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 Changes occur in four catagories: 1) Changes between units in the first-release of RID. 2) Changes between the first and second (recolor) versions of the Car brothers in RID. 3) Changes between units in the second (recolor) release of the RID brothers. 4) Changes between RID and the Japanese Car Robots series in Japan (See: List One, Particle's comparisons of the Car Robots versus RID brothers). Catagory 1: So far, the most noticable change on X-Brawn is the sprayops near his gas-cover. Basically, more, or less green. The initial release of Prowl can come with four! different sprayops on his missles(the yellow paint, specifically). It can come with full paint, medium paint, a touch of paint on the tip, or no paint at all.
Catagory 2: Differences between the original and 'super' version of the Car Brothers: recolored, of course! Prowl went from white to blue, X-Brawn from gray to white, and Sideburn from blue to red:
Catagory 3: Differences within the second-release (recolor) versions of the RID Car Brothers: So far, a change on Sideburn, who comes with either light, or dark-gold rims and weapons:
(Note: The Prowl and Sideburn molds were retooled and used as OTFCC Exclusives in 2003, then retconned back into walmart-exclusive Universe toys for 2004.)
(Note: X-Brawn was re-released in the Universe line as well.) |
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Originally from the G2 line, the molds were recycled for RID. As many as three recolors of the same mold in G2, they thankfully stuck with one each this time around. Note: This area is split into several sections; 1) recycled mold comparisons, 2) changes in the line itself, and 3) new molds, and their variants. Note also that Kaybee has released individually-packed clear versions of the first 6 molds.
G2 Autobots Firecracker, Prime, and Sideswipe share a mold with Rev, while G2 Autobots Bumblebee, Highbeam, and the Botcon 95 exclusive Nightracer, a Decepticon, share a mold with Crosswise.
G2 Autobot Blowout and G2 Decepticons Frenzy and Megatron share a mold with HotShot, while G2 Autobot Gearhead and the Decepticon Soundwave share with Wars:
The final four! (Or 6, as the case may be...) G2 Autobots Motormouth and Ironhide share a truck mold with RID Ironhide (very nice), while G2 Autobots Doubleclutch and Mirage share a racecar mold with RID Mirage (even nicer!)
Of course, there are some changes in RID itself...Mirage comes with either short or long red stripes, (light vs dark red, too) while Rev comes with either light or dark orange spray-ops. They also have a full side window, or a partially-painted side window. Crosswise comes in three flavors of red on his rear spoiler (red, light red, dark red), while Wars comes in light or dark yellow on his door stripes:
Four molds that weren't released in G2 were included in the rid assortment. One of them, Daytonas, comes with either a light or dark windshield, while Sideswipe came with light or dark tailights:
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The RID 3-Pack of Predacons are all recolors of Beast Wars Transmetal 2 molds. (Slapper is Spittor, Gaskunk is Stinkbomb, and Darkscream is Nightscream, respectively.)
In addition, Darkscream comes in gold or silver chrome, Slapper comes with either light or dark green eyes, and Gaskunk comes in either light or dark orange tails:
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In addition to dark vs light gold chrome, and a package change, Megatron comes with either light or heavy (light or dark) green sprayops on his chest:
And this section wouldn't be complete without mentioning that Megatron was recolored white, called Galvatron, and...well, the engineers fiddled, and invented a few more modes for him. :-)
 But wait! There's more. In the words of Zob: "Galvatron has a different copyright stamp from Megatron. Here's Galvy's:"
©2000 TAKARA
"Megatron is missing the first three lines of this text, for some reason. Also, Galvatron is a *lot* tighter than Megatron for some reason. I keep thinking I'm going to break his legs whenever I pose them. Cryotek's pelvis holds together much better than my Megatron's does, too."(Mold-change? Hard to say at this point. We'll keep searching.) |
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Yes, a chrome change! Light versus dark blue, ala TM Primal from BW or Ultra Jetstorm from BM:
Note: There is a black recolor of this mold in the Universe line, along with a yellow Optimus Prime, as a Sam's club exclusive.
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The G1/G2 Combaticons have been renamed and recolored for RID. Onslaught is Mega-Octane, Blastoff is Movor, Swindle is Rollbar, Vortex is Rotor, and Brawl is Armorhide. There are a number of mold changes between the G1/G2 and RID versions, both on the toys and the weapons. (Details here.) One new twist is that the individual weapons now have tabs and holes added to them so that the handguns/cannons combine into a pair of 'super-weapons' for the combined gestault. (This feature was not readily available on previous incarnations, although Onslaught did have a launcher that could be mounted on his back cannon in G2).
Mega-Octane: The most noticeable feature is the change in the 'bolt-pattern' on the toy itself. There are two main versions (4 vs 5-bolt) as well as a number of transitional units where the two are mixed. It is interesting to compare them to the G1 and G2 Onslaught wheels, which have an entirely different look to them. Click here to read Crazy-Steve's in-depth review of Mega-Octane bolt patterns.
 Rollbar: Sprayops changes on the hood:
Movor: Sprayops changes on the body:
Note: There are later versions of Ruination in the Armada and Universe series (referred to as the 'urban camo' and 'desert redeco' versions, respectively). |
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These fellows were recolored versions of toys from the Machine Wars line of robots, which were available at Kaybee toy stores at the same time Beast Wars toys first came out (95). In addition to color changes, there were slight mold changes to each toy as well (pegs made larger/smaller, mold indents, etc). Details on that here.
