MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Danny McKinnon

2010-03-01T19:22:00Z

152.15.25.51: New page: "Sean" redirects to Shawn (disambiguation), which lists four real people and a G1 character. Hmm. --Andrusi

"Sean" redirects to [[Shawn (disambiguation)]], which lists four real people and a G1 character. Hmm. --[[User:Andrusi|Andrusi]]

Chrome

2010-02-26T20:35:10Z

152.15.25.51:

{{Disambig3|Chrome}}

:''Chrome is a [[Mini-Con]] from the [[Energon (franchise)|Energon]] portion of the [[Unicron Trilogy]].''
[[Image:Chrome-r.jpg|thumb|300px|Aptly named.]]
'''Chrome''' is one of the many power-enhancing Mini-Cons who help the [[Autobot]]s search the galaxy for raw [[Energon (Energon)|Energon]] deposits.

==Toys==
===Energon===
[[Image:Chrome-v.jpg|thumb|left]]
*'''Chrome''' (Micron Booster, 2004)
**''Booster ID number:'' '''1'''

: Chrome is a [[redeco]] of the "Corona" version of the Mini-Con [[Sparkplug (Armada)|Sparkplug]], transforming into a Cybertronic sports car. He was sold as part of the second Micron Booster assortment (called "Ver.1") in Japan, in individual, blind-packed boxes so you did not know which Mini-Con you got until you opened the box and opaque black plastic bag inside.

: Chrome uses the same mold as [[Synapse]] and [[Thyristor]]. The original version of the mold is used by [[Atlas]] and [[Rod]].
{{--}}

==Notes==
* Chrome is most likely named after "Chrome", the small Transformer who can transform into [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]]'s head in Japanese G1 continuity, as the first three [[Micron Booster]] assortment "headliners" have names similar to Japanese Autobot leaders/protagonists.

==External Links==
*[http://www.tfu.info/2004/Micron/Chrome/chrome.htm Chrome at TFU.info]

[[Category: Energon characters]]
[[Category: Japanese-original characters]]
[[Category: Micron Boosters]]
[[Category: Mini-Cons]]

Talk:Brimstone (TF 2010)

2010-02-24T16:52:11Z

152.15.25.51:

I hate this (TF 2010) nomenclature! BUT I HAVE NO BETTER SOLUTION. I was about to say this is as bad as Hasbro putting out another line called "Armada," but we already had that problem with Universe, and we were able to distinguish between them using the year, BUT THE YEAR IS THE NAME OF THE CONFLICTING TOYLINEARRGHAHGGHGHGHdhsdflksd --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 23:04, 21 February 2010 (EST)
: It could be worse. The Japanese line's disambuig would only cover 2 clip episodes and some story pages. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 23:38, 21 February 2010 (EST)
::[[Jim Sorenson]] will make us disambiguate something there, somehow. I just know it. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 23:58, 21 February 2010 (EST)
I think just (2010) might be better than (TF 2010). --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 15:55, 22 February 2010 (EST)

Personally I eagerly await the day Hasbro decides to make Transformers: Franchise (with a new interpretation of energon, a character named Armada, etc.) and Transformers: Disambiguation. --[[Special:Contributions/152.15.25.51|152.15.25.51]] 11:46, 24 February 2010 (EST)

Talk:Brimstone (TF 2010)

2010-02-24T16:46:36Z

152.15.25.51:

I hate this (TF 2010) nomenclature! BUT I HAVE NO BETTER SOLUTION. I was about to say this is as bad as Hasbro putting out another line called "Armada," but we already had that problem with Universe, and we were able to distinguish between them using the year, BUT THE YEAR IS THE NAME OF THE CONFLICTING TOYLINEARRGHAHGGHGHGHdhsdflksd --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 23:04, 21 February 2010 (EST)
: It could be worse. The Japanese line's disambuig would only cover 2 clip episodes and some story pages. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 23:38, 21 February 2010 (EST)
::[[Jim Sorenson]] will make us disambiguate something there, somehow. I just know it. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 23:58, 21 February 2010 (EST)
I think just (2010) might be better than (TF 2010). --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 15:55, 22 February 2010 (EST)
Personally I eagerly await the day Hasbro decides to make Transformers: Franchise (with a new interpretation of energon, a character named Armada, etc.) and Transformers: Disambiguation. --[[Special:Contributions/152.15.25.51|152.15.25.51]] 11:46, 24 February 2010 (EST)

Talk:Black redeco

2010-02-23T19:04:45Z

152.15.25.51:

I don't think G1 Skywarp really fits the description. He was before the trend of "black repainting" and he came out about at the same as the others, so I think Skywarp is just a redeco who happens to be black. Soundblaster is probably the first true example as an existing character who was redecoed as black. Also, I don't really see the point of this page, but that's OK. - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 11:39, 3 September 2009 (EDT)
:The page is about a ''very'' noteworthy trend in TF toys -- it definitely belongs. I agree about Skywarp. A true "black repaint" is generally an "evil clone" or some other such nonsense, made solely because OMG BLAKK AWZUM. Skywarp's a legitimate independent character. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 11:53, 3 September 2009 (EDT)
::I disagree. How can a "repaint" (using the term loosely) that is black, not be a "black repaint"? Black repaints are extremely easy ways of making more uses of a mold. That many of them have been "evil clones" and such is a secondary phenomenon. Just my opinion. [[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 01:36, 3 January 2010 (EST)
::Skywarp is absolutely a black repaint. Saying he isn't because black repaints are usually evil clones or stealth mode variants is like saying Cybertron Longrack isn't really a construction vehicle redeco because construction vehicle redecoes are usually Constructicon homages: it's utterly ridiculous and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
::To take a slightly less "wtf are you stupid" approach, neither Scourge nor Soundblaster is a particularly strong match for our new arbitrarily restrictive definition either. Soundblaster would appear to have been motivated by "let's redeco Soundwave" and then black being selected as a color that looked nice, rather than the omgblackkewl mentality--otherwise, Twincast would be black as well (or perhaps white). Scourge is an evil clone in fiction, but not of the character whose toy he was redecoed from, which wasn't even from the same line--not at all in the same spirit as, say, Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. Universe Nemesis Prime has a similar problem; while he does ''look'' like the guy he's cloned from, that guy is fiction-only. If we're disqualifying Skywarp, then these three really shouldn't count either, which means we've kicked all the most prominent black repaints out of the black repaint club for not being black repainty enough.
::Oh, and Skywarp was a new color scheme for Transformers, while Starscream and Thundercracker were in Diaclone, so he ''is'' a black version of a preexisting toy. --[[User:Andrusi|Andrusi]]
:::How do you even know Skywarp is even a repaint? Maybe he is the "paint" and Starscream and Thundercracker are the "repaint"s. - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 16:10, 12 February 2010 (EST)
::::Well... Skywarp is the only deco not from the Diaclone line. So he's the repaint. [[User:Geewunling|Geewunling]] 16:17, 12 February 2010 (EST)
:::::Yeah but Diaclone is technically a different toy than Transformers. They just happen to use the same mold, so that shouldn't count. Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp all debuted at the same time. If, say, Sunstorm was black, I could see the case for him being a black repaint. [[User:Riddlerj|Riddlerj]] 16:24, 12 February 2010 (EST)
:::::For me, Black repaints are usually a crass attempt to squeese a few more bucks out of an old toy. Something like Stalker Scorpinok or Nightwatch Prime [[User:Riddlerj|Riddlerj]] 16:27, 12 February 2010 (EST)
::::::ANY repaint is "a crass attempt to squeese a few more bucks out of an old toy", so how is that more relevant to the examples you gave than to any other repaint? [[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 18:48, 12 February 2010 (EST)
:::::::Because all three characters debuted at the same time. They are all repaints of one mold. It's like saying Huey is a ripoff of Dewey and Louie. Now, if a year later they came out with Shmuey, well Shmuey just seems like a lack of better ideas because the three original nephews are old news. I think the idea is that simply reissueing a previous (emphasis on "previous") mold in black or "evil" as opposed to a new, nifty character seems particually uninspired. Just my opinion. [[User:Riddlerj|Riddlerj]] 16:19, 15 February 2010 (EST)
::::::::My god, this is ridiculous. "OH, SKYWARP IS A BLACK REDECO OF AN EXISTING TOY PREVIOUSLY AVAILABLE IN TWO NOT-BLACK COLOR SCHEMES THAT AREN'T ''TECHNICALLY'' TRANSFORMERS DESPITE BEING ESSENTIALLY IDENTICAL TO THEM, THEREFORE HE DOESN'T COUNT." And how the hell is he ''not'' a blatant excuse to try to get more money from an existing tooling? Was there some more "legitimate" reason Hasbro needed a third jet? No. Skywarp is a black repaint. --[[User:Andrusi|Andrusi]] 11:12, 23 February 2010 (EST)
:::::::::He lack the traditional gold or aqua accents though! :3 -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 11:55, 23 February 2010 (EST)

Saying Skywarp is a black repaint completely misses the point of why this page exists and not, say, red repaint or green repaint. Also, this isn't a comprehensive list of all of them, but some notable examples. Soundblaster yes, Scourge oh GOD yes, probably Shadow Panther would be a good one, and the whole Nemesis Prime thing is kind of infamous. The fact that there is so much disagreement about Skywarp indicates that he's not a good representative example even if he might technically fit the criteria.--[[User:Jimsorenson|Jimsorenson]] 12:20, 23 February 2010 (EST)
:The page exists because black redecos are common enough that they're thought of as their own "thing." Whether that is a good ''reason'' for the page to exist is another matter, but as the guy who made the page in the first place, I think I would have a pretty good idea of why it happened. --[[Special:Contributions/152.15.25.51|152.15.25.51]] 14:04, 23 February 2010 (EST)

The Fish Test

2010-02-18T15:36:01Z

152.15.25.51: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=rid
|ep=19
|title="The Fish Test"
|japanese=秘密作戦! ゲルシャーク
|romaji=Himitsu Sakusen! Gelshark
|translation=Secret Strategy! Gelshark
|image=The Fish Test Title Card.jpg
|caption=Next episode: The Blue Fish Test
|production code=
|production company=[[TV Tokyo]], NAS, Studio Gallop
|written by=[[Yukiyoshi Ōhashi]] (Japanese) [[Marc Handler]] (English)
|director=[[Yoshiaki Tsutsui]]
|animation studio=Studio Gallop
|airdate=[[August 9|9 August]] 2000 (Japanese) [[September 27]], 2001 (English)
|continuity=
}}

'''Sky-Byte is jealous!''' 
'''Will he prove himself a shark''' 
'''Or a jellyfish?'''

==Synopsis==
Deep within the [[Megastar|Predacon base]], a preoccupied [[Sky-Byte (RID)|Sky-Byte]] is busying himself on the computer. When quizzed by [[Slapper (RID)|Slapper]], he explains that he's taking an online "fish personality test" to help him "identify his inner fish"; he is less than exhilarated, therefore, when the quiz identifies him as a jellyfish. Sky-Byte's voyage of self-discovery is soon interrupted by a summons from [[Megatron (RID)|Megatron]]. The Predacon shark is initially enthusiastic at the prospect of a chance to prove his worth, but is soon deflated when he realises that his brief is merely to lend "assistance" to [[Scourge (RID)|Scourge]] on his latest plan by simply remaining at the base and out of the way. Furious, Sky-Byte has [[Dark Scream]] find out the details of Scourge's scheme to siphon energy from Earth's power plants, and begins to devise a way for his Predacons to sabotage it.

[[Image:FishTestCostumes.jpg|right|200px|thumb|I cannot work in these conditions... That's it! I'm going to my trailer.]]
Scourge and the Decepticons, therefore, are met at the central power base by a full-scale ambush by the "Autobots"—in fact, just Sky-Byte and the Predacon trio disguised rather unconvincingly as [[Rail Racer (RID)|Rail Racer]] and the [[Autobot Brothers]]. The Decepticons takes the bait, however, and engage the "Autobots" at full strength.

Back at the base of the real Autobots, [[Side Burn (RID)|Side Burn]] is using the main computer to take the fish test, much to [[T-AI]]'s chagrin. He's interrupted, however, by the alert triggered by the skirmish on the power plant. In response, [[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]] dispatches Side Burn, [[Prowl (RID)|Prowl]] and [[X-Brawn]] to intervene. This pleases Sky-Byte, whose plan was for the Autobots to arrive and foil the power plant attack, thus discrediting and possibly destroying Scourge and the Decepticons; things go awry, however, when he and the Predacons are caught in the crossfire, making it blatantly obvious that it was his intervention that scuppered Scourge's plan. Oops.

Back at Predacon base, Sky-Byte is unable to talk his way out of responsibility for botching the operation, and is royally chewed out by Megatron for his interference and whining. However, a fresh chance to humiliate Scourge soon presents itself when Dark Scream reports the Decepticon's latest planned offensive, this time against the [[Bayshore power plant]]. Opting for a sneakier approach this time, Sky-Byte decides to personally warn the Autobots of Scourge's ploy.

[[Image:FishTestSkybyteTrick.gif|left|200px|thumb|Let's give him a big hand, folks!]]
Of course, this proves harder than Sky-Byte had thought; attempts to confer with a red-sportscar-chasing Side Burn are met by deaf ears and violent physical retribution, so he and the Predacons instead track down and accost X-Brawn, much to his driver [[Kelly]]'s displeasure. X-Brawn is supremely sceptical of Sky-Byte's intentions, as are Side Burn and Prowl when they arrive on the scene, but having persuaded the desperate shark to perform humiliating tricks and dances to prove his good faith, they grudgingly agree to check out his tip.

At the Bayshore power plant, the Autobot brothers rendezvous with [[Koji Onishi|Koji]] and relax in preparation for an attack they don't believe is really coming. Sky-Byte, too, is smugly basking in his own sense of self-satisfaction until he gets a message from Dark Scream that the Decepticons have arrived at the power plant...the [[Crestline power plant|''Crestline'' power plant]], rather than the one he sent the Autobots to. The Autobots soon get wind of this, and assume that Sky-Byte has double-crossed ''them''. Fortunately, [[Team Bullet Train]] are able to intervene at Crestline, using their combined Rail Racer form to see off the Decepticon attack and leaving Sky-Byte's betrayal the only point of business yet to be dealt with.

Sky-Byte, meanwhile, is perched on a cliffside, understandably feeling pretty bad about himself and the way things have panned out. Unbowed, he and his Predacons decide to try and redeem themselves by attacking the Rocky Point power plant, in one more attempt to outdo Scourge. Sky-Byte's typical luck holds firm, however, when he realises that Megatron and the Decepticons are already there on a covert mission, which his arrival has just ruined...''again''. As Megatron subjects Sky-Byte to yet another belittling tirade, the Autobot Brothers arrive on the scene to heap even ''more'' retribution on the wretched shark. Megatron and the Decepticons engage the enemy, but are quickly forced into retreat by the arrival of Optimus, leaving only Sky-Byte behind for one more round of ritual humiliation at the hands of the Autobots before he is ''finally'' forced to call it quits and run for it.

[[Image:FishTestSkybyteTest.jpg|right|200px|thumb|After a long, painful day, Sky-Byte consoles himself with hentai.]]
Back at Predacon HQ, Megatron chastises Sky-Byte, not unreasonably, for "bringing dishonour" upon all Predacons, and sentences him to energon smelter cleanup duty. Taking one more look at his fish test, he decides to belatedly consult his daily "action advice" chart, and discovers that his horoscope had specifically warned against attempted betrayal, and could have saved him from his day's pain and humiliation. In frustration, he attacks the computer console with his claw...which causes him to be electrocuted.

