''Robots in Disguise'' was the first dubbed ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}'' show ever broadcast for a US audience. (English dubs of Japan-exclusive [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 G1]] cartoons like ''[[Anime/TransformersHeadmasters The Headmasters]]'' were produced in Asia for markets like Malaysia, but those dubs never aired in the US because they were really, really bad.)

''Car Robots'', the original Japanese series from which it was adapted, premiered in Japan in 2000. Originally the series was not going to be imported from Japan, but when Hasbro scrapped the planned ''[[ComicBook/TransformersTransTech Transtech]]'' line at the eleventh hour the ''Car Robots'' line and its attendant cartoon were imported to fill the void until [[Anime/TransformersArmada a new replacement]] could be designed.

''Robots in Disguise'' was produced and dubbed by Saban Entertainment, and aired from September 2001 to March 2002. It was something of a return to roots for Transformers fiction, in the sense that many characters transformed into realistic, modern Earth vehicles instead of animals or abstract/futuristic vehicles, as was standard in the [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Beast Era]]. It also marked the return of the Autobot faction and sigil for the good guys. The villains were initially called Predacons as they were in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', but the Decepticons were added later as a sub-group. The show makes a contrast between the bumbling antics of the Predacons and the professional, sinister Decepticons.

Most of the voice actors were veterans of other Saban properties (basically, ''everyone'' from ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'') but had never worked on a Transformers series before. Creator/MichaelMcConnohie, one of the series' voice directors and the voice of Hot Shot, had voiced Cosmos and Tracks in [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers the original cartoon]].

All 39 episodes were scheduled to run during the afternoon Fox Kids programming block on the Fox television network. The third episode, "Bullet Train to the Rescue", was scheduled to air on September 11, 2001, but was not aired in most areas because of the terrorist attacks in America that day. Later episodes were edited to remove scenes that might be TooSoon for the viewers, such as buildings being blown up.

For its all its action-packed adventures, there was an equal amount of emphasis on gags and humor. For all its emphasis on stand-out characterization, the plot could at times be equally as kiddy (Omega Prime powering his Matrix Blade with the happiness of children). However, attempts to compare ''Robots in Disguise'' to ''Beast Wars'' or ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' may prove fruitless in the long run as the show was made in Japan for young children. But all in all, ''Robots in Disguise'' was ultimately meant to be a transitional/filler series from the end of ''Beast Machines'' to the start of ''Armada'' and it did its job quite well.

Disney is now believed[[note]]Presuming the license hasn't expired[[/note]] to own the cartoon through their acquisition of Saban. [=DVD=]s for this show are only available in the UK, much to the annoyance of US fans.

Not to be confused with the American-produced ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' cartoon.

