THE TAGALOG TRANSFORMERS QUOTE OF THE DAY ARCHIVES by Ondoher Prime

This page is dedicated to one of the best animated shows since 1985, The Transformers. This page is primarily focused on the best quotes of the Transformers in Filipino (Tagalog).
(NOTE: Knowledge of comtemporary Filipino highly recommended to fully appreciate the quotes.)

The Transformers original (or Generation 1) series was first aired on Philippine television (in English) on June/July, 1985 every Tuesady at 7pm at ABS-CBN channel 2 (as far as I recall, it wasn't yet called ABS-CBN as is that time). They showed Transformers in almost perfect chronological order for Seasons 1 and 2. They failed to air certain episodes, though, and by the time Season 2 was at its height (they must have shown almost half of it), epIsodes were not aired regularly anymore to pave way for newer cartoon shows. (I remember it became irregular during the Dinobot Island episodes because I only saw the first part and it was after a long time afterwards that I saw the second part). By 1987, channel 2 let go of the Transformers and viewers can watch their favourite Robots in Disguise (still in English) at PTV channel 4, RPN channel 9 and/or IBC channel 13. Transformers was used as filler shows for these channels at certain times and would be aired at irregular times, though at one point, they were aired regularly (though not chronologically) during Saturday afternoons (at RPN, if I remember correctly). Transformers appeared and disappeared from these channels' airlists a number of times. This went on for the next 4 years.

One memorable event for 1987, though, was the airing of Transformers: The Movie at RPN as part of its "summer cartoon movies" (or something like that) that was aired every Saturdays at 12 noon during the month of May. Too bad it had commercial breaks. (On an added note, the movie version they aired was not the version with the Spike "Oh! Shit" line and casting credits at the start. It was the one with the scrolling text at the start similar Star Wars and had the narrator saying that Optimus Prime will come back at the end of the movie.). Since then, TF:TM has been aired a number of times on Philippine TV - including a Filipino-translated version! - with the most recent one I heard was at Cartoon Network around May 2002 (aired with no commercial breaks)!

In 1991, it seemed like IBC 13 was the sole channel to air Transformers (still in English). Fortunately for the remaining Filipino TransFans, they were treated to see Season 3, I believe, for the first time. Thankfully enough, IBC aired The Five Faces of Darkness series chronologically, as well as air the best episode ever, Call of the Primitives. (Unfortunately for me, I only saw the last 2 minutes of that episode. Slag!) By the second quarter of 1992, Transformers disappeared again. It returned briefly in its newest incarnation, Generation 2 (still in English). Unfortunately, it failed to get new fans into the fandom and even turned off older ones.

In 1995, Metro Manila cable subscribers were able to watch the Japanese episodes of Transformers. The episodes were aired at Star Plus (now Star World) and this was actually the newest Transformers shows Filipino TransFans have seen in a long time. Among the episodes aired were from the Headmasters, Masterforce and Victory series.

The late 90s saw the emergence of a new and completely different Transformers continuity: Beast Wars. It was aired on Studio 23 and was a hit with some fans (some didn't dig it - but I won't discuss that pro/anti-Beasties thing here) and even scored major points with new ones. I was one of the devout viewers who watched it every Saturday nights at 6pm. Unfortunately (and coincidentally as well?), the one time I missed an episode (the one with Starscream's Ghost), it stopped being aired regularly as well. Bummer. After that, I only got to catch glimpses of certain episodes of Transformers - from Generation 1 up to Beast Wars. I saaw Beast Machines for the first time at Cartoon Network in the US (and was I surprised) but it was eventually aired also at Studio 23.

I do not know exactly when the original series was translated into Filipino, but when it began airing at ABC channel 5, it was already "tagalized". Also, I heard that Beast Wars and Beast Machines were also translated probably between 1999-2003. I haven't seen any of these episodes (and quite honestly, that's to bad - nothing to quote, heehee). The trend of local channels translating shows from English to Tagalog went way back in 1988 so as to make the shows much easier to understand by the kids in exchange of sacrificing the quality of these shows.

It's quite sad that local TV channels do not intend to air any Transformers-related shows considering the Robots are making a huge comeback all over the world. These channels would rather opt to show telenovelas and other types of programs instead of catering also to a quite considerable large following of TransFans. And I'm not speaking only of Transformers, but other cool animated shows not being aired as well. Sure, there's animé, but I don't think everybody likes the way these channels are treating them right now (take for example ABS-CBN's take on Rurouni Kenshin; and GMA's on Dragonball Z/GT). Hopefully, in the near future, Cartoon Network will start airing some Transformers show.

For more than a year, no Transformer program were being aired at any local Filipino channe. That was until March, 12, 2005 when GMA-7 decided to finally air the premiere episode of Transformers: Armada at 7:30 in the morning during the weekends. Once again, the series was dubbed in Filipino to better suit the young Filipino viewers. Unfortunately, yours truly has been living in Canada for almost a year as of this writing therefroe preventing him from archiving the best Tagalog quotes from the latest Transformers series to be aired in Philippine shores. Hence, I am looking for volunteers who are willing to devote some of their time to archiving these immortal Filipino Transformer quotes that we will surely enjoy in the future. (If you are interested, please feel free to email me.)

JUNE 2003
Click here for the episode guides.

17 June 2003 (Transformers Generation 2)
Episode: Fight or Flee
Quote of the Day: "Putok lang ng putok, mga Autobots!" - Cyclonus
Eksena: Habang naglalaban sa kalawakan sina Cyclonus at Scourge at ang mga Aerialbots.

20 June 2003 (Transformers Generation 1)
Episode: Desertion of the Dinobots Part 2
Quote of the Day: "Buwisit na mga tao!" - Shockwave
Eksena: Nang makalusot sa kanya mula sa spacebridge sa Cybertron sina Spike and Carly matapos tirahin.

24 June 2003 (Transformers Generation 2)
Episode: Fire on the Mountain
Quote of the Day: "Skyfire, may init ka pa ba para mag-transform?" - Wheeljack
Eksena: Pagkatapos matanggal ni Wheeljack at Sideswipe (YES!) si Skyfire sa yelo.

27 June 2003 (Transformers Generation 1)
Episode: Blaster Blues
Quote of the Day:
Blaster: "Tayo'y magsaya sa tugtog ng musika!"
Autobots: "Tumahimik ka!!!"
Eksena: Habang nagbo-broadcast si Blaster ng isang heavy metal concert kay Teletran 1 at nagagambala ang emergency distress call para sa mga Autobots. (Mukhang awkward 'yung pagkaka-construct ng sentence ni Blaster, pero 'yun ang narinig ko, e.)

added comment from Soupmeister:
"Napanood ko nga 'yung episode kanina, nakakatawa si Jazz. Para siyang baliw na nagsasayaw sa tugtog galing kay Blaster! Akala ko 'yun ang Quote of the Day: "Ayos naman ang tugtog a... Wahoo!" (Sabi kasi ni Prime "Ang ingay!" or something like that, di ko na maalala exactly.)"