Interview with Transformers: Robots In Disguise Producer and Writer Adam Beechen

Transformers Robots in Disguise has yet to air its first season finale two-part episode in the US - and the San Diego Comic Con panel took the opportunity to show a clip from the ending teasing the apparent defeat of the Autobots in the main cast, Optimus included, and the arrival of the original big bad himself: Megatronus! Check out the embedded clip below, thanks to site owner Seibertron directly from the event.

Anyone know the voice actor? Since they got the guy who did The Fallen in ROTF to voice Dreadwing in Prime, I was kind of hoping they'd get him back to voice, you know... this Fallen.

SlyTF1 wrote:Anyone know the voice actor? Since they got the guy who did The Fallen in ROTF to voice Dreadwing in Prime, I was kind of hoping they'd get him back to voice, you know... this Fallen.

It's Gil Gerard, who played Buck Rogers back in the 70's.

Sabrblade wrote:It's just the cliffhanger ending of episode 25. There's still episode 26 to finish off the season.

And that finale was boring, anyway.

yeah it was, did they not think they were going to get renewed? I know they could quite easily bs their way out of it, but he didn't even put up a fight, really, shame The Fallen has become such a joke, sigh, I remember the good ol' days when The Fallen was feared

Hellscream9999 wrote:yeah it was, did they not think they were going to get renewed? I know they could quite easily bs their way out of it, but he didn't even put up a fight, really, shame The Fallen has become such a joke, sigh, I remember the good ol' days when The Fallen was feared

I thought the finale was fairly decent, for a series aimed at younger audiences. Also remember this is on CN. If it is not a flash animation comedy aimed at children with ADD, then it is ALWAYS in danger of being canceled. I'm glad it did get a second season, but I don't see it going beyond that 52 episode plateau, which means they have to really put their all into these next 26 episodes.

o.supreme wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:yeah it was, did they not think they were going to get renewed? I know they could quite easily bs their way out of it, but he didn't even put up a fight, really, shame The Fallen has become such a joke, sigh, I remember the good ol' days when The Fallen was feared

I thought the finale was fairly decent, for a series aimed at younger audiences. Also remember this is on CN. If it is not a flash animation comedy aimed at children with ADD, then it is ALWAYS in danger of being canceled. I'm glad it did get a second season, but I don't see it going beyond that 52 episode plateau, which means they have to really put their all into these next 26 episodes.

This site still lists the total episode count as being 78, which it has done since before the show began airing.

It isn't a matter of who the show's audience is that made the finale what it was, or what channel it airs on, it's just that the finale itself was very bare-boned and unsubstantial. All the rest of the season before the finale is pretty fun, interesting, and enjoyable. However, almost nothing really happened in the finale aside from the main event, and said main event wasn't fun or even that interesting at all. We are "told" more than we are "shown", thus not really giving us enough reason to care about what was unfolding in the finale. Sure, big bad Megatronus coming and wanting to do his thing is bad news, yes, but he's never given any proper menace to himself, coming off instead as this glorified monster-of-the-day instead of the main antagonist the show was trying to build him up as being.

Steeljaw was more impressive than him since we know Steeljaw more, having seen him a lot more often and being one of the most proactive Decepticons in the show. Steeljaw was arguably the best part of the finale, with Megtronus coming in and unjustly stealing Steeljaw's thunder, taking the spotlight away from the Con who deserved it far more. Megatronus is all looks with no awe, all spectacle with no substance, making this one of the weakest finales of the three Hasbro Studios-made TF cartoons, which I rank from best to worst like so:

• "It's a Bot Time" & "Bot to the Future"
• "Deadlock"
• "Darkest Hour"
• "Now and Then" & "Today and Forever"
• "Double Villainy" & "Rise of the Heroes"
• "Battlegrounds, Parts 1" & "Battlegrounds, Part 2"
• "One Shall Fall", "One Shall Rise - Part 1", "One Shall Rise - Part 2", & "One Shall Rise - Part 3"

Actually I put a lot of stock in the Target audience, and the network the show airs on. Because the show went from the HUB to CN, and we were told it would be for younger audiences, my expectations were automatically lowered. I knew it would not be the epic series that TF: Prime was, and for a mediocre series, RID delivers pretty much what I expected. I don't quite understand the whole adult love of TF: Rescue Bots. Yes it is a well-written series for young children. I can speak from experience, my son (9) loves the show, and I have probably watched 80% of the episodes with him, but I can honestly say I don't really get any enjoyment out of it. I just ask him occasionally to let me know when Optimus makes an appearance, and I'll watch with him (though I have seen many episodes without Optimus Prime).

