Strange title but it seems like it is best suited for this topic.

 

Got in the Headmasters box set awhile ago and ever since I came back from vacation I have been watching the episodes. The last episode I saw was the one in which Galvatron returned.

 

This episode prompted me to write another topic about this series. At first I was rather positive about the series. The Japanese voice acting was better than the dub and the first few episodes were good but it is quikly deteriorating.

 

Here are my reasons why I think the show is losing appeal fast.

 

 

Although a lot of characters are used, not nearly as much as during the G1 cartoons. At first we see several old favorites return for a cameo or two but then they dissapear. Also a lot of characters do not even appear such as the Mini bots or Perceptor. And where are the Dinobots.

 

My second concern is the lack of personalities. A lot of the G1 characters had VERY disctinct personalities but I am completely missing those here. Brainstorm is no scientist, Highbrow is not snobby and so on. Only Kup and Blurr kept a bit of their old personalities.

 

The Headmasters play an overimportant role in the episodes. It is as if the Autobots cannot fight a battle without them. Of course in Rebirth the Decepticon Headmasters also saved Galvatron but I chalk that up to element of suprise as well.

 

 

I am also bugged by the rather mediocre storyline. The long running storyline with Scorponok is interesting but the episode storylines are no better than the G1 episodes. The animation is somewhat better (no space backgrounds on Earth for once) but it still has many errors.

 

And there are major storylines that really annoy me. Galvatron has just returned and let Zarak live.  :wtf 

 

When Starscream tried to destroy Megatron who was then reformatted into Galvatron, the first thing the latter did was to destroy Starscream. Though technically  Starscream was only doing what most of the Decepticons wanted, to get rid of the weak Decepticons so Astrotrain could return to Earth. Of course he was happy to do so but none of the other Decepticons protested so I am not sure if it is treacherous to remove a commander who is dying.

 

Zarak outrightly defies Galvatron by blowing up Cybertron! That is the Transformers home planet for crying out loud. No Decepticon should even accept that. They should all have rebelled against Zarak for that. But they did not and even Galvatron when he finally returns does not destroy him. Plain dumb to me. If someone ever becomes a real threat you destroy him, simple as that.

 

Rodimus Prime leaving is another one. He wants to find a planet where the Autobots can live in peace. First, if you want to have peace you first need to destroy the Deceptions. Secondly, Optimus Prime put him in charge of the Autobots. Why abandon them now when they need you?

 

And even if a new home is what you want to find then send a scout ship with exporers instead of going yourself, it just does not make any sense. In fact, they do not even take a ship but just fly off. How lame.  :tdown

 

The dub I can live with though some of the dialogue is a tad lame but then again it could be the translation.

 

Another problem is the poor music. G1 had such great music but here they use some crappy music track that really annoys me. And do not get me started on the sound effects. The Transformation sound is still present but the classic gun sound of the Transformers has been replaced. Which makes me wonder: "why?". The old one was perfect.

 

I really wanted to give this show a fair chance (without the awful dub) which is why I bought this set but it seems that it is just lacking in many respects. Or am I expecting too much of it?

 

Of course since it uses a lot of G1 characters, I was expecting it to be like G1. I am of course comparing it to G1 more. Cyberton is very different from G1 but I do not mind that as it is a completely new show. But this has just too many G1 elements to see it as a completely new show.

 

But it is also missing a lot. What do you guys think?

i with ya on the roddie and galvatron stuff

Total agreement, there were many many holes that just didnt make sense. 

This season has been widely regarded as a weak link. If rebirth had been expanded to a full seasons worth of stuff it probably would have been superior. I actually like interaction with humans/nebulans as long as their adults.

I agree on the extension of Rebirth. Personally, a "season" comprised of three episodes was weak. There were so many possibilities opened when Cerebros and the other Autobots were made "guardians" of Nebulos by Optimus Prime (this is a clear example of how Optimus Prime and the Autobots want to control the galaxy under the pretext of "protecting it from the Decepticons.") It would have been interesting to see how there were more Nebulans being recruited to both sides later on, i.e. the Powermasters, junior Headmasters and Targetmasters, et cetera - might have been the direct result of the Autobots' occupation of the planet.

this was the first 100% japanese-made TF cartoon so it doesn't surprise me that the writers opted to focus more on the squishies since they probably didn't know how to characterize giant robots.

Well, Rodimus leaving was right in line with the original toon beacuse he always

struggled with leading and quit, plus the "matrix smatrix" blast, etc. 

His flying off with no ship is lame, and I agree with that.  This series turned

sour for you but you should not be surprised.  This show was written for a

different audience, as were Masterforce and Victory.  It's a different show,

and you have to treat it that way.

I know but it is still leaves a bad aftertaste if you forgot the candy is sour instead of sweet.

Yup, there's a few things you have to keep in mind, along with the fact that this was their first attempt at writing TFs on their own.

First, I'm pretty sure this series went into production before they had seen most (if any) of season 3. If that's the case (which I'm pretty sure it is), it's not at all surprising they messed up Galvatron's personality. Heck, before Hasbro let on what the deal was with the movie, they thought Galvatron was a seperate entity before Megatron. So yeah, I'd say they didn't know Galvie went insane after the movie.

Second, the Headmasters/Targetmasters suffer from the same problem, Rebirth was after season 3, so getting their personalities wrong is even more forgivable than Galvatron... and even then they may have not given them those personality traits when they dubbed rebirth anyway.

Third (and this is probably my final point), it's a continuation of the Japanese dub. It wasn't done for the western market, so not everything is going to mesh well.

 

So yeah, long story short, is that you can't really walk into the series with too many expectations. The writers had their own issues with knowing who was supposed to be what, and it was never meant for us in the first place.

I basicly watched it to get a chance to see certain bots in action, like Raiden among others. 

 

On a whole, it is more or less one in a series of "Bad Dreams" from Japan, which seem to be ignored any time the series has been revived. 

 

The experts chime in "But WAIT, Cybertron blew up in Headmasters"  What's that 2006 or so?  And we are all running around in futuristic jump suits, with hover boards... 

 

Think of it as a alternative reality, timeline what ever.  They did have their good points and some good moments, but just like all the series we take strides with the good things that happened, and scratch our heads in wonder with the bad. 

 

It used to be rather a difficult task to get ahold of any of the series on tape.  I have it somewhere, with weird commercials and what not, on like 6 tapes.  And then there's the English version. 

 

Pretty much you just have to sit back and laugh at the weird part (like when Mindwhipe puts the dinobots to sleep and they go from cool looking dino's to weird anime yawning cartoons) and marvel at some of the good stuff, (Soundwave and Blasters fight for example.)