Action Master Bumblebee

Action Master Transformers will always hold a special place in this fan's heart. I was too young to get my hands on the early waves of Transformers (considering I was born a few years before the line launched). In fact, the earliest figures back in the day I got my hands were the Protectobots. Because of the whole I was way too young to get a job thing, I missed out on classic characters like Bumblebee. This is why although the Action Masters couldn't transform, I loved the figures. It was my chance to get a hold of the classic characters from the cartoon and they looked like the cartoon characters!

Bumblebee was an excellent mold. Although he was the same size as his team mates, that was okay. He looked almost dead on with his animated counterpart. His weapon was pretty sweet too. He had a helipack which could transform and combine with his rifle to form a super weapon. This figure was a classic, and so were the other animated based Action Masters.

Although they were hated at the time, their popularity continues to rise (and are now more expensive to obtain). I am one fan who hopes that at least the Action Master figures based on the cartoon characters get a reissue treatment someday. Don't worry about the big vehices or weapons, just give me the figures.

Long Lost VHS

Every once in a while I stumble across Generation One items that I had no idea existed. This is one of those items. Sometime back when Rhino Home Video owned the rights to the Transformers, they apparently released a VHS copy of the three part Transformers pilot More Than Meets The Eye. Although the Rhino logo isn't on the box, this is the same style of art they used for later releases as well as the original font and logo.

I honestly couldn't tell you anything else about it as I don't own it, but I would imagine that this VHS is similar to the Heroes & Villains VHS releases which used the individual episodes with no bumpers and no 5.1 soundtrack. Rhino released twelve two episode VHS volumes of the Transformers cartoon from the 1980's from 1999 to 2001 which pulled episodes from all 98 episodes of the series run. They also released two special edition VHS/ DVD releases of The Ultimate Doom (Villains) and The Rebirth (Heroes). There was also another VHS which featured the two part episodes with the Dinobots. Finally, they also released VHS box sets of the complete first season and the first half of season two before they ceased production of VHS releases. However, this e-Bay auction was the first time I ever ran across this VHS. Nothing special, but a pretty neat piece.

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Phoenix

I am a huge fan of classic 1980's animation. From time to time, I would like to post info on cartoons that may not be Transformers related. This is one such cartoon. This is a single disc DVD I just purchased called The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Phoenix. This show ran from 1986-1987, and it ran for 65 episodes.

This DVD in particular contains the first two episodes of the series (Phoenix & New Frontier), one of the best episodes of the series (Psychocrypt), and another okay episode (Rain Maker). This series is a classic of 1980's animation, but it also not a well known series. The plot revolved around a team of four rangers who have special implants that increase their current abilities. The team protects Earth as part of BETA and battles the forces of the Crown Empire. The leader of the team, Zachary Foxx, has a personal stake in the series as his wife was kidnapped by the Queen of the Crown, and his wife's mind was imprisoned in a Psychocrystal. The rangers recovered her body, but her mind is trapped by the Queen and she is now a Slaverlord. If you pick up this DVD, you can see all of these events happen! As the series progressed, it dove deeper into the characters as well as fleshed out the severity of the situations the Galaxy Rangers faced. The Queen in her attempt to find the perfect beings to create Slaverlords nearly exterminated an entire alien race.

The animation was top notch as it was animated in Japan, but it was produced in the United States. Also, the show featured excellent writing as it was one of the few action cartoons not supporting any toy lines and having no obligation to get new toys featured. It was a very mature show for its time. The series is currently available in four DVD's with four episodes each, or you can own the complete series in two DVD box sets. I was a HUGE fan of this show when I was a kid, and it was fun to revisit the series through this release. The first three episodes are awesome, and the final episode is pretty good although not up to the caliber of the other three episodes. I don't think I will purchase the entire series (Transformers is the only show to earn that honor), but I will probably pick up the other single discs since they are only $2.00 a piece on Amazon.com. Great show and it certainly was one of the best of the 1980's.