Being Sky-Byte absolutely '''[[Waspinator (BW)|sucks]]'''.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Side Burn (RID)|Side Burn]] (10)
*[[T-AI]] (11)
*[[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]] (12)
*[[Prowl (RID)|Prowl]] (13)
*[[X-Brawn]] (14)
*[[Midnight Express (RID)|Midnight Express]] (17)
*[[Railspike (RID)|Railspike]] (18)
*[[Rapid Run (RID)|Rapid Run]] (19)
*[[Rail Racer (RID)|Rail Racer]] (20)

|h2=[[Predacon (RID)|Predacon]]s
|c2=
*[[Sky-Byte (RID)|Sky-Byte]] (1)
*[[Slapper (RID)|Slapper]] (2)
*[[Gas Skunk]] (3)
*[[Scourge (RID)|Scourge]] (4)
*[[Megatron (RID)|Megatron]] (5)
*[[Dark Scream]] (6)
*[[Mega-Octane]] (7)
*[[Armorhide (RID)|Armorhide]] (8)
*[[Rollbar (RID)|Rollbar]] (9)

|c3=
*[[Kelly]] (15)
*[[Koji Onishi]] (16)
}}

==Quotes==
'''Slapper''': ''[disguised as Side Burn]'' Take that, you evil Decepticons! We're the good guys! 
'''Gas Skunk''': ''[disguised as Prowl]'' Yeah. I'm a police Autobot. You're under arrest for bad behavior. 
'''Dark Scream''': ''[disguised as X-Brawn]'' Yeah, we're gonna put you cowpokes in the corral, or some other junk. 
'''Gas Skunk''': Hey, where's Sky-Byte? He's supposed to be in on this. 
''[Sky-Byte emerges, disguised very poorly as Rail Racer]'' 
'''Sky-Byte''': ''Heeere I aaam!'' Rail Racer, fighter for justice! 
'''Slapper''': Hellooo? Rail Racer isn't quite that flamboyant, you know! You're never gonna make it as an actor! 
'''Gas Skunk''': Well, he could always work in cartoons.
:—The '''Predacons''' ride roughshod over plausibility, the fourth wall, and the entire "robots in disguise" concept in one fell swoop.

"Rail Racer isn't that flammable, either."
:—'''Slapper''' watches Sky-Byte's costume burn.

"It's not fair! Me, a whiner! Why, I never whine!"
:—'''Sky-Byte''', whining.

"Okay, I'm closing my eyes and thinking there's something out there other than big ugly animal monsters. There, that's better. When I open my eyes, I'll be back to normal reality."
:—'''Kelly''' reacquaints herself with her good friend, denial.

"Has everyone but me gone totally mental?"
:—'''Side Burn''' has a moment of clarity.

'''Slapper''': Even if we lose, it was worth it to let Sky-Byte bark like a seal. 
'''Gas Skunk''': You need a life.
:—'''Gas Skunk''' ''also'' has a moment of clarity...

"Alas, so the predictions have proven true. I have always thought of myself as one who strikes fear into the hearts of many, a shark with an iron will, but it turns out that I'm a jellyfish. The online personality test was right. I don't deserve to have fins.
:—...as does '''Sky-Byte'''.

'''Side Burn''': ''Jellyfish!'' 
'''Sky-Byte''': I wish everyone would stop calling me that! I'm not an invertebrate—I have cartilage!
:—See, parents, it's educational too!

"Today's action advice: Don't betray anyone and don't get tricky. You will never pull it off, jellyfish are too icky. If you try it, you'll end up barking like a seal and groveling at people's feet."
:—In Transformerland, even horoscopes are scarily advanced, as '''Sky-Byte''' fails to realise to his great, great cost.

==Notes==
===Differences with ''Car Robots''===

===Animation or technical errors===
*When T-AI sends out the call for X-Brawn and Prowl to investigate the first power plant attack, there is an inexplicable stray two-second shot of Sky-Byte talking to Gas Skunk and Dark Scream just before the logo transition.
*When Sky-Byte is confronted—and insulted—by Megatron at the end of the episode, he somehow manages to summon an extra hand in order to give a 'peace' gesture with both of them. That's impressive.

===Transformers references===
*Slapper persuades Sky-Byte to perform the "[[Universal greeting|universal greeting dance]]" to prove his good intentions.

===Real-world references===
*Side Burn shrugs off the threat of Scourge and the Commandos as being an "[[wikipedia:Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones|attack of the clowns]]", before stating that he'd "seen it already"—despite this episode having aired nearly a year ''before'' the alluded ''[[Star Wars]]'' film was released. Those crazy Autobots and their futuristic ways!

===Trivia===
*[[Ro-Tor (RID)|Ro-Tor]] and [[Movor]] are curiously missing from the Decepticon ranks in this episode, and their absence is never referenced by their erstwhile colleagues. Although given what happened [[Attack from Outer Space|the last time Movor was relied upon to do something]], that's probably understandable.
*This episode marks the second time that Sky-Byte and the Predacons have attempted to disguise themselves as Autobots in order to sabotage their own ostensible team-mates. The overall effect is still far from convincing, but to their credit, they at least manage to disguise themselves as ''different'' Autobots this time, which represents an improvement on [[Commandos|their previous attempt]].
*This episode contains a rare mention of the fact that Koji actually attends school: when the Autobot brothers reach the power plant Sky-Byte sent them to, Koji is there on a class field trip.
*By the way, jellyfish is a misnomer as all actual fish are vertabrae, and jellyfish, as Sky-Byte pointed out, are not. So jellyfish shouldn't be on the fish personality test. Which arguably makes it a very accurate depiction of an online personality test.

==External links==
* [http://www.ridforever.info/transformers-transcripts/rid-episode-19-the-fish-test.php The Fish Test transcript on RiDForever.info]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish Test}}
[[Category:Robots in Disguise episodes]]

Talk:Black redeco

2010-02-12T20:45:57Z

152.15.25.51:

Misconceptions and urban legends about Transformers

2010-02-02T14:51:37Z

152.15.25.51: /* European Generation 1 fiction */ Don't misuse "however," however often you use it.

{{picsneeded}}
Over the years, many '''misconceptions and urban legends''' have sprung up within ''Transformers'' [[fandom]], often resulting from such factors as fuzzy childhood memories, inaccurate catalog illustrations, and mistranslations of foreign material.

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
*'''Transformers is (only) a cartoon from the Eighties that has been brought back into vogue recently.'''
: A misconception usually held by casual fans or nostalgic adults is that Transformers went away some time around 1986 (or 1987, or 1988—pick your year), and has only recently popped back up as an attempt to cash in on '80s nostalgia.
:In fact, the [[Transformers brand]] has been continuous since 1984 (there was a brief gap between 1990 and 1993 as far as the United States market was concerned, but the brand still continued with new products on other markets). It includes many [[Franchise|lines of toys, cartoons and comics]] that span over two decades, with no sign of stopping, as Hasbro considers it a core brand. Each line has experienced varying degrees of success, rebooting when its target audience gets too old or uninterested in the toyline and fiction.
:Some of this misconception is based on the fact that most of the original audience stopped watching and following the franchise after its cancellation, or even before (as it wasn't "cool" to be kiddy once puberty hit). Without any exposure to the market, the toyline and the new cartoons, they simply assume that ''Transformers'' has sunk in popularity, quality and/or sales, since it's not what they remember.
:It ''is'' true that Transformers hit a low point of popularity in the early 1990s, with the cancelation of Generation 1 and the unremarkable sales of ''[[Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]''. But the successor ''[[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' line re-established the brand for a new generation beginning in 1996, and Transformers has been a dominant toy franchise ever since.

*'''Generation 1 obviously has the best toys, cartoons and characters.'''
:Casual fans likewise tend to assume automatically that the original 1980s iteration of Transformers is the best and most successful line to date, with all other successors being unpopular and/or unsuccessful ventures.
:While it's hard to measure the overall success of every line in all its aspects, the original line has been surpassed in both quality and sales multiple times over. In factors such as realistic alternate forms, durability, articulation, action features, and complexity, various later toylines have all exceeded Generation 1. And while fiction can't be measured objectively, many fans will swear up and down by some of the later incarnations of ''Transformers''.
:Arguably, Transformers is in an endless cycle of creating new fans who share new opinions on what is "teh greatest".

*'''Powermaster Optimus Prime was the first, ''original'' Optimus Prime toy.'''

[[Image:G1 OptimusPrime toy.jpg|right|150px|thumb|1984—the original.]]
[[Image:PowermasterOptimusPrime toy.jpg|right|150px|thumb|1988—the Powermaster version.]]
:This one claims that the [[Powermaster]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] toy, originally released in 1988, is the ''original'', first Optimus Prime toy ever released, rather than the ''earlier'', non-Powermaster toy, which is an entirely different mold and was originally available in 1984. This phenomenon is particularly common in [[eBay]] auctions, where Powermaster Optimus Prime toys are frequently advertised as "ORIGINAL Optimus Prime".
:The reasons for this misconception are obvious: Numerous people arrived late to the party—that is, became fans of the original ''Transformers'' line after the ''real'' original Optimus Prime toy had vanished off the shelves in 1986 (the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] was still shown in reruns on TV). Any of them looking for a toy of the iconic [[Autobot]] leader would only find the Powermaster toy on store shelves starting in 1988. Fast-forward to 20 years later, and people who weren't really paying a lot of attention to the brand for the past few years, now looking to sell off their childhood toys, would naturally conclude that the toy they got as a kid was the ''original'' Optimus Prime toy.
:The phenomenon is even more widespread in countries such as Germany, where the cartoon wasn't officially shown on TV until 1989(!). By that point, the ''original'' toy, which had originally been released by [[Milton Bradley]] on the European market in 1985, was long gone off the shelves. Thus, the only Optimus Prime toy available to kids who had only just become fans because of the cartoon was the Powermaster version. Admittedly, gray imports of the Mexican version of the ''original'' toy by [[IGA]] were also available in European stores around this time, and Hasbro themselves would release the original toy again two years later as part of their European-exclusive [[Classics (Europe)|Classics]] line of reissues. However, the Powermaster Optimus Prime toy was still a lot more widespread.

*'''20th Anniversary Optimus Prime was the Optimus Prime toy available more than 20 years ago/Alternators are the same toys that were available 20 years ago.'''

[[Image:20thAnniversary OptimusPrimesm.jpg|left|125px|thumb|Sadly, this didn't exist until 2003.]]
:This misconception usually comes from people who, upon seeing the 20th Anniversary [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] toy (which was originally released in 2003/2004), honest-to-god swear it's the toy they had when they were a kid. Similarly, there are also people who believe that the toys from the ''[[Alternators]]'' line are the same toys they had as kids, when they're most likely confusing them with the original Autobot Cars, which are about half the size.
:The reasons for this aren't too hard to guess: People were a lot smaller when they were kids, so obviously the original Transformers toys seemed a lot larger to them. Since these fans didn't repeatedly hold or play with their Transformers while growing up, they weren't constantly adjusting to the toys' size in relation to their own. This resulted in blurred memories of outright ''gargantuan'' Transformers toys available in the 1980s. (One might wonder how tall those people would remember [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] being.)
:When confronted with the original toys—now relatively small because the fans have grown up—these people often reject them, insisting the "original" toys were ''larger'' (occasionally even accusing the ''real'' original toys of being downsized [[Knockoff|knockoffs]]). Showing them the Alternators or 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, on the other hand, will bring back warm (albeit incorrect) memories.

{{-}}

*'''A "giant"-sized Optimus Prime toy was available during Generation 1.'''
:A variant of the above of sorts. In at least a few cases, claims regarding a "giant" Generation 1 Prime may stem from dim memories of coming across [http://www.pleasesavemerobots.com/scrambledcity/skorbia/skorbyg2.html oversized Optimus Prime knockoffs that were made in Korea]—or because they had the ''normal'' Prime as kids, when they (the former kids) were about ''half'' the height they are now (see above). Other people also may have blurred memories of the Powermaster Optimus Prime toy's larger robot mode when combined with his trailer.
:The release of 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime didn't exactly help matters either (again, see above).

*'''"Bumblejumper" is a fan name for a yellow version of Cliffjumper./Bumblejumper was sold both on Bumblebee and Cliffjumper cards.'''
[[Image:G1Bumper toy.jpg|thumb|right|250px|"Bumper", who later would be known as "Bumper".]]
:As part of the launch of the [[The Transformers (toyline)|''Generation 1'' toyline]] in 1984, Hasbro released two Autobot [[Mini Vehicle|Minicar]] toys, [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys|Bumblebee]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]], both of which had vehicle modes that used [[Choro-Q]]-like proportions. Bumblebee was based on a classic Volkswagen Beetle, whereas Cliffjumper was based on a Porsche 924 Turbo. In all the official advertising as well as the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon series]] and the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel comics]], Bumblebee was consistently colored yellow, whereas Cliffjumper was colored red (not counting one-off coloring and [[Animation error|animation errors]]). However, Hasbro also released a red Bumblebee and a yellow Cliffjumper, both of which used the same cardbacks as the regular versions.
:In addition, Hasbro also released a [[Bumper (G1)|''third'' mold]] using a similar body structure and transformation scheme, based on a Mazda Familia 1500XG. This toy had originally been available as part of [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]'s ''[[Micro Change|Microchange]]'' line, but was not officially advertised as a ''Transformers'' toy. (Note that this toy is not to be confused with [[Hubcap (G1)|Hubcap]], a yellow [[retool]] of Cliffjumper released in 1986.) To this very day, only yellow samples of this toy in ''Transformers'' packaging have surfaced, all of them on "Cliffjumper" cards. The color variants for Bumblebee and Cliffjumper continued to be available with the 1985 assortment (which featured [[Rubsign|rubsigns]] and the Mini Vehicle toys packaged in robot mode rather than in [[Alternate mode|vehicle mode]]), whereas no samples of the Mazda Familia in 1985 packaging have surfaced thus far.
:Fans later started to refer to the Mazda Familia mold by portmanteau names such as "Bumblejumper", "Cliffbee" and "Bumper". The last of these names was eventually made official when a character based on the toy made appearances in the ongoing [[Generation One (Dreamwave comic)|''Generation One'' Volume 1]] comic series by [[Dreamwave Productions]] and in the ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' mini-series by [[IDW Publishing]]. However, fans who know about the Bumblebee/Cliffjumper color variants, but are unaware of the existence of the Mazda Familia mold, occasionally incorrectly assume that the name "Bumblejumper" refers to the yellow color variant of Cliffjumper... which is simply referred to as "yellow Cliffjumper" by most fans.

*'''A now-rare (and thus valuable) blue variant of Bluestreak was available during Generation 1.'''

[[Image:G1 Bluestreak boxart.jpg|right|150px|thumb|You had this as a kid. The picture, that is. Not the toy.]]
:The very earliest [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]] toy [[catalog]]s used a photo of a blue-sided ''[[Diaclone]]'' Fairlady Z to represent [[Bluestreak]]; photographs of the same toy were used for Bluestreak's own [[Instructions|instruction booklet]]. The same blue-sided color scheme was also used on his [[Package art|box art]]; Bluestreak's box art was in turn shown on ''every'' 1984 instruction booklet as a sample tech spec.
:All this gave rise to a long-standing myth that a blue Bluestreak toy was sold under the ''Transformers'' brand during Generation 1, with some people going so far as to "remember" owning blue Bluestreaks as children, or at least knowing someone else who did. Adding to the confusion, ''[[wikipedia:ToyFare|ToyFare]]'' magazine has a long history of listing the supposed blue Bluestreak as a "foreign [[variant]]" in its monthly price guide.
:However, actual samples of a blue-sided Bluestreak in a sealed ''Transformers'' box have ''never'' appeared, and the [[Karl Hartman|collectors who have been at it since the very beginning]] and [[Jon Hartman|amassed ''insane'' numbers of rare Transformers]] have never seen one.
: Oddly enough, numerous other Transformers toys from that era were depicted in both catalogues and packaging art with colors they were never released in —[[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]], for example— yet Bluestreak is the only one to be (mis)remembered in this manner, perhaps because his name is Bluestreak, so he had to have been blue, right?

*'''A show-accurate Skyfire toy was available during Generation 1.'''

[[Image:Jetfire-SkyfireModels.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Patience. You just have to wait 22 years.]]
:Due to some legal entanglements, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] was renamed "Skyfire" for the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]], with a character model that bore only a vague resemblance to the toy. Some confused viewers seem to have come away assuming that there had to be a [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]] Generation 1 toy by the name of Skyfire. (The ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' Jetfire toy is actually designed as a mix between the original toy and the cartoon character model.)

*'''Some Generation 1 toy molds were in use as long ago as 1974.'''
:Some ''[[Micro Change|Microchange]]''-derived toys have the text "©1974 TAKARA" stamped on them, and as a result are occasionally sold on eBay with descriptions such as "original 1974 [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]]". However, the date 1974 refers to the introduction of the original [[Microman]] franchise; the first ''Microchange'' toys weren't even designed until the early 1980s.

