Shout! Factory Release of 'Transformers Takara Collection' in the Works

It was just over a year ago, while Shout! Factory was enjoying the success of their award-winning "G1" releases of Transformers on DVD, that a fan who used the nickname "gaastra" asked the studio, via a post at their official message board, the following question labeled "Transformers Takara Shows":

What would it take to get the takara shows (headmasters, masterforce, victory, zone) a release in america? UK and au both have it and america gets nothing. Is there anyway at all to get a r1 release? How about selling a try-out dvd on shouts website? You could include the first episode of all three shows. These shows need a R1 release.

By the next day Shout! DVD producer Brian Ward had responded, asking for feedback about interest in such a release. After all, these stories are the natural follow-up to the G1 Transformers, continuing in Japan with adventures never aired on this side of the Pacific. The message board discussion goes on for a long time, with Brian pointing out what the obstacles would be (and me backing him up a couple of times, in the face of various forms of disbelief about what he's saying). Still, despite those issues, the idea certainly was never shot down; it was clear that the fan base in the USA and Canada had clear interest in a Region 1 title for this so-called Takara Transformers Collection.

As our regular readers know, Biran - who was the producer of the G1 Transformers sets for Shout! - revealed on Twitter last Tuesday that he's working on a new Shout! Factory set of DVDs for Beast Wars: Transformers, the '90s CGI series. This info was certainly noticed by a wide range of people, and the call went out once again for the Takara episodes. By the next day, Brian was tweeting hints like "Big news re: BEAST WARS yesterday. But that's just one of MANY titles I'm excited to be working on. Anyone speak Japanese? #NotReallyAsking".

However, despite that hint on Wednesday, Brian's REAL revelation came along on Friday, when he made another Twitter post that left no room for doubt that he's not only working on a Takara Transformers Collection, but he was actually interested in help from the fans: "Looking for bonus feature material re: TRANSFORMERS TAKARA COLLECTION. Commercials, etc. Got anything? #DoesntMeanImWorkingOnIt #YesItDoes" Fans interested in helping can, of course, reach him by responding to his tweets on Twitter. You can also leave a message for him in the Takara thread at the Shout! Factory message boards (the first link at the top), but keep in mind that the studio is planning to overhaul their site in the near future, and we're not sure yet what will happen to the message board content there.

Finally, in case there is still any doubt about a Shout! Factory project for these post-G1 Japanese items coming to the USA, today Brian tweeted the comment, "Working hard on the upcoming BEAST WARS and TAKARA COLLECTION sets. But can this really be considered 'work?'" So it's a done deal. No word yet on whether this release is limited to the obvious productions of 1987's Transformers: The Headmasters, 1988's Transformers: Chôjin Master Force, and 1989's Transformers: Victory, or whether other material would be included as well...such as a more complete version of the 1986 production Transformers: Scramble City than was previously made available in the USA, as well as 1990's Transformers: Zone production.

Also, as it is VERY early in terms of this project, there's no word yet on when it will be out (like with Beast Wars, we can quite possibly expect it later this year, but naturally there is no guarantee of that at this early stage in the process). Stay tuned, and we'll keep you updated, as further developments occur!

Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Transf ... z1E4Emq8Mw