NOTE: This document is very, very out of date. Most of the factual information is still considered to be factual, but not all of it. More importantly, many of the resources and links mentioned in the FAQ are no longer accurate. Check my TF links page for non-obselete links: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/links.html The Formidable Transformers FAQ written by Steve-o Stonebraker srstoneb@bu.edu http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ Version 6.0 Updated: 1/27/99 == 0. Introductory Information ====================== >> Introduction >> This is the FAQ for "Transformers", the line of robot toys from Hasbro and Kenner that can change from one form to another and back again. A FAQ is a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers. This FAQ contains much information that has not been "frequently asked" for, but is nonetheless of interest to many fans. The TF FAQ has these goals: A) to provide comprehensive answers to common Transformers questions, making things easier for the inquisitive and lighter on newsgroup bandwidths B) to serve as a useful reference for all TransFans, compiling large amounts of TF info into one coherent document C) to be entertaining to read This document contains spoilers for a lot of Transformers material and I do not make a habit of putting spoiler warnings within the FAQ. For the most part, spoilers can be anticipated by the question above them. Ex: If you don't want to know about Primus' motivation for creating the TFs, don't read questions regarding TF origins in the comic book. The FAQ is intended to be as complete a source of information as possible, and that cannot be done without spoilers. (Most of them are years old, anyway.) Read at your own risk. If there is something discussed in this FAQ that you have a question about, or if you have new ideas to contribute, you are welcome to post a newsgroup message about it or send email to me. It is recommended that if you make a post regarding a FAQ topic that you indicate that you *have* read the FAQ's answer. The FAQ is above all else a reference guide - it does not have the last word. However, the FAQ represents, for the most part, the collected knowledge and opinions of the active TransFans on the Net. (I can only assume that the opinions of lurkers are similar.) So even though the FAQ is not Primus, if you choose to be hostile when dissenting with the FAQ - especially on the more touchy subjects - the people whose opinions it reflects might take it personally and respond in kind. It is important to tread lightly when challenging dogma. Also, if there is an area where you feel the FAQ is weak or missing something, please send me an email about it, and your suggestion will likely be implemented in the next version. Similarly, if I have included your email or web address in the FAQ, and it is incorrect or out of date, please be sure to alert me of this and save me a little trouble. ;) >> New In This Version >> Because I wanted to get the new FAQ out as soon as I could, I did not add all of the information which I have found and been sent since Tengu finished v5.0. I've put in what I consider to be the big stuff, but I've left a lot of information for the next minor update, which will hopefully come in a few months. So, if you sent me information that you don't see in this version, chances are it'll show up in v6.1. With the new format, some parts and sections are pathetically under-sized. Some will always be larger than others, of course, but I do hope to expand them. So, if you have suggestions or information that could help me fill out those stunted areas, please get in touch with me. :) Changes from the previous version: - ATT info removed and title changed - major changes in organization and presentation - added part and section labels to each question, rather than having them merely numbered - moved all URLs to their own paragraph and indicated them with pipes, "|", along the margin - numerous edits and rewrites in pursuit of conciseness - combined similar questions into single questions, such as "where do I get a list of X?" and "what happened in ep X?" - expanded coverage of JTF, comic creative teams, web resources, pop culture references, Unicron's final movie line, European TF line - added stuff on Bot/Con philosophy, WWFF, multiple darkest hours, new TF:TM laserdisc, the full origin of Primacron and cartoon Unicron, Animorphs, the TF business history, BotCon locations, reconciliation of TF origins, newsgroup histories, Brazilian TF line, bad reviews of TF:TM, new comic and movie rumors, season 2 and 3 BW info, Beast Wars Second and BW Neo Revisions of this FAQ are made irregularly, occurring whenever I have enough new material and