*'''A winged variant of Sludge was available during Generation 1.'''
:A [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] [[knockoff]] that featured wings and a pterodactyl-like beast head was fairly commonplace during the Generation 1 era, and in some cases people who owned this knockoff as children seem to have misremembered it as being a [[Hasbro]] or [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]-produced [[variant]].<ref name="Sludge Knockoff">[http://www.toyarchive.com/Transformers/Knockoffs/Sludge1.html http://www.toyarchive.com/Transformers/Knockoffs/Sludge1.html]</ref>

*'''A Unicron toy was available during Generation 1.'''
[[Image:Unicron Proto.jpg|thumb|200px|Seriously, aren't you glad your poor parents didn't have to waste like a hundred bucks on this back in '86?]]
:No toys of [[Unicron]] were available (or even produced beyond [[prototype]]) until 2003. In fact, the mere ''existence'' of those prototypes wasn't actually officially confirmed until many years later. The first official Unicron toy to be released came out as part of the ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' line in 2003 and was a brand new mold, not based on an old, unused prototype.
:The fictional existence of a ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' Unicron toy is likely based on schoolground one-upmanship: if one kid had a larger toy such as [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] or [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], a rival kid would claim to have a Unicron toy in order to appear cooler, but would most likely retire to his bed a sobbing mess, knowing in his heart that one day [[Primus|God]] would punish him for being a HUGE FIBBER.

*'''The Decepticon combiner team Seacons is pronounced "See-ih-cons" vice "See-cons."'''
:This belief stems from the fact that nearly all Decepticon teams before them had a "i" or "a" vowel break in between the prefix and "con" (Construct'''i'''cons, Combat'''i'''cons, Pred'''a'''cons, etc), with nearly all the teams having three or more syllables. To fit the pattern, some fans inserted an extra syllable into "[[Seacon (G1)|Seacon]]s", expanding the name to "See-ah-cons" or something similar. There was little to disprove this, since audio media mentioning the team by name is rare. However, fans have since found there was one toy commercial for the set and the narrator clearly calls them "See-cons."

*'''The reissue Soundwave toys released by Takara are reverse-engineered from Soundblaster because the original molds are lost'''
:Both the ''[[Transformers Collection]]'' and ''[[Encore]]'' [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] releases have different tape buttons and hinges than the ones found on the vintage Hasbro release. While the vintage Hasbro Soundwave had inset controls and an internal tape deck hinge, the Takara reissues have a large button block that serves as a pivot point for an external tape deck hinge. The supposed reason for this is the mold for the original versions of the buttons and door are lost or worn out, so a new single tape door was made to work with the Soundblaster mold.
:In fact, the buttons and hinge used on the reissue Soundwaves were originally a [[retool]]ed running change [[variant]] of Takara's original 1985 release of Soundwave. The further Soundblaster retool was based on the later Japanese version of Soundwave, as were the reissues. Presumably, the original mold in its original condition ''is'' lost - but this happened ''long'' before Takara retooled Soundwave into Soundblaster.

===Generation 2===
*'''"Generation 2" means "after ''The Transformers: The Movie''."'''
:This common but explicitly false idea probably stems from the many casual fans who grew up with the original ''Transformers'' line but stopped paying much attention around 1986, when the animated ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' debuted and the ''Transformers'' craze began to die down. Many such fans regained some interest in ''Transformers'' many years later, particularly with hype surrounding the [[Transformers (2007)|2007 live-action movie]]. Seeing the phrase "Generation 2" batted around in fandom, it might seem natural to assume it refers to the big changeover that happened with the animated film. It certainly didn't help that, early in the life of [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]], [[Pat Lee]] shared in this misconception, leading other new arrivals to the fandom to ape his use of the term.
:While the original animated movie certainly marked a change from one "generation" of toys to another, along with some new design trends, the phrase "Generation 2" refers to [[Generation 2 (franchise)|a very specific franchise]], marketed from 1992 to 1995—years after the animated film had come and gone. Its relative obscurity probably contributes to the mis-attribution of the term, as ''Generation 2'' marks a low point in popularity for ''Transformers'' as a whole.

===Robots in Disguise===
*'''The ''Robots in Disguise'' toyline was known as "Transformers 2000" in Japan.'''
:As information about the then-new [[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|''Car Robots'' toyline]] began to trickle out of Japan in 2000, early rumors purportedly from Japanese sources indicated that it was officially named "Transformers 2000".<ref name="Transformers 2000">http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_frm/thread/e6436b92178f0c0a</ref> It's possible those Japanese sources were also going by early, inaccurate rumors or perhaps a soon-to-be-discarded working title for the line. The idea persisted with many Western fans well after the true name of the show was revealed, encouraged by online import retailers (who were equally misinformed) using the title to promote pre-orders on their sites.

===Alternators===
*'''A yellow version of Alternators Tracks was released to North American stores (but then recalled by Hasbro).'''

[[Image:YellowTracks.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Only in Japan, baby.]]
:When [[Hasbro]] (and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]) originally announced the ''[[Alternators]]'' version of [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] in 2004, the toy's [[Alternate mode|vehicle mode's]] primary color was yellow. This caused the ire of a significant portion of the fandom, which insisted that the toy had to be ''blue'', like its ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' predecessor.
:However, while Takara did release their ''Binaltech'' version of the toy in yellow, stolen [[Prototype|samples]] of the Hasbro version eventually surfaced which were indeed blue rather than yellow. Hasbro eventually confirmed at [[OTFCC 2004]] that the initial idea had been to release the toy in yellow first, and then later as a running change [[variant]] in blue, like Takara would ultimately do. However, Hasbro had encountered problems at the test shot stage, where it became evident that some of the toy's innards were shining through the yellow plastic. As a result, plans for a release of the yellow version were scrapped, and it was decided to release the blue version from the get-go.
:However, around the time when the yellow version of ("Autobot") Tracks was originally supposed to arrive in stores, rumors started circulating that some stores (usually Wal-Mart) had indeed received a shipment of the toy, but were then asked by Hasbro to send back the entire batch. Some variants of this rumor later even claimed having seen a cell photo from the friend of a friend depicting a yellow Alternators Tracks in packaging on top of a case sporting a "RETURN TO SENDER" note. Conveniently, circumstance always prevented these people from taking a photo and sharing it with the internet public.
:Needless to say, no substantial evidence has ever surfaced to back up these claims. Furthermore, there are several factors that make this story extremely doubtful: First, Hasbro—in their own words—discovered the problems with the see-through yellow plastic at the test shot stage (which is the entire ''point'' of this part of the production run). Why would they actually bother to continue the production run, print the packaging, pack the toy and send it to stores and ''then'' decide to recall it? Never mind that toy recalls are usually done due to safety concerns, not because of ''looks''. Also, we've seen "leaked" (read: stolen) packaged samples of pretty much every single Alternators toy several months prior to its official release. Yellow Tracks? The last thing we saw of him was an unpackaged, painted sample with (intentionally) off-color Autobot sigils and "NOT FOR SALE" markings. In the four years since the toy's alleged stealth shipment to stores, not a single packaged sample has surfaced.
:The only "packaged" versions of a yellow ''Alternators'' Tracks we ever got to see were internet pranks of the "yellow ''Binaltech'' Tracks in photoshopped Hasbro box" variety. Which, of course, didn't exactly help matters.

*'''Hasbro omitted ''Alternators'' Windcharger's gun barrel for safety reasons.'''

[[Image:WindchargerOverdrive.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Castrated at the request of Honda.]]
:When the first stolen [[Prototype|test shots]] of ''[[Alternators]]'' [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] surfaced in 2004, the toy sported an extraordinarily long gun barrel (which doubled as the [[Alternate mode|vehicle mode]]'s drive shaft). However, when [[Hasbro]] finally officially announced the toy on their public website, the gun barrel was missing from all the official photos. Since Hasbro's photographers have a reputation of frequently depicting mistransformed toys in their official promotional photos, fans initially assumed that Hasbro was showing a "broken" toy—but then the first (stolen) packaged samples surfaced, which were also lacking the barrel.
:The toy was ultimately released without the barrel, which was not shown or mentioned anywhere on the packaging or in the instructions. Indeed, Windcharger's weapon accessory was officially identified as a "shield" on the back of the packaging (in addition to the actual, ragtop roof shield). [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], on the other hand, later released their own ''Binaltech'' version of the toy (named [[Overdrive]]) with the full barrel, prominently shown in the official promotional photos.
:The initial fan theory upon seeing the barrel-less toy was that Hasbro had gutted it [[for safety reasons]], since the long barrel might pose choking hazard. Even though this was refuted by actual experts on toy safety standards, the rumor still persisted. An official response of Hasbro's customer service department to an e-mail inquiry (published on a fan site's message board) confirmed that the reason for the barrel's omission was "so the accessory would not look like a weapon".<ref name="Windcharger gun barrel">"http://forums.tformers.com/talk/index.php?showtopic=13088 Response from Hasbro's customer service department regarding the lack of Alternators Windcharger's gun barrel.</ref> Some fans now shifted the blame from Hasbro (or toy safety laws) to Honda, since all ''Alternators'' toys were officially licensed vehicles (Honda wouldn't be the first company to have objections about their vehicles being depicted as "war toys", either), while others tried to ambiguously interpret the response mail, or even accuse Hasbro's customer service department of simply not actually knowing what they were talking about. The release of Takara's version with the full gun barrel intact didn't exactly help to resolve matters either.
:Eventually, Hasbro (in the presence of Takara representatives) would confirm the full story at [[BotCon 2005]]: It had indeed been Honda, specifically their North American branch, that had asked to remove the gun barrel and all references to "weapons" from the toy, its packaging and included paperwork. Honda's Japanese department, on the other hand, had no such concerns, which is why Takara were able to release the ''Binaltech'' version with the barrel intact.
:This didn't mark an end to the "for toy safety reasons" rumor, though: Some fans who are unaware of Hasbro's statement at the BotCon panel still assume the (seemingly) evident explanation, whereas some conspiracy theorists explicitly reject the official explanation by Hasbro, arguing that Hasbro would rather put the blame on Honda than openly admit that they had altered a toy in order to conform to toy safety regulations.

===Masterpiece===
*'''Masterpiece Convoy has more diecast parts than 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime/Masterpiece Convoy is made almost entirely out of diecast/20th Anniversary Optimus Prime is made entirely out of plastic'''
:This misconception ''might'' be extrapolated from the ''[[Alternators]]'' toys, which are made entirely out of plastic (except for the rubber tires) for their Hasbro releases, whereas their Japanese ''Binaltech'' counterparts feature a few parts made out of [[die-cast|die-cast metal]].
:In fact, however, the amount of die-cast metal parts versus injection-[[mold|molded]] plastic parts is the same between 20th Anniversary [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] and his Japanese ''[[Masterpiece]]'' Convoy counterpart. The only differences between the two toys (not counting the packaging) are the shortened smokestacks for Hasbro's 20th Prime and the addition of painted battle damage that is missing from the Takara version.

===Europe (all generations)===
*'''The Generation 1 Seacon Overbite was released under the name "Jawbreaker" on some European markets.'''
[[Image:JawbreakerComic.jpg|right|thumb|UK comic exclusive name variant!]]
:This appears to originate from the fact that [[Enemy Action!|issue 152]] of the Marvel UK comics, the first appearance of the [[Seacon (G1)|Seacons]], refers to [[Overbite (G1)|Overbite]] as "Jawbreaker", a name repeated in his appearance in [[Salvage!|issue 160]] and an "A to Z" profile in the [[Transformers Annual 1989]]. In the early days of the Transformers online fandom, when information about (and scans of) the UK comics were made available to a larger number of American fans for the first time, they concluded that this must mean that the toy had been released under a different name in Europe (which is not ''entirely'' unfounded: Generation 1 toys ''had'' been released under alternate names in Canada and Italy; and many of the tail-end G1 toys that were released following the cancellation of the line on the United States market were also available in several name variants on various European markets). A further variation of this rumor even cited legal (possibly [[trademark]]) reasons as an explanation for the alleged name change.
:However, no substantial evidence has ever surfaced to back up this rumor; in fact, European fans, when questioned, all claimed to recall that the toy was called "Overbite" when released in their respective countries (except for Italy, where [[GiG]] actually didn't release the Seacons ''at all''). Furthermore, the [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|letters page]] in [[City of Fear!|issue #164]] of the UK comic features a question by a confused (British) reader who inquires about the "Jawbreaker" name, since the toy was called "Overbite" when released in the UK (which then results in a made-up-on-the-spot explanation on behalf of the Marvel staff to reconcile both names).
:So, why ''did'' the story identify the character as "Jawbreaker"? It's likely that writer [[Simon Furman]] simply got a few names mixed up, since the Overbite toy's instructions refer to his ''weapon'' as a "Jawbreaker cannon". That, or "Jawbreaker" was an early working name for Overbite. Or, as his first appearance was very early in the year, when the story was written Marvel UK had received incomplete information about a toy that was not yet on sale.

*'''Some toys were exclusively (or predominantly) available in the United Kingdom (sometimes also the Netherlands)'''
:This likely stems from the fact that during the early days of the Transformers online fandom, when information from European countries was shared with American fans, two of the most active fanbases (or, at least, fanbases with members who were capable of, and interested in, engaging in conversations using the English language) as far as Europe was concerned were based in the UK and in the Netherlands. As a result, when information about toys (or toy variants) that were not available in the United States was spread, there simply were no fans from Germany or France around to confirm that the toys in question had also been officially available in their respective countries.
:As a result, the red variant of [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] was initially branded a "Netherlands" release, as were some the Mexican toys originally produced by [[IGA]] for the Mexican market that were later imported to Europe through gray channels and sold in at least half a dozen countries (most notably exotic variations such as blue versions of [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys|Bumblebee]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]]). Meanwhile, tail-end G1 releases after the toyline had been cancelled as far as the United States market was concerned, such as the [[Action Master Elite|Action Master Elites]], the "[[Classics (Europe)|Classics]]" reissues, the [[Turbomaster|Turbomasters]] or the [[Obliterator|Obliterators]], were often referred to as "UK exclusives" (and are occasionally still to this very day), even though all of them were also available in numerous other countries—some of them even in Canada and Australia!
:Simply put, there are very few toys that were actually exclusive to a single European country. The bizarre red-footed variant of [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|G1 Optimus Prime]] has only been confirmed for the UK and France thus far (apparently in two different packaging variations, no less), and ''[[Alternators]]'' [[Jazz (G1)|Meister]] and ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]] have both only been released in Italy as far as the European (but not the American, or Australian, or Asian) market is concerned. Even the red "Powerlinx" version of ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]], which had originally been available as a "[[USA Edition]]" in Japan and was later found in Israel of all places, also has confirmed sightings for Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The toy was even found in ''Australia'', but only in stores that also occasionally sell toys imported from other countries, and again in European packaging, oddly enough.
:The first ''genuine'' "UK exclusives" were released as part of the accompanying [[Movie (toyline)|toyline]] for the 2007 [[Transformers (2007)|''Transformers'' live action movie]], namely a three-pack containing the Deluxe Class toys [[Jazz (Movie)|Autobot Jazz]], [[Protoform]] [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Brawl (Movie)|Decepticon Brawl]], and a two-pack, named "Towed to Safety", which contained the first of the two Deluxe Class [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] molds and [[Longarm (Movie)|Longarm]] (''not '' to be confused with the Screen Battles "Final Stand" set, which was ''also'' available in the UK), both of them in their original decos. Meanwhile, other multi-packs or minor variants of toys from the 2007 movie toyline that were available in the UK but not in the United States were also available in other places, such as Japan, Hong Kong, Australia or other European countries again.

*'''A green variant of Trailbreaker was available in some European countries.'''
:This belief seems to stem from the fact that [[IGA]]'s Mexican version of [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (which, like most Mexican Transformers, was widely available on the European gray market circa 1989, as mentioned above) used the same head sculpt as [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]. But like the "Blue" Bluestreak, no samples of an actual green version of the Trailbreaker mold actually sold ''as'' "Trailbreaker" have been found.

