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Shout! Studios - Transformers Wiki

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If there's some weird sound / on your DVD / who you gonna call?

Shout! Studios (formerly Shout! Factory[1]) is the latest company to hold the U.S. home video distribution rights to the original Transformers cartoon. They also have released DVD versions of many other nostalgic cartoons, like C.O.P.S., Captain N: The Game Master, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Oh, and that one show that always gets mixed up with the Transformers.

Shout! Studios releases are manufactured and distributed by Cinedigm.

On July 13, 2023, Shout! Factory rebranded into Shout! Studios.

Releases

Generation 1

For their Generation 1 DVDs, Shout! Factory have notably cleaned up the extra sound effects and animation errors introduced by Kid Rhino and Magno Sound & Video that have previously been present in many different companies' releases worldwide. Though much closer to the originals, the cleanup was not perfect; some scenes required mastering from lower-quality records, resulting in noticeable jumps in visual and aural quality within episodes.

  • The Transformers: Season One [25th Anniversary Edition] (June 16, 2009)
Contains the entire first season across two discs, plus a third disc of bonus material including a featurette on "the origins of the Transformers", commercials, the Bumblebee PSA, and the script for "Transport to Oblivion". This set also includes a magnet in the form of the G1 Autobot insignia.
  • The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye (September 1, 2009)
Contains the episodes "More than Meets the Eye" parts 1-3, "Transport to Oblivion" and "Roll for It".
  • The Transformers: Season Two, Vol. 1 [25th Anniversary Edition] (September 15, 2009)
Contains 28 episodes of the second season across four discs.
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    Complete First Season

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    More than Meets the Eye

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    Season Two, Volume One

  • The Transformers: The Complete Series: 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection (October 20, 2009)
Sixteen-disc set compiling the four individual "25th Anniversary Edition" season releases, with extra bonus material including more episode scripts, an exclusive interview with Bob Budiansky, and a featurette on "voicing the robots in disguise". This set also includes a 60-page book and Autobot and Decepticon insignia magnets.
  • The Transformers: Season Two, Vol. 2 [25th Anniversary Edition] (January 12, 2010)
Contains the remaining 21 episodes of the second season across three discs, plus a fourth disc of bonus material including a featurette on "forming the Transformers animated series", a concept art gallery, excerpts from the show's production bible, commercials and the PSAs featuring Tracks and Red Alert.
  • The Transformers: Seasons Three and Four [25th Anniversary Edition] (April 20, 2010)
Contains the third and fourth seasons across four discs, plus bonus material including "The Autobots, The Decepticons & the Fans" featurette, a concept art gallery, production bible excerpts, commercials and the PSAs featuring Seaspray and Powerglide.
  • The Transformers: The Complete Original Series (May 24, 2011)
Fifteen-disc set compiling the four individual "25th Anniversary Edition" season releases. The slipcase used on this release can be purchased separately on Shout!'s website for those that already bought the four individual volumes.
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    Complete Series "Matrix of Leadership" Collection

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    Season Two, Volume Two

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    Seasons Three and Four

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    Complete Original Series Collection

  • The Transformers: Season One [30th Anniversary Edition] (April 29, 2014)
Three-disc set comprising 16 episodes.
  • The Transformers: Season Two, Vol. 1 [30th Anniversary Edition] (April 29, 2014)
Four-disc set comprising 28 episodes.
  • The Transformers: Season Two, Vol. 2 [30th Anniversary Edition] (April 29, 2014)
Four-disc set comprising 21 episodes.
  • The Transformers: Seasons Three And Four [30th Anniversary Edition] (April 29, 2014)
Four-disc set comprising 33 episodes.
  • The Transformers: Roar of the Dinobots (June 3, 2014)
One-disc set comprising 6 episodes: "S.O.S. Dinobots", "War of the Dinobots", "Heavy Metal War", "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1", "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2" and "Grimlock's New Brain".
Newly remastered DVD and Blu-ray release.
  • The Transformers: The Movie Limited Edition Steelbook (August 3, 2021)
Remastered 4K Ultra HD (widescreen only) and Blu-ray release, released for the film's 35th Anniversary.
Remastered 4K Ultra HD (widescreen only) and Blu-ray release, released for the film's 35th Anniversary.
  • The Transformers: The Movie (September 28, 2021)
Remastered Blu-ray and DVD release, released for the film's 35th Anniversary.
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    Season One

