Spychanger

Looks awfully familiar...

Spychangers (also Spy Changers) are a special kind of Transformer that are slightly smaller in size than the average 'bot, and thus transform into smaller-than-normal cars and trucks. Though most have been members of the Autobots, the odd Decepticon Spychanger has also been known to exist.

Spychangers specialize in stealth missions of covert espionage and special operations. Some have even been known to display a number of extraordinary abilities, which enable them to turn invisible, phase through solid objects, and even drive along almost any surface at any angle. Those that possess these abilities have at times even been considered ninjas.

In certain cases, normal-sized Autobots and Decepticons can become Spychangers through a downsizing process that physically reconstructs their superstructures to the smaller Spychanger scale.

Fiction

Robots in Disguise cartoon continuity

2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Air Team, form Strato Fighter!

The Spychangers were a team of six special ops experts. They aided Optimus Prime on Earth in his battle against Megatron. Although they were highly intelligent, unfortunately, they weren't very strong in a head-on fight. (The comic relief trio of Gas Skunk, Slapper, and Dark Scream gave them trouble.)

When the Predacons stole a plutonium energy generator, T-AI called in the Spychangers. Hot Shot, Crosswise, and R.E.V. responded first, pursuing the Predacons onto the beach, where they were joined by the other three Spychangers, Mirage, Ironhide, and W.A.R.S.. The Predacons eventually escaped with a fake generator which the Spychangers had swapped for the real one. Spychangers to the Rescue

After Optimus was captured and tortured by Megatron, the Spychangers joined the Autobot Brothers in rescuing their leader and seeing off the Predacons. Sideburn's Obsession

Later, the team tried to protect a ruby from Predacon theft, and Mirage's failure to take a shot resulted in the Predacons escaping. When Mirage pretended to defect and led the Spychangers to Megatron's Mega-Laser Cannon, the team destroyed the weapon using the Global Space Bridge. Mirage's Betrayal

The Spychangers also took part in the International Grand Prix in an attempt to find Skid-Z and were blinded by Megatron a short time into the race. Skid Z's Choice On another occasion, the Spychangers were called back to base to watch footage of various battles, but had to wrap up a fight with the Predacons first. Hope for the Future

Land Team, form Turbo Terrain Fighter!

The Spychangers accompanied Optimus Prime to Montrose Island, where Predacon activity was causing the volcano there to become violent. They attempted to keep Scourge and Sky-Byte busy while Optimus went to use his blizzard storm on the volcano. When the volcano was ruptured and lava threatened the nearby resort, the Spychangers used their Inferno Blast formation to divert its path. Volcano

Sent to stop the Decepticons from finding Fortress Maximus, the Spychangers jumped out in front of the foe and were soundly trounced by Armorhide and Rollbar. Fortress Maximus

The Spychangers took part in the ambush of the Decepticons after the Autobot base was discovered. Surprise Attack! After Galvatron's defeat, they celebrated by racing with Skid-Z. The Final Battle

Spychangers:

• Hot Shot (Leader)
• Crosswise
• Ironhide
• Mirage
• R.E.V.
• W.A.R.S.

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The events of the Robots in Disguise cartoon occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that they take place in the world of the original Generation 1 cartoon where the Transformer cast are time travelers from the Beast Era to Tokyo in the year 2000.

e-HOBBY toy bios

The trans-dimensional GoBots used their unique transporter and bio-mechanical technologies to help produce the newest generation of Transformers. The Spychangers were among them.

Super Spychangers Lottery

With God Magnus having departed Earth aboard Brave Maximus, the Autobots were unable to call upon his power when a new menace suddenly arose to challenge them. A plan was put into motion to upgrade the Spychangers with Spark Engines, granting them Super Modes. The Secret of the Birth of the Super Spychangers

Ask Vector Prime

According to a tale heard by Vector Prime, the Spychangers were the only Autobots left on Earth when Chainsaw led the Mutants there. Utterly outclassed, the Spark Engines were created thanks to Professor Haruma Gō's new substance, go-brillium. They notched up many solo victories but had to relearn the importance of teamwork to finally win: under Super Art Fire's newly improved leadership, they mastered the partial invisibility upgrade Super X-Car had been tinkering with and used it to defeat the Mutants.