I own all the TF series in one form or another, but honestly, the only ones I will re-watch on a regular basis are: The original, Beast Wars, Transformers Prime, and the Japanese series (Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory). some I will watch occasionally but Beast Machines & Armada I will almost never watch, my son REALLY has to twist my arm to get me to suffer through those. Rescue Bots is pretty much the same, though unlike Armada & BM, I will give it the benefit of being well-written & entertaining for children.

All that being said, I desire no TF series to ever be cancelled. It kind of boggles my mind how Rescue Bots is getting a 4th season, and is making a run for longest TF animated series ever, but, I figure, good for them. My son can at least enjoy it. I wish Prime would have went on, but I also get that making TF series for younger fans is more profitable than making them for adults, thus the reason I am so glad at least somebody has not forgotten us adult fans, and we will be getting the Combiner Wars from Machinima. As for RID, if by some miracle it gets 78 episodes, I will be truly surprised, but again, that is a good thing. Since RID is being almost concurrently aired in Japan, their typical order is around 52 episodes (one for each week lasting a whole year). So I really don't see it going beyond 52. Maybe like some other series, Netflix might pick it up if CN cancels it. In fact, from what I've seen, getting a TF series on Netflix might not be a bad idea.

I personally liked the season finale and it proved to be a good show. I'm excited for a second season.

I liked the finale, more for what it did for the heroes than the villains.

Bumblebee finally stepped up and took charge, rather than deferring to Optimus. Sideswipe and Strongarm both demonstrated the initiative and teamwork that Bee has been trying to hammer into them all season. The entire team ended up working together to stop the threat, and it was Bee and his allies who took down Megatronus, rather than Optimus.

Speaking of Optimus, I love what the writers have done with him in this series. I thought the TF:Prime version of Optimus was both too dour and nigh infallible as a leader. He's still too dour here (at least compared to his G1 cartoon incarnation), but I liked the fact that he's stumbled a few times in this series. His own stubbornness got in the way of his training, and he was in way over his head with Megatronus. Optimus was the one to stop Megatronus' plan to destroy Earth and Cybertron, but I'm glad it was Bee and his team who ultimately ended the villain's threat.

Megatronus was the weak point of the episode. He didn't get much build up or much of a chance to shine before being shuffled off. Here's hoping we see him again. At the very least, we got some great development with Steeljaw. I really do love his character, and I hope we see MUCH more of him next season.

The finale wasn't too bad, could've been better, but not too bad. Although I didn't like how they just pulled a deus ex machina out of their a**es for the end (I know, so did the original movie, but at least that had presence and an epic soundtrack.)

This is most excellent.





Source: https://twitter.com/ccchiko_tf/status/6 ... 00/photo/1

I kinda saw the three Mini-Cons as playful young adults rather than as children (though, now I wonder what they're all like in the Japanese dub ), but that is still very cool.

Just need Jazz, Windblade, and (*sigh*) Optimus.

Artist Jose Lopez has posted some new Transformers: Robots In Disguise concept art on his Instagram account. These feature some renditions of Strongarm, Fixit, Russel, Bumblebee and Denny, who looks far more like Matches Malone (one of Batman's undercover disguises). The character of Denny had changed quite a bit since conception, as we already knew from our very own Jon Bailey who auditioned for the role, and this is further proof of that.
Also, notice how Fixit initially had threads instead of wheels to move. We also get a bit of an insight into the Bumblebee design from Mr. Lopez:

“Bumblebee from Transformers Robots in Disguise. It was really tough concepting a new look for TF while still wrapping Prime. But we are very happy with the look, plus these guys are easier to draw haha! “

Denny looks... different.

