Which box set of G1 DVD's to purchase?

[Paulbot]

I've been wondering...there's the US run, and the Japanese run, and the UK run -- in terms of storyline do they complement or conflict each other? (Goki told me they are different stories)

So the Japanese replaced Rebirth with Headmasters as a continuity to the US G1 cartoon, supposedly there shouldn't be any problem with the flow? Do they actually have their own stories for the 1st three seasons that were pretty close to the US version (in which case, what point of the separate runnings?)

I'm a bit confused here...

Very quickly.... the "UK run" relates to the comics only (US vs UK). The comics are completely different and incompatible with the cartoon series.

As for the cartoon, Japan dubbed the first three G1 series into Japanese, and then replaced Rebirth with a full series called Headmasters [which is incompatible with Rebirth] but otherwise continues on with only minor discrepencies (a couple of bots who died in the movie are still around because Japan didn't see the movie until a few years later) and the animation is very similar (less Anime than the following series like Masterforce and Victory).

[Hursticon]

..Or Paulbot:

Very quickly.... the "UK run" relates to the comics only (US vs UK). The comics are completely different and incompatible with the cartoon series.

As for the cartoon, Japan dubbed the first three G1 series into Japanese, and then replaced Rebirth with a full series called Headmasters [which is incompatible with Rebirth] but otherwise continues on with only minor discrepencies (a couple of bots who died in the movie are still around because Japan didn't see the movie until a few years later) and the animation is very similar (less Anime than the following series like Masterforce and Victory).

That was really well put man , way more concise than the 'wall of text' I'd of put it in would've been.
(Hence why I just linked to the Wiki article )

[jena]

I saw the Headmasters dvds at JB HiFi but I didn't buy it because they were around $60 and I was sure I could find it cheaper online. It says on the back of the cover that it continues on from the original series.

Is Headmasters worth getting? Or would it just get annoying because of the clashes with the remainder of the G1 series?

[Paulbot]

It's annoying for other reasons (like Arcee's secretary role (take notes and make us coffee) and lots more of Daniel). I gave up on it and still haven't seen it all, skipping ahead to Masterforce (which is also divisive for it's focus mainly on humans (Head and Powermasters) instead of pure Transformers, but which I really enjoyed). There's probably a review thread on both somewhere. I think Griffin blogged his watching of both series.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I preferred it to The Rebirth trilogy. It wasn't the best series ever but it was worth a watch and for the most part better than most of G1 Season 3. Dunno if I'd shell out $60 for it.

Maybe check out some clips of the first few episodes on Youtube or something and see if you like it.

[Arcee]

like Arcee's secretary role (take notes and make us coffee) and lots more of Daniel

That does sound very...let's just say it's one of those things I hate most in the world. Somehow I vaguely remember if it's Hursti mentioned it before (Arcee casting a wetnurse role)? Indeed cultural reason I'd say.

Ah well. Good to know. Even if Arcee's still the Arcee she should be, I can't take too much Daniel (or any human) anyway. I'll just stick to my US boxset and once that's finished, move on to the comics.

Paulbot, once again, never go wrong with you the encyclopedia. Thanks!

[UltraMarginal]

I saw the Headmasters dvds at JB HiFi but I didn't buy it because they were around $60 and I was sure I could find it cheaper online. It says on the back of the cover that it continues on from the original series.

Is Headmasters worth getting? Or would it just get annoying because of the clashes with the remainder of the G1 series?

you can find it cheaper online...

[Quickstrike]

Headmasters is a pretty boring show once you get over the novelty of seeing those 1987 G1 guys do stuff in a cartoon. Masterforce is cool though.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm with Odie. While The Headmasters is definitely the weakest of the Japanese G1 series, I prefer it over Rebirth.

Masterforce is a well written story, although as Paulbot mentioned, it does have an unorthodox premise -- but if you can accept its premise then it is a pretty enjoyable story. Victory goes back to being more traditional (i.e. no binary-bonding to fleshies) and has a spectacular finish (which is arguably the second most epic fight scene in the G1 cartoon next to Optimus Prime vs Megatron in TFTM). Zone is well animated but the story is meh -- much like The Rebirth it was a pilot for a series but the series got cancelled. But I think Zone works better because Rebirth was originally written as a 5 parter but then when Hasbro decided to cancel Season 4 it had to be re-written down to a 3-parter. Circumstances beyond the writer's control, but still - the end result is that Rebirth ended up being more of a hash job than Zone IMO. One interesting thing about Zone though is that it is brutal.

I grabbed the UK box set (Metrodome) cos it came out before Madman -- and it worked out cheaper too. Be aware that The Headmasters is Region 2 (although 'sif you wouldn't set your DVD player to Region 0 ) but the other discs are all Region 0.

Arcee: as Paulbot said, the comics and cartoon are two entirely different and incompatible continuities. As for UK continuity - I think it's best to think of it as an "expanded universe" of the US comics (much like say how the Clone Wars series is an expansion of the Star Wars films etc.)

Technically speaking the US and UK comics exist in separate universes (the US comics in Marvel's Earth-91274 and the UK comics in Earth-120185; but really, a lot of the events that occur in the US comics could not have happened if we completely ignore the UK comics, e.g. Matrix Quest. So at best, some events that occurred in Earth-120185 must have occurred on Earth-91274 as well (e.g. Optimus Prime's space burial, Death Bringer etc.) -- I think it's just a helluva lot simpler just to consider them both as the same continuity with the UK comics being an expansion of the US run.

[Cat]

Worth it just for the hilariously dub that's included. It just never gets old.