Hasbro Reacquires Rights to Transformers and Other TV Programs

That'd be great, if those got a DVD release.

While I think number 2 there is too much too hope for, correct subs and a professional dub would be all sorts of awesome. And honestly, past Headmasters, the original VAs won't be needed. Hell, they aren't needed for large portions of Headmasters either (since it becomes so many new characters).

Throw in all the classic bumps and commercials, and we have a REAL TF DVD set(s). I have the Rhino's, but I would buy them again if the features were awesome.

Oh - what would people think if they went in and fixed animation errors? I don't think they ever will - while lots of us love the old cartoon, it's not like it's monumental in history. But if they went in and fixed all the mixed coloring, maybe removed bots that were out of place, some other things like that. Would people be for it, or be angry? All the errors definitely is part of the original cartoons "charm", but I'd still be interesting to see it without the crap ton of errors.

Hell, with some new/replaced audio, they could even get rid of some of the continuity errors (like the constructions...)

So is there any chance Hasbro could ever do there own TV Channel where they show only there Properities on it. I always thought it would be cool if they had a channel Like Boomarang and Showed all there cool cartoons all day long and maybe in between the shows, Show alot of the old commericals and Helpful tips like GI Joes did.

Now there just needs to be word of Hasbro in talks with someone for distribution of said properties.

I wouldn't really assume that we would get anything from the Japanese continuity even if Hasbro now owns the rights. It would be nice, and this is a step in the right direction, but given the issues with it being a small audience that would be making that purchase I do not see it likely.

There would definitely be more of a chance to see G1 or GI Joe coming back on DVD if Hasbro maybe strikes up a deal with Paramount or someone, given the popularity of the first TF movie, and the potential sales from the upcoming sequel and Joe movie.

I will continue to hope to see more DVD releases that we want, but I will keep in mind that the glass is always at least half empty.

Transformers Generation 1 SPECIAL EDITION!!! It has my vote!

By the time they fixed Five Faces of Death alone, we'd already be up to the 30-year anniversary of Transformers.

dude that is what i am saying, BOOMERANG BOOMERANG BOOMERANG!!!!!!!!!

that is what that channel is lacking......and gobots.....but don't need to get greedy lol

This can only be a good thing. Please, for the love of God Hasbro, release the GI Joe Season 2 Part 2 boxset so I can have finally have the first two seasons completed. And I promise, if you release Headmasters, Victory and Masterforce I'll buy them even though I own the Metrodome releases already. Swear.

qft

I would love to also get the eps. from masterforce and victory too....

Unrelated, nice artwork of Dev and the Dinobots.

Wait, so they could release the Generation 1 cartoons again? Yay! As much as I like owning the entire series already, I could go for a version of the original episodes without Rhino's distracting, loud, and awful added sound effects. Even the opening has them!

Unfortunately, the sound effects are in the masters formerly owned by TV-Loonland.

Evidently at some point in the murky past, Sunbow or its then-owners, Sony Wonder, decided to add in alot of random sound effects that weren't heard in cartoons until the 90s.

I'm not sure Hasbro or anybody that would apply for the distribution rights would bother searching for the 80s soundtrack.

The extra sound effects are very specifically the work of a sound studio called "Magno Sound," who added them when Rhino were remastering the series for their DVD release. It's quite easy to prove - Rhino's release of the movie didn't have an altered soundtrack, but then, when Magno were brought in for Metrodome's "Reconstructed" project... hey, all the added sounds from the series were in it!

And they're also a bunch of *fucking liars*, claiming that they were already there and that we just couldn't hear them because 1980s TV sets weren't good enough.

Alas, it does appear that these are stuck to Rhino's remastered versions of the episodes, since these are the versions being broadcast on the UK channel POP, and they're all sizzles and pings.

I would love to see what comes from this:

1) The obvious thing many are hoping to see is DVD releases of the Japanese Transformers series. I'd wager that subtitling is a given (so many DVDs have them nowadays). As far as English dubbing, I'm not going to hold my breath. I've seen the Star TV dubs, and while I'm not going to say they are ghastly, they ARE fairly dissappointing. Still, if we were to get dubs on these (because that would help them sell better to non-hardcore fans), it's likely they would present these dubs before undertaking a project for new voice actors.

2) G.I. Joe DVDs ... yes, Yes, YES!!! Having missed out on these myself because I was more interested in Transformers DVDs, I want these out there now. I've only got one of the released half season sets because the after market prices are too high. It could only get worse with the live-action Joe movie on the horizon. Hasbro has got to be cashing in on it's impending release with new DVDs!

3) While attending BotCon 2006, I stopped to talk with the Hasbro staff. I really wanted to talk with Greg Lombardo, beings that marketing is in his realm. Unfortunately both he and Aaron Archer were busy. So I took the one staff member who was ready to help me. My question was this: Do the old Generation 1 TF commercials exist in an archive someplace? His realm of knowledge was not reassuring, but it is a possibility. I was expressing an interest in all of those being released on a DVD, indicating I was willing to pay for that!