With the go-brillium used up, they were regular Spychangers again. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/01

Legends

When Black Convoy's forces attacked Neo Brave Maximus, the Super Spychangers counterattacked, but the damage they inflicted upon the Commando's ship caused it to crash into Maximus. LGEX Black Convoy Prologue

Spychangers:

• Art Fire (Leader)
• Counter Arrow
• Eagle Killer
• Ox
• Wars
• X-Car

Spychanger continuity

In Viron 1103.12 Gamma, Optimus Prime and her troops had to downsize with Spychanger technology after Sky-Byte poisoned Earth's energon supply. Scourge was the only Predacon/Decepticon who also downsized, but she alone was no match for the 13 Spychangers active on Earth. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/18

Autobot Spychangers:

• Optimus Prime (Leader)
• Crosswise
• Daytonus
• Hot Shot
• Ironhide
• Mirage
• Prowl
• R.E.V.
• Side Burn
• Side Swipe
• Ultra Magnus
• W.A.R.S.
• X-Brawn

Decepticon Spychanger:

• Scourge

Ask Vector Prime

In Primax 085.0 Eta, Optimus Prime and five of his Autobots Jazz, Wheeljack, Silverstreak, Prowl, and Hoist became Spy Changers, hoping to achieve their mission with stealth and diplomacy when they needed to travel to Gargent 087.0 Kappa due to a planet in that universe threatening to overwrite the existence of their Cybertron. They were able to achieve their mission with the help of the Guardians. In a later encounter with the Guardians, Trailbreaker became a Spy Changer as well. Ask Vector Prime, 30/9/2015 As did Red Alert. Renegade Rhetoric (2), 2016/05/02

In Quadwal 1215.15 Epsilon, these escapades were told in a Fun Publications convention comic called "Brain Problem Solution". Ask Vector Prime, 21/12/2015

Spy Changers:

• Optimus Prime (Leader)
• Hoist
• Jazz
• Prowl
• Red Alert
• Silverstreak
• Trailbreaker
• Wheeljack

Toys

Car Robots

The Car Robots toyline featured six small 1:64-scale cars with axles designed in the style of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. They had simple transformations with articulation limited to rotator joints at the shoulders, and each came with handgun weapons. These six toys were originally sold as the Go-Bots in 1995 as part of the Generation 2 toyline. For their release in the 2000 Car Robots line, they were redecoed and given the new team name of "Spychangers". Each one also had heat-sensitive black paint apps that revealed their Autobot symbols when warmed up, similar to rubsigns.

Spychangers (March 2000) C-005 Art Fire C-006 Eagle Killer C-007 Wars C-008 X-Car C-009 Ox C-010 Counter Arrow C-011 Spychanger DX 6-Piece Set Known designers: Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Spychanger DX 6-Piece Set

Late in the Car Robots toyline's life at mass retail, Japanese retailer JUSCO offered exclusive "Original Spychanger" redecos of the six toys as campaign items given away as blind-packed direct-mail premiums to members of JUSCO's "Peppy Kids Republic" (元気キッズ共和国 Genki Kidzu Kyōwakoku), a sort of subsidiary/offshoot for selling baby goods and children's clothing. These redecos were given wild color schemes in translucent plastic.

JUSCO-exclusive "Original Spychangers" (August 2000) Art Fire Counter Arrow Eagle Killer Ox Wars X-Car

"Original Spychanger" Counter Arrow

Robots in Disguise (2001)

For the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline, the six Spychangers were slightly redecoed from their original Car Robots release, replacing the heat-sensitive paint apps with tampographed Autobot symbols, which would become the standard for all later releases of the Spychangers. Each was sold at mass retail in three two-packs in the line's Basic Class assortment. During this time, the Spychanger toys were never actually referred to as such by Hasbro, with only the cartoon using the "Spychanger" name.

