Steve-o Stonebraker's BotCon 2005 Notes
Version 2

This is a record of all the notes I took at BotCon 2005.  It is not a
travalogue, it does not say who I hung out with, what I ate for dinner, or
how sleepy I was.  It is basically just Transformers information.  There
is a small amount of personal reaction to the panels and events that I
attended, but as a whole, this is *not* a record of how well I think Fun
Publications did at running the convention.

The items are in roughly chronological order.  I considered re-organizing
all the points based on their topic, but, there are too many of them for
it to be worth my while.  Note that there were *three* Hasbro panels at
this year's convention instead of just one, so there is a lot of
information, and it's spread out throughout this list.  This is probably
as thorough a list of the stuff that was said/revealed at the convention
as is likely to be posted by anybody, so if you want all the scoops, read
on.


"TF Rarities" panel by Rik Alverez
o Alverez is one of the members of the "fan advisory council" put together
  by Fun Publications to serve as liasons between Fun Pub. and the
  Transformers fandom. The purpose of this panel was to present pictures
  of and information about rare TF toys that many fans would not have seen
  before.
o The French-Canadian release of G1 Springer was named "Ricochet".  I
  hadn't realized the name had appeared at all in Transformers history
  until it was applied to the US Stepper reissue.  Although, Graham tells me
  that the name was also applied to a Double Targetmaster in between the two.
o Black Fire Convoy is really pretty.
o He showed some Beast Machines packaging mockups that included
  invidualized character artwork.
o Pics of an earlier Megabolt Megatron design.  The head mode was more
  show-accurate and didn't have the scuttling legs or the red "box"
  doohickey they connect to. The robot mode was noticeably different (and
  not as nice).  Apparently this design was scrapped because it wasn't fun
  enough in head mode, hence the addition of legs.
o "Toxitron", a pea soup colored Laser Prime, amazingly ugly.
o He was surpsingly uncertain about a lot of the details for his panel,
  including things that should be easy to figure out like the origins of
  some of the limited-run contest prize toys of which he's showing
  pictures.
o I went to this panel's first instance (like a few other panels, it was
  offered twice during the weekend), during which somebody in the audience
  asked whether a certain clear plastic item was a "lunchtime special".
  Alverez took the time to say that he dislikes that term, saying that
  these toys are produced by Takara "for reference", claiming that they
  keep a handful of translucent and chromed copies of *every* TF they
  produce in storage somewhere so they can have something to look at if
  they ever decide to do an exclusive version of it.  This story strikes
  me as highly unlikely. He went on to say that sometimes these pieces
  "find their way out" of Takara's hands *as part of his argument that
  they are not stolen*.  He also made very specific claims about some of
  the clear G1 figures he showed pictures of, such as that there are
  exactly five clear Skids toys.  (All of which, supposedly, except for
  the ones he has pictures of I guess, are kept by Takara.)  It seems
  unlikely to me that he would have any way of knowing this sort of thing.
o Despite not believing half of what he said about them, I did think the
  clear G1 toys he showed pics of were very pretty.  I usually think
  transparent variants are silly, but these toys were very, very clear.
  Like... CD jewel case clear.  Pretty.
o Also, strangely, Alverez asked that there be no photos taken during the
  panel.  His reasoning for this is that some of the collectors who
  provided pictures for the panel were very private.  Which... well, I
  guess that might be true, but it seems really ridiculous.  Like, what,
  if the pictures are posted online the "owners" won't get as much
  enjoyment out of their secret toys anymore?  Disgusting.


"Hasbro / Takara: Working Together"
o Up at the table were Aaron Archer and the lead Takara deisgner, Hideaki
  YOKE.  Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro's lead designer) and Greg Lombardo
  (Hasbro's TF marketer) were also present, although they didn't sit at
  the table for most of the panel. Also in the audience was a second,
  younger Takara desinger, named Syogo HASUI (or perhaps Shogo HASUI? Doug
  Dlin says it's a matter of choice of romanization scheme).
o With Aaron's promotion late in 2004, Eric Siebenaler is now Hasbro's
  lead designer, and Aaron is in a higher brand-management sort of
  position (called "design director", at least as of a few months ago).
o The panel began with a slide presentation that included a lot of photos
  of the two teams working together, as well as them relaxing together
  after hours.
o Hasbro's and Takara's TF teams are in daily contact with each other by
  email and phone.  They have business meetings in person three or four
  times a year, alternating between meeting in Japan and Rhode Island.
o One of the main themes of this presentation was that the two companies
  have different market needs, and how they frequently compromise on these
  differences for the greater good.
o When the two companies' partnership began back in the 80s, Yoke-san
  actually moved to Rhode Island for six months.  He had worked as a
  designer on Microman and Diaclone, and has continued to work on
  Transformers all these years.
o At Hasbro/Takara meetings, they discuss plans for the line, review
  models, discuss timing and market adjustments, and "co-plan the future".
o Not a big surprise, but the marketing and design teams are often in
  opposition to each other.  They showed some funny photos of a meeting in
  Tokyo where in one Yoke was happy and his marketer sad, and in the other
  their moods reversed.
o Aaron: "We're really one big group... we work together every day."  Yoke
  nods.
o Aaron sends as many as 30 emails to Takara in a day.
o One of the slides had an interesting looking production chart, laid out
  on a grid with some diagrams of the Energon powerlinking gimmick, but,
  the print was too small and I couldn't decipher what the chart really
  signified in the few seconds it was up on the screen.
o Some storyboards for story planning were shown for Energon.  As has been
  stated before, it was said here that (for these last few jointly-
  produced lines at least) Hasbro initiates the story ideas, which are
  then "massaged" in Japan by the animation producers.  The word massaged
  was said in a slightly ironic tone by Aaron, perhaps showing some of his
  frustration at how drastically the stories have been changed for some of
  these lines from his initial plans.
o In the early Energon story plans, the Quintessons were responsible for
  giving the Decepticons their hyper-power gimmick, and were intending to
  invade Earth.
o Yoke showed some old Takara design sketches, including an early
  Metroplex concept with a slightly different look (such as long black
  feet that folded down from his shins instead of the static feet of the
  final toy).
o Even earlier than that, though, the supposed genesis of the idea for
  Metroplex comes from a drawing Yoke-san said they did very late one
  night.  It was an island complete with an airstrip, radio dish, and even
  a moai head, that transformed into a robot.  The island had grass, sandy
  beaches, etc., even in robot mode.  (You would think the sand would all
  fall of him when he stood up, but, oh well.)  Also: the moai detached
  and transformed into a little robot companion.  I think they said this
  drawing was done at some time in the 70s, but I couldn't hear very
  clearly, so that may be inaccurate.
