Like most of you, I was wowed by the Transformers Matrix of Leadership DVD Boxed Set earlier this year, but after reading several reviews of the set, I decided to look around for an alternative to spending $150 to satisfy my TF cravings.
I already own all the Transformer episodes, but they were less than stellar divx encoded files I found on a street corner, so finding the entire series on DVD was always a dream. Well, thanks to Guangdong Qianhe Audio & Video Communications, that dream became a reality.
Typically this box set sells anywhere from $55 to well over $100 thanks to some American companies trying to make a profit, but I was lucky enough to find a set on Craigslist for fifty bucks. It was slightly used, but I didn't have to wait three weeks for it to arrive from China.
The Packaging



Here's the initial brown cardboard box that it arrived in. There's nothing spectacular about it other than the fact it was a lot heavier than I had originally thought it would be.



The Tin box itself is great. It's about eight inches tall, shuts tightly and feels like a Transformers box set should feel like. No wimpy cardboard boxes here. This is one area where this box set kicks the Matrix of Leaderships butt.
The DVDs
Okay, that's a nice touch.

Open that album up and you have a booklet style DVD storage of all 98 episodes plus the recolored full screen version of the 1986 movie.




The booklet itself is a little stiff, being made from glossy stock that's about as thick as a business card. It holds up well. Lots of great pictures. All text is in Chinese. It would be great to get the translation of what's been printed, but then again, we pretty much know what they're talking about.


My only criticism; The discs are stored in small plastic baggies inside the folded over pages of the book. Not exactly the best way to store DVDs and they're a little difficult to reach down into the pages and pull them out, but I found it you grab the plastic baggie and pull, it's a lot easier. I think in the future I might find or create an alternative way to store these discs.
The Extras

Inside the box is a PVC Autobot keychain It's pretty cool, with a 3D version of the autobot symbol on it. It's also pretty flexible, so if you fall down, you won't be seriously injured.



The Transformer Postcards are a nice touch, although some of the artwork looks as though it was cropped to the extent that you're missing the entire picture. The twelve postcards are not glossy stock as most postcards are, which makes me think whoever designed them didn't intend for us to actually mail them, but they look cool regardless. And I fully intend on mailing at least one of them.
The MenusThis is possibly the best part of the entire box set.

This is the menu from the Bonus Features disc. It includes all the commercial bumpers, bloopers, an animated introduction as to the cleanup and recoloring process, spotting instances of dirt on the old betamax transfers, and other technical junk. Again, it would be cool to know what this menus says in english, but when you click around you figure it out almost immediately.
The rest of the menus on all the other discs look like this;

First screen. Is that Mickey Mouse?

Second screen.

Third screen (with my notes).

Animated main menu with Stan Bush's Transformer opening theme screaming at you. Kinda looks like The Matrix. No pun intended.

The main menu. Behind the symbol is sort of a Doctor Who-ish animated tunnel sequence that's cool. There's repeating text that scrolls up on the right side of the screen stating "Transformers Season1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Movie" The best part of this menus is that the autobot symbol *IS* the menu! You can highlight four parts of the symbol to either play all (the chin), episode selections (right side of head), language selection (left side) and I'm not sure what the crown of the head does. It may play all like the chin.

And yes.. Transformers The Movie is included in this set. I already own the 2 disc version of the movie, but if I didn't, I would be jumping for joy because it's the recolored version *and* it's full screen! Personally I hate the wide screen version.. such a bad idea. There's nothing more on the Movie disc except The Rebirth parts 1-3.
Video and Audio QualityEverything in this package looks exactly the same as the footage that Rhino released. The only difference that I noticed was that the commercial bumpers have been removed from the episodes (I still have commercial bumpers in my divx version). You can select English audio or go Takara and select Chinese audio! The only drawback to listening to the Chinese audio is that there are no English subtitles - only Chinese subs. So there are some drawbacks, but I find the Chinese audio absolutely hilarious.
ConclusionsPackaging; 8/10 - I love the Tin Case, but am a little let down by the cardboard booklet style where the dvds are stored.
Extras; 7/10 - The extras feel like dollar store additions. Last minute, bordering on gimmick driven, much like a lot of the other extras you find in DVD box sets these days. Post cards be damned, I'm going to mail them anyway.
AV Quality; 9/10 - There still exist various technical and animation mistakes that might drive the anally retentive TF fan nuts, but personally it's all part of the experience.
Menus; 8/10 - Most of the menus contain both Chinese and English except for the Bonus Features disc which is the most confusing to figure out. Spelling mistakes on the Copyright notice are hilarious but rather unprofessional.
Overall I'm really impressed with this set. The only thing The Matrix of Leadership set has over this one are the special features (which I'm sure will pop up on Torrent websites in a matter of time). For fifty bucks through Craigslist or on eBay, this box set simply rocks my Deceptichops.

For more pictures and post card scans, go here;
http://www.updocfilms.com/TF/index.htm