It was first aired in Japan in 1989.[Q] Brestforce?
Obviously meant to be Beastforce, but due to a dodgy typo error (this is all QWERTY's fault!) it became Brestforce and nobody noticed this until it was too late.[Q] What's this about Victory being the best series of them all?
Victory has somehow got a very good reputation in the USA and many people consider it to be the best series, even people who haven't seen it. When it was finally released outside of Japan for the first time by Metrodome in 2006, many people came away disappointed after watching it all and going as far as calling it one of the weakest series. Whilst I agree that Masterforce was better, I still enjoyed this series and there are some parts of it which definitely outshine the previous series (actual humour! And some of the fight sequences are hundreds of times better than anything Masterforce can offer, for example). Anyone who calls it boring is most likely your average gee-wun super faggot.[Q] Why are there so few characters?
This was due to the popularity of Transformers decreasing in Japan meaning fewer new toys, meaning less characters in the anime and even having to bring back the likes of Perceptor.[Q] Why are there so many clip shows?
This was likely due to the show's smaller budget. Whilst the animation is still top notch, there is a lot of repeated footage in certain episodes (Star Saber's transformation sequence is usually seen at least once per episode, for example) and of course there are the six clip shows. These clip shows had no new animation in them at all and instead just featured new narration of what was going on. These clip shows were not covered on the site because there was no way I was going to cover something like that. For the interested:Clash!! Two great heroes - Originally the 9th episode aired, covered stuff from episodes 1-5, 7 and 8.
Move out, Brestforce!! - Originally the 13th episode aired, covered stuff from episodes 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11.
The warrior combiner is assembled! - Originally the 20th episode aired, covered things from episodes 3, 4, 8 and 17.
The Autobot's ultimate crisis! - Originally the 28th episode aired, covered stuff from episodes 17-24.
The strongest! Victory Saber! - Originally the 34th episode aired, covered things from episodes 25-29.
Autobots forever - Originally the 38th episode aired, this clip show was a complete summary of what happened in the entire series.
These clip shows were actually dubbed into English for the RTM1 dub. It's recently been discovered that on some Japanese releases of Victory (such as the laserdisc version) there are an additional six clip shows! This means that there are some versions of Victory out there with 12 clips shows on them, which is plain ridiculous for a series with only 32 proper episodes in it. These additional six clip shows however feature some different stuff going in on them, for example when Star Saber wakes up to find the space fortress ahead of him, he says he must not fail the Autobots and then various images of previous Autobot leaders flash before him. I do not know much more about these extra clip shows beyond this and have yet to see them myself.
[Q] Deszaras or Deathsaurus?
His name is Deszaras. Anyone who calls him that other name is an idiot and not a true fan.[Q] Was there a manga for the series?
Yes, and it's remembered for the very strange things that happen in it. The manga serves as an alternate telling of events in the series, with some very different stories to tell:*Victory Leo is not created out of God Ginrai, instead he is created by Jan's parents and also looks after Jan's sister.
*On that note, Jan has a sister in the manga called Patty who never appeared in the series.
*Shūta and Cab from Masterforce appear in one of the mangas and say that God Ginrai is a better leader than Star Saber, but they are later convinced that Star Saber is just as good. Interestingly the two of them have not appeared to have aged at all since the end of Masterforce, so it could possibly mean that only a couple of months could have passed since the end of Masterforce and the start of Victory.
*Deszaras adopts a kid called Solon Kitakaze at one point and has him sent to the same school as Jan, where the two get into "my Dad can beat up your Dad!" arguments. In one of the mangas, Deszaras creates a Transformers sized mecha for Solon to unite with him and form King Zaras, but this is destroyed by Victory Saber. Solon then finds out that Deszaras actually killed his parents, so he leaves the Decepticons and joins the Autobots.
*The ending for the manga manages to top everything though in terms of zanyness. Instead of having Liokaiser head out to fight Victory Saber outside the space fortress like in the final episode of the anime, Deszaras heads out instead. Leozack finally gets a chance to destroy his superior, but Victory Saber stops him and Deszaras cripples his own battle station. It is then revealed, however, that the reason why Deszaras wanted to free the fortress from the dark nebula was because it was the home for the Decepticon's families and civilians! I'm not making this up, this is what Leozack's sister, Lyzack, looks like, and here's Esmeryl, Deszaras' wife! Apparently the Dinoforce's children appear in the manga, too. After the Autobots find out about this Star Saber ends the war and shakes hands with Deszaras, as the two decide to work together for the betterment of the Transformers.