Basic Class Wave 1 (July 2001) Hot Shot & R.E.V. Ironhide & Mirage W.A.R.S. & Crosswise

Hot Shot

As the Robots in Disguise line continued, the Spychanger roster was greatly expanded. A second wave of Basic Class two-packs featured four new molds originally created for Generation 2 but never saw release until this point. This group is notable for being able to store their hand weapons while in vehicle mode, and for two of them (Side Burn and Prowl) representing Spychanger versions of larger figures.

Basic Class Wave 2 (September 2001) Prowl 2 & Side Swipe Side Burn & Daytonus

Daytonus

After the Basic Class's third wave of Decepticon Commandos (redecoed from Generation 1 Combaticon molds), a fourth wave introduced the third and final group of Spychanger-styled molds, this time created completely from scratch. Being the only brand-new molds created specifically for the Hasbro Robots in Disguise line (presumably intended for direct interactive play with the planned Robots in Disguise Fortress Maximus toy before its delayed release was canceled), all four were based on existing characters from the series who had larger toys, but only two (X-Brawn and Scourge) were fully designed in the Spychanger style and scale. The other two (Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus) were considerably larger than the typical Spychanger toys, but were still racetrack-compatible, leading many to consider them Spychangers as well (Hasbro was still not using the name at this time). Of further note is that these four molds lacked any handheld weapon accessories, and Scourge remains the only Decepticon Spychanger toy ever made.

Basic Class Wave 4 (January 2002) Optimus Prime Ultra Magnus X-Brawn & Scourge

X-Brawn

Once Robots in Disguise had ended its run at mass retail, the line carried on with store exclusives that coexisted with its successor line, Transformers: Armada. Among these exclusives were a 2002 assortment of Spychangers released at KB Toys and Target stores. For the first time, the original six Spychangers were released by Hasbro individually instead of in two-packs, and were finally referred to by the group's name on the packaging, albeit spelled as two words: "Spy Changers". These six kept their original Robots in Disguise paint applications but replaced the figures' opaque plastic with translucent plastic.

KB Toys/Target-exclusive Spy Changers (August 2002) Crosswise Hot Shot Ironhide Mirage R.E.V. W.A.R.S.

2002 Spy Changer R.E.V.

In 2003, a second assortment of individually-packaged "Spy Changers" were released at KB Toys. The original six were redecoed again, but this time in another round of wacky translucent color schemes, like how the JUSCO "Original Spychangers" were. They were also sold on Armada-styled cardbacks but retained the Robots in Disguise brand logo.

KB Toys-exclusive Spy Changers (June 2003) Crosswise Hot Shot Ironhide Mirage R.E.V. W.A.R.S.

2003 Spy Changer Crosswise

Also in 2003, an assortment of eight Spychangers were released as Tiny Tins collectibles. These eight were unchanged from their original Robots in Disguise mass retail releases and, for the first time, offered more than just the original six, adding Prowl 2 and Side Swipe to the mix. Also like the original releases, the packaging lacked any use of the names "Spychanger" or "Spy Changer".

Robots in Disguise Tiny Tins (July 2003) Crosswise Hot Shot Ironhide Mirage Prowl 2 R.E.V. Side Swipe W.A.R.S.

Tiny Tins Prowl 2

Super Spychanger Lottery

Three years after the Car Robots line had run its course, the original six Spychangers were given one more redecoed release, as Super Mode versions of themselves in the Super Spychanger Lottery line, sold mainly at convenience stores. This time, twelve figures were included in this release, with each of the six receiving a second clear-colored "chase figure". Much like the previous Robots in Disguise releases, each figure had its heat-sensitive paint apps replaced with tampographed Autobot symbols.

