Transformers RID 2001 20th Anniversary

[Tha_Phantom]

Neil Kaplan (voice actor for RID Prime) shared on his Facebook page yesterday that RID 2001 has turned 20 years old!

I thought I'd share my thoughts on it as someone who was a kid at the time. I'm ignoring Car Robot entirely as I didn't know what it was then and they had their 20th anniversary last year so I don't want to take the spotlight away from RID.
Anyway, in 2001 I was well aware of Transformers by this point. I had watched episodes of G1 on VHS or the family computer and collected some of the Animorphs and Beast Machines toys (plus whatever odd G1 I could get my hands on). When I saw an ad for RID on Fox Kids I was super excited as I felt like it was a Transformers for my generation. The fact it was an anime made it extra appealing to me as there was an anime boom in the late '90s and early '00s in Australia.
The first episode I saw was Tow-Line Goes Haywire, about halfway through. As I had lost a fair bit of context I didn't understand what was going on, but I immediately fell in love with these new character designs, particularly X-Brawn and Rapid Run. I even made a Lego transforming bullet train with the "nose" of the train becoming one large arm, so referencing both characters. Soon after, I began watching it every morning before school.
Seeing the 3D animated Autobot/Decepticon scene transition, as well as episodes like Mirage's Betrayal (an homage to Traitor) further cemented for me that this was indeed a Transformers for my generation.
Then something shocking happened and you have to bear in mind I was only a kid and not fully aware of all the previous Transformer toys at this point. The episode that introduced the Decepticons really puzzled me as I could see that Scourge was basically a black G1 Optimus Prime with a new alt mode, not a black RID Optimus Prime as he was supposed to be. I wasn't aware of the G2 toy at this point or that they had reused it, so I was thinking about it all day at school but also excited that he looked so much like G1 Prime. The fact that the Commandos were G1 Combaticons went right over my head.
The introduction of Ultra Magnus wasn't as pleasant for me. I was used to his character in the 1986 movie by this point, so seeing him act like such a d*ck to Prime upon their first encounter (on Earth) left me feeling puzzled and annoyed. Thankfully, they patched things up by the end of the show and hey, Omega Prime was an awesome concept.
Sadly, as the series went on I felt some confusion over the O-Parts quest, as some episodes were cut because of 9/11 and all of a sudden they'd have these extra pieces they didn't in the previous episode. Ultimately, the story came to a satisfying conclusion in the end.
Being a fan of other anime shows at the time like Digimon, I noticed a lot of similar voice cast which again made this series appealing to me. I enjoyed a lot of characters introduced in the show, but in particular the Autobot brothers. X-Brawn with his cowboy attitude, Prowl taking his alt mode so seriously and Side Burn with his obsession for red sports cars.

Now the toys. On top of a fantastic anime we also got a sick toyline. I recall purchasing my first RID toy with some money I had earned during the holidays, which was supercharged Prowl. Soon followed by the other two supercharged Autobot brothers, Prime, Magnus, Megatron, the build team and the spychangers.
The three brothers had unique transformations with very realistic vehicle tooling, putting aside the scarcity of Lamborghini police cars (no I didn't say they don't exist). As a kid, Prowl was my favourite, but over time that has changed to Side Burn, who I can happily say I was able to figure out as a kid but boy was he complex!
Megatron was interesting being a 6 (and technically 11) changer toy. After seeing Galvatron in the show I was able to figure out most of his extra modes on the Megatron mould. My favourite modes for Megatron were the bat and two-headed dragon modes, my favourites for Galvatron were the mammoth and griffin modes.
Prime was cool. His robot mode was enough to know who he was meant to be and the chrome made him look extra premium. It might have bothered me that his alt mode was a fire engine but I got over it quickly.
Magnus was great as a car carrier for the three Autobot bothers, but not a great robot. Let's face it, he's really there to be an upgrade suit for Prime. Haha.
The build team I recall getting over a matter of months. The first was Heavy Load, purchased at Roselands. The last was Wedge who I got for Christmas that year. This was my first Transformer combining team ever, so it was extra exciting for me once it was all complete.
The spychangers were simple but fun little toys that I figured out were compatible with my Hot Wheels launcher. Extra fun! I recall getting REV first off a friend, then went and bought him in the two-pack with Hot Shot. The other four soon followed and I recall even making a combiner out of them at one point with blu tack. Towards the tail end of the line being in stores I came across Prowl 2, which confused me but I bought it anyway. I have vague memories of seeing a spychanger X-Brawn and the name Daytonus but I wouldn't get these figures until collecting on the aftermarket.

So thank you RID 2001 for the impact you had on my childhood that has lasted to this day. I'm not usually a completist of any line but for RID 2001 I went out of my way to buy the entire show cast, as well as a few additional non-show toys.