was one of the Renegade Go-Bots that flocked to Cy-Kill in the desert near Route 66, helping surround and subdue the US government Go-Bot Leader-1. Tank was then able to retrieve military secrets from his brain.Issue 1 He then took part in the first strike of the Go-Bot uprising, stamping on an aqueduct until it collapsed and flooded the town below. Tank was later present when Cy-Kill's army squared off against that gathered by Leader-1, watching as the pair fought viciously. Leader-1 eventually won and Tank implored him to lead the Go-Bots on to the capital. Issue 2

The exact sequence of events that followed was largely lost to history as centuries passed, with Leader-1 and Cy-Kill remaining locked in combat and Tank continuing to fight on behalf of the latter. He was on the bridge of Thruster as the ship tussled with the Command Center before their prey jumped into hyper space. Issue 3 Very much one of Cy-Kill's inner circle, riding with him as the Go-Bots returned to Earth, now encased in Gobotron, and experimented on captured humans. While Leader-1, Turbo, Scooter, Screw Head and Spay-C fought Zod under the planet's surface Tank boarded the Command Center with Cy-Kill and his other minions, watching as they opened fire on the survivors of the battle - killing Leader-1 among others and kidnapping Scooter.Issue 4 This led to a fighting-mad Turbo boarding the ship to free his friend; Loco and Tank ambushed him in the cafeteria. Tank attempted to push Turbo's face in a pan of oil but Turbo got free and threw the same oil in his face before dispatching Loco in the disintegration chamber - to Tank's shock. Whether he survived for any longer is unknown.Issue 5

Toys[edit | edit source]

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GoBots[edit | edit source]

  • Tank (GoBots, 1983)
    • Enemy Robot Destroyer
    • ID number: 02
    • Accessories: double shot gun, double shot lazer gun
Tank was released by Tonka in the first series of GoBots, and converts from robot to futuristic tank in 3 steps. The toy was a repackaging of Battle Robo from Machine Robo, with no significant changes; the figure had previously been issued in America as part of the Machine Men range, named Tank Man. Tank has arguably the simplest transformation of any figure in the range, but has movement at the shoulders and knees - albeit the latter is backwards. It is also one of the tallest in the assortment, something picked up in many of Tank's media appearances. The two weapons can be held in either of the robot's hands.
  • Tank was offered in the first-ever assortment of GoBots figures manufactured in 1983 (#7200). The figure remained available in the second series' Enemy assortment (#7254) and was discontinued before the third and final series.
  • Bilingual Canadian releases named the figure as Dasso.


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  • Renegade Gift Pack #2 (Gift Pack, 1984)
    • Accessories: double shot gun, double shot lazer gun
An unchanged Tank was included one of Tonka's Renegade Gift Pack #2 sets, with similarly unchanged versions of Geeper-Creeper and the black version of Crasher.

Robo Machine[edit | edit source]

First release card
  • Tank (Robo Machine, 1983)
    • ID number: RM-02
    • Accessories: small laser cannon, large laser cannon
A carded repackage of Battle Robo featuring a new starfield-style background, Tank was released by Bandai Europe during the latter half of 1983.


Second release card
  • Tank (Robo Machine, 1983)
    • ID number: RM-02
    • Accessories: small laser cannon, large laser cannon
The figure was later re-released as part of the second wave on a blue backing card. While the name was chosen as a generic designation by a happy coincidence it did not need updating when GoBots names began to be used by European marketing material.

Machine Men[edit | edit source]

  • Tank Man (Machine Men, 1983)
    • Enemy Robot
    • ID number: 02
    • Accessories: small laser cannon, large laser cannon
The second toy from the original six figure wave, Tank Man was released by Bandai Australia during the second quarter of 1983. He remained identical to the original Battle Robo toy, albeit packaged on a blue backing card.


  • Tank (Machine Men, 1984)
    • Enemy Robot
    • ID number: 02
    • Accessories: small laser cannon, large laser cannon
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.

Notes[edit | edit source]