The Energon Pub

I feel like I'm back in 2007 all over again when all this was first found out in the west and everyone was like "HUH?!!"

That's what I get for not haunting this section of the forums, lol! I knew, vaguely, that they made Car Robots connect. But they way they went about it is ... terrible ...

I feel like they may have learned the wrong lessons from western comics. All the spackle and staples they've used to graft different media together make things even more dense and incomprehensible than before!

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

I feel like I'm back in 2007 all over again when all this was first found out in the west and everyone was like "HUH?!!"

That's what I get for not haunting this section of the forums, lol! I knew, vaguely, that they made Car Robots connect. But they way they went about it is ... terrible ...

I feel like they may have learned the wrong lessons from western comics. All the spackle and staples they've used to graft different media together make things even more dense and incomprehensible than before!

It also didn't help that the Western fandom at large back then also kept insisting that Car Robots was as much of a continuity reboot unconnected to anything that came before it like the English RID 2001 version was, when a vast majority of Western fans had never even seen Car Robots in full and were mainly going by the aforementioned English dubbed version.

Little did any of us realize that there actually were references in there that were meant to tie it back to its predecessors, like the Energon Matrix, Vector Sigma as a god, Brave Max's "Head-On System" referencing the Japanese-only "Head On!" transformation code from The Headmasters and Masterforce, and even the ship that brought Black Convoy's crew to Earth resembling the same type of ship as the Axalon from Beast Wars.

But all these subtle references came during the second half of the series, after it had already made itself feel as standalone as Masterforce and Beast Wars Second felt. So it was always an uphill task to try getting things back on track, unfortunately.

I can understand why the western fandom rejected the tenuous connections such as they are. If the official dub omitted them and since the show does introduce continuity problems other media had to tidy up ... yeah. I can see why. We didn't even get to have "head on" so of course we wouldn't pick up on that. In addition it didn't have to be a direct tie in - it could just be a reference. A nod.

It is what it is, but that doesn't mean I think it was a good idea for them to follow through on tying it all in It seems to have only complicated things and added nothing. And a team of time police is actually a pretty cool concept. They just left it lying on the ground.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I can understand why the western fandom rejected the tenuous connections such as they are. If the official dub omitted them and since the show does introduce continuity problems other media had to tidy up ... yeah. I can see why. We didn't even get to have "head on" so of course we wouldn't pick up on that. In addition it didn't have to be a direct tie in - it could just be a reference. A nod.

Granted, like I said, the majority of western fans never actually watched Car Robots at the time since it wasn't fully available in subtitled form back then (the complete fansubs didn't get made until 2014).

And I think the dubbers didn't catch those references either because Saban Entertainment (the dubbing company in question) wasn't all that familiar with the Transformers brand in general. They had a Hasbro employee working closely with them as a creative consultant, and the only voice actor on the dub team who had worked on Transformers before was Michael McConnohie (who had voiced Tracks and Cosmos in the G1 cartoon). Saban was chosen to dub the series because they were readily available at the time, having already established a good relationship with Fox Kids (the network that Beast Machines had aired on) and had the dubbing experience at the time with Power Rangers, Digimon, and DinoZaurs (pretty much the entire dub voice cast had worked on at least one of those shows). Hasbro needed to put something out for 2001 real quick after the cancelation of Transtech left them with no new series for 2001, and also because the decision to co-produce Armada with Takara left Hasbro with no new series until 2002. They needed something to fill in that void with a new cartoon very quickly, and Saban was very good at doing dubs quickly.

Though, that isn't to say Saban did a rushed job with the dub. Rather, despite some numerous inconsistencies that were common to Saban's dubbing productions in general, they gave a good effort in voice acting and trying to make sense of Car Robots's more zanier moments for the RID dub. Not to mention all the extra scrambling they had to do in the wake of the sudden spike in network censorship brought about the 9/11 tragedy, which forced Saban to tone down some of the more violent and destructive moments of the show at the 11th hour, even after the dub had already started airing. Three episodes even got banned from U.S. broadcast completely. It was a very hectic time.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:It is what it is, but that doesn't mean I think it was a good idea for them to follow through on tying it all in It seems to have only complicated things and added nothing. And a team of time police is actually a pretty cool concept. They just left it lying on the ground.

Yeah, there could have been more done with it in further animation. But Car Robots apparently flopped in Japan. RID was a smash success in the west, but CR basically put Transformers animation into a coma over in Japan. From 2000 to 2003, there was no Transformers cartoon airing on TV in Japan. Car Robots ended at the end of 2000, while Armada (or "Legends of the Microns") didn't begin airing in Japan until early 2003. Transformers was essentially dead during that interim, getting by only on some smaller lines of mostly G1 reissues before Armada revitalized it three years later.

