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earthstellar · 7 months

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Transformers: Lost Media Post!

So, as with any long-running franchise, there are a few bits of Transformers media lost or presumed lost (might exist but has not been publicly released, is in private ownership, was never included in a final cut or broadcast copy, etc).

The Lost Media Wiki has organised some of this lost media into helpful pages, which I will link and summarise here for anyone interested! :)

The Transformers: The Movie (1986) - Missing Scenes

The movie itself obviously isn't lost, but there are scenes from the film that appeared to be fully animated but not included in the final release of the film that have never been located.

At least one scene was fully storyboarded, suggesting it made it far enough into production to possibly have been animated which may have then gone missing as it was never made available as part of any final cut or subsequent release.

[The screenshot above is taken from the YouTube video of the scene, available on the Lost Media Wiki page; The link in the paragraph above goes to the collection of Sunbow Animation storyboard archives, which includes other missing script-only or storyboarded-only sequences from the film during various stages of development.]

Some scenes/shots shown in trailers for the film were at least animated in part but never included in the final version of the film.

G1 Transformers Missing Japanese Clip Show Episodes: 戦え! 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー

11 unique clip show episodes in total were made for the Japanese release of G1, none of which have ever been found.

The content of the clip shows is unknown, only that they re-used animation and possibly scenes left intact from prior/other episodes (it is unclear how exactly they may have been edited or re-dubbed to make a unique clip show episode), and they have never been included on any Japanese regional DVD, VHS, or other official collections of Transformers Japanese language media.

Transformers Victory: Japanese Language Clip Show Episodes

Although the English dub versions of Transformers Victory by Omni Productions have been made available by Shout! Factory, as with the prior G1 missing clip shows, there are 6 unique Japanese broadcast only clip show episodes of this series which have been lost.

There are an additional 6 Japanese only home video/VHS episodes, five of which have been found on the Pioneer DVD releases, but one of which remains missing.

Found Missing Media: Transformers RID - Spychangers to the Rescue

This one is an example of the types of edits made to many animated shows following 9/11, in which many shows featuring anything involving explosions, city settings, planes, the Twin Towers themselves (or references to any of these things or anything similar) were heavily edited to remove any such content, with the originals never getting re-broadcast or re-released.

(Shows that could not be edited, for example shows that entirely took place in New York where backgrounds would constantly show the Twin Towers etc., were never re-aired in most cases, or only re-aired many years later/released on a direct to DVD basis.)

The reason this episode was re-dubbed is because the original plot involved a generator which would explode if impacted and release gas across the city, which may have resembled or otherwise brought to mind the large dust clouds caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers a little too closely for the broadcasters to feel comfortable leaving the original dialogue about gas and explosions intact.

It was changed in an attempt to lessen the emphasis on explosion and potential harm to the city.

The threat of explosion featured as a major concern in the episode also may have resembled the initial belief that perhaps a bomb had gone off in the Twin Towers, before most people realised it was actually a collision from a plane that caused the first visible damage to the first tower-- It took a moment for people to figure out what was actually happening on 9/11. Initial reports assumed it had been a bomb.

Much of the episode also involves the cast getting caught in traffic in and around the city, which may have resembled or evoked thoughts of the notorious difficulties in evacuating/clearing out roads during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when everyone was, to put it lightly, fucking panicking.

I remember this all very clearly, but I'm explaining this stuff for those of you who may not have clear memories of the day or for those of you who may be from outside the USA and never saw the initial American news broadcasts which were covering all of this live.

Without this context, the edits made to this episode and why this episode was scrutinised so heavily following 9/11 may not make sense! But I hope it makes a little more sense now.

Any of these "pre-9/11 edit" episodes of pretty much any animated series are hard to find, as almost none of the original episodes are available except on personally owned taped versions, many of which are sadly poor quality owing to VHS recorder tech not being super amazing in general.

Thankfully, AnonyTF over on YouTube had a VHS recording of this episode featuring the originally broadcast English dubbed version, so everyone can enjoy it in it's originally intended state!

The Transformers (2007) - Lost IMAX Edition

The IMAX release of the film had some known alterations, edits, and alternate/new scenes added to it.

However, since Michael Bay has said he will never release these IMAX exclusive scenes or release the IMAX cut on any home media, it is safe to say that they do exist in some form, but will not be made publicly available.

Yet another reason to dislike Michael Bay, but I digress.

Conclusion: Lost Media Can Be Found!

Just because these bits and pieces are missing at the moment, doesn't mean we'll never see them, if they do still exist (or in some cases, if they ever did in the first place).

