Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)
When Megatron and his Predacons arrive on Earth, they meet an unexpected resistance: Optimus Prime, who leads a special team of Autobot defenders who have remained hidden for years! But Megatron is after more than just energy... on Earth lies an ancient power that could make the Predacons the rulers of the universe!
The Robots in Disguise / Car Robots series brought modern-Earth vehicular Transoformers back into the limelight, and began the "reboot" tactic that would be employed by later lines.
In the US, Robots in Disguise was intended as a low-cost, minimal-work "filler" line that would allow Hasbro and Takara the time needed to completely shift gears from previous series and begin the process of working together on a level they had not previously for the next line, and re-thinking their design and play-pattern aims for the toys as well. This turned out to be a boon; Robots in Disguise did remarkably well for Hasbro (Car Robots for Takara... not so much), and the following line did even better.
Car Robots vs. Beast Machines
Meanwhile, in the Western world, Beast Wars had just ended and Hasbro wanted to produce a continuation of the very successful toyline and series; thus, Beast Machines came to be. Unfortunately, for reasons not belonging here, the Beast Machines line fell through. This line destroyed the momentum Hasbro had going for them at the end of Beast Wars. In the mind and pocket book of collectors, Beast Machines was going head to head with Car Robots: One from America, one from Japan. And America lost.
Many fans were paying hand over foot for imports of the Japanese line, all the while complaining about the poor quality of the Beast Machines line and show. Ultimately, Beast Machines ended its run just under a year before its anticapted end. At that point what we know as "Robots In Disguise" was born, unveiled at the 2001 Toyfair event in NYC. US Fans rejoiced.
Hasbro specifically stated that Robots In Disguise (or RID) was going to be a filler line, one to tide Hasbro over until they can get their next major Transformers toyline organised. They originally wanted to go from Beast Machines right into what is now known as "Armada", but due to Beast Machines failing, they brought over Car Robots and turned it into RID, allowing more time needed to completely shift gears from previous series and begin the process of working together on a level they had not previously for the next line, and re-thinking their design aims for the toys as well.
Hasbro released all of the toys from the Car Robots line and gave them new names more suited to the Western world. They also one-upped Japan on the repaint angle, including even more previously released toys into the line. American fans saw the G2 laser-cycles released as Sidways and Axer. They saw even more "Go-Bot" G2 Spychangers released, along with the first new toys in that size in over 5 years. A 3 pack of basic Beast Machines toys were introduced, along with the elusive (at first) Stormjet figure. Left-over never-released Beast Machines toys were also included in the lineup; seeing a large super-sized version of Optimus Primal originally slated for the end of Beast Machines and a Megatron-Megabolt toy, which was based off of the floating Megatron head seen in the second season of the Beast Machines show. The completely contained mini-universe that was Car-Robots was now expanded even further in America as Robots In Disguise. This turned out to be a boon; Robots in Disguise did remarkably well for Hasbro, and the following line did even better.
Toyline
Car Robots
After the last several Beast Era lines were received poorly in Japan, Takara decided to make a fresh start in 2000 with Car Robots, a combination of "traditional" Earth vehicles and beasts, as well as a near-even mix of newly-created molds and those originally developed for other lines, presumably to keep development costs down. The line had a heavy bias towards the Cybertrons (Autobots); of the ??? toys in the line, only 11 were Destrongers (Predacons/Decepticons)
To this day, many people still refer to the Car Robots line as Transformers 2000. However, the series was never officially named as such; it's possible this was a working title at one point, but proof has yet to be found of this.
Robots in Disguise
Hasbro also added a significant number of toys to Robots In Disguise that had not been part of Car Robots, although they also left out the toy incarnation of Brave Maximus (due to failure to pass safety testing), who in the dubbed cartoon was named Fortress Maximus.
Fictions
A cartoon series accompanied the Car Robots toyline,
Unlike previous toylines, there was no Car Robots manga. The only Hasbro-endorsed comic for Robots in Disguise came in the form of a short story in the "Dreamwave Summer Special" comic released in 2004. Dreamwave held a vote in 2004 to see which series fans wanted to be the focus of a mini-series, Beast Wars or Robots in Disguise; Beast Wars was the winner by a wide margin. (Though Dreamwave filed for bankruptcy and closed its door before the Beast Wars comic was made.)