o Yoke also showed early ideas for the Diaclone Z and Porsche toys
  (destined to become Bluestreak and Jazz).
o At Aaron's prompting, Yoke told a short story about the creation of the
  original Convoy/OP toy.  Yoke's telling was short and difficult to
  understand, though, so Aaron retold it: basically, Convoy had originally
  been assigned to one particular worker, and was supposed to be his work
  alone.  However, that designer fell behind and wasn't able to complete
  the Convoy design in time, so the toy ended up being completed through a
  collaboration of several Diaclone designers.  It is interesting to
  consider that such a central character to Transformers might have been
  very different if the original guy assigned to create him hadn't gotten
  behind.  (Assuming, of course, that the toy even would have been chosen
  as the leader of the Autobots with its other design.)
o Before switching the panel over to Q&A, Aaron explained that although we
  were probably curious about the Takara/TOMY merger, Yoke "doesn't want
  to discuss" it. It wasn't clear whether this meant that he wasn't
  allowed to, or that he didn't know anything substantive himself, or if
  he simply wanted to keep the questions on the topic of how Hasbro and
  Takara work together.
o It was reiterated that the tooling for G1 Mirage and G1 Wheeljack are
  "gone".  Aaron further described them as "long-since depleted", which
  would indicate that they wore out and were possibly disposed of, rather
  than having simply disappeared like some tools seem to do.
o Somebody asked about uneven distribution and hard-to-find toys.
  Normally this sort of question gets a dry non-answer from Hasbro
  (amounting basically to, "we send retailers what they order, and once it
  leaves our dock, it's in their warehouses and trucks, and it's not our
  fault"), but this time Greg gave a rather thorough and interesting
  reply.  Regarding scarce Energon toys, he said that certain assortments
  ended up not being well-distributed because of overflow/backlog at the
  "accounts" (ie. retailers) for some of the large items, and a shortage
  as provided by Hasbro on some of the small items.  Also, many of the
  items that ended up being rare were near the end of the line; this
  happens because retailers are reluctant to heavily order new items at
  the tail end of a line when they know a new line is starting in a few
  months.
o Regarding spotty Alternators distribution, Greg said that they wanted to
  try to divirsify the characters in the assortments to prevent gluts of a
  single toy like they had at the beginning (huge piles of Smokescreen and
  Sideswipe), but went a little too far with it, allowing some characters
  to be spread too thin.  He was optimistic that the new assortments that
  are on the horizon with a new (third) package design will alleviate the
  problem.
o The mold plans or mold breakdowns for a toy -- that is, which pieces are
  going to be molded together out of the same color of plastic -- come
  after a toy has already been brought to the model stage.  Eric does a
  rough color scheme for the model, and then based on those colors and
  needed plastic hardnesses they do the mold plan.
o When securing licenses from car companies for Alternators, sometimes
  Hasbro goes to them, and sometimes the car companies come to Hasbro.
o Astrotrain is Hasbro's last planned G1 reissue.  Toys R Us has lost
  interest in the line.  (And, as noted later in these notes, Astrotrain
  will be a HasbroToyShop.com item, and will not be in stores.)
o The "Car Brothers" mods from Car Robots / RID are totally worn out, and
  will likely never be used again.
o They are not yet developing any non-car Alternators, although they still
  hope to do so.  At some point in the convention -- perhaps a later panel
  -- Aaron said that he hoped to come to a decision about them with Takara
  at their next meeting.
o A member of the audience asked Yoke-san how he and the other Takara
  designers felt about Marvel's new story for the Transformers line when
  they first heard it, as compared to the stories they already had for
  Diaclone and Microman.  Yoke said that quite a few of them were upset
  with the story when they heard it, but later on when they saw that the
  toys were becoming popular with that story, it became popular with them
  too.  ^_^
o Aaron talked a little bit about the development of toys that Hasbro
  releases but Takara does not.  Fans have sometimes wondered whether,
  say, the Energon Mega-Dinobot toy had any help at all from Takara, or if
  *everthing* in those designs was done at Hasbro.  The answer he gave was
  a little vague, but he essentially said that Takara still contributes
  their "technique" to those toys, but not as much "heart".  It sort of
  sounded like the workload on those toys is more heavily Hasbro, but
  Takara still plays a role in them.
o The story for the live-action movie is not being dictated by Hasbro.
  The screenwriters are doing it themselves.
o They haven't really started planning the next main TF line.  Talk here,
  and at a later Hasbro panel, idicated that after Cybertron there will be
  a filler line of some sort (probably the G1 updates that were shown
  briefly later in the weekend), then the movie, and then the next main
  line.  The next main line may overlap with the movie stuff.  Not clear.
o Hasbro will probably not do Worlds Smallest TFs because of safety
  concerns.  This struck me as a little odd, as I imagine most of the
  pieces are plenty small enough to be swallowed safely.  Perhaps some of
  the whole toys are too big.  Or perhaps its a safety issue other than
  choke gates, such as break patterns or something.
o Aaron, joking after yet another discussion of looking for certain tools
  to do reissues or redecos: "I don't know where these molds are and who
  does the searching, but it sounds like a full-time job."
o Aaron determines all the tech specs (numbers).  He would personally
  prefer to get a little more variety in the numbers, but kids don't want
  to buy wimpy toys, so they have to be inflated somewhat.  Forest Lee,
  their (sorta) new copy writer, does the bios now.


IDW panel
o Aaron Myers, the IDW TF expert.  Aaron Archer.  Dan Taylor, editor.
o Not exactly news, but the main series creative team is... Writer: Simon
  Furman, Artist: EJ Su, Colorist: John Rauch, EIC: Chris Ryall.
o "Beast Wars: The Gathering", 4-issue mini starts February 2006, by
  Furman / Figueroa.
o "Transformers Generations", reprinting selected issues of the original
  Marvel series at a low price point ($1.99).  They will not be reprinting
  issues that contain Marvel-owned characters such as Circuit Breaker, the
  Neo-Knights, etc..
o "Transformers Evolution", an anthology series with rotating creative
  teams who do "elseworlds" sorts of TF tales.  The first story arc is
  "Hearts of Steel", set in the United States of the late-19th/early-20th
  centuries. ("The time of Mark Twain...")
o IDW would like to finish off the DW stories that were cut off, but that
  is something for the future, if ever.


"Hasbro New Product Unveiling" panel
o Aaron and Greg on stage.
o Later in Cybertron, a red and orange Crumplezone, a Decepticon version
  of Jetfire, and a CYB Hot Shot done up like G1 Hot Rod and named...