===Other===
*'''Takara (alternatively, Hasbro) are ''solely'' responsible for designing, developing and manufacturing (all, or certain specific) ''Transformers'' toys.'''
: This was true only for the original [[The Transformers (toyline)|''Generation 1'' toys]], and possibly also the [[Generation 2 (toyline)|''Generation 2'' toys]]. Most of the toys from 1984 to 1986 were imported (and, occasionally, slightly altered) versions of already-existing Japanese toys originally designed and released by [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]. Following that, Takara developed new toys both for the Japanese and the Western market, now specifically with ''Transformers'' in mind. The primary exceptions are a handful of toys licensed from other Japanese companies (Jetfire, Whirl and Roadbuster, for example), and the 1986 toys for the [[The Transformers: The Movie|animated movie]], which were mostly based on designs by [[Floro Dery]].
: However, at least since the time of the [[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]] toyline, most "main" line toys released both in Japan and the Western hemisphere (such as the [[Unicron Trilogy]], ''[[Alternators]]'', the [[Movie (toyline)|2007 Movie line]] and ''[[Universe (2008 franchise)|Universe]]/[[Henkei! Henkei! (toyline)|Henkei! Henkei!]]'') have been designed and developed in cooperation between [[Hasbro]] (or its subsidiary [[Kenner]]) and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] (now TakaraTomy). (For the specifics of this joint venture development process, see the article about [[Toy|toys]].)
: Still, numerous reasons have led some people to assume incorrectly that ''all'' ''Transformers'' toy lines were ''solely'' developed by only one of the two companies:
:* The Western public and mainstream media, naturally, tend to be unaware of the existence of Takara (TakaraTomy these days). It's therefore logical to assume that Hasbro, the company responsible for distributing Transformers toys outside Japan, is also solely responsible for developing and manufacturing the toys. The fact that Hasbro regularly chooses not to mention their Japanese business partner in official press releases and interviews hasn't exactly helped matters, either.
:* On the other hand, Western anime fans are used to Japanese companies being solely responsible for designing robot toys, which are then imported and sold by Western companies. For lack of better knowledge, those people then simply assume the same also applies to ''Transformers'' toys — namely, that Takara does ''all'' the design and engineering work on their own, and Hasbro is merely the Western ''distributor'' of those toys. The fact that the back of Hasbro's packaging for ''Transformers'' toys sports a small note saying "Manufactured under license from Takara Co., Ltd." (changed to "TOMY Company, Ltd." on more recent toys) is occasionally cited as "proof" that Takara is the sole manufacturer of ''Transformers'' toys as well. A long paper trail of evidence to the contrary<ref name="Hasbro Tour">[http://www.seibertron.com/events/gallery.php?event_id=70&size=0&start=272 Exemplary rundown] of the development process of ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' Leader Class [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]], shown during the Hasbro tour at [[BotCon 2007]]. Of course, Hasbro just replaced the name "Takara" in some of the steps with "Hasbro" in order to convince fans that... yeah, riiiight.</ref> has not been able to convince those people of the flaws in their conspiracy theory — rather, some of them have even postulated the existence of a so-called "Hasbro PR machine", whose sole purpose is to convince ''Transformers'' fans that Hasbro actually has a larger part in the development of ''Transformers'' toys than is actually the case.<ref name="Propaganda">[http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?1,88668 ToyBoxDX thread with anime fanboys arguing that "Takara is an enormous toy '''manufacturing''' company. Hasbro doesn't manufacturer anything. The sole reason for its existence is for marketing the products of their partners and wholly-owned subs. Just to be clear here - Takara is bigger than Hasbro."] They wouldn't even believe that [[Joe Kyde]] actually worked at Hasbro. No kidding.</ref>
: That being said, there ''are'' indeed a few toys originally developed by either Hasbro or Takara without the other one's involvement, and then later picked up by the other company, but they're fewer than usually assumed: For Takara, those include the new molds for ''[[Beast Wars II (franchise)|Beast Wars II]]'', ''[[Beast Wars Neo (toyline)|Beast Wars Neo]]'' and ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Car Robots]]'', plus various mostly short-lived, collector-aimed, niche market lines (such as the new ''[[Robot Masters (franchise)|Robot Masters]]'' molds, the ''[[Smallest Transforming Transformers]]'', the ''[[Hybrid Style]]'' toys etc.); for Hasbro, those are mostly either toys originally based on fiction-based franchises that did not originate with Hasbro (such as [[Animorphs]] or the ''[[Star Wars|Star Wars Transformers]]'' and their later successor, ''[[Crossovers|Transformers Crossovers]]''), cross-brand lines ''within'' Hasbro where the Transformers toys only make up one part of the overall lineup (such as the [[Titanium Series]] and the [[Robot Heroes (toyline)|Robot Heroes]] figures) and a few very rare "main" line Transfomers toys such as the ''[[Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' [[Power Master|Power Masters]] and [[Grimlock (Energon)|Grimlock]], [[Swoop (Energon)|Swoop]], [[Alpha Quintesson]], [[Kicker Jones#Toys|Energon Kicker]] and [[High Wire (Armada)|High Wire]] from ''[[Energon (toyline)|Energon]]''.

*'''Takara's Japanese-market releases are always of intrinsically better quality than their U.S. counterparts. (E.g., they have sweeter exclusives, and are always more show-accurate, have more accessories, and have tighter quality control.)'''
: This one depends a bit on the speaker, as it can either be a genuine misconception, a matter of opinion, or at worst, [[Personal canon|willful]] [[True fan|snobbery]]. But, like any broad generalization, it does have some basis.
:*"Better quality" can refer to the fact that Japanese versions of individual toys sometimes have clear plastic instead of painted-on windows like [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Movie Bumblebee]], or have vac-metallized parts where the equivalent U.S. release doesn't, like [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|''Energon'' Optimus Prime/Grand Convoy]]. Or, "better" quality can refer to the fact that Japan is a less litigious society, with different toy safety laws, and Takara can thus give [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Prime]] toys old-school long smokestacks, which are now shortened in the U.S. [[for safety reasons]]. These laws also mean that [[Megatron (G1)|Masterpiece Megatron]] is freely available in Japan, but hard to get in the U.S. (the exact opposite of ''real'' handguns, ironically).
:*"More [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]] decos" does have some basis, as Takara frequently releases its toys later than Hasbro does Stateside, and thus they are better able to reflect discrepancies between late-run changes to a character's coloration in a show (such as with the original [[Rattrap]] or [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|''Armada'''s Tidal Wave]]). The most extreme example of this was ''[[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Wars Returns]]'', the Japanese release of ''Beast Machines'', which was ''years'' later than in the U.S., allowing Takara to add a lot of the deco that was added to the characters by [[Mainframe Entertainment]] that was not the original toys. (''See also'': [[Show-accuracy]])
:*"More accessories" mostly comes from the fact that ''some'' of Takara's releases have some extra accessories, but the only cases of this before the reissues were [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]]'s two swords, Megatron's sword and bullets (even though the Japanese release lacked the barrel, scope and stock extensions) and clear cases from the various cassettes. Japanese reissues have included additional accessories from the cartoon (the axe, chain mace, Energon cubes and gun-mode Megatron in the [[Transformers Collection]] reissues of Optimus and Megatron, Insecticons and Starscream, respectively, the Matrix from New Year's Convoy). Some ''[[Energon (franchise)|Super Link]]'' releases came with [[Redeco|redecoed]] [[Energon weapon|Energon weapons]] as well. [[Hot Rod (Henkei!)|Henkei Hot Rod]] came with two missile launchers and missiles not included with [[Hot Shot (Armada)/toys#Universe_.282008.29|Universe Hot Shot]] due to budget constraints, and consequently had a remolded rear bumper for their inclusion.
:*"Sweeter exclusives" is really a matter of taste. If endless redecos of Generation 1 toys as completely unprecedented Generation 1 characters, buying $40 worth of toys you got a month ago for a single [[Mini-Con]], and shelling out half your mortgage for [[Lucky Draw figure|Lucky Draw]] gold chrome figures is what floats your boat, then yeah, Japan has better exclusives.
:*"Tighter quality control" is a total myth. Takara products are manufactured under much the same production conditions as Hasbro's (pretty much everything for both markets is made in China), and their standards of quality control are just as likely to let mistakes creep through.

*'''"Repackaged" toys are ''literally'' unsold toys sent back to Hasbro, taken out of the old packaging, put into new packaging and then sent back to stores.'''

[[Image:SteamhammerEnergonUniverse.jpg|right|170px|thumb|Not literally a waste of packaging material.]]
:Every so often, a ''Transformers'' toyline features toys that were originally released as part of a previous line, but are neither [[Redeco|redecos]] nor [[Retool|retools]]—they're virtually indistinguishable from the previous release other than the packaging. This happened most frequently during the final stages of the original ''[[Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'' line, when it changed from being a line of redecos to a line of straight re-releases of toys from older lines, including Basic/Scout and Deluxe-sized toys from the ''[[Energon (toyline)|Energon]]'' and ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' lines, [[Spy Changer|Spychangers]] and even the ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' "Ultimate Battle" two-pack, which were available from various "Dollar" store chains such as Dollar General, Family Dollar, Roses, Tuesday Morning or Big Lots.
:It also doesn't help that the [[Toys"R"Us]] [[exclusive]] [[Universe (2008 franchise)|2008 ''Universe'']] [[Unicron]] is a virtually unchanged re-release of ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' Unicron. And, to further complicate matters, on the shelf tags for ''Universe'' Unicron, he is actually called "Armada Unicron."
:Because the common fandom term for those releases was "repackages", a popular misconception claims that those toys are ''literally'' "repackages", namely, unsold toys sent back to Hasbro, who took them out of their old packaging, put them into new packaging and then sent them back to (different) stores.
:Needless to say, that theory is dubious for various reasons: Generally, old unsold toys are ''not'' sent back to Hasbro. They either [[Shelfwarmer|sit on the store shelf]] (or hang on the peg) until someone finally decides to buy them, or the store somehow dumps them. And even ''if'' Hasbro did regularly get sent back huge shipments of unsold toys, they'd rather try to get rid of those toys in the old packaging rather than going through the effort of literally repackaging them.
:In addition, some of the Dollar Store exclusive ''Universe'' Basics and Deluxes were limbs and torsos from the ''Energon'' [[Combiner|combiners]] [[Superion Maximus]], [[Bruticus Maximus (Energon)|Bruticus Maximus]] and [[Constructicon Maximus]]. The ''Energon'' combiners all sold out well, and now demand high prices on the aftermarket (with the exception of the ''Universe'' "repackages", ironically). So it's rather questionable that stores would have kept a huge unsold stock of those toys in numbers large enough to warrant the alleged repackaging business.
:Therefore, the most logical conclusion appears to be that those "repackages" are in fact a brand new production run simply using the same plastic colors and paint masks as the original releases of those toys, which is cheaper to produce (and therefore easier to sell for the lower "Dollar" stores price tags) than designing new decos. Hasbro recently confirmed this, stating that due to the toys being manufactured in Asia, it would be a waste of time and money to repackage them only to sell them at the same price-point.<ref>[http://www.sirstevesguide.com/index.php?categoryid=13&p2_articleid=1934 SirStevesGuide.com, Tri-Weekly Hasbro Q&A - January 30th]</ref>
:This wouldn't be the first misconception based on popular fan terms, however: A common fan term for [[Redeco|redecos]] is "repaints", which has led to the misconception that those toys are ''literally'' toys from a previous production run ''painted over in new colors''. Obviously, however, the fact that most redecos are cast in differently colored plastic should be sufficient evidence for the absurdness of this assumption.

*'''A new toy that is vaguely reminiscent of an older toy is a retool of said toy.'''

[[Image:BumblebeeRRvsSB.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Screen Battles Bumblebee—remolded from scratch (not from Robot Replicas Bumblebee)!]]
:Hasbro like to [[redeco]] toys a lot (usually to recoup the R&D costs for developing the original [[mold]]). They also like to release redecos of toys from older lines in newer lines. In some instances, Hasbro also don't just redeco a toy, they [[retool]] it (or create new toolings for new parts that replace parts of the old version of the toy)—sometimes to improve a feature or fix an error, but sometimes also to give the toy new features or [[Gimmick|gimmicks]], or simply to make it different enough from the original version so owners of the original version would be interested in buying the "retool" as well.
:Some of those retools are comparably minor (such as [[Jazz (Movie)|Final Battle Jazz]] from the [[Movie (toyline)|2007 Movie line]]), whereas others can be pretty elaborate. Sometimes the retools are so elaborate that the line between "retool" and "new [[mold]]" gets blurred. The most drastic instances in this regard would be [[K-9]] from ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' (based on [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] from the same line) and [[Crumplezone (Cybertron)|Dark Crumplezone]] from ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' (based on the original ''Cybertron'' Crumplezone toy), both of which have most, if not ''all'' of their parts entirely retooled. Another borderline case would be the ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' [[Mini-Con|Mini-Cons]] [[Mirage (Armada)|Mirage]] and [[Swindle (Armada)|Swindle]], which were released around the same time and are based on the same basic design, share a similar body structure and have very similar [[Alternate mode|alternate modes]].

[[Image:SmokesniperStarscream.jpg|right|150px|thumb|The similarities are astounding. Especially those that aren't there.]]
:However, sometimes fans ''definitely'' get too far decrying a new toy a "retool" (or "remold"). Toys that share some superficial design similiarities, coupled with similar transformation schemes, are often mistaken for retools even though they're simply that: Similar toys based on the same general design, maybe even directly influenced by the older toy, but nothing more. Examples:
*Despite their very similar body constructions and transformation schemes, the original ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys|Bumblebee]] and [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] toys are ''not'' retools of each other. And neither is [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] a retool of Cliffjumper. ([[Hubcap (G1)|Hubcap]], however, ''is'' a retool of Cliffjumper.)
*Likewise, the [[Battlecharger|Battlechargers]] [[Runabout]] and [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] aren't retools of each other either.
*And neither are the [[Jumpstarter|Jumpstarters]] [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] and [[Twin Twist]] retools of each other.
*''[[Energon (toyline)|Energon]]'' [[Starscream (Armada)|Starscream]] is not a retool of ''[[Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' [[Smokescreen (G2)|Smokescreen]], even though he was obviously inspired by the latter.
*Some fans actually seriously believed that ''[[Alternators]]'' [[Jazz (G1)|Meister]] is a retool of [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]. (To be fair, the two actually share the same ''hand'' sculpts.)
*''Cybertron'' [[Hardtop (Cybertron)|Hardtop]] is not even ''remotely'' a "retool" of the ''Energon'' [[Sledge (Energon)|Sledge]]/[[Bonecrusher (Energon)|Bonecrusher]] mold.
*The legless [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] figure included with the Screen Battles "Final Stand" set from the 2007 [[Movie (toyline)|Movie line]] is not a retool of [[Robot Replicas]] Bumblebee.

*'''Hasbro lost the copyright to a lot of G1 Transformers names. That is why you see toys named "Autobot Jazz" or "Decepticon Brawl" these days. Takara is more competent than Hasbro and doesn't need to change their toys' names.'''
: First of all, this is not "copyright". Copyright refers to the expression of ideas. For example, the backstory for the Transformers, the specific plot of a comic or a TV episode are protected by copyright. The names these stories are sold under, however, are protected by [[trademark]]. The same also applies to the names toys are sold under.
:That being said, there are indeed a few instances where another company has snatched a trademark, making it unavilable for Hasbro for the time being. The reason for that is because trademarks need to be consistently used in commerce (at least once every year or so), or the trademark can be considered "abandoned", making it open for grabs. [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] is unavailable to [[Hasbro]] because Mattel holds several similar trademarks, [[Bluestreak]] is too similar to Gendron's "Toledo 'Blue Streak'" trademark, and a company named Lanard held the trademark "Shockwave" until a few years ago. This prompted Hasbro to use substitute names for toys based on these characters, such as "Rodimus Major" or simply "Rodimus" for Hot Rod, "Silverstreak" for Bluestreak and "Shockblast" for Shockwave (unlike the other two, Hasbro has since managed to reacquire the "Shockwave" trademark).
:Meanwhile, the names with prefixes such as "Autobot" or "Decepticon"? Those are usually non-compound single real words from the English language. Hasbro's legal department considers them too "generic" to be easily defendable as trademarks, hence the addition of prefixes such as "Autobot Jazz", "Decepticon Brawl "or "Constructicon Devastator" for better protection. This does ''not'' work with names already trademarked by another company–otherwise, [[Bandai]] could release a toy named "Megazord Optimus Prime" tomorrow, and Hasbro couldn't do anything about it.
:For a while, it seemed like these trademark quibbles were limited to Hasbro, and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] was somehow exempt due to different conditions in Japanese trademark law. However, the ''[[Classics (2006)#Henkei! Henkei!|Henkei! Henkei!]]'' line saw the emergence of quite a few "Cybertron", "Destron" and "[[Stunticon (G1)|Stuntron]]" prefixes, and for the ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen toyline]]'', Takara even uses "Autobot" and "Decepticon" prefixes the Hasbro versions of those toys ''don't'' have.