Alas, the only follow-up to the Dimensional Patrol concept Japan received was some small continuation stories in the Legends manga, wherein it was shown that G1 Skids of all characters had joined the team, and surprisingly so too did Gigatron and the other four Destrongers.



During his time of incarceration, Gigatron witnessed the emergence of some new threats much greater than himself, which made him finally realize just how much of a small fish in a large pond he truly was. Having been so humbled by his ultimate defeat and capture by Fire Convoy's team (his greatest failure), the mere existence of these even larger threats humbled him even further, to the point where Gigatron finally came to his senses and realized how foolish he had been in his attempts to conquer fate itself.

The first toy catalog I mentioned before that said the Car Robots cast had been time travelers from the future had also said that Fire Convoy and Gigatron used to be childhood friends long ago, so that also played a part in Gigatron eventually turning over a new leaf and joining his once and former enemy as his once again old friend.

Of course, as seen in the pic above, Black Convoy was utterly appalled by this and both he and the other Combatrons refused to join Fire Convoy's team, wanting to stay evil.

And at the very end of Legends, we see the awesome ultimate realization of Devil Gigatron's redemption:
Devil God Fire Convoy!



Yes, the toys can do this, too.




(not my pics, btw)

Hm, you know that pick does show a missed opportunity in that it would have been neat if the hand could link up well. In the pics it looks like it just sort of leans against FC's hand. f they had made the hand removable and added a peg to Gigahand it woulda been a feature. Then they could have some mega bad guy in the show for at least one episode.

Car Robots flopped in Japan? I guess that explains why there've been no references to it at all, ever. I had thought it was just majorly overshadowed by two much greater eras before and after. It must be some kind of miracle that we got the Haslab. It can't be as poorly regarded over there as Beast Machines is over here, though.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Hm, you know that pick does show a missed opportunity in that it would have been neat if the hand could link up well. In the pics it looks like it just sort of leans against FC's hand. f they had made the hand removable and added a peg to Gigahand it woulda been a feature. Then they could have some mega bad guy in the show for at least one episode.

GFC's hand has a 5mm hole in its palm that the Devilhand is attached to by a 5mm peg.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Car Robots flopped in Japan? I guess that explains why there've been no references to it at all, ever. I had thought it was just majorly overshadowed by two much greater eras before and after. It must be some kind of miracle that we got the Haslab. It can't be as poorly regarded over there as Beast Machines is over here, though.

Beast Wars Metals flopped over there, too. Yep, what was considered the high point of Beast Wars over here (its second and third seasons) completely tanked in Japan, because Japan didn't give a rat's head about the Transmetals. Only season 1 of Beast Wars was successful, while Second and Neo kept the steam going long enough for seasons 2-3 to get dubbed as Metals, but Metals tanked when it finally got to Japan. Car Robots came about in response to Metals's failure, with Takara hoping to revitalize the brand by bringing back realistic Earth vehicles with Beast Era-level articulation engineering (and just in time for the brand's 15th anniversary in Japan, too). Alas, Car Robots was just as much of a flop, too.

The whole Beast Era really didn't so well in Japan after that first year of Beast Wars season 1. The failure of Metals is also why Beast Machines was initially passed over by Takara in favor of making Car Robots, as they feared Beast Machines wouldn't be able to save the brand after Metals tanked.

So they just saw Beast Wars and just "noped" out of it, eh? Damn, that's rough. I wonder if it woulda done better if they had a more faithful dub.

II and Neo are okay as shows go, but I think they don't have that same kind of narrative spark as Beast Wars had. But it's hard to make a good toy-first show. Even TF Season 3 didn't quite manage it. Beast Machines didn't manage it. Both of those followed up really strong initial drives.

I don't think any of the Japanese BW drives were bad enough to flop, though. Maybe because it took so long for the shows to finally get there? Or maybe it was just strong competition from other brands.

It's more that the toylines of Metals and Car Robots flopped rather than the shows specifically, since the shows' successes were determined by the toy sales.

The Metals toyline only lasted in Japan for four months, September-December 1999, sharing the same year with Neo's toyline earlier in January-July 1999.

Basically,

• Beast Wars (season 1) toyline: Did pretty well
• Beast Wars II toyline: Did okay but really not as well
• Beast Wars Neo toyline: By now, sales were really slumping
• Beast Wars Metals toyline: Could not recover from the slumping sales and just flopped
• Car Robots toyline: Really tried to breathe new life into the brand, but ultimately floundered in sales
• Beast Wars Returns toyline: Did not reach Japan until late 2004-early 2005, when Galaxy Force had become the new main toyline, and only as a limited-run mini-subline exclusive to Toys 'R' Us, consisting of strictly the show-character toys

Hm. Well, then I must wonder at how the fandom over there perceives these shows.

