Scrapper6
05-05-2012, 02:04 PM
Well, having sat through two discs worth of the series so far here are my early thoughts on the presentation of the series and Shout's DVD box set as a whole.
First of all the animation quality is not as bad as I thought it would be, there are a few rare instances of footage that doesn't look as pristine as it may have been during the original broadcasts, however for the most part the series seems to hold up quite nicely.
The commercial Bumpers are quite impressive too. I am however a little bit confused and disapointed by the lack of the G1 Transforming sound effect, in Headmasters it was used a lot more frequently, with Masterforce you only ever hear it from the Decepticons and never from the Autobots. Without that sound effect, it just doesn't feel 100% like Transformers to me.
The audio quality is pretty impressive though.
The sub-titles unfortunately are quite numerous and some scenes flash by so quickly with the dialogue you may find yourself pausing every so many minutes if you aren't a speedy enough reader. I read fast, but even with my speed some of the words vanish before I get to the end of the sentence. (I suppose that just means repeated viewings are a must to memorize them.)
Its odd seeing Powermaster Optimus Prime and not a single character makes a comment on how similar Ginrai's transtector looks to the late Convoy. Perhaps that comes later in the series, I mean the last episode I've seen up to so far was the introduction of Ranger.
I can understand how some fans of the series think this is one of the best series out there, the action is impressive and the plot so far keeps you guessing while still revealing developments when necessary.
The Decepticons are really vicious in this series too, in the first episode alone they murder an entire cruise ship full of humans, and once the Headmasters Juniors are introduced things get really serious, They Kill a Little Girl's Puppy for Primus Sake!
Animal deaths seem to be a common occurance, the poor little girl lost a puppy, some animals in Africa are destroyed because the Decepticons use them to try and eliminate the humans and Ranger's horse was crushed when the Decepticon Juniors went after the Godmaster Transtector. It feels like a much darker, more serious tone, something along the lines of Dark of the Moon in the more contemporary Transformers mythos.
The title menus and such are really nice too, with great presentation. There is only one thing that I am still not used to with this series. The Theme song, it seems so slow and melancholy compared to past series, even Headmasters was a bit more up-beat than this one. Than again, Victory also seems to have a more slower ballad like theme compared to what the US got with their G1 Themes.
After having such an impressive opening theme with TF Prime as I said this one will take getting used to, I'm not even sure if I could ever enjoy it as much as other fans have.
Damn it all to hell though do I want to pick up that Seacon Re-Issue set from Raven Comics though thanks to this DVD set.
I also wouldn't mind seeing more Classics interpretations of characters from this series like Skullgrin, off the top of my head, Bomb-Burst, Minerva, Ginrai (Even if Hasbro called him Powermaster Prime again he'd still stand in nicely as a Ginrai update), Metalhawk (That isn't just a Botcon exclusive repaint of Thunderwing), Waverider, Landmine and Cloudburst too.
Looks like I'll be hunting down Universe Darkwind, Botcon Dreadwind and Movie 1 Breakaway for my Classics collection in the not too distant future. Perhaps during the Summer.
Overall, I'd say this series is shaping up to be quite impressive, as equally enjoyable as Headmasters for me, and filled with dark undertones you wouldn't expect in a television show aimed at children to sell toys. (I Freely admit that scene with the puppy choked me up, but how can you not get emotional over the death of a little puppy!) I eagerly anticipate the arrival of Overlord and God Ginrai, now if you'll excuse me, since I'm not seeing The Avengers until Monday I have to occupy my time with something, and what better something than more MASTER FORCE!
I do wish there was an option to shut off the subs of the Japanese Theme and just keep the english ones, the screen gets so cluttered and the images get covered up with all those subs there. Did we really need a subtitled Theme song with the Japanese AND English words playing at the same time?
First of all the animation quality is not as bad as I thought it would be, there are a few rare instances of footage that doesn't look as pristine as it may have been during the original broadcasts, however for the most part the series seems to hold up quite nicely.
The commercial Bumpers are quite impressive too. I am however a little bit confused and disapointed by the lack of the G1 Transforming sound effect, in Headmasters it was used a lot more frequently, with Masterforce you only ever hear it from the Decepticons and never from the Autobots. Without that sound effect, it just doesn't feel 100% like Transformers to me.
The audio quality is pretty impressive though.
The sub-titles unfortunately are quite numerous and some scenes flash by so quickly with the dialogue you may find yourself pausing every so many minutes if you aren't a speedy enough reader. I read fast, but even with my speed some of the words vanish before I get to the end of the sentence. (I suppose that just means repeated viewings are a must to memorize them.)
Its odd seeing Powermaster Optimus Prime and not a single character makes a comment on how similar Ginrai's transtector looks to the late Convoy. Perhaps that comes later in the series, I mean the last episode I've seen up to so far was the introduction of Ranger.
I can understand how some fans of the series think this is one of the best series out there, the action is impressive and the plot so far keeps you guessing while still revealing developments when necessary.
The Decepticons are really vicious in this series too, in the first episode alone they murder an entire cruise ship full of humans, and once the Headmasters Juniors are introduced things get really serious, They Kill a Little Girl's Puppy for Primus Sake!
Animal deaths seem to be a common occurance, the poor little girl lost a puppy, some animals in Africa are destroyed because the Decepticons use them to try and eliminate the humans and Ranger's horse was crushed when the Decepticon Juniors went after the Godmaster Transtector. It feels like a much darker, more serious tone, something along the lines of Dark of the Moon in the more contemporary Transformers mythos.
The title menus and such are really nice too, with great presentation. There is only one thing that I am still not used to with this series. The Theme song, it seems so slow and melancholy compared to past series, even Headmasters was a bit more up-beat than this one. Than again, Victory also seems to have a more slower ballad like theme compared to what the US got with their G1 Themes.
After having such an impressive opening theme with TF Prime as I said this one will take getting used to, I'm not even sure if I could ever enjoy it as much as other fans have.
Damn it all to hell though do I want to pick up that Seacon Re-Issue set from Raven Comics though thanks to this DVD set.
I also wouldn't mind seeing more Classics interpretations of characters from this series like Skullgrin, off the top of my head, Bomb-Burst, Minerva, Ginrai (Even if Hasbro called him Powermaster Prime again he'd still stand in nicely as a Ginrai update), Metalhawk (That isn't just a Botcon exclusive repaint of Thunderwing), Waverider, Landmine and Cloudburst too.
Looks like I'll be hunting down Universe Darkwind, Botcon Dreadwind and Movie 1 Breakaway for my Classics collection in the not too distant future. Perhaps during the Summer.
Overall, I'd say this series is shaping up to be quite impressive, as equally enjoyable as Headmasters for me, and filled with dark undertones you wouldn't expect in a television show aimed at children to sell toys. (I Freely admit that scene with the puppy choked me up, but how can you not get emotional over the death of a little puppy!) I eagerly anticipate the arrival of Overlord and God Ginrai, now if you'll excuse me, since I'm not seeing The Avengers until Monday I have to occupy my time with something, and what better something than more MASTER FORCE!
I do wish there was an option to shut off the subs of the Japanese Theme and just keep the english ones, the screen gets so cluttered and the images get covered up with all those subs there. Did we really need a subtitled Theme song with the Japanese AND English words playing at the same time?