Toransufômâ: Kârobotto

Every time the latest iteration of Transformers comes out, old-skoolers like me immediately run out and disparage it for not being as good as the last. As a big G1 fan, I can honestly say that the guys who did the translating and voice work for RID did a fantastic job. They took something very foreign, Japanese, and weird (and I say this as a die-hard anime fan) and reworked it into something extremely funny and entertaining. No, it's not as serious as TFBM, and since they didn't have control over storylines like they did with Beast Wars, the character development was dictated by decisions made in Japan. Nonetheless, the finished product looks good and is a blast to watch. The voice actor for Sky-Byte must have garnered the envy of all the other VAs for getting the best lines and funniest dialogue and emotional rampages. No, RID isn't self-possessed and serious. But it *is* entertaining and fun, and for a show about giant robots, I don't think that's such a bad thing.

After the Success of Beast Machines, The Animal transformers series had finally finished along with the original G1 story that started back in 1984. Around 2001, there were rumors on the internet saying that there was gonna be a New CGI TF series, the rumors were fake sadly. But this is what happened.

The Latest Transformers series came along. Just called "Robots In Disguise" The Toyline went back to its vehicle mode idea from the original transformers series. However some changes were made.

The Autobots stayed as they were but the Decepticons however weren't available in the series till later in the middle. So instead we got "The Predacons" back into transformers, Most of the toys and characters were composed of Repaints of Classic Transformers introduced in the late 1990s and of course 1 or 2 Beast wars toys.

It was pretty unusual.

Anyway, The TV series follows the same idea of the Autobot/Decepticon-Predacon battles. and The series actually is pretty well done...

It is in fact and anime exported from Japan and dubbed in English which we didn't know, lol. The Series was dubbed by Geneon (Mahoromatic, Gungrave, Cowboy Bebop, Heat Guy J, etc) and the actors did a pretty good job with the voice work in this series, and I especially like the script work in this series, Its pretty close to the G1 and Beast Wars scripts as our gonna get so be grateful ;) A lot of people say its Lame, Poor and just not worth watching. Well anyone who says that needs to give them self a good punch in the jaw and realise that this was the Last great Transformers series to come along in the 21st century.

and Believe me, This series is got pretty funny jokes and sometimes doesn't have the time to get too serious.

Sadly the series ended in 2002 and then the Unicron Trilogy began which complety took transformers a turn for the worst.

Bottom line...This is a fun, Enjoyable and Great Transformers show which shows you how great Transformers can be without the serious tone which Beast wars and G1 took. Go and Buy the Show on DVD or download the episodes and Enjoy the show ^_^

First off here is a brief explanation of how this series came to be - After the success of Beast Wars : Transformers in America, it was transferred to Japan, where it was redubbed and did just as well. A few years passed and the Japanese audience began craving more Transformer goodness, so Car Robots (later known as Robots in Disguise) was created. To cash in, on the Beast Wars craze of the time the creators set this series in an alternate universe, allowing them to have Autobots, Predacons and Decepticons. The reason many of the names have carried over from the original series is because if they are not used they will be lost to other companies (as an example Rodimus Prime was lost a while ago and is now known as Rodimus Major).

Now, what alot of people tend to forget is that this series had to compete with Pokemon and Digimon, it was also made in another language so many of the jokes dont exactly cross over and it was made with a younger audience in mind rather then those of us who grew up with the original series.

So with all that in mind I begin my review - The two biggest flaws as I see it with Robots in Disguise (RiD) is rather weak voice acting, and the weaknesses of the villains. In many TV series animated or not the 'bad-guys' are either very-smart equal to the hero/s or smarter...or...stronger than the hero/s. In RiD the villains are both stupid and weak, a flying skunk versus an SUV or a flying shark against a firetruck aren't my idea of fair.

So overall I rate this series fairly low when compared to Transformers Beast Wars, and the Original Series, but that isn't what is meant to be rated against. So, as a stand-alone series using Transformers for the core of its story and competing with the like of Digimon and Pokemon, I give it a 6.5 out of 10. If you want Transformers, wait for the next series Armada (due out 23 August, 2002), if you want a fun slapstick series for younger viewers check out Transformers : Robots in Disguise.

ROBOTS IN DISGUISE. THE TRANSFORMERS. Why is everyone being so critical of this new series?

OK, so Optimus isn't a semi truck. BIG FREAKIN DEAL! You should be happy he's not a gorilla for once (even though I had no problem with that, what would a semi truck be doing hanging out with a rhino and a cheetah in a show called Beast Wars). Optimus is still awesome, his new voice is just fine and he looks sweet. He's still a great leader and cares about his commrades.

And leave Megatron alone! So what if he looks like a Terrorcon when he turns into his two headed dragon mode! His robot mode looks just like the Epyon Gundam from Gundam Wing. Just look at the two, they both turn into two headed dragons for crying out loud. His voice is mean and a lot more threatening than people give credit.

I like the new Scourge, he's an evil Optimus Prime! He's not the G1 loser we remember with *PINK* fingernails and those lousy Sweeps! Scourge and his Decepticons (formerly known as Combaticons to us G1ers) are great. Ruination is a cool name, so what if Bruticus is a dog now. Remember, this is a series for KIDS.

Kids today live off of, sigh, crap like Digimon and Pokemon. Robots in Disguise targets today's kids. However, there are plenty of moments and characters for us G1 fans to appreciate and enjoy. Look at Ultra Magnus, he's way cooler than the old Magnus who always got beat up. This Magnus is a bad ass, and he's a creation of Alpha Trion. If that ain't a G1 reference for old fans, I don't know what is. There are even references for Beast Wars fans, with stasis pods and slapsticky bumbling Predacons.

Who wouldn't like a singing Sky-Byte?! That's the anime touch for you, a bit of silliness. If you ask me, this new series is just fine. Don't call it G1. Don't call it Beast Wars. It is it's own entity. It's like Gundam Wing or Gundam X to Mobile Suit Gundam; an alternate universe series. Just kick back and have a few laughs!

Old transformer fans like me have unfortunately fallen into a trap. We remember the original so fondly that anything else seems bad. In fact, it takes an excellent product like beast wars to even make us forgive a TF series for existing.

Sadly, RID isn't excellent like beast wars, so old fans will think they won't like it. Truth be told, the show isn't that bad. The writing is childish because it was meant for pokemon-buying kids, and the producers were at least kind enough to use some stuff from previous series, like the flying shark from the japanese Beast Wars, the combaticons and Ruination's ability to "scramble" from G1, and the stasis pods from Beast Wars.

Fortunately the show doesn't take itself seriously, something that already makes it better than Armada and Beast Machines. In fact, this show has enough personality that I may consider adding it to my collection if someone ever ports it to DVD, after I get the original and japanese episodes of course. Someone should seriously try to bring Beast Wars and Beast Wars II (not Beast Machines) on DVD!!

Bottom line is if you don't take it too seriously, you'll probably like it, and that's the truth.