Lost media

2025-12-18T00:31:35Z

Goattilio:

'''Lost media''' is a term for media that is no longer available to the public or has been completely lost or destroyed over time. Some reasons for this can include limited distribution of the original material, copyright disputes regarding its publication, the shutdown of the service through which it was originally hosted, or sometimes just an outright loss of all available copies.

As a {{#expr: {{CURRENTYEAR}}-1984}}-year-old franchise covering just about every possible medium—much of it exclusive to different regions separated by linguistic barriers—it is inevitable that there's a staggering amount of lost ''Transformers'' media: thus, the content in this page is hardly comprehensive, and there's almost certainly more beyond what's listed here.

{{stub|Other, as-of-now undocumented, instances of ''Transformers'' lost media}}

==Lost ''Transformers'' media==
===Film===
*The IMAX edition of ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' (2007) features two minutes of additional footage. This footage has never been included in any home release.
*At the [[Transformers Hall of Fame/2011|2011]] [[Transformers Hall of Fame]] ceremony, in lieu of any cartoon or movie footage to play as a music video for fan nominee [[Erector (G1)|Erector]], a short mockumentary about Erector was played instead. This very tongue-in-cheek video gave a fictitious account of Erector's long history with the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]], with many people interviewed talking about how much the character meant to them and how, time and again, he had nearly made it into the next big piece of ''Transformers'' media only to be cut out at the last second (none of which was at all true, of course). This short film has never seen the light of day since its original screening. However, a few pieces of "concept art" have since surfaced online, including a ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars]]''-themed Erector who transforms into a beaver.

===Cartoon===
[[Image:Primevaldawnii-airazor.jpg|right|200px|thumb]]
* Various dubs of different ''Transformers'' cartoons have been partially lost:
** The European French dubs of 16 episodes of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]] have been lost, mainly in season 3.
** The Canadian French dubs of 33 episodes of the original cartoon have been lost, mainly in season 1.
** Three quarters of the French dubs of the [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|Unicron Trilogy]] have been lost. Around 20 episodes of ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' and 10 episodes of ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Cybertron]]'' have been released on DVD. According to several voice actors from the shows and to a few fans, all the episodes have been dubbed and broadcast at the time. Findings of [[Open Fire!|two]] [[Titans|late]] episodes of ''Energon'' and ''Cybertron'' confirms that the series have been entirely dubbed.
** The Latin American-Spanish dub of ''Cybertron'' episodes [[Assault|28]] to [[Beginning|52]] is lost. Some clips with the dub have resurfaced over the years, but no full episodes.
** The Indonesian dubs of the last five episodes of [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|''Transformers: Prime'']] have been lost.
** The Indonesian dubs of the original cartoon have been completely lost. Only the "[[Starscream's Brigade]]" episode can be found.
* "[[Primeval Dawn II]]" was a 10-minute motion comic that debuted at Wizard World [[Chicago]] in 2002. While a short introductory animation exists, the full episode has never been published online or distributed in any other medium since.

===Video games===
[[Image:B4tas Profile.jpg|right|200px|thumb]]
*''[[Battle for the Allspark]]'' and its sequel, ''[[Battle for the Allspark v2]]'', were browser-based multiplayer games that went offline sometime around 2009. No archives of their content remain.
*''[[Hunt for the Decepticons]]'' was a series of browser games meant to tie into the [[Transformers (2010 toyline)#HFTD|the eponymous 2010 subline]]. As with the ''Battle for the Allspark'' games, no archives of their content remain.
*[[Transformers Online (2012 video game)|''Transformers Online'' (2012)]] was a [[China|Chinese]] MMORPG based on ''[[Transformers: Prime (franchise)|Transformers: Prime]]'' that was shut down after just six months and is currently unplayable.
*[[Transformers Universe (Jagex)|''Transformers Universe'']] was another ''Prime''-based online game. Similar to ''Online'', the game spent six months in open beta before being permanently shut down in January 2015.
*''[[Transformers Legends (mobile game)|Transformers Legends]]'' was a multiplayer card-based battle game for mobile devices that was shut down in October 2015, after almost three years of existence.
*''[[Transformers: The Last Knight VR Experience]]'' was a VR game developed for the HTC VIVE which was only playable as a promotional tie-in to the eponymous movie in a select few theaters across the US. It hasn't been released to the public since.
*[[Transformers Online (2017 video game)|''Transformers Online'' (2017)]] was an online team shooter based on [[Generation 1]] and the [[live-action film series]] developed for the Chinese market. The game spent around 2 1/2 years in open beta before being shut down in February 2020, leaving it fully unplayable.
*''[[Transformers: Heavy Metal]]'' was a mobile game that was launched in a beta form in a handful of countries starting in June 2021, only to be shut down a little over a year later in August 2022 and is no longer playable.