  Excellion.  Similar at first glance to the DVD-exclusive Red Excellion,
  but, it's a new deco.
o Mini-con pegs will make their long-awaited return with the Giant Planet
  toys.
o Regarding CYB Metroplex, "We were so focused on the robot that we took
  some liberties with the vehicle..."
o The Primus toy: during transformation to robot mode, insert the Omega
  Lock to make his head pop up.
o Also, the US release of Primus will have some special added something-
  or-other that Aaron says we'll really like, and that we might want two
  of.  Some fans have speculated based on this that he may come with a
  moon.
o There will be a new Unicron toy at the end of Cybertron.  It is a deluxe
  pricepoint figure and transforms into a sort of creepy parasite-like
  futuristic tank.
o Aaron refers to Armada-Energon-Cybertron as "The Unicron Trilogy".  He
  clearly hoped fans would start using this term, and even sort of mumbled
  something to that effect at one point during the weekend.  It's a fine
  name, IMO.  The only reason I was sticking with "AEC" until now was that
  we didn't know whether there would be more lines set in the same
  universe, and whether they would all heavily involve Unicron or not.
  But, from now on, I will use Unicron Trilogy (or UT, I guess) to refer
  to this universe.
o Legends of Cybertron - This line has been a big hit!  It was created as
  something to send to their "market six" accounts (food and drug stores,
  mainly, the same accounts that Heroes of Cybertron was sent to).  There
  will be 4 waves.  12 molds, 4 redecos, and 2 convention redecos (the
  Skywarp and Ramjet toys).
o Alternators will get six new cars in 2006, and also four redecos.  One
  of these redecos will be the Suburu mold (Smokescreen/Silverstreak) as
  Stepper/Ricochet, and another is an orange version of the Jeep called
  Rollbar.  One of the new molds is a Ford GT that will be called Mirage.
  The mold even manages to give the robot Mirage's distinctive upper torso
  shape, even without an F-1 car altmode.
o Another new mold Alternator is a Dodge Ram SRT10 called... Optimus
  Prime.  This toy was chosen to be Prime as a compromise with Takara --
  pickups trucks are rare / unpopular in Japan, so they didn't expect that
  it would sell very well over there. Hence, choosing Convoy as the
  character to improve its Japanese sales.  Since Prime is in the same
  scale as the other Alternators, he will be big, but still at the same
  price point.  (Aaron did note that it will cost *him* more, but it will
  cost us the same amount.)
o Beast Wars Anniversary subline - $15 items include a deluxe sized toy, a
  DVD with an episode of the BW show featuring that character, and one of
  six pieces to build a (nontransforming) toy of Transmutate.  The toys
  are redecoed to be more show-accurate and have shinier plastic.  The
  first wave of six toys is Dinobot, Cheetor, TM Rattrap, Waspinator,
  Rhinox, and Tarantulas.
o After the first BW Anniversary wave, another wave with new-mold versions
  of Megatron and Primal.  Megatron is a souped up season-one Megs.  His
  tail-hand is detachable with a real hand underneath, like in the show.
  The Primal design borrows elements from several versions of Primal,
  including his Beast Machines look. These two toys will have Cyber Planet
  Key gimmicks (with Jungle Planet keys, natch).
o The Astrotrain reissue will appear on HasbroToyShop.com, not in TRU.
  The Universe Constructicons will probably go to Target.
o The Seacons/Piranhacons still do not have a home, but they are trying to
  find a place for them.  Jerry Jivoin spends at least an hour every week
  trying to get them out.
o Lots of licensed stuff from outside the main line is coming out, too!
  TF Attacktix, which are compatible with the other Attacktix figures,
  will come out featuring Energon and Cybertron characters.  G1 Attacktix
  are a possibility if the first sets seem to do well.  "Titaniums" die-
  cast statues which have limited articulation (War Within Optimus is one
  of their items).  And, of course...
o STAR WARS TRANSFORMERS.  Star Wars vehicles that Transform into
  likenesses of their pilots.  Vader's TIE fighter, Grievous' wheel bike,
  Obi-Wan's Jedi starfighter (EpIII design), Boba Fett's Slave-1, and
  Luke's X-Wing.  Fun!  Their "robot" modes are of varying goodness, but
  the Grievous toy definitely looks *great*.
o At this panel they also showed the "sizzle" for the new movie that was
  played at SanDiego ComicCon.  It was really, relly lame.  It consisted
  of young adults half-remembering how kewl G1 was in on-the-street type
  interviews, a clip of Spielberg saying how excited he is to be bringing
  Transformers to the movies *for the first time*, and clips from
  commercials and other movies of transforming robots.
o Hasbro collaborates with TOMY on a number of products already, working
  with them as much as they do with Takara, so the merger will probably
  not hurt things in that respect, at least.
o They are looking for the X-9 Ravage mold, and may use it sometime in the
  future.


"TF G1 Voices: Michael Chain and Wally Burr"
o The voicework comprises 3.5-4% of the budget for an animated TV series.
  Burr remarked that he thought it was strange that a part of the process
  which accounts for for so little of the money always ends up being the
  part that is most beloved by fans.
o In answers, and in rapport with Chain, Wally is charmingly brusque in a
  sarcastic way. Chain was also funny, good-natured, and a little
  sarcastic.
o Chain: "Voiceover actors don't eat their young."
o Wally Burr told a couple of nice stories about his brief collaboration
  with Orson Welles on TF:TM, including the story from Rik Bakke's
  interview about Welles sending the limo ahead with his wheelchair, and
  showing up behind it in his own car.
o Burr: "I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the session, and that's how
  I directed Orson Welles."
o While reflecting on that experience, and the hour afterwards during
  which everyone at the studio stood around Welles as he "held court",
  Wally choked up and started to cry a little.  It was really touching.
  It was only one recording session, but it clearly meant a lot to Wally
  to have had the chance to work with Welles.  (This incident is the
  origin of the "Hooper_X made Wally Burr cry!" joke that you might see
  some people mentioning, as this anecdote came up during an answer to a
  question that Hoop had asked.)
o Chain told us the inspirations for his G1 characters' voices, all of
  which, I believe, were also revealed in his interview with Rik.
  Powerglide: Ralph Cramden from "The Honymooners".  Hoist: John Houseman.
  Red Alert: Richard Nixon.


"Transformers Club Roundtable" (ie. the organizer's panel)
o Ben Yee.  Rik Alverez.  Brian Savage.  Lanny Lathem.  Pete Sinclair.
  Savage and Lathem are from Fun Publications (Savage is the owner), while
  Yee, Alverez, and Sinclair are members of the fan advisory board.
o Some of my friends found this panel very frustrating, and even
  offensive.  At least one of them walked out in the middle of it.  While
  Savage said several things that bothered me, I thought that overall he
  came across pretty well, and honestly, hearing him talk at this panel
  erased most of the cynicism that I held about his handling of the
  Transformers license.
o The club is planning to release 2 club-exclusive figures each year.
o Hasbro offered Savage the club/convention one day before OTFCC 2004 was
  held.  They flew him in to Chicago to observe that convention so he
  could get a feel for it. This "offer" might not have been completely
  official, as it was at least a few weeks after the convention until Glen
  seemed to know for sure that 3H was out.  Or, perhaps it was official,
  and it's just one more way that Hasbro treated Glen unfairly in their
  efforts to get rid of him.  (And yes, Glen treated the Hartmans unfairly
  as well.  I'm not saying that he was perfect.)
o The decos for the 11 exclusives span 150 photoshop documents.
o Takara doesn't like doing little projects like this.  (Something else we
  already knew from Glen's days, but always worth repeating.)
o Fun Publications was going to hold their Joe convention in New Orleans
  next year, which is now naturally not in the cards.  That was another
  distraction they had to take care of while getting ready for BotCon.
o Savage is against holding BotCon in the summer.  He says that because
  schools in various parts of the country start and stop at different
  times, the window in which nobody is in school is too short because
  there are other obstacles such as holidays, ComicCon, and their
  newsletter publishing deadline.  And also, of course, he has a family of
  his own and wants to have time for a vacation with them.
o That sort of make sense, I guess... although the part about different
  schools' schedules seems a little weak.  Summer has always worked in the
  past for BotCon, despite it being a tight fit, so it's hard to believe
  that it really can't work anymore when the only thing that has changed
  is the management.  This answer is one of the prime examples that some
  people are citing when they say that Savage still doesn't seem to know
  who the people in his audience -- Transfans -- are.  He dismissed a
  question about the convention conflicting with school by talking about
  the conflicts above, and saying that it's not that big a deal for us to
  take our kids out of school for a couple days and bring them with us.
  Seemingly not understanding that the question was about OUR school.
  Most BotCon attendees don't have kids.  Many of us are, ourselves, in
  college or grad school, and/or employed as teachers.
o Apparently, Hasbro initially suggested that Savage combine the TF and
  Joe conventions into a single event.  (This would certainly make sense
  from Hasbro corporate's point of view.)  Savage was unsure about this,
  and asked around the involved fandoms.  TF fans and 12-inch Joe fans
  were opposed to the idea, 3.75-inch Joe fans were okay with it.  He
  decided not to do it.
o The above answer is the other major complaint my friends had with this
  panel -- not the answer itself, but the delivery.  Savage did impromptu
  impressions of the three groups when giving their answers, and in his
  impressions his Transfans subjectively sounded whiney or closed-minded,
  while the 12-inch Joe fans sounded sophisticated, and the 3.75-inch Joe
  fans were cheerfully accepting.  So... some of my friends took great
  offense at this, thinking that it shows a lack of respect for us.  I
  don't really agree.  I didn't take the "Transfans voice" as being
  condescending because I don't think he meant it that way.  Honestly it
  felt more to me like he started out being goofy, and then stopped being
  goofy without any real intent to it, and I think that most of the rest
  of what he said in the panel does not jive with the idea that he has no
  respect for us, or doesn't care what we want, or any of that.  I think
  he doesn't *know* what we want yet, but I think he is sincere when he
  says that he wants to know.
o The size of convention exclusive sets will vary. They will probably
  never be larger than this year's was, if for no other reason than that
  Fun Publications can't manage more toys than this at a time.
o The problem Savage has with offering toys "a la carte" like Glen used to
  is that, as Savage said, "when I zig, you zag".  It's too hard to
  predict which toys are going to be popular and which not, such that they
  could end up producing too many of the wrong toy and not enough of
  another.  An all-or-nothing set (with a few add-ons) saves them from
  taking that risk.  Of course, it just pushes the risk onto us instead,
  as we have to decide whether to buy a large, expensive set that we may
  or may not end up liking.
o Savage made a disparaging remark about stuff being stolen from the
  factories in China, which made me smile because he was sitting right
  next to Alverez at the time. Funny how Alverez didn't leap to the
  defense of "prototype dealers" in this panel the way he did in his own.
  Hehehehe...
o Savage seems very concerned -- overly concerned, I think -- with the
  collectors value of our convention sets.  He went out of his way to
  assure his audience that, for example, if they are left with unsold
  stock, those units will sit in his warehouse and never leave.  He won't
  sell them at a reduced price to get rid of them, because doing that
  would devalue our sets.  This was the time that I, personally, felt most
  like he didn't know who he was talking to.  I know there are
  Transformers fans out there that think like that (Alverez seems to be
  one of them), and even that there are probably more of those fans than I
  think there are, but there is a very large component of Transformers
  fans that scoff at such things.  I think the idea of somebody worrying
  about their set being devalued is LAUGHABLE, but here was Brian Savage,
  sincerely telling us how he will never allow that to happen to us.
o When they posted their preview of Skyfall, the first club-exclusive
  figure, they were surprised by the fans' reaction: "Okay, it's a clear
  jet... and...?"  They quickly realized that the toy by itself didn't
  mean much to us, and they added his bio to the preview, and suddenly it
  seemed like we got excited about him.  "Lesson learned," Savage said.
  He now understands that the story and its connection to the toys is
  important to us, and he says he won't make that mistake again.
o The Chromia toy was indeed supposed to be Moonracer, but her name was
  changed at the last minute to a different female Autobot because
  Moonracer wasn't passing the trademark search.  Savage asked us if,
  should this happen again, would we prefer that they assign a different
  name from a related but different character (like Moonracer->Chromia),
  or a new name that has some element of the old name (like Outback->
  Fallback, or the example Moonracer->Moonbeam that Savage suggested
  then), and the response from the audience seemed to be strongly for the
  second option.
o They air-freighted the exclusive toys over from Japan.  Expensive.  I'm
  pretty sure 3H always put them on the boat.
o Savage talked a little bit about "finding" tools that are "missing".  I
  assume that his statements are more or less correct, as they are
  presumably based on things he was told by Hasbro collaborators.  I've
  heard statements in the fandom -- unsubstantiated as far I know -- that
  there are basically two factories in China that produce all the
  Transformers toys, one which Takara favors, and one which Hasbro favors.
