Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)

From MediaWiki
Revision as of 01:13, 27 September 2016 by Autoroller (talk | contribs) (→Cast)
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the 2015 cartoon. For the 2001 cartoon, see Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon). For a list of other meanings, see Robots in Disguise (disambiguation).

Template:Nav-Rid2015

Features more beast-hunting than Beast Hunters!

Transformers: Robots in Disguise is an animated television series that premiered on Cartoon Network[1] in the United States on March 14, 2015.[2] Set years after Transformers: Prime, the show follows Bumblebee as he travels back to Earth after the prison ship Alchemor crash-lands on the planet. Charged with rounding up the escaped Decepticon prisoners, he reluctantly takes command of a new team of Autobots.

The show made its worldwide debut in late December 2014, with the first 13 episodes released as pay-to-view content on Chinese video streaming website M1905.

In September 2015, Hasbro announced a second season of the show.[3] Season 2 began screening on February 20, 2016, with a third season set for release in fall 2016. [4]

Season 1 of the show is currently available on Netflix in certain regions.

Overview

Years after the Great War, the Autobot prison ship Alchemor crashes on Earth near Crown City, sparking a mass Decepticon jailbreak. Meanwhile, on a rebuilt Cybertron, war veteran Bumblebee is now working as a street cop, mentoring Cadet Strongarm. Bumblebee is alerted to the danger on Earth by a vision of a ghostly Optimus Prime, who directs them to a nearby space bridge.

Bumblebee unwillingly finds himself accompanied to Earth by Strongarm, and the delinquent Sideswipe, where they encounter Fixit, sole caretaker of the former prison ship. They're joined by the ex-Decepticon prisoner Grimlock, human scrapyard owner Denny Clay and his son Russell. Although he's not confident in his leadership abilities, Bumblebee nevertheless pledges to round up the inmates of the Alchemor. Chief among the Decepticon threat is the charismatic Steeljaw, who seeks to organize the escaped prisoners into an effective cabal to conquer the planet.

Over the course of the first season, new Autobots bolster the ranks of the team, including the bounty hunter Drift, his two Mini-Cons Jetstorm and Slipstream, the mysterious Windblade, and finally Optimus Prime himself, returned to life by the Thirteen to defeat Megatronus.

Season 2 sees Bumblebee's team split into two groups: an "away team" to search the world for far-ranging Decepticons while Bumblebee, Strongarm, Grimlock, and Fixit hold down the fort near Crown City. Still recovering from his humiliating rout at the hands of Megatronus, Steeljaw allies with a mysterious group of Decepticons led by Saberhorn, Glowstrike and Scorponok, operating out of the crashed Alchemor. True to form, Steeljaw plots to rise through the ranks of this new army and seize control of the group for himself.

The second season features a much larger amount of references to predecessor series Prime in an effort to forge a stronger sense of continuity between the two. Coinciding with this, the season sees the return of Ratchet now partnered with a silent Mini-Con named Undertone. Also returning is Soundwave and Laserbeak. Pokeformers Mini-Cons were also a big focus of this season with at least one appearing in every episode.

Cast

(Autobots listed in order of which they join the team.)
(Decepticons (except for Steeljaw) listed in order of arrest.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

The Bee Team

Others

Mini-Cons

Steelaw's Pack

Decepticon Island

Scavangers


Others


Main cast

Others

Thirteen

Episodes

Main article: List of Robots in Disguise (2015) episodes

Season 1

  1. "Pilot (Part 1)"
  2. "Pilot (Part 2)"
  3. "Trust Exercises"
  4. "More than Meets the Eye"
  5. "W.W.O.D.?"
  6. "As the Kospego Commands!"
  7. "Collect 'Em All"
  8. "True Colors"
  9. "Rumble in the Jungle"
  10. "Can You Dig It?"
  11. "Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting!"
  12. "Hunting Season"
  13. "Out of Focus"
  14. "Sideways"
  15. "Even Robots Have Nightmares"
  16. "Some Body, Any Body"
  17. "One of Our Mini-Cons Is Missing"
  18. "Deep Trouble"
  19. "The Champ"
  20. "The Trouble with Fixit"
  21. "Lockout"
  22. "Similarly Different"
  23. "The Buzz on Windblade"
  24. "Ghosts and Impostors"
  25. "Battlegrounds, Part 1"
  26. "Battlegrounds, Part 2"

Season 2

  1. "Overloaded, Part 1"
  2. "Overloaded, Part 2"
  3. "Metal Meltdown"
  4. "Suspended"
  5. "Cover Me"
  6. "Brainpower"
  7. "Misdirection"
  8. "Bumblebee's Night Off"
  9. "Impounded"
  10. "Portals"
  11. "Graduation Exercises"
  12. "Decepticon Island (Part 1)"
  13. "Decepticon Island (Part 2)"

Season 3

  1. "History Lessons"
  2. "Strongarm's Big Score"
  3. "Pretzel Logic"
  4. "Mighty Big Trouble"
  5. "Mini-Con Madness"

Shorts

  1. "Fixit Jam"
  2. "To Catch a Phrase"
  3. "Sticky Situation"
  4. "Carjacked!"
  5. "Perfect"
  6. "Knock, Knock!"
  7. "The Power of Dibs"
  8. "Back and Forth"
  9. "The Tragedy of Slipstream"
  10. "A Level Playing Field"
  11. "Two Plus Two Equals More"

Production

Crew members returning from Prime include executive producer Jeff Kline and writer Steven Melching, now story editor, and Mairghread Scott, serving as Script Coordinator/Writer’s Assistant.[5] Adam Beechen serves as the producer. Kevin Manthei and Kevin Kiner serve as series composers.[6] Once again, Polygon Pictures handled the animation.[7]

Japanese release

Robots in Disguise was released in Japan as two separately branded series.