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    Season Two, Volume One

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    Season Two, Volume Two

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    Seasons Three and Four

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    Roar of the Dinobots

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    The Transformers: The Movie Blu-ray

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    The Transformers: The Movie 4K UHD Limited Edition Steelbook

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    The Transformers: The Movie 4K UHD

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    The Transformers: The Movie Blu-ray (2021)

Beast Era

  • Transformers Beast Wars: Season One (June 7, 2011)
Contains the first season of Beast Wars on four discs. Bonus material consists of the "Maximize! Creating A New Breed Of Transformer" featurette, an art gallery, and character models.
  • Transformers Beast Wars: The Complete Series (June 7, 2011)
Eight-disc set compiling the Season 1 and Seasons 2 & 3 sets. Also included is the Transformers: Timelines prequel comic "Dawn of Future's Past". This set was originally given away at BotCon 2011, and then released as an online exclusive to Shout! Factory's website. It was later released to retail on November 11, 2011.
  • Transformers Beast Wars: Seasons 2 & 3 (October 4, 2011)
Contains the second and third seasons on four discs. Bonus material consists of the "Remembering the Spark" featurette, "Original Making Of Beast Wars" featurette, an art gallery, and character models.
  • Transformers Beast Wars: Chain Of Command (June 17, 2014)
Single disc containing "Beast Wars (Part 1)", "Beast Wars (Part 2)", "The Web", "Equal Measures", "Chain of Command", "Power Surge" and "Fallen Comrades".
  • Transformers Beast Machines: The Complete Series (September 2, 2014)
Four-disc set comprising 26 episodes.
Bonus Features: Includes Interviews and Commentaries
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    Beast Wars: Season One

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    Beast Wars: The Complete Series

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    Beast Wars:
    Seasons 2 & 3

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    Beast Wars: Chain Of Command

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    Beast Machines: The Complete Series

Japanese Collection

  • Transformers Japanese Collection: Headmasters (July 5, 2011)
Four-disc set forming the first North American release of the Japanese The Headmasters cartoon. All thirty-five episodes are included in the same slightly edited format previously evidenced on Metrodome and Madman Entertainment's earlier releases of the series; unlike those two companies' versions, the Omni Productions dub is absent, its inclusion vetoed by Hasbro, who Brian Ward has noted appeared resistant to the idea of releasing the series at all. Hasbro did, however, oversee the new English subtitles produced for the set, modified from those created by Metrodome—and it shows, with some very anachronistic Transformers-specific terminology being substituted in where appropriate, such as Sixshot being referred to as a "phase six officer" instead of a "ninja consultant staff officer", or the Autobot and Decepticon Mini-Cassettes being called "Deployers". Curses on the set have been replaced with Transformers-specific expressions. An art gallery is the sole extra.
Thirteen-disc set compiling the Transformers The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, and Victory cartoons.
  • Transformers Japanese Collection: Super-God Masterforce (May 1, 2012)
Five-disc set comprising the first North American release of the Japanese Super-God Masterforce cartoon. The subtitles identify most of the characters by their American names, so Phoenix is Cloudburst, Bullhorn is Horri-Bull, and so on. However, the Autobot Headmaster Juniors, Sixknight, and the Godmasters Ginrai, Ranger, Hydra, and Buster all keep their Japanese names. Aside from the Headmaster Cab, all of those characters had toys that were redecos of their American counterparts. It's possible that Hasbro, who provided character names for Shout! Factory, decided that if a character looked different enough from their toys, the Japanese name should be used, and otherwise American names should be used. Besides Cab, the only exception to this theoretical rule is Diver, whose toy is slightly different from Waverider, but is still called by his American name. Doubleclouder, Guzzle, and Javil are all identified by their American names even though their Japanese and American toys were different, but their animation models are actually based on the colors of their American toys, not the Japanese toys.
  • Transformers Japanese Collection: Victory (August 28, 2012)
Four-disc set comprising the first North American release of the Japanese Transformers: Victory cartoon. It contains thirty-eight of the forty four episodes of the series, including the six clip shows that were left out of the Metrodome and Madman Entertainment DVD releases. As with Shout! Factory's other DVD sets of the Japanese cartoons, subtitles sometimes refer to characters by Japanese names and sometimes by alternate names. The Autobot Micromasters, which were the only Victory-related toys released in North America, are referred to by their American names; Breastforce is called Chestforce; and Blacker is called Gripper, the name of his Motorvator redeco. However, in a few episodes subtitles use the original Japanese names, and sometimes the other Brainmasters are called by their Motorvator names.
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    Headmasters

