Unknown Generation 1 animation studios
Right: Examples of final character models (again, notice the sharper lines on the face) and shaded coloring used by Toei.
For the production of the second season of the original Transformers animated series, Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions utilized the services of Toei, AKOM, and a third unknown animation studio.
The studio's existence was first suggested by Toei's own website resume, which confirmed they produced only 39 of the second season's 49 episodes. Of the remaining ten episodes, three are immediately identifiable as AKOM productions, leaving a remaining 7 to be the work of the unknown studio.
Series production co-ordinator Paul Davids referred to the studio in a 2002 interview, noting it was only used a "couple of times" and claiming it was in the Philippines, but this does not seem to be an accurate recollection of its location; the only animation studios open in the Philippines at the time Transformers season 2 was animated were Optifex, who worked exclusively for Hanna-Barbera, and Burbank Animation. While Burbank did work on Sunbow/Marvel shows made around the same time, like Jem, My Little Pony and Defenders of the Earth[1], their resume does not appear to include any Transformers episodes. This suggests Davids may have been mistaken in his recollection.
As such, there has been no luck in determining the identity of this mysterious studio.
Episodes
Season 2
This mysterious studio's work is not as distinct from Toei's as AKOM's episodes are, so identifying exactly which episodes were done by it has always posed a challenge. Some extensive research by your friendly neighorhood TFWiki editors has yielded the following list; animation quality varies between them, so the main identifying feature is the consistent use of outdated animation models for a small handful of the new season 2 cast members that are not seen anywhere else in the season outside of this limited group of episodes. Those episodes are:
- Features the alternate model for Hoist
- Features alternate models for Tracks, Hoist, and Inferno
- Features alternate models for Tracks and Astrotrain
- Features alternate models for Inferno, Hoist, and Smokescreen
- Features alternate models for Tracks, Skids, Thrust, and Astrotrain
Immediately obvious features of the alternate models include: Red Alert being colored bright white instead of greyish off-white; a rounder head for Inferno, based on the one seen in his full-body character model, rather than the more toy-accurate design seen in other episodes from his close-up head turnaround model; a black helmet with orange horns for Grapple, as opposed to solid orange; a green-and-orange hinge in the centre of Hoist's chest rather than solid orange, burgundy parts instead of red on Smokescreen; red pectorals and shoulder-vanes on Thrust instead of grey/black; black windows on Tracks's robot mode (but not vehicle mode); a grey helmet and shoulder-wheels on Astrotrain instead of purple; and a pale blue torso instead of dark blue on Skids. There are other, more subtle differences; check the "Notes" section on each character's individual article for details. All of these early models appear in the original commercials advertising the toys; the Autobot characters did not reappear in later seasons, but Astrotrain and Thrust's early models continued to be consistently used for all season three appearances by the characters that were animated by AKOM.
The remaining episode is harder to pin down, but exhaustive research indicates it is "A Prime Problem", which features the same general softness of line and warmth of color as "Auto Berserk," as well as some unique airbrushing effects seen in that episode, and in the aforementioned commercial. It also features a lot of very un-Toei block-shading lifted overly literally from character models.
Check out this article's talk page for our very thorough dissection of the particulars!
Season 3?
The extent of the studio's influence beyond season 2 is unclear. It is not impossible that some of the season 3 episodes attributed to AKOM (a potential 16 episodes) could have been their work; "Starscream's Ghost" and "Only Human," in particular, are well above the normal AKOM standard and notably, feature the only consistent, episode-long usages of Cyclonus, Arcee, and Springer's outdated character models in the season.
Notes
- Although Toei has a Filipino branch, they were not established until November 1986, well after production of both season 2 and 3 of The Transformers (bar "The Return of Optimus Prime") had already been completed.
External links
- Interview with production coordinator Paul Davids at the Cybertron Chronicle, suggesting the use of a studio from the Philippines: "Three to four weeks 'in-house' to prepare character designs, backgrounds, color models, record voices and edit soundtrack, complete the storyboard, and ship the show to Korea or Japan (and a few times we used an animation facility in the Philippines)."