  Savage's statements seem to contradict this.  He said that tooling for
  various TFs are scattered across several factories.  Extrapolating a
  little bit from what Savage said, I got the impression that when a
  factory is hired to produce a toy, the tooling for that toy stays at the
  factory after the job is completed.  Although Takara and/or Hasbro still
  owns the tooling, the molds are impractical to move around because they
  are gigantic blocks of steel.  So basically, "finding" a tool may be a
  matter of figuring out which factory had it last and trying to get the
  people there to locate it.  Records-keeping for this sort of thing is,
  apparently, not very accurate, possibly because -- as Savage mentioned
  -- TFs (and GI Joe) are sort of unusual among toylines in keeping the
  tools around in the first place.  Most toys are produced until the tools
  wear out, and then the tools are dumped/destroyed.
o The Ratchet toy in the exclusives set has a new light bar and siren
  weapon instead of the normal Tow-Line-mold weapon.  In Tow-Line, the
  weapon is made of the same plastic as his windows, and presumably is on
  the same mold.  So, somebody asked if the new Ratchet weapon meant that
  they disposed of a bunch of old Towline weapons since they still needed
  windows from that mold.  Savage said that, no, they didn't have to make
  the old weapon, because the molds are "gated", allowing them to just
  choose not to make certain parts.  This certainly seems like a good
  idea, but it brings into question some of the things we thought we knew
  about the toy production process.  That is, we (and here "we" shouldn't
  be taken to mean anything more colective than my personal social group
  within the fandom, which is rather well-connected and informed) thought
  that this "gating" wasn't really possible, and that producing only part
  of a mold required you to, basically, "break" the mold in two
  permanently.  The term "gang molding" has also been tossed around at
  times to refer to toys like the Go-Bots (aka Spychangers) which have
  parts for more than one toy in a single mold, and are therefore always
  produced in sets.  If the molds can be "gated", then releasing them in
  sets like this would not be necessary.  So, not sure what to think about
  this.
o Savage is looking for weird ideas for TF-related events to do at future
  conventions, like the parachute-drops they do at the GI Joe convention.
  Perhaps its time for us to import Nederbotcon's Trypticon races.  ^_^
o Somebody in the audience asked about the "early bird" access to the
  dealer room, and why they had offered it.  Savage's response was great:
  "That's because some people are stupid enough to give us $50 just to
  come in an hour early, and I'm stupid enough to take it."


"The Making of the Transformers Animated Movie", by Paul Hitchens
o Going into this panel, I had no idea who Hitchens was and what qualified
  him to run a panel about the production of TF:TM.  He has never
  scrounged around in Sunbow's closet like Tim Finn has, but like CJ
  Stankiewicz he has simply managed to amass a large amount of information
  about the film by being interested and seeking it out.
o He also has put together a large collection of TF:TM production
  materials, like a complete set of the film storyboards (from some
  particular point in pre-production, at least -- not all the storyboards
  that were ever made for it, but everything for some particular
  revision).
o He also has a copy of the script, which is much easier to come by, as it
  seems to have been the same revision that is well-circulated online and
  which originally came from one of those "Script City" stores or
  someplace in Hollywood.  However, I'm pretty sure Hitchens' copy has
  handwritten notes in it from somebody involved with the production, so
  it's a little more interesting than the online version.
o The vast majority of information presented in this panel is stuff I
  already knew from the script, and from Tim Finn's panel a few years ago.
  However, it was all nicely presented, and I'm sure the info was new to
  most of tha audience, so I must say that my opinion of the panel is
  quite positive.  I think Hitchens did a great thing for the fans there.
o A cut line he pointed out in the script is this one from Dirge, from the
  fight for leadership aboard Astrotrain: "Death comes to anyone who
  crosses me."  A bit melodramatic, but I like it.
o As has been mentioned before -- from sources I can't recall -- Spike's
  "oh shit" was not in the script until it was dropped in with the aim of
  pushing the movie from a G rating to PG.  This was done to make sure
  theaters wouldn't screen it exclusively as a matinee, making it more
  likely for older kids to be willing to go see it.
o Hitchens suggested, as some other fans have, that the quartering of
  Magnus was probably animated and then changed to the existing death
  scene, based upon the audio.  Of course, the audio would have been
  recorded before the animation anyway, but I do agree that the groans
  from Magnus and Galvatron's "Die... die..." would fit very well with a
  quartering.  Still, that doesn't mean it was animated -- the change
  could have come any time after the dialogue was recorded.  At times,
  fans have pointed to the fact that, when Galvatron catches the Matrix,
  it seems to be falling out of the sky, and that in the previous shot of
  Magnus, he sort of tosses it up in the air as he dies, which, granted,
  is a little weird.  Thing is, the shot of Galvatron catching the Matrix
  as it falls *also* has Magnus in the foreground, still in one piece,
  falling over, and then exploding into arms and legs.  So, that shot
  definitely was not part of an animated quartering sequence.  Now,
  *maybe* it was only the cels with Magnus that were changed, and the
  Galvatron and Matrix cels were indeed drawn for a quartering sequence.
  Toei then would have had to reshoot the new shot using their pre-
  existing Galvatron/Matrix cels but with new Magnus cels on top.  That
  would have been less work than animating Galvatron from scratch. But the
  shot as it exists in the finished movie can't be a relic of the old
  scene because Magnus isn't already dismembered when it starts.
o Snarl's appearance in the film was limited to three shots, right?  A
  note written in Hitchens' script says "model sheet missing" in reference
  to him.  So... apparently that is why he wasn't in more shots.  But it
  doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as the film was animated at Toei, who
  did most of seasons one and two of the cartoon.  Even though the film
  was surely done by different teams of animators, you would think they
  would have been able to lend the TV models out, or even send over some
  of their completed work of the character.  Additionally, the script
  repeatedly describes what the Dinobots are up to, naming them each in
  turn, but never including Snarl in these descriptions.  At one point it
  even explicitly mentions "the four Dinobots". This implies, IMO, that
  the mistake may have originated before a model sheet could even have
  been at issue when somebody on the writing staff miscounted how many
  there were supposed to be.  On the other hand, possibly this version of
  the script dates from after it was discovered that Snarl's model was
  missing, and somebody decided to omit him from that revision of the
  script as a result.
o The neatest part of this panel was that Hitchens had taken pictures of
  the storyboards and created primitive animatics (basically "storyboard
  movies") of several scenes by synching the storyboards to audio from the
  finished film, or in the cases of cut scenes, to music from DiCola's
  score.  They were quite well done, and would be a great bonus feature on
  some future DVD of the movie.
o He also showed the trade trailer for the movie (sometimes called the
  "Japanese trailer", which is sort of a misnomer), and identified the
  non-TF music in the background as coming from Star Trek 3.
o Hitchens confirmed, I believe after consulting with Wally Burr, that
  Orson Welles did indeed record ten lines of dialogue specifically to be
  included in the Unicron toy voice chip.  He had a list of the phrases,
  but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to write them down.  Some were
  from the film, and some were not.


