Transformers Robots In Disguise History

In the year 2000, Takara released their new Transformers line called Car Robots in Japan, or as some call it, TF2000. Up until that point, Takara had been expanding upon what America was doing with their Transformers toys, utilizing the "Beast" angle. This was the 15th anniversary of Transformers in Japan though, so to keep with that spirit they launched a completely new series based on vehicles. At the same time, they started the "Re-issue" phase, which repackaged original 1980s Transformers as collection editions. All of this was a much welcome change by fans both in the US and Japan, who were hungering for a return to the more classic rendition of Transformers. The toyline featured a mixture of everything that, up to that point, was Transformers. All new exciting molds for the core Autobot characters, using real life vehicle models, with updated transformation techniques, most developed during the Beast era.

To fill the line in, they took toys previously released in older lines, repainted them, and released them as new along side of these "all new" molds. The Bruticus/Combaticon combiner toys from the original G1 series were introduced, the Laser Optimus Prime toy from Generation 2 was released (as a bad guy), basic and mega sized Beast Wars figures not featured in the American show were used as primary characters, plus the Spychangers (a name now used in America as well) were released. These were Matchbox sized cars originally released under the name "Go-Bots" in the Generation 2 line from the 90s. Oh and let's not forget the fact that Takara did the unthinkable, repainting and re-releasing the biggest Transformer ever made, Fortress Maximus (this time named Brave Maximus). Couple that with an all new 10-changer, Beast oriented, bad guy leader, and you had the making of the first new millenium Transformers series, one that combined the best from everything before it into one.

Now, this being known, you have to keep in perspective what was going on in the USA with their Transformers line. Beast Wars had just ended. It was the first major change in the line since the original 1980s series. It was not accepted at it's start, but with an awesome television show, direct connections to the original Transformers in the show, and more tech/robotic feeling toys coming out near the end, the line had picked up steam, and made it's mark as a staple within Transformers lore. The kids who bought the original 80's line, which was the biggest toyline of it's time, were now entering their 20s. They were getting out of college, had expendable money. They started getting into the Beast Wars stuff due to the things explained above. Then, Beast Machines came along. A continuation of Beast Wars, but in the completely wrong direction. We don't need to go into that here though. :) 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.

These 20-something's with expendable cash flow were paying hand over foot for imports of the Japanese line, and bitching and moaning about the poor quality of the Beast Machines line and show. I don't have official numbers or insight to what went on at Hasbro, but the Beast Machines line ultimately ended early. At that point what we know as "Robots In Disguise" was born, unveiled at the 2001 Toyfair event in NYC. US Fans rejoiced.

Nothing was new here. Hasbro reps 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 big thing together. 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, giving them a bit more time to do Armada. Hasbro released all of the bots from the Japanese Car Robots line and gave them new American-ized names. 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 (a repaint of BM Jetstorm). Left-over never-released Beast Machines toys got some play too, 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. So, the completely contained mini-universe that was Car-Robots was now expanded even further in America as Robots In Disguise.

To go along with this year long "filler line", Hasbro brought over the Japanese television show for Car Robots and had the guys at Fox Kids, then a powerhouse putting out Power Rangers and other kids programming through Saban, re-dub the show in English. The show was highly watched on the internet while in Japanese, and praised for returning to original cell-animation rather than the 3-D styled shows that were Beast Wars. However when it was shown here in English, and the adult fans loving the toys and rebirth of Transformers saw it, they cringed. It was not the fault of the producers or actors in the show at all, it was very well produced (as can be seen in comparison to the later Armada and Energon shows), but the show was written for 6 year olds in Japanese. It didn't connect with the American fans at all unfortunately. The show premiered on 9/08 2001, and 3 days later, everything changed. Certain eps were never seen, and the others were edited un-necessarily. Couple that with the already childish nature, and the show was doomed from the start. Personally I prefer it to the later incarnations of Transformers shows, but I am not in the majority there.

RID enjoyed a relenting release schedule over the course of it's run. Toys were out and available every other month or so for the course of a year. The middle waves were short printed because there was already another one on it's way. This was a result of the line being completely done in advance, Hasbro just had to do new names and packaging, and ship em out (Im generalizing here). The larger toys like Scourge and Optimus Primal were luckily picked up as exclusives at Toys R Us. By Christmas time of 2002, RID was gone. Sales were put in effect to clear them out for the upcoming Armada line, and it worked. We saw a couple of the last case assorments hit discount stores, but those were in and out as well. RID had it's run, and vanished as the "Trilogy" era began.

Over the next year, probably done as a marketing technique based on name recognition, Hasbro released repaints of both RID molds and other toys under the RID name, but in new packaging, similar to the then-current Armada packaging. Included in this were another 2 waves of spychangers, now clear. A 4-pack of the Autobot Construction team, a repaint of the Starscream/BB jet team, and more. These toys added to the roster of the RID universe officially, allowing collectors to fill their shelves in. This however, ended abrubtly when Hasbro went with the "Universe" line full force, which is basically an entire contained line specifically for repaints. The orignal molds done for Car Robots eventually made their way into Universe as reapaints, some several times already, but the saga of RID was finally closed.

This closure by Hasbro was un-necessary in the opinion of the webmaster here at RIDFOREVER. In theory, Robots In Disguise as a brand could have been utilized in place of the "Universe" title, since it was already known and accepted as a repaint oriented line. It had a self contained backstory, like Universe does, and a Cartoon to back it up. This story line could have been expanded into a more adult theme, what the fans wanted in the first place, include the US-only repaints and expansion characters, and marketed as Hasbro's repaint line for future repaint releases. We however, didn't get that, and probably won't get RID titled products again.

And with that, I say, RIDFOREVER!