New "Wildocking" Animal Limb Combiners from TakaraTomy

[Tuxedo Prime]

Some thoughts, at long last....

"Killbison" would have been a more comparable example.

Back in the day, it would have been the more famous example -- Battle Beasts' Eagle Killer/Harrier Hawk was quite obscure even compared to the Victory cast!

But the name (first deployed two years before what they had to change to Ironbison) got a reuse/boost in Car Robots for the character known as R.E.V. in America. And I'll just head off the argument to point out that while yes, the intent likely was more akin to "Killer Eagle", given the bio card description, neither Japanese nor English grammar work as the name was used....

Episode 4's fansub. This one took a little longer due to Hydrophant's verbal tic making some of his dialogue tricky to understand:

First of all, I probably don't give enough thanks to translators from the Japanese that aren't Doug Dlin or Juniper Walters -- I've sent a couple of e-mails to Doug, but no response so far. So I'll start by remedying that, and offering some kudos....

One thing I note is that Optimus Prime is, in fact, called Optimus Prime in the original audio, and not Convoy (or Ginrai) as one would expect. I believe the live-action movie continuity (when dubbed into Japanese) is the only other case for Takara. Which is not to assert that Wild(do)King(dom) is in a Movie verse, just noting the curious distinction.

Vocal quirks were big in the Japanese dubs of Beast Wars, so it's not surprising that Lightlong and Hydrophant are keeping that tradition. I admit I probably would not have transliterated "rai", but then you only get two-thirds or the wordplay. Humour is often one of the first things to suffer when translating, unless you do a wholesale rewrite as with Samurai Pizza Cats or Takeshi's Castle/Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

Anyway, Hydrophant puts out some cute vibes, Spirituan evokes early Dinobot, Lightlong is starting to grate a bit but that could be due to my not being the target demographic. Ignite Leo is... there, but I'm sure the next episode will give him some business. It's a solid effort, and I must put aside my provincialism to give thanks to the team for making sure new audiences can appreciate it.

 

[Sabrblade]

One thing I note is that Optimus Prime is, in fact, called Optimus Prime in the original audio, and not Convoy (or Ginrai) as one would expect.

Ginrai's a very specific character in Japan. Takara, on their own initiative, wouldn't just casually use his name for anything that wasn't precisely the Masterforce-original character.

I believe the live-action movie continuity (when dubbed into Japanese) is the only other case for Takara.

Every mainstream piece of Transformers media in Japan uses the Hasbro terms now. The only ones that still use the old Takara names are old-time collector-aimed stuff like Masterpiece and such. Animated, Prime, Go!, Adventure (Japanese RID 2015), Cyberverse, the Netflix cartoon, EarthSpark, and even the Transformers Go! Go! manga aimed at toddlers all use "Autobot", "Decepticon", "Optimus Prime", "Maximal", "Predacon", etc. in their Japanese-language versions.

Vocal quirks were big in the Japanese dubs of Beast Wars,

And lots of children's anime/manga in general.

It's a solid effort, and I must put aside my provincialism to give thanks to the team for making sure new audiences can appreciate it.

Much obliged. It's a lot tougher to get things both accurate and understandable than we initially thought, as the dialogue in the first two episodes was really simple and basic, while Episodes 3 and 4 became a lot trickier to understand.

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

Ginrai's a very specific character in Japan. Takara, on their own initiative, wouldn't just casually use his name for anything that wasn't precisely the Masterforce-original character.

I probably should have put an emoji in my aside, I was having fun with Warden's old bit about how "Optimus Prime is Optimus Prime is Optimus Prime".

Omni Productions Ginrai : "I'm Optimus Prime. I'm Japanese."

(That being said, Overlord ended up mirroring that process, as just who -- or even what -- the character is is contingent on the media appearance. Not that anyone sat down and planned that.)

Every mainstream piece of Transformers media in Japan uses the Hasbro terms now. The only ones that still use the old Takara names are old-time collector-aimed stuff like Masterpiece and such. Animated, Prime, Go!, Adventure (Japanese RID 2015), Cyberverse, the Netflix cartoon, EarthSpark, and even the Transformers Go! Go! manga aimed at toddlers all use "Autobot", "Decepticon", "Optimus Prime", "Maximal", "Predacon", etc. in their Japanese-language versions.