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    The Japanese Collection

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    Super-God Masterforce

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    Victory

Prime

The five-part pilot of Transformers: Prime, "Darkness Rising", was released on DVD with storyboards and character models as bonus material.
Contains the first season of the Transformers: Prime series, available on both Blu-Ray and DVD.
  • Transformers Prime: One Shall Stand (July 31, 2012)
Contains the seven episode story arc from One Shall Fall to Orion Pax, Part 3.
Contains the second season of the Prime series, available on both Blu-Ray and DVD.
Contains the finale of the Prime series, available on both Blu-Ray and DVD.
  • Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters — Season Three (December 3, 2013)
Contains the third season of the Prime series, available on both Blu-Ray and DVD.
Single disc containing "Masters and Students", "Operation: Bumblebee, Part 1", "Operation: Bumblebee, Part 2" and "Deadlock".
Single disc containing "Scrapheap", "Predatory", "Metal Attraction", "Stronger, Faster" and "Legacy".
Single disc containing "Masters & Students", "Con Job", "Crossfire", "Prey" and "Thirst".
Single disc containing "Convoy", "Metal Attraction", "Nemesis Prime", "Tunnel Vision" and "The Human Factor".
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    Darkness Rising

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    Season 1

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    One Shall Stand

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    Season 2

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    Predacons Rising

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    Beast Hunters — Season Three

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    Ultimate Bumblebee

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    Ultimate Autobots

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    Ultimate Decepticons

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    Ultimate Rivals

Rescue Bots

While the first three collections presented the episodes in released order, they soon began offering collections based on a theme. These often mixed episodes of different seasons, or repeated episodes if it made sense to be in more than one theme.

Contains the early episodes of the Transformers: Rescue Bots series: "Family of Heroes", "Under Pressure", "Hotshots", "Flobsters on Parade", "The Alien Invasion of Griffin Rock" and "Four Bots and a Baby".
Contains the next set of Rescue Bots episodes: "Cody on Patrol", "Walk on the Wild Side", "Christmas in July", "Deep Trouble" and "Return of the Dinobot".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Griffin Rock Rescue (October 22, 2013)
Continues with the next five Rescue Bots episodes: "The Other Doctor", "The Reign of Morocco", "Small Blessings", "The Griffin Rock Triangle" and "Rules and Regulations".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Heroes on the Scene (March 18, 2014)
Contains five more season one episodes (not in order): "The Lost Bell", "You've Been Squilshed", "Little White Lies", "Shake Up" and "Rescue Boy".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Mystery Rescue (September 2, 2014)
Contains two season one episodes and three from season two (in no particular order): "Countdown", "The Haunting of Griffin Rock", "Spellbound", "Blame the Gremlins" and "Feed the Beast".
Contains two season one episodes (previously released) and four from season two (in no particular order): "Family of Heroes", "Return of the Dinobot", "What Lies Below", "What Rises Above", "In Search of the Griffin's Nest" and "Movers and Shakers".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Return of the Heroes (May 12, 2015)
Contains the episodes "Bumblebee to the Rescue", "Bot to the Future", "A Virtual Disaster", "Changes", and "Rise of the Heroes".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Dinobots! (August 25, 2015)
Contains the episodes "Land Before Prime", "Big Game", "Quarry's Quarry", "Did You See What I Thaw?", and "The Attack of Humungado".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Adventures in Time and Space" (February 23, 2016)
Contains the episodes "It's a Bot Time", "Unfinished Business", "Switcheroo", "Time After Time", and "The Last of Morocco".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Heroes of Tech (June 21, 2016)
Contains the episodes "One for the Ages", "Space Bots", "The Island of Misfit Tech", "Too Many Kades", and "I Have Heard the Robots Singing".
Contains the episodes "Tip of the Iceberg", "Buddy System", "No Place Like Dome", "Thieves Like Us", and "The New Recruits"
Contains the episodes "The Riders of Midwinter, "Phantom of the Sea", "Turning the Tide", "A New Hero", and "Endangered Species".
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots: Team Rescue Bots! (May 22, 2018)
Contains the episodes "Sky Forest", "The Vigilant Town", "Bots and Robbers", "Rescue Bots Academy", and "Four-Legged Hero".
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    Roll to the Rescue

