So here’s a weird one.
The Transformers top rivals for converting robots in the 1980s were Tonka’s Go-Bots. In the early 1990s, Tonka was failing as a business, and Hasbro bought them out, gaining all the names and trademarks to the Go-Bots along the way — But the character designs were owned by Bandai, who manufactured the original Go-Bots toys as the Japanese line, Machine Robo.
Bug Bite was an evil Go-Bots character that converted into a… yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
Well, Transformers already HAD a yellow VW Beetle character: Bumblebee!
So in 2007, at the official Transformers convention, BotCon, a repaint of the previous years’ Transformers Classics Bumblebee was released as the evil Go-Bot, Bug Bite.
I sought to replicate that idea, as part of the adorable 2-inch Robot Heroes figure line:
I ended up selling him on eBay, a few years back. I don’t remember how much he went for exactly, but it was more than I had started the auction for, so that was neat.
Transformers, Go-Bots, Bumblebee, and Bug Bite are all owned by Hasbro.