The Energon Pub

Japanese retailer Rakuten has posted an interesting new listing, Transformers Beast Wars II DVD Boxset. This will be the first time Beast Wars II has been made available on DVD format. The boxset contains all 43 episodes and is scheduled to release on October 20th for 29,400 yen.

I would kill for a real English dub of this!

Man, I'd totally buy this if it was region free.

Or if Shout Factory has this in the pipeline.

Hopefully it's region free w/english subs. If it is, I'll be all over it. Are we sure the price is accurate though? Seems a little high...

PLEASE LET THIS BE LEGIT!!!!


This show, and Beast Wars Neo, has NEVER, NEVER recieved any official DVD release even in Japan! Only its movie got released on DVD, but not the show.

Both Second and Neo were given full complete release on VHS, but none on DVD.

This had me wondering for ages if there even existed digital copies of the Toei masters of these two series. And if none did exist, then there would be little to no hope for a DVD release of any kind for these two.

And since I've been dying to see these two shows (beyond episode 4 of Second), I really, REALLY, REALLY want this news to be legitimate.

I don't care how bad people have descibed these two shows being. Any and all talk by those who have seen them, be it postive comments or negative criticism, just makes me want to see them even more so I can judge them for myself. I am well aware of them being for younger audiences, so in no way am I expecting these to be "awesome" or "epic", but rather more like "funny" and "friendly".

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:Hopefully it's region free w/english subs. If it is, I'll be all over it. Are we sure the price is accurate though? Seems a little high...

I thought the price seemed awfully high as well, that converts to like 384.00 USD. That is what it is listed for on Rakuten though.

Sabrblade wrote:And since I've been dying to see these two shows (beyond episode 4 of Second), I really, REALLY, REALLY want this news to be legitimate.

Well Rakuten is definitely a legit retailer, but beyond that who knows.

El Duque wrote:

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:Hopefully it's region free w/english subs. If it is, I'll be all over it. Are we sure the price is accurate though? Seems a little high...

I thought the price seemed awfully high as well, that converts to like 384.00 USD. That is what it is listed for on Rakuten though.

It does also say that it's 43 episodes on 8 discs.

Thinking about it, Beast Wars Second and Neo are, I'm pretty sure, the only TF series' that I've never seen.

This definitely gives me hope for a US release sometime, hopefully before the world ends. But holy crap

I peed a little.

Oddly, the Netherlads and Japan have the same regional code, so no problems for me (yay). Now for some subs and the correct price and I'll be over the Moon (GET IT? GET IT?).

Sabrblade wrote:

El Duque wrote:

Decepticlone Soundwave wrote:Hopefully it's region free w/english subs. If it is, I'll be all over it. Are we sure the price is accurate though? Seems a little high...

I thought the price seemed awfully high as well, that converts to like 384.00 USD. That is what it is listed for on Rakuten though.

It does also say that it's 43 episodes on 8 discs.

Even so, the general price for most 4-disc sets of TV shows and the like is around $35 to $40. I'd gladly pay $70-$75 max for this set, but I'm certain the price is definitely inaccurate.

Good that were getting something new but bad that its on DVD, what about Blu Ray?

ENGLISH. SUBS. REGION. FREE.

Hi everyone! Just thought I might clear a few things up-

1. This will definitely be region 2, but aren't most DVD players able to be switched to "region 0"? You just have to look up the appropriate code.
2. 99.9% positive these will not have English subtitles. This is a result of the Japanese market not caring, as well as an antiquated/conservative means of doing business.
3. The price, as high as it is, it's most certainly not a typo or inaccurate. Japanese DVD releases, especially for animation that has not yet reached the states (and even afterwards) are generally very expensive. Certain animated series can come as two episodes a disc for over 4-5000 yen (roughly $50-60, I guess), depending on "pedigree".
4. No Blu-ray for probably a long, long time, unless they have remastered these for HD, which is unlikely.

If you feel any of these are disputable, please look at the very least of the original pricing/releases of Transformers series in Japan. Japanese products are a lot more expensive for a plethora of reasons, one of the main being that they know this will have a limited market, and they want to bleed it as much as possible.

Oh and just to ruin everyone's fun even more, no chance of any kind of English dub.

Hope I've been informative!

Well damn. That's certainly a kick in the balls. Oh well. At least I'll have the Japanese Collection when it comes out.

At that price?

No sir.

All i can say that have not been said (kind of ) is that i want these out on DVD maybe just maybe Shout! can look in to it .I have seen some of them on YouTube but that is not enough for me .So i will make a prayer for it like every one else .By the way that bunny girl is real cute ,from the series that is why i want it so much.

Great, more subtitles. I have downloaded every Japansese TF series ever created but I just dont have the interest to watch them because subtitles ruin a show. I just cant seem to enjoy anything I have to read and watch at the same time. You cant keep up.

Ravage XK wrote:Good that were getting something new but bad that its on DVD, what about Blu Ray?

