dinobots

Ulcrain · Post by **Ulcrain** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:14 am

I'd mention that the comic can not happen in any preastablished continity with the numoreus characters being alive when aren't around.

Anyway, this... thing is worse than the IDW ongoing issues 8-12 and B.O.T put together. Oh, and the Beast is totally frakking goddamm hideous.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:40 pm

Ulcrain wrote:I'd mention that the comic can not happen in any preastablished continity with the numoreus characters being alive when aren't around.

It seems to be written as post-Season 2 cartoon, but obviously as you say would make TF:TM onwards impossible.

I'm still amazed that Metronome ran the thing, as it gets everything wrong - it's likely to be hated by nostalgia buyers as much as fans.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:21 pm

Cliffjumper wrote: I'm still amazed that Metronome ran the thing, as it gets everything wrong - it's likely to be hated by nostalgia buyers as much as fans.

I suspect that, as a company, Metrodome were fairly clueless about things like that, and were dependent on fan help for such issues. And I also suspect the author of this piece was one of the main people giving them such advice ("You're sure fans will like this comic?" "Absolutely, as a fan I know exactly what they want" "Sounds good to me").

I have to say that, as the comic can safely never be read again if you were "Lucky" enough to get one of the sets with it in, the worst decision Metrodome ever made was making Zone an exclusive to the complete Takara series boxset when most of the people who'd want it would almost certainly have already brought the original series sets. Which was a huge kick in the teeth for those of us who'd supported the official release of what's probably the most niche TF DVD's of all even though many of us likely already had some sort of bootleg version (and of course, the subtitles on the last two sets were even the same as the fan made ones). Very disappointing, they could have at least made the extra Zone disc something that could be ordered separately from their website or somesuch (as Network tend to do when they re-release ITC shows with new documentary discs).

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:19 pm

I dunno, sounds like a smart decision to me - how many people re-bought? (Though, TBH, considering the Zone ep is pretty easy to find fansubbed, I suspect a fair few pirated).

Either that, or I'm guessing that they were pissed with the fans after the whole Beast thing and wanted to screw them over.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:32 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:I dunno, sounds like a smart decision to me - how many people re-bought? (Though, TBH, considering the Zone ep is pretty easy to find fansubbed, I suspect a fair few pirated).

Last time I looked on Amazon Marketplace second hand copies were both plentiful and selling for about the same as each individual Takara set, so if they were trying to create something utlra rare and collectable it seems to have died on its arse. Great for people getting interested in the Japanese stuff now as they can get the whole lot dirt cheap in a nice box, but still annoying.

To really tangent, it'll be interesting to see if Shout manage to follow up their R1 Headmasters release with the other two shows. As well as the niche factor (and the fact that many of the interested American fans likely would have gotten hold of the UK or Aus release in the meantime) it was apparently a bit of a struggle persuading Hasbro US to let them release it, so it sales aren't at least respectable (and the UK Masterforce and Victory sets are noticeably cheaper than the Headmasters one- no Star TV dub, an at the time cheaper cover artist than Wildman, already made fan sub- suggesting that first set didn't sell as well as was needed and some cost cutting was needed to make the whole run possible) I'd be surprised if Masterforce followed.

Either that, or I'm guessing that they were pissed with the fans after the whole Beast thing and wanted to screw them over.

Surely the fair and reasonable response would have just to put shit in the shoes of bloke who wrote it?

Oh, and it was mildly annoying that Metrodome went to the effort of reordering the season 3 episodes sensibly but didn't do it with season 2 meaning the Combaticons still turn up before their big debut story. Sure, you could argue that's the fault of whoever decided the original broadcast order, but I'm still call Metrodome out on it regardless of common sense. Ian Metrodome won't be sleeping easy tonight now.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:03 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:Last time I looked on Amazon Marketplace second hand copies were both plentiful and selling for about the same as each individual Takara set, so if they were trying to create something utlra rare and collectable it seems to have died on its arse. Great for people getting interested in the Japanese stuff now as they can get the whole lot dirt cheap in a nice box, but still annoying.

I doubt they were trying to do that - they were reissuing the discs to try and get some money back, with the bonus that some people would snap it up for Zone when they already had the other three.

I think it took far too long to get all three series out, TBH. When I first got into fandom, the Japanese series had a near-mythical reputation; within a few years broadband was kicking in, there was filesharing and a lot more people got to see them - and realised they weren't particularly good. For a lot of people, the Takara disc satisfied a lot of curiosity.

Decent-quality bootleg sets have also been in circulation for years, and only the Headmasters set offers much more than they did - not hard to see why people hestitated to work out £25 to upgrade. And beyond Headmasters, there's no real non-fan appeal - £20 odd for a set of discs featuring unfamiliar characters; similarly, the stuff's too dodgy to be of much appeal to anime fans.

Ulcrain · Post by **Ulcrain** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:28 pm

I'd mention that Madmen included Zone on their Victory set.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:28 pm

The only one I'm hoping gets an R1 release is Victory, and that's because my set of them(combination of RealPlayer and VCD discs) means I can't watch it on a TV. And I'm holding out for Star TV dubs.