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    Energize

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    Griffin Rock Rescue

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    Heroes on the Scene

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    Mystery Rescue

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    Jurassic Adventure

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    Return of the Heroes

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    Dinobots!

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    Adventures in Time and Space

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    Heroes of Tech

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    Bots' Battle For Justice

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    Protect and Explore

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    Rescue Family

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    Outdoor Adventures

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    Team Rescue Bots

Unicron Trilogy

Eight-disc set comprising all 52 episodes of Transformers: Armada.
  • Transformers Energon: The Complete Series (May 6, 2014)
Seven-disc set comprising all 51 episodes of Transformers: Energon.
  • Transformers Armada: Volume One (May 13, 2014)
Single disc containing episodes 1–7 of Armada: "First Encounter" through "Carnival".
  • Transformers Energon: Volume One (May 13, 2014)
Single disc containing episodes 1–7 of Energon: "Cybertron City" through "Megatron Raid".
  • Transformers Cybertron: The Complete Series (August 5, 2014)
Seven-disc set comprising all 52 episodes of Transformers: Cybertron.
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    Transformers: Armada
    The Complete Series

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    Transformers: Energon
    The Complete Series

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    Transformers: Armada
    Volume One

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    Transformers: Energon
    Volume One

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    Transformers: Cybertron
    The Complete Series

Animated

Shout! Factory's Transformers Animated releases presented the series in its native widescreen, improving on Paramount's full-screen releases of its first two seasons. Season 3 is presented on home media by Shout! Factory for the first time in North America.

  • Transformers Animated: The Complete Series (June 10, 2014)
Six-disc set comprising all three seasons of Transformers Animated.
Bonus Features: Audio Commentaries
  • Transformers Animated: Season Three (June 10, 2014)
Two-disc set, featuring only the third season of Animated.
Bonus Features: Audio Commentaries
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    The Complete Series

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    Season Three

Robots in Disguise (2015)

  • Transformers Robots in Disguise: A New Autobot Mission (October 20, 2015)
Contains episodes 1–5: "Pilot (Part 1)" through "W.W.O.D.?".
  • Transformers Robots in Disguise: Mission Discovery (February 9, 2016)
Contains episodes "True Colors", "Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting!", "Even Robots Have Nightmares", "Some Body, Any Body", and "The Trouble with Fixit".
  • Transformers Robots in Disguise: Season One (May 10, 2016)
Contains all 26 episodes, plus all 11 shorts.
  • Transformers Robots In Disguise Collection: Overloaded & Decepticon Island (May 30, 2017)
Contains the season 2 two-parters: "Overloaded" and "Decepticon Island".
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    A New Autobot Mission

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    Mission Discovery

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    Season 1

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    Overloaded & Decepticon Island

