Transformers: Victory

Development

Following the conclusion of the American Transformers cartoon series in 1987, Takara, the Japanese producers of the Transformers toyline, opted to create unique anime for their shores to advertise their own version of the Transformers toyline, which began to grow further and further apart from its American progenitor. After Transformers: The Headmasters in 1987 and Transformers: Super-God Masterforce in 1988, Transformers: Victory was produced in 1989.

These Japanese-exclusive Transformers series had been moving further and further away from the stylistic roots of the American series, and Victory represents this divergence at its greatest. The visual style of Victory is derived heavily from the anime of the time, with the transformations of the robots being treated as more monumental, presented through more dynamic and lengthy stock footage. Still frame effects and re-used animation were used wherever possible to compensate for high levels of animation compared to previous series, possibly due to budget cuts at the time.

Despite his apparent death in The Transformers: The Movie, Wheeljack returned during the death of God Ginrai/Birth of Victory Leo saga, along with Perceptor from the original series, with God Ginrai and Minerva from Transformers: Super God Masterforce returning too. The series was released in the UK on DVD in Region 2, PAL format on December 26, 2006. In 2008, Madman Entertainment released the series on DVD in Australia in Region 4, PAL format. Transformers Victory was released with Headmasters and Super-God Masterforce in the USA, released by Shout Factory. It was released on August 28, 2012.

Story

Victory is the story of the new Autobot Supreme Commander, Star Saber, defending the Earth against the forces of Deathsaurus, the Decepticons' new Emperor of Destruction. Deszaras desires the planet's energy to reactivate his massive planet-destroying fortress, sealed away in the Dark Nebula long ago by Star Saber. The series eschews the story arc-based approach of Headmasters and Masterforce, returning to the American show's method of episodic adventures that did little to alter the status quo of the series, with a heavy emphasis on action, complemented by dynamic animation. Its cast consists almost entirely of brand new characters (although there are some guest appearances from characters on earlier shows).

Victory's story is told over thirty-two original episodes. However, the broadcast series also includes six additional clip shows - bringing the total number of broadcast episodes to thirty-eight. Additionally, after the end of the series, another six additional clip shows were created by Masumi Kaneda, which were available only through home video and seldom-seen regional Japanese broadcasts, taking the total number of Victory episodes to forty-four.

Shout Factory USA release

Confirmed details due to Amazon's information reveal that only 37 episodes will be released on DVD in the USA by Shout Factory on 4 DVDs. Only 5 of the Clip shows are likely to be on the North American Release. Shout Factory wants to apparently focus on the series it self rather than put in extra features. Amazon has posted the episodes that will be in the North American release.

Adaptations

Much like the two previous seasons of Transformers, The Headmasters and Super-God Masterforce, the series was dubbed by the dubbing company; Omni Productions, into English and was aired on Malaysia's RTM-1 channel, but it was later aired on Singapore's Star TV, where it was noticed by western viewers. The 6 clip show episodes that were broadcast, were also dubbed. The opening sequence for Victory was actually used for all three exclusive Japanese Transformers series under the umbrella title of Transformers Takara. Like the other dubs, it was soon purchased by Sunbow Productions. Most of the names in the dub were unchanged, as most of these characters are unique to Japan, with a few exceptions like the Micromasters had their American names, though Stake Out (Holi)'s name was accidentally changed to Fix It, who was another member of the same patrol. The Dinoforce had the names of the Monster Pretenders, as they were the same robot molds, just in different shells and Dezarus' name was pronounced in the dub as "Deathzanrus". Additionally, 26 out of the 38 episodes of the show were dubbed into English by Transformers fans at TFCog.

A manga of the series was also produced, which included a number of plot differences, such as expanding on an element of Dezarus' toy biography that the anime discarded: a fondness for children. Playing off this, the manga introduced a young boy named Solon whose mother was killed as the result of a Decepticon attack; Dezarus thus took the young orphan in and raised him as his own son, mirroring the relationship between Star Saber and Jan; Solon also received cybernetic upgrades, armor modeled after Dezarus, and a mech called King Solon that could combine with his "father" to create King Zarus. Shuta and Cab from Masterforce were also recurring characters and allies of Jan, and the manga also featured Jan's older sister Patty, a nonexistent character in the anime; the two siblings would also don armor based on Transformers, with Jan's resembling Star Saber's while Patty's resembled Victory Leo's. Additionally, the manga has a very different conclusion from the anime: where in the cartoon Liokaiser, Dezarus, and their fortress are all destroyed, in the manga Liokaiser attempts to betray Dezarus during the final battle, and the fortress is then revealed to carry Decepticon civilians, including Dezarus' "wife" Esmeral, Leozack's sister Lyzack, and the offspring of the Dinoforce. This revelation prompts Star Saber to broker a peace with the Decepticons.

Theme songs

1. "Transformers V (Victory)" (トランスフォーマーV（ビクトリー）, Toransufōmā Bī (Bikutorī))
2. March 14, 1989 - December 19, 1989
3. Lyricist: Konosuke Fuji / Composer: Chumei Watanabe / Arranger: Katsunori Ishida / Singers: Kaya Koji, Mori no Kijido Gassho-dan
4. Episodes: 1-44

1. "Long Live Cybertrons" (サイバトロンばんざい, Saibatoron Banzai)
2. March 14, 1989 - December 19, 1989
3. Lyricist: Konosuke Fuji / Composer: Chumei Watanabe / Arranger: Katsunori Ishida / Singers: Korogi '73, Mori no Kijido Gassho-dan
4. Episodes: 1-44