I still own the VHS copy I got back in 1998! I got it for $9.99 at a used video shop. Still wish they made it into a full show. Too bad it only ran one episode. Dai Atlas would have been a great leader. Transformers Zone is still one to remember.
@nobodysperfect06, No, Transformers is and always has been a Co-adventure between Hasbro and Takara, some of the ordinal G1 molds were from Japan under a different name and background. Hasbro made TF popular and Takara took the G1 TV show and had it dubbed into their language with a few minor changes, like Optimus prime being known as Convoy.
like a lot of their characters have Super Sentai/Power Rangers Megazord type designs, and Gundam too, but Optimus Prime and Megatron, their designs originated in Japan right?
@nobodysperfect06 That would account for all the transformers which were from japanese produced shows like The Headmasters, Super God Masterforce, Victory, Zone, BW2, BW Neo, RID and The Unicron Trilogy.
@mcmetolhead Actually they did bring Convoy back but I think it was a little too late at that point, seeing Battlestars: Return of Convoy came out after *this* and only received a single issue of manga with the rest of the story told in story pages.
@mcmetolhead In the late 1980's - 1990's Optimus Prime was a hated autobot. The japanese in the fandom and the cartoon makers considered Optimus Prime too american to be an authentic transformer.
@fvgbe342 This is the first time I've ever heard of this, so please forgive me for questioning the credibility of youtube comments as reliable sources of information.
No, Transformers as a franchise was just losing popularity, plain and simple. First of all, the Japanese didn't like the fact the American cartoon series suddenly brought Optimus Prime back from the dead, and secondly, if he was so unpopular, why did they try reviving the franchise by eventually bringing him back themselves?
@Takeshi357 Thank you for your skepticism. I was regurgitating what other people on other forums were guessing as to why the Transformers popularity goes in up and down cycles. I dont have access to the Japanese transformer cartoons and I'm guessing from what I see from the You tube clips. "Transformers Zone" was an attempt to get the franchise away from retelling the battle of Optimus Prime and Megatron by having a science fiction vs fantasy motif.
@fvgbe342 Yeah, but the thing is, before Zone, there already had been three entire series' without Optimus Prime as the Autobot leader so Zone was pretty much just following the trend. Japanese apparently thought sentient robots are for kids (as in the really small ones) which is why Masterforce introduced Super Robot elements - and in turn, Victory was infuriatingly childish.
@gavinfuzzy Apparently, Operation Combination is...uh...actually I haven't a clue. As far as I know, all it is about is the autobot combiner Guard City battling the decepticon combiner Battle Gaia...and that's it.
An alien rabbit/squirrel hybrid creature called Emusa. He is the pet of one of the human characters, Cain who lived on the planet Ferminia, before it was destroyed by the Decepticons.
It did introduce a lot of new characters, but some Autobots from Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory were present, Victory Saber played an important role in this OVA.
I can't recall if Hardhead was there at the end, but Rodimus and Springer were from the American series and most of them had been gone since Headmasters. Then again it could hve been the junior Headmasters I saw, but can't remember. See the links to the right and find the episode parts, go to the last one and watch the ceremony at the end where Dai Atlas becomes the new Autobot Commander and if you freeze frame one particular scene, you'll see the characters from the previous series.
It was ment to be a TV series at first, then it was dicided that it should be an OVA series, but the popularity of Transformers was starting to fade away a little by this point, hence why only 1 OVA episode was made. However Takara's other transforming robot themed series; Yuusha took off in this same year (1990) and was very successfull.
Dai Atlas was going be the Autobot/Cybertron leader in Zone, who gets apointed as leader by Victory Saber at the end of Zone's 1st and only episode, Dai Atlas is part of a Japanese only subgroup called the powered masters(not to be confused with power/godmasters) they were given the name on account that the figures had engines which let then move by theirselves, he just Transformed into a DrillJet, Drilltank and a Micromaster base
Yep! It was a typical anime cliche which many in the west didn't really see coming, or were quite appriciative of it, especially since the show is meant to be about two factions of robots fight against each other, but the whole 'gay boys' thing, was meant to be a side story in itself I think, I'm guessing in the story pages in TV Magazine in Japan, there feelingsfor one another were probably made more clear.