New information, yay!

Interesting, as of those, only Go!Go! and the Netflix "anime" are G1-continuity story universes. So there are some breaks, and it does seem to have started with the live-action films, but it's not an absolute rule....

So all we can really say is "Wild King is likely not a G1 universe. Maybe."

And lots of children's anime/manga in general.

Not that Japan is especially unique in this regard. Or to quote Daffy Duck, "Thith ith the latht time I work with anyone with a thpeech impediment!!"

Much obliged. It's a lot tougher to get things both accurate and understandable than we initially thought, as the dialogue in the first two episodes was really simple and basic, while Episodes 3 and 4 became a lot trickier to understand.

Well, don't be disheartened, is the best advice I can give (publicly). And who knows, maybe someone will come out of retirement to help. I can keep trying with Doug, at least.

 

[Sabrblade]

Interesting, as of those, only Go!Go! and the Netflix "anime" are G1-continuity story universes.

Though, I did leave out the Japanese translations of the Marvel and IDW comics because I haven't seen if their translations use the English or original Japanese names/terms. I could see the Marvel translation using the Japanese ones (if they wanted to feel more authentically 80s), but IDW could go either way.

Of note, the Japanese translation of IDW did actually respell Dai Atlas's name from one word (ダイアトラス) to two words (ダイ・アトラス) to better reflect the English spelling of the name being parsed as two words, so that could be a hint that the IDW translation might also use the English names and terms.

So all we can really say is "Wild King is likely not a G1 universe. Maybe."

I wouldn't go that far.

While the wiki does currently have separate pages for Optimus and Megatron, that could always change, as it was decided before the series began that it might be safer to initially treat Wild King as its own uniquely new thing, like with Cyberverse and EarthSpark, until more information would be brought to light. And after helping to fansub the show thus far, I'm kinda leaning towards this possibly being just another G1 universe, as Optimus and Megatron don't really look or feel all that different from their traditional G1 depictions (Optimus's toy even literally recycles the same transformation scheme as the Thrilling 30 Legends class toy, and I'd even argue that both he and Megatron look more like their traditional G1 looks in robot mode than their Classics toys did), and everything new or unique about the world of this series feels entirely confined to the planet Elementros, with a familiar-to-us Optimus and Megatron presented fish out of water on the new setting of this planet.

I plan to eventually bring up these feelings and findings to the other wiki staff, but I'm waiting until more episodes come out first in case something else comes about to change my mind.

Well, don't be disheartened, is the best advice I can give (publicly).

Oh, trust me, these are very exciting times.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

What possible use could there be in lumping this in the already unwieldy G1 pages?

 

[Sabrblade]

Episode 5: "Courage to Protect What's Important"

Also, the official website has been updated with bios for Ignite Leo and Spirituan.

Energy Beast IGNITE LEO
A lion-type Transformer with a strong sense of justice and belligerence. He possesses "Flame Energy" within his body, allowing him to control the power of fire. He challenges Optimus to a figure after receiving word from his old friend Spirituan that he has found the Legendary Hero. After exchanging blows with Optimus, who was Wildocked with Lightlong and Hydrophant, he was convinced that he could be the force that could stop the evil power!

Energy Beast SPIRITUAN
A spinosaurus-type Transformers who is the most intelligent and calm of the Dinosaur Tribe. He possesses "Ground Energy" within his body, allowing him to control the power of earth. He excels in technical combat, using qualities and the surrounding environment rather than mere power. He was the first to sense the evil energy hidden behind the Element Shield, and sought a way to stop Megatron. Then he learns of the existence of Optimus and stands before him to see if he is qualified to be the legendary hero...!

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

What possible use could there be in lumping this in the already unwieldy G1 pages?

Maybe their hand will be forced by a retcon. Haven't they done that before already?

Not necessarily with G1, or just G1, but I thought they retconned something seemingly unrelated into it before.