Is it wrong my first thought upon seeing that Strongarm was "Dark Samus"?

Noideaforaname wrote:Denny looks... different.

Is it wrong my first thought upon seeing that Strongarm was "Dark Samus"?

Sounds awesome to me!

Proto-Denny's mustache makes me think of Don, Griffin Rock's resident reckless driver, from Rescue Bots.

Billy-J, I think you mixed up who Denny and Russel/Rusty are. Might want to fix that in the news post. Makes it look like Rusty was originally conceptualized as a dirtbag mildle-aged man instead of a tween boy. I don't think his character changed THAT much during the evolution of the show.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Billy-J, I think you mixed up who Denny and Russel/Rusty are. Might want to fix that in the news post. Makes it look like Rusty was originally conceptualized as a dirtbag mildle-aged man instead of a tween boy. I don't think his character changed THAT much during the evolution of the show.

Yeah, Denny's the dad, Russell's the son.

was denny originally based off of peter cullen?

Sabrblade wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:Billy-J, I think you mixed up who Denny and Russel/Rusty are. Might want to fix that in the news post. Makes it look like Rusty was originally conceptualized as a dirtbag mildle-aged man instead of a tween boy. I don't think his character changed THAT much during the evolution of the show.

Yeah, Denny's the dad, Russell's the son.

Oops, yeah, I inversed them. Thanks guys, the change has been made!

Proto-Denny looks pretty cool. And I'm glad they changed Fixit's coloring. Two blue 'Bots on the team would have been a bit much.

I'm glad Fixit has wheels instead of treads and changed his color to orange it really makes him look more like an actual living guy instead of a drone.

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:I'm glad Fixit has wheels instead of treads and changed his color to orange it really makes him look more like an actual living guy instead of a drone.

Ironic, considering what episodes 18 and 20 hinted about Fixit's past.

Really glad they went with Fixits wheels. Also glad they gave Strongarm wings. I like a bot with wings

If you're waiting to add the full first season of Transformers: Robots in Disguise to your Transformers home video library, well, we don't have that news for you yet, but thanks to Seibertronian o.supreme we've got a heads up on a Pre-order at Amazon for Transformers: Robots in Disguise: A New Autobot Mission. Shout! Factory will be releasing this DVD on October 27th, 2015.



Judging by the running time of 110 minutes, it appears this will bring you the first five episodes of the new series.

Will this tide you over until a Blu-ray release? Or maybe this season's episodes just reserved a spot on your DVR for a few months longer? Chat about this and anything else show related by replying to this post, or by visiting our ongoing Robots in Disguise show discussion thread in the Energon Pub.

I posted a review on Amazon as well. I don't want to discourage perhaps parents with kids who don't get CN from purchasing the DVD perhaps as something new they have never seen before, but most of us that are no doubt waiting for full season sets should of course hold off. I know most of us have probably watched the episodes online as they were made available from iTunes Australia months ago, but Bravo to CN for trudging along, and not canceling the series, or changing its day/time (at least not that I am aware of). The season should conclude on 9/12/15. So *hopefully* S!F is preparing a full season release for Q4 2015 or Q1 2016. They were pretty quick about releasing the DVD's & BRD's of Prime, although I fear the industry is moving more and more towards digital only releases, hopefully S!F still gives fans such as myself the tangible media (and high quality presentation) we prefer.

I just started watching the series, but I would love a full season release. I like having the Transformers series on my shelf and this one is one that I'm enjoying. I hope we see one soon.

fighterknight wrote:I just started watching the series, but I would love a full season release. I like having the Transformers series on my shelf and this one is one that I'm enjoying. I hope we see one soon.

The first season's still not yet done airing in the U.S., so we'll at least have to wait until after it is.

Are there any plans to bring in more Dinobots? So far Grimlock is my favorite character and it would be fun to see the rest of the Dinobots show up.

Well there are no plans to add any more of the traditional Dinobots, (Slag, Swoop , Snarl, Sludge) that I am aware of. However... be sure to watch CN on 8/15/15 when they air episode #22 "Similarly Different". I wont spoil it for you, but I'm sure it will answer your question.

