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38-642: Initially, Takara , the Japanese producers of the Transformers toyline, imported the American Transformers cartoon series from 1985 to 1986. When the series came to an end with the three-part miniseries "The Rebirth" in 1987, however, Takara decided to continue the series themselves, declining to import The Rebirth and instead creating a full-length 35-episode spin-off series, Transformers: The Headmasters (two additional clips episodes were produced after

76-493: A subsidiary of Index. On 13 May 2005, Takara and Tomy announced their merger, with Tomy being the surviving company. It became effective on 1 March 2006. In English, the official name of the merged company is "TOMY Co. Ltd." while in Japan the legal company name is "K. K. Takara-Tomy" ( 株式会社タカラトミー ; TYO : 7867 ). In deciding upon the merged company's new name, "Takara" was used for its international brand recognition and "Tomy"

114-557: A dozen characters, earned him his second Clio recognition and a Silver Medal from the International Film and Television Festival of New York (1985). In 1996, Moschitta was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the Emmy organization) for his contribution to outstanding commercials. Moschitta also appeared in a number of movies and television shows. For example, he voiced

152-461: A duel destroyed them both as Soundblaster and Twincast. Human Daniel Witwicky and his young Autobot friend Wheelie also played major roles in the series, serving as the youthful characters for the audience to identify with. More new characters were introduced when Galvatron returned to leadership and the Decepticons embarked on a space voyage, ransacking planets in a chain of stories that introduced

190-502: A fad in the early 2000s. In 1978, Takara developed the Choro-Q , mini pullback cars. Internationally, they have been sold as "Penny Racers". Takara also invented Battle Beasts , the E-kara karaoke microphone, B-Daman , and Beyblade , a product that has achieved high popularity globally. These toys were sold or distributed internationally by Hasbro. The Dakko-Chan doll was revived in 2001 in

228-400: A new colorful form. This one had enough features to connote the original product, but divested the traits which brought criticism (for example, the new doll was not always coloured black). Takara developed and published video games , the first being Transformers: Mystery of Convoy based on their own Transformers toys. They also licensed their other properties into video games for example

266-608: Is an American actor, singer and spokesman. He is best known for his rapid speech delivery. He appeared in over 100 commercials as "The Micro Machines Guy" and in a 1981 ad for FedEx . He provided the voice for Blurr in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Transformers (1986–1987), Transformers: Animated (2008–2009) and two direct-to-video films. Born in New York City to an Italian-American family, Moschitta had been credited by Guinness World Records as

304-589: Is culture"). The company focused on traditional toys and board games . They created the Licca-chan dolls, which has been referred to as "Japan's Barbie " in Western press. Some of the globally known toys and franchises that Takara invented include Transformers and Beyblade . Takara also held the license to localise and distribute Hasbro products in Japan including The Game of Life , Blythe dolls , Magic: The Gathering , Duel Masters trading card games. Takara

342-505: Is occasionally called "Spaceship Bruce"), as well as stilted and even bizarre dialogue, such as "I'll send you express to hell!" and "Fortress Maximus has come himself" . Also, Wheelie does not speak in rhyme (but seems to have a slight Scottish accent), the Dinobots speak normally (Grimlock does not say his famous "Me Grimlock" at all), Raiden is known as "Grimlock", and Blurr speaks abnormally slowly (though this at least can be chalked up to

380-487: Is revealed that Vector Sigma, the super-computer at the planet's heart, is destabilizing, and Optimus Prime again sacrifices his life to save Cybertron. This proves to be only delaying the inevitable, however, as a bomb attack instigated by Scorponok turns Cybertron into a burnt-out, inhospitable husk. Rodimus Prime departs to search for a new planet for the Transformers to live on, leaving Cerebros in command, operating from

