Robots in Disguise (2001) Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
I really enjoyed this show. My roommate at the time had a part time job at a local comic/anime store. He brought home a tape of translated Car Robots episodes (which we made a copy of sshhh) and I watched them pretty often. I wanted to import the CR toys but was too broke at the time. So when RID was announced I was pretty happy. It was a fun year buying this line.
Ah, yes, I remember watching Robots In Disguise as a kid (or as I now call it, Saban Robot In Disguise or RiD2001 to avoid confusing it with the other Transformers Robot in Disguise, the one where Bumblebee is leader). I actually liked it, despite it being more humorous (I'm looking at you, Kelly).
Yeah, despite the various flaws the English dub has (changing character personalities from the original Japanese version), it did give us something after the cancellation of Transtech, and it did give us some neat oddities (like a Grimlock that turns into a backhoe instead of a t-rex, and the fact that Heavy Load has the same VA as Timmy Turner's dad) and some good action. And now that Hasbro owns the Saban back catalogue, hopefully, that means we may see this series finally receive a legit DVD set release.
Yeah, despite the various flaws the English dub has (changing character personalities from the original Japanese version), it did give us something after the cancellation of Transtech, and it did give us some neat oddities (like a Grimlock that turns into a backhoe instead of a t-rex, and the fact that Heavy Load has the same VA as Timmy Turner's dad) and some good action. And now that Hasbro owns the Saban back catalogue, hopefully, that means we may see this series finally receive a legit DVD set release.
Something else recovered via Wayback: Hydra's transcription of the Robots in Disguise Character Bible.
EDIT: Which I've just now compared to what Walruslaw shared and realize that the two are exactly the same thing.
EDIT: Which I've just now compared to what Walruslaw shared and realize that the two are exactly the same thing.
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Kaon
Guest
I watched a few episodes on you tube.
I can see why some didn't like it. It's not the best show but skye bite is pretty cool
I can see why some didn't like it. It's not the best show but skye bite is pretty cool
It is believed that Saban failed to get RiD back from Disney before Hasbro got the Saban catalogue. Until a release comes, we may never know for sure, but there's reason to believe that Disney still owns it, and is likely completely unaware of the fact.
Or at least couldn't do anything with it without Hasbro's permission anyway due to the trademarks etc, and don't think it's worth spending any time on fixing that for a show that is long since buried and doesn't sell them any mechandise.
Given the events of the time I wouldn't even be that surprised if the documentation of ownership and rights involved is pretty patchy. Some of the reworked episodes must have come in extremely hot for broadcast.
This is entirely supposition on my part, but I'd think that, if Disney WAS aware of it, they'd be reaching to Hasbro offering to sell it, since with Hasbro's ownership of the trademarks (I absolutely think you're right about the implications about that), it's the only way Disney will make any money off of it.
That does bring back the question, asked earlier, as to whether Hasbro's asked Disney about it. As I said earlier, absent a press release saying it's trading hands (or better yet, a new release), we're unlikely to learn the truth one way or the other.
The most reasonable scenario, in my own head, at least, is Hasbro HAS asked, and Disney's just not interested enough to look into the answer.
There's a game called No One Lives Forever, that was made in conjuction between three companies: Fox Interactive (Now owned by Activision), Monolith (now owned by Warner Bros) and 20th Century Fox (now owned by Disney). Nightdive Studios, a company that remasters old games, has been trying for YEARS to do this game, but has ultimately failed each time because none of those three companies are exactly sure what parts of the game they own, if any, and it's literally not worth their time to find out if the answer could be "We don't own any of this."
So a cult classic game languishes in obscurity not out of malice, but out of the fact that it's just not important enough for these large corporations to bother with.
So a cult classic game languishes in obscurity not out of malice, but out of the fact that it's just not important enough for these large corporations to bother with.
I liked the toys but a few of them were aggravating to transform. I didn’t much care for the show at the time but after having suffered through AEC it became much better in my estimation.
it’s really a modern G1 in a way none of the other follow ups really have been.
it’s really a modern G1 in a way none of the other follow ups really have been.
I think this is fixed again.
RID 01 Optimus Prime's design is so good that even in Titanium form it was good.
I wonder if Hasbro is contemplating things but only putting in limited effort. While Sky-Byte gets brought up a lot, the more interesting thing was Siege Ultra Magnus. They did confirm that his alt mode was based on RiD01. It might come down to small nods from Hasbro as opposed to a line wide push.
Another thing to think about is Beast Wars. The current team wasn't really acknowledging it until Primal won the Power of the Primes poll and we eventually got Kingdom. I wonder if there's a 'squeaky wheel' problem we're running into.
Another thing to think about is Beast Wars. The current team wasn't really acknowledging it until Primal won the Power of the Primes poll and we eventually got Kingdom. I wonder if there's a 'squeaky wheel' problem we're running into.
IMO, it seems to me that Hasbro is perfectly willing to homage RID'01 character designs since that's just maintaining IP. Name Trademarks, toy designs, character likenesses, that's all well and good because Hasbro already owns all of that. It's part of their IP.
The story events of the cartoon itself, meanwhile, are what they don't have, but which also don't seem to matter as much to Hasbro since getting it back would cost money, money that Hasbro may not be willing to spend because, with the backlog of animated fiction they already have from G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, Prime, Rescue Bots, RID'15, Rescue Bots Academy, and Cyberverse--plus the Shout! Factory-subbed releases of The Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory--they probably feel that they already have plenty of past animated fiction to indulge its fanbase of consumers without needing to get back the one cartoon that managed to slip through their fingers and fall into the lap of another, much bigger company that feels just as (if not more) apathetic about it as Hasbro seems to feel.
As such, Hasbro may even view RiD'01 as the single least-important original Transformers cartoon of them all, as it lived and died serving the purpose of filler that it needed to be until Armada (their main investment of the time) was ready.
The story events of the cartoon itself, meanwhile, are what they don't have, but which also don't seem to matter as much to Hasbro since getting it back would cost money, money that Hasbro may not be willing to spend because, with the backlog of animated fiction they already have from G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, Prime, Rescue Bots, RID'15, Rescue Bots Academy, and Cyberverse--plus the Shout! Factory-subbed releases of The Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory--they probably feel that they already have plenty of past animated fiction to indulge its fanbase of consumers without needing to get back the one cartoon that managed to slip through their fingers and fall into the lap of another, much bigger company that feels just as (if not more) apathetic about it as Hasbro seems to feel.
As such, Hasbro may even view RiD'01 as the single least-important original Transformers cartoon of them all, as it lived and died serving the purpose of filler that it needed to be until Armada (their main investment of the time) was ready.
Disney would prefer that nobody makes money off of something than someone else making any money off of it.
Yeah, I'd rather a solution I might actually be alive to see....
Kaon
Guest
Was about to say, that will be decades from now lol