I'm only on episode 4. I'll have to catch it later.

fighterknight wrote:I'm only on episode 4. I'll have to catch it later.

All 26 episodes are online right now, so you can watch them all before they finish airing on CN.


For everyone who is trying to catch up on watching this show but doesn't like Dailymotion, a much better site to watch this show on (and tons of other shows as well) would be KissCartoon. It uses YouTube as its media player and even allows you to hide all of the flashy ads that are on the page.

Sabrblade, I've just went to the TFormers.com site, and found a picture or a snapshot of a new Robots in Disguise comic book coming out soon. Inside the book, there is a brand new Decepticon named, Transit, who have a bus altmode. In the image shown, the bus stops in time to pick up its passengers. Un-noticed, this bus transform into a Decepticon. Despite having being a bus, Transit doe not appear to have a human form, but an animal form. By judging his looks, what animal does Transit closely resembled? Here is the image shown below:

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=view&al ... es-preview

Is it likely that those new characters in the comics, will someday be in the Robots In Disguise 2015 cartoon for Season 2 sometime in the near future?

psj333 wrote:Sabrblade, I've just went to the TFormers.com site, and found a picture or a snapshot of a new Robots in Disguise comic book coming out soon. Inside the book, there is a brand new Decepticon named, Transit, who have a bus altmode. In the image shown, the bus stops in time to pick up its passengers. Un-noticed, this bus transform into a Decepticon. Despite having being a bus, Transit doe not appear to have a human form, but an animal form. By judging his looks, what animal does Transit closely resembled? Here is the image shown below:

Ah, my favorite little nit-picker. Wondered where you've been. And he's obviously a rhino! If you honestly can't tell what he's modeled after, you have issues dude.

Also, this doesn't belong in the cartoon thread for the cartoon! It should be here.

psj333 wrote:Is it likely that those new characters in the comics, will someday be in the Robots In Disguise 2015 cartoon for Season 2 sometime in the near future?

First off, Season two is likely nowhere in the near future, as their toy sales for the RID line have been below par, I owe it to a lack of Decepticons on the shelves and Jurassic World clouting up space (though that line is cooler then RID TBH). Secondly, the chances of characters from the comics appearing in the show are excruciatingly low. Characters from the cartoon showing up in the comic? SURE! Visa versa? NO.

You know, Madeus_Prime, that might be true. Unfortunately, contrary to what most people believed, Season 2 is still currently in production, and not cancelled as previously thought. This was confirmed on TFW2005.com by Hasbro just weeks ago, pointing out that Season 2 will indeed make its debut, likely not this year, but mostly likely in the beginning of next year. So I'm pretty sure that there is a very good chance that we might see some of these comic characters make their presence felt in the cartoon once Season 2 hits. And should Season 2 is cancelled, Hasbro would have informed us about that already, which thankfully didn't happen.

psj333 wrote:. Unfortunately, contrary to what most people believed, Season 2 is still currently in production, and not cancelled as previously thought. This was confirmed on TFW2005.com by Hasbro just weeks ago, pointing out that Season 2 will indeed make its debut, likely not this year, but mostly likely in the beginning of next year.

Yes, I am aware of that fact psj, what I was saying is that the beginning of next year is not the "near future". Either way, I think that season 2 is going to happen, but I bet it'll be shorter and have less original characters (sorry, but the monster of the week formula got boring a few episodes in)

psj333 wrote:So I'm pretty sure that there is a very good chance that we might see some of these comic characters make their presence felt in the cartoon once Season 2 hits.

As I said, the chances are extremely slim, and while I know you'll argue that Windblade appeared in the show from a comic, it's not the same Windblade from the IDW-verse so it doesn't count. Also, I have a feeling we'll see less new characters in season two, so don't expect much.

Madeus_Prime, maybe and maybe not. But again, in case you haven`t notice, Hasbro said on their website long ago that this cartoon is expected to have a total of 78 episodes. Therefore, how can it be that short if it contains 78 episodes?