!!This cartoon provides examples of:
* AscendedExtra: Remember that bike-character, Sideways? No? [[Anime/TransformersArmada How about]] [[Anime/TransformersCybertron now?]]
* AntiHero: Ultra Magnus
* AntiVillain: Sky-Byte [[spoiler:and he's so sly and slippery that he's the only one of the Decepticons and Predacons that managed to escape being imprisoned forever, gloating about it in the ending]].
* {{Badass}}: Ultra Magnus, Scourge.
* BigBad: Megatron.
* BreakoutCharacter: Sky-Byte and Scourge. The latter popularized the concept of evil Optimus clones, and since then, there's been at least one in nearly every series (to the point that there was a fan movement to change the more common '[[NightmareRetardant Nemesis Prime]]' to his name). The former received an incarnation in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', was considered for a ''Universe'' toy before until Botcon came out with an awesome Sharkticon remold, and even managed the rare feat of retroactively being added to G1 in two separate continuities.
* ButtMonkey: Kelly, whose day is eternally ruined by either the Autobots or the Predacons.
** Also applies to Sky-Byte and his Predacons whenever they try to foil the Decepticons' plans.
* ByTheBookCop: Prowl.
* CainAndAbel: Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime.
* CallingYourAttacks
* CampGay: Gas Skunk, in the Japanese version. Played by the same guy that does Emporio Ivankov in ''Manga/OnePiece''.
* {{Canon Immigrant}}/ {{Retcon}}: Kiss Players retcons Car Robots into the G1 continuity family, both series take place in between the movie (set in 2005) and Season 3 (which is set in 2010 in Japan as opposed to one year after the movie). Brave Maximus time travels, arriving on the Planet Master, becoming the inspiration for the construction of Fortress Maximus from Anime/TransformersHeadmasters anime.
* TheCity: Tokyo in ''Car Robots''; the city is named Metro City ''Robots In Disguise''
* ClipShow: [[RuleOfThree Three of them]], despite the series only being 39 episodes long.
** Saban even redid the clip shows; the third one, which in ''Car Robots'' was about Sky-Byte's reflections on recent events, was completely scrapped in favor of Megatron reviewing the arrival of Ultra Magnus, even though Megatron had become Galvatron a few episodes previously, putting the episode out of order.
* ContinuityReboot: This series seems to stand alone in continuity, WildMassGuessing aside.
* CoolTrain: About the only series to prominently feature a team of train-based Transformers- which due to the series also paying more attention to scale than usual, meant they were [[TheBigGuy much bigger than the other Transformers]]. In one episode, Midnight Express has become quite attached to a non-sentient steam engine. (Although that's a case of {{Woolseyism}} -- J4 of ''Car Robots'' treats said steam engine as one would treat a revered elder.)
* CombiningMecha: The Build Team forms Landfill, the Decepticons form Ruination, and Team Bullet Train forms Rail Racer.
* DemonicPossession: A mild version, with Skid-Z being possessed by the "psychotropic energy" of a race driver, and being compelled to join any race.
* DragonInChief: Megatron is this to the Predacon Council.
* DubNameChange: Almost everybody, but some Transformers were renamed in honour of G1 characters (Build Hurricane became Grimlock, Mach Alert became Prowl, Gigatron became Megatron, etc).
* EvilCounterpart: Scourge, the first of many black repaints of Prime to be popular in America.
* EvilLaugh
* EvilTwin: Scourge.
** Funnily enough, Scourge isn't really a twin of ''this'' Optimus, but looks more like G1 Optimus (aside from color) than Optimus does.
* FakeDefector: Mirage.
** And Ultra Magnus. Kind of.
* HeelFaceMole: The Decepticon subgroup tries this out in one episode, and ''almost'' succeed.
* [[HeroesWantRedheads Heroes Want Red Sports Cars]]: Side Burn has a [[{{Fetish}} thing for red sports cars.]] And [[RuleOfFunny it's almost always the same driver.]]
* IdiosyncraticWipes: This show marks the return of the classic Transformer style wipes.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Sky-Byte.
* {{Jerkass}}: Ultra Magnus (and to a lesser degree Mirage).
* KansaiRegionalAccent: Gusher (a.k.a. Slapper).
* KidAppealCharacter: Wedge. He's small, enormously eager to prove himself, young, and towards the end of the series, its HIS courage that inspires Omega Prime to act and pull off a big feat. To top it all off, he's yellow orange.
** Most fans less familiar with the series generally associate Side Burn with the role, though... because out of the first bunch of protagonists, he's the sports car.
* LimaSyndrome: Sky-Byte, who provides the page quote.
* LovableSexManiac: Side Burn's obsession with red sports cars. Disturbing implications arise when his SuperMode ''is'' a red sports car.
* MerchandiseDriven