The Dobson Brothers' Panel
o This panel was a lot of fun.  The Dobsons were great to listen to.  They
  were lively, funny, and full of stories.  I attended the second instance
  of this panel, having slept through the first one in the morning of two
  days previous.
o Paul Dobson claims that the voice in the Armada Red Alert toy (the one
  that says "RED ALERT WOO WOO WOO WOO") is him.  Or, at least, the "Red
  Alert" part is.  I never thought it sounded much like him, and the other
  first-wave Armada toy that talked (Megatron, as I'm discounting the
  disembodied "countdown" Jetfire had) definitely wasn't his regular
  voice.  So I'm a little skeptical... on the other hand, he's probably a
  better judge of what's his voice than I am.  It just seems like the
  timing on getting a recording of him into the toy would be tricky.
  Plus, and more to the point, he complained (somewhat good-naturedly)
  that Hasbro had used his voice in the toy without his permission and
  without payment.  This, too, makes me skeptical that it's him... on the
  other hand, one of his brothers apparently had the same experience with
  some other cartoon and toyline.
o When they were growing up, their father was an airplane mechanic.  He
  once brought home, for them to play with, a starter generator used for
  small planes.  The generator came with a hand-crank.  They were able to
  fire off arcs of electricity several inches long with this thing, and
  apparently used it to wreak quite a bit of destruction.
o In another electricity story, they talked about trying to turn on a
  light bulb with wires they had stripped from an old tape recorder's
  power cord.  The cord was plugged in, and they touched the bare ends to
  the bulb, and whichever brother was doing this reportedly flew across
  the room.
o (As a physics teacher, I was a little sad at the phrasing they used to
  deliver the punchline, saying something akin to "and boy did it light
  up!"  You see, the way it was being pantomimed, the bulb definitely
  would NOT have lit up when the wires were attached that way.  It's gotta
  be one on the bottom, one on the side, not both on the sides.)
o They talked for a few minutes about their roles on DragonBall Z, in
  particular about doing the very long "powering up" yells.  Jokes about
  veins popping and the like. They demonstrated a few.
o They gave their own telling of the infamous "Gary Chalk Coca-Cola
  story".
o As many other V.O. actors have, they expressed disappointment with the
  way big-budget animated movies tend to hire "real" actors for their star
  power instead of V.O. actors who are more experienced at defining a
  character using only their vocal characterization.
o The old BotCon staple of, "please perform your characters ordering fast
  food at the drive-through" was trotted out.  I get more tired of that
  every year.
o When recording Energon, they were less than two weeks (re: two episodes)
  ahead of the episodes' airing when they did their lines.  With Cybertron
  so far it has been more like a month, which makes them feel much more
  comfortable.


"Designing Transformers" panel
o This was a double-length panel, lasting nearly two hours.
o Aaron Archer and Eric Siebenaler started out this panel with a
  presentation that lasted, I would guess, half an hour at the most.  Then
  Greg Lombardo joined them at the table for the Q&A portion, which ran
  for the rest of the alotted time. Also, as in the other Hasbro panels
  that weekend, a 12-inch GI Joe representing Jerry Jivoin (who couldn't
  attend) manned one of the microphones.  (They called him "Little Jerry".
  It wasn't a special Jerry figure or anything; it was merely symbolic.)
o The beginning presentation was basically answers to a bunch of common
  questions, which was pretty nice.
o When a toy is being developed, sometimes a sketch for the general
  appearance of the toy comes first, and sometimes the idea for a gimmick
  comes first.  The order of those earliest steps is not set in stone.
o Cybertron EVAC's original design had two tails in helicopter mode, but
  they were combined into a single tail to prevent him from looking quite
  so sci-fi-ish.  (He is supposed to be a contemporary Earth vehicle,
  after all, not some futuristic thing like the Speed Planet TFs.)
o Exactly how much input Hasbro's team has on the transformation of a toy
  varies. In some cases they'll basically leave it up to Takara, and in
  other cases they will provide a silhouette or specify certain details.
  Using EVAC again as an example, the Hasbro team didn't want yet another
  helicopter toy where the copter's tail just ends up hanging down the
  robot's back, so they specifically asked for the tail to split and end
  up going out to the sides on the back.
o When designing altmodes, they refer to books and the internet for photo
  reference.
o Aaron's original story idea for Cybertron was called "Supercross", and
  featured "all the past planets" from the Transformers universe.  This
  concept was hastily sketched out on a Taco Bell napkin which Aaron now
  keeps under the glass of his desk at work.  He did have the napkin with
  him, however, and I took a few pictures of it later (to be posted with
  my other BC pictures).
o In "Supercross", the role of Vector Prime was to be filled by Alpha
  Trion.  The characters would be scouring the galaxy not for Cyber Planet
  Keys, but for pieces of Primus.
o A concept storyboard for Speed Planet was shown.  The only detail I
  wrote down / remember was that one of the characters on it was a
  centaur.  They said that some of the gimmicks they considered for Speed
  Planet toys were "flip changing" (ie. spring-loaded auto-
  transformations) and pull-back motors (which would have been AWESOME in
  my opinion).
o In the early concepts for Giant Planet, the planet itself was being
  dismantled for raw materials to construct a warp gate.  The drawing made
  it look like Gobotron!
o The early ideas for TF:Cybertron also included an "Apocalypse Planet"
  full of giant military hardware and was mired in a very long all-out
  war, and a "Planet X", which appropriately enough, I don't know anything
  about.
o Aaron also showed some story concepts for Energon, which included the
  idea of Unicron being slowly reactivated in six "quadrants".  Seemingly,
  the Autobots were going to be struggling to reactivate these pieces of
  Unicron so they could somehow save something-or-other once he was all
  turned on again.  ...?  Yeah, I didn't really follow.  It's hard to get
  a good feel for these really early ideas, especially when you are only
  looking at them for about ten seconds.
o Eric joined the TF team three years ago.  In conversation with Eric
  earlier, he told me his first design was Armada Laserbeak.  He'd been
  sad to see so many negative reactions to that from the fans online, as
  he sort of liked it.  I like it too!
o An upcoming "spider tank" toy in Cybertron was designed by Don Figueroa,
  based on a loose idea that had been floating around the TF team for
  years.  Vector Prime was designed by somebody who previously did designs
  in Beast Machines.  Sadly, I missed the guy's name.
o To sort of re-describe the Hasbro/Takara work-sharing that was mentioned
  above, in this panel the description was along the lines of Hasbro doing
  mainly design styling and Takara doing mainly "functional" stuff like
  working out the transformation.
o A Prime design concept was shown -- I forget for which toyline, but I'm
  pretty sure it was either Energon or Cybertron -- where the trailer
  opened up into a cache of hand-held weapons for Prime to use including a
  small missile rack and an axe. My friend SwiftEagle says that the trailer
  also held bandoliers.
o The grey prototype models you sometimes see photos of are later hand-
  painted for packaging photos and such by a modelmaker/painter named Jen
  Manning.  (At least, for the Hasbro packaging, I guess.)
o Aaron gave some terminology for us to use when talking about modified
  toys.  A lot of us will already know these terms, but it was nice to
  hear clear definitions directly from an expert.