Pepsi Prime

Hasbro and Pepsi have released this figure in the past, but the most recent release was as a prize and as a Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive in 2007 to coincide with the release of Michael Bay's first Transformers film. The figure is the Autobot commander Optimus Prime, but it comes with a free bottle of Pepsi.

The mold is 100% Generation One Optimus Prime. The cab looks and transforms exactly the same. However, the figure has some different stickers and paint applications with the Pepsi logo on it. The trailer is the biggest difference as it was an entirely new mold. Rather than have the classic trailer from 1984 or 1992, this trailer was a flatbed with side clamps. The clamps could hold the bottle of Pepsi that Optimus came with or another bottle.

Overall, this is really sweet figure that is more of a collector's item. If you love Pepsi or Optimus Prime or both, this would be worth picking up if you can find it. E-bay is option number one, or option number two is seeing if it still available through the Hasbro Toy Shop.

Goldbug

Bumblebee has always been an iconic character in the multiple Transformers universes. In virtually every series, he has either appeared or has been paid homage to. In the original Generation One toy line, there was a time when Bumblebee was heavily damaged and thought to have been destroyed. He was rebuilt into a new bot named Goldbug, a Throttlebot.

The Throttlebots were 1987's version of the mini-bots from previous years. They each transformed exactly the same, although the molds were all different. On Goldbug, you simply flip out the arms, flip the body up, and flip back the rear section. The transformation and general look of Goldbug was very similar to his Bumblebee form except that he now had a mouth plate. Although the toy featured no articulation, I loved it because it was still Bumblebee. One of the cool features of Goldbug and the Throttlebots was that they had a pull back motor. You could pull the vehicle or robot modes back on the tires, and release them to let them speed away.

Eventually in the Generation One toy line, Goldbug was restored to his form of Bumblebee. In the comics, he was destroyed once more after being one of the many Transformers fought the Underbase powered Starscream. Ratchet would later rebuild Goldbug into Bumblebee, but also give him a Pretender shell.

Transformers Artwork #3

The universe trembles before the might of the evil Decepticon leader, Megatron! This piece is from the Dreamwave comic book series from the early 2000's. Megatron is one of the most sinister leaders of the Decepticons' vast history; after all, he is the one who began the Great Wars and formed the Decepticon faction. Before Galvatron, Overlord, Devil Z, Skorponok, Deszarus, Dark Nova, Violenjiger, or the Megatron of the Beast Wars era; the original Megatron will always be the most feared and renowned leader of the forces of evil. He is seen standing over rubble, and also over the injured Bumblebee. There are times I do wish the original Dreamwave comic book series was still in publication because of artwork like this.

The Lost Fifth Season

I was just thinking about the Transformers: Matrix of Leadership Edition box set of the original animated series. It claims to be the complete series as it features all 98 episodes which ran from 1984 to 1987. There are complete series box sets in other countries which also claim to have every episode. However, did you know there was in fact a fifth season of the Transformers? I am not talking about the Japanese exclusive Transformers: The Headmasters, which it technically was as it continued and concluded the original story. There really was one more season of the Transformers in the United States which ran during 1988. In the U.S., there was a fifth season which ran on the weekends for twenty episodes. There were no newly animated episodes, but this was a sort of "best of" collection of the series. The episodes included:

1. More Than Meets the Eye (Part 1)

2. More Than Meets the Eye (Part 2)

3. More Than Meets the Eye (Part 3)

4. Transformers: The Movie: Day One

5. Transformers: The Movie: Day Two

6. Transformers: The Movie: Day Three

7. Transformers: The Movie: Day Four

8. Transformers: The Movie: Day Five

9. Five Faces of Darkness (Part 1)

10. Five Faces of Darkness (Part 2)

11. Five Faces of Darkness (Part 3)

12. Five Faces of Darkness (Part 4)

13. Five Faces of Darkness (Part 5)

14. Surprise Party

15. Dark Awakening

16. The Return of Optimus Prime (Part 1)

17. The Return of Optimus Prime (Part 2)

18. The Rebirth (Part 1)

19. The Rebirth (Part 2)

20. The Rebirth (Part 3)

This season saw Transformers: The Movie broadcast on television for the first time ever, and part five included the music video for Stan Bush's "The Touch". The episodes also featured new narration during the episodes from Optimus Prime, basically showing that these episodes had already happened and he was simply remembering. There was some new animation for these episodes. The beginnings and endings featured live action segments with a young boy named Tommy Kennedy and his friend, Powermaster Optimus Prime. Prime was an animatronic puppet and the toy also featured some stop motion animation. These segments were cheesy, but it did add something special to these older stories. Also, the intro for the show was new. It retained the season 3 theme song, but featured new animation from the commercials of 1988 with the Pretenders and such.

To date, these twenty episodes have never been released on DVD or VHS. In fact, these episodes are extremely difficult to come by. I actually have never seen them, but I have read about them and seen pictures. Seibertron.com also uploaded one of the "Puppet"master Prime segments to the Internet about four years ago, so I have seen a little bit of the cheesy Tommy Kennedy and Powermaster Optimus Prime. Even though the original episodes have all been released, it would be a neat piece of Transformers history to see these episodes collected into some kind of box set. Given the fact that they haven't already been collected probably means that Hasbro doesn't have the master tapes, they are in super poor condition, or they just really want to forget they ever tried this. Either way, it was a fun attempt to squeeze one more season out of the original Transformers cartoon.

Bombshell

This post brings my retrospective look of the original Insecticons to a close. Bombshell is one of my favorite characters from the original series. I don't mean just favorite Insecticon or Decepticon. I mean he was one of my top ten favorite characters from the original cartoon. He was always the most sinister and deceptive of the Insecticons, and it made him a really interesting character.

His toy is probably the least attractive of the three regular Insecticons. He transforms into a beetle, and he also has a less than stellar robot mode. In saying this, I mean that compared to the other two Insecticons, he doesn't look as good. However, he is still a great toy. The legs in robot mode have always felt backwards to me because you simply flip them forward leaving the grooves exposed for where his thighs fit for insect mode. His head however really fits the nature of his character. He is the only Insecticon with no mouth. He has a rather menacing looking mouth plate, and he also has a laser cannon looking thing on the top of his head.

One of my favorite episodes from the original cartoon was "Traitor". In this episode, Bombshell implants a cerebro shell into the head of the Autobot Mirage. By using this device, Bombshell controlled all of Mirage's actions. Throughout the rest of Bombshell's appearances, he was known for his ability to warp minds. He even took control of all of the Decepticons (minus Megatron) during one of the Insecticons' many troubled alliances with the them.

Revenge of the Fallen on DVD

Two Transformers DVD releases on the same day...awesome? Normally, I would say this is a great thing, but because Revenge of the Fallen really didn't measure up to the first film, I can really only be excited about the release of the Matrix of Leadership box set.

If you read my past review of Revenge of the Fallen on our former blog (Teletran 3 Transformers Fan Blog), then you should know that I was one of the fans that was really weary of giving the first film a chance because of how different it was. I ended up giving it a chance, and I loved just about every moment of film one. Revenge of the Fallen seemed like it was going to have everything the first film had, and that it was going to improve upon it in every way. I was way wrong. The film introduced a number of excellent concepts (a Decepticon Pretender, Devastator, Jetfire, the Matrix), tied in old story elements from other universes (Optimus Prime's death, the Fallen), and was filled to the brim with robot action. Michael Bay took all those concepts and simply ruined them.

Everything in the film felt either half done, not really thought out, or was simply filler. The action was overwhelming to the point that the viewer couldn't tell what was happening. The classic Transformers story elements were left with huge plot holes that weren't reconciled in film. Finally, this movie seemed to be made only to please the audience rather than focus on good film making. How many times did we hear swearing and to be honest, crude racial slurs from Mudflap and .... the other dumb bot, how many inappropriate scenes were shown with Megan Fox, and how many stupid jokes were thrown in?