For me, the fiction comes first. It's the primary reason I'm into whatever I'm into. I know success is measured by how well the toys sell, but even so, the cartoon should advertise those toys by being ... a good overall cartoon. At least, that's how I see it.

So I can't help but wonder how the Japanese fandom perceives these eras of TF. If the toyline flopped does that mean they also didn't like the shows? Are they considered mid as well?

Finished watching episode 10 of Micron Legends.

So far so good! I like the more serious tone of this series. And ... the Destrons actually win a few? Can it be!?

I like that Megatron is joining the fray in these early eps. I hope it lasts. These armchair generals are tiresome. If you don't have very many guys on your team maybe it's time to get off your butt and help out!

The Minicons have no character. Why does it matter who awakens them? It would be nice if they had some agency of their own. Also the show forgets that the kid's Minicons can Powerlinx to Prime to give him his own power boost in a pinch. They don't need to be mere observers. But they are.

So far I like Hot Shot the most. By a lot. It's like if G1 Hot Rod were allowed to have been part of the main cast in G1. Now I'm doubly glad I got the powered up version of his toys! I know he has some stuff with Wheeljack coming up too to make him more interesting.

On the cons side Starscream remains MVP. What a change from BWII's depiction! Like II the con's main weakness continues to be their backbiting. But they're way more cohesive as a unit than they've been since the G1 days. I know he also has some character stuff coming up too, but I don't remember what.

OOOOOOOOOOH BOY!!!!!

Karyuudo Fansubs just now dropped a new release, and it's a special one for the 40th anniversary! It's the first three episodes of Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers!

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while since our team's last release. Since it's the 40th Anniversary of The Transformers franchise, we decided to put together an English subtitled translation of the first 3 episodes of the Japanese dub of the G1 cartoon in celebration of this year. Thankfully Takara-Tomy allows these episodes to be posted online without issue, so we're grateful that we can share these everyone.

For those wondering if we're going to translate the rest of the G1 series, the answer at this time is no, however we may consider translating the odd episode if it provides value to the audience. Viewers will quickly realize when watching this series, aside from some adjustments to the dialogue and character names / factions, the dub follows the original English version quite closely.

The videos are available via YouTube on our channel, so we hope everyone enjoys them. Please leave a Like / Dislike and comment as we love the feedback and support.

Some notable observations:

In general, all three episodes insert various references to Megatron being an Emperor of Destruction, where none originally were in the English version.

Optimus is repeatedly referred to as "Commander Convoy" or simply "Commander". Only those who deem him no respect refer to him by name alone.

Likewise, Jazz is referred to as "Lieutenant Meister" or just "Lieutenant" by the other Autobots. Only Optimus has the authority to call him by name alone.

The episodes also add a lot more references to Megatron specifically wanting to conquer the whole universe.

To correct the switch made between Rumble and Frenzy's toy colors vs. their cartoon colors, the purple robot is referred to as "Frenzy" in the Japanese dub.


Episode 1

Wheeljack's statement of the energy conductors not being able to last a quartex is changed to their only having enough energy for three months.

Iacon keeps its name in the Japanese dub.

Instead of Jazz getting knocked out of his seat by the collision of the asteroids rocking the ship and Optimus moving into his seat to retake control of the ship, Optimus tells him to "Move!" and Jazz's fall is reinterpreted as Optimus practically shoving him out of the way.

The animation error of the shot of Optimus yelling "Prepare for battle!" repeating as Megatron's is heard yelling "Attack! Attack!!!" is accounted for, with the repeated shot not having Megatron's voice heard but a second command given by Optimus since he's the one who's onscreen in the shot.

The Decepticons identify on the spot the nearby power station that they destroy as "A nuclear power plant".

Hound jokingly saying that Cliffjumper shouldn't have missed when he fired at Megatron, which cheers up the forlorn Cliffjumper with a laugh, is slightly amended to now have Cliffjumper's reaction be one of embarrassment.

Hauler is not referred to by any name. For all any of the Japanese viewers knew, he could have just been Grapple, or a generic Autobot, or a random Earth crane truck that the Autobots simply borrowed for this scene.

In Hound's report about the Decepticons' plans to harvest Earth's energy, he does not mention that their plans involve the use of "some kind of cube".

At the oil rig, Spike identifies the Decepticons as "giant robots".


Episode 2

Spike's wondering about whether the Autobots are from the past or the future is kept.

The separate building outside the Ark where Ratchet is repairing everyone is referred to as the Autobots' "technology lab" by the narrator.

