Toransufômâ: Kârobotto

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.

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.

I am a TF fan I loved Generation 1 (the original series from the 80s), Beast Wars, but didn't care much for Beast Machines.

In this series, the Autobots are back. This series takes place in the year 2000/01. It takes place on Earth but possibly a alternate version sing none of the Gen1 characters are in this show. It is a dubbed version of the series Car Robots in Japan.

Basically involves Megatron kidnaps a young boy's (Koji) father. He is the foremost expert on energy. Megatron does this so he can learn the location for energy theft and his agenda. Out to stop him are Optimus Prime and the Autobots.

Optimus Prime this time around transforms into a fire truck. His voice is remenisint of G1 Prime. Some of the other major players are:

X-Brawn who transform into a Mercades SUV and talks like a southerner (Hey it works). His younger brother Prowl, a Diablo police car, who is the serious one of the three. And the youngest Sideburn. He is a young kid who wants nothing more than to chase the girls, well red sports cars that he THINKS are girls.

They are later joined by 3 trains that can also merge into a giant gestault robot, 4 construction vehicles that also form a gestault, 6 ninja expert robots know as the spychangers, and two more autobots.

Megs also has his lackies. There is SkyByte the giant robotic shark, Slapper the frog, Darkscream, and Gasskunk a giant robotic skunk. Later they are joined by Decepticons.

The voice work so far has been very well done. It can be kiddish at some points, but it does work for the scenes.

For example, in one scene X-Brawn pretends to run off on an errand so he can get the jump on Slapper. Slapper shouts asking X-Brawn what he should do till he gets back. X-Brawn shouts that Slapper should measure his tounge or something. A moment later Slapper says "42 feet 3 inches! That's impressive." Sure a little kiddish but it was still funny.

Overall it is a very worth addition to the name Transformers.

A relatively entertaining show that is not that bad but could have done with improvements. From a personal perspective, it's not the waste of time that is described in some reviews(though the complaints do have validity), but some of the favourable commentators really need to relax, last time I checked there isn't a rule about everybody having to like the show and any other opinion is wrong, isn't that what the word "opinion" means. There are things that Robots in Disguise does have in its favour. The character designs are nice and sleek, while the music is catchy and in keeping with the tone of the show and the jokes do tickle the funny-bone, complete with some clever subtle references to the original show. Sky-Byte is a cool character, Kelly is likable enough and Scourge is very interesting here(at least Robots in Disguise knew what to do with him, which is more than can be said for Cybertron). Not all the characters fare as well, Megatron has been much more menacing and authoritative before and since, here he comes across as too dumbed-down and too much of a clown.

The rest of the characters have a uniqueness to them but are not particularly interesting, Tow-Line is too monotonous and Dorrie Dutton is annoying and often pointless. The voice acting doesn't really work either, Barry Stigler as Scourge and Peter Spellos as Sky-Byte the only ones that properly stand out in a good way, the rest range from overdone(David Riordan's Megatron) and bored-sounding(Lex Lang's Tow-Line). The jokes are funny but could have been better placed and maybe not used as much, at times it felt like overkill which interfered with the tone. The story lines could have had more complexity and did feel on the juvenile side, it's not quite as bloated as the Unicron Trilogy Transformers shows but there is too much of a filler-feel with Robots in Disguise. And not all the animation is consistent, the sleek character designs and vivid pastel colours are nice, but the static backgrounds, the tendency to look too over-saturated(could have used more foreboding colours) and lack of fluidity, not so much.

Overall, Robots in Disguise is better than Energon, Cyberton and especially Armada-the three parts of the Unicron Trilogy, and not really worth bothering with-, also Beast Machines(but only just), but for better shows in the franchise look to the original 1984 show, Beast Wars, Prime and Animated. From a personal point of view, Robots of Disguise is not a bad show but it fell short. 5/10 Bethany

I have to highly disagree with people who dissed the latest Transformers. While it wasn't as modern and current as I would have liked, I thought the scripts, voice actors and productions were like old times and fun to watch. From what I understand they were number one in the ratings for their timeslot all week and on the Saturday morning shows. I hope it comes back for another season!