Transformers Adventure

Transformers Adventure (トランスフォーマー アドベンチャー Toransufōmā Adobenchā) aired on the satellite network Animax with a Sunday, 9am timeslot. Adventure was the first Transformers cartoon to be relegated directly to satellite since Beast Wars Returns. It premiered on March 15, 2015... only a day after the US premiere.

The localization for the series was headed by Keiichirō Miyoshi, who headed the localization of the live-action Transformers films for Japanese markets. This also makes Adventure the first American Transformers cartoon to be released in Japan without the oversight of Yoshikazu Iwanami since Generation 1. While an effort was made to emulate the dubbing style of Iwanami, which has become synonymous with Transformers cartoons in Japan, the adlibbing was not nearly as extensive and fourth wall-breaking humor was non-existent.

Since Adventure aired on a satellite network and not a broadcast network, it was not edited for time like previous Transformers cartoons. The episodes were fully uncut and featured extended opening and ending sequences. The title sequence was comprised mostly of clips from episodes, but new animation (mostly group shots) was provided by LandQ Studio. The end credits sequence featured a newly animated "stage performance" from the cast (which really must be seen to be believed), animated by Nakano Design.

As is rather well-known, Transformers: Prime did not complete its run in Japan, ending at 52 episodes. To date, Japanese audiences have not received the Beast Hunters episodes or the Predacons Rising film. The Adventure series did not alter the scripts to account for this, although it mostly played as a separate entity from Prime.

Animax aired the episodes using the Australian broadcast order rather than the US order, which is actually the incorrect continuity sequence. As a result, "Sideways" aired before "Out of Focus".

The theme song for the series is "Save the Future!!" by Mitsuhiro Oikawa and the ending theme is "Try☆Transformers Adventure↑↑↑" performed by the primary cast of the show (Bumblebee, Strongarm, Sideswipe, Fixit, Grimlock, and Optimus Prime).

Transformers Adventure -Prime of Micron-

Season 2 began airing on July 3, 2016[8] under the title Transformers Adventure -Prime of Micron- (トランスフォーマー アドベンチャー -マイクロンの章- Toransufōmā Adobenchā -Maikuron no Shō-). Incidentally, the "Maikuron no Shō" portion of the Japanese title actually translates to "Micron Chapter", but nobody tell them that. Like the previous season/series, it airs on Animax with a Sunday morning, 9:00am timeslot.

Notes

  • "TF2" was an early working name for the series.
  • Robots in Disguise did not have the most successful record when it came to premiering new episodes; in fact, every single episode of the first season was released through a different venue before it was broadcast on U.S. television.
    • The first 13 episodes of the series were released, dubbed in Mandarin Chinese, on December 31, 2014 in mainland China, but not Hong Kong, several weeks in advance of their US broadcast. The episodes were made available on website 1905.com, with five-minute previews being free and the whole episodes available until January 15 for CNY/RMB ¥19.5, which is around USD$3–4. You could even win a "fabulous" assortment of Hasbro toys (legion class) and a RMB¥30 digital coupon if you paid for the episodes!
    • The show went on to to premiere on Canal J in France, Biggs in Portugal, and Cartoon Network in Hungary before the U.S. airings began. In particular, the English-language version of the show premiered on Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand about a month before the US airing; the channel aired two episodes a week instead of one, and so quickly tore through the first thirteen episodes of the season.
    • The fourteenth episode debuted on Singaporean television two months before its US airing.
    • The final twelve episodes of the season were then released in two six-episode chunks via Australian iTunes in the first two weeks of June, 2015, allowing viewers to see the season finale three months before it aired in the US.
    • Things seemed like they were going better for the second season, which managed to debut 6 episodes on US television, before Cartoon Network UK—airing two new episodes a week instead of just one—caught up to, and overtook, the US broadcast, airing the season finale around a month before the US.
    • Season 3 then began screening on Teletoon in Canada before a US premiere date had even been announced.
  • While it's possibly a coincidence, this series features antagonists with animal-like forms for the Autobots to fight, much like the series' 2001 namesake predecessor and its featured villains.

Foreign names

  • Japanese: Transformers Adventure (トランスフォーマー アドベンチャー Toransufōmā Adobenchā, season 1), Transformers Adventure -Prime of Micron- (トランスフォーマー アドベンチャー -マイクロンの章- Toransufōmā Adobenchā -Maikuron no Shō-, season 2)
  • Czech: Transformers: Roboti v utajení ("Transformers: Robots in Disguise")
  • French: Transformers Robots in Disguise : Mission Secrète ("Transformers Robots in Disguise: Secret Mission")
  • German: Transformers: Getarnte Roboter ("Transformers: Disguised Robots")
  • Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng: Lǐngxiù de Tiǎozhàn (变形金刚：领袖的挑战, "Transformers: Leader's Challenge")
  • Russian: Transformery: Roboty pod prikrytiyem (Трансформеры: Роботы под прикрытием, "Transformers: Robots in Disguise")

References

  1. ↑ Cartoon Network Becomes the Home of Hasbro Studios' Newest Series, Transformers: Robots in Disguise
  2. ↑ Cartoon Network Gears Up for Transformers: Robots in Disguise
  3. ↑ MIPJunior Spotlight: Hasbro Studios
  4. ↑ Botcon 2016 - Q& A Interview with Hasbro Transformers Team
  5. ↑ Mairghread's Tumblr Post
  6. ↑ Kevin Manthei's Tumblr post
  7. ↑ Tweet by Polygon Pictures CEO Shuzo Shiota
  8. ↑ [1]
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Transformers:_Robots_in_Disguise_(2015_cartoon)&oldid=1133038"