Additionally, remember that 2015 RID is being produced concurrently in both the Unites States & Japan (something that hasn't occurred since Galaxy Force/Cybertron). Windblade is a new character produced by Hasbro, so like Drift, they are going to shove it down fans throats in every form of media possible, she was not created specifically for the comics, despite popular opinion.

It takes much more time to create an animated series than a comic, so I doubt any comics characters will appear either, unless they have already been developed for season 2, which is being producedcurrently. In which case, retroactively speaking, while such characters may have appeared *first* in the comic, they (by chance) appearing in season 2 of the animated series would not be because of the comic, rather, because it was planned out from the beginning for them to appear in multiple forms of media.

That would be like saying certain transformers in the original Animated Series were developed specifically from the comics (and vice versa), when one may have appeared before the other by chance in some sort of media. We know the comics had specific characters (Straxus, Jhiaxus, Xaaron etc...) as did the animated series (Devcon, Female Autobots, etc...) But the main Transformers characters themselves, for the most part (with few exceptions) appeared in both Comics and Animated Series

psj333 wrote: Hasbro said on their website long ago that this cartoon is expected to have a total of 78 episodes. Therefore, how can it be that short if it contains 78 episodes?

Simply put - Things change. This is CN after all, the killer of many a great series. It would be absolutely awesome if 2015 RiD ran 78 episodes, but until then, we should remain cautious, and not put anything written anywhere online in stone. Remember Transformers: Animated season 4? Oh no you don't, because while it was planned, it never happened, thanks to the very same network that is airing RiD right now. Why this series didn't stay with Discovery Family is beyond me.

o.supreme wrote:

psj333 wrote: Hasbro said on their website long ago that this cartoon is expected to have a total of 78 episodes. Therefore, how can it be that short if it contains 78 episodes?

Simply put - Things change. This is CN after all, the killer of many a great series. It would be absolutely awesome if 2015 RiD ran 78 episodes, but until then, we should remain cautious, and not put anything written anywhere online in stone. Remember Transformers: Animated season 4? Oh no you don't, because while it was planned, it never happened, thanks to the very same network that is airing RiD right now.

Don't forget that a lot of the shows that CN killed were ones that CN themselves had made or had a hand in making. RID is being made wholesale by Hasbro Studios, so even if CN chooses to stop airing the show, Hasbro Studios can seek another venue or go straight to DVD for the remaining episodes (but they most likely wouldn't want to do that since a TV airing is more preferable to them).

o.supreme wrote:Why this series didn't stay with Discovery Family is beyond me.

Even the worse CN ratings are better than the best Discovery Family ratings. More people watch CN since it's a channel that more people have when compared to Discovery Family. RID airing on CN makes it more accessible and more likely to succeed than if it were to air on the less mainstream Discovery Family.

o.supreme wrote:

psj333 wrote: Hasbro said on their website long ago that this cartoon is expected to have a total of 78 episodes. Therefore, how can it be that short if it contains 78 episodes?

Simply put - Things change. This is CN after all, the killer of many a great series. It would be absolutely awesome if 2015 RiD ran 78 episodes, but until then, we should remain cautious, and not put anything written anywhere online in stone. Remember Transformers: Animated season 4? Oh no you don't, because while it was planned, it never happened, thanks to the very same network that is airing RiD right now. Why this series didn't stay with Discovery Family is beyond me.

Exactly what I was going to say . Cartoon Network has killed off so many fun and cool shows, before their time, Animated just being one.

Sabrblade wrote:Even the worst CN ratings are better than the best Discovery Family ratings. More people watch CN since it's a channel that more people have when compared to Discovery Family. RID airing on CN makes it more accessible and more likely to succeed than if it were to air on the less mainstream Discovery Family.

