TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (2015)

 

TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (2015)

(Cartoon Network, March 14, 2015-November 11, 2017 US)
 
 
Darby Pop Productions (season 1-2), Hasbro Studios

 

 

MAIN CAST:
Will Friedle – Bumblebee, Ultra Bee, Butch, Righty, various
Constance Zimmer – Strongarm, Filch, Wingcode, Matronly Docent, various
Darren Criss – Sideswipe, various
Khary Payton – Grimlock, Bisk, Divebomb, various
Mitchell Whitfield – Fixit, Toolbox, Cinch, Major Mayhem
Stuart Allan – Russell Clay, various
Ted McGinley – Denny Clay, various
Peter Cullen – Optimus Prime
Eric Bauza – Drift, Back, Forth, Headlock, Pseudo, Silverhound, Ziegler, Major Mayhem
Roger Craig Smith – Jetstorm, Slipstream, Airazor, Blastwave, Major Mayhem, various

 

By the end of the first decade of the 21^st Century, Hasbro decided they wanted to transition into an entertainment company first, and a toy production company second. In 2008, they reacquired the rights to the 80s programs they made with Sunbow Productions from TV-Loonland AG. In 2009, they formed their own studio—initially called Hasbro Studios, later AllSpark—to develop, produce and distribute their own multimedia from concepts conceived by new division HasLab, run by Creative Manager Rik Alvarez. And in 2010, they launched their own network, The Hub, in partnership with Discovery Communications.

Map of Cybertron from the Binder of Revelation.

            One of their primary goals for Transformers media outside of the recent live-action films was to create a unified continuity between projects going forward; offering a kind of consistency in the brand. Within the previous decade, Transformers had undergone a number of reinventions between multiple animated series from both sides of the globe, the film series, and the comic books from Dreamwave and IDW Publishing. The groundwork for this idea, dubbed the Aligned Continuity, was laid out in the massive document called the “Binder of Revelation” written by Alvarez, Vice President of Intellectual Property Development Aaron Archer, and various other Transformers experts and fans. It took elements from every Transformers incarnation to date to outline the definitive franchise bible that would affect everything outside of the films. However, creative teams were still given the leeway to craft their own stories and art styles, and were not strictly beholden to established facts found in the Binder. It was essentially meant to be an outline for the broad strokes of the overall story that must be touched on. Archer would call this the “squint test”—as in if you squinted just right, it all lined up.

            The first entry under this new continuity was the video game War for Cybertron, released in mid-2010 by Activision, and supplemented by the novel Exodus, written by Alex Irvine and published by Del Rey Books. These would introduce a corrupted version of the Transformers’ power source, Energon, called Dark Energon. The first television show in this new continuity, and one of the earliest entries on The Hub, was Transformers: Prime; a co-production with Darby Pop Productions. The name was meant to symbolize the establishment of a new “prime” continuity for the franchise. Prime was developed by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the screenwriters for the live-action Transformers film and its sequel, Revenge of the Fallen. The series was their chance to delve into the mythology and character arcs of the Transformers that the limitations of the films—such as how long the expensive CGI characters could appear on screen—didn’t allow them to properly explore.

Team Prime: Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Optimus, Arcee and Ratchet.

            Team Prime consisted initially of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), Arcee (Sumalee Montano), Bumblebee (Will Friedle), Ratchet (Jeffrey Combs) and briefly Cliffjumper (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson & Billy Brown) as they operated out of a former military missile silo near the fictional town of Jasper, Nevada. They operated in secret from the humans (besides their traditional human allies) as they continued their battle against the Decepticons. Megatron (Frank Welker), Starscream (Steve Blum), Soundwave (Welker) and his minion, Laserbeak, were the only notable Decepticons amongst an army of identical drones, but others would join as the story progressed. The discovery that Earth’s core was really the planet-sized Transformer Unicron established that the planet was truly Cybertron’s twin. This led to a race between the factions for Cybertronian artifacts strewn across the planet and the Omega Keys to restore Cybertron; destroyed by Megatron with Dark Energon, which was more abundant on Earth. The Dark Energon in Prime was depicted differently from War for Cybertron as it was more of a legendary substance with supernatural abilities (like raising the dead) while in the game, it was merely a powerfully dangerous substance.

A prequel to Prime published by IDW.

            Although War for Cybertron was more influenced by Generation 1 and Prime took greater inspiration from the films, events from the game and novel were referenced in flashbacks on the show, and the sequel game, Fall of Cybertron, featured references to Prime. The only hangup in the grand plan was with IDW. HasLab had tried to convince them to reboot their comics to become more in line with the Aligned Continuity, but as they were already so deep into their own stories, they refused to abandon that investment of time and effort. They would, however, publish separate books related to Prime.

            Despite Prime’s overall success, it was decided to end the show after three seasons. Reasons for this included Prime’s out of control budget and The Hub receiving lower-than-expected viewership numbers, which would see Hasbro give a majority stake back to Discovery and the channel renamed Discovery Family the following year. Additionally, plans for Prime’s third season had to be abruptly scrapped and reworked when the franchise received a new head toy designer and introduced the Predacons–a race of ancient Cybertronian dragons–to the Prime line. They now had to be worked into Prime’s third season, subtitled Beast Hunters. Takara Tomy, Hasbro’s Japanese partners in the Transformers franchise, opted to not even air the Beast Hunters season in Japan. Instead, they created their own continuation of the Prime story called Triple Combination: Transformers GO! featuring original Japanese-themed characters battling the Predacons for the time-twisting Legendiscs.

The Unit:E comic.

            The ultimate goal of the Aligned Continuity was to eventually lead up to a grand shared universe that would incorporate all of Hasbro’s properties; in particular G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Action Man, Stretch Armstrong, the Micronauts, Jem and the Holograms, Primordia (a relaunch of 1986 toyline Inhumanoids), and even board games Candy Land and Battleship. This was highlighted in the comic Unit:E, given out at New York Comic Con 2011 (and, incidentally, was also the name of a federal agency in Prime). Unfortunately, this grand vision never came to pass.

Optimus and Bumblebee appear on Rescue Bots.

        While High Moon Studios, the makers of the Cybertron games, was fully on board with the idea, the creators of the animated shows wanted freedom from the Binder to do their own thing. That’s why Rescue Bots, based on the then-upcoming pre-school toys in the franchise, was said to be in continuity with Prime against HasLab’s plans. It was argued that a second series on the same network with the same production companies should be connected. Rescue Bots was kept largely insular from the larger Prime story, but Optimus and Bumblebee would make guest appearances.

The last gasp of the Aligned Continuity in game form.

        Additionally, Hasbro’s ambitions at being an entertainment company was falling far short of expectations. They had put a lot of money into the film adaptation of Battleship, which ended up sunk at the box office. High Moon Studios owner Activision laid off a large number of their staff, and assets from the two games they produced were cobbled together to create the lackluster midquel Rise of the Dark Spark; meaning now Hasbro lost their video game partner in their plans. A direct video game for Prime, Transformers Universe, was also scrapped after years of developmental difficulties. Finally, Hasbro started making budget cuts and shut down HasLab, laying off most of its staff (the HasLab name would later resurface as Hasbro’s crowdfunding arm for one-shot collectors’ items that wouldn’t see mass release to stores).

The Bee Team: Drift, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Strongarm, Fixit, Optimus and Windblade.

            Even though the Aligned Continuity imploded, projects for it were still coming out. The next entry was a sequel to Prime called Robots in Disguise (not to be confused with the 2001 anime of the same name, and initially working under the title TF2). Developed by producers Adam Beechen and Jeff Kline and Duane Capizzi, the series was set three years after the defeat of Megatron. Bumblebee (Friedle, reprising from Prime) had become a seasoned police officer on the restored and prosperous Cybertron. A vision of a presumed-dead Optimus (Cullen) appeared to him and led him back to Earth to deal with the threat of recapturing the escaped Decepticons from a crashed maximum-security ship. This would be the first Transformers program where Bumblebee was the central focus; playing off of his growing popularity thanks to being prominently featured in the film franchise.

Russell and Denny Clay in their scrapyard.