  - Retool: using the same molds and adding detail by grinding it into the
    steel; only small changes can be done this way, and they are
    irreversible.
  - New Parts: swap out a mold for a new one; new head, new weapon, etc.
  - New Tools: Energon Starscream was the example here, with his
    similarity to G2 Smokescreen (from Dreadwing and Smokescreen); a rule
    of thumb was given that if a toy is more than 15% different, it will
    be a new tool instead of a retool; also, of course, if it's a
    different size, it's a new tool
  - Redeco: a change in plastic colors, paint colors, or paint masks
o Regarding redecos, Aaron said -- as has been heard before -- that they
  are basically used to replenish a line and keep it looking fresh.  When
  planning the line out, they do not expect everyone to buy every single
  piece that is released, and that is why the number of redecos -- which
  sometimes frustrates collectors -- is not generally a problem for the
  line as a whole.
o Eric talked a little bit about "color guides" (the name they use for the
  drawings where color schemes are planned out).  Basically, he says that
  when he is doing a color guide he starts with more or less random color
  choices for the plastics, and then starts making adjustments to one
  mold/sprue at a time, gradually moving towards something he likes.
  Thinking about the paint comes after all the plastic colors are picked.
  Early versions of these guides go out to Takara and the animation
  producers (currently Gonzo), but then if Hasbro changes a color (and
  there are a variety of reasons that they may do this) it's sometimes too
  late to change the animation.
o As a specific example of color differences between the US and Japanese
  versions of a toy, Eric talked about Vector Prime.  The US version has
  more contrast between his plastic colors.  Eric attributed this to
  different preferences between the two markets, with American consumers
  generally liking their toys to have more contrast than is seen in
  Takara's Vector Prime.  This statement about Americans' preference is
  presumably based on focus groups, suveys, and sales data, but he didn't
  go into how such things are determined.
o The Hasbro TF team currently consists of three full-time members, three
  more people who spend about 30% of their time on TFs, and a small group
  of outside designers who are sometimes called upon to do artwork.  Aaron
  named three of these designers (and may have said they were sort of the
  "main" or only outside guys right now): Don Figueroa, Marcelo Matare,
  and Tim Bradley.
o Aaron was surprised at the popularity -- among collectors -- of
  Slugslinger and Sharkticon in the Energon line.  He wasn't all that fond
  of them, himself.  :)
o CYB Override was originally intended to be male, just like her Japanese
  counterpart, Nitro Convoy.  The character was male when designed, and
  when briefed to Gonzo for inclusion in the animation.  The change came
  later when Cartoon Network expressed some concern over the lack of
  female characters in the show.  Hasbro decided to give one of the men a
  sex change, and thought Override was the most likely candidate.
o Aaron would love to create a Mini-Con base playset sometime.
o Greg talked a little about "age compression", or "kids getting older
  younger".  The biggest segment of the action figure market is 3-5 year
  old boys.  THREE TO FIVE! That's SO YOUNG.  Man.  I don't even know if I
  had any action figures at all when I was that age.  I don't think
  Playmobil counts.  Greg said that he thinks of Transformers as being the
  last toys a boy will keep playing with as they age and move on to other
  things like video games.
o So, next time you hear a fan complain that the TF toys or story are
  being "dumbed down", keep the above datum in mind!  That is their
  largest potential market.  One of the Hasbro people -- possibly still
  Greg -- said that forays into the Go-Go-Go-Bots and such were attempts
  to draw more of those younger kids into the Transformers brand.
o The Soundwave reissue from Takara was created by re-casting a brand new
  mold from an existing toy, just like the die-cast parts of the Prime
  reissue.  The old tools were not used.  (Presumably they were lost/worn
  out, as previously reported.) They said that in comparing an original
  and reissue, some variation or "shrink" can be seen.  I don't offhand
  remember hearing anybody report these differences, but that doesn't mean
  they haven't been noticed.  Just that I haven't heard about it.
o Hasbro and Takara have way more ideas for toys than they ever get around
  to using, so although they do accept submissions, they're not really
  looking for them.
o For now at least, it's easier to advertise a line-wide gimmick than to
  advertise individual toys based on their character or personality.  So
  it's likely that the "defining" gimmicks for each line will stick around
  for a while.
o The toys for the movie-based line will likely aim for an Alternators-
  like aesthetic but with play features and gimmicks more along the lines
  of Cybertron.
o Takara's early ideas for EN Omega Supreme had a rocket-arm like the G1
  version. Either Aaron or Eric, I forget which, said they decided to
  change Omega from a rocket to a boat because they thought it was more
  interesting, or possibly they used the word "exciting".  Which... seems
  like an atypical preference to me, but, hey, I like how he turned out
  anyway, so whatever.
o The planning of price points for a line, as in "how many ultras will we
  make this year?" is based on analysis of historical sales data.
o Aaron was surprised to hear, during the panel, that Sideswipe had been
  reissued in Japan but never made it out in the US.  (Recall that until
  his promotion, Aaron was not generally directly involved in exclusives
  or reissues.)  He said that they would put that on Jerry's list of
  things to try to take care of.  On the other hand, recall previous
  statements that the G1 Reissue line was ending.  So, if Sideswipe comes
  out here at all, I would guess it will be as a website exclusive.
o Aaron: "Takara is taking somewhat of a rest with Transformers, the
  development of new shows."  Hence, Hasbro is looking at the possibility
  of doing US-based production again when it comes time for the next
  animated series (post-movie).
o Because they do not have "2D rights" on the Alternators cars, doing
  media support like comics is difficult because they can't draw the
  trademarked car designs into their stories.  So, it remains unlikely
  that support of that kind will pop up soon.
o Episodes 1 and 2 of "Galaxy Force" were smashed into a single episode of
  "Cybertron" in order to pick up the pacing and make the debut a little
  more exciting.
o There are some more subtle differences between the GF and CYB stories
  than the whole continuation vs. new-continuity thing.  For example, in
  GF, Seibertron has been pulled through the black hole, and the
  Transformers are racing to get it back.  In CYB, Cybertron is
  *approaching* the black hole and is in danger of being sucked in if the
  Autobots don't work fast to save it.  Assuming the viewer is aware of
  this, it adds an extra sense of urgency to the events of the series.
o Before showing a preview of a "gap" line to go between Cybertron and the
  Movie, they called up Jerry Jivoin on the phone so he could hear our
  reaction.
o The filler line currently has no name, and they are not sure how or even
  quite when they are going to use it.  The toys will be at mega and
  deluxe price points.  They combine ALT-like realism with CYB-like play
  features (like the movie toys are hoped to be).
