There is a whole bunch of information (some of it contradictory) about this NON-ANIME (depending on who you ask) title. Instead of trying to reconcile it without having any of the versions of the TV series and movie in my hands, I'm just presenting the information as I have received it. As such, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any information on this page.

Since the original TV series was made for the North American television market, I believe no changes were made for it's North American broadcast. Also, the series continued in Japan after being taken off the air in the United States, as far as I know those episodes were never dubbed into English and released in North America in any form.

The Transformers Movie DVDs released in Canada and the United States appear to contain the unedited version of the movie, although I haven't confirmed this personally and do not have details beyond that the 'Oh, s***!' line is in there and other scenes do not appear to be edited.

According to the Internet Movie Database the Transformers movie was edited in the following way for the VHS release(s) (this information has been removed from their site and may not be accurate):

• The film release included a conversation in which a character responded with "Oh, s***!" - the line somehow was kept in, apparently as a joke by the creators. It was deleted from the first video release but recently restored on subsequent releases.
• The Canadian version that was recently released by B'heivjer doesn't have the scrolling text and voice dubbing but does in fact have Spike saying "Aw, sh*t, what are we gonna do now" right after he and bumblebee destroy Moonbase 1.
• The Japanese release, including the Laserdisc, included Star Wars-style scrolling text in the title sequence, as well as being titled "Matrix Forever."
• Right before the battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime, Optimus is seen standing back up for no apparent reason. This is because in the original version, Dirge had charged at Prime but Optimus grabbed Dirge and slammed his head into the ground shattering Dirge into a zillion pieces, this was deemed too violent and was cut from the movie.
• Another cuss word taken out of the video release was spoken by Ultra Magnus shortly before he was killed. Originally he says "Open! Damn-it, open!" as he tries to open the matrix but is unsuccessful. It was reedited to remove the word "damn".
• In the theatrical version, Grimlock says the Line, "Grimlock kick @$$!" but was later changed in the video release to "Grimlock kick butt".

ShadowKn55 added the following information on January 3rd, 2001:

• The Japanese name for the Transformers TV show was "Tatakae! Cho Robot Seimeitai."
• When the Japanese Transformers TV show aired, the last 3 episodes from the American series (The Rebirth parts 1-3) were not shown which leads into the next saga the Headmasters. In the Rebirth, the Headmasters were given an alternate origin. There were dubbed versions created for the Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory. They were made in Asia and shown on Star TV. The dubbing quality was poor (maybe the only reason why I think it is poor because I got so attached to the American voice actors) and names were changed.
• Also, in Transformers: the Movie when it was shown in the theater, Optimus Prime turned into dust when he died and in subsequent video releases, he died with he body still intact. This was probably done so because Optimus Prime was such a loved character that people didn't want him to die off permanently. In "Dark Awakening" his coffin was opened with his body still intact and was later resurrected in "Return of Optimus Prime".
• Transformers: the Movie was first released by FHE (Family Home Entertainment) with the movie edits. It was later released by other companies such as Avid (edited) and Behavior (uncut). The Japanese version "Matrix Forever" has additional footage of Autobot City transforming and contains the edits.
• This is not really an edit but it might be useful. The 5 transformers episodes following the movie (Five Faces Darkness) was released onto VHS and Laserdisc by FHE. The box and jacket art for the Five Faces of Darkness was incorrectly done. All the pictures shown are from the Rebirth and not from the Five Faces of Darkness.

Steve-o Stonebraker added the following information on February 25th, 2001:

Hi, I wanted to let you know that you've got some misinformation in your editing report for the Transformers movie and cartoons. I always feel a bit wary when submitting these sorts of emails, because I don't want to sound like I'm bashing your work... I sent some corrections to an editor at UGO.com after they published a TF feature, and while the author was initially receptive and enthusiastic, he never responded after I sent my corrections, nor did he actually update the feature... So, please, don't take this the wrong way. I have a somewhat long list for you, but that's just because I'm rather meticulous about TF information and I like to get errors corrected before they propagate too far. I'll go more or less in the order of your edit report.

So, to get started, you're quoting an out-of-date IMDB report on the Transformers movie video releases. Some of the things you've got listed are false net.rumors which IMDB has, thankfully, finally removed from their site. You might want to take a look at their update and echo the changes.

In your next paragraph, you refer to the original series as "headmasters saga" which is inaccurate. "Headmasters" was the name of the first Japan-only TF series, being named after a group of toys introduced near the end of the Transformers' initial run in the 80s. You are correct, however, that the original series (98 episodes) was created for Americans, and thus there were no changes made before broadcast. I have no idea if the
Japanese dub, which aired slightly after the American version, had any significant changes, but I've never heard of any.

After the end of the American series, there were three full-fledged TF anime series. Their short and most commonly-used names are "Headmasters", "Masterforce", and "Victory". All three series were dubbed into English
in their entirety. The English dubs are *very bad*, and sound like they were done by five guys in their garage. (They're also really, really funny, so I kinda like them.) It is rumored, but not confirmed, that the
dubs were done in Hong Kong. The dubbed TF anime was broadcast over large portions of southeast Asia on the channel Star World, as noted by ShadowKn55 further down your report. I don't really know if the content
of the episodes was changed in the dub, but I suspect that it wasn't -- aside from the terrible translation and arbitrary name changes for some characters -- since it was never intended for a "sensitive" American audience.

Next, regarding the movie DVDs, both discs (the Seville and Rhino versions) have "oh shit!" in them. The Rhino disc is absolutely identical to the US theatrical release except that the soft-mattes which made the movie "widescreen" have been removed to show the entire full-frame picture. For extensive info on the various releases, see CJ Stankiewicz's TF:TM website: http://iocon.com/cj/tf/movie/movie.htm and take a look at his "video releases" section. Everything is laid out there in full detail.

Lastly are the submissions from ShadowKn55. While well-intentioned, this fan dumped a few popular myths on you.

First up: Prime crumbling to dust. There is zero evidence that this is the case. It does not appear in the script, the storyboards, or any video or film print that has ever been uncovered by fans. The only way it could possibly be true would be that it appeared in an early release of the film reels which were then recalled and replaced with a different version while the movie was in theaters, with all trace of it lost forever. The most reasonable explanation is that a fan or two here and there has mixed their memories of Prime's death with Starscream's, and upon telling other people about this, mucked up their memories as well.

Next, the original video release of the movie by FHE had exactly one edit: "Oh shit" was blanked out. Nothing else changed.

The Japanese version of the movie does *not* have extra footage at any point in the film. There is, however, a promo reel for the movie which was sent to theater owners before the movie was released to encourage them to order it for the summer. This promo is often referred to as the "Japanese trailer" because it was first seen on a Japanese TF videotape. The promo contains early animation tests, some of which appeared in the final film, and some which did not.

There is no evidence that the footage not used in the final film was ever meant to be (for example, one scene shows Ultra Magnus in an alternate color scheme). Additionally, there is no evidence that there are any other scenes or shots that were animated and then cut before the theatrical release. There are things one can find in the script and storyboards that aren't in the final film, but that does not mean they were animated at all, or even animated in rough pencil tests.