These are from 1998. There's no chance for a Blu-Ray release of this, nor even for G1. The only Transformers series that could possibly be put on Blu-Ray are Animated and Prime.

g2grimmy64 wrote:ENGLISH. SUBS. REGION. FREE.

That's asking for too much. This is not foreign release, but a domestic (to Japan) release. Domestic releases are Region 2 with no subtitles due to reasons regarding business politics. It's the same reason that American DVDs don't have that many foreign audio tracks/subtitles (aside from maybe Spanish, French, etc.), so as to prevent people from importing DVDs so they can buy their own domestic releases.

mysterybutt wrote:Hi everyone! Just thought I might clear a few things up-

1. This will definitely be region 2, but aren't most DVD players able to be switched to "region 0"? You just have to look up the appropriate code.
2. 99.9% positive these will not have English subtitles. This is a result of the Japanese market not caring, as well as an antiquated/conservative means of doing business.
3. The price, as high as it is, it's most certainly not a typo or inaccurate. Japanese DVD releases, especially for animation that has not yet reached the states (and even afterwards) are generally very expensive. Certain animated series can come as two episodes a disc for over 4-5000 yen (roughly $50-60, I guess), depending on "pedigree".
4. No Blu-ray for probably a long, long time, unless they have remastered these for HD, which is unlikely.

If you feel any of these are disputable, please look at the very least of the original pricing/releases of Transformers series in Japan. Japanese products are a lot more expensive for a plethora of reasons, one of the main being that they know this will have a limited market, and they want to bleed it as much as possible.

Oh and just to ruin everyone's fun even more, no chance of any kind of English dub.

Hope I've been informative!

Thank you very much. What with the timing of this pre-order being found during Shout! Factory's own releases of the JG1 sets, I expected some people to mistake this for another subtitled DVD release.

Counterpunch wrote:At that price?

No sir.

It's no good to you (or any non-Japanese person) anyway.

michael alex kawa wrote:All i can say that have not been said (kind of ) is that i want these out on DVD maybe just maybe Shout! can look in to it .I have seen some of them on YouTube but that is not enough for me .So i will make a prayer for it like every one else .By the way that bunny girl is real cute ,from the series that is why i want it so much.

Bunny girl? I know of a bunny, and a girl, but what bunny girl?

Rated X wrote:Great, more subtitles. I have downloaded every Japansese TF series ever created but I just dont have the interest to watch them because subtitles ruin a show. I just cant seem to enjoy anything I have to read and watch at the same time. You cant keep up.

There are no subtitles! This is not a set to be bought in America. It's for a domestic purchase in Japan only, just like how the new Beast Wars DVDs are for a domestic purchase in America only.

This is the first time this show has ever been put on DVD. We need to wait our turn for any subtitled release.

Hey wait a minute... I have that guy on the right! That galvatron... any estimate as to what it's truly worth? It's missing 1 missile, thats all.

BeastProwl wrote:Hey wait a minute... I have that guy on the right! That galvatron... any estimate as to what it's truly worth? It's missing 1 missile, thats all.

the Korean reissue goes for about 50 bucks, the Japanese release probably goes for more, though I was lucky enough to get it for 35 bucks.

That series is great! Come on Stampy! Man there are some horrible fan dubs out there...

GetRightRobot wrote:That series is great! Come on Stampy! Man there are some horrible fan dubs out there...

Stampy's from Beast Wars Neo. Oops.

Sabrblade wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:That series is great! Come on Stampy! Man there are some horrible fan dubs out there...

Stampy's from Beast Wars Neo. Oops.

Awh man thats right, wrong Prime too....

Sabreblade: keeping the internet honest!

Sabrblade wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:That series is great! Come on Stampy! Man there are some horrible fan dubs out there...

Stampy's from Beast Wars Neo. Oops.

BWII had characters based on 2nd year pre-Transmetal toys, plus G1/G2 repaints, plus some retools. That's the difference with Neo that had all new molds all the way.

And I surely hope an experienced studio takes up this series and either dubs it (with good vioces) or subs it. We really need to fill the gap between Beast Wars S1 and S2/3.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:That series is great! Come on Stampy! Man there are some horrible fan dubs out there...

Stampy's from Beast Wars Neo. Oops.

BWII had characters based on 2nd year pre-Transmetal toys, plus G1/G2 repaints, plus some retools. That's the difference with Neo that had all new molds all the way.

Save for Randy, Rockbuster, Sharp Edge, Bump, Survive, Hydra, and Crazybolt, that is.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:And I surely hope an experienced studio takes up this series and either dubs it (with good vioces) or subs it.

Since they didn't redub the JG1 series, I'd say a subbed release will be our best bet.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:We really need to fill the gap between Beast Wars S1 and S2/3.

BWII and Neo don't occur between seasons 1 and 2/3 (even though it aired during then). It takes place "tens of thousands of years" after Beast Wars Returns (Beast Machines).