*'''Hasbro is responsible for your local store not having the newest toys right now.'''
: Hasbro actually has almost nothing to do with distribution (when Product A arrives in Store B) beyond making sure the manufactured product leaves the factories and shipyards of China at the desired time. Once the items arrive on US shores, they are almost immediately sent from the ships to the distribution centers for the retail chains that ordered them. From there, it's more truck rides to various regional warehouses, which is all controlled by the retailers, not Hasbro. After that, the schedule for taking product from those warehouses and putting it on shelves is dictated by each chain's inventory system.
: It's ''conceivable'' that Hasbro could take more control of the situation, but that would require chains like Wal-Mart to release the vise-like death grip they have on manufacturers' nuts that lets them dictate how the system works—and they're sooooooo not doing that.

*'''Hasbro should totally cater to the wishes of older collectors, as they purchase the most Transformers product.'''
: Fans would like to think they've got some sway over the direction of the [[Transformers brand]]. After all, they've been buying toys for many years (as opposed to the limited purchasing span of most children), and they buy many ''more'' toys than any individual child. And in truth, Hasbro does pay attention to the desires and discussions of its older buyers, even designing certain line segments like [[Alternators]] and [[Classics (2006)|''Classics'']] with collectors as the primary target audience.
: Collectors, however, simply can't compare to the vast numbers of children out there whose parents buy Transformers for them. The bulk of Transformers product is purchased for and/or by young children, and if it wants to stay in business and keep making money (and by extension, more toys), Hasbro must design and market its products accordingly. No accurate figures exist on the collector/children ratio, but estimates mentioned at BotCon panels range from around 10% to 20% of all purchases coming from older collectors—enough to be worth listening to, but not at all the driving force behind the brand. Past toylines have shown that betting ''too much'' on sales from adult collectors can be disastrous.
: Furthermore, it's not as though the fans speak with a unified voice. More often, for every fan pushing for one particular idea, there's another fan who thinks that same idea is boring or awful.

==Fiction==
===Generation 1===
====The original cartoon====
*'''The original ''The Transformers'' series was redubbed anime which originated in Japan, just like ''Battle of the Planets'', ''Voltron'', ''Robotech'' and other such shows screened in the '80s.'''
: Although most moderate-to-hardcore fans are well aware that this is a fallacy, there are those more casual fans (or those who have not rewatched the Generation 1 cartoon since childhood) who are under the misconception that [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''The Transformers'']] was an anime.
: Although the original toyline and thus the characters' basic visual designs were taken from Japanese-originated products, the original characters, names, factions and entire story premise of the whole ''Transformers'' franchise were developed in the United States by [[Hasbro]], [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] and eventually [[Sunbow Productions|Sunbow]]. Although the animation was farmed out, the writing and original voice recording of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|all four seasons of the original series]] plus ''[[The Transformers: The Movie|The Movie]]'' were entirely done in America.
: This misconception probably stems from distant childhood memories of the cartoon, coupled with the later realization that shows like the aforementioned ''Robotech'' were redubbed anime (presuming they didn't know this when they were kids) and, due to ''Transformers''' obvious Japanese influence, have made the assumption that it too was anime. This ''may'' also be due to passing exposure to ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' and the [[Unicron Trilogy]] shows which, viewed as an adult, are ''very'' obviously redubbed anime.
: This is in part related to the misconception that '''all''' ''Transformers'' toys are ''solely'' designed, developed and manufactured by [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], and all [[Hasbro]] ever does is to put them in new packaging and distribute them on the Western market (see above). Because this is true for other Japanese robot toylines, and therefore it must also apply to ''Transformers''.

*'''''The Headmasters'' was going to be dubbed into English and shown in America.'''
: In America, "Season 4" consisted of "The Rebirth", a 3-episode mini-series. In Japan, "The Rebirth" was ignored, and a full-fledged series titled ''The Headmasters'' continued the story instead. Rumors once swirled in the fandom of an American-led dub of ''The Headmasters'' series; the dub was largely finished, goes the story, till the materials were lost in a warehouse fire.
: Given the meandering pace of the series (common for Japanese shows but anathema to American sensibilities), the presence of numerous characters who had no toy equivalent on US shelves, the incompatibility with the "[[Nebulan]]" head characters, the number of Japanese cultural references, and the very existence of "[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The Rebirth]]", this rumor seems unlikely on the surface.
: More to the point, no official confirmation or other evidence has ever surfaced to back it up. In all likelihood the rumor was probably a [[wikipedia:Chinese_whispers|Chinese Whisper]] from the fact that the Malay English language [[Omni Productions]] dub {or "Star TV" dub) was screened on UK satellite TV during the 1990s.

====The Transformers: The Movie====
*'''There exists an "uncut version" of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' containing all sorts of non-kid-friendly content.'''
: These stories stem mainly from the fact that many home-video releases of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' omit two relatively minor instances of characters using profanity, which during the 1990s resulted in some [[alt.toys.transformers]] posters advertising "uncut" VHS copies of the movie for sale, thus either intentionally or unintentionally creating the myth of a really foul-mouthed and ultra-violent alternate version of ''The Transformers: The Movie''. At least one poster claimed to have uncut reels of the original film showing a number of violent scenes, but, unsurprisingly, was unwilling to provide any form of proof. So have ended all claims of uncut footage from the film.
: Also two additions were made for the British release of the movie: The opening credits were replaced by a ''Star Wars'' style text scroll complete with narration, whilst the last scene of the Movie has an additional voice over declaring that the Transformers' adventures will continue and Optimus Prime will return. These additions have been seen in other international versions of the Movie but are less well known in the US.

[[Image:TFTM dead gray Prime.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Traumatizing enough as it is, frankly.]]
:A much stranger rumor, whose origins are unclear, claims that the original theatrical cut of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' depicted [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] crumbling into dust after dying, and that that scene was cut by the distributor in mid-release because children were traumatized by the imagery. Interestingly, the "Death of Optimus Prime" track on the original soundtrack album does contain ten extra seconds of music. At the end, just before the song's final low-octave percussion sequence, there is a very distinct series of notes that appears nowhere else in the song and is not in the onscreen version. However, no other evidence of this "lost" animation sequence exists among the many storyboards, preliminary animations, interviews, varying formats, etc., that have come to light.
:The myth could be related to the death of Starscream, a few scenes later, where Starscream '''does''' indeed crumble to dust after being shot by Galvatron; time and distance could lead fans to confuse the two scenes.
:These claims should not be confused with the extra storyboarded scenes which have come to light over the years. A number of scenes were planned out at the storyboarding stage, but no evidence exists that they were ever animated. Given the expense of producing full animation, it is unlikely they ever made it past the level of storyboards.
::''See also: [[The Transformers: The Movie#Trivia and controversies]].''

*'''''The Transformers: The Movie'' was never released in Japan.'''
: A widespread (but false) assumption among Western fans holds that ''The Transformers: The Movie'' is not part of Japanese Generation 1 [[canon]], and that ''[[Scramble City]]'' was effectively its Japanese replacement. ''The Transformers: The Movie'' went unreleased in Japan until August 1989, and the various discrepancies between it and subsequent Japan-only Generation 1 fiction are largely a matter of the Japanese animators and writers being unaware of the precise details of ''The Transformers: The Movie''.<ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=216153#post216153</ref><ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=216478#post216478</ref><ref>http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?threadid=30800</ref>

*'''''The Transformers: The Movie'' was released in Japan under the title ''Matrix Forever''.'''
: ''[[Matrix Forever]]'' was actually the title of a 20-minute video created to promote the Japanese release of ''The Transformers: The Movie'', but some Western (and even Japanese) fans have been confused into thinking that ''The Transformers: The Movie'' itself was renamed ''Matrix Forever''.<ref>http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/a5d29844863d2c29</ref>

====Japanese Generation 1 fiction====
*'''In Japanese continuity, Megatron and Galvatron are two separate characters.'''
:There are a few instances of Japanese fiction (and advertising) that would seem to support this notion, all of which can be attributed to a lack of communication between [[Hasbro]] and [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] prior to the release of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''. All of them were ultimately ignored by the "primary" fiction, namely as the (dubbed) third season of the cartoon (named ''Transformers: 2010'' in Japan) and the accompanying manga, which followed the Western story concept of Galvatron being a reformatted [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]].
:There is also a ''Transformers: 2010'' [[manga]] story that depicts [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] commanding a legion of automatons created in [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]'s image, which some non-Japanese-speaking fans have interpreted as depicting Galvatron and Megatron co-existing.<ref>http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=179</ref>

*'''In Japanese continuity, the Destrons (Decepticons) were invaders from a planet called Destron.'''
: The [[Autobot|Autobots]] were renamed "Cybertrons" in the Japanese translation, resulting in a misconception that the Destrons ([[Decepticon|Decepticons]]) must hail from somewhere other than the planet [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. However, the Japanese translation also used slightly different spellings for the faction, "Cybertron" (literally: サイバトロン, "Sa-i-ba-to-ro-n"), and the planet, (literally: セイバートロン, "Se-i-baa-to-ro-n"), commonly interpreted as "Seibertron" by Western fans, in order to avoid confusion, even though both words originally started out based on the English name "Cybertron".<ref name="tfa522">[http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=522 The Transformers Archive essay about various urban legends surrounding the Transformers franchise]</ref>
:This rumor presumably originates from an article a Thomas Wheeler had written for ''Attic's Collectible Toys and Values Monthly'' during the hiatus between the [[The Transformers (toyline)|G1]] and [[Generation 2 (toyline)|G2]] toylines. According to that article, Hasbro chose not to follow this element of the story because of the similarity between the term "Destron" and G.I. Joe's "Destro" character. Of course, seeing as the story originated in America to begin with and was only dubbed into Japanese later on, this doesn't make a lot of sense. More recently, Wheeler has been writing toy reviews for Master Collector's website, which occasionally also display a certain lack of knowledge about various toys and the ''Transformers'' brand's overall history, so it doesn't seem entirely out of place for him.

*'''Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus are both members of a "Space Mafia".'''
:[[Black Shadow]] and [[Blue Bacchus]], two characters from ''[[Victory (franchise)|Victory]]'', both have their function listed as "Space Gangster". An early fan translation of their on-package [[Bio|bios]] misinterpreted the Japanese word for "gangster" to mean "Mafia", hence the belief that a "Space Mafia" exists in the Japanese Generation 1 universe.

*'''Metrotitan is a zombie version of Metroplex.'''
: [[Metrotitan (G1)|Metrotitan]] was a Destron [[redeco]] of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] from the ''[[Zone (franchise)|Zone]]'' portion of Japanese Generation 1 continuity. For unclear reasons, Western fans believe that Metrotitan was a "zombified" version of Metroplex, and a stranger variation on this rumor holds that Metrotitan was somehow "regrown" from one of Metroplex's legs.<ref name="tfa522" />

====European Generation 1 fiction====
*'''Starscream and Shrapnel are female characters in the French dub of Generation 1.'''
: This rumor is only partly true. The [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''Transformers'' cartoon]] used three different dub teams for the French version: one for the TV show's dub broadcast in Quebec, one for the TV show's dub broadcast in France and one for the [[The Transformers: The Movie|1986 movie]] used in both countries. Neither of the TV show's dubs use [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] as a female as he uses a distinctively male voice;<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOCYZRxypM YouTube: Doublage de France: Combaticons et Égo]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXCeXw5Vdo Doublage Québécois: Égo et Dr. Croc-en-ville]</ref> however, the movie's dubbing team used a female voice for Starscream, and at one point [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] calls Starscream "une imbécile" (articles in French are gender-specific), clearly cementing Starscream's movie status as a female.<ref>http://bigbot.com/mp3/transformers_mp3.shtml#Femmes</ref> (Although let's face it, he might just be insulting Starscream.) All the same is also true for [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]], who is even referred to as "Mademoiselle Shrapnel" by [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] in the movie.

*'''The German version of ''The Transformers: The Movie'' was edited and didn't depict Starscream's death scene.'''
: German TV didn't air a dubbed version of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''Generation 1'' cartoon]] until 1989. ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' was aired for the first time on German TV in 1994, with only one repeat. For unknown reasons, a rumor was circulating for several years claiming that [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream's]] death was considered too "violent" for German TV standards for children's programs and had therefore been edited out.<ref>[http://www.ofdb.de/view.php?page=fassung&fid=7489&vid=38680 German movie database ''still'' listing the rumor about Starscream's "edited death" in TF:TM]</ref> However, recordings of the TV airing still exist, which don't feature any obvious edits other than [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike's]] infamous "swear" line. Furthermore, a German DVD edition of the movie released in 2004 that features an entirely different dub also depicts Starscream's death in all its glory.

*'''An Earthforce story was written to promote the non-combining Constructicon toys.'''
:The comic story "[[Desert Island Risks!]]" from issue 264 of the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel UK]] [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|G1 comic]] reveals that the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] have somehow lost their ability to combine into [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]]. As a result, they try to build another Devastator as a new robot.

:Some fans mistakenly believe that this is somehow related to a re-release of the Constructicons (now in yellow) that were available in [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|Europe]] after the ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' toyline had ended in the USA. Those Constructicons omitted the extra parts necessary to form Devastator; and furthermore, [[Hook (G1)|Hook]] and [[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] (neither of them officially named in this version; all six toys came on multi-purpose cardbacks simply named "Constructicon") were [[retool|retooled]] to omit the tabs that were necessary for combining them (and [[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]]) when forming Devastator. Since the toys couldn't combine into Devastator anymore, fans believe that the [[Earthforce]] comic story was intended to serve as an "explanation" for this.

:The problem with this theory, however, is that the yellow "Euro" Constructicon toys were released in 1992; the comic story, however, had already come out in early 1990. If anything, "Desert Island Risks!" was based on the [[Action Master]] version of Devastator, which no longer consisted of six individual Constructicons.

===Beast Wars===
*'''In Japanese ''Beast Wars'' continuity, Optimus Primal and Megatron were the same characters as their Generation 1 namesakes.'''
: Although the Japanese dub of the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon originally did state that [[Optimus Primal|Primal]] and [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] were new incarnations of the Generation 1 faction leaders (possibly due to a communications breakdown with Hasbro and/or [[Mainframe Entertainment|Mainframe]]), the translators eventually backed away from that idea.<ref>http://www.bwtf.com/bw/toys/techspecs/primalultra.shtml</ref><ref>http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=180" rel="nofollow</ref>

*'''In ''Beast Wars II'', Apache is a drunkard as part of a Native American stereotype.'''
: [[Apache]] did indeed get drunk in the first episode of the ''[[Beast Wars II (franchise)|Beast Wars II]]'' cartoon, but only in grief, believing (erroneously) that his actions earlier had caused the death of [[Lio Convoy]] (which didn't happen). He did not get drunk again for the duration of the cartoon, nor did he ever do so in the manga. Outside of that, the Native American stereotype "common" to Japanese fictions is a stoic, silent, and often mystical warrior—none of which could be used to describe Apache accurately at all.
: That's not to say there aren't [[Jointron|some ethnic stereotypes]] in BWII that could be considered pretty offensive.
: Amusingly enough, in the sixth installment of the [[Beast Wars II (manga)|''Beast Wars II'' manga]], ''Lio Convoy'' gets drunk for no apparent reason and ends up trashing Apache's room.

===Beast Machines===
*'''A ''Beast Machines'' writer said, "Real heroes don't use guns."'''
:''Beast Machines'' was the first (but not the last) ''Transformers'' series to explicitly avoid all hand-held projectile [[weapon]]ry. While the [[Vehicon (BM)|villains]] still had traditional "blasters" mounted on their bodies, some of the [[Maximal|heroes]]' weapons were more esoteric (such as [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]'s energy-web attack, activated by putting her hands on the ground, or [[Optimus Primal]]'s gauntlets, powered by absorbing enemy fire). According to story editor [[Bob Skir]], this creative decision was agreed upon between the story editors, [[Fox Kids]], [[Mainframe Entertainment]], and [[Hasbro]],<ref name="Skir">[http://www.bigbot.com/beast-machines-transformers-bob-skir/Beast-Machines-FAQ/Sat_06_Nov_1999.html Archived Q&A from Bob Skir's now-defunct website,] where Skir responds to the gun controversy (question 7).</ref> and it is indeed reflected in the toys as well.