Super Spychangers (March 2003) Super Art Fire Super Art Fire Clear Version Super Counter Arrow Super Counter Arrow Clear Version Super Eagle Killer Super Eagle Killer Clear Version

Super Ox Super Ox Clear Version Super Wars Super Wars Clear Version Super X-Car Super X-Car Clear Version

Super Counter Arrow and Super Counter Arrow (Clear Version)

Universe (2003)

The 2003 Universe toyline saw further releases of the existing Spychanger molds. In 2004, Walmart released two two-packs containing redecos of the Robots in Disguise Basic class Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus toys, each packaged with a Spychanger given a Generation 1-inspired color scheme. Of note is that these two-packs each used the single-word "Spychanger" name for the first time ever, but only for the two smaller figures, implying that the Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus toys weren't Spychangers after all (but see "Notes" below).

Walmart-exclusive Basic class two-packs (February 2004) Optimus Prime with Prowl Spychanger Ultra Magnus with Ironhide Spychanger

Universe Walmart Spychanger Ironhide

Also in 2004, KB Toys released another assortment of "Spy Changers" (using the two-word spelling again, but see "Notes" below), this time using six molds from the Robots in Disguise Basic class's second and fourth waves (instead of reusing the original six Wave 1 molds for the umpteenth time). These six were all colored as classic Generation 1 Autobot characters and released on Armada: The Unicron Battles-styled cardbacks with a unique "Transformers" logo that lacked any kind of subtitle. A year later, all six were rereleased at dollar store chains, albeit repackaged in Universe-styled cardbacks with the proper Universe logo.

KB Toys/dollar store-exclusive Spy Changers Wave 1 (February 2004, February 2005) Hoist Autobot Jazz Optimus Prime Prowl Silverstreak Wheeljack

Spy Changer Autobot Jazz

In 2006, Universe released a second wave of the dollar store-exclusive Spy Changers. This wave consisted of rereleases of Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Autobot Jazz from the previous wave, plus repackaged and rebranded rereleases of the 2003 KB Toys-exclusive Robots in Disguise Spy Changers W.A.R.S., Ironhide, and Mirage, now representing Generation 1 characters like the others.

Dollar store-exclusive Spy Changers Wave 2 (August 2006) Autobot Camshaft Hoist Autobot Jazz Optimus Prime Mirage Prowl

Spy Changer Autobot Camshaft

Transformers (2007)

Optimus Prime Figure

A redeco of Robots in Disguise Spychanger Scourge as Movie Optimus Prime was released in Japan as a preorder exclusive for the Transformers DVD or HD-DVD. Page 52 of Transformers Generations 2009 Vol. 2 gives this toy the name of "Optimus Prime Figure" (オプティマスプライム・フィギア).

Optimus Prime Figure (2007)

Optimus Prime

Notes

Come on, they're spies. Obviously they would change their name on a frequent basis.

When Optimus Prime and Autobot Jazz were no longer Autobots.