This show should have kept going, because there are not enough blue haired chicks or fuzzy animals running around in Transformer shows, and we need that. *nods*
Car robts, beast machines, galaxy force, they all are a dishonor to the series. This was the last good TF series G1, Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory and Zone are the best.
cause in japan Optimus died 3 episodes into headmasters after he came back in the japanese dub of the return of optimus prime, but they brought back Optimus in Japan via the manga story Battlestars: Return of convoy(jap name for Optimus Prime) where he comes back as Star Convoy
Zone was made direct-to-video. Remember that at the time it was made, popularity of Transformers in Japan was finally declining to the point where it was no longer considered worthwhile to make a new animated series. Zone was originally meant to be only seven episodes long anyway, but apparently they got cut short from even that.
Master force?? THat silly excuse for power rangers?? No thank you. Not only is there continuity errors between Headmsters and masterforce, there is hardly a backstory, characters like Black Zarak just appear without explanation and the music. Gosh. The battle music sounds like something out of sailormoon.
Complex plot does not mean a good plot. Beast wars and bEast machines is a lot better.
And by "american" im talking about the overall writing in the series. G1 and Beast wars writers were american, but the others like masterforce were jap writers who "localised" transformers.
THank god they stopped when they did. Transformers by japanese were getting lamer with each series since Headmasters. American transformers is still the best. Generation 1 and Beast wars.
shut the fuck up. beast machines sucked ass, and we have michael bay's piece of shit movie to look foward to next year. Oh yeah, and G1 was a japanese-amercian coprodution, you dumb bastard.
its funny cuz i think this looks better than any of the new japanese ones. armada was ok, but energon and cybertron were jokes. seesh! they sucked balls!!!
Actually, about Zone. It's been reported there was a possibility of more episodes of it were produced. (Only 3-4 episodes supposibly) but these were never released other than this episode.
If you ask me, now that the popularity of Transformers is rising again, they could try re-releasing it on DVD, or remaking Transformers:Zone entirely. Either way, do you know where I can find either the song or the OVA? Thank you ^^
It would have English subtitles, it won't play on a US PS2 though. America is region 1, region 2 is UK and Japan. You could run it on your PC with region killing software though. You can also get box sets of Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory in the UK.
The Region 2 Transformers movie did not have Zone, it was only added to the last disk of the Victory set on the complete Takara Collection boxset (which was a huge tease to the fans), it did include Scramble City though. The subtitles on both are part of the video sources that were found for the two OVA's, so the subtitles would include cursing and they couldn't be removed.
Oh you can also get the three Japanese series in Region 4 format in Australia (with the Victory set includes Zone) and Zone was released on DVD in Japan, but it will incluide no English subtitles, hardily any Japanese DVD's do. Region 2 BTW is Western Europe, Japan and the Middle East (iucluding Egypt).
Who sings this?
Primus2X 5 months ago
@Primus2X Ichiro Mizuki.
David315842 4 months ago
wow wow toransufomah zone zone
S4cch1n1 7 months ago
I always thought Micromasters could have been much more than they were allowed to be.
palaguin 7 months ago
This show looks good......BUT THEY ONLY MADE ONE EPISODE OF IT! I'M SO PISSED OFF ABOUT IT!!!
RentonElric85 9 months ago
@RentonElric85 Blame the decline in popularity for Transformers in Japan in the early 90's for that.
David315842 4 months ago
Without Headmasters,this wouldn't of happened..
SlitMouthWoman 9 months ago
I made a character in the transformers war for cybertron game named dai atlas in his honor
ihategobots7 1 year ago
lol man i miss this, childhood memories
qgan 1 year ago
humans controlling robots?,were doomed, we need gundam! let the autobots pilot themselves.
ravenjade35 1 year ago
You Got the Touch!!1
camarogeneral 1 year ago
Who sung this song?