Spike's inquiries about how the Autobots transform uses some terminology differences between him and the Autobots. The Autobots use the term "Transform" when discussing it, while Spike uses the more ordinary Japanese word "henshin". The two are treated as synonyms in the discussion.

TIL that "tsunami" is simply the Japanese word for "tidal wave".

In a seeming attempt to try to make some degree of sense for Sparkplug's claim that he used to work in the ruby mines of Burma (keeping in mind that he's an American oil rig worker and mechanic while Burma is in Asia), Sparkplug's line is changed to him claiming that he used to be a miner and is familiar with these mountains.

Optimus's final cry of "Roller!" is way more dramatic in the Japanese dub.


Episode 3

When Skywarp requests permission from Megatron to teleport and engage Ironhide and Bluestreak, it is instead Thundercracker's voice, name and all, who is heard making the request. Whoops.

It's been hinted at prior to this point, but Ironhide is fully confirmed here to be a young 'bot in the Japanese version, as Optimus attributes Ironhide's recklessness to his "youthful impatience". The moment where Ironhide was about to start telling an old war story is likewise completely rewritten to him lamenting how he couldn't stand to see the Decepticons get away, which is what leads Optimus to bring up the aforementioned "youthful impatience".

Hearing them better in this episode that before, Ravage's growls provided by Frank Welker are retained in the Japanese dub. That said, his single line of spoken dialogue in the entire series, which is given here in this episode, is dubbed over by a Japanese actor.

The scene where Megatron humiliates Starscream is largely the same, but instead of calling out "Mistake number one" and "Mistake number two", Megatron just insults Starscream in the first case, saying "This isn't like taking kids on a picnic. You can't lead the Destron army," while in the second case, he insults Starscream again by saying "You're still number two!" Starscream's pleas on his knees of "Megatron! Megatron!" are changed to him begging Megatron to please spare him.

As Hound sets up the rocket base hologram, the narrator explains to the viewers how this is all a trap set by the Autobots, even though anyone watching would have already known that.

The staff members of the real rocket base's control tower compare the Decepticons to dinosaurs.

When Optimus asks for volunteers for the final battle against the Decepticons, what he originally called a very dangerous mission is now emphasized further as a mission they may not return from alive.

Sideswipe's rocket pack is renamed as his "rocket booster".

When the Autobots help the fallen Optimus back to his feet and ask of Ratchet should look him over, Optimus is much angrier in the Japanese dub. He's even hostile when asking where Mirage is when he and the others realize Mirage is missing.

Jazz pointing out that Mirage is "gone now" is changed to him rationalizing "Maybe he got hurt."

The jokey exchange between Optimus and Mirage near the end of the episode is faithfully localized in the Japanese dub.

Interesting! I'm gonna have to take a break from Armada to watch these episodes. I had hoped to look at them today and offer some comments, but ... too busy. @_@;

Very similar energy to the US version. The Autobots are more formal, I think. It's weird seeing Ironhide being a "young warrior", though. I think that's the biggest deviation. That and no FIR RIB debate. I do miss the character voices, though. Nice to see they kept Soundwave's reverb. That was a key part of his coolness. He wouldn't hit the same without it.

It's been a while since I watched MTMTE. These early eps have that weird proto energy we don't see anymore. Hound being the Earth-friendly TF. Flying Autobots. Transformers with superpowers (although that carried on through G1. The energy weapons Megatron and OP had. I think Megatron was more subdued in these early episodes too with the later ones having him show more emotion. Plus he was allowed to win a little. I like that the Autobots are bad at deception. Or the Decepticons are good at seeing through it, at least.

After Armada I think I'll go back and watch The Rebirth. It's been literal decades since I watched it too and now Headmasters is fresher in my mind. It's only four episodes long, so maybe I can watch it in a day if I'm lucky.

Micron Legend

They made a good one?

THEY MADE A GOOD ONE!?

They made a good one!

Not just a show with a couple of good characters or good designs or a couple of good ideas. Not a show that was odd, but otherwise good. Not a show that was good, but simple and kind of repetitive.

No, they made a solid, good, Transformers anime! It has a lot of action and complex, distinct, characters.

I'm a little taken aback. Why did I not have patience for this when it first came out? I remember thinking the search for the Mini-cons was a bit cheesy back in the day. Was Armada just botched or something? Because Micron Legend was kinda great actually.

It's kind of like all my previous comments were addressed. Megatron sitting on his rear as his troops were walloped by an overwhelming force of Cybertrons (including Prime)? Nope! No, he joins the fray and has some pretty great fights against Prime, right until the end. I never feel like the Cybertrons could just overwhelm and beat the Destrons if they wanted to. The Decepticons are an actual THREAT!