I get the feeling that with the Japanese language missing media, this might partially be a language barrier issue; It'll be harder for any English speaking only fans to find Japanese language only media, same as with trying to find any foreign language media when you don't necessarily speak that language and therefore might also be missing certain regional resources or other context that would help find it otherwise.

(Not to say there aren't Japanese fans also looking for these episodes-- There almost certainly are! But English speaking only nerds might find themselves struggling to aid in the search.)

Plus, other mecha shows were (and generally have been) more popular than Transformers in terms of Japanese broadcast TV ratings. To be fair, Japan has a very broad selection of mecha shows, all of which are pretty good! And it's not like Transformers isn't popular in Japan, it just isn't as popular as quite a few other mecha genre staples which tend to top the charts in that region.

At the time of airing, G1 Transformers had some hot competition in Japan-- It's very possible that if someone only had a couple blank tapes on hand, they may have simply chosen to record something else that they were a little more interested in. (Remember that it wasn't as easy or as cheap to record stuff back then-- Choices had to be made!)

(TakaraTomy, Hasbro's Japanese partner, seems to be very aware of the persistently strong regional competition; Remember the Transformers x Evangelion crossover they made? It's fucking great. And they knew it would have broader appeal as a crossover to Takara's local Japanese audience/figure collectors than just releasing a plain ol' repaint of Optimus Prime. There aren't many mecha shows/franchises in the west, but there sure as hell are in the Japanese media market, so competition remains pretty tough in that region.)

There may not have been as much interest/incentive for Japanese audiences to record these G1/Victory clip shows at the time of original broadcast for various reasons, or if someone did record it, they may not even realise they're sitting on a valuable piece of lost media!

It's also entirely possible that it's all floating around somewhere, and nobody's realised it yet. The original broadcasting networks might have copies in storage that nobody's had to mess with in years. And so on.

There's all kinds of reasons for media, even popular media or niche appeal media with a strong fanbase, to go missing.

But you never know; Stuff can pop up in personal collections, local media archives, library video storage, defunct websites, in broadcast network/studio storage, and all sorts of places!

So I do hope that one day, we do get to see some of the missing Japanese G1/Victory episodes. :)

And it would be cool to get a hold of any of the original movie scenes as well, if any of them were ever fully animated (or saved anywhere, if they were)!

As for the IMAX edition situation, well, that's just Bay being an asshole. At least we know that version of the film does still exist though, even if it's not available publicly! So hey, maybe one day he'll give up and let it be released in some form. Who knows. lol

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Anyway, this got way longer than I thought it would be-- Mostly because I had to contextualise 9/11 media edits to explain the whole RID episode situation, but hopefully all of that context is helpful and makes the re-dubbing of that episode make a little more sense.

If you read through all of this, thank you as always!!! :) <3

If there are any Japanese TF fans out there reading this, I'd love to hear from you, if you might have any thoughts on the Japanese missing media! :)

I have very little experience with any Japanese Transformers material out there (primarily due to language barrier and lack of access to Japanese releases, in my case), so it would be lovely to speak with fans who have a much better idea of Transformers Japanese media in general.

#lost media #RID 2001 #RID #transformers #long post #transformers g1 #g1 #maccadam #maccadams #robots in disguise #transformers victory #transformers lost media #transformers the movie #transformers 1986 #bayverse

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sonofjeddah · 4 months

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Thank You, Peter Cullen, from Saudi Arabia

On December 17, voice actor Peter Cullen received Life Time Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) for his contributions towards character development through voice acting

He is a legend for every Transformers fan out there (including me and many like me in Saudi Arabia) for being the voice of Optimus Prime. He has been the voice of the Autobot leader since the time when Hasbro partnered with Marvel to produce Transformers content in the form of comics and animated series (with Sunbow Productions)

Transformers' Saudi fandom first came across their content in 1989 as a VHS 📼 (sold by Almansour Video). The title of it was:

This was a pivotal moment. Not only were the kids introduced to one of Hasbro's most successful franchises but they would also learn that sometimes, even the good guys end up dead in their quest for justice and freedom. The scenes of Optimus Prime's death in this feature shook the kids down to the core. I still get teary-eyed when I see Prime on his deathbed saying:

"Do not grieve. Soon...I will be one with the Matrix"

This scene and the dialogues within, the conveying of emotions by Peter Cullen made the kids fans of Optimus for decades to come. But this wasn't the first time kids in Saudi Arabia came across Cullen's work