Well, not to rain on that parade, but I felt that was more likely that they do NOT have them archived. Anybody remember the extras/easter eggs on the 20th Anniversary Transformers: The Movie? There was an G1 Ultra Magnus commercial that was missing the first few seconds because it was taken from and old VHS recording. I thought surely Hasbro would have given Sony a perfectly good copy of the commercial if it was archived. Can anybody give more input on this?

Indeed, the 25th Anniversary year of the Transformers will hold many great things for us fans. If anything, G1 TF on Blu-Ray anyone?

Wow, so Hasbro finally owns the master tapes!!!

I find this to be wonderful news...even if they decide to never do anything with them at all. 'Cause it just seems right. Outside companies don't care about the individual properties as much as their actual owners, so you know that Hasbro will shop around for someone to do them up right, and this time they won't have to go through anyone else between them and the distributor.

Hey, maybe the Japanese DVD sets could be Botcon exclusives or something, if Hasbro doesn't feel there's a large enough market for them commercially.

--Moony

This would be ideal, but I'd be happy with just subtitles in a set that will play on my player (I'm just not hardcore enough to buy a special player).

And I don't think the market for this is as small as people think it is. Anime is still rather popular, so much so they seem to be releasing anything and everything stateside, wheather it's any good or what. It seems like the Anime section of my local FYE is bigger everytime I go in, and they're even selling pocky and soda now. I imagine a release of the Japanese G1 would appeal to two different (if not sometimes overlapping) markets.

In any case, it's fun to dream.

I seriously just hope they FINISH G. I. Joe as a new set of dvds. I have been really waiting to see episodes like Sins of Our Fathers etc. on dvd. I own the G1 series but a re-release (possibly on Blu-Ray?) would be all kinds of awesome and I would definitely get it. Come on Hasbro!

i want robotix on dvd!

I guess we will have to see and wait how and under what format may we get finally headmasters, victory and galaxy dvds. I don´t like much the idea of bringing new cast for dubbing ,but it sure is better than japanese subtitles. As long as they are improved in image and sound . Once and for all we will see old series ended.Let´s give it a chace . We win one way or the other

Nice. Now if Hasbro could somehow get the rights to RiD back from freaking Disney.

TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted on the subject of Hasbro reaquiring the rights.

Here is a link:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Tra...es-Rights/9624

Thanks, now I have a new company to hate with the fire of a thousand suns.

*sizzle*

EDIT: HEY I found an article where they talk about adding in the new effects. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...110073878/pg_1

WTF NO ONE LIKED IT AUGMENTED!!! GRRR! "Freelance" "FREELANCE"!!! So my suspiscions of some guy doing it in his basement was correct!

Hey did anyone actually click on the video trailer here...
http://www.tv-loonland.com/programs_show1.php4?id=110
It's a Japanese Headmasters version!
Darn Australian dubbers!

If they do re-dubs, lets hope they will rename the Headmasters Ring of Friendship formation to Energon Cannon Blast .

Australian? The RTM-1 dubs were Malaysian.

It won't so long as they finish before someone else releases completely accurate legit subs on R1.

If someone does, well who cares, we have accurate legit subs released we can walk into most stores and buy. xD

So what does this mean for Jem? Are we going to be getting the Big theater treatment for her sooner or later now too? Or some kinda revitilization?

And what about the Dic GI Joe. I loved the sunbow one, but Dic didn't do such a bad job honestly picking up from the movie. Inconsistencies be damned!

So far the only real perk to this for fans, is the fact episodes may be packaged with various toys of both GI Joe or Transformers. Not sure what this means for a full on release yet. But that's still better than the darn 'edited together pieces of random series we still have rights to use' syndrome we've seen on past DVDs. (*Cough*, Classics Prime vs Megs battle begins 2 pack *cough*.)

If anybody is interested, here's the article me and Chris McFreely just wrote about Magno Sound and their meddling with soundtracks when they weren't asked to do so.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/M...ound_%26_Video

I hope they do something cool with all these rights now and not just sit on them or do something silly.

Maybe they can add the Japanese episodes to the Transformers Channel on Joost. Right now they're airing mostly G1 season 1 episodes, so that would be cool.

I'm sort of indifferent as to whether they release them on DVD, as I already have all of the Japanese G1 series on one form or other of DVD, and the TV-Nihon subs have been superb in my mind, even if Headmasters is just slowly trickling out.

I'm with the GI Joe camp, though...hopefully they'll release the rest of the series.

I swear, I saw a post on an audio/video forum a while back from someone at Magno asking if anyone had a print of Transformers The Movie for them to use (this was for the Metrodome release). The sheer absurdity of an employee simply asking for this on a forum just served to highlight how disorganized they must have been! I really wish I could track down that website/post again!

All very interesting. It remains to be seen whether or not The first batch of Japanese TF shows materializes in its intended form with subtitles or new dubbing.

I imagine it would be the former than the latter. Recasting the voices is going to cost Hasbro money.

New dubbing for the Japanese series would be so great! I couldnt watch the Headmasters series due to the horrible voice acting!

Really? Well the voice actors have Australian accents. I guess English speaking Malaysians sound Australian.

You know Hasbro could re-dub Victory & release it after Animated.
Then make new toys based on those characters. It would be nice to have a Victory Sabre with modern articulation standards.