418-650: The Family Computer Disk System (FDS). It has single-player and multiplayer modes, and it uses a floppy disk for the save game feature. Players control one of the Autobot Headmasters through four planets – Earth, Cybertron, Master, and Chaar fighting the Decepticons. Unlike its predecessor, Mystery of Convoy , players cannot switch between robot and vehicle mode, as they are predetermined by level. Players also cannot choose which Autobot player character to use. Players must collect them throughout

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456-535: The Game Boy in the form of simplified "demakes" called Nettou , starting with Fatal Fury 2 . DreamMix TV World Fighters was released in 2003 as a crossover between Takara, Hudson Soft and Konami . From 2003 Takara also owned the video game developer and publisher Atlus . Some Takara properties were licensed to and published by Atlus. In 2006, after the merger with Tomy , Takara's former controlling stake in Atlus

494-521: The Horrorcons , Autobot and Decepticon clones. Later, the Decepticon ninja six-changer Sixshot kills Ultra Magnus, and the Autobot Headmasters manage to destroy Galvatron, leaving Scorponok to become leader of the Decepticons again. When the Decepticons then return to Master, refugees from the planet are caught in a plasma bomb accident that fuses them to the arms of several Autobots and Decepticons, creating

532-731: The SNK Neo Geo based arcade games including the Fatal Fury and the Samurai Shodown series for the 8 and 16-bit consoles, Sega Genesis , the Super Nintendo Entertainment System , or the Famicom . Takara with its contract developer Tamsoft also produced the influential 3D fighting series Battle Arena Toshinden , and other original games such as SteamGear Mash . Takara from 1994–1998 also brought many SNK fighters to

570-471: The "StarTV dub". The dub is, however, infamous for its poor quality, full of mistranslations and incorrect names (for example, Cybertron is pronounced "Cyberton", Blaster becomes known as "Billy", Blurr is "Wally", Jazz is "Marshall", Hot Rod is "Rodimus" (pronounced "Roadimus"), the Matrix becomes the "Power Pack", Spike is "Sparkle", Soundblaster is "New Soundwave", Metroplex is called "Philip", and Fortress Maximus

608-411: The 1980s the company was criticized overseas for using it as a mascot due to its golliwog -like character and racial undertones. By the end of production in 1988, six million of these dolls were sold. In 1967, Takara produced the first generation of the Licca-chan doll, which would become very popular in Japan to this day, and which was 21 centimeters tall and had the last name of Kayama, inspired by

646-646: The English dub were released over 4-discs on DVD in Region 2. The full series was released on DVD in North America by Shout! Factory on July 5, 2011, without the English dub. In 2008, Madman Entertainment released the series on DVD in Australia in Region 4, PAL format. A novel based on this anime titled Transformers: The Headmasters - Dream War ( トランスフォーマー ザ・ヘッドマスターズ 夢戦争 , Toransufōmā: Za Heddomasutāzu - Yume Sensō )

684-467: The Famicom title Lost Word of Jenny based on their Jenny doll, and Choro Q games . Other games published by Takara include Banana Prince and Arabian Nights: Sabaku no Seirei-ō . In the 1990s and early 2000s, Takara published video games for franchises and mangas such as Chibi Maruko-chan , Armored Trooper Votoms , Duel Masters and Tokyo Mew Mew . The company ported (adapted) some of

722-594: The Japanese series are a group of small Cybertronians who departed the planet millions of years ago and crash-landed on the inhospitable planet Master. To survive its harsh climate, a select few Cybertronians constructed larger bodies called "Transtectors", to which they connected as the heads. Six years after the decisive battle against Unicron , a group of rebellious Headmasters led by Weirdwolf join with Galvatron 's Decepticons in an attack on Cybertron. The Headmasters, led by Cerebros, return to their home planet to aid in its defense. The situation soon gets worse when it