===Comics===
*A promotional [[Transformers: BotBots (franchise)|BotBots]] [[Transformers BotBots Adventure|comic book]] was released exclusively to 40 [[South Africa]]n influencers with children in [[2019]]. Each comic was printed to feature the children of the influencer interacting with the BotBots at night in the [[Mall (BotBots)|mall]]. While some pages have been recovered by fans, so far no complete scans of it have been found.

===Online content===
[[Image:S7 snupdesktop.jpg|right|200px|thumb]]
*While many videos on [[SectorSeven.org]] (the main website for the [[Sector Seven (game)|Sector Seven ARG]]) have been reposted elsewhere, the website itself has since gone offline and with it a large portion of its content. The landing page can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine, but only its first revealed password ('takara83') seems to work.
*In early [[2007]], in conjunction with their [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon timeline|concerted efforts to organize]] the sprawling [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity]], [[TakaraTomy]] published a [http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/TF/table.html timeline on their main ''Transformers'' website] that charted the full chronology of the Japanese G1 and Japanese Unicron Trilogy continuities. In the years since, however, this timeline had been removed from Takara's website and all attempts to retrieve and archive its contents have been met with failure, due to said contents having been made using Adobe Flash software, which was discontinued in [[2020]], and the Flash files themselves being long gone.
*''[[My Transformers: Rescue Bots Adventure]]'' is an interactive [[multipath adventure]] game that served as a tie-in with the ''[[Transformers: Rescue Bots (cartoon)|Rescue Bots]]'' cartoon. It combined brand new original footage and dialogue with preexisting footage recycled from the series itself, and allowed the viewer to engage with the story by choosing different options of actions for the characters to perform in both fire-themed and water-themed rescue missions. Each option would lead to a different YouTube video that continued the story in each path taken. All of the videos for this adventure were originally uploaded to YouTube in [[August]] [[2017]] in the time between the end of the TV series and the start of its sequel, ''[[Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (cartoon)|Rescue Bots Academy]]''. However, the videos were all taken down at some point afterward, with only the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7fC3cgiMo4 first part] reuploaded to a new channel in [[October]], but without the in-video links that would lead to the next parts of the adventure. As of {{CURRENTYEAR}}, all that remains of this game are the aforementioned first video and its original [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7fC3cgiMo4 announcement trailer].
*[[YTV]] released a browser game in [[2006]] to tie into [[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Transformers: Cybertron]], named ''Cyber Planet Key Chase''. It was only briefly available before being taken down some time in [[2007]]. The [https://web.archive.org/web/20061105194103/https://www.ytv.com/promos/transformers06/game.asp page where it would be played] was saved on the Wayback Machine, but the files for the game itself were not.

===Audio===
*The ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (franchise)#Fight.21 Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Operation Combination|Operation Combination]]'' [[Fight!_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers:_Operation_Combination_(telephone_audio_adventure)|Telephone Audio Adventure]]s were brief recorded messages available to [[Japan]]ese fans in [[1992]], and have not subsequently been located.
*While the first 37 episodes of the [[Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)|''Kiss Players'' radio drama]] were collected and released on CD, episodes 38–51 have remained unavailable since their original broadcast from [[December]] [[2006]] to [[March]] [[2007]].

