Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 toyline)
| The name or term "Robots in Disguise" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Robots in Disguise (disambiguation). |
The Takara Car Robots toyline, brought to the West as Robots in Disguise, marked a turning point for the Transformers franchise in both markets, both as the end of the "Beast Era" and the return of more "traditional" franchise elements... though the two companies differed in just how many elements they brought back.
Both lines are predominantly filled with robots that transform into realistic (or close enough) modern-day Earth vehicles, though a significant number of villains become robotic beasts. The classic Autobot symbol made its return, but the Decepticons would only appear in the Hasbro version of the line.
Though the toyline struggled in Japan (leading to another year-long gap in Transformers product there), it was a rousing success in Hasbro's markets, continuing well past its normal retail life through a number of store exclusives.
Overview
Takara's Car Robots
At the end of the 1990's, Transformers was floundering in Japan. Though the original Beast Wars toyline had reinvigorated the franchise there just as it had in the US, Takara's follow-ups/fillers Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo failed to retain its kid audience, to the point where the Beast Wars Metals series, aka "the Transmetal toys and the last two seasons of the Mainframe cartoon" couldn't gain purchase. While Hasbro would continue the Beast theme with Beast Machines, Takara decided to change direction.
A new toyline for the new millennium, 2000's Car Robots focused on modern-day Earth vehicles. The "headliners" of the line are all new-mold toys, with some redecorated toys from previous lines (most of which had not been released in Japan previously). The line is marked by an extremely wide variation in quality, complexity, realism and posability. At one end of the spectrum were fairly simple designs from previous lines, such as the Commandos and Spy Changers. On the flip side, most of Takara's original mold designs were extremely complex, often to the point of frustrating fans with their origami-like shellformer transformations that required stuffing robotic bits just so to make them all fit together in vehicle form — though some fans also found this same complexity to be an enjoyable challenge.
Hasbro's Robots in Disguise
When the Transtech toyline concept was dropped, Hasbro needed additional time to develop a new franchise to follow the Beast Era. In 2000, the company therefore opted to bring over Takara's Car Robots line, rebranding the toyline as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
As sales rose and more toys were needed, Hasbro added in still more redecorated toys to pad the line out toward its end. By the time all was said and done, Robots in Disguise included molds from Generation 1, Generation 2, Beast Wars, Machine Wars, and Beast Machines—in other words, every American toyline that had been produced to that point. Several cancelled/delayed/unproduced molds from previous lines were brought out as well, such as Air Attack Optimus Primal.
Robots in Disguise was the first (and thus far, the only) time an existing Japanese line was brought over wholesale to the US. Though the toys were new to the line's primary audience of children, many fans had already paid considerably higher prices to import the toys from Japan. Despite this, the line was met with a generally positive reception by fans (particularly those who'd found import prices to be more than they were willing to dish out), and seemed to sell well enough to kids as well, if the number of later redeco additions to the line is any indication.
Takara Car Robots toyline
Cybertrons
- C-001 Super Fire Convoy
- C-002 Wild Ride
- C-003 Mach Alert
- C-004 Speedbreaker
- C-005 Artfire (redeco of Blowout)
- C-006 Eagle Killer (redeco of Firecracker)
- C-007 Wars (redeco of Gearhead)
- C-008 X-Car (redeco of High Beam)
- C-009 Ox (redeco of Motormouth)
- C-010 Counter Arrow (redeco of Double Clutch)
- C-011 Spychangers DX6 Set
- C-016 Indy Heat (redeco of Machine Wars Mirage/Prowl)
- C-017 Wrecker Hook (redeco of Machine Wars Hoist/Hubcap)
- C-018 Build Boy
- C-019 Build Hurricane
- C-020 Build Typhoon
- C-021 Build Cyclone
- C-022 Build King giftset
- C-023 God Magnus
- C-024 Super Wild Ride (redeco of Wild Ride)
- C-025 Super Mach Alert (redeco of Mach Alert)
- C-026 Super Speedbreaker (redeco of Speedbreaker)
- C-027 Brave Maximus (redeco of Fortress Maximus)
Destrongers/Combatrons
- D-001 Gigatron
- D-002 Gaskunk (redeco of Stinkbomb)
- D-003 Guildo (redeco of Nightglider)
- D-004 Gushar (redeco of Transmetal 2 Spittor)
- D-005 Gelshark (redeco of Transmetal 2 Cybershark)
- D-006 Greejeeber (redeco of Swindle)
- D-007 Dangar (redeco of Brawl)
- D-008 Shuttler (redeco of Blast Off)
- D-009 Hepter (redeco of Vortex)
- D-010 Dolrailer (redeco of Onslaught)
- D-011 Baldigus giftset
- D-012 Black Convoy (redeco of Generation 2 Laser Optimus Prime)
- D-013 Devil Gigatron (redeco of Gigatron)
Exclusives
- Artfire (clear)
- Counter Arrow (clear)
- Eagle Killer (clear)
- Ox (clear)
- Wars (clear)
- X-Car (clear)
- Super Indy Heat (clear blue)
Daiei
- Super Wrecker Hook (clear orange)
- God Fire Convoy Special Clear Version (includes clear versions of Super Fire Convoy and God Magnus)
Osaka Toys Land Show/Super Festival 19/BotCon Japan 2000
- S(uper) Car Robo 3 Kyodai Set <Clear Version> (Sカーロボ3兄弟セット <クリアーバージョン>, includes C-024-S Wild Ride, C-025-S Mach Alert, & C-026-S Speedbreaker)
Hasbro Robots in Disguise toyline
Put out as something of a stopgap "filler" line, Hasbro took the Car Robots toys and did some tweaking for its 2001 US release: slight deco changes, adding Autobot and Decepticon faction symbols, and minor retooling here and there. They also supplemented the line with a host of redecoed and previously-unreleased molds.
