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In this thread at Shout! Factory, Brian Ward has made it known that they are investigating whether or not to release the Japanese Generation 1 Cartoons - Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory - onto DVD into the states.

Brian writes:
I was actually speaking to someone about this the other day. Obviously, we have a very good relationship with Hasbro and would like to pursue additional titles from their library. Without any promises, of course, are the Takara collections something you'd like to see on DVD in the States? I have all three of Metrodome's volumes, which run the gamut of quality, in terms of both animation and all-around storytelling. So is this collection, which has never officially been available in the U.S., something most Transformers fans would like to see done right? Or is it something aimed only at the hardest core fans?

Let me know.

Brian

So if you want these shows re-released, and possibly remasted, make your voices heard here!

I would LOVE to have them released here state side.... even more so if they get re-dubbed and the SHOUT treatment like they have done with the G1 series here!


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I would love to complete my Generation one series. It would also be REALLY NICE if Hasbro or Takara would reissue some of the figures from this series because I really want Star Saber, Victory Leo, Big Powered and the rest of the figures that combined with him, and Galaxy Shuttle.

Oh, SLAG YES! And... no.

I'm happy and sad all at the same time.

I'm happy cuz the U.S. may FINALLY get official releases of these awesome series.

I'm sad because I already own two versions of each series (the UK DVD boxset of the three, and the TV-Nihon fansubbed versions saved to a storage drive).

But wait? What about the Zone episode? Would they release that too?

Though, if they do get released, hopefully they'll have some good bonus material (the UK ones had Chris McFeely's awesome audio commentary for selected episodes, and the laughable English dub of The Headmasters) (the Australian ones, which I don't own, had art galleries, toy galleries, toy commercials, the poor dub of The Headmasters, the poor dub of selected Masterforce episodes, the poor dub of Victory, and scans of some of the Zone Battlestars, and Operation Combination manga and story pages).

Whatever Shout! has planned for these lost treasures of G1, I hope it's good.

Though, for The Headmasters, I hope they don't use the same masters that Metrodome and Madman used, cuz they all had the footage that played before the title card cut out and missing for some odd reason. And, I hope they use new subs for it too, as the Headmasters subs used by Metrodome and Madman were very inconsistant and grammatically erroneous (Masterforce and Victory faired well, though).

And I wonder if the clip episodes that were missing from the Metrodome and Madman sets for all three series will be included this time around. While these episodes are uneeded and just reuse old footage, they're kinda okay for those who just want a summary of events instead of the whole story.

They would have to redo the dubs. I'm sorry, but I tried to watch those episodes before and the flat voice acting was too much for me.

I would totally be interested in these. I've always wondered what happened later on in the Japanese continuity and this would be a great chance to find out. If the dubs are terrible, I wouldn't mind subbed Japanese, since I've watched a lot of anime anyway.

Man, if they did this and it increased demand for some of the Japanese G1 figures, eventually resulting in reissues, it would a dream come true!

I am quite interested but I first would want to know what the release plans are.

- Would the existing dubs be used or would they invest in remastering them with all new dubs?
- If new dubs are considered, would they look at using existing actors from other series, or be more concerned on using either a cheaper or more local (to Shout's available production facilities)option.
- Would these be in season sets, a complete box, or both?

OH PRIMUS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to see them released as DVD's here in the states. I have never seen these episodes. I tried to watch them on youtube a few times, but just oculdn't get into them due to the poor quality of the video.

This could be a success if done right!

First I don't have any doubts about what quality we would get from Shout. Not only that, but I think if they are getting copies from Madman, they should be already remastered...I think.

Here's the tricky part. Since these series were never released in the US, we should definitely, and easily, get the sub version, with all the correct names and factions. Which again, Madman has done. But since we are talking about the US here, the current dubs are really not worth adding on, and we know that there's a good bunch of people that do not do subtitles. So I would hope that Shout would be able to put together a competent VA crew. I don't need G1 voice actors, thought that would be nice. I just want better VA then what was done before. Hasbro if smart, could even do a limited release of some of the older japanese toys that never made it to the US market. Not mass release, but at least get a limited release with say Box 1 of Victory. It's money for them and something that I'm sure the fans will want. Of course any extra bells and whistles to go into the production would be greatly appreciated too.

I definitely believe that this is something that can be successful if done right and not half assed. All parties could get what they want.

Fans get an "Official" US release of the "lost" G1 years.
Hasbro gets to make more money.
Shout will hopefully be able to establish itself as the dominant 80's cartoon company and with that more money, and more licensing that would build up their libraries...and more money for them as well.

Slag yeah!!!!!!

Sweet Mother, yes they should do this. I've wanted these for years but could never justify the cost of importing. It gets my vote. On the plus side, it'd give Hasbor an excuse to release some of the toys from this series that we've never had.

Make it happen, please! I'd buy them all day 1.

Rhino should have attempted this years ago. I want this to be done as of yesterday. MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.

Hell yeah! As a not-quite-as-geeky-as-others-here fan, I don't know as much about these series and would love the opportunity to learn more about this great franchise that dominates my basement and aggravates my wife! Bring it on!

YES

Zone and a non-fan-talked-over version of Scramble City would HAVE to be on it.

If ShoutFactory does a quality job like AnimeWorks did with GoLion, their treatment of the Transformers we didn't get in the West would be excellent. Especially if they get our favorite G1 actors to reprise their roles and do new ones.

As for figures, they could make it like Bandi's updated vision of MMPR- keep the originals exactly in mind just update it. They wouldn't have to go full re-image like they did with the Classics line. Thou we all loooooove and want more Classics. Damn you HasTakomy with your Transformacrack! (Shakes fist angerly at the screen, then cries and wonders if this is why he's single)

I know I'd like to see the Headmasters series the most!

Yes I would loooooooooooove to see the japanese cartoons on DVD with ALL of the episodes with the english dub. I didn't like how Metrodome half assed their releases with only a few episodes with the english dub and none at all on Headmasters. I don't care how "bad" the dub is, I found Headmaster's dub watchable and on occasion funny, you gotta love the "go to hell" lines lol. So if you're gonna release them, do it right, cus some people like me don't like to read subs.

We are long overdue for a DVD release of Beast Wars II & Neo...Hopefully Shout! Factory can get round to obtaining the rights to those at some point.

I would love it if they released these. I have most of their animated catalogue with the exception of jayce and the wheeeled warriors. I love that show but ihate having shows on dvd not in their entirety. But they have listened to fans unlike jerks like warner bros and disney. They are releasing series direct to consumer that hardcores really want like the last volume of Adventures of sonic, and volume 2 of C.O.P.S.

Disney makes me so mad. I would love to have the rest of Gummi Bears on dvd and Gargoyles. It seems that they do no promotion on anything but there theatrical pieces. Disney would make a buck off of direct to consumer. **** YOU DISNEY!

This is such a damn awesome Idea.

poorboy8u wrote:This is such a damn awesome Idea.

Members of this site unite to rally this to be released. It made a difference with them releasing the next volume of C.O.P.S.. And hasbro is watching there not a billionaire company for nothing.

Especially Victory, Primus please let this be true!

I'd buy them day of release.

I've always wanted "official" versions...

Midnight_Fox wrote:I'd buy them day of release.

I've always wanted "official" versions...

And how are the Metrodome and Madman releases not "official"?