            Initially joining Bumblebee was his partner, cadet Strongarm (Constance Zimmer), who could transform into a police SUV and whose by-the-book mentality often clashed with Bumblebee’s loose style, and Sideswipe (Darren Criss), a rebellious “bad boy bot” that Strongarm apprehended causing some vandalism in his futuristic sports car alt form and forced to come with her to Earth. The Bee Team’s ranks would be bolstered by the addition of Mini-Con Fixit (Mithcell Whitfield), who worked aboard the prison ship and ended up damaged in the crash, causing him to frequently glitch; Dinobot Grimlock (Khary Payton), a former prisoner whose headstrong destructive tendencies as both bot and T-Rex was put to use for the good guys;  bounty hunter Drift (Eric Bauza), a former Decepticon thief named Deadlock that operated with a code of honor and transformed into a futuristic car; Drift’s Mini-Con students Jetstorm, who was impulsive and often acted inappropriately, and Slipstream (both Roger Craig Smith), who was more obedient to Drift; and Windblade (Kristy Wu & Erica Lindbeck), an ancient warrior with a clairvoyant instinct for finding Decepticons that could transform into a VTOL jet. Additionally, they had two human allies: child-like junk collector Denny Clay (Ted McGinley) and his son, Russell (Stuart Allan), who came to live with his father while his mother was in Copenhagen. It was in their scrapyard, the Vintage Salvage Depot for the Discriminating Nostalgist, just outside of Crown City, where the Autobots set up their base.

Sideswipe finds someone he can relate to in Blurr.

            Occasionally the Bee Team would be joined by cool and collected Jazz (Arif S. Kinchen), who was tasked with cultural observance and analysis and became a sports car; medical officer Ratchet (Combs, reprising from Prime), tasked with tracking down rogue Decepticons with Mini-Con Undertone, and could become an ambulance; Blurr (Max Mittelman, reprising from Rescue Bots), a hotshot Rescue Bot who loved speed and never hesitated to show it in his race car form; and the powerful-yet-gentle Bulkhead (Kevin Michael Richardson, reprising from Prime), who transformed into a SUV.

Optimus meets the Primes.

            Optimus Prime had sacrificed himself to save Cybertron during Prime. But instead of dying, he was taken to the Realm of the Primes: an ethereal plane outside of time and space inhabited by the original Thirteen Transformers. There he was trained by Micronus Prime (Adrian Pasdar) to combat a coming threat. That threat would come sooner than anticipated and Optimus was sent to Earth infused with the power of the Primes. Once the threat was defeated, however, they took their power back, leaving Optimus weakened. He would join Bumblebee’s team and work under his old friend to aid in their missions.

Bumblebee with his Decepticon Hunter.

            A special weapon utilized by the Bee Team were the Decepticon Hunters, found on the prison ship. They were multi-purpose tools that could read its wielder’s mind and become whatever weapon or device they needed. However, there was a trick to them: the user needed to have an absolutely clear image in their head of what they wanted, or else it would change into random objects. Additionally, if a Decepticon Hunter wasn’t working perfectly, it could severely damage both itself and its user.

Steeljaw's Pack: Thunderhoof, Fracture, Underbite, Steeljaw and Clampdown.

            The primary antagonist was the wolf-like Steeljaw (Troy Baker), a brilliant schemer and revolutionary with goals to take over Earth as a new home for Decepticons under his rule, and who could become an off-road vehicle. He would form his own Pack that included Underbite (Liam O’Brien), a Chompazoid whose strength was determined by how much metal he consumed and could become a four-wheeled tank; Thunderhoof (Frank Stallone), a former crime boss with moose-like antlers and hooves that could become a tractor; bounty hunter Fracture (Kevin Pollak), who had no loyalties or scruples so long as he got paid, and could become a chopper; his Mini-Cons Airazor (Smith), a dimwit that took pleasure in doing bad things to others, and Divebomb (Payton), the smarter of the pair with razor-sharp claws he WASN’T hesitant to use; and Clampdown (Jim Cummings), powerful yet cowardly and always willing to do anything to save himself, who could become a hatchback.

The Stunticons: Slashmark, Heatseeker, Motormaster, Dragstrip and Wildbreak.

            Other villains included sword-wielding pirate Saberhorn (Fred Tatasciore), who could become a winged rhinoceros beetle and could combine with Decepticon Bisk (Payton), a powerful fighter who treated life like a video game and could become a sports car, to form Saberclaw; Scorponok (Victor Brandt), a gruff scorpion-like bot whose stinger-tail was lethal; cold and aloof Glowstrike (Grey Griffin), who enslaved her Mini-Con captors to rebuild the prison ship to get her off of Earth, and could transform into a ladybug; Soundwave (Welker) and his bird-like minion, Laserbeak, Megatron’s chief lieutenant and master tactician who wound up trapped in the Shadowzone—an alternate dimension that was essentially like a prison—but was eventually freed; Starscream (Blum), who had managed to survive the Predacons and found and attempted to utilize the Weaponizer Mini-Cons bred by the Decepticons for revenge on Megatron; the Stunticons, who plot to conquer the planet’s roads by finding Cybertronian weapons or by combining into more powerful forms, comprised of leader Motormaster (Travis Willingham), brutish Heatseeker (Mikey Kelley), timid Wildbreak (Dave Wittenberg), opportunistic Drag Strip (Maurice LaMarche), and the snobbishly snarky Slashmark (Kaye); the Scavengers, a group of Decepticons that made a living stealing Autobot relics from the Great War comprised of  crab-like Clawtrap (André Sogliuzzo), Paralon (Jason Spisak) who could become a scorpion, lobster-like Thermidor (Cummings) who could become a sports car, and porcupine-like Scatterspike (Robin Weigert) who could become an offroad truck; Cyclonus (Harry Lennix), a mighty Cybertronian starfighter with a chilling voice and boasts of the destruction he’d bring, but which hid the fact that he had a strong cowardly streak; and Megatronus (Gil Gerard), a powerful fallen Prime that blamed both planets for his eventual defeat and imprisonment; among others.

Grimlock protects his team.

            Transformers: Robots in Disguise was meant to return to the Transformers’ former home of Cartoon Network, but made several international detours along the way. The first 13 episodes of the series were dubbed in Chinese and premiered in China on December 31, 2014 on the website 1905.com; where they could be purchased for roughly $3-4 each until January 15^th. Purchasing them also entered viewers into a contest to win an assortment of Hasbro toys and a roughly $5 digital coupon. It then premiered on Canal J in France, Biggs in Portugal, and Cartoon Network in Hungary, Australia and New Zealand before finally hitting the United States on March 14, 2015. This would continue for the duration of the show, with episodes premiering in Singapore, Australian iTunes, Cartoon Network UK (which aired 2 episodes a week), Teletoon (now Cartoon Network) in Canada, and Gulli in France days or sometimes even months ahead of the US broadcasts.

The ultimate teamwork: Ultra Bee!

The series ran for 3 ½ seasons. The first season was more episodic, focusing on a “villain of the week” that would introduce a typically animal-based Decepticon that had to be recaptured by the Bee Team and put back into stasis. Only Steeljaw and members of his crew escaped this fate so they could become recurring threats. The series was decidedly lighter in tone compared to Prime, as Hasbro wanted to target an audience that was somewhere in maturity between Prime and Rescue Bots for a healthier consumer base. A number of running gags were established as a result: such as Bumblebee’s inability to come up with a unique rallying cry; Strongarm and Sideswipe engaged in a constant rivalry; Grimlock attempting to find a better disguise than being a giant dinosaur; and Fixit glitching and causing trouble for his teammates. Some of these running gags were further expanded upon in 11 online shorts that supplemented the season.

The Bee Team meets Mini-Cons.

The second season split the team—whose ranks were bolstered over the course of the previous one—into one group searching for Decepticons around the world while Bumblebee, Strongarm, Grimlock and Fixit stood watch over Crown City. The season saw a greater attempt to connect Robots in Disguise with Prime, bringing in characters from that show for guest appearances while also engaging in longer, building narratives. It was also heavily toy-driven, with characters who had newly-released toys being included and leading to a greater focus on Mini-Cons.

Enter: Starscream.

A short 6-episode mini-series was made following the second season, which was considered the third until the third was officially announced. Considered season 2.5, the mini-series saw the return of Starscream seeking to utilize the Mini-Cons created by the Decepticons. The true third season, titled “Combiner Force”, saw the Bee Team have to harness the power of combination to create Ultra Bee to deal with serious threats. Along with dealing with more Decepticon escapees, the Bee Team found themselves embroiled in a political conflict as Cybertron’s High Council had decided to label them criminals and sent the very Decepticons they captured after them.

