Madman's Release of Transformers Headmasters,Out Now. Masterforce and Victory out in 2008

I wish they would bring this to the US with as many of the origional voice actors, (still living) to redub. But that maybe asking for the impossible

wait... REGION FREE?????? Oh my God!!!

Any word on BWII and NEO?

(hopefuly dubbed)

I cant wait till they come out in stores

Liege Evilmus wrote:Any word on BWII and NEO?

(hopefuly dubbed)

No word on either series.

Madman also missed out on Beast Machines region 4 release, thanks to Sony keeping the license, and doing a cheap and nasty release.

I am hoping as much as you are that they get their paws on those series though.

Region free means ok to play with U.S. dvd players right?

Yup, any DVD player around the world can play them.

Damolisher wrote:Yup, any DVD player around the world can play them.

Without any "hacking" required!

The AU$ is very close to the US$ now, so the price is more or less what you will pay.

ouch, that's too steep. but if it would be made available here i'd only get the Headmasters series, as i have the full Masterforce with excellent subtitling (ok, so i am missing an eppy or 2).

it's been ages since i last saw Headmasters shown on Star TV (the Singaporean satellite network). they had a channel on our local cable back in the mid-90's (1995-1996 i believe) where they had an early morning hourly slot called Transformers Takara, and Headmasters & Masterforce would be shown on that time slot.

It's region-free, but will the PAL part cause any problems for dvd players in the US?

MagnusPrimal wrote:It's region-free, but will the PAL part cause any problems for dvd players in the US?

What PAL part? It's region free, able to be played on any DVD player anywhere in the world.

It'll be A-OK with all DVD players.

As for the series, I realy wish I had faster net to have seen a preview, the format they use where it is narrated makes it boring and seems to slow the show down alot. Is Masterforce and Victory narrated like this too?

The subtitling is inconsistant and has errors from time to time, as I have read "Convoy Maximus" instead of "Optimus Prime" and "Double Optimus Prime" instead of "Double Prime".

The film is not well preserved either, it feels older than G1S1. I feel this is "Collection" fodder, like Season 4. I have only watched the first disc, I do hope it gets better.

Fang Wolf wrote:Is Masterforce and Victory narrated like this too?

No, thank Christ.

The subtitling is inconsistant and has errors from time to time, as I have read "Convoy Maximus" instead of "Optimus Prime" and "Double Optimus Prime" instead of "Double Prime".

Hmn. Those errors were on the Metrodome set, as well, so these must be the same subtitles, carried over.

Wasn't there one episode on the Metrodome set where suddenly it started displaying subs from a later episode?

I say just read the subtitles or you have to hear a lot of "Darn you autobots! Darn you to heck!!".

Region free and PAL are too different things and have nothing to do with each other.

PAL is the general video standard in most of Europe and Australia, the USA and Japan use NTSC.

Since the DVDs are region free, your DVD player will play them. But the question is, is your TV set capable of properly displaying them?
If your DVD player isn't capable of converting PAL to NTSC or your TV can't display PAL, you'll see the whole thing in a stripey black and white (at least the reversal is true for me, displaying anything NTSC on a PAL only TV).

Once again, your DVD player will play the DVDs, but what you see on your TV might look very bad.

If you are using a DVD-ROM drive to watch (aka PC or Laptop, for example), you will have no problems and don't need to worry about PAL or NTSC, the PC doesn't care about those.

Whoohooo, I finally get a chance to own these. As long as I've been a fan, I've never watched a single episode of Headmasters. I'm expecting 80's style cheese, so I'm going into this with really low expectations.

i_amtrunks wrote:The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.madman.com.au" target="_blank">Madman</a> release of Headmasters has improved video, includes an all new Subtitle track with the correct Japanese names as well as a sub with the English names, and is REGION FREE!

That "feature" alone is more than a good incentive for me to buy! BTW, where and how much (for shipping to Puerto Rico)?

All things being equal, is it preferable to get a Madman release or a Metrodome release?

Well, thus far, all signs are pointing to both sets having the same booklet, video and subs (with the problems that entails, as it doesn't seem like any of the mistakes in them have been fixed for Madman's release), although Madman has added an extra sub track with the Japanese names and terminology, if that's your bag. So what needs to be found out is if the audio synching problem with the StarTV dub that was present for a good few episodes on the Metrodome set has been fixed here. That would give Madman the edge.

When it comes to extras, it's a toss-up between what you prefer - audio commentaries (Metrodome) or toy galleries and some (new ?) art (Madman).

I think the Metrodome audio commentary is worth it just for the way Chris McFeely talks of Daniel's "little face". It's cute but with a slightly contemptuous undertone.

A sub track with Japanese names is interesting, though.

other countrys get the best stuff first who knows if where going to get it in the us info is ulsless to me cant buy.

McFeely is correct, from all accounts I have read, the Madman Headmaster release has the Japanese Voice dub, with 2 sets of subtitles: The Japanese Takara version, and a version with the Hasbro toy names as well.

Add to that the terrible Star Tv English Dub, and that about sums it up for the sub/dub contents.

metalformer wrote:That "feature" alone is more than a good incentive for me to buy! BTW, where and how much (for shipping to Puerto Rico)?

I have no idea. Your best bet would be to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=8932&method=view">follow this link</a> or click the Sponsor link on the top right corner of the page. Or you can shoot out an email to Madman: order@madman.com.au

The price is AU$60, which equates to about US$56 (I think Puerto Rico uses the US$, but I apologise if I am wrong).

You are right Trunks, I got it on release day. The quality of the Special Feature Adds are realy bad btw.

Hey, Fang Wolf, I wonder if you could confirm something for me. Pop in the first disc, and play the first episode. After the opening sequence, what's the next thing that happens?

Also, out of interest, what ads did they include? Any actual Japanese *Headmasters* ads, or just that small handful of Japanese ads that have changed hands between Rhino, Metrodome, Maverick, Sony... (Soundwave, Shockwave, some Scramble City ones...)

Sarri wrote:Region free and PAL are too different things and have nothing to do with each other.

PAL is the general video standard in most of Europe and Australia, the USA and Japan use NTSC.

Since the DVDs are region free, your DVD player will play them. But the question is, is your TV set capable of properly displaying them?
If your DVD player isn't capable of converting PAL to NTSC or your TV can't display PAL, you'll see the whole thing in a stripey black and white (at least the reversal is true for me, displaying anything NTSC on a PAL only TV).

Once again, your DVD player will play the DVDs, but what you see on your TV might look very bad.

If you are using a DVD-ROM drive to watch (aka PC or Laptop, for example), you will have no problems and don't need to worry about PAL or NTSC, the PC doesn't care about those.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check and see what my dvd player and tv is capable of.

MagnusPrimal wrote:Thanks for the info. I'll have to check and see what my dvd player and tv is capable of.

I don't know if it was clear, but you only need either the player capable of conversion or the TV capable of displaying.

Sarri wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:Thanks for the info. I'll have to check and see what my dvd player and tv is capable of.

I don't know if it was clear, but you only need either the player capable of conversion or the TV capable of displaying.

Yes, it was clear, but I don't know if I have either. I have a Sony Wega, I think, and maybe a Magnavox player. The tv is nice, the player is cheap! Eventually, I'll try to figure out if the DVDs would work for me.
Thanks again.

Got it on release day. Not bad so far. One gripe is that too many eps on a disc. Madman should have spread it over 5 discs instead of 4.

Got it yesterday, but have not had a chance to watch it yet.
(between the cricket and a new kitten, I have not had time).

It is a nice looking set though, and the Booklet is informative, something Madman tend to do very well.