My thoughts on Headmasters

[Vector Sigma 13]

I enjoyed Headmasters when viewed with japanese language and English subs. The English language as mentioned previously sucks eggs and really ruins it- my kids wont even watch it with the crapola english. Id love for the US G1 voice cast to re voice it and perhaps refine some of the storyline. I found Masterforce hard to accept initially but it really grew on me- so much that i bought a Powermaster Prime while i was watching it! If i had the cash id have bought a Ginrai and God Bomber!

I havent ventured into victory yet and i dont think ill be rushing into it- from what ive seen so far it doesnt really " float my boat". LOL

[GoktimusPrime]

As others have said, The ☆ Headmasters isn't the perfect series, but it's a _lot_ better than The Rebirth! One of the main problems with The Rebirth was that David Wise had initially written it as a 5-part episode, as was initially intended, but then Hasbro decided to axe the G1 cartoon and the 5-part pilot was reduced to only three episodes at short notice. This meant that Wise had to very quickly chop and change things and shrink his five parter into a 3 parter... and of course, Hasbro wanted the first episode to showcase a lot of the 1987 toys, which left even less time for telling a story. So to give Wise some credit, he was working under pretty crap conditions. But as a result, it is a pretty crap story. :/

[lcz128]

Ultimately, I'm kind of biased towards this and the rest of the G1 Japanese series' - why? Because I didn't grow up watching the US G1 series. Rather, I grew up watching the Japanese G1- yup - born and raised in Malaysia meant that i grew up watching that StarTV dub you have on those DVDs. That said, listening to the dub now gives me chills down my spine, and I much prefer the Japanese dub with Eng Subs.

I also love the Japanese theme songs (both the headmaster ones, and the opening of Victory are my faves) so no complains from me there either - Also, calling out their actions before doing it isn't as jarring for me because (as aforementioned) I grew up with it.

So, while there are episodes here and there that seem kind of out of left field, I loved how the built it up - with the mysterious Zarak - then him getting the Scorponok transtector - then the shield etc. good times, good times. And Six Shot gets to be more than just this dude who rocks up, shows his six forms then buggers off They gave him honourable characteristics and made him a character you'd really support.

And as much as I loved Masterforce as well, I really, really loved how it lead straight into Victory (personal favourite as this was the series I watched most growing up) - the continuity and what happens to some characters down the track - Luff it!

[canofwhoopass_87]

No way man. Rebirth was awesome. It gave us fortress maximus.

As others have said, The ☆ Headmasters isn't the perfect series, but it's a _lot_ better than The Rebirth! One of the main problems with The Rebirth was that David Wise had initially written it as a 5-part episode, as was initially intended, but then Hasbro decided to axe the G1 cartoon and the 5-part pilot was reduced to only three episodes at short notice. This meant that Wise had to very quickly chop and change things and shrink his five parter into a 3 parter... and of course, Hasbro wanted the first episode to showcase a lot of the 1987 toys, which left even less time for telling a story. So to give Wise some credit, he was working under pretty crap conditions. But as a result, it is a pretty crap story. :/

[GoktimusPrime]

...my least favourite incarnation of Fortress Maximus. He was way cooler in the G1 comics (he once tore at Galvatron's wound with his bare teeth! Phwoar!) and I much prefer his Headmasters counterpart over his appearance in The Rebirth. Blecch.

The announcement of moves (abilities, attacks, transformations) is really lame, but it's a regular part of Japanese animé; and certainly not as bad as in post-G1 Japanese TF series. It can be cool at times; like with big transformations; e.g. Fortress Maximus, gestalts... very Voltron-esque. But logically it makes no sense to make a song and dance; _announcing_ moves is utter stupidity. The art of war is all about surprise and deception, which is completely lost when you tell everyone what your next move is going to be by screaming, "CROSS HEAD ON!" Imagine a sniper yelling out "HEADS UP!" before shooting.

And sadly enough this kind of craziness _does_ happen IRL; I've seen it so many times in martial arts demonstrations where someone will say out loud what kind of attack they're going to do, like "straight punch to head!" and then deliver a straight punch to the head, only to have the defender execute a perfect counter and the audience is amazed and clapping at the defender's skill. Of _course_ it was a perfect counter, he _knew_ what was coming!! Sometimes they'll yell it in Japanese so most members of the audience doesn't know what the attacker is saying, but it's usually the _name_ of the move (e.g.: they might yell "Maegeri!" (前蹴り) which means "front kick"). :/

I'd love to see a demo where the attacker yells "roundhouse punch to the head!" and then proceeds to kick the defender in the groin.

I suspect that this practice originated from the 1930s/40s during WWII in Japan where Japanese Imperial Forces made some _weird_ reforms to Japanese martial arts as part of their propaganda and conditioning of troops. Either way, it's a fairly ingrained and staple part of Japanese "fighting" culture and yeah, it's frequently seen in manga, animé, games etc. HADOUKEN!

[snaketales]

Nightbeat what have they done to you!?!! You're a GIRL!!!11!!1!

And where's Optimus Prime? He keeps showing up in the opening titles and ad breaks but he hasn't appeared yet!!!!

(yes I know the reasons... but these are the questions my kids are going to ask when they watch it)

[liegeprime]

Good for you, I think I fast forwarded a lot of the episodes in Headmasters, especially when there's Danny and wheelie on the scene. I grew up watching it on StarTV in Phils but they didnt really show it so chronologically at times, and the actually stopped it and went straight to airing Victory which confused the heck outta me. It still amuses me hearing only what, say 4 people doing the dubbing and just trying poorly to change their voices for each character hehehehe.

[heroic_decepticon]

I grew up watching it on StarTV in Phils but they didnt really show it so chronologically at times, and the actually stopped it and went straight to airing Victory which confused the heck outta me. It still amuses me hearing only what, say 4 people doing the dubbing and just trying poorly to change their voices for each character hehehehe.

at that time, i probably watched the same StarTV dubs like you but from Singapore. Man, the dubbing was and still is atrocious. But at least we still got to watch them back then....

[GoktimusPrime]

StarTV dubs... hard to believe that any dub could be actually _worse_ than Macross Clash of the Bionoids!! <extreme.shudder>

[mightyant]

I watched an episode dubbed just for a giggle... it reminded me of the old Golden Harvest kung fu movies... with my eyes closed it was bruce lee shouting "transform"