Four million years after crash-landing on an unfamiliar planet, sentient robots with the ability to disguise themselves as common vehicles awaken on present-day Earth. Engaged in a crucial race to find a new energy source for their home planet of Cybertron, Optimus Prime and the heroic Autobots must defend the innocent people of Earth against their archnemeses, Megatron and the power-hungry Decepticons. In 1983 a fateful trip to a Japanese toy fair uncovered a phenomenon that would soon rule not only the world of toys, but also the realms of comics, airwaves and the silver screen as well. Since then, the war between the peaceful Autobots and the villainous Decepticons has captured the imaginations of children and adults alike, launching hundreds of collectible toys, comic books, animated series and feature films.
As we've reported, Shout! Factory is readying a drool-worthy, never-better, must-own release of
The Transformers - 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition: Collector’s Set, with the complete "G1" animated series on 16 DVDs. The studio has brought mock-ups of the packaging to
Botcon 2009, being held this weekend in Pasadena, California. Since fans attending the show get to see the box close-up starting today, our friends at Shout! decided to share some a gallery of artwork for that package with us, and with all of you. You'll see a number of pictures at the bottom.
What's more, is that they've also released to use news details of that release, including the price: $140.00 (including shipping/handling for standard USA delivery; there's an extra charge for overnight shipping, plus sales tax applies in certain states). And, Shout!'s
TransformersCollectorsSet.com website has gone live as of this writing, meaning you can pre-order your copy right away (yes, even residents of Canada, for an additional shipping fee). According to the site, the studio is looking at shipping pre-orders to arrive on or around
Monday, July 13th. Or, if you are attending the San Diego Comic Con (July 23-26), you can get instant gratification by purchasing this
Matrix set at Shout!'s booth there (we're told they'll take either cash or credit cards).
Shout! Factory has given us this complete list of bonus material for
The Transformers - 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition: Collector’s Set:
- Exclusive Retrospective Featurettes Including Brand-New, In-Depth Interviews With Those Most Responsible For The Success Of The Transformers franchise.
- Concept Art.
- Exclusive Voice Cast Reunion featuring (in alphabetical order): Jack Angel (Ramjet), Michael Bell (Prowl), Gregg, Berger (Grimlock), Aurthur Burghardt (Devastator), Corey Burton (Spike Witwicky), Richard Gautier (Rodimus Prime), Neil Ross (Slag), Frank Welker (Megatron).
- Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials
- Printable Scripts
- Rare PSAs
- From the Files of Teletraan-2
- Fan Art Gallery
- Animated Fan Film
- A Collectible 60-Page Book, Autobots and Decepticon Magnets and much more!
Outstanding! If you're not able to pick one up at Comic Con, then be sure to head over to the website linked above, and lock in your copy right away. And you can also lock in your copy of
G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero Complete Collector's Set (17-DVD set, $145.00) from there as well. Shout! tells us that they'll have details and artwork for us about that release in another week or so, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here's the package artwork gallery for
The Transformers - 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition: Collector’s Set:
