The Renegades' Rampage, Part II

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Challenge of the GoBots ep 23
(Broadcast Order)
Challenge of the GoBots ep 28
(Story Order)
RenegadeRampagept2 cykill tramulet.jpg
"The Renegades' Rampage"
Part II
Production code 0142-8525
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Airdate October 16, 1985
Story by Karen Wengrod, Ken Cinnamon, Jeff Segal and Kelly Ward
Teleplay by Karen Wengrod and Ken Cinnamon
Animation studio Wang Film Productions

Cy-Kill turns the power of the Tramulet against Earth.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

RenegadeRampagept2 triceti explodes.jpg

With only a minute left until Tri-Ceti is destroyed by the Guardians' antimatter detonators, Scooter is able to detect a small weak spot in the Tramulet force field keeping them trapped on the doomed planet, an unforseen side-effect of the amplifier Cy-Kill is using to magnify the Tramulet's power. The Command Center is able to escape through the fluctuating portal, but the Trindle ark fails to make it through on the first try. With literal seconds to spare, the portal opens again and the Trindles make it out just as Tri-Ceti explodes.

Believing the Guardians and Trindles destroyed, the Renegades set course for Earth, where Cy-Kill surrounds UNECOM headquarters with a forcefield that—thanks to the amplifier's "somnalizer" component—sends all the humans within the base to sleep. The Guardians follow their enemies, accompanied by Trevor and Troilene; the two young Trindles are determined to reclaim the sacred Tramulet before they begin searching for a new planet for their race, and have been provided with a magic ring by the Trindle elders to help locate it. Unfortunately, they are quickly detected by the Renegades upon arrival, and Trevor and Troilene soon find themselves being hounded by Crasher and Cop-Tur across a golf course. The two Trindles dive into a water hazard, causing Crasher and Cop-Tur to collide with one another, and the two wounded Renegades elect to retreat rather than fight on when the Guardians arrive to aid their friends.

RenegadeRampage magic ring.jpg

Back at UNECOM headquarters, Cy-Kill links the amplifier up to the base's satellite network in order to project localized Tramulet fields all around the world. Using these, he traps key world leaders in sleep-inducing forcefields and declares himself the ruler of the planet. Presently, a poorly-disguised Matt and A.J. arrive at the base, hauling a large statue of Cy-Kill that they claim is a gift from the people of Earth. Cy-Kill is not fooled by the obvious ruse, believing the Guardians to be lurking inside the statue, but plays along, deactivating the forcefield around the base so that he and the Renegades can blast the statue and its occupants to bits. But it turns out Cy-Kill has over-thought the situation: the Guardians aren't inside the statue at all, but are simply waiting nearby, and come zooming into the base once the field is down! As the UNECOM staff begin waking up, the Renegades are quickly overpowered; Matt tries to snatch the Tramulent from around Cy-Kill's neck, but only manages to grab two of its three pieces before the Renegades withdraw.

RenegadeRampagept2 scooter avoids discovery.jpg

The Renegades take refuge in a city sewer to wait until the heat is off before returning to Thruster, but they are soon located by the Guardians with the help of Troilene's magic ring, which tracks the final Tramulet piece. Under Guardian fire, the villains make a break for the dump in which they have concealed Thruster, and managed to blast off with the Tramulet piece still in their possession. Both sides are unaware that Scooter has stowed away on Thruster, using his holograms to disguise himself as a computer bank, but once Leader-1 figures it out, he take off after the craft. Scooter, meanwhile, narrowly avoids being discovered by Crasher, then, while the Renegades are distracted by Leader-1's pursuit, simply runs onto the bridge and snatches the Tramulent piece from around Cy-Kill's neck. In attempting to get away from Crasher and Cop-Tur, Scooter accidentally blows himself out the ship's airlock, and drops the Tramulet when the Renegades blast him in mid-fall. Leader-1 saves his comrade from a nasty tumble, but it appears both the Tramulet and the Renegades are lost, as Thruster's stealth device activates and the ship fades from view. But it turns out the Tramulet stone has become lodged in Thruster's intake vent, and its glow allows the Guardians to spot and recover it before Thruster gets away.

Using the power of the reunited Tramulet together with Cy-Kill's amplifier, the Trindle elders are able to reintegrate the scattered pieces of their destroyed homeworld, restoring Tri-Ceti and allowing their race to return home. The Guardians further modify the amplifier to fix the weak spot, allowing the Trindles to use it to surround their entire world with the force field, protecting against further attacks. The Guardians bid their new friends farewell... but Cy-Kill watches from afar, and vows to return!

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Guardians Renegades Humans Others

Quotes[edit | edit source]

RenegadeRampagept2 cykill statue.jpg

"How about a chopped Trindle salad, Crasher?"
"What a delicious idea!"

Cop-Tur and Crasher


"Finally! A new weapon that performs as advertised!"

Crasher momentarily gets genre savvy


"What do the Guardians take me for, an egomaniacal dimwit?!"