I am a huge Transformers fan for a number of reasons. The toys always bring back great memories, and the story when done well is some of the best sci-fi I have seen or read. This film seemed more like an obvious attempt to cash in on the property rather than make a good film. I am hoping the third film will get back to what made the first Bay film work so well: great story telling and convincing characters, with a good amount of action. I would be lying if I said I was excited for this DVD release, so I won't even pretend that I am. I am more excited for January 15th of 2010 when the next original Transformers series box set comes out. If you liked Revenge of the Fallen, get the DVD. If not, leave it all by its lonesome on the store shelf. The only way I will pick that thing up is if I get it as a gift.

Transformers: The Complete Series

After 25 years, the original Transformers animated series is available for the first time in the United States in a single, complete box set. This set was released a few months ago as an online exclusive, but it is now available (or it will be in four hours) at retail for the first time ever. It seems like every other country in the world has gotten their hands on a complete series box set, but now we can also have one...that is a Region 1 release and not a set imported from China!

The set includes all 98 episodes of the Transformers in broadcast and chronological orders. The reason I say both orders is some episodes were rearranged in the intended chronological order while the first half of season two is assembled in the broadcast order. This set also features a huge amount of bonus content. The content includes several documentaries, a fan made film, original toy commercials from the 1980's, the Secret Files of Teletran 2 segments, a round table discussion with the original voice cast, and rare PSA's. There is also a sweet collectible booklet inside the box.

If you have the $150.00 to purchase this set (and if you don't already own the Rhino releases or you don't plan on purchasing the new DVD sets individually), this is a great set to pick up. It contains all of the newly remastered episodes from Shout! Factory, which includes the restored and corrected first season.

Kickback

The retrospective look at the Insecticons continues! Today, our focus is on Kickback. He transforms from robot to grasshopper and back. He is a really good looking figure in both modes. To transform him from insect to robot, you flip the wings back, fold the rear insect legs into the robot legs, clip together the front insect legs to form the robot arms, flip down the face, and rotate the head. The feature that sticks out the most for Kickback are his metallic wings above his shoulders. Shrapnel's shoulder hooks looked good, but Kickback's extra feature looked excellent!

It was a shame that such an awesome looking toy was the most underdeveloped of the trio. Shrapnel and Bombshell had a lot of onscreen dialogue and plots for the team, but Kickback served mainly as the soldier. His lines in the show were mainly related to sarcasm or agreeing with another one of the Insecticons.

The Only Good Armada

Since 2001, the Transformers franchise has gone through a number of reboots (most of them being pretty poor). It first started with Robots in Disguise which told the story of the Autobots vs. the Predacons. Then came the Unicron Trilogy which consisted of Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. More recently, the reboots have gotten better with the film series and the awesome Transformers: Animated. There was at least one slight highpoint in all of the reboots prior to Transformers: Animated, the second half of Transformers: Armada.

The story for this series centers on the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Caught in the middle are a mysterious race of micro-sized Transformers called Mini-Cons. The Mini-Cons can combine with any Transformer and give them new powers and abilities. Megatron wants the Mini-Cons so he can bolster his own power and the power of his forces. The Mini-Cons are discovered on Earth in 2002 by a group of teenagers, who accidentally activated a beacon which drew Megatron and Optimus Prime to Earth.

After the first episode, the show really tanked due to poor dialogue, bad story telling, limited characters, and bad animation. This was due to a rushed schedule in the United States, so animation was incomplete and the dialogue couldn't be translated correctly. However, midway through the series, things improved drastically. The series stopped focusing on the whole "Pokemon, gotta catch em all" mentality and focused on the schemes of the traitorous Decepticon Sideways. This led to Starscream defecting to the Autobots (this Starscream was a very deep character), and eventually another death of Optimus Prime. The battle then took both sides back to Cybertron and Optimus Prime would be revived during the journey. It is discovered that Sideways is a servant of the evil Unicron, and the Transformers must unite as one race to battle the chaos bringer. The remaining 13 episodes of the series focused entirely on the Transformers war against Unicron.