Notes

Generation 1
  • The episode order as used by Shout! Factory for season one (in production order), and season two (mostly in airdate order), actually stems from utilizing the episode order as suggested in the unofficial guidebook Prime Targets. The book presents a list which places priority on the overarching continuity of the series, rearranging the latter half of season two and the whole of season three into neither production, nor airdate order.[2]
    • When publicizing their Season Two, Volume One DVD, Shout! somewhat bizarrely initially claimed that Hasbro had canonised the episode order presented in the unofficial book.[3] Shortly afterwards however, they were instructed to restore season three's airdate order for the Matrix of Leadership Collection, regardless of continuity between some of the episodes. Shout! obliged, but this instruction came too late to change the disc covers or accompanying booklet, leading to much confusion about various season three episodes being on the 'wrong' discs.[4]
  • On the first season set's "Triple Changer: The Origins of the Transformers" featurette, and the Matrix of Leadership Collection's interview with Bob Budiansky, there is a deliberate obfuscation of Marvel Comics' involvement in fashioning much of the Transformers' early backstory and no direct mention that they were the publisher behind the 1980s comics. Clips from the very first Transformers commercial for issue #1 of the comic are shown, but are cut off before Victor Caroli's narration can mention it will be coming "from Marvel Comics", with even the brief image of the comic in the commercial also having Marvel's logo blurred out. The tiptoeing around Marvel's name is particularly noticeable in Budiansky's solo interview as he only ever refers to working for "the comic book company", even when mentioning receiving a fan letter from someone named Stan Lee, who was apparently well known for being associated with "the comic book company".
  • The commercial bumpers from the episodes' original broadcasts are included, as the show's audio would sometimes bleed into them.[5]
  • Following the precedent of Sony's The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, all the commercials on the Shout! discs have the kids' faces blurred out due to clearance issues.
    • These commercials are of unfortunately low quality; the commercial for the Insecticons, for example, contains the horizontal distortion lines common to degraded VHS videotapes. No original masters were saved or archived for the commercials, hence the quality issues.
  • The Secret Files of Teletraan II no longer appear after their respective season three episodes, but are instead all included separately as isolated extras.
  • In the 60-page booklet that accompanies the Complete Series set, selected character profiles are mixed in with episode summaries. These profiles are taken from Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile books and paired with art from varying sources (some brand new). This means that Unicron's profile mentions his cosmic battle with Primus, for example, and Shockwave's profile is randomly mean and sarcastic since it was written as being from Starscream's datatrax—a detail that goes unmentioned.
  • The covers for the first three DVDs are intended to tell something of a "story", as the same battle is seen escalating across each.[6] Blaster's arm is visible as he faces off against Soundwave.[7]
  • Shout! looked into obtaining the U.S. home video rights to include "Scramble City: Mobilization" for the Matrix of Leadership Collection, but were unsuccessful, simply stating that "Toei has no interest in licensing to third parties".[8] Previous and future third party releases of "Scramble City" get around Toei's blockade by using the low quality fansubbed version of the OVA, or simply omitting the Japanese audio track and replacing it with commentaries. Shout! was likewise denied by Toei in their attempts to release the Zone OVA in America.
Beast Wars
  • Shout! Factory initially denied that they had any plans to release Beast Wars;[9] evidently, the success of the Generation 1 boxsets must have changed their mind!
  • The Shout! Factory DVD releases of Beast Wars Season 1 use the shortened intro made for the show's syndication, while the intros for season 2 and 3 are left intact.
Beast Machines
  • The title sequence and commercial bumpers in the Shout! Factory DVD release of Beast Machines curiously feature widescreen footage squished down to a 4:3 aspect ratio. Given the intro is made up almost entirely of footage from the first season, it's entirely possible that 16:9 versions of the episodes were animated but never released.
Armada
  • The Shout! Factory DVD release of Armada features several previously unheard edits to the dub track of the episode "Remorse"; in fact, no one even noticed until six years after the box set's release.
Animated
Robots in Disguise (2015)
  • Following Shout! Factory's issue of the Overloaded & Decepticon Island disc containing both two-part stories from the series' second season, no further home video releases of Robots in Disguise were released by Shout! after 2017, with only the series' first season being released in its entirety by them.