Dave102693 1 year ago
I still own the VHS copy I got back in 1998! I got it for $9.99 at a used video shop. Still wish they made it into a full show. Too bad it only ran one episode. Dai Atlas would have been a great leader. Transformers Zone is still one to remember.
joesingle 1 year ago
did entire Transformers originate in Japan, just like Power Rangers, Voltron, and Dragon Ball?
nobodysperfect06 1 year ago
@nobodysperfect06, No, Transformers is and always has been a Co-adventure between Hasbro and Takara, some of the ordinal G1 molds were from Japan under a different name and background. Hasbro made TF popular and Takara took the G1 TV show and had it dubbed into their language with a few minor changes, like Optimus prime being known as Convoy.
superomegaprimemk2 1 year ago
a lot of Transformers characters look like they were made by Bandai
nobodysperfect06 1 year ago
like a lot of their characters have Super Sentai/Power Rangers Megazord type designs, and Gundam too, but Optimus Prime and Megatron, their designs originated in Japan right?
nobodysperfect06 1 year ago
@nobodysperfect06 The toys originated in Japan as seperate diferent toylines, but the character animations and models all were made in the US
Inikalord 1 year ago
but the 2 main characters, Optimus Prime and Megatron, their overall design originated in Japan right?
nobodysperfect06 1 year ago
@nobodysperfect06 As toys yes, but not as the character models seen in the show
Inikalord 1 year ago
well the vast majority of Transformers characters look like they have Japanese designs, like Gundam style, or Power Rangers-Super Sentai style
nobodysperfect06 1 year ago
@nobodysperfect06 That would account for all the transformers which were from japanese produced shows like The Headmasters, Super God Masterforce, Victory, Zone, BW2, BW Neo, RID and The Unicron Trilogy.
Inikalord 1 year ago
i hate emusa
MrOptimus1984 1 year ago
Unfortunately Zone's intro music sucks compared to the awe-inspiring intro music for Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory
Mabuski 1 year ago
O.O
............what the heck did i just watch?
SpecialAgentRavage 1 year ago
die atlas…
soma118 1 year ago
Dai Atlas ruled in this OVA!
joesingle 1 year ago
this series was pretty cool even though there was only 1 episode.
YouGotPwnedLMAO 1 year ago
it noghtve had a chance if convoy (Optimus ) were revitilized for the series, or was Convoy not as popular in japan
mcmetolhead 1 year ago
@mcmetolhead Actually they did bring Convoy back but I think it was a little too late at that point, seeing Battlestars: Return of Convoy came out after *this* and only received a single issue of manga with the rest of the story told in story pages.
Takeshi357 1 year ago
@Takeshi357 not even convoy could revive transformers in japan?
mcmetolhead 1 year ago
@Takeshi357 Yep, in Battlestars Optimus was revived with Zone energy.
It's not so much that they didn't like Convoy and Megatron in Japan, they just wanted to keep progressing the story.
-to me that beats the ever annoying constant reboots.
daveh013 1 year ago
@mcmetolhead In the late 1980's - 1990's Optimus Prime was a hated autobot. The japanese in the fandom and the cartoon makers considered Optimus Prime too american to be an authentic transformer.
fvgbe342 1 year ago
@fvgbe342 This is the first time I've ever heard of this, so please forgive me for questioning the credibility of youtube comments as reliable sources of information.
No, Transformers as a franchise was just losing popularity, plain and simple. First of all, the Japanese didn't like the fact the American cartoon series suddenly brought Optimus Prime back from the dead, and secondly, if he was so unpopular, why did they try reviving the franchise by eventually bringing him back themselves?
Takeshi357 1 year ago
@Takeshi357 Thank you for your skepticism. I was regurgitating what other people on other forums were guessing as to why the Transformers popularity goes in up and down cycles. I dont have access to the Japanese transformer cartoons and I'm guessing from what I see from the You tube clips. "Transformers Zone" was an attempt to get the franchise away from retelling the battle of Optimus Prime and Megatron by having a science fiction vs fantasy motif.
fvgbe342 1 year ago
@fvgbe342 Yeah, but the thing is, before Zone, there already had been three entire series' without Optimus Prime as the Autobot leader so Zone was pretty much just following the trend. Japanese apparently thought sentient robots are for kids (as in the really small ones) which is why Masterforce introduced Super Robot elements - and in turn, Victory was infuriatingly childish.