Although the second half of the 52 episode series still had some dialogue problems and a few mistranslations, the show essentially did a complete 180. The animation was superb, the story was richer and deeper, and some of the best sequences in the series occured. It took over 12 minutes of episode time for Unicron to transform, there was an awesome battle with Nemesis Prime, Starscream took on Galvatron and sacrificed his own life to prove Unicron's existence, and of course the final showdown between Galvatron and Optimus Prime. Probably the most memorable story element was the more heroic character of Starscream as he truly did consider joining the Autobots for good and his sacrifice to unite the Transformers is still one of the greatest moments in the multiple animated universes of the franchise.

If you are an Armada fan, skip the first box set and pick up the second one. Rhino was able to release this a few years ago after their license for the Transformers had expired. The box set is a sweet collection (although the bonus features are poor). It is still relatively cheap on Amazon, but the price has been steadily climbing. Unlike every other part of the Unicron Trilogy, this box set was great to watch.

Transformers Artwork #2

This piece features all six of the Seacons in robot mode in their natural environment, the ocean. Pictured here is the Seacon commander Snaptrap and his comrades: Overbite, Tentakil, Nautilator, Seawing, and Skalor. The five Seacons under Snaptrap's command are each Target Masters in that they can not only transform into sea creatures, but also into weapons for their combined super robot form of Piranacon. Each one of them can become a gun and each one can become a limb. Therfore, Snaptrap forms the torso and head, and any one of his teammates can become the arms, the legs, or a gun. Awesome and powerful team.

They never saw any action in the United States outside of a brief stint in the comic books and some animated scenes in the toy commercials. However, in the Japanese animated series, Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, Piranacon appeared under the command of Overlord and the Decepticon Pretenders. In Japan, he was known as King Poseidon. Also, the individual Seacons never transformed to robot mode. Snaptrap was called Turtler while his five comrades were drones. Turtler would summon them to combine with him to form King Poseidon.

Shrapnel

In honor of the new commemorative edition releases of the Insecticons, the next few posts will be include box scans of the original Insecticons from 1985. The first one is the unofficial leader of the Insecticons, Shrapnel.

There was never a clear leader to the trio, but Shrapnel seemed like the Insecticon with the most control. He constantly directed Bombshell and Kickback during their affairs with the Decepticons or when they fought on their own. His powers included the ability to fire grenades which after they exploded, they launched literal pieces of shrapnel in every direction. In addition, he also had the power to clone himself and the other Insecticons. In the original episode "Quest for Survival", he had successfully created an entire army of Insecticons.

The insect mode of the figure looks great, and so does the robot mode. Each Insecticon looks very similar in color and design, but they each have a distinct feature to make them stand out from the others. Shrapnel has the jaws of his insect mode coming up beside his shoulders looking like large hooked spikes. Like the other two Insecticons, Shrapnel looks awesome and is a great figure to add to your Generation One collection.

Hot Rod

It really has been a while since I have done a classic toy spotlight. What better way to kick off this blog relaunch than with a spotlight on the younger version of Rodimus Prime before he became the leader of the Autobots...Hot Rod! The toy was originally released in 1986 around the time of the release of Transformers: The Movie. Hot Rod made his animated debut in the film where he also became the new Autobot commander.

Hot Rod has a really slick looking vehicle mode. He transforms from a robot to a futuristic sports car. The car mode has chromed exhaust pipes on both sides of the back of the car, a huge yellow spoiler, a big engine, flames on the hood...it was every young kid's dream car. The transformation was pretty simple: pull the rear of car back, flip down the feet, flip out the arms, pull the front portion of the car forward, flip down the hood, rotate the spoiler and windshield, and rotate the arms. Hot Rod had a well designed robot mode as well. As with most Generation One toys, his articulation was limited. He only could move at the elbows and below the shoulders. However, kids of the 1980's only needed that little bit of movement to have a lot of adventures with the future Autobot leader.