A repetitive number of episodes where kind of the same thing happens and the same characters kind of do the same thing over and over again? Not really, no. Sure there's a core cast, but the factions do change quite a bit and the Minicon teams keep it fresh.

Of course it's hard not to know anything about ML. This was right when I started collecting and it was on TV. I knew Prime died going in. Knew the toyline. Read a few of the wiki articles too and collected the Dreamwave series (although I don't remember it anymore). So I can't say anything actually surprised me.
But, still, I was entertained by the whole thing. It takes G1, and elevates it by making it a linear story with a set ending. It reexamines Megatron's and Prime's relationship at the end. And it integrated Hot Rod intot he G1 mythos (while the movie just kinda plopped him in there).

But you can still see how they're the same core characters. Prime is his usual self. After watching the JG1 stiff I suppose his formality comes from that. Honestly, I think the primes don't change too much from each other. It's hard to do the straight-forward hero types too differently. Megatron, however, actually gets to win a few! He still has his feud with Starscream, but here it's a bit deeper than the petty leadership squabbled that dominated the G1 toon. He still has the same greed (nobody expected him to give Screamer the Star Saber back). Some treachery there too. Turns right on Prime the very minute he can after Unicron is defeated.

Speaking of which ... what? He just teleports away? No big explosion? I already know everyone hangs out in Unicron's disembodied head in Energon, so what gives? It's a strangely anticlimactic way to end the series.

Speaking of weirdness, the time travel stuff. I don't think it was necessary. At all. Just weird for the sake of weird. You could have easily cut it out of the series - had the Minicons land on Earth due to coincidence - and it would be stronger. Because now we don't have a do-over power! It's kind of like the Time Turner in Harry Potter. They use it for this one thing in this one instance? Why not any other time it could have come in handy? It makes the kids a bit more relevant to the plot, but also is unnecessary and complicates a plot that doesn't need to be complicated.

If we're segueing into ML's flaws I think the biggest one is, ironically, the Minicons themselves.

Firstly, they just aren't characters. They are accessories to the larger Transformer. At no point does Leader-1 have a disagreement with Megatron, or Prime with Convoy.

And they're inconsistent.

At one point the Skyboom Shield decides it's had enough of Megatron's BS and switched factions, but that's about it. They don't seem to act according to their own will. The Minicons that make up the Requien Blaster don't want to be misused, but constantly are after combining. The Autobots look for Mincons (early on) forgetting that the Street Action Team can also give them a power boost. In the later episodes random Minicons glow green and fly (why not before?). Not giving them a voice until the last few episodes does a good job hiding just how little actual character the Minicons have.

I think the show would have done well to explain why the Air Defense tean doesn't just fly away after Thrust makes the Hydra Canon. I mean if the Minicons really are "peace loving" and all.

Still, despite this, it's a really strong showing from the Transformers franchise.

I think my favorite Autobot has to be Hot Shot. Ever since the movie came out (and broke my heart) I liked that turbo revvin' young punk and here we have his character fully realized. I like that he makes a lot of actual mistakes. Like leaving Rampage behind. Or going on a tantrum after Prime dies. We get to actually see him grow and mature as a character and not just get a power up that makes him lame. It's too bad that he comes off more as a modern Bumblebee to me now, lol. That yellow color scheme definitely hits different after the Bay movies changed Bee forever.

But all the characters are bangers here. I think my second fav is Devastor. It's weird seeing an Autobot Constructicon, but here we are. I like his somewhat mercenary attitude and his mentorship role with Hot Shot. It's a bit of a shame a lot of the personalities take a backseat in the second half, but that's how it goes. There's a lot of characters here.

On the Decepticons side we have some top shelf guys here too. Who other than Starscream can take the crown? I can see why they make toys of this particular version. He has the same "betraying Megatron" think G1 had, but it comes from a totally different place in Armada. And he join the Autobots! If they had given him an Autobot icon then they'd have been able to sell an entirely different toy as a variant. I really like his whole character arc. And he's so different from the previous portrayal in II. I think one oddity is how he got right in close with Megatron with the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield in hand ... and didn't take his shot (when he wanted revenge). Seems like he took the idiot pill then. Still, great portrayal of the character.

I think a special mention has to go to Sideways. How have we not gotten a new toy of this guy? Titans Returns would have been the perfect time! A lot of ML seems like BW Neo, but better. Microns are like Anglomois energy in a way in that they're McGuffins that turn out to be a part of Unicron which seeks to destroy all TFs everywhere. And Sideways, in turn, is like a better version of the Blendtrons. The Blendtrons are an unstoppable force of nature, lacking personalities and just annilating all in their path. And, while there's an appeal to that, Spideway's cunning, duplicitous personality is actually a personality. And he still retains the whole "unstoppable force" Unicron minions have once his true persona is revealed. Just kinda wish he wasn't, actually, Unicron. Maybe it was just in that one episode? I like him better as his own guy.

