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Dreamwave Productions

2007-07-17T23:03:02Z

80.141.79.51:

[[Image:Dreamwave.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Rumors that "DW" actually stood for "[http://www.tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=176806#post176806 Dollars Wanted]" would not be believed until it was too late.]]

'''Dreamwave Productions''' was a fairly unknown independent comic book publisher when it obtained the ''Transformers'' license in 2001. For a time, there was gigantic buzz surrounding Dreamwave's relaunch of the Generation 1 title, even pushing it past Marvel and DC's top titles. Many comic book fans had been away from Transformers for a long time and were overjoyed to see highly detailed manga-style art driving a childhood favorite.

Dreamwave published a good deal of ''Transformers'' books, including many varied miniseries, before capitulating to the notoriously fickle comic-buying public. Towards the end of 2004 delays started getting more and more frequent. This was followed by rumors of writers and artists leaving because they weren't being paid, which were then confirmed. In early January 2005, Dreamwave declared bankruptcy, and there were no Transformers comics to be had for more than half of 2005.

*[[Prime Directive]] (Volume 1)
*[[War and Peace]] (Volume 2)
*[[Generation 1 (Dreamwave comic)|G1 Ongoing]]
*[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Armada]]
*[[Energon (comic)|Energon]]
*[[The War Within]]
*[[The War Within: The Dark Ages]]
*[[The War Within: Age of Wrath]]
*[[Micromasters (comic)|Micromasters]]
*[[More Than Meets The Eye]]
*[[Transformers/G.I. Joe Vol. 1]]
*[[Transformers/G.I. Joe Vol. 2]]

{{stub}}

=== External resources ===
* [http://tfarchive.com/comics/dreamwave/ By-issue guides, G1 timeline and information (TFArchive)]
* [http://seibertron.com/comics/series.php Cross-referenced information about series and creators (Seibertron)]
* [http://www.electric-escape.net/tf/comics/Dreamwave Another comprehensive guide (Electric Escape)]

[[Category: Comics]]
[[Category: Companies]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Fandom

2007-07-17T22:56:44Z

80.141.79.51: /* Accomplishments */

{{shenanigans|It's apparently really mean?}}

The '''Transformers fandom''' is the most intelligent, discerning, sophisticated and important group of people in the world today. Without their charitable support, [[Hasbro]] would be forced to mothball the ''Transformers'' brand and would probably enter bankruptcy, taking the entire world economy with it.

==Accomplishments==

Among the amazing discoveries and conclusions of the fandom are the following:

*The ''Transformers'' brand is hanging onto life by the most fragile of threads, and any attempt to do something new will [[Ruined FOREVER|ruin ''Transformers'' forever]].
*Liking things is stupid. If you had half a brain you would realize how terrible everything is and complain about it endlessly. Further, this is rational and constructive behavior. Hasblo will never learn and get things right if we don't save them by telling them how stupid they are.
*Literally everybody hates [[Playskool]]ish [[neon]] colors, therefore toys will sell better if they are [[black repaint|entirely black]].
*Any feature included or removed [[for safety reasons]] is a slap in the face to [[true fan]]s.
*Children are not an important segment of the ''Transformers'' market.
*[[Prototype]]s and test shots that are clearly stamped with the words "not for sale" are actually totally fine to buy over eBay from people in China. There is nothing remotely shady about this.
*It is possible to determine with complete certainty that a product/franchise/work of art will suck as much as eight months before said entity is completed, much less shown to the public or actually released.
*The most important thing for the brand to do is release homages of ''[[Generation 1]]'' characters over and over and over and over and over.
*Any homage of a ''Generation 1'' character which is not given the [[Trademark|name]] of the original character is a direct insult to all fans.
*Any character which is given the name of a ''Generation 1'' character which is not an homage to the original character is a direct insult to all fans.
*Any character which is given the name of a ''Generation 1'' character and is also an homage of the same character but who doesn't behave exactly like the ''Generation 1'' character is a direct insult to all fans.
*Because all fans have an inalienable right to own every toy, toys which would never be released under normal circumstances should never be given a chance at release through [[exclusive]] channels. It would be better for the toy to never be released at all than for some people to get to enjoy it.
*Optimus is a [[trukk not munky|truck, not a monkey]].
*[[Armada (cartoon)|''Armada'']]? I think you mean ''Pokéformers''.
*[[Movie (franchise)|Bayformers]] are much less realistic than ''Generation 1'' Transformers.
* [[Dreamwave]]'s artwork was AWESOME as long as sales were high. Once the company started going downhill, everyone had suddenly always been fully aware how AWFUL [[Pat Lee|Superstar Funana]]'s art was right from the start.
*Japan is much more important and profitable market than North America. Nobody likes Europe, not even Hasbro.
*[[Takara]] products are always superior.
*Hasbro ruins everything Takara does.

==History==

It got its start as an organized entity in the 1980s through the establishment of unofficial fan clubs, most notably [[TransMasters]], but it wasn't until the mid-1990s and the beginning of the Internet boom that fandom (both of Transformers and in general) took off. Starting in [[alt.toys.transformers]] and then expanding into innumerable web-based fora, the once tight-knit fandom is now too large for anyone to really know everyone. But would you really want to?

==External links==
*[http://www.shortpacked.com/ Shortpacked!] - A webcomic which frequently documents the academic findings of various fandoms.