Errors

Generation 1
  • In the concept art montage that was on the Special Features disk of Season Two: Part Two, Hook's character design is omitted from the collection of Constructicon artwork, making it seem like Devastator is a five-piece Combiner.
  • The Headmasters episode guides in the package does not jive with the disc content. As in the 9th episode recorded on Disc One is stated to be on Disc two while episode 18 is stated to be on three and so on.
  • The entire collection, from The Headmasters down to Victory sported the Japanese "Headmasters" logo.
  • The decal on the Super-God Masterforce Collection states that it contained "52 episodes" when in reality the entire collection only contains 42 episodes.
  • In the Masterforce art gallery, Cab is designated as Go Shooter.
Animated
  • The Transformers: Animated DVD set misspells the episode "Autoboot Camp" as "Autobot Camp" on both the inside of the case and on the DVD menu.

Restoration

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Let's see what you can see...


This article is in need of images.

Specifics: maybe a couple of quality comparisons, pre- & post-restoration screens etc.

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A comparison between Shout! and Rhino's versions of "Heavy Metal War", showing an example of a Rhino error they fixed. Bumblejumper is that you?

  • Shout! Factory conducted a painstaking editing process to correct the animation errors and sound effect additions made by Kid Rhino and Magno Sound & Video.[10][11]
    • To identify the problem areas, Shout! Factory referred to a list of discrepancies compiled by a fan online.[12][13]
    • Some of the fixed scenes are indeed "softer" than the surrounding animation — though since the last time the correct versions were released for North American purchase was on VHS circa 1999–2000, by this point the Shout! versions probably look as good as or better than them. Though not absolutely every Kid Rhino coloring error was fixed, the vast majority were, and certainly all of the sequences of mistaken animation that confused the plot were fixed.
    • Shout! even repaired some audio errors that had been present on several prior releases of "Fire on the Mountain," and also included the totally better original, non-narrated closing sequence for "Dark Awakening" where Kid Rhino had used the later version. Generally speaking, they entirely ignored Rhino's audio, which for the first two seasons[14] had spurious sound effects added by Magno Sound, in favor of a brand-new stereo track.[15] A few episodes did, however, have issues with their soundtracks, largely carried over from the original broadcasts;[16] for example, many of the sound effects in "Countdown to Extinction" are almost inaudible, despite being prominent before. And meanwhile, the episode "War Dawn" as originally broadcast had slowed-down audio in the back half—Kid Rhino was made aware of this and corrected it,[17] but Shout! Factory inadvertently reintroduced the error by returning to the broadcast masters!
    • Although most of the errors in the cartoon were located in the first season, Kid Rhino's releases also included a few minor variations from what was originally broadcast in the later seasons,[18] which Shout! Factory would also try to correct as part of the same process.
    • Although omitted from the actual episodes, a version of the theme song including all of the extra sound effects introduced by Magno is used on the DVD title menu! Maybe they just wanted to mix things up.
  • Kid Rhino had obtained clean film of the closing credits for the show, which they applied their own text to (introducing errors in the process). Shout! Factory did not have access to this same material, and so as a byproduct of their own restoration process, several episodes of Season 1 use an incorrect version of the closing credits.[19]
  • Early runs of the Season 1 discs had a few more errors on the episodes "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3" and "A Plague of Insecticons", as Shout! was not made aware of them in time.[20] These were corrected for later runs.[21][22][23]
  • Shout! Factory produced a color-corrected and remastered 4K transfer of The Transformers: The Movie, resulting in increased detail and vibrant colors.

