Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)
| 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). |
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Transformers: Robots in Disguise is a Transformers franchise that launched in the year 2001. It was an American port of the 2000 Japanese Transformers series Transformers: Car Robots (トランスフォーマー カーロボット). The franchise was the first full-on reboot series in Transformers history on both sides of the globe, which caused a heck of a ruckus among the fandom when it was new. Since then, however, it has faded into relative obscurity.
Taking place on Earth at the turn of the century, the series follows Optimus Prime (or "Fire Convoy") and his Autobots (or "Cybertrons") protecting the planet and its long-lost Cybertronian artifacts from the ambitions of the evil Megatron (or "Gigatron") and his Predacons (or "Destrongers").
In-universe, the Robots in Disguise continuity is referred to as "Viron" in the TransTechs' universal stream designators... but Car Robots is not. We'll explain that below.
The Robots in Disguise franchise featured the following primary components:
- A toyline
- A cartoon series
- A single American comic book story by Dreamwave (produced after the series ended production) set in the same continuity as the cartoon series.
Due to retcons by the Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime, the franchise is also tied to:
History
The series's original incarnation, Car Robots, was created in response to the continually-declining sales of Takara's Beast Wars-based toylines. As Hasbro moved into Beast Machines, Takara opted instead to start anew -and tap into nostalgia as well- by bringing back the traditional modern Earth vehicle heroes with the classic Autobot big red face faction symbol. However, the villains of the series did not follow suit; while "Destronger" leader "Gigatron" was an all-new toy mold, his lackeys were all redecoed Transmetal 2 molds that had been developed for Beast Wars, and the team was given the Predacon symbol as had the villains from the prior shows. Further villain reinforcements, the Combatrons, were even older molds based on modern Earth vehicles, but got a black, upside-down Generation 2 Autobot symbol... apparently due to Takara's unwillingness to retool one of the toys to remove the faction symbol from it.
A year later in America, Hasbro decided it was time to end the Beast Era (which was also flagging in sales). Hasbro and Takara began work to co-develop the next series intended for both markets, Armada, but Hasbro refused to not have Transformers toys on the shelves despite Beast Machines under-performing. Thus, they quickly ported over Car Robots, re-branding it as Robots in Disguise, as a low-cost, low-work "filler" line. While the animalistic badguys retained the Predacon logo (and faction name), all of the badguys who turned into Earth vehicles got the traditional Decepticon emblem. Hasbro even expanded the product offerings with more redecos and minor retools of older molds, including a few previously-canceled ones. (Takara, meanwhile, apparently had no qualms about letting almost two years pass with no kid-aimed Transformers toys on the shelves.)
Where Car Robots sputtered in Japan, Robots in Disguise took off with a roar in America, thanks in no small part to the cartoon airing on the popular Fox Kids programming block.
The continuity kerfuffle
Fictionally, Car Robots itself contains no ties to the prior long-running continuity in any way... a tactic that is common in long-running Japanese franchises, but had not yet been applied to Transformers. Taken on its own, it is on its own. Robots in Disguise followed suit, being irreconcilable with either of the major Hasbro-backed Generation 1 continuities, which caused no end of confusion among the fandom. The idea of a total continuity reboot took some time to settle in... which was not helped by the English dub adding in numerous references to Generation 1 concepts and characters (which typically made things less compatible), nor the toy line having two characters from prior series (Axer and Optimus Primal) actually cross dimensions into the current continuity.
Eventually, the fandom got used to the idea of this series being on its own, helped along when Armada would similarly reboot the continuity.
HOWEVER.
In 2007, Takara's Kiss Players comic had begun a time-jumping story, with the series' protagonists traveling in Brave Maximus... a Car Robots concept. The series even ended with Brave crashing into Planet Master before its refugee inhabitants had developed the Headmaster technology, stating that Brave Maximus's wreckage would provide the catalyst not just for the technology, but for the construction of the physically identical Fortress Maximus. Other printed materials then produced a long, highly detailed timeline which mapped out just how the hell this worked.
Yes, Takara had retconned Car Robots into the massive, sprawling Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, hand-waving the cartoon's original lack of previous-series Transformers on Earth as the results of a painfully obscure Generation 1 based manga that ended with virtually the entire cast being accidentally swept away from Earth in a huge space bridge accident. (This was not the only continuity shuffle done at this point: Takara had originally presented Galaxy Force, their version of the Cybertron series as a disconnected reboot during its original run. But this new timeline put it back as the sequel to Super Link just as Cybertron was a sequel to Energon in the West... albeit not without some hiccups caused by the cartoon's reboot-ness.) In what is almost certainly a hilarious twist of fate, a promotional ad on Japanese television for Car Robots had Fire Convoy thanking the Maximal Beast Warriors for preserving Earth's history and promising to keep the modern day safe from the Destrongers.[3] Some Japanese fans have even suggested that this is proof that this was always part of the plan!
Hasbro, however, had no such plans. Robots in Disguise remains to this day its own little separate thing, and Hasbro shows little inclination to revive any of its characters or concepts; most of the callbacks have come from licensee Fun Publications.
Thus, Car Robots/Robots in Disguise is in the unique position of being simultaneously part of Generation 1 and completely separate from Generation 1... depending on which side of the globe you're looking at.
Head hurt yet?
In order to keep things simple for readers and cut back on redundancies, TFWiki.net has opted to roll Car Robots character and cartoon information into the Robots in Disguise counterparts' pages. Just know that any Robots in Disguise character who appears in the "Category: Car Robots characters" category has a nigh-identical Generation-1-timeline doppelganger who did pretty much all the same stuff in the cartoon, only they did all that in a Generation 1 timeline.
Some modern Western fiction has introduced Generation 1 versions of Robots in Disguise characters, such as Sky-Byte. These versions of the characters are covered on the same pages as their RID counterparts.
Notes
- Despite fan rumors to the contrary, Car Robots was never called and was never going to be called "Transformers 2000".
- "Car Robots" is also the original name of the Autobot Cars (including Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus) in the Diaclone toyline.