o However, later in the panel Aaron gave a rough timeline saying that
  after Cybertron is this gap line, then the movie stuff in the "back
  half" of 2007, and a new animation line starting up after that, or
  perhaps slightly in parallel.
o They then showed a slide of the first toy: a very detailed and very
  poseable incarnation of G1 Starscream.  The second toy was a very
  exaggerated-looking blaster gun with a very thick barrel, almost like an
  oversized revolver chamber.  The gun clearly had seams indicating that
  it transformers.  From the context, it was clearly an all-new gun-mode
  Megatron.  Both toys were shown in their grey model proto stage.
o STEVE-O'S NOTE: Nothing has changed about reissuing G1 Megatron in the
  USA.  That toy cannot be sold here anymore.  This new Megatron is
  allowed to exist, like the roleplay toy of Prime's blaster, because it
  is not shaped anything like a real-world firearm. And despite this, you
  can still count on it not being silver or grey in color.
o Regarding home video licensees Rhino and Paramount: apparently, despite
  the press release that seemed to say ALL TF videos were now going to
  come from Paramount, Rhino still has the rights to G1 and the Beast
  series, and I would presume Armada as well. Paramount is the rights
  holder for Energon and Cybertron.  They said that Greg would try to
  figure out the rights issues on RID for us.  (Recall, that show was
  localised by Saban for Fox Kids, and then Saban was purchased by Disney.
  So, presumably, the rights for RID are in a big tangle related to that
  merger, and the fact that Disney is a gigantic company with probably a
  lot of beauracracy.)
o When Aaron first found out that Takara had decided NOT to make Galaxy
  Force a continuation of Superlink, he was surprised.  Apparently they
  just wanted a fresh break.
o The "Universe" line will continue to exist in the sense that store
  exclusives will be branded with the name, but the "main" Universe line
  is dead.
o Universe was "opportunistic", according to Greg, in that there was
  demand for more product.  But, as the main lines grew, they didn't need
  it anymore.
o Part of the justification for the different case assortments in Japan
  and the US is the relative prominance of big corporate stores vs
  independently owned "mom and pop" stores.  In Japan, the small stores
  are a much, much more significant part of the retail market than they
  are in the US.  Those small stores find it useful to be able to order a
  case with is solid-packed with a specific item.  The large retailers in
  the US prefer a simpler approach where they can just order assortments
  based on price point and not have to worry about keeping track of how
  many of each particular variety they have.
o The new mold toys for the Beast Wars anniversary line are at the deluxe
  pricepoint.
o Mini-Cons that have beast modes instead of vehicle modes are being
  considered.
o Also under consideration: putting tech specs on Alternators packaging.
  (Perhaps not bios, though.  Aaron has, for years, consistently
  differentiated between tech specs and bios, using "tech specs" to refer
  specifically to the stats/numbers.)
o In discussing gimmicks they don't plan to use again, they said that they
  don't want to do glow-in-the-dark toys.  :(  Also, Aaron semi-
  sarcastically said that he'd rather try to release another gun than to
  release new spark-shooters.
o Aaron and Eric were asked which of their designs were they most happy
  with, and most disappointed with.  Aaron's biggest disappointment in his
  five years is Armada Smokescreen.  He said that he was very pleased with
  Energon Mirage.  Eric mentioned Laserbeak at this point as a toy he'd
  liked (the previous mention of him in my notes was from a conversation I
  had with Eric earlier in the weekend).  He said he designed Laserbeak
  while he was still in college, but, again, was then sad to see the fans
  didn't seem to like the toy very much.
o If G1 reissues ever start up again, Artfire is on Aaron's short list of
  toys to try.
o The Astrotrain reissue is coming out *only* because it was already done,
  with packaging designed and everything, AND because they also needed
  product for the web store.  That's how dead the reissue line is now that
  TRU has lost interest.
o As has been reported in the past, the TF teams at Hasbro and Takara
  don't use 3D modeling or drafting software in their design work.  It's
  all done on paper and with physical models.
o Vector Prime's Q&A on the website is done by somebody named Kim Locey(?).
o When asked about Robot Masters, Aaron said that he was involved a little
  bit in the early stages of its planning, but the Hasbro side lost
  interest in them.  They don't really fit Hasbro's pricepoint scheme, and
  Aaron didn't find them all that compelling (as some fans have said as
  well, even regarding the new-mold toys), and further, all the collectors
  who want them have alraedy bought them from Japan.  So, there isn't much
  reason for Hasbro to do anything with them.  Especially with the G1-based
  "gap" line and BW Anniversary figures coming up.
o HasbroToyShop.com "may" offer Takara items at some point, like
  HasbroCollectors.com used to.  They are "looking into it".  (Which, like
  anything they are "considering", should be taken as highly
  noncommittal.)


Misc. Other Notes (mainly from conversations)
o The Giant Planet toys are supposed to all have a gimmick where they
  "transform" from a smaller robot to a taller robot.  The implementation
  of this, however, is fully successful only in Metroplex.
o When my friends told Aaron that Takara has not, so far, shown any sign
  of intending to release the Primus toy (in the form of publicity for it
  in magazines, toy shows, etc.), Aaron was surprised.  He told my friends
  that Takara had shared the cost of the tooling for the toy, so he
  assumed that they planned to release it.
o I find the above point interesting because, even though this would have
  been obvious had I ever thought about it, it provides direct
  confirmation that the two companies share the cost of creating the molds
  for the toys that they are going to jointly release.  So, it's not like
  one or the other outright "owns" the tools.
o I talked to Greg Lombardo for a few minutes about tri-lingual packaging,
  and how Transformers managed to finally go back to mono-lingual.  For
  years, the TF team kept saying, basically, "we are going to use tri-
  lingual packaging to save money, so stop asking about getting bios on
  the package".  I was always curious about where that decision had been
  made in the corporate hierarchy.  The TF people always sounded like they
  were frustrated by it, but they never said anything to outright indicate
  that it was being forced on them from above.  Greg explained that the
  tri-lingual thing had indeed been a corporate directive, and that the
  reason for it was indeed to save money on package design/printing.
  However, each line was seemingly able to negotiate out of it, or stall
  in implementing it, based on the details of their management, politics,
  etc..  The TF team was finally able to switch back to one language after
  convincing their higher-ups that the savings they made in package
  production were outweighed by losses they suffered based on the
  packaging being cluttered, unclear, and uninteresting because of the
  small amount of information they could fit into it.  (In other words,
  lost sales, present or future.) Part of their campaign on this issue was
  that the guys who do their packaging mockups would often do two versions
  -- a tri-lingual one, and another mono-lingual version which always
  looked way better.  The comparisons of these mockup packages helped to
  convince the management to let them switch back.