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The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special takes viewers on an adventure that takes Drax and Mantis to Earth in order to get Peter a very special Christmas gift. However, the wildest moment of the entire special is that it introduces GoBots to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s right. Let me repeat that. The GoBots exist in the MCU–and not just as toys.
During a moment when Mantis and Drax find themselves outside of the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, where there are a bunch of people dressed up in costumes, Drax sees someone dressed up as Cy-Kill–the leader of the GoBots. This enrages him, and Mantis says, “GoBots killed his cousin.”
What?
That quick line of dialogue introduces a whole species of robot aliens to the MCU–and one of them killed Drax’s cousin. At the end of the montage of Drax and Mantis taking pictures with tourists, we see Drax beating up said GoBot. So not only do actual, living GoBots exist in the MCU, but humans are aware of their existence–unless during the ’80s there was also a GoBots toy line and cartoon as well.
For the unfamiliar, Tonka’s GoBots were the first transforming robot toys to debut in the United States–a year prior to Transformers–in 1983. They were vehicles that transformed into robots. However, they were no were near as complex as Transformers, as most GoBots toys needed one or two limbs to be quickly moved to make the transformation complete. The Hanna-Barbera series Challenge of the GoBots debuted one year later, and it ran for one year.
Transformers completely overshadowed the GoBots in every way. In 1991, Transformers’ parent company Hasbro bought Tonka and its subsidiaries, and all of the IP that came with it–like much of the GoBots IP, although there are still rights issues to this day with it.
From there, things got even more wild when a 2018 IDW comic book series called Go-Bots alluded to the fact that the GoBots are the creators of the Transformers. In order to “Optimize” heirs to spread across the universe, it started with the bodies of Cy-Kill and Leader-1. They were combined to make a silver jet with red and blue markings that looked suspiciously like Starscream. Additionally, there’s Road Ranger, who helps everyone out during a final battle, and it transforms into a red semi-truck. At one point, it says, “Transform and roll out.” Additionally, one of his friends is Bug Bite–who is now yellow–a robot that transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle.
So does this mean Transformers are also a part of the MCU? Probably not, as that’s a pretty big jump. Regardless, you can see the scene for yourself in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which is currently streaming on Disney+.