The Autobot High Council.

The series was written by Irvine, Beechen, Capizzi, script coordinator/writer’s assistant Mairghread Scott, story editor Steven Melching, Marsha Griffin, Nicole Dubuc, Guy Toubes, Michael Ryan, Dean Stefan, Stan Berkowitz, David McDermott, John Loy, Zac Atkinson, Howie Nicoll, Derek Dressler, Len Wein, Johnny Hartmann, Martin Fisher, Andrew R. Robinson, Matt Wayne, Brian Hohlfeld, Shannon Eric Denton, Dan Salgarolo, Eric Lewald, Julia Lewald, Len Uhley, Julie McNally Cahill, Tim Cahill, Paul Giacoppo, Matthew Wilson, and two episodes were even written by Friedle himself. The series’ theme was composed by Kevin Kiner, Anne Bryant and Clifford Kinder with vocals by Nick Soole, and the rest of the music done by Kiner with Kevin Manthei during season 1. Characters were designed by Augusto Barranco and Walter Gatus.  Animation duties were handled by Polygon Pictures with 2D work done by GONZO and drop.

In Japan, the series aired as two separately branded shows. Transformers Adventure debuted on satellite network Animax on March 15, 2015—the first to be aired on satellite since Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns—which meant there was no reason for it to be edited for time like network broadcasts. Localization was headed up by Keiichiro Miyoshi, who had also done so for the live-action films, making it the first since Generation 1 to not be handled by Yoshikazu Iwanami. As a result, it lacked the fourth wall-breaking humor and extensive adlibbing that had become synonymous with the franchise under Iwanami. The intro featured a mix of episode clips and new animation by LandQ Studio and the theme “Save the Future!!” by Mitsuhiro Oikawa, and an all-new outro by Nakano Design with the theme “Try☆Transformers Adventure↑↑↑” performed by the main cast. Transformers Adventure –Prime of Micron- (New Enemies) combined the second season and mini-series episodes into a new series that debuted on July 3, 2016. The new title emphasized the connections to Prime. While Prime of Micron had new clips in its intro sequence, the outro and music remained the same. Much like Prime before it, the final season of Robots in Disguise was never dubbed or aired in Japan.

As with other Transformers media, Robots in Disguise had a supporting toyline from Hasbro, which was also released in Japan by Takra Tomy under the Adventure title. It featured the most amount of product across various price points than any other toyline that came before. IDW Publishing released a 7-issue limited series tying into the first season, written by Georgia Ball and drawn by Priscilla Tramontano. The first issue, #0, was released as a free comic during 2015’s Free Comic Book Day. Signature Publishing also released 3 issues of their own series in the United Kingdom, and became the first Transformers comic available through Australian newsagents since 2010. A one-shot manga appeared in the September 2015 issue of TV Magazine by Kodansha in Japan, and was packaged with a special stealth redecoration of Bumblebee. Marmalade Game Studio developed a mobile game that had a scan feature that allowed players to scan their toys and use those characters in the game. A 3D beat ‘em up, the player selected two characters for each mission to defeat the Decepticons and stop Steeljaw and Insecticon Barrage from creating a SpaceBridge to Cybertron. Marmalade also produced Nestlé Arcade, which featured an infinite running game based on the show. In participation with Nestlé, codes were made available on packages of Nesquik to unlock upgrades.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Pilot, Part 1” (12/31/14 China, 3/14/15 US) – Bumblebee gets a vision from Optimus that sends him back to Earth with Strongarm and Sideswipe to discover a crashed and empty prison ship.

 

“Pilot, Part 2” (12/31/14 China, 3/14/15 US) – Minicon Fixit, Dinobot Grimlock and humans Denny and Russell Clay join the team to help round up the escaped Decepticons, starting with Underbite.

 

“Trust Exercises” (12/31/14 China, 4/5/15 US) – Bumblebee tries to build the team’s trust while having to stop Sharkticon Hammerstrike from recreating his home environment.

 

“More Than Meets the Eye” (12/31/14 China, 4/11/15 US) – Russell attempts to make friends with the local kids while Fixit tries to prove himself in the field by going after combiner Chop Shop.

 

“W.W.O.D.?” (12/31/14 China, 4/18/15 US) – Bumblebee must learn to lead as humans discover a stasis pod inhabited by Terrashock.

 

“As the Kospego Commands!” (12/31/14 China, 4/25/15) – Sideswipe’s loyalty is questioned when he and Bumblebee encounter Thunderhoof looking to get back to Cybertron.

 

“Collect ‘Em All” (12/31/14 China, 5/2/15) – While the team pursues a kleptomaniac Decepticon, Denny and Russell must fend off a greedy memorabilia collector.

 

“True Colors” (12/31/14 China, 5/9/15) – Bumblebee must figure out why Grimlock has suddenly turned on the team.

 

“Rumble in the Jungle” (12/31/14 China, 5/16/15 US) – Strongarm’s first solo mission in South America is hampered by an over-protective Bumblebee.

 

“Can You Dig It?” (12/31/14 China, 5/23/15 US) – Jazz pays the team a visit as Decepticon Ped seeks to monopolize their Energon supply.

 

“Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting!” (12/31/14 China, 5/30/15 US) – Quillfire’s toxic quills reduces Bumblebee’s maturity, increasing the team’s difficulties in apprehending him.

 

“Hunting Season” (12/31/14 China, 6/6/15 US) – Bumblebee learns there’s a price on his head when Cybertronian bounty hunters come to Earth.

 

“Out of Focus” (12/31/14 China, 6/13/15 US) – The team attempts to stop a group of thieves while Optimus is trained in the Realm of Primes to face an evil that will threaten both worlds.

 

“Sideways” (6/20/15) – Clampdown leads the team to Steeljaw, who has assembled his own team of Decepticons.

 

“Even Robots Have Nightmares” (6/27/15) – Vampiric Nightstrike brings the team’s worst fears to life with his sonic scream, leaving only a panicked Russell to save them.

 

“Some Body, Any Body” (7/4/15) – Insane scientist Vertebreak kidnaps Sideswipe and transplants his head onto his body.

 

“One of Our Mini-Cons is Missing” (7/11/15) – Drift returns to Earth to search for his missing Mini-Con while Springload and Quillfire escape and take control of an experimental military tank.

 

“Deep Trouble” (7/18/15) – Grimlock hides his injury from the team as they head to the ocean to stop Octopunch from leaving Earth.

 

“The Champ” (7/25/15) – Fromer gladiator Groundpounder takes part in a televised fight and the team must rely on Grimlock’s strength to bring him down.

 

“The Trouble with Fixit” (8/1/15) – Denny attempts to fix a malfunctioning Fixit but ends up activating his guard program and causes him to view the team as Decepticons to capture.

 

“Lockout” (8/8/15) – Steeljaw’s gang penetrates the scrapyard to free their fellow Decepticons and lock out the Autobots with a sonic field.

 

“Similarly Different” (8/15/15) – Grimlock’s encounter of another Dinobot has him contemplating going back to his old ways.

 

“The Buzz on Windblade” (8/22/15) – Ancient Autobot Windblade teams up with the team in order to stop Zizza from taking control of humans’ minds.

 

“Ghosts and Impostors” (8/29/15) – Bumblebee tries to show his team the beauty of Earth by taking them to a ghost town that is unknowingly inhabited by a Decepticon waiting for them.

 

“Battlegrounds, Part 1” (9/5/15) – Strongarm, Windblade and Sideswipe are captured by Steeljaw’s gang and the Primes decide to deploy Optimus despite his training being incomplete.

 

“Battlegrounds, Part 2” (9/12/15) – Megatron returns to destroy both planets and it’s up to Bumblebee’s team and Optimus to stop him.

 

Season 2:

“Overloaded, Part 1” (2/20/16) – Optimus is stripped of the power of the Primes just as an ancient enemy he once defeated returns to wreak global havoc.

 

“Overload, Part 2” (2/27/16) – Bumblebee chases down Overload while Prime leads his own group against Polarclaw and the harsh arctic elements.