:Note that many Maximals had weaponry that was functionally no different from a "gun"—compare [[Botanica]]'s hip-mounted energy cannons, [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]]'s back-mounted sonic blaster, or Optimus Primal's chest-mounted energy disc launcher to [[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]]'s shoulder-mounted ray guns or [[Strika (BM)|Strika]]'s wrist-mounted energy... tossing thingies.

:On his website, Skir also elaborated on his own position as a writer choosing if or how to portray gun use, including this statement: "Our heroes use their wiles and resourcefulness, plus a few cool weapons. Guns? I've never been a fan of them myself, and do not write heroes who need them."<ref>[http://members.aol.com/zobovor/guns.html Article on the fan Dave "Zobovor" Edwards' personal site,] quoting Bob Skir's original gun statement.</ref> Some fans interpreted Skir as condemning ''all'' gun use, even in the real world, no matter the circumstances. This led to the misquote, "Real heroes don't use guns,"<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_thread/thread/be5e55a90df944bb/b748601b997b3508#b748601b997b3508 Alt.toys.transformers thread] with the misquote and attendant assumptions right at the start.</ref> which remains a notoriously persistent error in the fandom. Skir, responding to the controversy, said on his site that "there '''are''' heroes who '''do''' need guns (such as the Punisher). Spider-Man doesn't need guns. Neither does the Hulk. And neither do Optimus, Cheetor, Black Arachnia{{sic}}, et al."<ref name="Skir" />
:Notably, the [[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|series]] [[Unicron Trilogy|immediately]] [[Movie (franchise)|following]] ''Beast Machines'' did return to classic hand-held gun use among both heroes and villains. However, the more recent ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'' series has again eschewed guns, probably because of its younger target audience.

===Robots in Disguise===
*'''The Japanese ''Car Robots'' cartoon was a direct sequel to ''Beast Wars Neo''.'''
: Some fans seem to have concluded, based on the similar animation style and overall tone, that the [[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|''Car Robots'' cartoon]] was meant to pick up where ''[[Beast Wars Neo (cartoon)|Beast Wars Neo]]'' had left off, but all indications are that ''Car Robots'' wasn't meant to take place in any pre-existing TF continuity. But now Takara says it's in the Generation 1 continuity. Along with the 2007 movie. Oooookay.<ref>http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=490</ref>

===Transformers (2007)===
*'''''Transformers'' was nearly rated R by the MPAA.'''
: In the spring of 2007, it was reported that ''[[wikipedia:Disturbia|Disturbia]]'', a then-upcoming [[DreamWorks]] film starring [[Shia LaBeouf]] and produced by [[Steven Spielberg]], had received an R rating from the [[wikipedia:Motion_Picture_Association_of_America|Motion Picture Association of America]]. That film's rating was eventually lowered to PG-13 on appeal, but in the meantime some ''Transformers'' fans became confused and believed that it was ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]'' that had been rated R, leading to some heated discussion on ''Transformers'' message boards.

*'''Brawl is named in the credits.'''

[[Image:MovieCreditsNoBrawl.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Invisible credit.]]
: There's a huge controversy surrounding the name of the Decepticon tank, who was named "[[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]]" in [[Hasbro|Hasbro's]] [[Movie (toyline)|toy line]] but "Devastator" in a subtitle in the movie itself. Both Hasbro and the screenwriters, [[Alex Kurtzman]] and [[Roberto Orci]], have expressedly favored the toy's name, referring to the name in the movie as an "error".
: Since the character has a "speaking" line in the movie (which sounds an ''awful'' lot like a garbled "''Brawl'' reporting"), fans keep claiming that the voice actor is named in the ending credits, and the character's name is stated as "Brawl" there. In fact, however, there's no credit ''at all'' for the character, under either name, as he has no voice actor.

{{-}}

*'''The Decepticons' hologram is Tom Banachek.'''

[[Image:BanachekMustacheMan.jpg|right|150px|thumb|One of these is not like the others.]]
: Several Decepticons in the movie ([[Blackout (Movie)|Blackout]], [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]], [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]]) are seen using a holographic "pilot"/"driver" based on the same mustache-clad human, only wearing different clothes matching the Decepticons' respective [[Alternate mode|alternate modes]].
: Since [[Tom Banachek]], the head of [[Sector Seven]]'s Advanced Research Division, also sports a mustache, many fans mistakenly believe that the Decepticons' hologram is meant to look like Banachek.
: There's only one problem with that: The "[[Moustache Man]]" (the Decepticons' hologram) is played by a real-life United States Air Force Major named [[Brian Reece]], whereas Tom Banachek is portrayed by established actor [[Michael O'Neill]].
: In essence, this is a phenomenon ''Lost'' fans [http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Apophenia#Forced_Connections should be awfully familiar with].

{{-}}

===Revenge of the Fallen===

*'''Barricade's return?'''
:A common misconception among fans is that [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade's]] Saleen Mustang alternate mode was spotted on the set of ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]''. In fact, however, a truck transporting three "Barricade" prop vehicles was spotted in Culver City, California, in March 2008, more than ''two months'' before principal shooting for ''Revenge of the Fallen'' started.<ref name="vehspotted">[http://www.superherohype.com/news/transformersnews.php?id=6980 Superhero Hype reporting on the spotting of Barricade vehicles in March 2008]</ref>
{{-}}

==Companies==
*'''Takara was taken over by Tomy'''
:In 2005, it was announced that Takara, longtime Japanese manufacturer/distributor of Transformers toys, and former competitor Tomy would merge into a new company, named [[TakaraTomy]], as of March 1, 2006. Some fans misinterpreted the media coverage, believing that Takara had been bought out by rival Tomy. This was not helped by official press releases declaring Tomy the "surviving company", Tomy having the majority of shares, and the merged company simply going by the name "Tomy" outside Japan.
:The name issue is easily explained, as it was done for purely pragmatic reasons. "Tomy" is an internationally established brand, since the company already had divisions in many other countries prior to the merger, and distributed their toys under their own name there. Takara, meanwhile, had mostly abandoned ventures into international markets years ago, and had its products distributed through other companies (such as [[Hasbro]]) instead. Thereby, the merged company decided to use the better-known name for its international business, while it would continue as "TakaraTomy" within Japan itself.
:Now, as for the specifics of the merger... Although the merger ratio was set at 0.356 of a Tomy share for each Takara share (including a split of Tomy's stock), and the companies announced a layoff of 15% of their combined workforce mostly on the Takara side, the term "merger" (as compared to "take-over") was prominently used in all the official announcements by the two companies, and twisting tiny details into a de facto "takeover" of Takara by Tomy is effectively splitting hairs.

*'''e-Hobby is owned by Takara (TakaraTomy)'''
:The [[e-Hobby]] shop is owned by Part One, Ltd. Although the company has had close ties with Takara for decades, the online store also sells toys by other companies, primarily TakaraTomy's rival [[Bandai]].
:The online store ''directly'' owned by TakaraTomy, meanwhile, is [[Toy Hobby Market]].

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://tfarchive.com/creative/showentry.php?s=522 Ten popular but incorrect rumors about Japanese Transformers]

[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:Lists]]

Talk:Mini-spy

2010-01-15T16:21:33Z

152.15.25.51:

:DW's MtMtE lists them as 'Mini-Spies' w/ a hyphen (capitalization mine, I dunno.) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 20:23, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Also- were there not '''two'' kinds of sportscars for 4 types of Mini-Spies? -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 20:27, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

== Mazda type? ==

Was the "Mazda type" minispy ever explicitly named as such or is it just a fan-coined term? Because the original Takara toy was called FX-1 Type, and its altmode is actually an early 80s Toyota concept car, the [http://www.carstyling.ru/car.aspx?car_id=2194 FX-1], not a Mazda car. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 06:14, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

== First to Have Rubsigns? ==
A question has come up on ATT asking if the Minicars packed with the Mini-Spies ''also'' had rubsigns. I'm reasonably confident that this was not the case (i.e., they still have traditional stickers at this point), but would appreciate evidence one way or the other.--[[User:G.B. Blackrock|G.B. Blackrock]] 00:31, 17 May 2009 (EDT)
:[http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx4//janvariants2/redbumblebee.jpg This image] would seem to indicate that I was wrong. Do we know if there was more than one batch? Seems unlikely to me....--[[User:G.B. Blackrock|G.B. Blackrock]] 00:40, 17 May 2009 (EDT)

I just want to say I love the use of the rubsign as a faction symbol for this page. --[[User:Andrusi|Andrusi not logged in]], 11:21, 15 January 2010 (EST)

Skywarp (disambiguation)

2010-01-13T18:30:26Z

152.15.25.51:

The name '''Skywarp''' has been applied to several Transformers characters.

*'''1984''' — [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] the [[Decepticon]] fighter jet & stair pusher downer from [[Generation 1]].

*'''1997''' — [[Skywarp (BWII)|Skywarp]] the [[Maximal]] eagle and [[Magnaboss II]] combiner from ''[[Beast Wars II (franchise)|Beast Wars II]]''.

*'''2003''' — [[Skywarp (Armada)|Skywarp]] the Decepticon jet and cousin to [[Starscream (Armada)|Starscream]] from the [[Unicron Trilogy]].

*'''2008''' — [[Skywarp (Animated)|Skywarp]] the Decepticon Harrier jet (and sniveling coward) from the ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' continuity family.

{{disamb|y=2009|[[Skywarp (ROTF)|Skywarp]] the Decepticon F-22 from [[Revenge of the Fallen (franchise)|Revenge of the Fallen]].}}

"Skywarp" should not be confused with...

* Spacewarp, the production name for the toy that would eventually become [[Astrotrain (Timelines)|Astrotrain]] from the Unicron Trilogy.

* Sky Wrap, which sounds delicious (or perhaps thin, transparent, and plastic-y), but does not exist.

* [[Special:PrefixIndex/Sky|Too damn many characters whose names start with "Sky" to list]].

{{disambig}}

Storm Jet (Universe)

2010-01-04T13:31:11Z

152.15.25.51:

{{factions|autobot}}
{{disambig3|Storm Jet}}
:''Storm Jet is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Universe (2003 franchise)|Universe]] conflict.''

[[Image:TFU03-toy StormJetMicro.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Not actually a jet.]]

'''Storm Jet''' is a member of the [[Micromaster]] [[Aerialbot (Universe)|Aerialbots]].

==Toys==
===Universe===
*'''Storm Jet''' (Micromaster Aerialbot, 2007)
**''Accessories'': Superion right fist

: Storm Jet is a [[Redeco|redeco]] of the [[Sixwing]] component [[Raker]], transforming into a [[Popular Earth vehicle alternate modes#Space Shuttle Orbiter|Space Shuttle]]. He forms the right arm of the Aerialbots' combined mode [[Superion (Universe)|Superion]].

: Though the Micromaster Aerialbots were apparently originally slated as [[KB Toys]] [[exclusive]]s, they barely showed up in the ever-shrinking chain. They saw more general release in Europe, and in the States, finally began showing up in other chains like CVS drug stores and Big Lots!.

:The toy's larger connector socket is approximately 5mm wide, making Storm Jet compatible with [[Powerlinx]] ports.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2007/Autobot/TFUStormJet/stormjet.htm More information on Storm Jet at TFU.info]''

===Cybertron===
*'''Storm Jet''' (Micromaster Aerialbot, 2007)

:The Storm Jet toy was released in Europe under the ''Cybertron'' line. There are no changes to the toy itself.

[[Category:Aerialbots]]
[[Category:Combiners]]
[[Category:Cybertron characters]]
[[Category:Exclusives]]
[[Category:Micromasters]]
[[Category:Universe characters]]
[[Category:Toy-only characters]]

Communication Autobot

2009-12-22T14:34:47Z

152.15.25.51: "Regardless of the manner in which he's never seen again"? Really, TFWiki? Really?

{{faction|autobot}}
{{noname-nickname}}
:''The Paradron communicator is an [[Autobot]] from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] portion of the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:FightorFlee Paradron communicator.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"I, for one, welcome our new Decepticon masters."]]
The Paradron communicator is an inhabitant of the planet [[Paradron]], having fled to the planet during one of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]'s great wars in order to escape the fighting. Like the other Paradronians, he is a pacifist.

His life also really sucks.

==Fiction==
===Cartoon continuity===
:Voice actor: [[Laurie Faso]] (English), ??? (Japanese)

This unlucky fellow was in charge of the Paradron communications tower when [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]] came to use the facility to contact [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. Though he protested that the pair weren't allowed to be there, Scourge kicked him across the room, embedding him helplessly in a monitor.

After the Decepticons took control of the planet, this Paradronian was given the job of guarding his imprisoned fellows. Autobot reinforcements from off-planet attacked the prison, blowing up the guard tower he was in. The explosion expelled him and he fell to the ground below. {{storylink|Fight or Flee|Fight or Flee}}

==Trivia==
* Unlike the other Autobots on Paradron, he doesn't seem to wear a faction symbol. That must really save time when siding with invading oppressive forces.
* His fate when the planet exploded is unknown. He may have been able to evacuate when the planet exploded; however, he's never seen again.

[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Cartoon-only characters]]
[[Category:Generation 1 characters]]

Human

2009-12-17T17:27:59Z

152.15.25.51: /* Religion */

[[Image:Human.jpg|right|180px|thumb|A typical human.]]
'''Humans''' (also known as: fleshlings, meatbags, insects, squishies, noisy creatures, "puny flesh creatures", "dumb stubbies", ''Terrans'' or ''Homo sapiens'' as they prefer) are bipedal and usually tiny [[wikipedia:carbon based life|organic]] beings found on [[Earth]] and like planets. Though quite fragile, and technologically backwards, they have at times aided the [[Autobot|Autobots]] and thwarted the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] once the [[Transformer|Transformers]]' age-old war spilled onto the humans' primitive homeworld.

{{bigquote|They're such undependable creatures. Inferior lifeforms.|[[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] on the humans, "[[Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1]]"}}

==Overview==
===Physiology===
[[Image:Humansize.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Humans come in both Tall and Venti.]]
Humans are suspiciously familiar creatures. Though they are made of soft, organic materials, they share remarkable physical similarities with Transformers as a species. Most Transformers and humans walk upright on two long legs attached to a tall body, with two limbs attached at the shoulders. At the shoulders is the head, just like a Transformer's, which sports two eyes in the center at equal distance from the olfactory sensor array, above a mouth which opens for speaking and for ingesting energy. Aside from energy, they also ingest raw materials that they use in their self repair systems. This would seem to be a sensible system, as these materials can be stored anywhere in their bodies, to be used later when and if necessary. Like Transformers, they are social creatures, who trade and barter wares and develop emotional attachments to peers. Eerily enough, they possess an emotional spectrum nearly identical to that of Transformers as well, ranging from laughter, joy, and satisfaction to depression, anger, and cruelty. It is not uncommon to find Transformers who have even developed [[Robot-fleshling romance|strong spiritual bonds]] with individual creatures. This is disgusting.

Humans are physically composed of several specialized units or systems called organs. The major organs are internalized, but extremely frail. Damage is hard to repair, and as they have yet to develop a method of replicating these organs, replacement usually requires harvesting from compatible humans. Major systems include the [[wikipedia:brain|brain]] (central processing unit), the heart (primary engine core), and the lungs (fuel tank). Over sixty percent of their makeup is water, though they are not aquatic in nature. Humans run on two types of fuel: gaseous oxygen, which is absorbed from their surroundings, and a liquid fuel they call [[wikipedia:blood|blood]], created from organic matter and internally refined. Blood and oxygen are required by every organ in their body and an elaborate transport system is required to transport them throughout. Though blood is in some sense self-replicating, a tremendous loss will result in permanent deactivation. Oxygen is equally required, and if deprived of oxygen for long enough, they run the risk of suffering major processor damage or permanent deactivation.