enough time to do it. A full revision history is found near the end of the FAQ. >> Formatting >> The Transformer FAQ is divided into "parts" and "sections". Parts are referred to by roman numeral, and represent very broad topics - most of the parts refer to an entire line of TFs, like Beast Wars or Japanese G1. Each part is divided into smaller sections such as "Toys", "Comics", or "Resources". And then, of course, sections are divided into individual questions. Cross- references are made by listing the applicable part, section, and question and separating them by slashes (eg. IV/C/3). Parts and sections are not of uniform length. The G1 and BW parts will always be longer than the G2 / MW part, for example. Also, some parts and sections are currently very short. Take a look at III: European G1. A total of four questions in three sections. In time, these will expand, and the divisions won't seem as silly. I'm just setting up the structure that I want to follow in the foreseeable future. All URLs in the FAQ are placed at the end of the question in which they are mentioned, and flagged by the presence of pipes (like these: "|||") along the margin. This is intended to make the URLs very easy to find, instead of forcing readers to dig through a paragraph to track them down. Input on this feature is welcome, as it's a new idea (thanks, Tengu!)... :) When providing pointers to TF resources, I have a tendency to write the URL for the page on which they are found, rather than linking directly to them. (Unless, of course, the resource is the whole page; then all bets are off.) I do this mostly as a means of paying my respect to the people who host or write these documents, in hopes that visitors will actually look through what the web page has to offer instead of simply typing in the full URL of what they want and never looking around. You're likely to see other things on these pages that you like, anyway, so I'm doing you all a favor. :P >> Availability >> The FAQ can be found on the web in one long file, or split into three smaller segments. Under normal circumstances, all segments are posted every other monday - more or less - to the TF discussion newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers alt.toys.transformers.classic.moderated rec.toys.transformers.moderated However, if a long time passes between updates I may stop posting until I can get a revision done, rather than actively spreading out of date info. Regardless of if I am currently posting or not, though, the latest version of the FAQ can be found at all times on the Transformers FAQ Homepage. Additionally, George Hong has adapted v5.0 of the FAQ to HTML and placed it on his site. He might convert v6.0 in the future. | Transformers FAQ Homepage, by Steve-o Stonebraker | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ | Transformers FAQ in HTML, reformatting by George Hong | http://www.jps.net/corolla/Other/TF/tffaq.html >> Contents >> 0. Introductory Information A. Introduction B. New In This Version C. Formatting D. Availability E. Contents I. TransFandom and Multi-Line Info A. Transformers Newsgroups 1. What TF newsgroups are available? 2. Why are there so many of them? 3. I can't read the newsgroups I want. What should I do? 4. How do I write a useful subject line? 5. Are there any guidelines for making posts? 6. What is "newsgroup strife"? 7. What topics should I avoid bringing up? B. TransFan Net.Culture 1. How old are TransFans? 2. What is all this terminology you guys use? 3. What's the "TF Code" gibberish in people's signatures? 4. What are "spoilers"? 5. What is WWFF? 6. Are there any Transformers MUSHes? 7. What's the Transformers Purity Test? C. Transformers Net.Resources 1. What are some good Transformers web sites? 2. Where can I get a list of [something TF related]? 3. I don't know the names of my TFs. Can someone ID them? 4. How do I buy, sell, or trade TF toys? 5. What TF and BW stuff can I get for my computer? 6. What other resources and references are out there? D. TF Related Products 1. Are there any TF video games? 2. Is there a TF role-playing game? 3. Are there any TF trading cards? 4. What TF books are available? 5. How can I get some good TF artwork? E. Business and Fandom Questions 1. What's the latest news on the current TF line(s)? 2. Are Animorphs really Transformers? 3. What's the history of Transformers as a business? 4. Where have "pop culture" references to TFs appeared? 5. Are there any TF clubs? 6. Are there any TF conventions? 7. They should hold BotCon in [your favorite place]! F. Continuity and Background Questions 1. Why doesn't anything agree with anything else? 2. How can the cartoon and comic origins be reconciled? 3. How did the Great War start? 