Takeshi357 1 year ago
apparently Takara has the other two episodes in their vault... ugh!!!
daiatlus79 1 year ago
The oganisms in this show are gay
gavinfuzzy 1 year ago
Anyone know whats the last g1 ep. operation combination about? i dun read jap. LOL
gavinfuzzy 1 year ago
@gavinfuzzy Apparently, Operation Combination is...uh...actually I haven't a clue. As far as I know, all it is about is the autobot combiner Guard City battling the decepticon combiner Battle Gaia...and that's it.
And then there's some turbomasters too.
Takeshi357 1 year ago
If you think about it dai atlas is really strong! he killed devastator,predaking,trypticon,and king posiden!!
YouGotPwnedLMAO 1 year ago
This is always stuck in my head.
kitty0tikara 2 years ago 8
Whats with the bunny rabbit with the clapboard
R32Studios 2 years ago
An alien rabbit/squirrel hybrid creature called Emusa. He is the pet of one of the human characters, Cain who lived on the planet Ferminia, before it was destroyed by the Decepticons.
David315842 2 years ago
@R32Studios The bunny rabbit was there to help make transformers relevant to the monster pet shows that will spawn the famous Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.
fvgbe342 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Very high quality
IGotThisGeorgeLopez1 2 years ago
Interesting how these Japanese Transformers series were pretty well the precursor to the Brave Saga.
Geshpenst 2 years ago
Then it doesn't surprise you one bit to hear that a lot of the toys from the Zone and Battlestars era were actually reused for the Brave series?
Takeshi357 2 years ago
Yeah, I just read that :P
Geshpenst 2 years ago
Is that Ichiro Mizuki on vocals? Sounds a lot like him.
SteveElOtaku 2 years ago
Ｙｅｓ！
awacsokanieba05 2 years ago
That IS Ichiro Mizuki. He also sung the ending theme to Zone too.
David315842 2 years ago
サイバトロン破壊大帝じゃないｋ・・アッー！
awacsokanieba05 2 years ago
What the hell is the rabbit doing in the final frame?
Teebonemendez 2 years ago 15
Is it just me, or does this really sound like 'Go West' by the Village People?
Considering how Cain and Akira act, perhaps that's quite appropriate.
AirOfMystery 2 years ago 3
wtf? only 2 transformers?
MinimunWage 2 years ago 3
Too bad the Dai Atlas toy never came to the States. I understand it was pretty huge.
eshaw2115 2 years ago 2
i know the star saber one was
jointron33 2 years ago
These series kept getting weirder and weirder lol.
Da1shocker 3 years ago
lol, they added a Pikachu to transformers. Only in Japan!!
lordmagikarp 3 years ago 2
It's meant to be a space bunny/squirrel thing called Emusa or something like that.
David315842 3 years ago
Dang... looking at this I can see why this only became an OVA and not a series.
Don't get me wrong, the theme is good, but in comparison to the previous 3...
Pio98 3 years ago
Have to say the opening theme tune to Zone doesn't match the grandure of the theme music to Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory.
Mabuski 3 years ago
Did Zone introduce new chracaters in the one episode or was there older characters from Headmasters and/or Victory?
CybertronNews22 3 years ago
It did introduce a lot of new characters, but some Autobots from Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory were present, Victory Saber played an important role in this OVA.
David315842 3 years ago
Yes, but no one like Rodimus or Springer or Hardhead, right?
CybertronNews22 3 years ago
I can't recall if Hardhead was there at the end, but Rodimus and Springer were from the American series and most of them had been gone since Headmasters. Then again it could hve been the junior Headmasters I saw, but can't remember. See the links to the right and find the episode parts, go to the last one and watch the ceremony at the end where Dai Atlas becomes the new Autobot Commander and if you freeze frame one particular scene, you'll see the characters from the previous series.
David315842 3 years ago
Interseting. Thanks for the info.