Hot Rod became Rodimus Prime when he took possession of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The energy inside the Matrix made him stronger. He also absorbed the wisdom of the former Autobot leaders to coincide with his own wisdom and courage, the same as Optimus Prime had apparently done. As Rodimus Prime, he led the Autobots in the third season of the animated series. By the end of season three, Optimus Prime was rebuilt, and he once again became Autobot leader. Hot Rod would then become a Target Master. In Japan however, he would not. He would instead become Rodimus Prime again after Optimus sacrificed himself to save Cybertron.

Re-Issue Seacons

"From the bottom of the sea come the monsters of the deep...the Target Master Seacons!" These Transformers are classics from the Generation One era. Die hard fans know of their existence, while more casual fans may not as they were not featured in the 1980's cartoon. The reason for this was because new episodes of the television series weren't produced after 1987's three episode fourth season. The Seacons debuted in 1988.

This box set was available in limited numbers exclusively through the Official Transformers Collector's Club in 2008. The set collected all six of the Seacons in new color schemes, and released them in this really slick box. The Seacons each transformed into sea monsters or creatures. They followed the same design as the previous "Scramble City" style combiners in that there was a large middle robot who transformed into the super robot's torso and head, while the other bots transformed into the arms and legs. One unique feature with this team was that there were five limb figures rather than four. This was because each limb could transform from robot to creature to limb to gun and back. That's where the Target Master gimmick came into play. The smaller bots could transform like normal, but they each came with extra parts so they could each transform into a gun for Piranacon.

These toys are super expensive on eBay. Even the original figures from 1988 are really pricey. They are a great set to own, but definitely try to snag them when they are available for a good price. Hopefully, the re-issued versions will be released again some time in the future. Maybe Hasbro could release them as part of the third series of Transformers Classics/ Universe when the line returns next year.

The Return of Perceptor

This sure has been the day for new posts. Earlier I posted on the recently released re-issue of the Decepticon agents, the Insecticons. I wanted to take a moment to post on another figure that is also being re-issued. The Autobot scientist Perceptor is also hitting the toy shelves as a Toys R Us exclusive.

If you remember the old figure from back in 1985, then you know what to expect here. Perceptor transforms from robot to a real working microscope and back. He also has a third Cybertronian tank configuration. This form was never seen in the original television series. This was probably due to the fact that Perceptor was heavily portrayed as a scientist, and only in approximately five episodes did he see some heavy action as a warrior. As I never owned Perceptor, I have no idea how he transforms. However, being that he was in the first three years of the original toy line, I wouldn't think of it as overly difficult but it should definitely have the challenging yet simplistic charm of the old toys.

The figure should retail for between $30.00 and $50.00 (the same as the three Insecticons). If you are a fan of the old cartoon or toy line, he would be worth picking up. Even if you are not, it really is a great toy all around.

Transformers Artwork #1

Probably the only negative thing about closing down my last blog is that all of the previous entries were lost. Some I plan to do over, some not. The artwork section is one I plan to start again, so even though the numbers will be the same, the pieces will be different. Somewhere down the line though, old favorites will be put back into the mix.

Okay, back to the relaunch of the art gallery. This is a piece created by an artist depicting the Starscream of the Machine Wars universe standing triumphant as Decepticon leader. This is assumed due to Starscream wearing his purple cape from Transformers: The Movie and holding the severed fusion cannon from Galvatron. For those of you who may not know, Machine Wars was a short-lived toy line that was supposed to be a continuation of Generation One. The line used left over Generation 2 molds and also imported and repainted molds from the end of the Generation One line from Europe. The Starscream of the Machine Wars looked nothing like the Starscream of the past. The fan story says that Starscream's ghost eventually possessed the deactivated body that is shown in this piece. In doing so, Starscream was reborn more powerful than before. I love this piece because even though this image and the story it tells is not in the official canon of the Transformers: Generation One universe, it was really cool to see Starscream finally achieve his ultimate goal.

