by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

“Me Grimlock say you full of cesium salami.”

I grew up on Transformers and I have such fond memories of watching the show every morning before going to school. I just loved the idea of transforming robots (a reason that I also eventually loved the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Series as well.) Listening to Peter Cullen’s deep voice coming out of Optimus Prime is one of those things that you just can’t forget. Optimus was the total personification of good, while Megatron was all that was evil in the universe…it was as simple as that.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of this classic cartoon, Shout! Factory has released an amazing 16 disc DVD collection which contains ALL of the classic battles of the Autobots and Decepitons. This is the first time that all of the episodes have been put together into a single release and to make things even better, the set is in the shape of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership!

The box itself slides open to light our darkest hour (just like it did in the movie). I do have this to say about Shout! Factory, they sure pull out all the stops when it comes to putting together their box sets! This newest release includes all 98 episodes from the classic 80’s TV series, now featuring restored audio and video, new bonus features, concept art, 60-page book, magnets, scripts and more! Transformers fans couldn’t ask for a better set. The DVD’s themselves are in 4 individual DVD cases, featuring new art of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Hot Rod, and Galvatron!

Special Features

Season 1
-Triple Changers- From Toy to Comic to Screen
-Archival Hasbro Toy Commericals
-Rare PSA
-Printable “Transport to Oblivion” Script

Season 2
-The Combiner-Forming the Transformers Animated Series
-The Headmasters- Voicing the Robots in Disguise
-Rare PSAs
-Archival Hasbro Toy Commericals
-Printable Scripts “Starscream’s Brigade” and “The Revenge of Bruticus”
-Original Series Writers Bible
-Concept Art

Season 3 and 4
-The Autobots, the Decepticons, and The Fans
-Into the Creation Matrix- A Conversation with Bob Budiansky
-From the files of Teletran-2
-Rare PSAs
-Concept Art
-Fan Material
-Archival Hasbro Toy Commericals

Overall
There has never been a Transformers set like this. This is perfect set for any Transformers fan or for anyone who never got to experience the show. The only complete series set that comes close to this in my mind is the recent release of the 10th Anniversary Collection of Freaks and Geeks (which was also done by Shout!). Nothing really compares to this creative release.

ComicsOnline gives Transformers: The Complete Series 5 out of 5 series from our childhood that still live up to expectations.