CybertronNews22 3 years ago
You're welcome. ^_^
David315842 3 years ago
While I'm not a fan of the japanese continuties of G1 I have to say it's kind of sad it was only that Transformers Zone was only for one episode.
evangelian007 4 years ago
It was ment to be a TV series at first, then it was dicided that it should be an OVA series, but the popularity of Transformers was starting to fade away a little by this point, hence why only 1 OVA episode was made. However Takara's other transforming robot themed series; Yuusha took off in this same year (1990) and was very successfull.
David315842 3 years ago
You know the man who sung the Mazinger Z theme and the Impact theme from Goemon sang this theme song?
YamatoBushi 4 years ago
The singer is Mizuki Ichiro. He is very well for singing loads of anime and tokusatsu songs in Japan.
David315842 4 years ago
Who the heck was this Dia Atlas guy?
trence5 4 years ago
Dai Atlas was going be the Autobot/Cybertron leader in Zone, who gets apointed as leader by Victory Saber at the end of Zone's 1st and only episode, Dai Atlas is part of a Japanese only subgroup called the powered masters(not to be confused with power/godmasters) they were given the name on account that the figures had engines which let then move by theirselves, he just Transformed into a DrillJet, Drilltank and a Micromaster base
Jago666 4 years ago
the leader for this series
DangerousD6969 4 years ago
its okay...G1 is the best..
twistedDrunk 4 years ago
This is G1.
Gomess 4 years ago
make a better one ihate to admit it freaking sucks! malllerbot12333
karenninny3 4 years ago
peeps will find this hard to believe but the "blue haired chick" is in fact a guy named Kai
Jago666 4 years ago 3
Not to mention that the other kids is ALSO a guy...
Their near feminine designs really don't help either.
Pio98 3 years ago
It's emplyed that the two boys are in fact 'gay'.
David315842 3 years ago
Really? So all this time it was intentional?
Boy, imagine if Zone became an actual series rather than just an OVA...
Pio98 3 years ago
Yep! It was a typical anime cliche which many in the west didn't really see coming, or were quite appriciative of it, especially since the show is meant to be about two factions of robots fight against each other, but the whole 'gay boys' thing, was meant to be a side story in itself I think, I'm guessing in the story pages in TV Magazine in Japan, there feelingsfor one another were probably made more clear.
David315842 3 years ago
This show should have kept going, because there are not enough blue haired chicks or fuzzy animals running around in Transformer shows, and we need that. *nods*
darkqueen01 4 years ago
....That Blue haired chick is actually a guy.
Pio98 3 years ago
This song sounds abit like Jump from Van Helen excepts this song is faster
Skit20 4 years ago 2
Car robts, beast machines, galaxy force, they all are a dishonor to the series. This was the last good TF series G1, Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory and Zone are the best.
Elcharrodelmisterio 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Stuborn Old man.
Those old fashioned series don't compare to the new wave.
I always like Armada, Energon, Galaxy Force the best.
Gokol 4 years ago
lol, Victory was weak.
Takeshi357 4 years ago
why is there a pink bunny?
slimeytoes 4 years ago 2
Because it promotes masculinity! well no.... not really
RoyalKnightVI 4 years ago
I think the more pressing question is...
WHY are those 2 kids guys?
Pio98 3 years ago
cause in japan Optimus died 3 episodes into headmasters after he came back in the japanese dub of the return of optimus prime, but they brought back Optimus in Japan via the manga story Battlestars: Return of convoy(jap name for Optimus Prime) where he comes back as Star Convoy
Jago666 4 years ago
This looked like it had the potential to be a good series.
etmelter2 4 years ago
WTF? THERES NO PRIME!:"(
uchihaarashikun 4 years ago
Because Prime is DEAD.
Takeshi357 4 years ago
I like that deeeere deeeeare deeeeere deeeeeere deeeeere deeeeeeeeere
Skit20 5 years ago
They only showed 1 episode of Transformers Zone. I reckon
they thought Transformers Zone was'nt a good idea.