Why do some people keep insisting the dub accents are Australian? They're more akin to the stilted British/Hong Kong accents as used in innumerable older Hong Kong English dubs (indeed, many such dubs clearly use the same voice actors). Australian accents sound noticeably different.

I remember when the talk of the audio fiasco first came up with the release of the horrific G1 Season 1 set. A bunch of people did not believe that the audio was tampered with. One viewing of the F.H.E. tapes that were released years ago would show you that the sound effects were added to the DVDs.

It's old news but I think it's important for Hasbro to know that this seriously ruined the experience of watching the old shows for many die-hard fans. Not only that, but using the incorrect films....it was quite embarrassing and made the cartoon look like a total hack job. It was like showing a movie with scenes that were not quite right...with flubs and wrong clothes and such. I do believe that they will release these again...the 25th Anniversary is next year and as some have pointed out, it would be a perfect time to bring these back. Couple that with TF2 hitting the theaters and it's a win-win for Hasbro. Extras are always a plus, but I think the fans just want the correct episodes as they were shown on TV back in the 80's.

If I were to see the shows exactly as I saw them back in the '80s, I would have to do so on a 13" black-&-white set or at the very most a static-filled screen with audio glitches.

So all of you who are talking about the additions to the shows while watching them on a HD Widescreen are preaching hypocrisy.

Purists are annoying.

Huh? They don't sound Australian.

The Maverick, Madman and Metrodome (I think) DVD sets used the Broadcast Masters for season 1. The Broadcast master is what you saw on tv in the 80s.

They are *not* in good condition. In fact, I would call them blur-o-vision compared to the crisp (though mistake-riddled) KidRhino transfer.

OK it isn't the voice actors but the narrator does have a little Australian accent.

Hold on a sec there VHead...I watch the shows on a standard TV as I did back in the 80's. And to want the shows as it aired...that's a lot to ask? Shows are released all the time and not messed with...the outrage was so big that Rhino put in an option for the standard audio as the series drew to a close. The mistake filled eps just made for a bad experience. If you were ok with that, that's cool...I just thought Rhino and the powers that be really dropped the ball on those sets. Decent first attempt, but it could have been so much better.

It's not about what you watch it on anyway...it's about the "original" show...not some loud sound efx, mistake filled show. It looked like the show was half finished.

Not everybody wants things in 5.1 surround sound...the show was an 80's show....keep it 80's.

As I said just a few posts above, the original mono audio track is probably still around, but the video broadcast masters are not in good condition, which is why Rhino went with the pre-broadcast masters instead.

so, anyway... what about a petition? maybe they don't work, maybe there is one already. but with this new info, we could petition hasbro directly. petition haters - sorry, but i'm jonzing for joe and tf to be released (with commercials?) as i know many others are.

Are we positive the broadcast masters don't exist in decent condition? I would bet that Hasbro has some stuck in a vault somewhere....it was their property to begin with, so you'd think they would have some if not all in their possession. Maybe someone at Hasbro can comment on this soon so we can end speculation.

Sounds pretty sweet... I'll keep my fingers crossed that a) they'll all be released, and b) they won't cost an arm and a leg...

Great news indeed, this may work out well.

oh please msterforce , headmasters and victory i hope regular , but also they should do beast wars second and beast wars neo i dont why people and companys dont care about those two beast wars story lines / sagas they were great and why are they getting ignored and plus the dvd company i hope that does it sony bgm or toei , rhyno is just down right horible

also when they do release headmasters , masterforce , victory i think release the toys in stores but ask japan permission but when it comes to beast wars second and beast wars neo they have to ask toei rights for the show but i would like to get the beast wars neo and second toys also , lio convoy , etc

Well, from what little I understand (and hopefully somebody knowledgable will correct me if I am wrong), the cartoon wasn't Hasbro's for years. Hasbro owns Transformers the brand and the franchise, but I don't believe they own much of the media created to support their toys, unless it was agreed to in the contract or Hasbro buys back the rights to them. I think they do this so they don't have to wear the cost alone.

Sony Wonder bought Sunbow in the late 80s, as I recall, and then TV Loonland bought Sunbow in 2000. And then Hasbro bought the rights for their old shows back from Loonland.

When Rhino did their DVD, they would have had to go through Loonland for the North American distribution rights for the cartoon series, and obviously the Sunbow broadcast masters weren't good enough, which is why they went with the pre-broadcast masters instead.

So I doubt Hasbro has a better quality set lying around. I hope they do, but I doubt it.

I doubt any US distributor will bother will those three series. Hasbro won't be releasing any DVDs themselves because Hasbro isn't a DVD distributor.

And given the fact Takara never bothered to release much of the Headmasters/Masterforce/Victory toys again beyond a few reissues also released in the US and two crappy Robot Masters toys, Hasbro will not bother, either.

well i gues we might still have a chance for the beast wars second and beast wars neo series since metrodome and madman never touch them right

Yeah, but that's due to them not having the rights to them. Heck, those haven't even been released on DVD in Japan.

Plus there's so little interest in the Japanese Beast Wars series in any market.