W.A.R.S.
- W.A.R.S. is an Autobot Spy Changer from the 2001 Robots in Disguise continuity family.
Equipped with his thick armor, W.A.R.S. loves nothing more than bodily crashing into his enemies. Unusually belligerent for an Autobot, both friends and foes alike are shocked by his violent actions. He's pretty handy with his machine gun, too, and has no qualms with firing away when he needs to.
W.A.R.S.'s name stands for Wicked Attack Recon Sportscar. Whether that means W.A.R.S. is wicked sweet is another discussion altogether.
Fiction
2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon
- Voice actor: Steve Blum (English), Riki Kitazawa (Japanese), Oleg Kutsenko (Russian), Jung Goo Lee, Byeong-gwan Kim (Korean), Herman López (Latin-American Spanish), Alejandro Illescas (Latin-American Spanish)
When the Predacons stole the Plutonium Energy Generator and attempted to escape along a beach, W.A.R.S., along with Ironhide and Mirage, cut them off by driving across the water. During the "Cyber-jousting", W.A.R.S. demonstrated his ability to do a wheelie with Hot Shot riding atop him. The Predacons eventually escaped with a fake generator which the Spy Changers had swapped for the real one. Spychangers to the Rescue
After Optimus was captured and tortured by Megatron, the Spy Changers 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, Hot Shot ordering Mirage onto a nearby roof to shoot the Predacons if all else failed. When Mirage failed to fire, W.A.R.S. was the first to criticise him and watched with disbelief as his fellow Spy Changer quit. Ironhide went to talk their teammate into returning, despite W.A.R.S. claiming that he was wasting his time. Although he was correct, Mirage's subsequent defection to the Predacons was a ruse resulting in the destruction of Megatron's Mega-Laser Cannon. W.A.R.S. did not apologise. W.A.R.S. is a dick. Mirage's Betrayal
The Spy Changers 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 Spy Changers were called back to base to watch footage of various battles, but had to wrap up a fight with the Predacons first. Hot Shot rode on W.A.R.S. again. Hope for the Future
The Spy Changers accompanied Optimus Prime to Montrose Island where Predacon activity was causing the volcano 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 Spy Changers used their Inferno Blast to divert its path. Volcano
Sent to stop the Decepticons from finding Fortress Maximus, the Spy Changers jumped out in front of the foe and were soundly trounced by Armorhide and Rollbar. Fortress Maximus
In between all their adventures, the Autobots still had to perform some of the more menial tasks, such as regularly testing out the global space bridge. Lessons of the Past
The Spy Changers 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
Super Spy Changers catalog
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. In order to combat this threat, a plan was put into motion to upgrade the Spy Changers with Spark Engines, granting them Super Modes.
Super Wars obtained the capability to use his armor to barrel into his opponents and resist enemy fire. He also gained a more calming presence.[1][2]
Ask Vector Prime
The threat was Chainsaw and his Mutants. Super Wars's armor was used to defeat Dirty Bomb in New Orleans. His calming presence came in handy when Chainsaw and the rest of his Mutants attempted to overrun the Autobot base. Using the power of teamwork, the Super Spy Changers defeated and captured the villains. Though the Go-Brillium which powered them was used up and they were no longer Super, they retained new color schemes. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/01
Toys
Car Robots / Robots in Disguise (2001)
- Wars (Spy Changer, 2000)
- Japanese ID number: C-007
- Accessories: Rifle
- A redeco of the Generation 2 Go-Bots Gearhead mold, WARS transforms into a Ford Thunderbird NASCAR stock car. He features a through-axle construction that allows him to zip quickly along smooth surfaces in car mode, and is compatible with many "Hot Wheels" and "Matchbox" racetracks. His silver windshield has heat-sensitive paint that reveals an Autobot insignia, in a method similar to the original rubsigns.
- This mold was also used to make the Generation 2 Go-Bot version of Soundwave, and Universe Camshaft (see below). It was planned for use as Generation 2 Greasepit, but that toy was ultimately canceled.
- Spy Changer DX Set (Multi-pack, 2000)
- Japanese ID number: C-011
- Accessories: Rifle
- All six Spy Changers were not only sold as individuals in Japan, but in a six-piece gift set as well. Each one was identical to their individual release.
- Wars clear version (Spy Changer, 2000)
- Accessories: Rifle
- An exclusive redeco of WARS in clear-red and clear-yellow plastics, this version was only available from JUSCO stores in Japan as a direct-mail premium to members of their "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. Since membership was open only to kids 12 and under and this version was shipped blind-packed, getting the entire set of six was extremely difficult.
- W.A.R.S. / Crosswise (Basic, 2001)
- Accessories: Rifle
- Available only in a two-pack with Crosswise, the Hasbro version of W.A.R.S. replaces the heat-sensitive insignia with a normal Autobot insignia tampograph on the roof of the car. The window-paint was changed to metallic-flake blue, and yellow stripes were added to the bottom edge of the vehicle sides.
- The initial releases of this set have W.A.R.S. packaged in robot mode with Crosswise in vehicle mode, pointed straight upward. Later releases have both toys in vehicle mode, tilted to a 1 o'clock position.
- W.A.R.S. (Spy Changer, 2002)
- Accessories: Rifle
- All six original Spy Changers were redecoed in clear plastics (keeping their normal paint applications, though), and released on individual cards through KB Toys chains. W.A.R.S. was decoed similarly to the JUSCO except that the clear yellow was changed to clear orange.
- W.A.R.S. (Tiny Tins, 2002)
- Accessories: Rifle, carrying tin
- The normal Hasbro version of W.A.R.S. was released as part of the first assortment of Tiny Tins Transformers, coming with a carrying tin.
- Super Wars (Spy Changer, 2003)
- Accessories: Rifle
- Long after the Car Robots line ended in Japan, Takara put out individually-boxed redecoes of the Spy Changers. Wars was decoed grey and dark blue.
- In each case of twelve Super Spy changers, two were all-clear-plastic versions (but keeping their paint applications). All six Spy Changers had a clear variant, but the toys were packaged in such a way that you did not know which two molds were "chase" versions until you opened them up.
- W.A.R.S. (Spy Changer, 2003)
- Accessories: Rifle
- A second round of KB Toys exclusive Spy Changers was released on individual cards. This time around, he was done in clear-purple and clear-orange. This was the only deco of W.A.R.S. without his name (in either Japanese or English) on his body.
- This toy was re-released unmodified in a new packaging as Universe Camshaft. It's a good thing he didn't have "W.A.R.S." on him, isn't it? Much later, it was repurposed as Shattered Glass Camshaft.
Notes
- The Japanese kanji on W.A.R.S.'s chest reads "sen" (戦), which means "match" or "competition". However, when written as "sensō" (戦争), it means "war".
- This mold is the only one of the original six Go-Bots/Spy Changers to have a rifle that does not share plastics with the robot it comes with.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Wars (ウォーズ Wōzu)
- Korean: Wars (워즈 Wojeu)
- Russian: Voin (Воин, '"Warrior")