===Commercials===
* It's been reported that the Mini-Vehicle variants from [[Peru|Peruvian]] manufacturer [[Lynsa]] got their own toy commercial, even featuring a jingle with lyrics that, according to one account, would be sung as something roughly translating to ''"Transformers, Transformers, they are not only what they seem to be, they are much more action!''" <ref>[http://www.tf-1.com/articles/mini_frame.php?art=peru Peruvian Minibots] at TF-1.com</ref> from the original Peruvian Spanish. Footage of this commercial has never been found.

==Recovered ''Transformers'' media==
Some formerly lost ''Transformers'' media has since been recovered or restored, often through extensive fan efforts.

===Cartoon===
[[Image:TFA StarscreamsFantasy Relaxing.jpg|right|200px|thumb]]
*The fourth episode of the [[2001]] [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon]], "[[Spychangers to the Rescue]]", originally aired on American television on [[September 13]], [[2001]] - that is, a mere two days after the [[September 11]] terrorist attack. Due to increased sensitivities brought about by said attack, the episode had to be temporarily removed from broadcast rotation after its initial airing and re-edited to change the episode's subject from the potential danger of an [[Plutonium Energy Generator|energy generator]] exploding to said generator cracking open and releasing a [[zirconium gas|corrosive gas]] instead. Additionally, certain scenes of battle and panic from the original broadcast version were also removed for the later rebroadcast version. When the series released on DVD in the [[United Kingdom]], it was the later rebroadcast edit of the episode that was included, while the original broadcast edit has never seen official release. For over a decade, the original edit of the episode was considered lost until a VHS recording of it was uploaded to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwA_lhWTs8 YouTube on November 15, 2013].
*Starting from [[Unicron Perishes|episode 38]], the Latin American-Spanish dub of all ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Transformers: Energon]]'' episodes was lost for several years. In [[November]] [[2020]], the Facebook page ''Transformers The Golden Age'', along with the group ''Transformers: Ñ Posteo'', launched a search to find the missing episodes. As a result, seven were recovered. Later, between [[June]] [[2021]] and [[August]] [[2022]], the remaining episodes were recovered thanks to a rebroadcast of the series by Canal 9 in Nicaragua.
*A total of 16 animated shorts were produced during the first season ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]'', but only 14 of them were publicly released online. The remaining two, "[[Logo (Animated)|Logo]]" and "[[Starscream's Fantasy]]", were screened during [[BotCon 2009]] and [[BotCon 2012]], but otherwise never made available in any other format. It wasn't until 2022 when, after a sudden surge of interest and fan requests, [[Marty Isenberg]] allowed the two shorts to be published online unofficially.
*The second Italian dub of the third season of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]] produced by [[Dynit]] in [[2011]], originally released on DVD, was considered lost, with the exception of a few clips, for over a decade, until someone was able to get a copy of the disk, and uploaded it on [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz9ysp73_5MyQm8A-OTj50k1Iehop-HD9&si=UpoJS7gc_YeFVNec Youtube on December 5, 2025].

===Video games===
*The [[Hoover Dam]] exterior level for the PC and home consoles version of 2007's [[Transformers The Game (console)|''Transformers The Game'']] was long assumed to be lost, until it was successfully datamined from the Wii version during 2018 in a state surprisingly not too far from completion. A more unfinished version of the level was also later discovered in the PS3 port.
*''[[Transformers Battle Universe]]'' had been rendered unplayable since 2009 as a result of the online service it relied on shutting down, but it was again restored into a playable state by fans in 2017.

===Online content===
*2007 marked a turning point in the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]] with the release of the [[Transformers (film)|first live-action movie]]. With the sudden newfound interest in the brand, TakaraTomy created a [http://web.archive.org/web/20100430185249/http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/TF/bible/index.html new website] called "[[World of the Transformers]]", which gave an overview of ''Transformers'' lore and its many different facets. However, much of this website's content was made using Adobe Flash software, and when the site closed down some years later, its contents were thought to be lost for good once Flash was discontinued in 2020. However, many of the site's original Flash files were actually retrievable via web archiving software, and so a recreation of its contents (complete with a full English translation) has been made and kept intact '''[[Source:World of the Transformers|here]]'''.

==See also==
* [[:Category:Unproduced scripts|Unproduced scripts]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Fan terminology]]

MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Lost media