Spychanger
The Spychangers (also Spy Changers) are a special team of Autobot stealth ninjas. They have a number of special abilities: they can drive along almost any surface, turn invisible, and phase through solid objects.
The team consists of:
Fiction
Robots in Disguise cartoon continuity
2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon
The six Spychangers aided Optimus Prime on Earth in his battle against Megatron. Although they were highly intelligent, unfortunately, they weren't very strong in a head-on fight. (The comic relief trio of Gas Skunk, Slapper, and Dark Scream gave them trouble.)
When the Predacons stole a plutonium energy generator, T-AI called in the Spychangers. Hot Shot, Crosswise, and R.E.V. responded first, pursuing the Predacons onto the beach, where they were joined by the other three Spychangers, Mirage, Ironhide, and W.A.R.S.. The Predacons eventually escaped with a fake generator which the Spychangers had swapped for the real one. Spychangers to the Rescue
After Optimus was captured and tortured by Megatron, the Spychangers 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, and Mirage's failure to take a shot resulted in the Predacons escaping. When Mirage pretended to defect and led the Spychangers to Megatron's Mega-Laser Cannon, the team destroyed the weapon using the Global Space Bridge. Mirage's Betrayal
The Spychangers 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 Spychangers were called back to base to watch footage of various battles, but had to wrap up a fight with the Predacons first. Hope for the Future
The Spychangers accompanied Optimus Prime to Montrose Island, where Predacon activity was causing the volcano there 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 Spychangers used their Inferno Blast formation to divert its path. Volcano
Sent to stop the Decepticons from finding Fortress Maximus, the Spychangers jumped out in front of the foe and were soundly trounced by Armorhide and Rollbar. Fortress Maximus
The Spychangers 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
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
e-HOBBY toy bios
The trans-dimensional GoBots used their unique transporter and bio-mechanical technologies to help produce the newest generation of Transformers. The Spychangers were among them.
Super Spychangers catalog
With Ultra 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 2002. A plan was put into motion to upgrade the Spychangers with Spark Engines, granting them Super Modes.[1][2]
Ask Vector Prime
The Spy Changers were the only Autobots left on Earth when Chainsaw led the Mutants there. Utterly outclassed, the Spark Engines were created thanks to Professor Haruma Gō's new substance, go-brillium. They notched up many solo victories but had to relearn the importance of teamwork to finally win: under Super Artfire's newly improved leadership, they mastered the partial invisibility upgrade Super X-Car had been tinkering with and used it to defeat the Mutants.
With the go-brillium used up, they were regular Spy Changers again. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/01
Legends
When Scourge's forces attacked Neo Brave Maximus, the Super Spychangers counterattacked, but the damage they inflicted upon the Commando's ship caused it to crash into Maximus. LGEX Scourge Prologue
Spy Changer continuity
In Viron 1103.12 Gamma, Optimus Prime and her troops had to downsize with Spy Changer technology after Sky-Byte poisoned Earth's energon supply. Scourge was the only Predacon/Decepticon who also downsized, but she alone was no match for the 13 Spy Changers active on Earth. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/18
Ask Vector Prime
In Primax 085.0 Eta, Optimus Prime and five of his Autobots Jazz, Wheeljack, Silverstreak, Prowl, and Hoist became Spy Changers, hoping to achieve their mission with stealth and diplomacy when they needed to travel to Gargent 087.0 Kappa due to a planet in that universe threatening to overwrite the existence of their Cybertron. They were able to achieve their mission with the help of the Guardians. In a later encounter with the Guardians, Trailbreaker became a Spy Changer as well. Ask Vector Prime, 30/9/2015
In Quadwal 1215.15 Epsilon, these escapades were told in a Fun Publications convention comic called "Brain Problem Solution". Ask Vector Prime, 21/12/2015
Toys
Robots in Disguise (2001)
- Spy Changers (2000)
- Spy Changers are small, 1:64-scale cars with axles designed in the style of "Matchbox" and "Hot Wheels" cars. The concept was first introduced in the Generation 2 toyline with the Go-Bots, but was greatly expanded with Robots in Disguise. The typical Spy Changers feature simple transformations with articulation limited to rotator joints at the shoulders. Most come with hand weapons. Originally, they were sold as two-packs under the Basic price point (except for the two larger figures, which were sold as single packs); it was only with the later, single-packed KB Toys exclusive clear redecos that the toys were actually referred to as "Spy Changers" on their packaging.
- The first batch of Spy Changers were previously used molds from Generation 2. This group would undergo seemingly endless redecos and re-releases for several years.
- Previously unreleased sculpts
- A second group of Spy Changer toys was created from four molds that were created for Generation 2 but never released. This group is notable for being able to store their hand weapons while in vehicle mode.
- New sculpts
- A third group of Spy Changers were created from scratch, based on characters from the series who had larger toys. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, while still racetrack-compatible, are considerably larger than the typical Spy Changer toy.
Universe (2003)
- Ultra Magnus with Ironhide Spychanger
- Optimus Prime with Prowl Spychanger
Wave 1 (2004, February 2005)
Wave 2 (August 2006)
Transformers (2007)
- Optimus Prime (2007)
- A redeco of Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Scourge as Movie Optimus Prime was released in Japan as a preorder exclusive for the Transformers DVD or HD-DVD.
Notes
- The spelling for the name of this subgroup varies:
- Though the name originates with the Japanese Car Robots version or the series, an official English spelling was not provided, as the name was only rendered as スパイチェンジャー ("Spychanger") in katakana on the toys' packaging and in the title of the cartoon episode "Ninja Robo! Enter the Spychangers".
- When Hasbro ported the Series to the United States as Robots in Disguise, the toys were sold as two-packs under the "Basic" price point, with no reference to their subgroup on packaging.
- "Spychanger" was used during the cartoon's run, such as in the production bible[3] and the title of the dubbed version of the aforementioned cartoon episode, "Spychangers to the Rescue".
- Several months after the cartoon's final episode had aired on US television, Hasbro released redecos of the original six figures (originally available as KB Toys exclusives), with the name "Spy Changers" printed on the toys' packaging, spelled as two words. The same spelling was subsequently also used for the KB Toys exclusive "G1" redecos of six of the Robots in Disguise figures, as well as the rebranded re-releases of those "G1" Spychangers in Universe packaging.
- Conversely, the two Walmart exclusive redeco two-packs from the Universe line spelled the subgroup's name as one word again. Additionally, the wording ("Optimus Prime with Prowl Spychanger", "Ultra Magnus with Ironhide Spychanger") seemed to imply that only the smaller figures were actually considered "Spychangers".
- A KB Toys catalog for the Armada toyline featured several KB Toys exclusive Robots in Disguise figures, as well as the "G1" Spychangers, with the latter being given their own header, as if they were a separate faction alongside "Autobots", "Decepticons", "Mini-Con Teams" and "Unicron". Once again, "Spychanger" was spelled as a single word.
- Overall, it would appear that the spelling "Spy Changer" as two words was more of an afterthought on behalf of Hasbro.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Spychanger (スパイチェンジャー Supaichenjā)
- Korean: Spychanger (스파이체인져 Seupaicheinjyeo)