The Return of the Insecticons

The Insecticons were always one of my favorite sub-groups from the original Transformers cartoon. Shrapnel, Kickback, and Bombshell were the rebels of the Decepticon ranks (not as traitorous as Starscream, but also no where near as loyal), and although they were Decepticons, they didn't seem to share a true allegiance with them unless it suited their purposes.

The original characters are making a comeback with the recently released re-issue of the three Insecticons in a boxed set. All three of these robots of destruction are here in this Toys R Us exclusive. They are exactly the same as you may remember them except for a few small changes. For example, the pointed tips on Kickback's wings are now rounded (child safety laws). Also, due to trademark issues, Kickback is the only Insecticon who retained his original name. Bombshell is now Hard Shell, and Shrapnel is now known as Snap Shot. Seriously? Bombshell's isn't that bad, but Snap Shot sounds like one of the Reflector robots, not an evil Insecticon!

The figures are available now, and if you're a fan of these awesome toys, you need to go find them. The price is the standard $30.00 - $50.00 range that the previous Commemorative Series figures were. The reason for the price is because of the die-cast metal pieces in the figures. It's a little steep in my opinion, but at least you are getting the figures brand new in a sweet looking box set.

Transformers: Season 2, Volume 1

Part one of the second season is finally here! Alright, its been out for a few weeks, but I haven't been posting. The amazing part is that Shout! Factory is really coming through and working to re-release the entire series. This second DVD box set is another great collection, even if it does lack any bonus material.

This set is composed of four discs with 28 episodes total in the collection. This set has the episodes in the original broadcast order rather than the chronological order. It helps ease in the new characters of the second season rather than there being the huge shock of everyone appearing out of no where all at once. However, if you are like me and used to the old order, it can take a little getting used to. The episodes look awesome, but these are exactly the same as the Rhino releases with virtually no changes. The packaging is awesome once again with the Dinobots taking on the mighty Devastator, and each indiviudal disc case features awesome Transformers artwork for the characters Jazz, Starscream, Soundwave, Bumblebee, Megatron, and of course...Optimus Prime. As before, Shout! Factory stripped out the awful Dolby 5.1 track, and remixed the original mono audio into a new stereo soundtrack free of any of the stock sound effects from the Rhino release.

Overall, this is an awesome set. It is crammed full of episodes from the first half of season two. The only downer is that this collection contains no bonus features of any kind. However, one could think of the high number of episodes as a bonus. The next volume will include the rest of season two as well as new featurettes and commercials from the 80's. If you have the Rhino release, I say stick with it. Where the Rhino release of season one was terrible and Shout! Factory's was near perfect, this release is virtually identical to the original Rhino release. The only real differences are that the Rhino release came in a metal looking box, it had interviews from voice actors from the Robots in Disguise series, and it had a BotCon 2002 documentary. This is not a bad thing that the sets are similar because both featured exceptional video quality and both are selling for low prices. Now that Shout Factory! is re-releasing the series, the price gouging of the Rhino releases is stopping. If you haven't already got the Rhino release, don't wait...pick up the Shout Factory! release now! The next set is due out in January of 2010 with the Shout! Factory complete series box set hitting stores next week.

We're Back!!!

Hey Transformers Fans!

I hope everyone out there is doing awesome! This blog was formerly known as the Teletran 3 Transformers Fan Blog. I had taken the blog down a while back for a number of reasons. I apologize for any inconvience. However, I have decided to start blogging again (let's face it, I am a Transformers fan). The new name is inspired by one of my favorite characters from the franchise (Rodimus Prime), but is taken from the Japanese name of the same character.

The format will be similar to what it was in the past with things like artwork, comic reviews, toy spotlights, episode summaries, or other random things from the Transformers' past or present. I hope you all enjoy what you read and God bless.

Rodimus Convoy

(Formerly, Teletran 3)