[[Image:Sariprime.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Optimus Prime learns of human reproduction.]]
A human's organic tissue will begin failing just one quarter into his or her lifespan, and will spend the next three quarters growing ever less efficient until the human's lifeforce can no longer sustain itself. As a result, humans are saddeningly short-lived creatures. (It is not known how they find the time to accomplish anything, though as a side effect it has made their wars mercifully short.) Interestingly, humans do not build new members of their race. To the contrary, humans are what they have deemed [[wikipedia:sexual dimorphism|sexually dimorphic]], categorized into [[wikipedia:sex|sexes]], wherein members of one subvariant of their species, classified as male, implants structural data, which they call "DNA", in the other, classified as female. This process grows a new human (or occasionally more than one, although this is rare) inside the female like a [[wikipedia:gestation|parasite]] until it emerges roughly three quarters of an Earth year later. (If it exits the female too early, the new human risks death.) The new human is very fragile and stupid; it will take years to acclimate itself to their society. Even a young human who stayed inside its female for the appropriate length of time is not capable of operating self-sufficiently without extensive training. Despite this limited intelligence and understanding (or perhaps as a result of it), younger humans are often among the first to form bonds with friendly Transformers.

Initiating the growth of a new human apparently involves much rubbing, and also [[Kiss|kissing]]. Though the required interactions have been hinted at in [[As the Kitchen Sinks|popular media]], humans are reticent to discussing the physical mechanism, and several attempts at accumulating further data were met with what they term as "awkward silence". This is quite confusing, as humans generally give the impression that they supremely enjoy it, and have refused all suggestions that they learn the technology to build their own from spare parts.

===Technology===
[[Image:Humansmall.jpg|left|180px|thumb|The humans of Earth wear [[Hard hat|hard hats]] regardless of their profession.]]

Although Earth is rich with natural resources, Human technology is surprisingly primitive. They had only begun to experiment with outer atmosphere travel at the time the [[Great War (G1)|Great War]] began on Earth, and they have limited communication methods. Although their locomotive devices, called "cars", are suitable for [[Transformation]], they are quite crude, potentially dangerous, and incredibly energy inefficient. Despite this, the type of car is often seen as a status symbol among humans; apparently the larger the car, the more status achieved. Some humans claim that those with large cars are "compensating" for some other sort of size deficiency—unsurprising, considering how tiny humans are compared to the average Transformer.

Human military technology is equally unimpressive. They have yet to develop any form of workable energy weapons, and no shield technology either. Their primary weapons are devices called "guns", which shoot small, metallic projectiles called "bullets" using a crude explosive called "[[Dragon's Bane|gunpowder]]". These are more than capable of killing other humans, but they are extremely inefficient when fending off any attacking Decepticons. Their warhead weapons are slightly more efficient, though extremely primitive when compared to Autobot [[Photon rifle|photon]] and [[Plasma cannon|plasma]] weapons.

In some universes humans have weaponry that is actually rather effective against a Transformer. In one universe the humans used explosive projectiles called "[[wikipedia:sabot|Sabots]]" that employ an incredibly high heat to burn through Decepticon armour and then detonate in the more vulnerable innards. A sufficient volley of these in the right places can bring down a fairly large Decepticon almost as effectively as our own cannons. The humans combine these with one advantage of their small size: hiding, taking cover in buildings or behind other obstacles then popping up to fire a few rounds before hiding and relocating before firing again.

===Society===
[[Image:AngryArcher01.jpg|200px|thumb|Humans require tokens representative of energy, and are not above humiliating themselves to retrieve them.]]
Like on Cybertron before the war, humans make up the fabric of their local (or global) economies. Some work as repairmen, some are drillers in search of [[Oil|un-processed lubricants]], others are retrievers of [[Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma|rare mineral lattices and metals]], [[Sparkplug Witwicky|a few]] accomplish all of these simultaneously. The humans strangely use the majority of the lubricant they extract as a highly inefficient source of energy, and adorn themselves with the harvested minerals and metals at exorbitant prices. Apparently the humans reason that because these objects are rare, they are incredibly beautiful, and therefore worth vastly more resources than were spent extracting and refining them. Instead of trading [[Energon (fuel)|valuable energy]] directly for goods and services, a small piece of lumbered and processed planetgrowth is exchanged. This planetgrowth represents energy abstractly, and its worth is assumed on good faith, though it is usually backed up by various metals and crystals of economic value.

A number of unsavory humans subvert this established system to illegally or immorally obtain these planetgrowths. Many of these humans were involved in unusual accidents which empowered the individual specimen to levels above ordinary humans, while others are tempted by their relatively high intelligence levels or capacity for selfish acts. Encounters with these subversive humans happen at an alarming rate, whether they be [[Donny Finkleberg|failed entertainers who claim to own all Transformers]], [[Dr. Archeville|mad scientists]], or [[Angry Archer|gifted archers who dress in homage to Earth folklore]]. By sheer numbers, these humans must represent half of the known population.

Politically, humans are divided among various nation-states which seem to be divided primarily among ethnic, linguistic, and religious differences. On occasion, these nation-states will engage in conflict over territory and resources, but as previously stated, their wars are usually quite short. Most humans seem to prefer some sort of [[democracy]] where they elect individuals to govern and legislate their nation-states, although a number of them choose their leaders due to genetic inheritance and familial succession; others still hold power through a Decepticon style dictatorship, though the mental stability of [[Abdul Fakkadi|a few]] have been questioned. At times, the Decepticons have taken advantage of Earth's factional tendencies to manipulate them to their advantage, but the Autobots have usually managed to expose the Decepticon influence before a full scale military conflict occurs.

[[Image:DancitronGang.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Humans come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.]]

Humans greatly enjoy sound patterns, termed "music". The Autobots [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] and [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] have taken a particular interest in this music, though the chosen volume has overwhelmed most other Autobots, including the mighty [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] from time to time. Humans have often shown an involuntary need to move about when music is broadcast, and even the aforementioned Autobots have also shown a desire to move about. Presumably, a fear of blowback prevented the Autobots from utilizing human music as a weapon against the Decepticons.

Humans are also athletic creatures, engaging in a variety of athletic events that are designed to test their strength, stamina, and speed. While none of them could hold their own against even the weakest Transformer, many human sports have been eagerly adopted by Transformers. The Autobot [[Eject]] is particularly fond of human athletics, and his vocabulary is littered with the human sports quotes.
{{-}}

===Religion===

Despite their lack of the multi-dimensional transwarp [[Spark]], a great number of humans believe in an analogous concept, the intangible soul. This has been confirmed to be the equivalent of a Transformer's personality program in an odd experiment, when the human [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]]'s personality was uploaded to [[Autobot X|an empty Transformer body cobbled together from spare parts]]. The human's consciousness was not suitable for digitization, and quickly deteriorated toward psychosis.

Many also believe in supernatural beings, either singular or plural, who have a direct but intangible stake in their lives. Once a week the more religious humans will gather together and sing songs at the ceiling, as the presumed direction of these beings is away from the gravity well of their planet. Unlike the historical [[Covenant of Primus|Covenant]] of [[Primus]], their holy books are not incorruptible encrypted public-key datatracks. Instead, they frequently re-encode the writings of multiple authors in an inefficient and apparently lossy process. Then they fight about which "translation" is correct instead of simply downloading the original encoding algorithm.

Despite having no concrete evidence these beings exist, and despite the records of the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] affirming their evolution from [[Protohuman|bipedal primates]], a small number of particularly deluded humans continue to assume these premises are literally true. This seems like a waste of spent attention, especially with such short lifespans, as no credible sources have substantiated that their alleged creator has ever transformed out of their world into a giant humanoid and fought its eternal enemy before their eyes. While some humans accept that they evolved from bipedal primates, there are others who maintain the divine intervention theory with a zeal that leads one to wonder if they are malfunctioning. Though some have contended that the two theories are somehow mutually exclusive, many fall in a categorization that accepts both. Many human traditions are puzzling.

===Breeding grounds===
The most familiar breed of humans are native to the planet Earth, though they can be found practically anywhere in the galaxy. For example, [[Nebulos]] is such a place, though some reports claim these humans are of green colour rather than various shades of beige. [[Femax]] is populated by humans of Transformer size. [[Pz-Zazz]] is also home to Transformer-sized humans, but it is not known whether they are indigenous to that world. It is possible that the tiny version of humans found on Earth is the exception, rather than the rule.

==Trivia==
* For reasons unknown, a substantial number of human Transformers [[Fandom|fans]] appear to have a very drastic, dismissive position when it comes to the inclusion of representatives of their species in Transformers fiction, some even going as far as demanding that Transformers fiction should be devoid of ''any'' flesh creatures whatsoever, unless being depicted as helpless victims/casualties of Decepticon attacks.

* Humans reproduce by shooting DNA into each other. [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|I find that offensive!]]

* According to [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], a certain percentage of human physiology is composed of cowardice. This proportion increases directly according to the size of the individual. {{storylink|Pretender to the Throne!|Pretender to the Throne!}}

==External links==
* [[wikipedia:Human|Humans]] like to write about themselves. This, too, erupts into war.

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Humans| ]]
[[Category:Species]]

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

2009-11-25T14:44:27Z

152.15.25.51:

{{disambigr|Ax|the melee weapon|axe}}

:''Ax is an [[Andalite]] in the [[Animorphs]] continuity.''

{{mainpic|19 November 2007}}

'''Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill''' ('''Ax''' for short) is an [[Animorph]]. He's an alien!

Ax's known animal forms include a scorpion, a human, and a panther.

{{TOCclear}}

==Toys==
===''Animorphs''===
[[Image:Scorpionax.jpg|right|200px|thumb|One [[Pincher|of]] [[Scorpulator|five]] [[Scorpia|scorpion]] [[Poison Bite|mold]]s not named [[Scorponok (disambiguation)|Scorponok]].]]
* '''Ax/Scorpion''' (Mega, 1999)
**''Accessories:'' Missile

: Ax transforms from an Andalite (sort of an alien centaur-thing) into a scorpion. In scorpion mode his tail fires missiles. Unlike the human Animorph toys, it has no transitional third mode.

{{-}}
* '''Ax/Panther''' (Deluxe, 1999)
**''Accessories:'' Left paw, right paw

: Ax's second retail toy is a [[Retool|retooling]] of [[Jake (Animorphs)|Jake/Tiger]], transforming from a funny-looking human into a panther, as well as a transitional third mode combining features from both. His panther mode front claws are separate pieces that attach like gloves. Although this toy has no alien mode, the transitional mode's head has features that suggest an Andalite-to-panther transition rather than a human-to-panther transition.

==Trivia==
* Ax/Panther is the only toy in the Animorphs toy line that is not a new mold.
* Ax/Panther does not make sense within the context of the ''Animorphs'' series itself; morphing to any creature must be done when in one's original form, so he would have to go from human back to Andalite before he could become a panther. The Andalite-like features in his transition mode may have been intended to compensate for this.

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1999/Animorphs/AxScorpion/ax.htm Ax at TFU.info]

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]

Talk:Misconceptions and urban legends about Transformers

2009-11-18T21:37:41Z

152.15.25.51:

How about the statement that Metrotitan is made of the ghosts of dead Decepticons? I know I've heard that thrown around a time or two back in the day.... [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 20:23, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Thats Violinjyger and it's true.

Alright, how about something about how G2 is G2 and everything after the movie, while technically a second generation, is not "G2" (although I recall hearing that Pat Lee regarded it as such).--[[User:Zodberg|Zodberg]] 22:37, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

== Addition to the Beast Wars Section: Black Arachnia was inspired by an Asian stripper ==

Can some please add this? The guy from Mainframe said (you can find his post on A.T.T.) that their animator, WHO IS OF ASIAN DESCENT, was taken to a strip club before he worked on BA's animation model. There was NEVER any mention of an Asian stripper by ANYONE from Mainframe, EVER!

== French Starscream ==

I went ahead and removed the entry about Starscream. First of all, while I don't know about Bigbot's reliability... the sound clips ARE legit. And the French source you pulled from TFW2005 referred to Starscream being male in the CARTOON (ie "episodes") rather than the movie itself, which used an entirely different dub team.

I'm French Canadian, all my ancestors came to Canada from France, between the ages of three and ten, I rented the movie in French every single time I was at my grandparents' house. So I know what I'm talking about here. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:04, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
:I would also assume that the French fans interviewed to dispell that theory ALSO knew what they were talking about. And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOCYZRxypM this Youtube clip] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAodylu8rWw this other Youtube clip] don't make him sound very female to me. It's your word against both other French fans and evidence I just watched with my own eyes, man. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:25, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
::I dunno how many more bloody times I must say this, the French movie used a different dub team from either French dubs of the cartoon. I even pointed it out in Starscream's article. Yes, in the TV show he was a guy, but in the movie, the new dub team made him and Shrapnel girls. [http://www.bigbot.com/mp3/transformers_mp3.shtml#Femmes Listen to those clips for proof.] Those are legit from the TFTM I watched growing up. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:36, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

::::I tried to get Nevermore to clarify on this when he made the changes, but he was unable to provide more info. Can you confirm that Starscream was characterized / referred to as female in the movie, along with the feminine voice? I think it's important that we clarify the myth as "partly true" rather than just delete it, but I want to be sure we have it all nailed down. --[[User:Steve-o|Steve-o]] 22:40, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
:::::Well, aside from the obvious voice, Megatron says to Starscream "Tu es une imbécile." In English, "an idiot" would be used to refer to a male or a female idiot, but in French the article varies in gender, were Starscream a male he would have said "Tu es un imbécile." instead of "une imbécile". ([[Wiki:French_articles_and_determiners#The_indefinite_article|French articles and determiners]])
:::::Shrapnel being female is OBVIOUS from the fact that Kickback calls him/her "Mademoiselle Shrapnel", which translates to "Miss Shrapnel".
:::::I'm trying to locate video clips of the French dub of TFTM to have more than just sound clips but so far I haven't found any... not sure where I could find a VHS tape in this day and age either... --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:55, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
::::::For those wondering why Shrapnel's being mentioned here, you can read [[Talk:Shrapnel_(G1)|this link]], which is how this whole issue was brought up in the first place. But note that I've never questioned (for I've had no reason to do so) movie Shrapnel's femininity.--[[User:G.B. Blackrock|G.B. Blackrock]] 23:17, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

==Repackaged old toys==
I think we should also have something on the notion that new-packaging releases of older toys are old unsold items taken back from store shelves, pulled from their cards, and RE-packaged onto new cards. I mean, this HAS to be bullshit. But I'm not sure of the best way to phrase it, since it's not a ridiculous argument that comes up very often. I wonder if Kyde has any insights on this. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:20, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
:I don't know that I've ''ever'' heard somebody claim that, but admittedly, I have been out of online TF discussions for a year or two, and have never read the web boards regularly. I think that unless this is something that actually comes up semi-frequently, there's not much reason to bring it up in the article. --[[User:Steve-o|Steve-o]] 22:19, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
::I've heard it said repeatedly that REDECOs are unsold toys that are sent back to Hasbro and repainted. Of course, I've only ever heard it said on Tformers. Those posters probably aren't competent enough to be held accountable for their actions. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 00:29, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
::I've seen it several times over the course of years. Certainly more than I've seen "Shrapnel's a girl in France" and "Geman movie omitted Starscream's death"... which is never before the wiki. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 23:07, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
:::Yeah, what Siph said. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 00:48, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
::::I've recently had a discussion with a common friend of ours, who is a longtime hardcore collector with inside contacts, and even ''he'' believed in the "repackaged toys are REpackaged in the literal sense" theory until I pointed out to him how expensive that would be. So I agree with Sipher here that it deserves a place on this page.--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 00:25, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

==Featured Article?==
If we can get a few pictures... like the catalog image of blue-sided Bluestreak, Raiden in the Headmasters cartoon, a few other things... I think this page should have Featured status. It's important shit. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 22:54, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
:I'd say all the reference links are going to need alternate text before we can safely call this a featured article.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 00:03, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

=="Confirmed" myths?==
Would it be worth it to add urban legends that are actually true? (I'm thinking here things like "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's/Starscream and Skywarp's tech specs were swapped, there was a Unicron toy planned during G1 that had an Orson Welles voice chip, etc.) Some of those things almost reach the status of urban legends in the fandom (not as much as they used to, now that information is easier to come by, but still.) Also, we need to add "Armada was supposed to tie together all previous TF continuities" or whatever the dumb rumor was. Also, maybe something to explain exactly what the RTV dubs really are (made in Malaysia, not Singapore, did they REALLY air in Hawaii/Mexico/wherever as I've seen people claim, etc.) [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 13:40, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
: Also, "There was a Transformers breakfast cereal with Bumblebee-shaped marshmallows and when you poured milk on it, they changed from car mode to robot mode." A kid at my school SWORE he had eaten this. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 13:42, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

==TF:TM soundtrack evidence of "lost" scene==
The 10 seconds in question are from 02:29 to 02:39 in "Death of Optimus Prime" on the original soundtrack CD. There was at least one other release of the soundtrack, right? Can anyone check and see if the mysterious sequence is there too? Or, hell, if anyone has heard of DiCola giving an alternate explanation, please disabuse me of the whole notion. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 19:39, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

== Misconception? ==

"A misconception usually held by casual fans or nostalgic adults is that of the original 1980's cartoon being the best fiction and most influential/successful line to date, with all other successors being unpopular and/or unsuccessful ventures.
Some of this misconception is based on the fact that most of the original audience stopped watching and following the franchise after its cancellation, or even before (as it wasn't "cool" to be kiddy once the puberty hit). Without any exposure to the market, the toyline and the new cartoons, they simply assume that Transformers has sunk in both popularity, quality and sales, since it's not what they remember."

