INTRO

For those of you out there that grew up watching Transformer cartoons as a kid, or even if you're just a person who's just watched the Transformer's live action films by Michael Bay and want to know where it all began, the world of the original (known as Generation 1 or G1) animated series can be very confusing.

As a child of the 80's who grew up watching the cartoons on TV and playing with the toys throughout my childhood, I also watched the live action movies recently and it aroused a need in me to re-visit my childhood and see where it all began, so I went searching on eBay for the cartoon DVD box sets.

The world of Transformers can be confusing, even for those that have fond childhood memories of Optimus Prime yelling : "Autobots, transform and roll out!" from their TV screens, let alone to the uninitiated, so imagine my shock when I saw various boxsets for sale here on eBay.

From my research, I have decided to put together this guide to help others wishing to re-visit their childhood and hopefully clarify some of the confusion in relation to the various types of box sets available officially on DVD in the Australian market.

Before I begin, I should mention that Madman Entertainment are the official Australian distributor of the Transformers Generation 1 cartoons (among other 80’s retro releases) and for the purpose of this guide, I will only refer to the Australian releases.

TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE COMPLETE COLLECTION
G1 Boxsets On eBay
The Tranformers Generation 1 Complete Collection comprising of a 17 disc box set released by Madman Entertainment was available initially in the red Autobots packaging and now recently has been released in a purple Decepticons version.

Besides the different coloured box design, there is no other difference between the versions.

The box set is extremely comprehensive and encompasses season 1 through to 4 (with the exception of the 1986 movie being sold separately) split over two volumes contained inside the tin casing.

Madman also originally released the seasons individually into separate volumes with each volume sporting metallic foil cover in differing colours to differentiate between the seasons.

TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE (1986)
 Transformers Movie on eBay
Within the 17 disc complete collection, as mentioned above, available separately there is also Transformers – The Movie (1986) which fits chronologically in between the two volumes in the tin.
 
It is available also on Blu-ray disc and is the only Transformers cartoon available on Blu-ray at time of writing .
 
Now if watching over 17 discs of cartoons didn’t satisfy your Transformers Generation 1 fix, you can continue on where the US series finished and the Japanese kept going.

TRANSFORMERS JAPAN GENERATION 1 COLLECTION
 G1 Japan Collection On eBay
The Transformers Japan Generation 1 Collection 13 disc box set continues on from where the first box set finished off. It contains Headmasters, Super God Masterforce and Transformers Victory which are the three series that were produced for domestic consumption in Japan following the conclusion of the original US series.

It also includes Transformers Zone which was originally intended to be a full series, however was cancelled just after one episode, making it the very last Generation 1 animated project.

It is worthwhile mentioning that these cartoons where originally released for the Japanese market and hence, does not have English dubbing and they contain Japanese characters on the packaging.

Madman also previously released each of the components of the Japan Collection individually and they are still available online and at retail.

CONCLUSION

There are, of course, other Transformer series such as Beast Wars, Animated, Energon, Armada, Cybertron, etc however they are not considered part of the Generation 1 series.

That concludes the Transformers Generation 1 series and encompasses all the officially released DVD box sets currently available in the Australian market.

Hopefully this guide has been of assistance.

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