New artwork revealed for upcoming Transformers The Movie 30th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray and DVD

Too bad they couldn't get it out on August 2nd or 9th (the closest dates to the TRUE 30th anniversary on August 8th), but no sense in splitting hairs. Well done SF! Sony may have just had a 10 year hold or something, but still this is nice. I have the original Rhino DVD from 2000, and the Sony released 2 disc set from 2006.

If I had any say in the extras (which I don't obviously) it would be...

1. Can we please just get an unaltered Scramble City, without the garbage fan commentary for audio?
2. If there is going to be any commentary at all, let it be from individuals that worked on the film, fan commentaries are the worst, no matter how "well researched" they may think they are, it was still riddled with mistakes and assumptions. One of the reasons why I would never do a commentary even if asked to.

Of course however...I'll be getting the Blu-Ray

Hopefully S!F will someday get BWII & Neo. The fan subs are really good, but I'd like to have something official and tangible.

Wasn't the 30th anniversary of the release a few days ago? Either way I'm happy about this, wonder if they'll re-release GI Joe the movie

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Wasn't the 30th anniversary of the release a few days ago? Either way I'm happy about this, wonder if they'll re-release GI Joe the movie

The Movie came out in August 1986.

August 8th to be exact (at least in the US), trust me...my 10 year old self will never forget that experience.

Nice! I can finally replace my VHS copy, and retire my VCR!
Seriously, the only reason I still have a VCR was to watch this and the two seasons of Yo Gabba Gabba I had to bootleg for my girls because cable is for dinosaurs. (said the guy with a VCR. )

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuunk yeah!!!!!

3rd disc based copy of the movie coming my way! Wooooooo!!!

is this Livio Ramondelli artwork? it looks....surprisingly ......competent?

SG Roadbuster wrote:is this Livio Ramondelli artwork? it looks....surprisingly ......competent?

I made that comment to a friend of mine. It's a lot cleaner than his art usually is. I really like the cover.

o.supreme wrote:August 8th to be exact (at least in the US), trust me...my 10 year old self will never forget that experience.

God bless my Grandfather for taking me, poor guy didn't know what he was getting into.

o.supreme wrote:T

Hopefully S!F will someday get BWII & Neo. The fan subs are really good, but I'd like to have something official and tangible.

Glad to hear you've been enjoying BWII

Yes. Very much. Just to give you a little background...I've had the series in straight Japanese on VHS since 1999, and BW Neo shortly after that. I've seen them both several times, but seeing it for the first time with subs is very much appreciated .

o.supreme wrote:Yes. Very much. Just to give you a little background...I've had the series in straight Japanese on VHS since 1999, and BW Neo shortly after that. I've seen them both several times, but seeing it for the first time with subs is very much appreciated .

Where can I see it with Subs?

check out karyuudo signature

o.supreme wrote:check out karyuudo signature

http://karyuudofansubs.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy it

karyuudo wrote:

o.supreme wrote:check out karyuudo signature

http://karyuudofansubs.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy it

Thanks!

Right now the Australian Blu-Ray release is selling for $17.99 on eBay, region free. The description shows that there're extras on the disc. I don't know if it'll be worth waiting for the U.S. release and I'm sure it'll be for more than the one on eBay.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

SG Roadbuster wrote:is this Livio Ramondelli artwork? it looks....surprisingly ......competent?

I made that comment to a friend of mine. It's a lot cleaner than his art usually is. I really like the cover.

His linework is usually very clean, but it's ill-served by the muddy coloring he usually does. Some of his more recent work has been much brighter, which looks quite a bit better.

I wish someone else would color for him.

yeah but what's the shipping cost?

o.supreme wrote:yeah but what's the shipping cost?

It's prime shipping, but it's actually $36.81 on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Movie-Blu-Ray-Reg-Australia/dp/B004L5SBTW?tag=seibertron07-20&ie=UTF8&keywords=transformers%3A%20the%20movie&qid=1465501569&ref_=sr_1_11&sr=8-11

This is long, long, LONG overdue. I am very excited to finally get the last piece of the U.S. G1 cartoon!

ALRIGHT!

Seibertron wrote:Courtesy of Hasbro's Transformers Facebook page, we now have our first look at some new artwork that looks like it's being used for the Blu-Ray and DVD covers for the upcoming Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary Edition, which Shout! Factory announced earlier today. The artwork is from Livio Ramondelli of IDW Transformers comic book fame. The artwork features Optimus Prime opening his chest to reveal the Matrix, Hot Rod kneeling in front of Optimus, Megatron and the "original" Decepticons on the left, Galvatron and the "new" Decepticons on the right, and Unicron in the background. Check out the new image below and join our discussion here.