But Rampage is also really cool too. I have a soft spot for faction switchers. But if they're gonna call him anything shouldn't he be called Mirage? Plus Rampage isn't a very Autobotty name.

All in all, ML is top shelf stuff. I really enjoyed this one. On to Superlink to see how this story continues!

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Was Armada just botched or something?

Yes. Cartoon Network forced several anime that were airing on Toonami to be rush jobs, just so they could get them on the air sooner than later, regardless of script quality. Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and even Armada. Armada was especially rushed in that it started airing in English a whole four-five months before it started airing in Japan, when the Japanese scripts and some of the animation simply weren't done yet.

Not to mention several of the characters having incredibly goofy voices that older English viewers found really annoying (yet, no one ever criticizes the incredibly goofy voices that certain characters had in the G1 cartoon, but I digress).

Gauntlet101010 wrote:In the later episodes random Minicons glow green and fly (why not before?).

Yeah, the weird "Super Saiyan Green" bit for the Mini-Cons near the end of the series was one of the few unexplained things that was actually given an explanation later when the DVD releases started coming out in Japan. The Japanese DVDs featured a pack-in manga series called "The Linkage", written by Hirofumi Ichikawa, that followed the exploits of a group of Mini-Cons partnered with a human woman named Stella, who helps them to find and recruit more Mini-Cons to join their cause and stop a unit of Unicron-loyalist Mini-Cons from finding and corrupting more of them to evil.

The series took place concurrently to the show, with Scavenger (or "Devastor" in the Japanese version) making a guest appearance set right before his debut in the cartoon. And during this series, more foreshadowing to Unicron was featured, and the good Mini-Cons partnered with Stella sought to unlock the true power of the Mini-Cons if they hoped to ever defeat Unicron in the end. It was this unlocking that was meant to explain why the Mini-Con suddenly all glowed green in the cartoon, as it happened in The Linkage around the same time as it happened in the cartoon.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:It's too bad that he comes off more as a modern Bumblebee to me now, lol. That yellow color scheme definitely hits different after the Bay movies changed Bee forever.

Funnily enough, he was originally conceived as a new Bumblebee back when Armada was in its earliest development stages. But the name wasn't available to trademark at the time, and Aaron Archer wasn't fond of the name anyway, thinking it sounded too generic.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:But all the characters are bangers here. I think my second fav is Devastor. It's weird seeing an Autobot Constructicon, but here we are. I like his somewhat mercenary attitude and his mentorship role with Hot Shot. It's a bit of a shame a lot of the personalities take a backseat in the second half, but that's how it goes. There's a lot of characters here.

Fun fact: In what was an unusually direct difference between the English and Japanese versions, he was a total faction defector in Japan (a Decepticon who genuinely chose to become an Autobot), while in English he was secretly always an Autobot having infiltrated the Decepticons as an undercover spy.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I think a special mention has to go to Sideways. How have we not gotten a new toy of this guy? Titans Returns would have been the perfect time!

His three-way faction-swapping gimmick is a little more advanced than just switching head components, and the current Hasbro team seems to want to stay away from those kinds of spring-initiated gimmicks for the CHUG lines (also, Titans Return was made under John Warden's tenure, which was when Hasbro was going "All G1, all the time!").

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Just kinda wish he wasn't, actually, Unicron. Maybe it was just in that one episode? I like him better as his own guy.

It's more like he's a piece of Unicron (like the Mini-Cons themselves) but given his own sense of autonomy, and that Unicron can use him as an avatar to communicate to lesser beings. Unicron would be arrogant enough to claim that Sideways isn't his own guy, being just a part of him, when we saw before that Sideways was independent enough to fear Unicron like he was a separate individual.

I guess we can think of it like an evil, perverted analogy to the "God the Father, Jesus the Son" relationship, where the two are both the same yet also separate at the same time.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:But Rampage is also really cool too. I have a soft spot for faction switchers. But if they're gonna call him anything shouldn't he be called Mirage? Plus Rampage isn't a very Autobotty name.

I actually have a theory as to why Takara called Armada Wheeljack "Rampage". While the official reason is because Takara simply wanted to reuse the name from Beast Wars (same reason Armada Blurr was named "Silverbolt" in Japan), a lot of fans have noticed a particular visual similarity to G1 Sideswipe in Wheeljack's design (most notably his robot head). In Japan, G1 Sideswipe's name is "Lambor" (ランボル Ranboru), for his being a Lamborghini. Someone at Takara may have noticed the design similarities with Sideswipe, but since he isn't a Lamborghini, they couldn't call him "Lambor" and instead gave him a name that sounded similar and villainous. "Rampage" in Japanese is ランページ (Ranpēji). Notice that both "Lambor" and "Ranpage" use the same ラン (Ran) characters at the beginning of their names, which almost makes "Rampage" seem like the Decepticon version of the Autobot name "Lambor".

