The Transformers now exist in the MCU, and both fandoms have a lot of questions

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special.

James Gunn tends to throw guns to the wind for a hilarious joke that he knows will blow fans’ minds – see Stan Lee revealed to be a messenger for the Guardians Guardians Vol 2 or the references to Bat-Mite in DCs peacemaker. Well he just went and did it again The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Specialwhich is now streaming on Disney and manages to make a whole different franchise that doesn’t belong to the Disney portion of the MCU canon.

When Drax and Mantis first arrive in Hollywood, they are met by a cast of costumed performers posing with passers-by in front of the TCL Chinese Theater. This includes an unlucky person in a GoBot costume – who immediately tries to attack Drax. When Mantis restrains her friend, she apologizes and explains that “GoBots killed his cousin”. This is a hilarious moment in itself, but it gets a lot funnier when you realize it’s impliedly bringing the whole thing transformers Universe into the reality of Earth-616.

You see, GoBots hail from a 1980’s toy/cartoon franchise that actually predates Hasbro’s more famous robots in disguise by a full year. Ironically, however, the rights to the GoBots were eventually snapped up by Hasbro and folded into overtime in the 1990s transformers-Verse. The stroke of genius behind it Guardian However, the joke is that Marvel and transformers have a long history together. The classic 80’s animated series was even produced by Marvel Productions and Marvel UK once published an acclaimed series of comics.

And of course, as Gunn no doubt intended, fans are tearing their hair out and wondering how the GoBots in the MCU could be both fictional characters and real beings.