If the shoe fits, Cy-Kill...

Notes[edit | edit source]

RenegadeRampage titlecards.jpg
RenegadeRampagept2 amplifier somnalizer maybe.jpg
RenegadeRampagept2 offmodel blaster.jpg
RenegadeRampagept2 cykill in sewer.jpg
RenegadeRampagept2 triceti reforms.pg.jpg

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • Gadgets and powers:
    • Leader-1 uses his now-familiar levitation beam to save the falling Scooter.

Real-world references[edit | edit source]

  • Locations seen being subjected to the amplifier's somnalizer effect include St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia, the Palace of Westminster in England, and the White House in the United States.
  • This isn't a subtle show, so however unnecessary, it's perhaps a bit surprising that it's never stated in dialogue that Cy-Kill thinks the Guardians are emulating the mythological story of Trojan Horse with their statue ploy.

Continuity and plotting errors[edit | edit source]

  • Yeah, you're reading that right: Part I is "Renegade Rampage," while Part II is "The Renegades' Rampage." Sigh.
  • During the recap for Part I, the narrator incorrectly states that the Guardians and Trindles' plan to blow up Tri-Ceti will allow them to reclaim the Tramulet, when the idea was to destroy it.
  • Blaster and Path Finder disappear without explanation between the destruction of Tri-Ceti and the Guardians' arrival on Earth. Of course, the Astrobeam could simply have worn off, but the show never bothers to mention it.
  • The amplifier machine as it has been depicted throughout both parts of this story basically vanishes once the Renegades have arrived on Earth, replaced with a large orange ball that Cop-Tur carries around UNECOM headquarters (right). Presumably the ball is supposed to be the somnalizer itself, and/or the sphere at the tip of the amplifier's barrel, which appears orange in one shot in this episode when it was purple last time, but it's never explained.

Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]

  • As the Guardians and humans study the force field's weak spot on the monitor, Blaster is drawn to the specifications of his original character model from the pilot mini-series, but colored in his regular green-and-orange color scheme (right).
  • When the Trindle elders are seen celebrating their ark's safe escape, the pieces of the Tramulet—currently in Cy-Kill's possession—are drawn hanging around their necks.
  • The background painting of UNECOM headquarters from "Cy-Kill's Shrinking Ray" is re-used for this episode, and still features the misspelled "UNICON" sign.
  • As Cy-Kill jokes about not wanting to wake the sleeping UNECOM staff, he has pupils. S'creepy lookin'.
  • The elders have the Tramulet pieces around their necks again when they give Troilene the ring. Worse, the pieces appear complete with glowing effects and pulsing sound effects.
  • Cop-Tur's arms are supposed to rotate 90° from his sides to go in front of his chest when he transforms, so that the wheels on the outside of his limbs face forward. When he changes modes to chase Trevor and Troilene, however, his arms are drawn attached sideways, with the wheels already facing forward in robot mode, and just slide forward into place.
  • The airbrushed effects on Cy-Kill's wheels blink in and out as he activates the Tramulet inside UNECOM headquarters
  • When the somnalizer effect is spread around the world, Cy-Kill's eyes go off-model again, this time featuring black-outlined pupils that are the same orange as the rest of his eyes.
  • When he leans in to tell Matt and A.J. the statue will be destroyed, the Tramulet is missing from around Cy-Kill's neck.
  • Troilene is briefly missing her lipstick when she and Trevor thank Matt for recovering the two Tramulet pieces.
  • The third Tramulet piece disappears from around Cy-Kill's neck after he and the Renegades escape UNECOM headquarters for the remainder of the second act, reappearing once the third act has begun, just in time for Scooter to snatch it.
  • Troilene's ring jumps from hand to hand, and from finger to finger, depending on the shot.
  • The idea, as made clear by Thruster's takeoff, is supposed to be that the ship has been hidden under a mound of trash, and the establishing shot of the buried ship is meant to show just the white side-panel poking out from under the refuse. Except they forgot to draw any trash on top of the ship for this shot, so all we see is the white side-panel of Thruster on its own, with the rest of the ship not drawn, sitting out in the open air.
  • Leader-1's levitation beam is yellow instead of its standard blue.
  • The view of the nose-diving Leader-1 on Thruster's viewscreen doesn't move.
  • Troilene gives Turbo a crystal as a souvenir which goes from blue when she hands it to him to Tramulet-yellow in the next shot.
  • The final scene of the episode, with Cy-Kill threatening to return, is supposed to begin with an establishing shot of Thruster—and it does, except the shot is framed by the background painting of Thruster's control room, as if Thruster was being watched from inside itself on its own viewscreen.

Home video releases[edit | edit source]

VHS

1985 — Challenge of the GoBots — Volume IV: "Renegade Rampage" (Vestron Video, USA)
1986 — Challenge of the GoBots — "Renegade Rampage" (Vestron Video, UK)

DVD

2015 — Challenge of the GoBots — The Series, Volume One (Warner Archive Collection, USA)