I had check copy I bought I defiantly buy it see what difference is from madman copy I own

Looking forward to this, but can't say I'm a big fan of the cover art. Where are all the Autobots? The classic cover art and the later Sony DVD double covers were great because of how they balanced out the factions, but just sticking Hot Rod and Optimus on the cover with a pile of Decepticons and Unicron in the background feels poorly planned out by comparison. Maybe if it was Rodimus Prime instead of Hot Rod and Optimus was on the same side as the older Decepticons, but as is it just feels like minimal effort.

Now, don't get me wrong, the art itself is good, it's the layout that I'm not happy with. Instead of just having Decepticons flying around why not have respective battles on each side instead, really make it look epic? Covers are supposed to get you excited to watch a movie, but there's no action at all on this one while the old covers made it look like they were all in for the fight of their lives (and were). What's Hot Rod even doing (and isn't he kinda big)?

Emerje

I think I prefer almost every previous piece of TFTM cover/poster artwork that we got before over this new artwork.

I'm being cautiously optimistic about this release, as they could very easily mess this up in the transfer over to Blu-Ray, which in turn could result in a version inferior to the UK and Australian Blu-Ray releases.

There's also the matter of which version of the movie this release would have. Would it be the U.S. version that featured the actor credits and the Lion theme song sung aloud? Or the UK version that replaced the actor credits with a text scroll narrated by Victor Caroli, which resulted in the Lion theme sung to be toned down a bit? Or would it be the mixture of both that aired on The Hub, which kept the actor credits but had Victor Caroli's narration played over them (the text scroll itself was absent, but Caroli's voice was present), with the Lion theme song likewise quieted down for Caroli's narration?

And would Caroli's closing narration from the UK and Hub versions be included or no? And what of the cuss words? Will they be kept like in the U.S. version, or muted like in certain foreign versions and the Hub version?

A lot of factors to consider here.

I mentioned this news to my wife today, and she asked if I was going to buy the Blu Ray. When I gave the obvious answer of yes, she said "At least there will be one Transformers movie that I (she) won't be embarrassed to see on the movie shelf."

Thanks to black Friday deals and used cd stores, we have amasses the four live action movies on Blu Ray, for a combined total of $24.....but we'll finally have a good one in September!

I hope that artwork won't be the cover of the Blu-ray. I have the 20th anniversary DVD release and I love it, and the art just makes it that much better. I'm not a fan of this style, and as it has been pointed out, it's not organized well. It should have more Autobots, old and new, and it should have Rodimus Prime in the center holding up the Matrix, with Optimus in the background with the old Autobots. That's what the movie is about.

Sabrblade wrote:I'm being cautiously optimistic about this release, as they could very easily mess this up in the transfer over to Blu-Ray, which in turn could result in a version inferior to the UK and Australian Blu-Ray releases.


A lot of factors to consider here.

Indeed. *If* S!F utilizes the full potential of Blu-Ray correctly, I'd imagine that there would be options for both the original Theatrical versions as well as the UK version with the Opening Crawl & Caroli voice over. No need to omit the cursing that I can comprehend. Also I don't see a need to have a version that includes Caroli's narration over the opening title sequence, but that's just me.

I'm sure in various regions there have been so many differing color & audio mixes, and we've seen the errors such as "pink Hot Rod" on the WS version of Sony's release.

The Optimum situation would be to find the best preserved original video source (since we know it was created in 4:3 format) and convert it to HD. Then the best theatrical film source (though you are losing some of the picture, some want the version we saw in the theater as kids) . I cant believe there are original master copies out there that all have poor coloring. I would *hope* some have been well preserved. Blu Ray offers the potential for tons of extras. I know its not fair really to compare S!F with a company like say...Criterion who knocks it out of the park with most of their Blu Ray releases. But just as reference, the potential is there. Plus the fact that this has a street date of about 3 months away, not sure how long it has been in the works until the announcement yesterday, but *if* it was delayed slightly in an effort to present the best possible release, I wouldn't mind. Of course this is S!F, and while they have a track record of offering great releases, often they come up just short of expectations, often through no fault of their own, but still on the slightly disappointing side.

