TRANSFORMERS VILLAINS – THE ULTIMATE DOOM And TRANSFORMERS HEROES – REBIRTH On DVD And VHS On May 8 LOS ANGELES — Hot Rod and Cyclonus are ready for battle once again in TRANSFORMERS: HEROES andTRANSFORMERS: VILLAINS from Rhino Home Video.

Under its new Rhinomation imprint, Rhino Home Video will release both titles to DVD and VHS on May 8. Both DVD and VHS releases contain three episodes each, with the DVD featuring animated menu screens and animated chapter breaks. The DVD lists for $19.95 and the VHS for $9.95. All are available through retail outlets and at www.rhino.com. First appearing as an animated TV commercial for the Marvel comic book in spring of ’84, with three original episodes airing a few months later, Transformers became a big hit. In 1985 Transformers began to air daily on television nationwide. Millions of years ago, from the planet Cybertron came the Transformers, mighty machinery able to transform from ordinary trucks, planes, and others vehicles into powerful living robots with advanced armory and super technology. Two types of Transformers came into play, the power hungry Decepticons and the peace seeking Autobots. The Earth became the battleground in an age-old struggle for control of the universe.

TRANSFORMERS: HEROES Rebirth (three episodes)-The Decepticons succeed in their attack on Autobot City to steal the key to Cybertron’s plasma chamber. A team of ten Decepticons and ten Autobots, along with the chamber key, end up on the planet of Nebulos. Like all planets, it has two factions: good and evil. The Autobots are in a compromising situation as half of them nearly get destroyed and many others are captured by the Decepticons. The Autobots must now plot to save themselves, but there may not be enough of them to succeed.

TRANSFORMERS: VILLAINS The Ultimate Doom (three episodes)-Megatron plots to bring Cybertron into Earth’s orbit and harness it’s destructive energy. With the help of a human scientist, he plans to use hypnotized humans implanted with his hypno-chips to serve the Decepticons, and he captures Sparkplug to use as a guinea pig. On Earth, the Autobots are planning a journey to Cybertron to rescue Sparkplug. Wheeljack develops a countermeasure for the hypno-chips and must find a way to stop Megatron.

TRANSFORMERS: HEROES – REBIRTH Pre-order Date: April 17, 2001 Total Running Time: 150 minutes Street Date: May, 8, 2001 Sug. Retail Price:VHS: $9.95 Cat#: 970050 DVD: $19.95

TRANSFORMERS: VILLAINS – THE ULTIMATE DOOM Pre-order Date: April 17, 2001 Total Running Time: 150 minutes Street Date: May, 8, 2001 Sug. Retail Price:VHS: $9.95 Cat#: 970049 DVD: $19.95

Titan Books, the leading publisher of graphic novels in the UK, has agreed a deal with Hasbro to publish trade paperback collections featuring The Transformers, based on the hugely popular toy line, animated series and movie!

Return with Titan to the late 1980s, before Beast Wars and Beast Machines, when the ‘Robots in Disguise’ were truly ‘More Than Meets the Eye’! Re-live the ongoing battle between the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the might of Megatron’s evil Decepticons. Originally published in single-issue form by Marvel Comics, USA, the two titles – The Transformers: All Fall Down and The Transformers: End of the Road, collect the apocalyptic Unicron storyline from issues #69-80.

Transformers writer, Simon Furman, says: “It’s a dream come true to finally see these issues collected and re-published. I’d been writing Transformers for several years, both for the US and the UK, but this for me was when it all really kicked into top gear. At this stage in the saga, we (artist Andrew Wildman and myself) had been given a whole lot more latitude to really go epic on Transformers and basically wreak a whole lot of havok and kill a lot of characters. So we did.”

Transformers artist, Andrew Wildman, says: “The opportunity to draw Transformers was an exciting one. For me, particularly, it was the challenge of taking a bunch of tin boxes and breathing life into them that I relished. I could see at once there was more potential here than first met the eye, so to speak, and Simon and I gave them the depth of character they deserved. For me, this was the best fun I ever had in comics. Fond memories indeed.”

The series launches in August with The Transformers: All Fall Down, by Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville, and continues in November with The Transformers: End of the Road, by Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, Geoff Senior and Stephen Baskerville.