I've seen some episodes subbed, and the dialogue isn't any worse. And after years of watching badly dubbed Jackie Chan movies, I've grown used to the voice cast.

Actually, I'd love to see all 3 series(not Zone, though. That rabbit makes me want to kill) professionally dubbed. Give the UT cast something to do.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:35 am

Cliffjumper wrote:I doubt they were trying to do that - they were reissuing the discs to try and get some money back, with the bonus that some people would snap it up for Zone when they already had the other three.

Well, in that case shouldn't we excuse the Beast as they only did the comic to shift some extra season 2 sets to people who already had the R1's by having extra exclusive content? Which it probably did.

I think it took far too long to get all three series out, TBH. When I first got into fandom, the Japanese series had a near-mythical reputation; within a few years broadband was kicking in, there was filesharing and a lot more people got to see them - and realised they weren't particularly good. For a lot of people, the Takara disc satisfied a lot of curiosity.

Decent-quality bootleg sets have also been in circulation for years, and only the Headmasters set offers much more than they did - not hard to see why people hestitated to work out £25 to upgrade. And beyond Headmasters, there's no real non-fan appeal - £20 odd for a set of discs featuring unfamiliar characters; similarly, the stuff's too dodgy to be of much appeal to anime fans.

Yeah, it was actually a pleasant surprise they managed to put out the whole lot. But then, the Japanese shows were included in the G1 rights they'd brought anyway, so not doing anything at all with them wouldn't have been taking full advantage of what they'd paid for. Especially as the sets themselves likely weren't insanely expensive to produce, especially once they stopped producing their own subtitles.

Heinrad wrote: Actually, I'd love to see all 3 series(not Zone, though. That rabbit makes me want to kill) professionally dubbed. Give the UT cast something to do.

I can't see that ever happening. As well as the extra cost for something that's basically money for old rope (full cast dubbing would be insanely more expensive than subtitles for bunging some money at whoever owns the Star TV soundtrack) you'd never, ever be able to come up with something that wouldn't piss off a large proportion of the target audience. Take your suggesting of the UT cast, instant outrage at not using the surrviving G1 voice actors, regardless of the cost of someone like Cullen.

Then there's the naming as well, how faithful to be to the original scripts (do you keep the endless redundant narration in Headmasters for starters?) and even basic things like if they should use the "proper" Transformers theme. They'd never, ever, ever create something that will keep more than half the people happy.

Plus, the Star TV dub was a professional one and look how that turned out. Any theoretical DVD dub done now would likely have even less money to work with (relatively) than even they did.

ΩΩΩ · Post by **ΩΩΩ** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:40 am

inflatable dalek wrote:Well, in that case shouldn't we excuse the Beast as they only did the comic to shift some extra season 2 sets to people who already had the R1's by having extra exclusive content? Which it probably did.

Zone was pre-existing content that people had sought beforehand. The Beast was not. The two are not comparable.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:14 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:Well, in that case shouldn't we excuse the Beast as they only did the comic to shift some extra season 2 sets to people who already had the R1's by having extra exclusive content? Which it probably did.

Wait, what? When did I say anything about it being excuseable? I am saying Metronome or whoever did this solely to increase the amount of money they had coming in, knowing full well that the people buying the discs were largely completist morons who would piss and bitch about it but still fork over the money (i.e. Transformers fans - see also IDW TPBs, Movie Premiums, etc.).

I'm not actually saying (and haven't been from the start) that it was a nice thing for them to do or anything, just smart from a business point of view. I am saying "this is what they did so they could get more money".

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:38 pm

&#937 wrote:Zone was pre-existing content that people had sought beforehand. The Beast was not. The two are not comparable.

You're right, the fact they went to the effort of original content for their boxset exclusive with the Beast clearly makes it better.

More seriously, for anyone who did get it (or the Aus version as presumably it's the same), was the Metrodome copy of Zone the same as their Scramble City, a straightforward poor quality port of the bootleg (well, I say bootleg but it must be official in some capacity for them to have used it, unless they bootlegged the bootleggers) DVD complete with rather sweet bonkers subtitles?

I'm not actually saying (and haven't been from the start) that it was a nice thing for them to do or anything, just smart from a business point of view. I am saying "this is what they did so they could get more money".

What especially annoys me is, we're not talking about the usual things that might usually be exclusive to a "Complete Series" style boxset, extra documentaries or whatever, but a whole episode of the show. Worse than that, the final ever Japanese G1 one, something that's likely to be of huge interest to fans, especially as it's the only one made of it's sub franchise. Off the top of my head, I can't think of another show where an episode is only available on a complete boxset of previously released (in that medium) material.

For comparison, Optimum managed to piss off fans of The Avengers when announced their complete series set after everyone had brought the first three even though the extra material there was just some odds and sods (including those bonkers Diana Rigg mini films), coupled with their only putting out one season set that didn't need to have faulty discs sent back they've pretty much burnt their bridges there and Blu Ray plans for the filmed episodes have been quietly shelved.