References

  1. "Shout! Factory is now Shout! Studios! 🎉 We’re celebrating 20 years in entertainment with a new name that reflects everything we do. Reply and let us know: what was your favorite release of our last 20 years and what are you hoping we do in the next 20?"—Shout! Studios, Twitter, 2023/07/13
  2. "As for the episode order, we are following the logic of continuity, whether that be in production or broadcast order. An example of such logic can be found in the book Prime Targets by Lars Pearson."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/16 (archive link)
  3. "We did a lot of research into the "correct" order. In the end, we went with the order printed in a book titled "Prime Targets: The Unauthorized Story Guide to Transformers, Beast Wars & Beast Machines." The author, Lars Pearson, has done so much research and analysis of each and every episode that, in the end, I trusted his episode order. As did Hasbro. And, as it turns out, his analysis is actually spot on with the real production order per the labels and slates on the 1" broadcast masters."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/29 (archive link)
  4. "Honestly, this was a problem just brought to my attention. And I can explain the circumstances. Our intention was to order the episodes in story-logic order and originally did. In the last minute, we were instructed to change the order to the original production order of that last season. These corrections were to be reflected in the packaging, but I was just told the packaging had already gone to the plant for manufacturing by the time we were given the mandate to change the episode order. I didn't know that this was the case until now. Sorry for the confusion."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/07/09 (archive link)
  5. "The commercial bumpers are in the episodes. I'll explain why. As you'll notice, there are a number of episodes in which the original audio bleeds off into the bumpers, so performing a clean surgical edit was impossible and I didn't really want to cut the show's audio off suddenly where the bumper would appear. Also, I could have included the bumpers as bonus material, but are they really bonus features? So taking those two things into account, along with the fact that they're only a couple seconds each, I decided to leave the bumpers in."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/13 (archive link)
  6. "Just saw the cover for The Transformers: Seasons 3 & 4 and, assuming Hasbro approves the final colors, it very well may be my favorite of the group. The covers so far have told something of a story, as many of you have noticed. Obviously, seasons 3 & 4 take place after the feature film that bridges their gap, so developing a "story" that remains cohesive with the other three covers was fairly unlikely. But I think you'll like how that problem was solved. Can't wait to show you guys."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/12/02 (archive link)
  7. "It is Blaster's arm. As for the story, there is an explanation, which you'll be able to find in the "Blog" section of the site very shortly after the new year. I've already begun writing it, but it was a little too time-consuming. But you'll see why we went in the direction we did, as well as the "making of" the cover. A little something to look forward to."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/12/23 (archive link)
  8. "Unfortunately, "Scramble City" will not make the set. We tried, but Hasbro doesn't own the episode and Toei has no interest in licensing to third parties. Therefore, the episode is, sadly, unattainable."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/05/20 (archive link)
  9. "We are only doing the original Sunbow series. We will not be releasing Beast Wars."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/13 (archive link)
  10. "Hasbro provided us with the same masters Rhino used for their releases. HOWEVER... There have been changes made. I, personally, went to New York, where the original broadcast one-inch masters are housed, and found each of the problem areas, in regards to animation. Before the question is asked, I'll answer it now. The one-inch masters have not physically held up well over the years. In some cases, they're nearly unwatchable. Therefore, instead of simply transferring and using masters of the one-inches, we found every instance of faulty animation demonstrated on a YouTube video or mentioned in a rundown we could find online (and even found some of our own) and corrected them, replacing the faulty digibeta master material with the best-quality one-inch source material. Finally, we color corrected everything to match--as best we could--the shots before and after. Surprisingly, unless you know specifically what you're looking for, you won't even notice many of the instances of slightly softer picture. It looks REALLY good."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/13 (archive link)
  11. "Transformers DVDs released prior to our 25th Anniversary Edition were missing animation seen in the original broadcast. We did extensive research, found the discrepancies between the original broadcast masters and the restored masters used for the last DVD release, reinserted the correct animation, and color corrected it as best we could to match the shots before and after. But because a one-inch master tape simply can't hold up to the quality of the restored masters, you may notice occasional shots—or even scenes—in some episodes that seem slightly softer than others. Just take comfort in knowing that laser blasts have been reinserted, backgrounds have been corrected and Starscream is Starscream once again."—DVD insert
  12. Jon T, alt.toys.transformers (dead link)