 

“Metal Meltdown” (3/5/16) – Strongarm tries to recreate her partnership with Sideswipe with Grimlock while they chase a new Decepticon, and Steeljaw discovers a new group of Decepticons.

 

“Suspended” (3/12/16) – A mistake in the field causes Strongarm to take herself off of active duty.

 

“Cover Me” (3/19/16) – Windblade’s concern for Optimus impacts the team on their latest mission.

 

“Brainpower” (3/26/16) – Grimlock attempts to make himself smarter by absorbing data from a data cylinder, but something goes wrong and impacts the team’s latest mission.

 

“Misdirection” (3/27/16 UK, 4/2/16 US) – The team goes off to investigate a Decepticon island while Steeljaw plots to infiltrate the scrapyard.

 

“Bumblebee’s Night Off” (4/2/16 UK, 4/9/16 US) – Bumblebee is encouraged to attend the concert of one of his favorite bands but ends up having to discreetly stop a Decepticon attack there.

 

“Impounded” (4/3/16 UK, 4/16/16 US) – Bumblebee and Strongarm are trapped in an impound lot and Grimlock’s search for better camouflage is interrupted by Quillfire’s return.

 

“Portals” (4/9/16 UK, 4/23/16 US) – Fixit’s attempts to fix the GroundBridge end up summoning Soundwave and Laserbeak to the scrapyard while Bumblebee is banished to the Shadowzone.

 

“Graduation Exercises” (4/10/16 UK, 4/30/16 US) – Slipstream and Jetstorm accidentally put Drift in danger when they try to prove they can work without their teacher.

 

“Decepticon Island, Part 1” (4/16/16 UK, 5/7/16 US) – The Autobots discover the Decepticon’s lair and that Steeljaw is leading his own army.

 

“Decepticon Island, Part 2” (4/16/16 UK, 5/14/16 US) – Tensions rise between Bumblebee and Optimus as the Autobots find themselves greatly outnumbered by the Decepticons.

 

Season 2 ½:

“History Lessons” (9/10/16 CAN, 10/22/16 US) – A trip to the original Autobot base reveals a new enemy with sinister plans.

 

“Strongarm’s Big Score” (9/17/16 CAN, 10/29/16 US) – Strongarm attempts to impress Fixit and ends up running afoul of a Scavenger.

 

“Pretzel Logic” (9/24/16 CAN, 11/5/16 US) – Grimlock ends up befriending a human monk while on a mission at a monastery.

 

“Mighty Big Trouble” (10/1/16 CAN, 11/12/16 US) – The Scavengers discover the long-lost Dark Star Saber made of Dark Energon, which Starscream plans to put to good use.

 

“Mini-Con Madness” (10/8/16 CAN, 11/19/16 US) – Optimus leads the team to rescue Bumblebee, Fixit, Slipstream and Jetstorm from Starscream.

 

“Worthy” (10/15/16 CAN, 12/3/16 US) – The team must prevent Starscream from linking with all seven Mini-Con Weaponizers.

 

Season 3:

“King of the Hill, Part 1” (4/25/17 FR, 4/29/17 US) – A missile-firing Stunticon proves to be too much for the team near a nuclear waste disposal site.

 

“King of the Hill, Part 2” (4/25/17 FR, 4/29/17 US) – The Stunticon continues to give the team trouble while they try to keep it from detonating the nuclear waste site.

 

“Defrosted” (4/25/17 FR, 5/6/17 US) – Grimlock wants to learn new fighting techniques from Drift while Soundwave sends another Mini-Con after the Decepticon Hunters.

 

“Blurred” (4/25/17 FR, 5/13/17 US) – After accidentally freeing Ragebyte, Sideswipe tries to recapture him out of fear of being replaced by Blurr.

 

“Sphere of Influence” (5/20/17) – The team discovers a sphere that alters Cybertronian minds and causes them to fight each other.

 

“Bee Cool” (5/27/17) – Bumblebee struggles to lead the team against two Stunticons while trying to be as cool as Sideswipe and Blurr.

 

“The Great Divide” (6/3/17) – A combiner accident causes Sideswipe to split into two beings, while Soundwave gets ahold of his Decepticon Hunter.

 

“Get a Clue” (6/10/17) – Strongarm investigates a strange series of Decepticon thefts.

 

“Out of the Shadows” (6/17/17) – Drift’s former mentor comes to recover the Mini-Cons he took from him, exposing his past to the rest of the team.

 

“Disordered Personalities” (6/24/17) – A combining experiment causes the team to switch personalities.

 

“Guilty as Charged” (7/15/17 UK, 7/29/17 US) – The team tries to rescue Strongarm’s old classmate from a powerful foe.

 

“The Golden Knight” (7/16/17 UK, 8/12/17 US) – Bumblebee and Fixit head to a remote English island to investigate an ancient Cybertronian signal.

 

“The Fastest Bot Alive!” (7/22/17 UK, 8/12/17 US) – Grimlock acquires super speed that he has a hard time controlling.

 

“Railroad Rage” (8/5/17 CAN, 8/19/17 US) – The team tries to prevent the Stunticons from getting the fusion engine being transported on a runaway train.

 

“Combine and Conquest” (8/12/17 CAN, 8/26/17 US) – Bumblebee’s new leadership style is put to the test when they must go up against Motormaster and the Stunticons.

 

“Moon Breaker” (8/19/17 CAN, 9/2/17 US) – When Optimus recruits Drift for a special mission, Sideswipe and Strongarm compete to see who’d be better to go than him.

 

“Exiles” (8/26/17 CAN, 9/9/17 US) – The team must abandon their base when Steeljaw attacks, and Sideswipe’s abandonment issues begin to rise.

 

“Breathing Room” (9/16/17) – Fixit tries to keep Steeljaw’s crew busy while Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm figure out a way to escape their capture.

 

“Prepare for Departure” (9/23/17) – As the team deals with retrieving radioactive fuel rods from Steeljaw, Grimlock tries to learn the difference between work and play.

 

“Prisoner Principles” (9/30/17) – Soundwave takes over Steeljaw’s gang as they threaten a nuclear power plant.

 

“Collateral Damage” (10/7/17) – Soundwave escapes the Shadowzone and sets up a Beacon Generator to summon Megatron.

 

“Something He Ate” (10/14/17) – Underbite eats part of the GroundBridge and gains the ability to teleport.

 

“Five Fugitives” (10/28/17) – Strongarm’s old mentor arrives from Cybertron to arrest the team.

 

“Enemy of My Enemy” (10/29/17 UK, 11/4/17 US) – Optimus warns of a Cybertronian invasion of Earth, splitting up the team to defend both of their homes.

 

“Freedom Fighters” (11/4/17 UK, 11/11/17 US) – The team must save Earth from the invasion while liberating Cybertron from the High Council.

 

Shorts:

“Fixit Jam” (4/29/15) – Russell and Grimlock retrace Grimlock’s steps to figure out where he saw Fixit last.

 

“To Catch a Phrase” (5/13/15) – Bumblebee continues to search for his signature catchphrase.

 

“Sticky Situation” (5/26/15) – Denny eats some messy food while riding inside Bumblebee.

 

“Carjacked!” (6/23/15) – A car thief ends up getting into some encounters with Transformers.

 

“Perfect” (6/23/15) – Denny helps Grimlock find his signature weapon.

 

“Knock, Knock!” (10/28/15) – Fracture and his Mini-Cons release a Mini-Con from a stasis pod known as a Cyclone: an unpredictable and unaligned version of Mini-Cons.

 

“The Power of Dibs” (10/28/15) – Sideswipe introduces Slipstream and Jetstorm to the human custom of calling “dibs”.

 

“Back and Forth” (11/6/15) – Fracture pursues the Cyclones to little avail.

 

“The Tragedy of Slipstream” (11/6/15) – Slipstream recounts what turned him into a criminal.

 

“A Level Playing Field” (11/6/15) – The Cyclones cause a brawl between the Autobot and Decepticon Mini-Cons.

 

“Two Plus Two Equals More” (11/6/15) – The Mini-Cons decide to form a truce in order to put a stop to the Cyclones.

TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (2000)

 

TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (2000)
(TV Tokyo, April 5-December 27, 2000 JAP
FOX, September 8, 2001-March 23, 2002 US)
 
We’ve, Nihon Ad Systems, TV Tokyo, Saban Entertainment (US)

 

MAIN CAST:

Neil Kaplan (English) – Optimus Prime, Ro-Tor

Satoshi Hashimoto (Japanese) – Fire Convoy/Optimus Prime, God Fire Convoy/Omega Prime

Daniel Riordan (English) – Megatron/Galvatron, Omega Prime

Yōichi Kobiyama (Japanese) – Gigatron/Devil Gigatron/Megatron/Galvatron

Masao Harada (Japanese) – Hepter/Ro-Tor, Kenta’s father/Carl’s father, Yoshimoto’s assistant

Takashi Matsuyama (Japanese) & Kim Strauss (English) – God Magnus/Ultra Magnus

Sandy Fox (English) – T-AI, Dorie Dutton (1 episode)

Chieko Higuchi (Japanese) – Ai/T-AI, Junko/Kelly

Wayne C. Lewis (English) – Prowl, various

Takayuki Kondō (Japanese) – Mach Alert/Prowl, Danger/Armorhide

Wally Wingert (English) – Side Burn, Mirage

Shunta Kobayashi (as Punch UFO) (Japanese) – Speedbreaker/Side Burn

Ryō Naitō (Japanese) – Counter Arrow/Mirage, Goosher/Slapper

Masahiro Shibahara (Japanese) & Bob Joles (English) – Wild Ride/X-Brawn

Steve Blum (English) – W.A.R.S., Dark Scream, Fortress Maximus

Masayuki Kiyama (Japanese) – Brave Maximus/Fortress Maximus, Plasma/Cerebros

Steve Kramer (English) – R.E.V., Cerebros

Kizatomi Nimura (Japanese) – Eagle Killer/R.E.V.

David Lodge (English) – Midnight Express, Rail Racer

Naomi Matamura (Japanese) – J-Four/Midnight Express

Mike Reynolds (English) – Railspike

Hisashi Izumi (as Shōji Izumi) (Japanese) – JRX/Rail Racer, J-Five/Railspike, Daichi Ōnishi/Dr. Kenneth Onishi

Keith Diamond (English) – Rapid Run

Eiji Takemoto (Japanese) – J-Seven/Rapid Run, Artfire/Hot Shot, Dr. Akashi/Dr. Akase

Michael McConnohie (English) – Hot Shot, Ironhide, Dr. Yoshimoto

Ōsuke Yoda (Japanese) – Ox/Ironhide

Dan Woren (English) – Crosswise, Yoshimoto’s assistant

Junichi Miura (Japanese) – X-Car/Crosswise

Yūki Tamaki (Japanese) & Michael Reisz (English) – Build Boy/Wedge, Build King/Landfill

Yoshikazu Nagano (Japanese) & Daran Norris (English) – Build Typhoon/Heavy Load

Joe Ochman (English) – Hightower

Masami Iwasaki (Japanese) – Build Cyclone/Hightower, Wrekcer Hook/Tow-Line

Tom Wyner (English) – Grimlock

Hiroki Takahashi (Japanese) – Build Hurricane/Grimlock, Guildo/Dark Scream

Atsushi Kondo (as Konta) (Japanese) & Peter Spellos (English) – Gelshark/Sky-Byte

Peter Lurie (English) – Slapper

Norio Imamura (Japanese) & Jerry DeCapua (English) – Gaskunk/Gas Skunk

Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese) & Barry Stigler (English) – Black Convoy/Scourge

Holly Kaneko (Japanese) & Bob Papenbrook (English) – Dolrailer/Mega-Octane, Baldigus/Ruination

Richard Epcar (English) – Armorhide

Michael Lindsay (English) – Rollbar, Skid-Z

Riki Kitazawa (Japanese) – Greejeeber/Rollbar, Wars/W.A.R.S.

Hidenori Konda (Japanese) & Robert Axelrod (English) – Shuttler/Movor

Akikio Kimura (Japanese) & Jason Spisak (English) – Yūki Onishi/Koji Onishi

Philece Sampler (English) – Kelly

 

At the end of the 20^th Century, Beast Wars was the dominant entry in the Transformers franchise. Mainframe Entertainment’s CGI cartoon was a hit in North America and eventually made its way over to Japan as Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers the following year with a decidedly more kid-friendly dub. While waiting for the second and third seasons to be localized, two exclusive Japanese anime entries were made to fill the gap: Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo. The American-produced episodes then resumed as Beast Wars Metals. The sequel series, Beast Machines, wouldn’t hit Japan until 2004 under the name Beast Wars Returns.

In the interim, there was another anime produced called Transformers: Car Robots. It was the final entry of the Japanese-exclusive Generation 1 cartoon continuity. Set on Earth at the turn of the century, the evil Gigatron (otherwise known as Megatron, voiced by Yōichi Kobiyama) led his Destronger faction—an elite unit of Predacons—through a dimensional fissure to conquer both our planet and Cybertron. Gigatron was able to further bolster his ranks by taking protoforms (Autobot blank slates, basically the first stage in their lifecycle), time-displaced from several decades in the future, and converting them into Combatrons. Following them to foil their schemes was Fire Convoy (otherwise known as Optimus Prime, voiced by Satoshi Hashimoto) and his Autobot Dimensional Patrol. The anime debuted on TV Tokyo on April 5, 2000 and ran until that December. It was the first Transformers anime to be animated by Animation Studio Gallop and Dong Woo Animation; replacing long-time franchise animators Ashi Productions.

Transtech concept design for Silverbolt.

Over in North America, a follow-up to Beast Machines was in the works called Transtech. It would have featured returning Beast Machines characters Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Nightscream, Silverbolt and Rattrap with the addition of Beast Wars character Depth Charge and Generation 1 characters Optimus Prime, Shockwave and Starscream, as well as all-new character Immorticon. While not much is known about the story, the proposed toy designs by Canadian studio Draxhall Jump saw characters transform into Cybertronic vehicles with animalistic features; such as Cheetor becoming a race car with a paint job reminiscent of a cheetah and Optimus Prime becoming a truck with an ape face on the front end (invoking his Beast Wars counterpart, Optimus Primal). These designs were shown at The Official Transformers Collectors Convention in 2002 before being pulled by Hasbro, and online retailer BigBadToyStore posted preliminary listings for 2001 Transformers offerings that included the proposed characters of the Transtech line.

Megatron, aka Gigatron.

Transtech was eventually scrapped (although the name was recycled several times in the franchise) due to the Beast Machines’ toyline’s poor performance, the financial instability being experienced by the company at the time, and the introduction of Brian Goldner as CEO, who wanted a “back to basics” approach to the franchise. It was at this point that Hasbro decided to work directly with Takara (now Takara Tomy), the originators of the Transformers toys, to develop the next entry together for the first time: Transformers: Armada. However, they needed something to keep the franchise fresh in consumers’ minds while they worked. It was decided to import one of the exclusive anime programs and its toyline for the first time; settling on the recently-concluded Car Robots. This would not only mark a return to the roots of the franchise with the Autobots fighting the Decepticons while using realistic modern Earth vehicle forms, but would be the first cel-animated production after five years of strictly computer animation. It would also be the first in this period to not feature a Canadian voice cast.

 

Optimus Prime.

The localization, renamed Robots in Disguise, took a slightly different approach to the story. In order to stop Megatron (Daniel Riordan) and his Predacons from attacking Earth, Optimus Prime (Neil Kaplan) and the Autobots hid themselves in secret among the human population as common vehicles. Megatron’s opening salvo was to kidnap famous scientist Dr. Kenneth Onishi (first name revealed in episode summaries, Daichi Ohnishi in the anime, voiced by Shōji Izumi & Kirk Thornton), an archaeologist and leading expert on energy (as well as train enthusiast), who held the secret to the locations of ancient Cybertronian O-Parts on Earth. The Autobots would eventually rescue Onishi with the aid of his son, Koji (Yūki in the anime, voiced by Akikio Kimura & Jason Spisak), and the race was on to find the remaining O-Parts and resurrect Fortress Maximus (Brave Maximus in the anime, voiced by Masayuki Kiyama & Steve Blum)—an immense Autobot guardian hidden on Earth to protect it from evil—before the Predacons. 

The Autobot Brothers: Side Burn, Prowl and X-Brawn.