760-779: The Targetmasters, and in a final move, Scorponok attempts the destruction of Earth, only to be foiled, thanks in part to a traitorous Sixshot. Not professionally released in the United States until July 5, 2011, The Headmasters was dubbed into English in Hong Kong by the dubbing company Omni Productions, for broadcast on the Malaysian TV channel, RTM1 , and later the Singapore satellite station, StarTV , where it attained greater fame, leading it to often be referred to (albeit erroneously) as

798-525: The World's Fastest Talker, with the ability to articulate 586 words per minute . His record was broken in 1990 by Steve Woodmore , who spoke 637 words per minute and then by Sean Shannon, who spoke 655 words per minute on August 30, 1995. However, Moschitta questions the legitimacy of those who claim to be faster than he is. In 1981, Moschitta appeared on the ABC TV series That's Incredible! , where he recited

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836-459: The ad number 11 among its "Top 100 Campaigns" in March 1999. According to Moschitta, he did 29 flawless takes of the final scene of the commercial, prompting the director to remark that he is "like a machine" who never makes mistakes. In response, Moschitta deliberately fumbled on a line, which was ultimately the take that was used in the final cut. He was a contestant on Pyramid in the 1970s and then

874-775: The ad, "Fast Paced World", directed by Joe Sedelmaier , Moschitta played a fast-talking executive named Jim Spleen. The commercial garnered six Clio Awards , including Best Performance–Male award for Moschitta and earned him the nickname "Motormouth". Turn-of-the-century polls named it the Most Effective Campaign in the History of Advertising and named Moschitta the Most Effective Spokesperson. The 40th-anniversary issue of New York Magazine (October 6, 2008) listed it as number one in "The Most Memorable Advertisements Madison Avenue Ever Sold." Advertising Age ranked

912-465: The character of Blurr in The Transformers: The Movie , and reprised the character on Transformers Animated . Moschitta has been an announcer on two television game shows: Hollywood Squares and Balderdash . In 2016, Moschitta appeared on an episode of Superhuman on FOX as a part of the challenge "Fast Car" in which he rapidly explained the various prices of three different vehicles to mental calculator Mike Byster , who had to calculate

950-543: The company adopted the name Takara in 1960. The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1984. Despite the big success of Beyblade in 1999, Takara was struggling financially. In July 2000, Konami bought a 22.2% controlling stake in the company. In 2003, Takara purchased Atlus and transferred all its video gaming properties to it. Konami sold its share to Index Corporation in April 2005 and Takara became

988-496: The difficulty of imitating John Moschitta 's famous fast-talking style). Omni also dubbed the 1990s and 2000s Godzilla movies and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky , both of which are often ridiculed for extremely bad and at times cheesy dubbing. This dub has seen some releases in the United Kingdom , when it aired on AnimeCentral from September 13, 2007. In 2005, the full series with the original Japanese audio with subtitles and

1026-465: The fact for direct-to-video release). Supplanting The Rebirth' s position in Japanese continuity, The Headmasters occurred one year after The Return of Optimus Prime , introducing the title characters to the Transformers universe in a different way. Whereas in western fiction, the Headmasters result from the merging of a Transformer with an organic alien being from the planet Nebulos, the Headmasters of

1064-400: The game, because they will be flown in by helicopter and will replace that Autobot when they die. Takara This is an accepted version of this page Takara Co., Ltd. ( 株式会社タカラ , Kabushiki gaisha Takara ) was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy Company, Ltd. to form Takara Tomy . The Takara motto was 「遊びは文化」 ("playing

1102-519: The lyrics from " Ya Got Trouble " from The Music Man . The appearance led to many other television offers, such as The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show . Also, after seeing the show, Patrick Kelly and Michael Tesch, employees of the Ally & Gargano ad agency, hired Moschitta to appear in a FedEx commercial; the package-delivery company was then still known by its original name, Federal Express. In