In addition, there is a color change on Skid-Z, who can come in either pink or purple coloring...oh, and Windsheer came with yellow or green wingtrim ;-0) Why God, why?
Oh yes, one other two-pack to mention. :-) Sideways vs Axer, recolors and remolds of the G2 Road Rocket and Roadpig lazercycles. (Specifically, longer handlebars, and the legs on Axer were completely retooled to be seperate pieces from the G2 version.) Details here.
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I don't know why...but the windows on the trainbots have variations on them in the rid line. (This is not to be confused with a comparison between RID and Car Robots...the JRX team has clear windows in Japan...see
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Originally a recolor of the Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Cybershark, Skybyte comes in two version of his own: a purple set of upper teeth, or a white set of upper teeth:
There's also a color variant on the toy. Three of them, actually. He comes in blue, purple, and light-purple:
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Rumors abound of Fire Convoy parts showing up on Prime, but no hard evidence as of yet. I'm also still waiting on pics of plain vs 'sparkly' Primes. :-) For now, we bring you the paint variant: light vs dark orange band on the battle-mode chest of Prime.
Oh, we do have a mold-change as well: initial-releases of RID Prime came with 'O'-shaped launchers (with missles to fit). The later-releases had 'D'-shaped launchers (and missles to fit). Now try to guess which unit came in which of the four packaging variations. :-) Hehe.
Note that there was a yellow recolor of this mold in the Universe line, along with Ultra Magnus, as a Sam's club exclusive.
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Otherwise affectionately known as the Buildteam. Yes, every one of them had sprayops changes. Hightower came with light or dark orange highlights. Heavyload came with more or less orange on his sprayops. Grimlock came in either light or dark gold. And Wedge came with light or dark orange treads:
Note: There is an Armada version of Landfill (yellow, in a boxset). Note a further release of Landfill, in Devastator colors, in the Universe line.
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Two toys that should more properly have been released in the Beast Machines series, Bruticus (NOT to be confused with Ruination, or G1 Bruticus) is a 3-headed dog-beast, while Megabolt is Megatron (the large floating head version). Bruticus comes with light, or heavy sprayops on his feet. Call it light vs dark gray, if you prefer. Megabolt comes with light vs dark grey spray on his chest (or call it light vs heavy, we're flexible. :-)
Oddly enough, Megabolt Megatron was recolored and renamed Megabolt in the Armada line. |
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Cryotek is a recolor (and remolding) of the Transmetal 2 Megatron mold.
 Differences? For starters, one of the wingtips has been changed. As Crazy-steve says, "On the forward portion of his left wing (the dagger-shaped narrow end that comes to a point), the mold is very doughy looking and lacking in detail, where TM 2 Megatron has lots of detail and even a hollowed out section there. On Cryotek, this hollowed out section has been filled in and the whole appearance of this small area is very nondistinct. My theory is that TM 2 Megatron's mold broke during the repeated pressings and this area had to be reconstructed. I don't know if there are any Cryoteks out there that match TM 2 Megatron EXACTLY, but it may be worth hunting for."
Zob also brings us word of further mold changes: "On the left side of his face, Megatron's got a very large incisor that spans nearly the height of his mouth. Somebody must have noticed this and wanted Cryotek to have more symmetrical choppers, so they did a little dental work on him, reducing this incisor to the length of the other teeth. There's sort of a circular spot leftover where the tooth used to be."
In addition, there is a color-change. There are some Cryoteks out there with black, versus the standard purple heads:
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Obsidian was formerly...Obsidian in the Beast Machines line. :-) They changed his paintjob from green to brown-camo. There was also a mold change to his rotors.
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Not released in the USA, unfortunately. Only Japan and Korea (see: List One). Unit is a redeco of the original big bot in 1986. |
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Scourge is a recolored and remolded version of the G2 Laser Optimus Prime toy (they added a longer tab, reinforced the hinges, made the missles tabbed...details here.)
Rumors abound of Black Convoys showing up in RID Scourge boxes. While I have not personally been able to confirm this, others have sent pics and descriptions of theirs. If I find myself a sealed box with a Black Convoy in it, I'll let you know. :-) In the meantime, click here for details.
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Originally intended for the Beast Machines line, but released in RID packaging, this talking powerhouse comes with a paint-variant: light vs dark red on his head (among other places) as well as gold vs brown (or light vs dark gold-if you prefer):
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The Autobot 3-Pack (Mirage GT, Scavanger, and Nightcruz) are recolors and remolds of Beast Machines molds. (Mirage, Scavanger, and Spystreak, respectively. Scavenger's screw was replaced with a bolt, and mold indents were removed from the other two's missle-sets...details here).
Note: Spystreak/Nightcruz was released again in the Universe line, as Fireflight. |
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Stormjet is a recolor of Beast Machines Jetstorm (and Sonic Attack Jet). The color-scheme, it is presumed, is designed to harken back to the G1 Jetfire. Like his two predecessors, he has a pip variant. His arms can come with one or two pips. Oh, joy. :-) (See BM section for details).
 Note: Stormjet was recolored and released again as Jhihaxus for KB, and again as Skywarp for the Universe line. |