Unlike other iterations of Transformers, the Optimus of Robots in Disguise changed into firetruck rather than a semi. His team of Autobots included several subgroups: the Autobot Brothers, Team Bullet Train, the Spychangers and the Build Team. The Autobot Brothers were Optimus’ three most-trusted allies: X-Brawn (Wild Ride in the anime, voiced by Masahiro Shibahara & Bob Joles), a rough-and-tumble cowboy that turned into a Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV; Prowl (Mach Alert in the anime, voiced by Takayuki Kondō & Wayne C. Lewis), a strict by-the-book police bot that took it upon himself to keep everyone in line and turned into a Lamborghini Diabolo police highway pursuit vehicle (painted in Japanese police ministry colors); and Side Burn (Speedbreaker in the anime, voiced by Punch UFO & Wally Wingert), who loved being lazy almost as much as sexy red sports cars, and turned into a Dodge Viper. 

Team Bullet Train: Railspike, Midnight Express and Rapid Run.

Team Bullet Train was a trio of deep-cover operatives that took on the form of Shinkansen bullet trains: leader Railspike (J-Five in the anime, voiced by Izumi & Mike Reynolds), who always tried to lead by example and was often frustrated by his younger teammates, turned into a 500 Series Nozomi; Rapid Run (J-Seven in the anime, voiced by Eiji Takemoto & Keith Diamond), who was the strongest of the three, cool-headed and sarcastic, and always ready for action, turned into a 700 Series Hikari Rail Star; and Midnight Express (J-Four in the anime, voiced by Naomi Matamura & David Lodge), who was easily flustered and had a habit of getting lost and separated from his teammates, transformed into an E4 Series “Max”. All three could merge together to become the powerful Rail Racer (JRX in the anime, also Izumi & Lodge). 

The Spychangers (clockwise from top): Ironhide, R.E.V., Crosswise, W.A.R.S., Mirage and Hot Shot.

The Spychangers were a special team of stealthy ninjas: Hot Shot (Artfire in the anime, voiced by Takemoto & Michael McConnohie), the leader with pyrokinetic abilities and a  gruff, no-nonsense, duty-driven personality that changed into a Porsche 959; R.E.V. (Race Exertion Vehicle, Eagle Killer in the anime, voiced by Kizatomi Nimura & Steve Kramer), the tactical officer with superior leaping skills that could change into a Lamborghini Diablo; Crosswise (X-Car in the anime, voiced by Junichi Miura & Dan Woren), the gravity-manipulating brains of the group that liked to keep busy maintaining and upgrading his teammates when not researching the potential of Spark Engines (a device that would be used to give many of the Autobots a super form that enhanced their particular abilities), and transformed into a rear-engine concept sports car; W.A.R.S. (Wicked Attack Recon Sportscar, simply Wars in the anime, voiced by Riki Kitazawa & Blum), a belligerent and violent bot that could turn into Ford Thunderbird stock car; Ironhide (Ox in the anime, voiced by Ōsuke Yoda & McConnohie), the super strong and short-tempered transport expert that kept his team well-supplied and could turn into a Ford F-150 pickup truck; and Mirage (Counter Arrow in the anime, voiced by Ryō Naitō & Wingert), Ironhide’s best friend—despite being a loner that preferred to work solo—that could drive on almost any surface and make himself invisible, and turned into a Lola T94 Indy Car.

The Build Team: Grimlock, Wedge, Hightower and Heavy Load.

 The Build Team were engineers and architects keeping Autobot technology and their base functional. Wedge (Build Boy in the anime, voiced by Yūki Tamaki & Michael Reisz) was the chief architect and designer of the Global Space Bridge the Autobots used to teleport around the planet quickly. However, he was a hot-head with a strong desire to prove himself in battle, often putting himself in unnecessary harm. He transformed into a bulldozer. Heavy Load (Build Typhoon in the anime, voiced by Yoshikazu Nagano & Darran Norris) was the most powerful member of the team with incredibly thick armor and a proficiency in martial arts. He turned into a dump truck. Hightower (Build Cyclone in the anime, voiced by Masami Iwasaki & Joe Ochman) was the team’s marksman whose weapon of choice, oddly, was an imprecise flamethrower, and who had an incredible admiration for Wedge; acting as both his bodyguard and advisor. He turned into a crane truck. Grimlock (Build Hurricane in the anime, voiced by Hiroki Takahashi & Tom Wyner) was the team’s tactician, most seasoned warrior, and whose rough-looking exterior belied his calm and upbeat demeanor. He turned into a backhoe. The Build Team could all combine into the powerful Landfill (Build King in the anime, also Tamaki & Reisz).

Skid-Z getting a celebratory shower.

Not affiliated with any subgroup were Skid-Z (Indy Heat in the anime, voiced by Jin Nishimura & Michael Lindsay), a Penske PC-18 Indy Car who was extremely fast and extremely competitive with an intense drive for victory, and Tow-Line (Wrecker Hook in the anime, voiced by Iwasaki & Lex Lang), a tow truck with an almost compulsive desire to tow any vehicle away he deemed as not adhering to human traffic laws (including emergency vehicles on a call and children’s bikes). T-AI, or Tractical Artifical Intelligence (Ai in the anime, voiced by Chieko Higuchi & Sandy Fox), was the Autobots’ main computer system in their base that kept tabs on events around the planet and coordinated the Autobot response to them. She projected herself in hologram form as a human woman in a maroon Japanese police uniform. 

Ultra Magnus vs. Optimus Prime.

They would eventually be joined by Ultra Magnus (God Magnus in the anime, voiced by Takashi Matsuyama & Kim Strauss), Optimus’ jealous brother who resented his being given the Matrix of Leadership over him. He initially came to Earth to try and take it by force, but ended up reluctantly joining the Autobots in the battle against the Predacons. He and Optimus could combine into the doubly-powerful Omega Prime (God Fire Convoy in the anime, voiced by Hashimoto & Riordan). Magnus’ alternate form was a car carrier that could transport the Autobot Brothers.

Sky-Byte, Slapper and Dark Scream.

Like Optimus, Megatron forewent his usual transformation into a gun to take on several forms: a giant bat, a two-headed dragon, a jet, a unique-looking racecar, and a giant hand. Eventually, an accident at an ancient location would see Megatron evolve into the more powerful Galvatron (Devil Gigatron in the anime). Megatron’s forces initially consisted of the Predacons, including Slapper (Goosher in the anime, voiced by Ryō Naitō & Peter Lurie), a stealthy dim-witted thug with a cruel sense of humor that turned into a techno-organic toad;  Gas Skunk (similarly Gaskunk in the anime, voiced by Norio Imamura & Jerry DeCapua), a skilled inventor with extensive knowledge of Cybertronian law and computer programming that often managed to mangle large words when he spoke, was a bully and a coward, and turned into a techno-organic skunk; Dark Scream (Guildo in the anime, voiced by Takahashi & Blum), a skilled—but weak—swordsman useful for aerial transport and recon (despite his poor flight skills) that turned into a techno-organic flying squirrel;  and Sky-Byte (Gelshark in the anime, voiced by Konta & Peter Spellos), whose constant need for validation from Megatron often undercut his intelligence and military prowess, and changed into a techno-organic shark..

The Decepticons in vehicle mode being led by Scourge.

Eventually, they were joined by the Decepticons: Autobot protoforms corrupted by the darkness in Megatron’s spark. Along with Scourge (Black Convoy in the anime, voiced by Taitem Kusunoki & Barry Stigler), an evil doppelganger of Optimus (except he turned into a Western Star 4964 EX truck) with ambitions of overthrowing Megatron, there were the Commandos: Mega-Octane (Dolrailer in the anime, voiced by Holly Kaneko & Bob Papenbrook), the cool-headed militaristic leader of the Decepticons that often had to keep hot-headed Scourge at bay, and turned into a flatbed truck with a cannon; Ro-Tor (Hepter in the anime, voiced by Masao Harada & Kaplan), arrogant and smarmy with near-silent flight capabilities and amazing maneuverability in his alternate form as a Kaman Aerospace SH-2 Seasprite helicopter; Armorhide (Danger in the anime, voiced by Kondō & Richard Epcar), an aggressive warrior that liked taking cover under scorching hot sand and could become a Leopard 1A3 MBT tank; Rollbar (Greejeeber in the anime, voiced by Riki Kitazawa & Lindsay), a martial artist with more restraint in combat than his teammates that became a FMC XR311 combat support vehicle; and Movor (Shuttler in the anime, voiced by Hidenori Konda & Robert Axelrod), who was able to rain fire down from orbit with devastating results (however very poor aim), thanks to his ability to become a space shuttle. The Commandos could combine to form the deadly-efficient fighter Ruination (Baldigus in the anime, also Kaneto & Papenbrook).