Gauntlet101010 wrote:All in all, ML is top shelf stuff. I really enjoyed this one. On to Superlink to see how this story continues!

Good luck.

Sabrblade wrote:OOOOOOOOOOH BOY!!!!!

Karyuudo Fansubs just now dropped a new release, and it's a special one for the 40th anniversary! It's the first three episodes of Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers!

And we got another one, "Kremzeek!"



Why this one, of all episodes? Well, In Chris McFeely's most recent livestream, he was asked by Kary which G1 episode he would like to see subbed in English next and Chris (half-jokingly?) said "Kremzeek!" Well, looks like Kary took the suggestion seriously and Chris got his wish.

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Hm, in this version, it seems Megatron was trying to create Kremzeek on purpose, rather than it being the accident it was in the English version. Megatron using Kremzeek as a distraction for the Autobots while the Decepticons make their energy magnet was his intention in this version, instead of him coming up with the distraction idea only after Kremzeek was created. The Japanese narrator even confirms that Megatron created Kremzeek for a specific purpose.

The Circuit Trap that Megatron uses to contain and transport Kremzeek to the Autobot base is not referred to by name.

Teletraan I has a pretty silly sounding Japanese voice, even before Kremzeek wrecks its system. It sounds a bit like Stitch.

When surveying the damaged Autobots, in a panning shot that originally had no dialogue in the English version, Sparkplug now makes a snide remark about how the fallen Autobots are supposed to be warriors but got beaten so easily. His concerned facial expression in the next shot is kept as is, so it's weird that this dub had him give such a rude comment right before.

Inferno's original suspicion of Megatron being behind Kremzeek is changed to him wondering alongside Bumblebee where the creature came from, saying it's definitely not of this Earth and that he's never seen anything like it in outer space.

Inferno then saying how useless it is to try stopping Kremzeek since it can't be caught, held, or shot at is changed to him getting angry, saying that if it can't be caught he'll shoot it down.

Bumblebee telling the fallen Omega Supreme that they'll fix him as soon as they can is changed to him saying that he'll help Omega right away, with the arrival of the bullet train and Kremzeek possessing it now repurposed as a distraction that prevents Bumblebee from helping Omega immediately.

Hearing Blaster's Japanese voice more and more, he sounds much younger than his English version, almost like a preteen.

The Decepticons' Seascraper keeps its name.

The Japanese lady who gets bumped into by the bullet train's driver, and then whacks the driver with her purse, is given a deep man's voice in the dub.

Soji Yoshikawa is addressed by himself and everyone only by his surname.

Yoshikawa's suggestion of using radio waves on Kremzeek is simplified to just "high-frequency sound waves".

Blaster's plan to use his own power to fry Kremzeek within his chest, which Yoshikawa says will just feed Kremzeek and make it stronger, is changed to Blaster trying to drain Kremzeek of its power by using his Record switch, which Yoshikawa says will instead cause a motor reversal that will enable Kremzeek to get stronger by draining Blaster of his own energy.

Ha! In a bit of language reversal, where Prime called him "Yoshikawa-san" in the English version, Convoy calls him "Mister Yoshikawa" in the Japanese dub.

When Blaster gets covered in foam by the giant Kremzeek, his original sarcastic line of "Well, that worked like a charm," is changed to a more solemn lament of "I almost want to cry."

Originally, Starscream was impatient with testing the energy magnet again, and just activated it in full against Megatron's orders. While he's still impatient here, his activating in full is reinterpreted as being just another test per Megatron's instructions. The narrator then says that this test had a farther-reaching effect than the Decepticons expected, explaining why it reached all the way to Japan if it was just another test in this version.

Blaster's original measurement of the energy magnet being "200 miles offshore" is changed to being "400 kilometers out at sea."

Optimus saying that they don't have any time to reach Megatron's energy magnet is changed to him saying that they can't get to it at all because all the planes and ships nearby are immobile.

Optimus congratulating Blaster on coming up with a good idea to send Kremzeek back to Megatron is more genuine here. In the English version, he sarcastically says "Blaster... you finally came up with a plan." Here, he's sincerely says "Broadcast, that's a brilliant idea!" This makes his patting Blaster on the back actually feel wholesome instead of snarky.

All throughout the episode, Kremzeek is able to speak a bit more than just its name. In the English version it only ever said its name and "Sleepy" once, but here, it can laugh and say little words and phrases.

