Transformers: Robots in Disguise - A New Autobot Mission on DVD

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free. Opinions are my own**

I remember a big part of my after-school routine in elementary school was running as fast as I could from the bus stop to get home in time to see the Transformers cartoon series on tv.  With dvds, digital downloads and streaming Internet videos, my kids are shocked to hear that if you missed a cartoon when it originally aired when I was their age you were pretty much out of luck to see it again until the summer reruns began.  I was truly captivated each afternoon taking in the adventures of the heroic Optimus Prime and his band of mechanical Autobots tackling the dastardly exploits of the evil Megatron and his villainous army of Decepticon robots in this animated series that aired in 1985 and 1986.  Hey what young boy wouldn't enjoy a television show about high-tech robots that can turn into cool vehicles who battle each other with laser guns and missiles!!!

Just as my own children are entering their elementary school years themselves, the Transformers are back in an all new animated series on Cartoon Network called Robots In Disguise.  The war for control of the Earth has been over now for decades with the Autobots being victorious and the Transformers have returned to their metallic home planet of Cybatron.  The fan favorite young gun from the original series, Bumblebee is now a veteran law enforcement officer on Cybatron supervising a young beat patrol cadet named StrongArm as they search to arrest a troublesome maverick named SideSwipe.  Just as Bumblebee and StrongArm capture SideSwipe the whole trio gets sent back to Earth through a series of mishaps via a one-way interstellar gateway.

Bumblebee, StrongArm and SideSwipe arrive on Earth to find out that an Autobot spaceship transporting hundreds of the most dangerous Decepticons from Cybatron to a distant prison world has crash landed there.  It's up to Bumblebee and his team to round up all these escaped prisoners and lock them up before they create too much havoc on the planet.  Each episode will feature an encounter with a new Decepticon on the loose.  Oh plus because the only thing cooler than a robot that turns into a cool car is one that turns into a dinosaur during their adventures, the Autobots pick up a Dinobot to join their team.

Don't worry if you missed the first few episodes of this new series as on October 20, 2015 Shout! Factory Kids, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios, released TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE - A NEW AUTOBOT MISSION on DVD which features the first five entertaining episodes of the new tv series and special behind-the-scenes bonus content.  I watched this with my son and he was really thrilled by it.  We've watched the DVD three times now in just the one week we've had it.  You can order the DVD from Amazon and Walmart.

The DVD has a run-time of 110 minutes and features five action-packed TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE adventures:

• Pilot, Part 1
• Pilot, Part 2
• Trust Exercises
• More Than Meets the Eye
• W.W.O.D.?

These cartoons feature a brand new anime inspired animation style that provides more of a focus on presenting human and animal characteristics of the Transfomers versus a focus on a robotic portrayal of them. My kids really liked this new style.  The series also features the voice talents of Will Friedle (Boy Meets World), Darren Criss (Glee), Constance Zommer (Entourage), Khary Payton (Teen Titans Go!), and Mitchell Whitfield (TMNT) plus Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime in the 1980s Transformers cartoons and the live-action theatrical motion pictures, when the character makes a cameo appearance in this series.

The new mission begins as Bumblebee must step up to be leader in the years after we left the AUTOBOTS in Transformers Prime. Summoned by Optimus Prime to save Earth from a new DECEPTICON threat, Bumblebee puts his light-hearted mettle to the test after assembling a rouge team of Autobots action heroes. Bumblebee must balance his job fighting off evil with being equal parts squad leader and coach to a rascally team that needs constant coaxing to learn how to work together. The results are comical when the cool rebel SIDESWIPE, elite guard cadet STRONGARM, bombastic dinobot GRIMLOCK and overly-excited mini-con FIXIT must balance keeping the team together with chasing and capturing their new enemies in each adventure-filled episode.

The TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE series is currently airing on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on Teletoon in Canada.  If you're like me and  have kids at home who are really into cool cars, dinosaurs, and high-tech robots you are going to want to roll out into action and pick up the start of this new chapter of the Autobots story on DVD.