Koji talking to Optimus.

Other characters included Dorie Dutton (unnamed in the anime, voiced by Mariko Nagahama & Tiffanie Christun, with Fox redubbing 1 episode), who was a reporter that typically found herself in the midst of some robot activity; Carl (Kenta in the anime, voiced by Mariko Nagahama & Joshua Seth) was one of Koji’s friends whose father designed and built industrial machinery; Jenny (Miki in the anime, voiced by Mami Fukai & Colleen O’Shaughnessey), another of Carl’s friends; and Kelly (Junko Shiragami in the anime, voiced by Chieko Higuchi & Philece Sampler), who was a bystander with the running gag of always having the bad luck of having her day derailed by the Transformers’ battles. Kelly was never audibly named on screen in the English dub; instead, her name was revealed on a casting sheet released when the show premiered. However, in the Italian dub of “Secret Weapon: D-5”, she mentioned her name in a moment of self-congratulation. There was also Cerebros (Plasma in the anime, voiced by Masayuki Kiyama & Steve Kramer), a mindless drone that was the key to controlling Fortress Maximus, and Emissary (Brave in the anime), a robot whose only function was to transform into Maximus’ head.

T-AI monitoring the situation.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise debuted on FOX on September 8, 2001 as part of the final line-up of the Fox Kids programming block. Localization was handled by Saban Entertainment, who owned and programmed Fox Kids at the time. The English dialogue was written by Kramer, Epcar, Wyner, McConnohie, Marc Handler and Matthew V. Lewis and largely stuck to the intent of the original. Car Robots was aimed at a much younger audience than Hasbro usually shot for and featured many typical anime light-comedy tropes (exaggerated faces, giant drops of sweat, etc.). Robots in Disguise kept some semblance that humor in place; however more cultural humor was side-stepped and dialogue could differ wildly from the Japanese scripts. Despite being technically a whole-new continuity for the franchise (the very first reboot in its history), Hasbro employee Andrew Frankel often added references to past Transformers series when scripts were submitted for approval; creating some confusion for fans as to where exactly Robots in Disguise fit into established canon (further confused by Takara clarifying where Car Robots fit in to the overall Japanese Generation 1 continuity). New music was composed by Deddy Tzur, Paul Gordon, Glenn Lacey, David Hilker and John Costello, with the international music and theme composed by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban (as Kussa Mahchi).

All-new CGI targeting overlay.

Personalities for some of the characters were entirely reworked. Dark Scream lost his samurai overtones to become more of a thug. Megatron gained a theatrical flair and a tendency to throw tantrums. Rapid Run was changed from a gruff, seasoned warrior into a young, cool dude. Midnight Express went from being kid-like to an older fusspot with an aristocratic air, to name a few. CGI enhancements were made to episodes, including scene transitions based on the original Transformers cartoon and display overlays from the point of view of a character targeting their opponent.

Gaskunk carries away Kelly in her bomb-laden sports car.

Other edits came about as the result of unfortunate timing. Shortly after the series premiered, the United States was hit by the September 11 terrorist attacks. The episode “An Explosive Situation”, which dealt with a terrorist’s bomb, never aired again. “Battle Protocol!”, which featured the destruction of New York City buildings, had those sequences edited out. References to a plutonium energy generator exploding if attacked in “Spychangers to the Rescue” were altered to have the reactor instead threatening to crack open and release a gas harmful to the robots (they also took advantage of the redub to fix a line, add a line and remove a scene where a deflected missile destroys a truck). Additionally, episodes were quickly redubbed to remove any mention of terrorism or similar phrases. The episodes “Attack from Outer Space”, “Landfill” and “Sky-Byte Saves the Day” were deemed unsalvageable and never aired in the United States as a result; first premiering in Canada and the United Kingdom instead. Three clip shows were cobbled together to fill in the holes left by the missing episodes (Car Robots also had three clip show episodes, but Robots in Disguise never used them). As the series was initially airing six days a week, these new edits meant that the episodes aired out-of-order. The afflicted episodes were largely the ones that dealt with the ongoing O-Parts plotline.

Fortress Maximus.

A cute version of Optimus and Megatron were planned for inclusion in the kid-friendly Robot Heroes toyline in 2009, but were ultimately scrapped. Optimus, Prowl, Side Burn, Landfill, Ultra Magnus, Ironhide, Omega Prime and Ruination were included in the Transformers: Universe comic between 2003-04; one of three produced by 3H Productions as part of the Official Transformers Collector’s Club. Based on the toyline of the same name that was rereleases of prior figures from various lines, and was released annually during The Official Transformers Collectors Convention. Two script readings based on those stories were also conducted, with actors from various Transformers franchises reprising their respective roles. Optimus and Prowl made cameo appearances in Dreamwave Productions’ Transformers Armada #17 in 2003, and Optimus alone had a cameo in Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers Annual from IDW Publishing in 2018. Dreamwave’s 20^th Anniversary Transformers Summer Special released in 2004 was an anthology featuring stories from various incarnations, including Robots in Disguise. Through it, readers were given a chance to vote for a Robots in Disguise or Beast Wars mini-series to be published the following year (Beast Wars won the vote, but Dreamwave’s closing kept it from ever being published). The Build Team would appear in a crowd shot of IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light #2 in 2017. Many of the characters would also appear in various entries of the Transformers: Timelines series by Fun Publications and throughout the 2005 IDW continuity.

Megatron vs. Landfill.

Maximum Entertainment, in association with Jetix, released the complete series in the United Kingdom across various volumes. Initially planning to release the series 2-discs at a time, they abandoned the plan after Volume One and released the entire show across two 3-disc sets from 2004-05. In 2007, tying into the release of the live-action film, they released three single-disc sets containing two episodes each, later combining them into one mega pack. The first 2007 release, Battle Protocol, was included in a 3-disc set that included episodes from RoboCop: The Animated Series and M.A.S.K. The second release, Evil Intent, was included in another set with episodes from Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and Action Man (2000). The original 2004-05 releases were rereleased in 2007 with new artwork; the 2-disc set called Special Edition and the 3-disc sets called Season One and Season Two, respectively. The latter two were combined the following year into the Ultimate Collection.

Galvatron vs. Omega Prime.

Stormovie handled the home media releases in Italy, which included all-new opening and ending themes (the western and Japanese ones were included as special features). The first 16 episodes were released across four volumes in 2005. Episodes 1, 2, 14, 16 and 19 were combined and released as Transformers: Robots in Disguise II Film in 2007. Later, episodes 29-30, 32-33 and 37-39 were combined into Robots in Disguise II Film: Battaglia Finale. As for the United States, Robots in Disguise remains the only American-broadcast Transformers series to not even be partially released to home video. This was likely due to Disney’s acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide from Saban in 2001, which would include their dub of the series. While Saban would later reclaim some of their library from Disney in 2010 and 2012, Robots in Disguise likely wasn’t one of them. It remains the only English-language series not completely owned by Hasbro.

  

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Battle Protocol! (First Deployment! Fire Convoy)” (4/5/00 JAP, 9/8/01 US) – Koji joins the Autobots in rescuing his father from the Predacons, who kidnap him for his work with energy.

 

“An Explosive Situation (High-Speed Battle! Gelshark)” (4/12/00 JAP, 9/10/01 US) – Sky-Byte approaches the Predacons with a solution to their power troubles: steal an energy bomb planted in a sports car in the city.

 

“Bullet Train to the Rescue (Combine! Bullet Train Robo)” (4/14/00 JAP, 9/11 & 9/12/01 US*) – The Predacons target various trainlines with bombs, and Optimus brings in the Autobot Brothers and Team Bullet Train to help stop them.

*Aired earlier in select markets and widely the following day.

