Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)
Robots in Disguise is a Transformers franchise that launched in the year 2001. It was an American port of 2000's Japanese transformers series Car Robots. Many of the characters were changed into new incarnations of characters from Generation 1, and the remains notable for its numerous vague reference to characters and events from other series, making it difficult to place in relation to other continuities.
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)
Robots in Disguise was intended as a low-cost, minimal-work "filler" line after Hasbro scrapped Transtech, the series slated to follow Beast Machines. Hasbro used the time this bought to co-develop Armada with their japanese partner Takara. It aired on Fox Kids (the last Transformers series to air on a broadcast network) and saw surprising comercial success, laying the groundwork for the success of the subsequent series Armada.
The Robots in Disguise dub was inadvertently bought by Disney in 2002, creating legal problems with images from the series. As a result, RiD's section in The Ultimate Guide was perfunctory, covering only the toys.
As of July 2006, the series has been released on DVD in the UK only, in two box sets. The DVDs are Region 2 and in PAL format, to serve you better and protect us all from robot pirates.
Takara considers Robots in Disguise to be the same series as Car Robots. Thus, the American release of Sideways for Robots in Disguise means that Doubleface (Sideways's Japanese name) first appeared in Car Robots.
Despite fan rumors to the contrary, Car Robots was never called and was never going to be called Transformers 2000.
