Phil's G2 Gobot & Spychanger Repaints Page

As many of you know I'm busy revising my reviewe website. One of the things on my list to revise is the Car Robots (CR) and Robots In Disguise (RID) toys. And that means Spychangers. I was aware that the Spychangers had had a few versions but wasn't sure how many. So I decided to find out using TFU.info as a guide. Presented here in table form is a list of molds across the top and a list of releases down the side. The names in the table body link to their TFU.info entries with the exception of the Movie Prime gallery which is at TFormers

Generation 2 Gobots

This first table shows all the Gobot molds released for G2.

Their first release was under new names & characters.

Their second release reused several G1 names & characters

Two toys got a subsequent release and with these are two significant variations to the original Gobot releases caused I believe by the sharing of mold parts from the same tree between toys.

One Gobot is then subsequently released as a Botcon Exclusive.

Three of the repainted Spychnagers released in Japan had deco changes

All six molds are then released in Car Robots with additional clear versions.

The Car Robots versions are re-released in Robots in Disguise with an additional Autobot symbol.

A clear RID version comes out as an exclusive that's different to the Clear CR version.

The RID versions are re-released in Tiny-Tins

Then there are new Car Robot and Clear Car Robot versions, then a new (different) Clear RID version.

Finally one mold is reused in the Universe 2 packs.

As

Original 1995 Firecracker Blowout Highbeam Double Clutch Gearhead Motormouth
G1 Repaint 1995 Sideswipe Frenzy Bumblebee Mirage Soundwave Ironhide
2nd G1 Repaint 1995 Optimus Prime Megatron - - Gearhead (solid head) Motomouth (solid)
Japanese Variant 1995 Optimus Prime Megatron - - Soundwave -
Botcon 1995 - - Botcon Exclusive Nightracer - - -
CR 2000 Eagle Killer Artfire X-Car Counter Arrow Wars Ox
Clear CR 2000 Clear Eagle Killer Clear Artfire Clear X-Car Clear Counter Arrow Clear Wars Clear Ox
RID 2001 Rev Hotshot Crosswise Mirage W.A.R.S. Ironhide
Clear RID Recolour 2002 Clear Rev Clear Hotshot Clear Crosswise Clear Mirage Clear W.A.R.S. Clear Ironhide
Tiny Tin RID 2002 ? Rev Hotshot Crosswise Mirage W.A.R.S. Ironhide
Super CR 2003 Super Eagle Killer Super Artfire Super X-Car Super Counter Arrow Super Wars Super Ox
Clear Super CR 2003 Clear Super Eagle Killer Clear Super Artfire Clear Super X-Car Clear Super Counter Arrow Clear Super Wars Clear Super Ox
Clear RID Recolour 2003 Clear Rev Recolour Clear Hotshot Recolour Clear Crosswise Recolour Clear Mirage Recolour Clear W.A.R.S. Recolour Clear Ironhide Recolour
Universe 2004 - - - - - Universe Ironhide

Looking at these together we can very soon find that there's a limited set of colours used between these releases, and since the same parts vary in the same way between sets of releases we can conclude that parts from several different Gobots are found attached to the same parts tree:

Mold Part Colour Part Colour Part Colour Part Colour
Firecracker (1) Car Body & Gun A Upper Legs & Body B Lower Legs & Under Bonnet C - -
Blowout Car Body (2) & Gun D Upper Legs & Body E Lower Legs & Under Bonnet F - -
Highbeam Car Body E Upper Legs & Body Gun (3) C Lower Legs & Under Bonnet E - -
Double Clutch Car Body, Head & Lower Legs B Upper Legs & Body, Body Joint & Gun F - - - -
Gearhead Car Body C Upper Legs & Body D Lower Legs & Under Bonnet A Gun E
Motormouth Car Body F Upper Legs & Body A Lower Legs & Under Bonnet D Gun & Body Joint B

For the original G2 release and the CR/RID releases the values of these colours are:

Colour G2 Gobots RID Spychangers
A Clear Red Yellow
B White Off White
C Yellow Red
D Clear Black
E Black Clear
F Dark Blue White
(1) There's some indication the Firecracker mold has been modified at some point: For all the G2 releases the piece in front of the neck holding the robot body and the car's front together is the same colour as the car's Lower Legs - C. When the CR/RID version is introduced this part becomes the same colour as the body of the car - A

(2) Blowout's Car Body appears to be painted on his first two G2 releases.

(3) Highbeam is pictured with the wrong gun on TFU.info - he's pictured with Gearhead's there. All the releases on eBay show the correct gun mold in the correct colour.

Robots In Disguise Spychangers

This next table shows all the molds introduced for Robots in Disguise including those unreleased G2 molds (Sideburn, Daytonus, Prowl & Sideswipe) and the two super sized Spychangers. The unreleased G2 molds are an improvement over the ones that were released in G2 - these can store their weapons in vehicle mode.

All the standard sized Spychangers newly released for RID get a recolour under G1 names.

The two super sized Spychangers are re-released with an additional standard size Spychanger.

RID 2001 Daytonus Sideburn Prowl 2 Sideswipe Scourge X-Brawn Optimus Prime Ultra Magnus
Spychanger 2004 Wheeljack Jazz Prowl Silverstreak Optimus Prime Hoist - -
Universe 2004 - - Prowl - - - Optimus Prime Ultra Magnus
Movie 2007 - - - - Movie Optimus Prime - - -

Further reserach shows these molds may have has a limited release in Japan:

Here we have carded G2 versions of Daytonus & Sideswipe and Sideburn & Prowl taken at a 1996 Japanese Toy show that appeared in Tomart #30

I've also located images of the prototypes of the two totally unreleased G2 Gobots that would have completed the second set of six:

Car Vehicle and robot

Jeep Vehicle and robot

I found these images on the harddrive of my PC tucked safely away. NO idea where they're from, credit where apropriate !

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