Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Popular Transforming Robots Introduced To The MCU

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special takes viewers to an adventure that takes Drax, Mantis and Peter to Earth in order for Peter to receive a very special Christmas gift. The most exciting moment in the special is when it introduces GoBots into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s right. Let me repeat that. The MCU has the GoBots, and they are not toys.

Drax and Mantis are found outside the TCL Chinese Theater Hollywood. There are many people in costumes. Drax then sees someone dressed as CyKill, the leader the GoBots. Mantis is furious and says that the GoBots have killed his cousin.

What?

A quick conversation introduces a whole slew of robot aliens to MCU. One of them also killed Drax’s cousin. Drax is seen beating up this GoBot after the scene ends with Mantis and Drax taking photos with tourists. The MCU does not only contain actual, living GoBots, but also humans are aware of their existence, unless there was a GoBots cartoon or toy line.

Tonka’s GoBots, a transforming robot toy that was created by Tonka in 1983, were the first to be released in America. This was a year before Transformers. They could transform from vehicles into robots. They were not as complicated as Transformers. Most GoBots toys only required one or two limbs in order to complete the transformation. One year later, the Hanna-Barbera series Challenge of the GoBots launched. It ran for one-year.

Transformers completely eclipsed the GoBots in all aspects. Transformers’ parent company, Hasbro, bought Tonka and its affiliates in 1991. They also acquired all of the IP with them, including much of the GoBots IP. However, there are still rights concerns.

Things got wilder when the 2018 IDW comic book series, Go-Bots, alluded at the fact that the Transformers were created by the GoBots. It began with Leader-1 and Cy-Kill as heirs in order to “Optimize” them. Combining them made a silver jet with red-and-blue markings, which looked suspiciously similar to Starscream. Road Ranger assists everyone in a final battle and the jet transforms into an red semi-truck. It says “Transform and rollout” at one point. Bug Bite is another friend. He is a yellow robot which transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle.

Does this mean that Transformers are now part of the MCU as well? This is a big leap. You can still see the scene in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+.