Linkage sounds almost like it's required reading to make sense of the green hued Minicons that kind of show up in the show.

When it comes to Sideways, I envision a Titans Return figure as being simplified. No spring-loaded faction switching. That's pure imagination now. Just the two heads (not three). MAYBE they can combine still, but maybe not? I don't know if that's possible with the TR gimmick.

TBH, I still want new version of all Unicron's minions. It'll never happen, sadly. Sideways had the best shot, I think, as a toned-down version.

Speaking of required viewing, Japan got this promo video that bridged the gap between Legends of the Microns and Superlink, explaining some things that happened during the time between the two shows, a promo that the English-speaking world never got.

This particular video has subtitles:

20th anniversary? Geez, makes me feel old, lol.

So the Minicons just piss off after ML? I guess that tracks since they basically wanted nothing to do with the fighting. Still, it seems like a shame since they're what's unique in this universe. Well, I know some are around anyway.

That animation will take some getting used to. And I know Galaxy force has it too! My download just stopped. I hope I don't have to watch this in garbage quality, it really ruins the experience.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:My download just stopped. I hope I don't have to watch this in garbage quality, it really ruins the experience.

Wait, you're downloading these? I didn't think torrents for Superlink still worked after all these years later.

If they're not on YouTube, I normally just watch 'em on places like GoGoAnime.

I downloaded ML. Car Robots I found in decent quality on ... Kissanime I think it was. ML is the first one I've downloaded.

They are on Youtube, but the quality is so trash. Car Robots is on Youtube, but the translation was changed and I found it so distracting that I had to find it elsewhere.

One of the packaged of SL worked just fine, but the other two are slow. But they have resumed.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I downloaded ML. Car Robots I found in decent quality on ... Kissanime I think it was. ML is the first one I've downloaded.

Hm. I wouldn't have thought you would have needed to download ML since the subbing group has it all on their YouTube channel in a playlist.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Car Robots is on Youtube, but the translation was changed and I found it so distracting that I had to find it elsewhere.

Sounds like you ran afoul of TF NorthAmerica, a channel that once upon a time sought to take Karyuudo's fansubs for the Japanese series and heavily Americanize them with Hasbro terminology to be more in line with Hasbro's official subtitles for the Shout! Factory DVD releases of The Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory. A baffling decision for anyone wanting to view these shows in their original format.

Karyuudo Fansubs did once have Car Robots on their channel in a playlist, but they had to take it down due to copyright reasons. Luckily, other anime sites still have it up.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:One of the packaged of SL worked just fine, but the other two are slow. But they have resumed.

I'm surprised any of them are working, since TV-Nihon's fansub release of Superlink goes back to 2007, a whole 17 years ago.

Check out the quality of that youtube video. 360p. Just speaking for myself, but it's so bad I don't know why they bothered to upload it at all. I mean, it exists and I'd have watched it there if given no other choice, but it gets rough in places.

So it's not just a matter of finding it, but finding it in good enough quality.

I don't know why TF NorthAmerica would bother with such a project. Honestly it seems like a waste of everyone's time. If someone wants to watch Hasbro's take they'd watch Hasbro's take. If they want to watch the original they want to watch the original. I just couldn't take Fire Convoy being called Pyro or the Autobot Bros being called the Omnibots.

Edit: Found a better torrent containing all the episodes. Seems like it's still being seeded!

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I don't know why TF NorthAmerica would bother with such a project. Honestly it seems like a waste of everyone's time. If someone wants to watch Hasbro's take they'd watch Hasbro's take. If they want to watch the original they want to watch the original. I just couldn't take Fire Convoy being called Pyro or the Autobot Bros being called the Omnibots.

It truly is baffling.

For their BWII subs, they subbed Angolmois Energy as "Dark Energon", Lio Convoy as "Leo Convoy" and refer to him by the title of "Primal".

For their Car Robots subs, they originally tried to pass the series off as a "Transformers: Generation 2" series with several Autobots given names based on G2 toys, but then by Episode 12 they just gave up on that attempt and switched to just using the Hasbro names from Robots in Disguise 2001.

They even took the recap segment from the beginning of Episode 1 of The Headmasters (which was missing from all western DVD releases) and fansubbed that in accordance to how the Shout! Factory DVDs subbed the rest of the series, with lots of rewritten dialogue to force in references and Hasbro terminology that was never in the original Japanese dialogue.

It's like this channel took the philosophy of those heavily-westernized Shout! Factory JG1 DVD subtitles and took it to a ridiculous extreme, thinking that they were doing what Hasbro would have done had these other Japanese TF shows had been subtitled and released in the U.S. It's really depressing and frustrating just thinking about it.