I agree that CN is probably carried by more cable & satellite providers than Discovery Family, however, about the ratings. I am not sure. RiD 2015 had just over a million viewers for its premier, and averages about 700K viewers per episode since, according to Wikipedia. However RiD 2015 being for younger audiences, airing at 6:30am on Saturday Mornings is almost a death sentence when compared to Prime, which aired on Friday evenings, when everyone could watch. Of course, in this day when most people can just DVR a show, the early time may not be as much of an issue, but I really don't believe (unless someone can get some solid numbers) that RiD is getting more viewers than Prime did. Of course, as you mentioned, if CN does try to pull the plug, hopefully Hasbro does have a backup plan, if not, then hopefully they will have learned by being burned twice by the same network, never to do business with them ever again.

If CN pulls the plug. there had better be a backup. I really like this show

You know, D-Maximus_Prime, I also felt the same way, too. There is no way this show is getting cancelled. Why? Because Steeljaw, the main bad guy for the show is still alive and at large. So, if this is really the end of Robots In Disguise, then it will upset a lot of fans, due to the fact that Steeljaw was still alive and not being capture or even killed. Therefore, as far as I know, season 2 will indeed happen. I don't care when or where. Just air them! Why? I just love vehicles that have the ability to turn into animals. I would only just hope Hasbro will be making more figures of these characters that is yet to be seen.

psj333 wrote:There is no way this show is getting cancelled. Why? Because Steeljaw, the main bad guy for the show is still alive and at large.

Yet Animated had a semi-lead-in ending to a fourth season. Yet Cybertron ended with all our characters going on to other aventures. Yet G1 ended with freaking Galvatron and Scorpinok alive and well!

I'm not saying that it'll be canceled psj, as you take anything we say literally, I'm just saying, due to average ratings and mediocre responses from the fans, I don't expect much from it.

psj333 wrote:So, if this is really the end of Robots In Disguise, then it will upset a lot of fans, due to the fact that Steeljaw was still alive and not being capture or even killed.

*yawn* Eh, frankly the only piece of Transformers media I'm interested in is the Combiner Wars motion-comic/cartoon and the IDW mainstream comics. If season two is canceled, I'm not going to lose sleep or awake time over it. If it isn't, I'm going to skip watching it. Because this has probably been the least "wow" Transformers show I've ever watched. Plus, Transformers fans are too jaded to be upset over a cancelation of a TV series like this one. I was genuinely pissed off when TFA was canceled. I won't be if this should be.

At this point, I'll be bummed if RID were to be canned, but not as much as I'd be if the much better TF cartoon that's going to get a fourth season on Discovery Family were to be canned.

Madeus Prime wrote:If season two is canceled, I'm not going to lose sleep or awake time over it. If it isn't, I'm going to skip watching it. Because this has probably been the least "wow" Transformers show I've ever watched. Plus, Transformers fans are too jaded to be upset over a cancelation of a TV series like this one. I was genuinely pissed off when TFA was canceled. I won't be if this should be.

Having caught up on all the episodes, I feel very much the same way. RiD overall just feels like it didn't want to actually do anything. There are hints of greater things here and there, but at precisely the moment everything should come together... it's all tossed out for some "epic" plots taken from better series sans any of the necessary gravitas.
"Gasp, Megatronus killed Solus Prime!!" "....oh no? Solar who?"

And unlike other shows that unabashedly embrace every cliche in the book, this one didn't have any characters I care enough for to stick around even the lamest writing imaginable.

Sabrblade wrote:At this point, I'll be bummed if RID were to be canned, but not as much as I'd be if the much better TF cartoon that's going to get a fourth season on Discovery Family were to be canned.

Wait, what??

Noideaforaname wrote:Having caught up on all the episodes, I feel very much the same way. RiD overall just feels like it didn't want to actually do anything. There are hints of greater things here and there, but at precisely the moment everything should come together... it's all tossed out for some "epic" plots taken from better series sans any of the necessary gravitas.

Exactly, it felt lackluster, that's the word for it, they had potential, but the results were below expectations, the lack of Steeljaw for instance, the dues ex machina insertion of Prime and Megatronus, the disappointingly boring Strongarm, and the goofy Grimlock (sorry, I know G1 was a goof, but he was a freaking badass goof!).

Madeus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:At this point, I'll be bummed if RID were to be canned, but not as much as I'd be if the much better TF cartoon that's going to get a fourth season on Discovery Family were to be canned.

Wait, what??