Skit20 5 years ago
Zone was made direct-to-video. Remember that at the time it was made, popularity of Transformers in Japan was finally declining to the point where it was no longer considered worthwhile to make a new animated series. Zone was originally meant to be only seven episodes long anyway, but apparently they got cut short from even that.
Takeshi357 5 years ago
o ok!
uchihaarashikun 4 years ago
G1 is still the best i agree. Beast wars though, is hellavalot better than any transformers series i've seen japan churn out.
relak 5 years ago
i'll agree on that because g1 is a legend
p.s. only carrobot to galaxy are a really a disgrace to me since they don't follow the same timeline
leo11lim 5 years ago
Master force?? THat silly excuse for power rangers?? No thank you. Not only is there continuity errors between Headmsters and masterforce, there is hardly a backstory, characters like Black Zarak just appear without explanation and the music. Gosh. The battle music sounds like something out of sailormoon.
relak 5 years ago
It also has the most profound characterization and complex plot.
Takeshi357 5 years ago
Complex plot does not mean a good plot. Beast wars and bEast machines is a lot better.
And by "american" im talking about the overall writing in the series. G1 and Beast wars writers were american, but the others like masterforce were jap writers who "localised" transformers.
relak 5 years ago
Well Beast Wars still sucks ass.
Takeshi357 5 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
YOU suck your DADS ass!!
etmelter2 4 years ago
Ooo, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Takeshi357 4 years ago
So did beast machines although Beast wars Neo and 2 was a bit better.
PrimusTwo 3 years ago
you're a idiot. beast machines sucked ass. I see you're a racist SOB too. Gratz!!!
wolzard81 4 years ago
THank god they stopped when they did. Transformers by japanese were getting lamer with each series since Headmasters. American transformers is still the best. Generation 1 and Beast wars.
relak 5 years ago
Uh, I don't agree. Headmasters and Victory were crap (rhe latter even moreso), but Masterforce was awesome.
Plys BW is Canadian ;)
Takeshi357 5 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
shut the fuck up. beast machines sucked ass, and we have michael bay's piece of shit movie to look foward to next year. Oh yeah, and G1 was a japanese-amercian coprodution, you dumb bastard.
wolzard81 4 years ago
its funny cuz i think this looks better than any of the new japanese ones. armada was ok, but energon and cybertron were jokes. seesh! they sucked balls!!!
xviolentphilx 5 years ago
shut the fuck up asshole. Galaxy force was a great show.
wolzard81 4 years ago
Actually, about Zone. It's been reported there was a possibility of more episodes of it were produced. (Only 3-4 episodes supposibly) but these were never released other than this episode.
Mendinso 5 years ago
If you ask me, now that the popularity of Transformers is rising again, they could try re-releasing it on DVD, or remaking Transformers:Zone entirely. Either way, do you know where I can find either the song or the OVA? Thank you ^^
TurnAGundam 5 years ago
The R2 special edition of the Transformers Movie is apparently going to have both Zone and Scramble City on it (with audio).
GaiDaigouji 5 years ago
Does Region 2 mean it will paly on a PS2 in America, and have English subtitles at least, or not?
TurnAGundam 5 years ago
It would have English subtitles, it won't play on a US PS2 though. America is region 1, region 2 is UK and Japan. You could run it on your PC with region killing software though. You can also get box sets of Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory in the UK.
GaiDaigouji 5 years ago
The Region 2 Transformers movie did not have Zone, it was only added to the last disk of the Victory set on the complete Takara Collection boxset (which was a huge tease to the fans), it did include Scramble City though. The subtitles on both are part of the video sources that were found for the two OVA's, so the subtitles would include cursing and they couldn't be removed.
David315842 3 years ago
Oh you can also get the three Japanese series in Region 4 format in Australia (with the Victory set includes Zone) and Zone was released on DVD in Japan, but it will incluide no English subtitles, hardily any Japanese DVD's do. Region 2 BTW is Western Europe, Japan and the Middle East (iucluding Egypt).
David315842 3 years ago
Sorry 'Including'.
David315842 3 years ago
I loooooooove this awesome song.
Pikachurules 5 years ago
the best turansufomas ever got!!
chiissu 5 years ago