As an abstract example... I don't know if anyone here has Criterions Blu Ray release of the original 1954 Godzilla (Gojira), but it is virtually perfect. An amazing restoration, and upgrade to HD of both the Japanese & American versions of this film, plus tons of extras, all on one Blu Ray Disc.

--If S!F Blu Ray of TF:TM had complete original Video presentations, and Theatrical presentations with correct colors, and a new (accurate)audio mix. Add in as many variations from different countries of opening/closing credits as extras, Scramble City, original Toy Commercials, Film trailers (foreign & domestic) Interviews with Productions Staff & Voice Actors, *possibly* a Productions staff commentary (though not required), I'd pay $25 for that Blu Ray no problem.

I've been waiting for this on BR as long as I've had a BR player! I only hope they don't have screwed up colors on this like they did on the last DVD release. HOT ROD IS NOT PINK

o.supreme wrote:1. Can we please just get an unaltered Scramble City, without the garbage fan commentary for audio

Not sure which, but pretty sure one of my Transformer's DVD's from Season 1 to 4 or the movie has the Scramble City with just it's proper audio.

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:

o.supreme wrote:1. Can we please just get an unaltered Scramble City, without the garbage fan commentary for audio

Not sure which, but pretty sure one of my Transformer's DVD's from Season 1 to 4 or the movie has the Scramble City with just it's proper audio.

The only DVDs that had Scramble City with its proper audio were the UK Transformers: The Movie — Ultimate Edition from Metrodome and the Australia Transformers: The Movie — Special Edition from Madman, but both of which contained an unofficial bootleg version with fansubs, as the official one that Toei gave to Sony for their American The Transformers: The Movie — 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD was video only with no audio and no subtitles.

Because giving foreign market licensees the short end of the stick like that is just how Toei rolls.

Thus, using the bootleg (and without Toei's involvement) was the only way the UK and Australian DVDs could get a full version of Scramble City with all of its video, audio, and subtitles.

Sabrblade wrote:

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:

o.supreme wrote:1. Can we please just get an unaltered Scramble City, without the garbage fan commentary for audio

Not sure which, but pretty sure one of my Transformer's DVD's from Season 1 to 4 or the movie has the Scramble City with just it's proper audio.

The only DVDs that had Scramble City with its proper audio were the UK Transformers: The Movie — Ultimate Edition from Metrodome and the Australia Transformers: The Movie — Special Edition from Madman, but both of which contained an unofficial bootleg version with fansubs, as the official one that Toei gave to Sony for their American The Transformers: The Movie — 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD was video only with no audio and no subtitles.

Because giving foreign market licensees the short end of the stick like that is just how Toei rolls.

Thus, using the bootleg (and without Toei's involvement) was the only way the UK and Australian DVDs could get a full version of Scramble City with all of its video, audio, and subtitles.

So did it have official video and bootlegged audio or?

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:

o.supreme wrote:1. Can we please just get an unaltered Scramble City, without the garbage fan commentary for audio

Not sure which, but pretty sure one of my Transformer's DVD's from Season 1 to 4 or the movie has the Scramble City with just it's proper audio.

The only DVDs that had Scramble City with its proper audio were the UK Transformers: The Movie — Ultimate Edition from Metrodome and the Australia Transformers: The Movie — Special Edition from Madman, but both of which contained an unofficial bootleg version with fansubs, as the official one that Toei gave to Sony for their American The Transformers: The Movie — 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD was video only with no audio and no subtitles.

Because giving foreign market licensees the short end of the stick like that is just how Toei rolls.

Thus, using the bootleg (and without Toei's involvement) was the only way the UK and Australian DVDs could get a full version of Scramble City with all of its video, audio, and subtitles.

So did it have official video and bootlegged audio or?

I just said the American Sony DVD had an official one with video but no audio or subtitles, while both the UK Metrodome and Australian Madman DVDs had unofficial bootleg ones with video, audio, and subs.

Who likes collectable stuff? Because Shout! Factory is turning the Blu-Ray release of Transformers: The Movie itself into a limited collectible by packaging it as a Steelbook! These flashy cases are usually limited in nature and have a collector following all of their own. It has a pricetag of $34.99 USD and a release date of September 13th, and the pic below will lead you to a pre-order available on Amazon.com for Transformers: The Movie Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Blu-Ray Steelbook. The steelbook version is NOT an Amazon.com exclusive. Stay tuned to Seibertron.com: home for the best Galleries and Conversation around!

Even without knowing what special features we're getting here this is a no-brainer. For any 80's movie enthusiasts Shout Factory is killing it on their Blu Ray special editions lately.

