Coming soon: The first episode of Super-God Masterforce in 4K!

[Sabrblade]

This is a VERY short notice call to action, but it won't hurt to ask.

Transformers media archivist @walruslaw has found a Yahoo! Japan auction through Buyee for an original 16mm film reel of the first episode of Super-God Masterforce, and he needs our help to procure it!

If we can help him acquire it, then this could lead to the creation of a proper 4K version of the episode, something that has never been done before for any Japanese G1 cartoon.

The thing is, the auction ends in 13 hours as of this typing, and the Buy-It-Now price is 58,000 yen, which is over $400 USD or over £320 GBP, and that's before shipping cost. The starting bid price is 35,800 yen (roughly half the Buy-It-Now price), and there are currently no bids.

Again, I know this is very short notice, but if anyone here is willing to pitch in and contribute any amount to this cause, Walruslaw and I would both be very grateful. I myself am willing to pitch in, but the more the merrier!

 

[walruslaw]

Like @Sabrblade said this is really short notice but any help to obtain this would be amazing.

 

[Sabrblade]

And, so that it's clear, any and all contributions would be conducted via PayPal.

 

[walruslaw]

Thats the auction won. Thanks to the first donation the current total is $401.20.
if you would like to help cover the current cost and contribute to paying for the delivery and capture please send over a DM and i can provide paypal information. Any help would be awesome. Even $20 like the first person to help gave me will get the total down and help fund the capturing.

 

[walruslaw]

With another donation we are down to $301.20

 

[walruslaw]

Thanks to several kind donations the reel is paid for and Is now on its way to me. in the auction there were a few images from the intro shown so I know it at least includes that but not sure what else yet. Next thing to do is get some quotes for the capture and find out whats on it.

 

[Sabrblade]

Retitled the thread to better reflect what's to come.

 

[walruslaw]

Yea def not as urgent any more but still very exciting.

 

[The Predaking]

Any chance of translating the yellow card in that picture? My translate app can't get anything from it in Japanese to American.

 

[Sabrblade]

Any chance of translating the yellow card in that picture? My translate app can't get anything from it in Japanese to American.

It's mostly mundane info, being the name of the series, the name of the episode, and the name of the company.

Top row:トランスフォーマー超神マスターフォース ("Transformers: Super-God Masterforce")

Second row: 立て!!プリテンダー ("Rise Up!! Pretenders")

Bottom row: 東映動画株式会社 (Toei Doga Co., Ltd.)

 

[The Predaking]

Nice! Do you have a good scanner for 16mm film or are you going to send it to a service to be scanned?

 

[Sabrblade]

Nice! Do you have a good scanner for 16mm film or are you going to send it to a service to be scanned?

It's @walruslaw who got the reel.

Next thing to do is get some quotes for the capture and find out whats on it.

 

[The Predaking]

Well, on Amazon the scanners themselves seem to run around $180 - $400 depending on the type and brand. Techmoan did a video about a couple places that did film conversion where he pointed out a couple places to avoid.

 

[walruslaw]

I have a location local that can do a professional scan of the footage to 2K but for 4K I'm going to discuss with a few people and see what they can offer. The good news is that it's arrived in my local delivery warehouse but customs caught it so I'm waiting on a letter to tell me the bill before they will release it.

 

[walruslaw]

It just arrived and is looking great just need to sort out capturing it next

 

[The Predaking]

Awesome! Keep us updated on the process!

 

[walruslaw]

Thats the film reel back from the capture lab. Sadly the audio is a bit too messed up to use but the footage looks great if a bit dirty in places. Currently working on colour correction and sorting out the audio and subs but it wont be long till its ready for upload.

 

[The Predaking]

Neat! I am sure that there is a decent copy of the audio available elsewhere that you can grab to fill in any bad spots.

 

[walruslaw]

I'm grabbing the DVD audio from the Japanese DVD release to use. It just needs converted to match the frame rate and we should be good.

 

[walruslaw]

Still working on the subs but I managed to get the audio sorted and uploaded the intro as a little preview