  13. "Jon, we actually used your list, along with a couple others, while making our corrections. But until now, no one anywhere online has gone beyond S1, when it comes to mentioning animation errors. We may need to chat!"—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/14 (archive link)
  14. "Don't worry, compared with the first season, the season two/three differences make up a much, much shorter list! Certainly for the third season anyway, the majority of the episodes could be ported almost directly from the Rhino sets, as by then fan pressure had got Rhino to specifically include the original audio tracks, in contrast to their release of season two."—Jon T, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/15
  15. "We chucked the Rhino audio. You will no longer hear additional sound effects or music, not previously heard in the broadcasts. We went back to the original source mono and created a nice stereo track to even out the audio. It sounds really nice."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/13 (archive link)
  16. "As for the audio on some episodes, we created stereo tracks from the existing audio sources. If those audio sources were initially low, there was very little we could do to boost that audio, outside of creating a brand new audio master the way Rhino did. You're hearing the audio exactly how was it was originally broadcast, except for the fact that it's in stereo instead of mono."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/17 (archive link)
  17. "Brian, in the case of War Dawn, the 1" master is WRONG and Rhino's was correct. Yes, it aired that way, but it was very annoying. The characters talked slowly like they were on dope and the music was notably slower as well. It literally gives me a headache to watch that version. I was one of the people that informed Rhino about the War Dawn error in advance so that they could correct it and I don't regret doing so in the slightest. That may have been the way it did air (in the US at least), but it was not the way it was INTENDED to air."—evan1975, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/21
  18. "While season one will require the most extensive re-mastering to ensure all the corrected animation is used, seasons two and three also have a few error scenes on the prints as used by Rhino that were corrected for broadcast. One of the closing scenes of "The Key to Vector Sigma Part 2" (which really puts a mockery on the story's conclusion), and a couple of short sequences in season three's "The Killing Jar" spring to mind, as well as the unique opening credits supposed to be used on every episode of "Five Faces of Darkness", and the bizarre footage of Kup convulsing in the end credits to every third season episode on Rhino's discs. There's also the matter of Rhino releasing a good number of episodes (including the entire second half) of season two with a 2.0 audio track containing all of Magno Sound's unwelcome sound effects that needs to be corrected. Also, it goes without saying that "Dark Awakening" should at least include the original audio without the added narration at the end, ideally having the added narration as another audio track."—Jon T, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/14 (archive link)
  19. "Okay, so regarding the closing credit situation... There will, unfortunately, be occasional episodes with the "wrong credits." I really wish I'd had that link sooner, as before, I was only looking to make sure that the animation was correct. We have, sadly, run out of time to replace anything on S1. I will do everything I can, however, to make sure that the episodes on S2 and beyond get the proper credits. Crap. And I was having such a good day."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/04/20 (archive link)
  20. "The original 1" master for "A Plague of Insecticons" was particularly bad. I can't remember exact details of what wasn't replaced, but I do know there were several shots that had literally been dissolved over the years. There were a handful of episodes that needed to be pieced together. I'm also noticing that the link you provided was uploaded by Grimbot in April. We'd been using Grimbot's previous videos up to that point. As I mentioned in earlier posts, if people hadn't drawn attention to it, we didn't correct it. We were using a combination of video and text lists compiled from several places online. I do see a number of things in that particular video."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/16 (archive link)
  21. "The errors have been located. Not nearly as many as I was lead to believe from the post above. But I'll be making corrections tomorrow morning. Looks like people who have purchased the complete series set will get the corrected episodes."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/16 (archive link)
  22. "The second run of S1 sets will have corrected discs. And we'll have some for replacements for those that need it."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/16 (archive link)
  23. "I am at the authoring house now and correcting the missed shots on "A Plague of Insecticons", "Heavy Metal War", and "Ultimate Doom, Part 3." There really isn't that much that we missed, compared to the videos we see online and the lists of known errors we found at some of the Transformers fan sites. In fact, we've already come across a number of shots we found in our first pass that they didn't. So I feel good about this. The fans that purchased the complete series set will definitely be getting the corrected episodes. Fans that purchased the season one set and want a replacement will need to send their original discs in, when we have replacements available from the plant. Please do not send those discs until I give the go-ahead. We don't want discs getting lost in the shuffle."—Brian Ward, Shout! Factory Community, "The Definitive Transformers Thread", 2009/06/17 (archive link)

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