Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Changes

Changes

As is commonplace for a televised English dub of a Japanese animated series, some alterations, omissions and even additions were applied to Car Robots for its broadcast as Robots in Disguise. Here is a short list of some of the major ones.

• Although the series is, in the words of producer Eric S. Rollman, "its own storyline independent of the other series", featuring "somewhat similar characters in a parallel dimension", the series' dialog was adapted to include sidelong references to past Transformers series.
• Scene transitions consisting of rotating CGI faction symbols were inserted into the series in homage to the similar scene transitions from the G1 series.
• Several computer-animated POV shots were inserted into early episodes (sometimes in addition to existing footage, sometimes in place of it), but by less than halfway through the series, this practice was abandoned.
• In Car Robots, God Magnus is already in possession of a Matrix of his own - as in previous Japanese series such as Beast Wars Neo, all high-ranking Autobots possess a Matrix, which is nothing more than a source of energy, unlike the mystical object of G1 lore.
• All three of the series clip shows were completely reworked for RiD, and were altered to focus on new material.
• In the series penultimate episode, Devil Gigatron releases a swarm of cyberbats which attach themselves to children across the world. In Car Robots, Devil Gigatron uses these bats to absorb the mental energy of the children, and then, after believing he has defeated the Cybertron, recalls the bats and absorbs them back into his body, boosting his strength with the energy. In RiD, Galvatron instead uses the bats to hold the children to ransom, forcing the Autobots to stay their hands.
• In the final episode of Car Robots, with the Cybertrons in his clutches, Devil Gigatron forces Fire Convoy to use the Global Spacebridge to take him to the Earth's core, where he will drain the very planet's energy directly. In RiD, this is altered to Prime challenging Galvatron to a final battle there and instructing T-Ai to seal all the Spacebridge portals, so that even if he loses, Galvatron will be trapped (RiD makes very little of the fact that Galvatron is an energy vampire). At the battle's conclusion in Car Robots, T-Ai believes Fire Convoy is dead, but in RiD, she considers him only "trapped".