Robots in Disguise (2001) Appreciation Thread

[Haywire]

I have never seen those upgrade heads, but now I'm curious. G1 heads on RID bodies sounds hilariously ill-fitting.

I will see if I can find them in my parts bin and post pics; indeed, they were not a great blend of aesthetics. It was the height of my Geewun phase, like I said, I'm glad they were reversible.

Did this group make their own products before or after Unicron.com started making theirs? Because the Unicron.com upgrade kits were some of the first third party products ever.

They were based out of Canada, I believe. Pretty sure they were fairly well-established making repro parts by 2001, when I first found them. Mostly they did resin casting of parts like fists, guns, and a Matrix for Optimus Prime and similar parts for other figs. There were a few custom parts in their repertoire by the end, but then the owner had a stroke, and while some friends helped fulfill existing orders, the business ended soon after. Probably my favorite part I got from them was a Firebolt Targetmaster molded to be compatible with the Rodimus Major reissue figure.

 

[Nevermore]

Here's one small detail I'd like to add to counter Sabrblade's theory:

Based on some old information which I've collected almost 20 years ago, wave 4 of the RID Basics made its retail debut ca. January 2002. Now the RID general retail figures had five-digit product codes that started with an "8", in the same general ballpark (and at in some instances overlapping with) Beast Machines, Armada, Energon and the Commemorative Series reissues.

80638 X-Brawn & Scourge
80639 Optimus Prime
80652 Ultra Magnus

Meanwhile, the RID exclusives all had five-digit product code numbers assigned to them that started with a "2", which put them in the same ballpark as various Beast Wars, Armada and Universe exclusives as well as (for some reason) the Beast Machines Beast Riders and Deployers.

Now with very few exceptions, the order of the product codes for the RID exclusives roughly corresponded with their release order, i.e. exclusives released later had higher product code numbers.

The exclusive RID Fortress Maximus that never was had the product code number 26563 assigned to it, which puts it right between the Target exclusive Dreadwind & Smokejumper two-pack (product code number 26562, released ca. April 2003) and the KB Toys exclusive Destructicons (assortment number 26564, product code number for Destructicon Scourge 26565, product code number for Destructicon Bludgeon 26566, released ca. May 2003).

In fact, the earliest mention of Fortress Maximus being considered as an online exclusive dates from mid-2002.

So Hasbro released the small figures designed to interact with Fort Max at the beginning of 2002, while the mainline was still running, but didn't even have concrete plans to release Max himself until later that same year...?

 

[lastmaximal]

I guess part of that rests on what constitutes "concrete" plans -- are they more or less concrete prior to being entered into a system via these codes? They may have had a long-term desire to release Fort Max, and may have been discussing it internally, but something of that literal magnitude (its own hefty price point, production concerns like safety testing etc) could well take longer to reach the stage of readiness. This may also have gotten delayed prior to the codes being assigned, IDK.

It does seem a little odd for the releases to be so asynchronous, but frankly it was a big enough shock even then that Hasbro was considering releasing Fortress Maximus at ALL.

 

[Sabrblade]

*shrug* Maybe there were some further complications behind the scenes that we aren't aware of?

There could have even been some internal pushback from some within the company who may have felt uncertain about committing to such a large and expensive endeavor right as they were on the cusp of releasing the brand new Armada line that had been their main objective all along. After all, the RID line was only ever meant to be a filler line, and something like Fort Max was quite extravagant for a line that was only meant to buy more time for the main event that was Armada.

Heck, Armada's success and the demand from retailers for more product could have even been what led to Hasbro deciding to go through with the RID Fort Max release as an FAO Schwartz exclusive, only for the drop test failure to nip those plans in the bud. Maybe that's also why they released more RID product during Armada, so that Fort Max wouldn't be an odd solo release.

 

[The Predaking]

*shrug* Maybe there were some further complications behind the scenes that we aren't aware of?

There could have even been some internal pushback from some within the company who may have felt uncertain about committing to such a large and expensive endeavor right as they were on the cusp of releasing the brand new Armada line that had been their main objective all along. After all, the RID line was only ever meant to be a filler line, and something like Fort Max was quite extravagant for a line that was only meant to buy more time for the main event that was Armada.

I seem to remember there was some talk about the Fort Max mold not passing the drop test, but that might have been just gossip.