In 1979, a Hanna Barbera animated series slowly made its way to Saudi TV around 1982 and continued till '85. The series was Mighty Man and Yukk, a story of a superhero and his ugly dog (weird plot, I know) and in it, Peter Cullen and his long-time colleague, as well as friend Frank Welker, were the main voice actors with Cullen being Mighty Man while Welker being Yukk. Suffice it to say that it was one of the most popular animated series in the country but we never paid attention to credits since we were mostly school-going kids in KG or Primary at max

youtube

But what it did was introduce us to Cullen's voice acting before we actually came to know his name later in life

While today's generation of Millenials to Gen Z might know him from the latest Transformers productions in Hollywood, on Netflix, or video games, we the 80s fandom will always remember Peter Cullen for Mighty Man and Transformers, even though his body of work goes back to Sonny and Cher show and covers even children's features like Winnie the Pooh in which he voiced Eeyore

I hope one day we get to host him in Jeddah

FUN FACT: Peter Cullen is also the voice behind Ironhide in the Transformers G1 animated series

#peter cullen #optimus prime #transformers #80s #mighty man and yukk #eeyore #winnie the pooh #ironhide #transformers g1 #Youtube

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transformers-mosaic · 1 month

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Transformers: Mosaic #619 - "The 1101"

Originally posted on September 19th, 2011

Story, Art - Damien P. Ghela

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005

wada sez: "1101" is 13 in binary. Primus, Primon and Prima are all historical/mythological figures in G1 lore; Ghela has clearly read the “-a” suffix in Prima’s name as being gendered feminine, using that as inspiration for this strip. The villain in the final panel is the Liege Maximo, who in the Simon Furman-penned 3H Productions prose story “Covenant” was said to have torn “the Matrix of Leadership from the shattered remains of Primon”. That same line was what introduced Primon in the first place, with the story later establishing that he was the Matrix-bearer who preceded Prima. The purple arms seen in the sixth panel are a match for Alpha Trion, an elder Transformer with a history of rebuilding bots in the Sunbow cartoon, who we can assume is the narrator of this story. In her rebuilt form, Prima bears a clear physical resemblance to Optimus Prime, likely to imply she’s his ancestor in some sense. On the face of it, this story doesn’t really jive with the concept of “multiversal singularities” which was established canon at the time, but without any word from Ghela it’s impossible to tell what his intent was; I’ve tagged this as being a Marvel story as this is all based on Simon Furman’s writing. Note a tiny "Part 1"—would you be surprised to learn there was no Part 2? See below for a teaser piece created for this story.

#Transformers #Transformers Mosaic #Maccadam #Marvel Transformers #Damien P. Ghela #Primon #Prima #Primus #Liege Maximo #Alpha Trion

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classicmarvelera · 1 year

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The Marvel Era of G.I. Joe and Transformers

The Marvel Era of G.I. Joe and Transformers comics and animated series, produced by Sunbow and Marvel Productions, was undoubtedly the best for both toy franchises of Hasbro. The 1980s was a time of great innovation in the world of toys, and Hasbro was at the forefront of this revolution. By partnering with Marvel Productions, Hasbro was able to produce some of the most memorable and beloved comic book series and animated shows of all time

One of the key reasons why the Marvel Era was so successful for Hasbro was the quality of the storytelling. The G.I. Joe and Transformers comics and animated series were written by some of the best writers in the business, and they were able to create rich, engaging storylines that kept fans coming back for more. These stories were full of action, adventure, and excitement, and they helped to bring these toy franchises to life in a way that had never been seen before

Another reason why it was so successful was the way that the comics and animated series were able to cross-promote the toys. The G.I. Joe and Transformers toys were already popular, but the comics and animated series helped to create a whole new level of excitement around these franchises. Fans of the comics and animated series wanted to collect the toys, and vice versa. This cross-promotion helped create a virtuous sales cycle that was incredibly profitable for Hasbro

The era was also successful because of the way that it was able to capture the imagination of children. The G.I. Joe and Transformers comics and animated series were full of colorful characters, amazing vehicles, and incredible battles. Children were able to engage with these franchises in a way that was both exciting and educational. They learned about teamwork, strategy, and problem-solving as they watched their favorite heroes and villains battle it out on the screen and on the pages of the comics

The Writers

Larry Hama (Photo by Ramsay de Give)

There were several comic book writers who wrote excellent stories for both G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises in the 1980s. Some of them include:

Larry Hama - Hama was the main writer for the G.I. Joe comic book series and is widely considered to be one of the best writers to ever work on the franchise. He was responsible for creating many of the characters and storylines that would go on to become iconic parts of the G.I. Joe mythos