* MeaningfulName: In Japan, this incarnation of Megatron was named Gigatron. "Giga" means a thousand units of something, which applies to this Megatron having at least ten alternate modes, quite possibly the most out of any character in any of the series.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Sky-Byte.
* MythologyGag: Many episodes of ''Robots in Disguise'' featured references to characters and events from earlier Transformers series. These were typically not written by the dub team but, rather, were added by Hasbro employee Andrew Frankel after the scripts were submitted to the company for broadcast approval.
** One of the strangest is that T-AI, the [=RiD=] Autobots' computer/holographic AI, is the ''daughter'' of Teletraan-1, the Generation One Ark's main computer.
*** Possibly justified in that spin-off processes are sometimes called "daughter processes".
* NoNameGiven: Kelly was never mentioned by name in the series but rather it was her name [[AllThereInTheManual according to the script]].
** Her name is actually mentioned once, but only in the Italian dub.
* ''[[AvertedTrope NOT]]'' BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Optimus Prime. Seriously, ''he doesn't die in RID'']].
** [[spoiler:This is, in fact, one of only two series within the entire Transformers franchise where he doesn't die to come back. And what's worse is that the other series that didn't do this was the dreaded '''''Kiss Players''''']].
** And Kiss Players takes place in G1 continuity, so it's the same incarnation of Prime that's [[spoiler: died ''twice'' in Japanese continuity. RID Optimus is the ''only'' one never to dance with the Reaper.]]
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Megatron in many early episodes - although he is stronger than all of the Predacons combined, he often sent them into the field alone instead of accompanying them.
* ParentalBonus: Sky-Byte reads ''A Tale of Two Cities'' in one episode and doesn't think much of it.
* ThePoorMansSubstitute: Creator/NeilKaplan does a pretty awesome Peter Cullen impersonation as Optimus Prime.
* PowerTrio: The Autobot Bros., Side Burn, X-Brawn, and Prowl. Railspike, Rapid Run, and Midnight Express -- who comprise Team Bullet Train -- also qualify.
* ProductPromotionParade: One infamous scene consisted of Scourge describing the abilities of the other Decepticons, for no reason whatsoever.
* RedOniBlueOni: Scourge and Mega-Octane.
* RoboFamily: The Autobot Brothers: Prowl, X-Brawn and Sideburn.
* RunningGag: The mistreatment of Kelly, Side Burn and red sports cars, Transformers in general not seeming to realize that vehicles on this planet ''aren't sapient''.
* SerialEscalation: Megatron had six different forms (or, at least, his figure did); Bat, Jet, Claw, Car, and [[ScaledUp two-headed dragon]], as well as his normal robot mode. [[spoiler: After becoming Galvatron, he gets an extra four modes]].
** We get to see all of his modes during the show, though some are one-scene wonders.
*** Make it [[http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/f/fb/FigureKingDevilOstrich.jpg eleven]].
* ShoulderCannon: Scourge's Barrage Attack, as well as Optimus' Strafe Attack.
** Slapper and Gas Skunk have weapons built into their shoulders (Right Laser and Left Laser, respectively).
* ShoutOut: In the dub, the city is named [[VideoGame/FinalFight Metro City]].
** One off character Dr. Bridget resembles Dr. Ritsuko Akagi from Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion.
* SlapStickKnowsNoGender: Kelly. See ButtMonkey.
* TheStarscream: Scourge.
* TeamMom: T-AI.
* TerribleTrio: Slapper, Darkscream, and Gas Skunk.
* ThreeAmigos: Koji is often seen in the company of his friends Karl and Jenny.
* TokenMiniMoe: T-AI (pronounced 'tie'). She ''is'' a computer generated hologram, but she certainly looks like a loli.
** And then the KT Figure Collection, designed by Yuki Oshima (who would later on create the [[{{Squick}} Kiss Players]] stories), firmly cemented her status of loli.
** I dunno, [[http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/0/00/T-AI-colorsheet.jpg that's a pretty old and developed loli]]. She just looks like a kid because she's the same ''size'' as the kid characters and doesn't have a very adult voice, either.
* VerbalTic: Guildor (the Japanese Dark Scream) ends sentences with "de gozaru".
* WackyRacing: The episode "Skid Z's Choice," in which most of the cast (including Megatron, Sky-Byte and Team Bullet Train) participating in a free-for-all to lure out a haunted Transformer...
* WarriorPoet: Sky-Byte.
* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted:]] See [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/TransformersRobotsInDisguise Funny moments.]]
* XtremeKoolLetterz: X-Brawn. Despite most people's belief that the X was added to the name because of legal trouble, it was really just added because it makes the name sound cooler. YMMV.
** Skid-Z, whose name is just pronounced "Skids".