Any facts/sources to back this up? I'd bet that actual sales between the demise of G1 and Micheal Bay stepping in were significantly lower, which would seriously contradict what's being said here.

:According to lists that used to be published in Tomarts(?) magazine, Transformers has consistently placed in the top 3 boys toys properties since the beginning of Beast Wars. Robots in Disguise and Armada both reported record profits, though Energon and Cybertron didn't seem to match Armada's success. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 03:56, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
::How ''did'' Energon and Cybertron sell, anyway? It seems widely known that Armada sold like hotcakes, but nobody ever brings up the two sequels in that regard. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 20:44, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

==Team names and vowel breaks==
While I'm good with the "Seacons" inclusion... well, bot every Decepticon team had an "i" vowel break... like the Predacons. And not every team had a vowel break at all... like the Triggercons, and arguably the Firecons. On the other hand... were the Seacons the only ''two-syllable name'' team, where everyone else had three? Nothing else is springing to mind... --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:51, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
:Whether it's a "a" or an "i" is kinda moot; the point is that there ''was'' a break in all the teams before them. (FWIW, to a lazy Southern tongue like mine, the "i" and "a" are almost indistinguishable. It all comes out "uh-cons" regardless.) As for the contemporaneous Triggercons, there's no ambiguity in their name, as there's no vowel there to be misappropriated. Right or wrong, the extraneous "uh" in "see-uh-cons" comes from the "a" in "Sea". Last question: "Firecon" is only two syllables, innit? -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 20:03, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
::It's only two syllables if you're a dirty southerner. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 20:08, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
::I'm a Southerner, and I say it "Fie-er". Any rate, the point is the current entry says "all teams had 'i' vowel breaks". Which ain't true... I'm more inclined to believe it's a "three-plus syllables" pattern. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:11, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
:::(D'oh. Terrorcons!) --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:12, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
::::See, I think we should start calling the Pretender Monsters the Pretendicons, just to keep with the pattern. [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 08:38, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

==Soundwave's buttons==
I think there are actually two separate issues at work here. I'd always been under the impression that G1 Soundwave underwent a running change in both the U.S. and Japan--going from the distinct, inset early buttons to the big protruding single chrome block later. After that change occurred, the mold was altered to turn it into Soundblaster. That was why Hasbro said at first they couldn't use the tooling anymore--because the door had been changed. The Takara bookbox reissue solved this by making a new version with a hybrid single door / late chrome button style, and also keeping another version with all of Soundblaster's features still around. Have I completely misunderstood the issue? --[[User:Thylacine 2000|Thylacine 2000]] 14:35, 3 April 2009 (EDT)

== R-rating ==

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=40510

Huh.--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 07:13, 8 June 2009 (EDT)
:Didn't they clarify that he was actually talking about Disturbia, Shia's OTHER PG-13 movie that came out that summer? - [[User:Cattleprod|Cattleprod]] 14:19, 8 June 2009 (EDT)

== Plagiarizing ==

Yeah. [http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/blog/9107] [http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/blog/9113] [http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/blog/9160] [http://www.thatguywiththeglasses.com/blog/9169] Awesome work stealing our content and adding your poorly written own stuff, sucker!--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 16:56, 13 July 2009 (EDT)
:I like how he added his own dumb "conclusions", which mostly contradict the copy+pasted text and are just completely wrong too. -[[User:Mazenoise|Mazenoise]] 17:38, 13 July 2009 (EDT)
::I've talked with some Brian guy over at that site, and he says he'll be deleting the blogs. Victoly? --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 17:46, 13 July 2009 (EDT)
:::Hasn't happened yet.--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 06:58, 14 July 2009 (EDT)
::::Surprise! --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 09:48, 14 July 2009 (EDT)
:::::Looks like it's been removed.--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 13:10, 31 July 2009 (EDT)

== "Companies" section? ==

I've seen the misconception that Tomy bought Takara (rather than merging with them on equal terms) thrown around quite a few times...What else could go into such a section?

Additionally, thise page has grown quite large. Should we split it?--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 19:12, 26 July 2009 (EDT)

==Variations in Europe==

''Some toys were exclusively (or predominantly) available in the United Kingdom (sometimes also the Netherlands)''

As I understand it, one of the reasons why this one may have taken root is because when the franchise began Hasbro in the UK and continental Europe were not yet integrated and so the releases were separate - I think the UK may have even begun the toys in late 1984 (which would explain why the comic began in September that year rather than waiting for the toys advertised to arrive the next). Most of the sightings of toys being available in one market but not the other, though in my experience tend to be cases of the UK not getting toys seemingly available on the continent - e.g. issue #60 of the UK comic reports Blaster being available in Germany with German tech specs - rather than the other way round. [[User:Timrollpickering|Timrollpickering]] 08:04, 26 September 2009 (EDT)

Agreed. I saw Trypticon and Bruticus box-set on sale in Greece, and Deluxe Insecticons and Shockwave in France circa 1986. None of these were ever available in the UK. [[User:J'mie|J'mie]] 08:18, 26 September 2009 (EDT)

==Here's an old one I just remembered==
Since the Diaclone & Microchange molds have copyright dates from the 70s on them, the original toys are from the 70s as well. That one's been pretty well debunked by actual release date info, but we should probably have something on the wiki explaining the reason that toys from '82 were marked '78 or whenever. It's something to do with how Japanese patent or copyright law or whatever worked at the time, IIRC - since Microchange STARTED in the late 70s, all the toys, no matter whne they dropped, had the copyright date of the initial product. At least, I think that's how it worked. [[User:Hooper X|Hooper_X]] 10:51, 30 September 2009 (EDT)
:Correct. Japanese copyright stamping at the time went by year of the brand's inception, not the year the toy per se was created. (I'm not sure if that's still the case in Japan. For any toys produced for non-Asian markets, it seems they're adhering to the date of manufacture rather than brand inception. At least, I can't recall the last time I saw a new TakaraTomy or Bandai toy with an old copyright date on it.)--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 11:01, 30 September 2009 (EDT)
::Right. and shortly after posting this, I see it's already on there. It seems like we might need a more logical organizing process for this thing - maybe a "pre-Transformers" section before G1 to cover stuff like this exactly. Kind of track it through the history of the series, rumors about pre-TF toylines first, then rumors about TF development (John Romita drawing the character models, f'rinstance) and then kind of an era-by-era as appropriate. [[User:Hooper X|Hooper_X]] 11:40, 30 September 2009 (EDT)

== Blue Bluestreak ==

My brain is too fried from using Linux to make the appropriate edit right now and have it come out not terrible, but I think it's weird that the article acts like we have absolutely no idea why the rumor of a blue '''''Blue'''''streak would be more widespread than the rumor of a dark gray Astrotrain. (And this is the part where someone assumes I don't know what his name means.) --[[User:Andrusi]]

Alice (ROTF)

2009-11-03T14:04:11Z

152.15.25.51: /* Notes */

{{factions|decepticon}}

{{disambig2|the Decepticon|the animatronic girl that inspired her [[alternate mode]] in some tellings of the story|Alice (animatronic)}}

:''Alice is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Revenge of the Fallen (franchise)|Revenge of the Fallen]] portion of the [[Movie continuity|live-action movie continuity]].''

[[Image:Isabel Lucas Astronomy textbook.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Seriously. This is a girl who will suck the fillings right out of your teeth.]]

'''Alice''' is the kind of girl you ''wish'' you met in college. She's pretty, has... ''prominent'' mammalian characteristics, is incredibly forward about what she wants, and lives next door to [[Leo Spitz]] and [[Sam Witwicky]] in [[Hamilton Hall]]. She's ''really'' interested in Sam. It's a bit suspicious, really; maybe she's just pretending?
{{quote|How about ''tonight'', you pretend I'm your girlfriend, and I pretend that you're my boyfriend?|Alice|[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]''}}

==Fiction==
===''Revenge of the Fallen'' film===
:''Actor:'' [[Isabel Lucas]]
Leo pointed out Alice to Sam as he was moving into the dorms at [[Princeton University]]. Leo explained to Sam that he had a thing for the bounteously endowed blonde, and he wanted to make sure Sam knew it so he didn't steal her away. Later that night, Leo had dragged Sam to a fraternity party, where the wayward Witwicky became engrossed in writing [[Cyberglyphics]] symbols in the cake frosting. This caught Alice's eye, and she decided she simply ''had'' to strike up a conversation with the boy who'd just accidentally stuck chocolate frosting in his ear. Though Sam protested against her rather forceful advances, she ignored his pleas until her attempt at seduction was interrupted by the timely arrival of [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] on the [[Delta Fraternity|fraternity house's]] lawn. Sam appeared grateful for the reprieve until Alice invited herself for a ride. Bumblebee tried his best to monkey-wrench her attempts at conversation with Sam during the ride, but eventually got frustrated and went the expedient route of dousing her in antifreeze. Alice got out and left in a huff.

[[Image:RotF Alice Eeeeew.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Don't talk with your mouth fu - oh. Oh.]]
Later on, Alice made her way to Sam's dorm room to talk to him without the meddling yellow one around. En route she was engaged by Leo, who again proclaimed his desires for her and offered her a meat-laden pizza. She icily ignored him, finding the true object of her desires when the dorm room's door was opened to reveal Sam, who had covered every flat surface in it with Cyberglyphic symbols. Leo, figuring out what was to come next, asked if he could at least watch. Alice summarily shut the door in his face. Once again giving Sam the hard-sell, she forced him onto the bed and began probing his oral region with her tongue. Meanwhile, an entirely different probing appendage snaked out from beneath her skirt. Stealthily retracting the metallic tentacle when [[Mikaela Banes]] burst in, Alice waited until the human had left, and then proceeded to extrude it again and wrap it about Sam's neck, closing off his windpipe. Mikaela returned, hearing Sam's strangled cries, and dislodged Alice by throwing the toolbox containing [[Wheelie (ROTF)|Wheelie]] at her. Leo returned at this point, only to flee as Alice transformed into a robotic war machine!

[[Image:ROTF Alice robot mode.jpg|thumb|right|250px|All shall love me and despair!]]
Alice chased the trio out of the dorm, and through the campus library where she destroyed several shelves with energy blasts, eventually firing wide and blasting a hole in the library wall. Her quarry fled through the opening and Mikaela hotwired a car. Catching up with them, Alice leaped onto the hood and tried to get at Sam by smashing through the windshield. Mikaela tried to shake Alice off by driving, but had no luck until she rammed the car, and thus the Decepticon infiltrator, into a lamp post. Mikaela sped off, making sure to grind what was left of Alice under the car's tires on the way. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
{{-}}

===''Revenge of the Fallen'' adaptation===
[[image:ROTF Alice comic robot portrait.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"You found me beautiful once..." "Honey, you got reeeeal ugly."]]
After Alice kicked Leo out of his own dorm room so she could seduce Sam, he watched some TV with his buddies [[Sharsky]] and [[Fassbinder]]. While flipping through channels, they came across an advertisement featuring an animatronic [[Alice (animatronic)|Alice]] from ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' which had an uncanny resemblance to their classmate Alice. Leo went back to the dorm room to tell Sam there was something weird about his new girlfriend, but she had already revealed herself. {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adaptation}} {{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (novel)}}

{{note|This event was not mentioned in the film, except for the very last bit where Leo showed up at the door and started to say something about Alice but was interrupted. Also, she survives in the comic adaptation, where she gets knocked aside by the car, instead of being smashed into a lamp post by it.}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers Animated''===
Alice tells readers of [[Venus (magazine)|Venus]], a trans-dimensional magazine for [[female Transformers|Decepti-femmes]], how to disarm a [[foldspace warhead]].{{storylink|The AllSpark Almanac}}

==Notes==
* Alice having an outer organic form is an homage for the fans to the [[Pretender|Pretenders]].<ref><tt>"Hmm… I'll give you an exclusive here. There is a Pretender. I'm going to get killed for saying that."</tt> ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' screenwriter [[Roberto Orci]], [http://movies.ign.com/articles/944/944836p1.html Transformers 2 Rumor Confirmed], IGN.com</ref>
* In the novel adaptation, Alice had a manufacturer's nameplate on her neck from the animatronic Alice she apparently scanned.
* Also in the novel adaptation, while Alice was seducing Sam at the frat party she claimed to be from Orlando. Orlando is where Walt Disney World is located and would be a likely location of the ''Alice in Wonderland'' animatronic tour. She also claimed to have a boyfriend from there, who was a prince. Walt Disney World is also home to a number of princes. Finally, during the commercial where the [[Alice (animatronic)|animatronic Alice]] appears, "[[Mickey Mouse|Mickey, the friendly mouse]]" is mentioned. Who said ''Revenge of the Fallen'' doesn't have a tight continuity?
* When Alice reveals her robotty bits, her human flesh sort of folds away, presumably taking her clothing along with it, as when she reappears in human form, she's still fully dressed. On the other hand, she clearly changed clothes throughout the course of the film, which poses some, ah, interesting questions.
* While in robot mode, the tip of her tongue stays "organic". It's really disturbing.
* Some stunts for Alice were done by stuntwoman [[Tarah Paige]].
* Simon Furman has said she's going to be appearing in ''[[Nefarious]]''. <ref>[http://simonfurman.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/script-wrap-%e2%80%94-nefarious-1/ Script Wrap: Nefarious #1]</ref>

==References==
<references/>
==External Links==
* [http://gizmodo.com/5305809/why-just-2-seconds-of-transformers-2-took-3-months-to-complete Why just 2 seconds of Transformers 2 took 3 months to complete] — Gizmodo.com
* [http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5153&page=1 Digital Domain interview about Alice's effects] — CGSociety.com

[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Female Transformers]]
[[Category:Fiction-only characters]]
[[Category:Pretenders]]
[[Category:Revenge of the Fallen characters]]

Talk:Universal stream

2009-10-06T15:05:21Z

152.15.25.51:

That's right. Even Takara stuff is using this system now. Dude! --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 14:41, 2 April 2009 (EDT)
:Wow. Maybe Ichikawa again? We assumed he was responsible for the material used in that World of the Transformers feature back in 2007. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 14:52, 2 April 2009 (EDT)
:I require links! - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 15:36, 2 April 2009 (EDT)
:: There are none. [[User:Swift|Peeps]] just know (people who can read) Japanese! --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 15:47, 2 April 2009 (EDT)
::: Well, then! I require... tacos! - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 15:48, 2 April 2009 (EDT)
::::Here: [[From Here to Alternity/src‎]] --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 00:39, 3 April 2009 (EDT)
[[Bulletbike (G2)]]'s tech spec bio has its own Universal Stream of Primax 095.0 Beta. Does that mean it isn't even in continuity with other tech spec bios, such as [[Drench (Autobot)]]'s which would presumably be Primax 09'''3'''.0 Beta? - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 18:53, 9 August 2009 (EDT)

...wait. Does that mean the Allspark Almanac was actually written by Shattered Glass Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster? --[[User:Andrusi|Andrusi]]