Bob Budiansky - Budiansky was the writer for the original Transformers comic book series and also helped to create many of the characters and storylines that would become part of the franchise. He wrote the first 50 issues of the series and is credited with helping to establish the Transformers as a major player in the world of comics

Simon Furman - Furman took over the Transformers comic book series after Budiansky and helped to continue the franchise's success. He is widely considered to be one of the best writers to ever work on the Transformers, and he was responsible for many of the key storylines and character developments that helped to shape the franchise

Michael Higgins - Higgins was a writer for both the G.I. Joe and Transformers comic book series in the 1980s. He helped to develop many of the storylines and characters for both franchises and was responsible for some of the most memorable moments in both series

These writers, among others, helped to create the rich and engaging storylines that made the G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises so successful in the 1980s. Their contributions helped to establish the franchises as major players in the world of comics and animation, and their influence can still be felt in these franchises today

The Artists

Cover Art by Herb Trimpe

Cover Art by Jim Lee

There were several talented comic book artists who worked on the Marvel Era of G.I. Joe and Transformers comics, and many of them remain favorites among fans to this day. Here are a few notable names:

Herb Trimpe - Trimpe was the original artist on the G.I. Joe comic book series and worked on the title for its first 50 issues. He is widely regarded as one of the defining G.I. Joe artists and is credited with creating some of the most iconic designs for the characters

Larry Hama - Hama not only wrote the G.I. Joe comic book series, but he also created many of the characters and storylines that defined the franchise. His work on the series has been praised for its depth, character development, and strong military themes

Don Perlin - Perlin was the original artist on the Transformers comic book series and worked on the title for its first 20 issues. He is credited with helping to establish the look and feel of the Transformers universe, and his work on the series remains popular among fans

Andrew Wildman - Wildman took over as the primary artist on the Transformers comic book series with issue #56 and worked on the title for several years. He is known for his dynamic and detailed artwork, which helped to bring the Transformers characters to life in the comics

Jim Lee - Lee worked on the G.I. Joe comic book series in the early 1990s and is credited with helping to revitalize the franchise with his distinctive art style. His work on the series is still highly regarded by fans today

These are just a few of the many talented artists who worked on G.I. Joe and Transformers comics during that era. Their contributions helped to make these franchises some of the most beloved in pop culture history

Dennis O’Neil

Dennis O'Neil was a legendary editor for Marvel Comics, and his impact on the G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises was significant. O'Neil was known for his meticulous attention to detail and his commitment to creating quality stories that would resonate with readers. After all, he came up with the name Optimus Prime

In the case of G.I. Joe, O'Neil was instrumental in bringing the franchise to Marvel Comics in the first place. He recognized the potential of the toy line and helped to create a comic book series that would go on to become one of the most successful of the 1980s. O'Neil worked closely with writer Larry Hama to develop the characters and storylines that would become iconic parts of the G.I. Joe mythos

O'Neil's influence on the Transformers franchise was equally significant. He became the editor of the Transformers comic book series in the mid-1980s, and he helped to steer the franchise in a new direction. O'Neil recognized that the Transformers had the potential to be more than just a toy line, and he worked with writer Simon Furman to create a more sophisticated and complex storyline that would appeal to older readers

Under O'Neil's guidance, the Transformers comic book series became darker and more mature, with a greater emphasis on character development and story complexity. O'Neil encouraged Furman to develop more complex story arcs and explore the deeper themes and ideas in the Transformers franchise

Overall, Dennis O'Neil's impact on the G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises cannot be overstated. His commitment to quality storytelling and his willingness to take risks helped establish both franchises as major players in comics and animation. His legacy continues to be felt in these franchises today, and his influence on the world of comics will be remembered for years to come

End Note

The Joes and Robots in Disguise’s Marvel Era in the 80s were successful because of the way that they helped to shape popular culture. The G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises were not just popular with children; they were also popular with adults. The comics and animated series helped to create a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, and they helped to inspire a new generation of writers, artists, and filmmakers

In conclusion, the Marvel Era of G.I. Joe and Transformers comics and animated series helped to shape popular culture in a way that is still being felt today. The quality of the storytelling, the cross-promotion of the toys, the imaginative world-building, and the impact on popular culture all contributed to the success of the Marvel Era. It is no wonder that these franchises continue to be popular with fans of all ages

GI Joe A Real American Hero Cartoons

Transformers Generation 1 Cartoons

#80s Comics #Marvel Comics #gi joe #transformers #transformers g1 #dennis o'neil #larry hama #hasbro #saturday morning tv #saturday morning cartoons

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