YMMV for the 2001 anime ''Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'':
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* AmericansHateTingle: By Hasbro's account, Team Bullet Train was such a notoriously slow mover on the toy aisles at the time of the show's release that it convinced the design team to never reissue or reuse the set (despite it being quite well-regarded among collectors). This is believed to have originated from the simple fact that high-speed rail has historically struggled badly in America, compared to Japan's nigh-ubiquitous and practically patriotic ''shinkansen'', which has had [[SteamNeverDies similar effects]] on the country's much smaller RailEnthusiast fandom.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dHQmCs3c8 The English dub's main theme]] sounds like an early 2000s version of a G1 theme.
** [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=hhoNW0VTJWo Honō no Overdrive]] by Koji Wada (y'know, the guy who also did [[Anime/DigimonAdventure Butterfly]]?) is a great HotBlooded opening for the Japanese version.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In ''The Decepticons'', there's a scene where when it looks like the scanning beam for the protoform that will become Movor is going to hit a bird, Sky-Byte has a brief {{Imagine Spot}} of what it would look like. This was cut from the dub due to sheer randomness (though the Website/{{TFWiki|DotNet}} doesn't appear to realize this, saying it's unknown why the edit occurred).
* BrokenBase: In contrast to ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines''. Some fans hated ''Robots in Disguise'', seeing the show as juvenile compared to the more mature episodes and themes of the aforementioned shows; with the characters [[CallingYourAttacks calling their attacks]], some even negatively called the show "Franchise/{{Pokemon}} with robots". Others liked the show, seeing it as a return to G1's emphasis on vehicle alt-modes as opposed to animal alt-modes.
* CompleteMonster (dub only): [[EvilOverlord Megatron]] is the [[BigBad leader of the Predacons]], who arrived on Earth in search of the Autobot Weapon Fortress Maximus under the pretext of raiding Earth for its energy. Upon arrival, he kidnaps Doctor Kenneth Onishi and probes his mind to find the location of Fortress Maximus. After receiving knowledge of the Autobot Protoforms, Megatron corrupts their sparks in order to create his Decepticons. Although initially AFatherToHisMen to his minions if they prove themselves worthy of respect, he [[BadBoss discards these qualities]] upon his rebirth as the Decepticon [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Galvatron]]--absorbing the energies of the Predacon Brothers against their will to power his new body immediately upon his transformation, and later reducing Scourge and the Decepticons to mindless drones for plotting to overthrow him with the use of Fortress Maximus. Galvatron's worst actions, however, came during the finale when, after surviving a battle with Fortress Maximus, he transforms into bat form and drains Fortress Maximus's energy to power himself. He then unleashes his bat swarm to brainwash human children with the goal of enslaving them and repeating the process from planet to planet until he has conquered the universe, [[WouldHurtAChild threatening to harm the children]] if Omega Prime or the Autobots intervene. When the Autobots flee into the Space Bridge, Galvatron sends the Decepticons to pursue with the intention of destroying both groups by collapsing the Space Bridge, not caring if any Predacon gets caught in the collapse, [[ItsAllAboutMe all so he could have the entire planet to himself]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse: [[EnsembleDarkHorse/{{Transformers}} See here]]
* EvilIsCool:
** Despite being the main villain, you gotta admit that Megatron/Galvatron having seemingly 40 different modes, including a ''giant freaking hand'' is pretty friggin' cool; they even put it in on the toy!
** The Decepticons also get this treatment to a lesser extent, which is helped by the fact that they are ''much'' more competent than the Predacons aside from the leader.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: ''Robots in Disguise'' is more popular in the USA than ''Car Robots'' is in Japan, probably due to the {{Woolseyism}}s and {{Mythology Gag}}s. Of note is that while Takara had a dead period between ''Car Robots'' and [[Anime/TransformersArmada the next Transformers series]] due to the toyline underperforming, the huge success of ''Robots in Disguise'' led to Hasbro ''expanding'' the line beyond its original offerings.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Creator/SteveBlum voicing a character named "[=DarkScream=]"? [[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime Wait a minute...]]
** In the Japanese-language track, Creator/TaitenKusunoki, who voices Scourge, would go on to voice Optimus Prime in ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Cybertron]]'' and ''RID'''s [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise 2015 equivalent]].
** Its [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015 western counterpart]] closely mirroring the original Japanese counterpart.
** The dubbed first episode is supposed to be a Scientific Symposium which clashes heavily with the visuals of people partying due to the Japanese version being a millennium celebration. The party/scientific stuff sounds like what [[Webcomic/GirlGenius Agatha's world would do]].
* MemeticPsychopath: In the Japanese fandom, this series' version of Optimus Prime gets similar jokes about being a murderous lunatic to the sort that the [[Film/Transformers2007 Bayverse]] incarnation gets, due to ''Car Robots'' including a bizarrely high number of scenes in which he goes into an UnstoppableRage against the villains despite the majority of them being [[HarmlessVillain rather harmless]], something made worse by the fact that they are stated to have once been his childhood friends. Scourge's existence — an evil copy of Optimus that's EvilerThanThou to ''[[BigBad Megatron]]'' — made it even worse, and Japanese fans like to joke that this Optimus isn't an "Autobot [[BigGood Supreme Commander]]" but an "Autobot [[BigBad Emperor of Destruction]]". The US fandom doesn't really share this view, largely because of script changes for the dub.
* MoralEventHorizon: See [[MoralEventHorizon/{{Transformers}} here]].
* RoboShip: While it's not very prevalent there are fans who ship Koji with T-AI; it probably helps that, besides his father, she's the only non transformer character that he interacts with regularly in the show.
* RootingForTheEmpire: While the franchise had always had a segment of fans that preferred the Decepticons over The Autobots. RID arguably is this even more so, as evident by the fact that the most popular and remembered characters from this series included the likes of [[EvilCounterpart Scourge]], [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Sky-Byte]], and this version of Megatron.
* SoOkayItsAverage: General consensus is that it isn't the best Transformers series, but it's definitely not the worst.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: The Japanese opening features a few clips with CGI versions of the characters. It really hasn't aged well, especially the very stiff-looking clip of Optimus firing on Megatron.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** The show took a lot of cues from the ''Anime/BraveSeries'', like for example Optimus Prime having a MidSeasonUpgrade formed by combining with another Transformer, the Autobots having two combiner themes of 3 and 4 members respectively, the ever-present train theme in one of the robots (here carried by Railracer)...
** In particular, it takes cues from ''Anime/BraveExkaiser'', in terms of its LighterAndSofter tone and having a group of LaughablyEvil minions running around searching for [[MacGuffin MacGuffins]] all over the world.
* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: Many fans consider the dubbed ''Robots In Disguise'' version superior to the original ''Car Robots'', feeling that its funnier, has better scripting, tones down the [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment randomness]] the original could sometimes get into, and works in a lot of [[MythologyGag fun ties to other entries in the franchise]]
* TheWoobie: Sky-Byte. All he wanted was to serve and impress his master Megatron but he's repeatedly crapped on by the universe.
* {{Woolseyism}} The entire show was rewritten for the English version such as changing the Energon Matrix to the Matrix of Leadership, explaining certain events better (Megatron in the Japanese version of the first episode says he's here to capture all of the scholars. The English version says he's after Dr. Onishi which fits his plans better) and getting rid of the cartoony reaction shots.
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