1140-793: The musician Yuzo Kayama and actress Yoshiko Kayama. They released the Jenny doll in the 1980s. In 1975, Takara produced the Diaclone and Microman Micro Change toys. In 1984, the toy line was rebranded by Hasbro as " Transformers ". Takara continued to sell Microman and used it as the basis for the Micronauts toy line. Micronauts were sold internationally by the Mego Corporation . Other transforming toys made by Takara include Brave , Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver , and Daigunder . Both Webdiver and Daigunder toys could interact with TV screens, which proved only but

1178-418: The planet Athenia. Meanwhile, Scorponok replaces Galvatron- who had vanished in the explosion- as Decepticon leader, constructing a personal Transtector and redubbing himself MegaZarak to battle Cerebros' own giant form, Fortress Maximus. Although populated mainly with new characters, The Headmasters featured characters from all previous seasons, including new versions of Soundwave and Blaster, rebuilt after

Transformers: The Headmasters - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-512: The sticker prices of each one correctly. The episode aired on June 26, 2017. In 1986, Moschitta recorded a spoken-word album entitled Ten Classics in Ten Minutes . In this recording, Moschitta summarizes ten classic literary tales in one minute each. The collection includes stories such as Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick ; William Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet ; F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby ; Margaret Mitchell 's Gone with

1254-665: Was a production assistant on Pyramid producer Bob Stewart's game show Shoot for the Stars in 1977 and later played two weeks of Pyramid as a celebrity, one in 1983 and one in 1988. In addition to his commercials for Federal Express, Moschitta completed over 750 television and radio commercials, including national campaigns for Minute Rice , Quality Inn , Northwest Airlines , Olympus Camera , Mattel , Post Cereals , Tiger Games , Continental Airlines , Burger King , ABC , NBC , CBS , PBS , HBO , Micro Machines , and JetBlue . The "Great Cable Comparison" spot for HBO, in which he played

1292-551: Was also involved in software, publishing video games based on its toys like Transformers and Choro Q / Penny Racers , porting SNK Neo Geo games to consoles, and the Battle Arena Toshinden series. In 1960, Takara released the Dakko-Chan ( ダッコちゃん ) doll which would become a hit in Japan's during that era. The nickname was given because of how it "embraces" a person. Also referred to as Winky Dolls in English, in

1330-575: Was named as one of the best inventions of 2002 by Time magazine. See also Yumemi Kobo (dream generator). In 2005, Takara produced Walkie Bits, a colorful, multi-function miniature robotic turtle. it was named Time magazine's best invention in a robot category. In the 1980s, Takara as an OEM also sold Sord M5 home computers. In 2002, Takara developed and released a real-life, road legal small electric car based on its Choro-Q toys through its new motor subsidiary. However due to low sales these cars were soon axed. Founded in 1955 by Yasuta Sato,

1368-490: Was sold to Index Holdings, Takara Tomy 's major shareholder. Takara-branded product licenses were returned to Takara Tomy's consumer software division; the merged company thereafter also produced the games in the Zoids and Naruto series. Takara has manufactured several unusual gadgets marketed as "life entertainment products". An example is BowLingual which aimed to translate the sounds of dogs to human language. The BowLingual

1406-492: Was used because it was a trusted brand of infant and preschool products in Japan. While Japanese commercial law allows wide latitude in translating Japanese corporate names into official English names, the merged company took the unusual step of adopting "TOMY Company, Ltd." as its official English, while using "K.K. Takara-Tomy" in Japan. John Moschitta, Jr. John Moschitta Jr. (born August 6, 1954), also known as "Motormouth" John Moschitta and The Fast-Talking Guy ,

1444-434: Was written by Keisuke Fujikawa and released on August 25, 1987. An eight-chapter manga adaptation of this anime was written by Masami Kaneda and illustrated by Ban Magami as part of their Fight! Super Robot Life Form Transformers: The Comics ( 戦え！超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー ザ☆コミックス , Tatakae! Chō Robotto Seimeitai Toransufōmā: Za Komikkusu ) series. A video game based on the series was released by Takara in 1987 for

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