1986 - Scramble City

Scramble City ("Hatsudôhen") is the most confusion-inducing 15 minutes of animation in the history of the Transformers franchise.

"I'm ready for my close-- What do you mean, 'no sequel'? @#&%?*$! Where's my agent?"

For unspecified reasons, Takara decided not to release Transformers: The Movie in 1986 (see here for details). Instead, to transition the Japanese story from the present-day era of Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers to the upcoming post-movie Transformers: 2010 series, Takara decided to produce an OAV (original animated video) called Scramble City. But although the first 15-minute episode was action-packed and ended on a cliffhanger, a second episode was never released; rumors abound of a "sequel" assembled from American cartoon clips that ended with the deaths of Convoy and Megatron.

The situation got muddier when Takara subsequently released a second video, also called "Scramble City." The second one was done using stop-motion animation of the toys themselves (a common practice for Takara's Transformers commercials at the time), and is thus called "Scramble City Toys" by fans to distinguish it from the original. Scramble City Toys is a remake of the earlier OAV, albeit as a nakedly overt commercial, down to the use of a toy price list instead of a voice cast at the end.

Ultra Magnus: glorified clerk

Unfortunately, Scramble City Toys (and other Transformers: 2010 promotional material at the time) perpetuated yet another source of confusion by introducing Galvatron -- as a subordinate to Megatron! Scramble City Toys included scenes of Megatron giving orders to Galvatron, and TV Magazine included early promotional art of Megatron watching as Galvatron battles the Cybertrons. This mixup occurred because the backgrounds of the new characters weren't developed at the time; the only thing Takara knew was that they wanted the new Galvatron toy to be showcased as soon as possible, and TV Magazine got similar orders as a result.

When Transformers: The Movie was later released in the United States, revealing Megatron and Galvatron to be the same character, the creators opted to retroactively pretend the error never occurred. And while Japanese fans quickly learned the plot of Transformers: The Movie and realized the error, western fans who saw Scramble City Toys or read TV Magazine falsely believed the Japanese stories had the two as distinct characters.

Japanese fans now consider the Scramble City OAV to be part of the original Transformers mythos, and Scramble City Toys as a non-canonical curio.

Scramble City OAV Summary

"Aaah, there's a Destron on my leg! Cooties! Cooties!"

The special begins with a recap of the history of the Transformers on Earth, using clips from the Fight! Super Robot Lifeforms Transformers TV show. We then segue to a secret Cybertron base on Earth, where Ultra Magnus is overseeing "Scramble City," a secret project to build the Cybertrons' new city Metroflex (Metroplex). Unfortunately, the amount of power used by the project tips off the Destrons, and Megatron sends his forces on a full-scale attack. Although Superion manages to defeat Devastar (Devastator), Menasor and Bruticus best him with their use of "scramble power" (the combiners' ability to swap limbs for a power boost). The Cybertrons regain the upper hand with the arrival of Ultra Magnus, Guardian (Defensor), and the newly-constructed Metroflex. But just as a Cybertron victory seems certain, Megatron unleashes his own "Scramble City" -- Dinosaurer (Trypticon)!