Got my preorder today

I got about 5 or 6 versions but could always use another.

Blue ray? Pfft. No reason to get that than. Now how about a Dvd version, huh?

So will there be some new features included this time that weren't on previous releases? Or is this just a 1980's movie turned into VHS turned into DVD and now turned into Blu-Ray?

Lucky Logician wrote:So will there be some new features included this time that weren't on previous releases? Or is this just a 1980's movie turned into VHS turned into DVD and now turned into Blu-Ray?

From what I can gather from between the lines; this release will include the special features from the 25th anniversary edition, as well as either new interviews, or an all new documentary.

will this be widescreen? i have never seen the widescreen version. is it actually widescreen or cropped.

shajaki wrote:These flashy cases are usually limited in nature and have a collector following all of their own.

You are all over this aren't you shajaki!!......

I pre-ordered it too...

itscramtastic wrote:

shajaki wrote:These flashy cases are usually limited in nature and have a collector following all of their own.

You are all over this aren't you shajaki!!......

I pre-ordered it too...

Oh, you know I am

Lucky Logician wrote:So will there be some new features included this time that weren't on previous releases? Or is this just a 1980's movie turned into VHS turned into DVD and now turned into Blu-Ray?

I can't speak to the quality of Shout's release, but I have the UK Blu-Ray and I'll tell you it's widescreen and far better than a VHS transfer. Hopefully this new one will be similar.

griftimus prime wrote:will this be widescreen? i have never seen the widescreen version. is it actually widescreen or cropped.

I would say a it is very possible and probable, I mean the Sony 25th Anniversary DVD had both the widescreen and fullscreen versions. It will be up to Shout! Factory and Hasbro to decide in the end however.

griftimus prime wrote:will this be widescreen? i have never seen the widescreen version. is it actually widescreen or cropped.

There is no true widescreen version. The film was formatted in 4:3 fullscreen, with all 16:9 widescreen versions having cropped off the top and bottom of the screen.

In addition to a proper version of Scramble City I'd love TF: Zone to be included as an extra...

Alpha Prime wrote:In addition to a proper version of Scramble City I'd love TF: Zone to be included as an extra...

Take that up with Toei, but I expect them to be as crummy about giving Scramble City and Zone to Shout! Factory for this release as they were to Sony, Metrodome, and Madman. Because that's how lousy Toei rolls.

Did Metrodome (UK) and Madman (AU) not get the Audio for Scramble City? I thought they did? -- I tend to place the blame on Hasbro more than Toei. (forcing S!F to change the subtitle scripts to fit their Hasbro character names rather than the Japanese ones for Headmasters-Victory) It seems other companies are releasing Toei Anime series in North America on DVD just fine.

o.supreme wrote:Did Metrodome (UK) and Madman (AU) not get the Audio for Scramble City? I thought they did?

They did, but only because they each went a "legally-questionable" route of using an unofficial bootleg copy of Scramble City for their DVD releases of the movie. Sony got an official copy of Scramble City straight from Toei themselves for their (Sony's) DVD release of the movie, but which was video-only with no audio or subtitles, forcing them to create a fan commentary to fill in for the lack of audio and subs.

o.supreme wrote:I tend to place the blame on Hasbro more than Toei. (forcing S!F to change the subtitle scripts to fit their Hasbro character names rather than the Japanese ones for Headmasters-Victory)

There's a bit more to it than that. See, Hasbro didn't force any changes to the subtitle scripts upon Shout! Factory, Hasbro made the changes themselves. Or at least, the Hasbro team that was in charge of the brand back then, as the brand team we have now is a different one from then.

At the time, the previous Hasbro team oversaw all Transformers fiction and media through a department called HasLab, and were all gung ho for the then-new Aligned continuity media. For the American DVD release of the Japanese G1 cartoons, the Hasbro team at HasLab not only wanted to change the Metrodome/Madman subtitle scripts to better reflect the American names and terminology from the 1980s, but also from the Aligned media and IDW comics, as part of their attempt to better homogenize the brand across the different mediums and continuities (it was from the brand team at HasLab that the Binder of Revelation came about).

They changed the subtitle scripts, and then gave the changed scripts to Shout! Factory and told them to use them. Not being an anime company, Shout! Factory saw no reason to question the use of those subtitle scripts and did as they were told, seemingly unaware of the inaccuracies that Hasbro had created in the subs.

o.supreme wrote:It seems other companies are releasing Toei Anime series in North America on DVD just fine.

The difference is that Toei seems to have a better relationship with foreign market licensees that specifically specialize in the dubbing and/or subbing of Japanese motion picture media than they do with foreign market licensees that don't.

But even then, sometimes Toei even ends up screwing over those companies they do have good relations with, providing inferior or straight up faulty masters to said companies arbitrarily, requiring the licensees to then either try to acquire superior quality masters from Toei or to be forced to use what was given to them without question. Sometimes the licensees can get better versions, and sometimes they can't. It all depends on their relationship with Toei and if Toei's willing to play ball or not.

But for a company like Shout! Factory, who doesn't strictly specialize in dealing with Japanese media, it's much more of an uphill battle. In the end, the masters Shout! Factory got from Toei for The Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory were no better than the ones that both Metrodome and Madman got, which wasn't so bad for Masterforce and Victory, but The Headmasters ended up with an inferior master that was, from a production standpoint, missing footage from every episode across all three releases in the UK, Australia, and the U.S.

yeah, I figured the releases wouldn't be any better, but I didn't think they would be any worse either. Like I said I don't blame S!F. I applaud all their efforts. If Hasbro, as you say, may have a different viewpoint now, than they did in 2011 when S!F released Headmasters, Masterforce & Victory, perhaps they will realize that for this 30th anniversary release, they have to have something special, hopefully they will be able to negotiate with Toei to actually get it right this time...

Also...one wonders why Hasbro doesn't try to negotiate with Disney to get Car Robots/RiD, or with Nihon Ad Systems (NAS) to get BWII/Neo subbed. I know the initial response is Hasbro doesn't believe there is a market for it...but they would be wrong. I talked to Brian Ward the producer of the S!F DVD's, and I recall him stating back in 2011 that Hasbro initially didn't want even to release Headmasters etc... in the US believing the same thing. I'm glad the folks at S!F (or whatever the powers that were) could convince them to do so...I just regret the character name changes made to the subtitles. I guess they would have to work with Toei again to try to get the BWII movie. It's a shame all the red tape involved. Toei produces most of my favorite anime from the 70's on.

o.supreme wrote:yeah, I figured the releases wouldn't be any better, but I didn't think they would be any worse either. Like I said I don't blame S!F. I applaud all their efforts. If Hasbro, as you say, may have a different viewpoint now, than they did in 2011 when S!F released Headmasters, Masterforce & Victory, perhaps they will realize that for this 30th anniversary release, they have to have something special, hopefully they will be able to negotiate with Toei to actually get it right this time...

New Hasbro team or not, getting a complete copy of Scramble City is all in Toei's hands at this point. They just have to be willing to not shortchange Shout! Factory like they shortchanged Sony.

o.supreme wrote:Also...one wonders why Hasbro doesn't try to negotiate with Disney to get Car Robots/RiD, or with Nihon Ad Systems (NAS) to get BWII/Neo subbed.

Best guess is that Hasbro (old or new) simply hasn't any real interest in pursuing the shows that they don't already have easy access to.

o.supreme wrote:I know the initial response is Hasbro doesn't believe there is a market for it...but they would be wrong. I talked to Brian Ward the producer of the S!F DVD's, and I recall him stating back in 2011 that Hasbro initially didn't want even to release Headmasters etc... in the US believing the same thing. I'm glad the folks at S!F (or whatever the powers that were) could convince them to do so...

The best reason that the Shout! Factory releases of the three JG1 cartoons even happened was that the UK and Australian releases had already happened previously. Hasbro and Shout! had access to preexisting materials with both the masters and the subtitle scripts that Metrodome and Madman had already used. A lot of the harder work (getting the masters from Toei, actually translating the dialogue into English subtitles, etc.) had already been done ahead of time, so all Hasbro had to do was change the scripts and give everything to Shout! Factory to work with.

o.supreme wrote:I just regret the character name changes made to the subtitles.

Yeah, but it wasn't just the names and terms that were changed. Certain lines of dialogue were rewritten entirely to contradict the spoken dialogue, and other bits of dialogue were given some newly-created terminology that also altered the original context of the dialogue.

o.supreme wrote:I guess they would have to work with Toei again to try to get the BWII movie. It's a shame all the red tape involved. Toei produces most of my favorite anime from the 70's on.

I'm grateful we have Karyuudo Fansubs to provide us with high quality subtitled releases of not just Beast Wars II and its movie, but also Zone, Car Robots, Micron Densetsu, and even the Beast Wars Metals movie (which never even got a DVD release in Japan!).