And the line took off, so much that Hasbro scrambled to fill out the line more, dipping into more unreleased toys and even more decos, even finding the tooling of a few all-new small-scale items.
Standard retail
- Basic class
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | Wave 3 | Wave 4 |  | ||||
| Wave 5 |
- Tiny Tins
- An odd side-class, the Tiny Tins were actually sub-licensed releases, single Spy Changer toys that came with a small tin carrying case.
| Wave 1 |  |
- Deluxe class
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | Wave 3 | Wave 4 |  | ||||
| Wave 5 | Wave 6 |
- Mega class
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | Wave 3 |  |
- Ultra class
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 |  |
- Super class
| Wave 1 |
Exclusives
| KB Toys | |||||||||
| Target | Toys"R"Us | Walmart |
Sonokong Car Bot toyline
In 2003, Takara-licensor Sonokong imported the Car Robots line into the Korean market as Jeonguiui Yongsa: Car Bot (정의의 용사 카봇, "Brave Heroes of Justice: Car-Bots"). For the most part, these imports followed the Japanese toy line, with only cosmetic changes on the boxes. At the tail end of the line, however, Sonokong repackaged several Destrons from the older Beast Wars II line in Car Bot boxes; the toys themselves were unchanged, which meant that the figures who were sold as heroic Cybertrons still had the Predacon insignia on them. While most of these re-releases had new names, the Sonokong line also re-released Beast Wars II Galvatron as the Destronger "Gigatron Z", seemingly an additional version of Car Robots Gigatron/Robots in Disguise Megatron.
Cybertrons
- C-000 Car Bot Brothers (C-002 Wildride, C-003 Mach Alert, C-004 Speedbreaker)
- C-001 Super Fire Convoy
- C-011 Spychanger (C-005 Artfire, C-006 Eaglekiller, C-007 Wars, C-008 X-Car, C-009 Ox, C-010 Countarrow)
- C-015 J.R.X (J-Five, J-Seven, J-Four)
- C-022 Build King (Build Boy, Build Cane, Build Typhoon, Build Clone)
- C-023 God Magnus
- C-027 Braver Maximus
- D-12 Armored Corps (Megastorm)
- D-13 Stealth Saber (Starscream with BB)
- Scoutforce Gift Set with D-17 Scoutstinger, D-18 Scoutslasher, D-19 Scoutjet, and D-20 Scoutlauncher (Autoroller Gift Set with Autostinger, Autocrasher, Autojetter, and Autolauncher)
Destrongers
- D-001 Gigatron
- D-005 Gelshark
- D-011 Baldigus (Dolrailer, Greejeeber, Danga, Shuttler, Hepter)
- D-012 Black Convoy
- D-16 Gigatron Z (Galvatron)
Innovations and lasting effects
- Like Beast Wars before it, Robots in Disguise also integrated the robots' weapons and accessories into their alternate modes, now applying the concept to Transformers who transform into vehicles as well.
- Robots in Disguise firmly established redecos of previously released toys from the same line marketed as the same characters as the older toys (as compared to different characters), with the accompanying fiction often identifying the new decos as the result of a "power-up".
- Robots in Disguise also introduced trilingual packaging to the United States market, which would last four years.
- While store exclusives had existed since almost the beginning of the brand, the expanded Robots in Disguise line was when the concept really took off beyond "three or four exclusives for an entire line".
Notes
- Although not branded as Car Robots product, The Transformers: Super Spy Changer Lottery figure assortment sold by Takara in 2003 features the Car Robots Spy Changer characters, and its pack-in catalog makes reference to the end of the Car Robots TV show.
- The 2008 Universe toyline includes toys marked as "Robots in Disguise series".
Foreign names
- French: Les Robots Mutants (France), Robots Déguisés (Canada)
- German: Getarnte Roboter
- Spanish: Transformers: Robots Camuflados (America)