• The Japanese names of the Car Robots Spychangers are spelled with the first six kana in the Japanese syllabary—a (ア, Art Fire), i (イ, Eagle Killer), u (ウ, Wars), e (エ, X-Car), o (オ, Ox), and ka (カ, Counter Arrow).
• The spelling for the name of this subgroup varies:
  • Though the name originates with the Japanese Car Robots version or the series, an official English spelling was not provided, as the name was only rendered as スパイチェンジャー ("Spychanger") in katakana on the toys' packaging and in the title of the cartoon episode "Ninja Robo! Enter the Spychangers".
  • When Hasbro ported the Series to the United States as Robots in Disguise, the toys were sold as two-packs under the "Basic" price point, with no reference to their subgroup on packaging.
  • "Spychanger" was used during the cartoon's run, such as in the production bible and the title of the dubbed version of the aforementioned cartoon episode, "Spychangers to the Rescue".
  • Several months after the cartoon's final episode had aired on US television, Hasbro released redecos of the original six figures as exclusives to KB Toys and Target stores, with the name "Spy Changers" printed on the toys' packaging, spelled as two words. The same spelling was subsequently also used for a second set of KB Toys-exclusive redecos, a set of G1-colored redecos of the six Robots in Disguise Basic Class Wave 2 and 4 two-packed figures, as well as the rebranded re-releases of those "G1" Spychangers in Universe packaging.
  • Conversely, a KB Toys catalog for the Armada toyline featured several KB Toys exclusive Robots in Disguise figures, as well as the "G1" Spychangers, with the latter being given their own header (as if they were a separate faction alongside "Autobots", "Decepticons", "Mini-Con Teams" and "Unicron") that spelled "Spychangers" as a single word.
  • Likewise, the two Walmart exclusive redeco two-packs from the Universe line spelled the subgroup's name as one word again.
  • 2004's Transformers: The Ultimate Guide made consistent use of the single-word "Spychanger" spelling in its section covering the Robots in Disguise toyline.
  • That same year, the OTFCC 2004 Voice Actor Drama featured the four Walmart-exclusive Universe Basic class toy characters. While the word "Spychanger" was not used in the script reading itself, certain copies of the script included an outline for a never-released "Transformers: Universe #½" issue; in said outline, the single-word "Spychanger" spelling was used twice.
  • And finally, Maximum Entertainment's DVD releases of the Robots in Disguise cartoon in the United Kingdom featured character profiles as bonus content; said profiles likewise used the single-word "Spychanger" spelling.
  • However, in 2015, the Ask Vector Prime Facebook column would default to using the two-word "Spy Changer" spelling, but which was largely due to the fact that this very wiki article had originally used that spelling; Ask Vector Prime was simply using what this wiki was using at the time.

Overall, it would appear that the spelling "Spy Changer" as two words was more of an afterthought on behalf of Hasbro.

• Similarly, the road to the Basic class Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus toys being officially considered Spychangers has been a rocky one:
  • In their original Robots in Disguise release, no reference to their being Spychangers was ever given on the packaging, but (as stated above) this was also the case for every Spychanger toy. The two were also significantly larger than the other Spychanger toys, and were each sold individually, rather than in two-packs like all the other Spychanger toys were. But because they were tiny versions of much larger toys (just like their wave-mates, the Spychanger versions of X-Brawn and Scourge) and had comparable wheels and axel widths, many fans considered these two toys to be Sypchangers despite their larger size.
  • When the two were redecoed in the Universe line, while the name "Spychanger" finally saw use on their packaging, the wording of "Optimus Prime with Prowl Spychanger" and "Ultra Magnus with Ironhide Spychanger"on their packaging seemed to imply that only the smaller figures were actually considered Spychangers, not Optimus or Magnus.
  • In the Robots in Disguise pages of Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, the Basic class Ultra Magnus toy was given its own section separate from the Spychanger section, and was only labeled as a "basic" and never a "Spychanger", further suggesting that the Ultra Magnus (and Optimus Prime) Basic class toys weren't actually Spychangers.
  • It wouldn't been until the OTFCC 2004 Voice Actor Drama that the two would finally be first officially declared as Spychangers. As stated before, the word "Spychanger" wasn't used in the script reading itself, but was used in the outline for the unreleased "Transformers: Universe #½" issue found in certain copies of the script. In the section of the outline that lists the voice cast for the script reading, Optimus was identified as "Spychanger OPTIMUS PRIME", and later in the outline, all four were referred to by the text as "Spychanger-style reinforcements".
  • Years later, Ask Vector Prime would flesh out the backstory of the four Universe Spychangers from the 2004 script reading, and not only continued to treat Optimus and Magnus as Spychangers, but even retroactively declared Spychanger Optimus (and Scourge) to be female, in honor of the fact that Optimus was voiced by Michelle Irby in the 2004 script reading.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Spychanger (スパイチェンジャー Supaichenjā)
• Korean: Spychanger (스파이체인져 Seupaicheinjyeo)