 

[The Predaking]

Yeah, the wiki says as much

Fortress Maximus (RID) - Transformers Wiki

tfwiki.net

Was going to be a FAO Schwartz exclusive apparently.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I have no idea how I'd even have gotten one back then, but man, I wish that had come out here. I wonder if they'd have included the accessories Takara omitted?

Not counting on it, but if Takara Tomy ever decides to do a re-release of that like they did Headmasters Fortress Maximus, I'd love to see those included there. We know they made some.

Fort Max remains my holiest of grails in TF collecting, but I'd gladly settle for Brave Max (even if I'd want to find some sort of repros of his missing stuff). I honestly prefer his deco, with the lights on the windows and such.

 

[Sabrblade]

I have no idea how I'd even have gotten one back then, but man, I wish that had come out here. I wonder if they'd have included the accessories Takara omitted?

Some listings from back then suggest it was merely going to be a direct import of the Car Robots version, original packaging and all.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Ah. Well, at least the packaging was awesome.

Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed for a reissue. I mean, with the one they did a few years ago and their attempt to reissue Fire Convoy and God Magnus, plus the new stuff, one can hope maybe...

 

[CoffeeHorse]

That would be nice. Car Robots Fortress Maximus has the best deco. The city mode is spectacular with all the yellow windows, and the robot mode looks like a long lost Diaclone.

 

[Gizmoboy]

I bought a headless Brave Max from BBTS back at BotCon 2002 as I just wanted one I could turn into a Decepticon body for Megabolt Megatron. The color scheme worked really well for a Decepticon compared to G1 Fort Max's colors.

Unfortunately, I had to sell him several years ago along with Megabolt to pay some bills.

 

[The Predaking]

I bought a headless Brave Max from BBTS back at BotCon 2002 as I just wanted one I could turn into a Decepticon body for Megabolt Megatron. The color scheme worked really well for a Decepticon compared to G1 Fort Max's colors.

Unfortunately, I had to sell him several years ago along with Megabolt to pay some bills.

I hear you on that. I had to sell my TR Fort Max (along with dozens more) in the purge of 2018.

 

[The Predaking]

I have no idea how I'd even have gotten one back then, but man, I wish that had come out here. I wonder if they'd have included the accessories Takara omitted?

Not counting on it, but if Takara Tomy ever decides to do a re-release of that like they did Headmasters Fortress Maximus, I'd love to see those included there. We know they made some.

Fort Max remains my holiest of grails in TF collecting, but I'd gladly settle for Brave Max (even if I'd want to find some sort of repros of his missing stuff). I honestly prefer his deco, with the lights on the windows and such.

I would have no idea how to get one either, primarily as FAO Schwartz at that time only had 40 stores across the entire country, and that was its peak in 2001. By 2003 when Fort Max would have been released, it was down to 23 stores owned by Right Start, and in April of 2003 they declared bankruptcy, and again in December that year. They were down to 13 locations by January 2004 and all of those closed down then due to the December 2003 bankruptcy. They got bought out, and the new owners only opened the main New York store and the one in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving 2004. Things never really got better for them. They now have a store in New York, a couple airports, and do pop up kiosks in stores in Canada for the holidays.

FAO Schwarz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Reading all of that, it makes me wonder whether Hasbro just saw the writing on the wall for FAO and decided not to get involved with them.

 

[Sabrblade]

Ah. Well, at least the packaging was awesome.

Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed for a reissue. I mean, with the one they did a few years ago and their attempt to reissue Fire Convoy and God Magnus, plus the new stuff, one can hope maybe...

Unfortunately, both the Encore releases of G1 Fort Max and God Fire Convoy didn't do so well, with the former sitting unsold at online retailers for a long time, while the latter was riddled with QC problems to the point that Takara actually had to recall the figure. So with that in mind, an Encore release of Brave Max doesn't seem likely.

 

[Sabrblade]

This just popped up in my recommendations:

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Encore Fortress Maximus had some pretty bad QC issues as well. Missing parts and such.

 

[Sciflyer]

Yeah, I dodged a bullet with mine but definitely heard about some of the issues.

 

[Sabrblade]

Encore Fortress Maximus had some pretty bad QC issues as well. Missing parts and such.

Like what? Mine's fine.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I don't know. It was a little while ago and it wasn't one consistent error.

 

[Princess Viola]

All the TFWiki says is that the Encore Fort Max's were opened, manually checked, and then retaped due to an unknown QC issue.

Other than that, haven't heard any reports about it.