 

“Spychangers to the Rescue (Ninja Robo! The Spychangers Enter)” (4/26/00 JAP, 9/13/01 US) – T-AI calls in the Spychangers to help the Autobots keep the Predacons from making off with a plutonium energy generator.

 

“The Hunt for Black Pyramid (Resolute Jump! Mach Alert)” (5/3/00 JAP, 9/14/01 US) – The Predacons decide to tap into the underwater Black Pyramid for power just as Koji and Dr. Akase prepare to explore it.

 

“The Secret of the Ruins (Gigatron’s Raid!)” (5/10/00 JAP, 10/11/01 US) – Megatron launches an attack on the city in order to draw out the Autobots and keep them from interfering in Sky-Byte’s mission at some ancient ruins.

 

“Sideburn’s Obsession (Speedbreaker’s Crisis!)” (5/17/00 JAP, 9/15/01 US) – The Predacons use Side Burn’s taste in cars to lure him into a trap to serve as bait for a trap for Optimus.

 

“Secret Weapon: D-5 (Mysterious Weapon! D5)” (5/24/00 JAP, 9/17/01 US) – Stealing a disk from Dr. Onishi leads the Predacons to believe an old steam locomotive has some kind of significance they can take advantage of.

 

“Mirage’s Betrayal (Counterarrow’s Betrayal!?)” (5/31/00 JAP, 9/18/01 US) – Mirage turns the tables on the Predacons by taking advantage of a listening device the plant on him during a heist.

 

“Skid Z’s Choice (Out of Control! Indy Heat!)” (6/7/00 JAP, 9/19/01 US) – Assuming his alternate form causes newcomer Skid-Z to become obsessed with racing, necessitating the Autobots to find and fix him.

 

“Tow-Line Goes Haywire (Parking Violation! Wrecker Hook)” (6/14/00 JAP, 9/20/01 US) – New Autobot recruit Tow-Line is captured by the Predacons and reprogrammed to believe his friends are the enemy.

 

“The Ultimate Robot Warrior (The Ultimate Extreme! The Large Buddha Statue Transformer)” (6/21/00 JAP, 9/21/01 US) – Believing a movie Transformer is real, the Predacons set out to capture it and add it to their ranks.

 

“Hope for the Future (Gigatron’s Ambitions Revealed!)” (6/28/00 JAP, 10/26/01 US) – The Autobots review their encounters with the Predacons thus far to try and predict their next target.

 

“The Decepticons (Friend? Foe!? Black Convoy)” (7/5/00 JAP, 9/22/01 US) – A downed UFO ends up containing 6 protoforms, which the Predacons take and program into their new allies: the Decepticons.

 

“Commandos (5-Body Combination! Baldigus)” (7/12/00 JAP, 9/24/01 US) – The Decepticons plan to destroy Sherman Dam, and to make Scourge look bad Sky-Byte plans to disguise his team as Autobots to stop him.

 

“Volcano (En Garde! Two Convoys!)” (7/19/00 JAP, 9/25/01 US) – Megatron sends his minions to investigate a volcano that could be used to make Energon cubes, but a fight between Sky-Byte and Scourge ends up causing an eruption.

 

“Attack from Outer Space (Aiming from Space! Shuttler!!)” (7/26/00 JAP, 1/12/02 CAN) – Intent on finding the Autobots’ base, Megatron sends Movor into space in place of the actual space shuttle.

 

“The Test (Awaken to Righteousness! Black Convoy)” (8/2/00 JAP, 9/26/01 US) – The Autobots put the Decepticons to the test when they come around claiming to want to join them.

 

“The Fish Test (Secret Strategy! Gelshark)” (8/9/00 JAP, 9/27/01 US) – Jealous Scourge scored better in a test than him, Sky-Byte leaks his plans to the Autobots but ends up humiliated when Scourge strikes elsewhere.

 

“Wedge’s Short Fuse (Hot-Blooded Warriors! Buildmasters)” (8/16/00 JAP, 9/28/01 US) – Wedge makes a deal with Optimus to let the Build Team fight the Predacons, but they all end up falling right into a Predacon trap.

 

“Landfill (Four-Body Combination! Build King)” (8/23/00 JAP, 6/22/02 UK) – The Decepticons sabotage the Transformer’s Space Bridge so that it will send the Autobots to the wrong locations.

 

“Sky-Byte Saves the Day (Friend of Righteousness? Gelshark)” (8/30/00 JAP, 6/23/02 UK) – Sky-Byte wants to topple a building for notoriety, but ends up needing to save it when his unintended hostages could land him all of the O-Parts.

 

“A Test of Metal (Targeted Buildmasters)” (9/6/00 JAP, 9/29/01 US) – The Build Team sabotages the Space Bridge so that they will be the only ones able to fight the Decepticons after being challenged.

 

“Ultra Magnus (Enter! God Magnus)” (9/13/00 JAP, 10/6/01 US) – Ultra Magnus comes to Earth for Optimus’ Matrix, but ends up saving the Autobot Brothers from a Decepticon ambush instead.

 

“Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion! (Forced Combination! God Fire Convoy)” (9/20/00 JAP, 10/13/01 US) – Magnus pretends to come to Optimus’ rescue from the Decepticons but instead attempts to absorb Optimus into himself to get the Matrix.

 

“Lessons of the Past (Assemble! New Warriors)” (9/27/00 JAP, 12/14/01 US) – Optimus, T-AI and Koji review their past encounters with the Decepticons in order to anticipate their next move.

 

“The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus (Stalemate! 3 Car Robo Brothers)” (10/4/00 JAP, 10/20/01 US) – Megatron orders Sky-Byte to recruit Magnus to their side, and Magnus accepts…as an Autobot spy.

 

“Power to Burn! (Invoke! Double Matrix)” (10/11/00 JAP, 10/19/01 US) – Optimus has the Autobot Brothers keep tabs on Magnus while Scourge attempts to recruit him for help in overthrowing Megatron.

 

“Fortress Maximus (Arise! Cybertron City)” (10/18/00 JAP, 10/27/01 US) – Dr. Onishi discovers a new power source in newly discovered ancient ruins, and the Cybertronians race to claim it first.

 

“Koji Gets His Wish (JRX Versus Baldigus)” (10/25/00 JAP, 11/3/01 US) – While Optimus and Magnus are busy with Scourge at the ruins, Sky-Byte kidnaps Dr. Onishi to reveal the nature of the power within.

 

“A Friendly Contest (Gelshark’s Trap)” (11/1/00 JAP, 11/10/01 US) – While competing with Side to see who can find the most O-Part fragments, Wedge is captured and held hostage by Megatron.

 

“Peril from the Past (The Final Key? Farewell, Ai)” (11/8/00 JAP, 11/17/01 US) – The assembled O-Ring leads the Autobots to the Orb of Sigma, which Dr. Onishi discovers is used to unlock Fortress Maximus.

 

“Maximus Emerges (Stolen Plasma)” (11/15/00 JAP, 2/16/02 US) – Scourge attempts to pose as Optimus to control Fortress Maxmimus, but it ignores his orders and goes on a rampage through the city.

 

“The Human Element (The Mystery of Brave Maximus)” (11/22/00 JAP, 2/23/02 US) – Scourge discovers a human component is needed to control Fortress Maximus and uses Kelly’s DNA to finally take control of it.

 

“Mystery of the Ultra Magnus (Gelshark’s Blues)” (11/29/00 JAP, 3/30/02 US) – The Decepticons review archival footage to find a way to defeat Ultra Magnus.

 

“Mistaken Identity (Black Convoy’s Ambition)” (12/6/00 JAP, 3/2/02 US) – Carl ends up abducted by the Decepticons when they mistake him for Koji.

 

“Surprise Attack! (Brave Maximus’s Rise!)” (12/13/00 JAP, 3/9/02 US) – Galvatron leads an attack on the Autobots’ base and possesses a new weapon that may even be too powerful for Maximus.

 

“Galvatron’s Revenge (Counterattack! Devil Gigatron!)” (12/20/00 JAP, 3/16/02 US) – Galvatron absorbs energy from Maximus and sends duplicates of himself around the world to take children hostage to control future generations.

 

“The Final Battle (Final Battle! Fire Convoy)” (12/27/00 JAP, 3/23/02 US) – Omega Prime challenges Galvatron to a battle at the Earth’s core while Koji attempts to enlist the aid of the planet’s children to beat him.