Masterforce & Victory

[GoktimusPrime]

The UK Metrodome box set has Japanese language track w/ English subtitles and I've heard that the Madman set has the Japanese track w/ English subtitles as well as the "English" (and I use that term loosely) dub track too.

I'd rather get the Metrodome version... works out cheaper even w/ postage and 'sif you'd want to watch it dubbed. :/

[kup]

In the Metrodome release, only Headmasters has the Stardub (dodgy english). Masterforce and Victory dont have it and they make it clear in the Masterforce booklet why.

In Headmasters despite the dodgy dub you can still follow the general plot even if the dialogue is awful In Masterforce you can't because they did not understand that most of the Japanese characters portrayed in that show despite their similarities, are not the same as the American characters of the same toy mold.

Example: Ginrai is not Optimus Prime yet he is addressed as such in the Star dub. Hydra and Buster are not Darkwing and Dreadwind yet they are addressed as such. The worse Minerva is Nightbeat o_O

It goes on and on to a point where nothing makes sense. It is understandable why the dub was removed entirely from Masterfroce and Victory but left on Headmasters aside from being a god awful dub.

Strangely enough I have met a good amount of people who absolutely refuse to watch anything with subtitles on and some who like Transformers prefer to watch the Star TV dub instead of the original Japanese.

I understand why Metrodome and in turn Madman kept the Stardub as an option in Headmasters, afterall despite is horrendousness of it, its an official English dub so its left as an option for those lazy people who hate subtitles.
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Toyota a-bat

[dirge]

What I never quite understand is why anyone would want to watch a bad translation. Even if you dislike subtitles in general (and I dont want to get into _that_ argument), surely watching a proper translation beats watching a hacked up translation. Yes it might take more effort, but you'd get more out of it.

I can't understand more than about five words of Japanese, but I could tell that the Headmasters subtitles tried to preserve the spirit of the original dialogue - even if certain things like puns and idioms are inevitably lost. Sure, some aspects were Anglicised to make sense to an english-tuned ear, but they still retained the basic information from the original Japanese dialogue.

I find I can usually pick up a bad translation anyway (in subtitles or a vocal track) - because often what's being said in the translation either doesn't quite match what's happening in the video or it's referring to a cultural phenomenon which doesn't exist in the original source (eg Headmasters referring to say the 4th of July holiday...).

[GoktimusPrime]

Sure, some aspects were Anglicised to make sense to an english-tuned ear, but they still retained the basic information from the original Japanese dialogue.

Exactly. The subtitles translating "Convoy" as "Optimus Prime" and "Cybertrons" as "Autobots" is entirely different from the dubs translating "Minerva" as "Nightbeat" (which someone remarked that on a female character makes her sound like a street hooker), "Blaster" as "Billy" and "Ginrai" as "Optimus Prime" - which, as kup pointed out, is factually incorrect.

And I've heard that the Madman set has two set of subtitles - one with the Anglicised names and one with the Japanese names, which is good for people who insist on reading "Cybertrons" being translated as "Cybertrons" instead of "Autobots."

I'd prefer the Anglicised names... not that I use the subtitles.

[Paulbot]

And I've heard that the Madman set has two set of subtitles - one with the Anglicised names and one with the Japanese names, which is good for people who insist on reading "Cybertrons" being translated as "Cybertrons" instead of "Autobots."

I've been watching the Madman Headmasters series with English name subtitles and - maybe this is because I work as an editor - I just keep finding problems with them. Apart from typos and some find and replace problems (like skullcrunchercruncher, who was also called Rippersnapper once) the translations to English are sloppy. I've lost count of the number of times where it still says the "Cybertron base" when with English names it should be saying "Autobot base".