[[Category:Fandom| ]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Eric Siebenaler

2007-07-17T21:31:28Z

80.141.79.51:

[[Image:Eric siebenaler.jpg|right|thumb|Eric at [[BotCon 2005]]]]'''Eric Siebenaler''' is [[Hasbro]]'s current Lead Designer on ''Transformers''. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Industrial Design. Siebenaler joined the ''Transformers'' team in 2002, and his first design was Armada Laserbeak. When [[Aaron Archer]] was promoted to "Design Director" in late 2004, Siebenaler was also advanced into Archer's former job title. Recently, Siebenaler was largely responsible for developing the new [[Transformers Animated]] series.

===Armada===
* [[Laserbeak (Armada)|Laserbeak]]
* [[Tidal Wave]]

===Energon===
* [[Cliffjumper (Energon)|Cliffjumper]]
* [[Downshift (Energon)|Downshift]]

===Cybertron===
* [[Brakedown (Cybertron)|Brakedown]]
* [[Downshift (Energon)|Downshift]]
* [[Evac]]
* [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Overhaul (Cybertron)|Overhaul]]
* [[Quickmix (Cybertron)|Quickmix]]
* Early [[Primus]] concept work

{{stub}}

[[Category: Designers|Siebenaler, Eric]]
[[Category:Convention guests|Siebenaler, Eric]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

For safety reasons

2007-07-17T14:35:32Z

80.141.79.51: /* Trivia */

[[Image:G1Megatron_toy.jpg|right|300px|thumb|In your dreams, American fans.]]

The United States is a very litigious society. If a child is injured, or heaven forbid, killed by use or abuse of a toy, that child's parents are very likely to sue the toy manufacturer. As such, [[Hasbro]] puts its toys through rigorous safety testing. Sometimes, a toy has to be altered from the original design in order to maintain safety standards, which vary from country to country.

==Safety testing==
Hasbro has several tests that come up frequently. One of the more famous ones is the "drop test." As its name implies, this involves dropping a toy from great heights in order to ascertain whether or not said toy will break, and if any of the parts which may have broken loose could potentially injure a child (sharp edges, swallowable/chokeable bits, etc.). This is often cited as the reason [[Fortress Maximus (RID)|Fortress Maximus]] has not been reissued in the United States, as well as the shortened smokestacks on the shoulders of various [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] toys (which actuallly started in 1988 with the [[Powermaster]] version).

Other tests have similar goals, generally concerned with breakage issues. Hence, the Japanese version of [[Vector Prime]] has hard plastic wings, but the U.S. version uses a rubbery material less likely to accidentally snap off or gouge out the eye of a child (or particularly clumsy adult). Even as early as 1985, [[Jetfire]] and [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] were altered to have blunted nosecones, and the [[Seeker]] jets had rubber nosecones instead of hard plastic. Again, this was likely to prevent trauma from a thrown or jabbed toy.

==Safety standards==
Besides the safety testing, Hasbro (and other toy manufacturers) try to make sure their products conform to certain standards. Some of these standards are self-imposed, while others are mandated at the state or national level. Most notably, these laws include choke laws, which are designed to prevent small parts (''especially'' projectiles) from being lodged in a child's windpipe; the use of toxic materials like lead-based paints; and toy gun laws, which are designed to prevent scenarios where law enforcement officials accidentally shoot children or adults who are not armed, but carrying "realistic" toy guns; like say, [[Megatron (G1)|G1 Megatron]]. U.S. law requires that toy guns have either an orange plug in the barrel, or a coat of orange paint on the barrel. Some states have even more stringent laws, which requires that toy guns must be brightly colored and must not resemble real-world firearms. (Some retailers won't ''carry'' realistic toy guns anyway, so that's a double-whammy some places.)

Note that the major federal toy gun law was enacted in 1988, and applies to all toy guns manufactured after May 1989. As such, it is entirely legal for dealers to sell original G1 Megatron figures, as they are grandfathered in; but any later American release of the toy WOULD have to meet these standards, hence the "Safety/Lava Bath Megatron" toy, which STILL failed to meet these guidelines, as the entire external surface was not (and likely could not be) made from a single color of plastic.

==Trivia==
* According to Hasbro, toys that represent flying characters are given more stringent drop tests and rounded/collapsable bits, as children (and the kind of adults who buy Transformers, actually) are more prone to throwing these figures around or ramming them into things (or people).

* In Italy's ''Trasformer'' line, GiG's domestic imported version of Takara's pre-Transformers ''Diaclone'' line mixed with some elements ripped from Tasbro's ''Transformers'' line, as well as GiG's subsequent official domestic imported version of Hasbro's ''Transformers'' line, many toys' (such as Sideswipe's or Wheeljack's) missile launchers didn't have their springs removed, but the missiles ''did'' have comically-huge giant rubber balls attached to the tips. Makes those [[Commemorative Series]] missiles not seem so bad, huh?

==External links==
* [http://theswca.com/textf/toydeath.html Page featuring articles on the genesis of the choke-gate test, due to a missile-firing ''Battlestar Galactica'' toy.]
* [http://www.washingtonwatchdog.org/documents/cfr/title15/part1150.html CFR Title 15, Part 1150, the official federal law on "realistic" toy guns and the markings thereof.]
* [http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/toypremguid04.pdf Pages five and six of this article give a brief summary of the federal safety guidelines regarding breakability testing.] (PDF format.)
* [http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28331 The Onion's slightly snarkier take on the subject, for those who like their snarky snark snarkiness.]

[[Category:Toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>