The Energon Pub

DREWCIFER wrote:Hey all, long time no post.

I was going to put this in the video forum, but figured it is more of a general inquiry.

I have a bootlegged set of the Jap series of T.formers, with bumpers and bad dubs, from years ago. I was browsing on Amazon and saw that I cold get all three on DVD for $53.97, or the boxset w/litho for $59.99. The price is negligible, but does anyone know if there is a difference of the versions?

Or, does anyone recommend a different version?

I know that Madman, Shout! Factory, and i think another Co. All have versions. Which is better? Also, is there any hope these will be released on BluRay?

Any help is appreciated, thanx!

Metrodome released the three series on DVD first, which was in the UK. The subtitles for these DVDs were decent, though The Headmasters had some technical errors in its subtitle scripts (some misspellings, one episode having another's subs in addition to its own, etc.), as well as some footage at the beginning and end of every episode missing (this was the fault of the Japanese company). But aside from that, the UK DVDs are nice. Bonus content is pretty sparse, mostly just audio commentary for select episodes. Though, The Headmasters set contained a second audio track for the bad English dub as an extra.

Metrodome released the three shows in three individual DVD box sets, and in one big set that added the single episode of Zone onto the final Victory DVD set disc.

The second DVD release for the three shows came from Madman, which was in Australia. The episodes in these sets are essentially the same as those of the UK release, same subtitle scripts and same errors and all for The Headmasters. Though, these sets are loaded with bonus content (mostly image galleries and commercials) and gorgeous box art. This release of The Headmasters also has the bad English dub as an extra, as does this release of Victory. With Masterforce, however, only certain episodes do, rather than all of them.

Like Metrodome, Madman also released them in three box sets, and in one big box set. The big difference here being that Zone was included on both the individual Victory DVD set and the big box set.

Finally, Shout! Factory released the three shows for the third time, this time in the U.S. These sets also used the existing episodes from the previous two releases... as a base. This release took those episodes and made several alterations to the subtitle scripts to not only fix some of the script errors of the previous releases, but to do further damage in changing the script to say things that differ from what the characters are saying onscreen. Tons of American names and terms are used for Japanese characters and things that aren't the same as their American counterparts. They also rewrote the scripts in several places for ill good reason, changing plot points and creating new concepts that otherwise do not exist in the series that the subtitles are supposed to represent. And no English audio track of any kind was included, nor was any bonus content.

Fittingly, Shout! Factory produced three individual DVD sets and one big set. Though, Zone was not included in any of this release. However, every televised clip show episode of Victory was included in this release, where both Metrodome and Madman left those episodes out (since they were largely unimportant).


Outside of DVDs, fansubbing group TV-Nihon also produced fansubbed releases of the three shows, which used to be downloadable from their website until they were taken down once Shout! Factory acquired the DVD license in the U.S. Their subs were faithful, but a bit clunky with some gratuitous Japanese thrown in for their special blend of flavor. But their episodes were all uncut, so their release of The Headmasters contains the missing footage that wasn't in the DVD releases. And, they did sub all of the televised clip show episodes that the first two DVD releases left out.

So, yeah, four options, three of which are official, and none of which are perfect or flawless. I'd say, whichever one you pick, just be mindful of its issues so as to not be too confused or caught off guard.