Robots in Disguise continuity family
Major continuities
Cartoon continuity
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001-2002)
- Transformers: Universe (2003-2004)
- "Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?" (2004)
- "Transformers: Cybertron: Balancing Act" (2005)
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.
A year later, with Beast Machines sales entering a slump, Hasbro canned its proposed Beast Machines sequel and went back to the drawing board with Takara to sketch out an entirely new take on the Transformers brand. That reinvention would eventually evolve into Transformers: Armada, which roared onto shelves in early 2003... but Hasbro wanted something to keep toys on shelves, and hastily ported over Car Robots to fill that gap. The Robots in Disguise cartoon debuted in September 2001, and follows the adventures of Koji Onishi as he joins forces with the Autobots to rescue his father from the clutches of the Decepticons--a battle that leads to the discovery of the mighty Fortress Maximus buried underneath Metro City. Despite a number of last-minute cuts, edits, and even a few outright banned episodes as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Robots in Disguise performed reasonably well--however, with the release of the Unicron Trilogy, this "filler line" was pushed aside and basically forgotten by Hasbro.
In 2004, Dreamwave Productions returned to the continuity with a one-shot comic set at an indeterminate point in the cartoon universe, though "Ask Vector Prime" would later reveal that it took place in a closely related but otherwise divergent timeline. 3H Productions also featured Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus as major characters in their Transformers: Universe comic; in 2005, they guest-starred in Fun Publications' Balancing Act comic, where they crossed dimensions into the Unicron Trilogy cartoon universe to fight Nemesis Prime.
Minor continuities
Toy bios
Although Hasbro imported Robots in Disguise as a cheap way to keep the brand alive, the franchise did well enough to garner a number of redecoes and even entirely new molds. Owing to the comparatively small size of the toyline, this phenomenon was somewhat more limited than previous outings, although a very high number of these toyline-exclusive characters and redecoes went on to feature in Transformers: Universe-related fiction. One notable bio had a time-travelling Optimus Primal serve as Optimus Prime's "spirit guide", a bizarre premise that "Ask Vector Prime" would elaborate on.
Shell Game
- "Shell Game" (2004)
In 2004, 3H Productions published "Shell Game" as part of the lead-in to OTFCC 2004, a story set in a dystopian timeline where the tyrannical Megazarak had killed his universe's Optimus Prime and conquered Cybertron. The short story freely mixes characters and concepts from both Robots in Disguise and the Generation 1 continuity family; in 2015, "Ask Vector Prime" would establish that this universe was part of the Robots in Disguise continuity family.
Spy Changer continuity
- "Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4" (2003)
- "Voice Actor Drama" (2004)
- "Ask Vector Prime" (2015)
In 2015, "Ask Vector Prime" stitched together another amalgamated timeline based on a number of different sources. In this timeline, the Autobots on Earth all downsized into energy-efficient Spy Changers after an accident contaminated all of Earth's energon. Notably, the Optimus Prime and Scourge of this universe are both female.
Dinobots
- "Ask Vector Prime" (2015)
The Transformers: Dinobots toyline debuted in 2003, just after Robots in Disguise had wrapped up in favor of Armada. The packages had no bios, leaving it ambiguous where or how they might fit into any one continuity. In 2015, "Ask Vector Prime" tossed them and some other misfits into an original Robots in Disguise universe based loosely on, but not related to, the "Shell Game" reality.