4. Is there a full Transformers history anywhere? 5. Does Cybertron have an atmosphere? 6. How big is Cybertron? 7. What's the story with female Transformers? 8. How do TFs reproduce? 9. Are the Decepticons actually evil? 10. Why do they transform? Why not just be big robots? 11. Are Transformers immortal? 12. Where does Prime's trailer go when he transforms? 13. Unicron vs. the Death Star: who would win? 14. What were those Cybertronian units of time? 15. Which TFs died in the movie/comic/cartoon? II. Generation One A. General 1. When did G1 come out? 2. Why did the line go into decline and die? 3. What other countries did G1 appear in? B. Toys 1. Which older toylines were the first TFs based on? 2. What's the deal with red/yellow Bumblebee/Cliffjumper? 3. Why is Jetfire just like a Robotech Veritech fighter? 4. Was there a Skyfire toy? 5. Was there ever a blue Bluestreak toy, like on the box? 6. Did Hasbro ever make a Unicron toy? 7. I've got these weird tiny TFs. What are they? 8. What's the switch on the Jumpstarters' heads for? 9. How many combiner teams were there in G1? 10. How many cassette bots did they make? C. Cartoons 1. What's the origin of TFs in the TV show? 2. Where did Unicron come from if he's not part of the origin? 3. Can Autobots fly or not? 4. Which origin for the Constructicons is right? 5. Just how many "Darkest Hours" do the Autobots get? 6. What's the deal with Rumble and Frenzy? Which is which? 7. Why did they turn Jetfire into "Skyfire"? 8. How do you write out the transforming sound? 9. How'd they do Soundwave's voice? 10. What was "Five Faces of Darkness" about? 11. People have mentioned an episode I don't remember... what's special about it? 12. Where can I find episodes of the show on tape, LD, or DVD? 13. Is there a list of the voice actors from the show? D. Comics 1. What's the origin of TFs in the comics? 2. If the movie events didn't occur and Megatron wasn't resurrected by Unicron, where did Galvatron come from? 3. What about the other movie characters who showed up? And why wasn't Rodimus Prime among them? 4. Wasn't Spider-Man in one issue? Does that mean the TFs are in the normal Marvel Universe with the X-Men? 5. What about G.I. Joe? 6. What was up with issue 43, "The Big Broadcast of 2006"? 7. Who published TF comics, and when were they in production? 8. Who drew the Marvel comic? 9. Who wrote the Marvel comic? 10. Why was Budiansky such an awful writer? 11. Where can I buy old TF comics? E. Transformers: The Movie 1. What happened in the movie? 2. Some jerk gave it a bad review! What the heck?! 3. Why weren't more characters featured? 4. Why wasn't Snarl with the other Dinobots? 5. Why did the Insecticons keep showing up and dying? 6. Why would Astrotrain need to "jettison some weight" in space? 7. Who got turned into Cyclonus, and why were there two of him at first? 8. Why'd they kill everyone? 9. But Brawn didn't really die, did he? 10. What was the universal greeting they used? 11. Didn't the characters swear? 12. Who did the voices? 13. Did Leonard Nimoy record Unicron's last line? 14. What changes were made between the theatrical and video releases? 15. Is there an uncut copy of the movie which even has material that was never seen in theaters? 16. Where can I get the movie on tape, LD, or DVD ? 17. Where can I get the soundtrack and score? 18. Is there more info available on Stan Bush and Vince DiCola? III. Generation One in Europe A. General 1. Was the cartoon shown in Europe? 2. Was the movie any different in Europe? B. Toys 1. How did the European toyline differ from the American? C. Comics 1. How do the US and UK comics differ? IV. Generation One in Japan A. General 1. Were US and Japanese G1 the same before the US line ended? 2. What happened after American G1 stopped? 3. Are the Destrons and Cybertrons from the same planet? 4. Deszaras or DeathSaurus? 5. Was the movie any different in Japan? B. Toys 1. What were the Japanese toys like? C. Cartoon 1. What were the Japanese TF cartoons like? 2. What's Transformers: Hero? 3. Was the anime ever translated to English? 4. How can I get copies of TF anime? V. Generation Two and Machine Wars A. General 1. What was Generation Two all about? 2. What was Machine Wars? 3. Was there a G2 cartoon? B. Toys 1. What toys were released in G2? 2. What toys were released in MW? 3. What are "hero" Prime and Megatron? 4. What's with Go-Bot Transformers? 5. What are the G2 Powermasters? C. Comics 1. What was the creative team behind TF:G2? 2. I didn't read the G2 comics... what happened in them? VI. Beast Wars A. General 1. Why has Hasbro done this to us? 2. Why did they change Optimus Prime and Megatron? 3. Is there going to be a BW comic book? 4. Will they make a BW movie? 5. How successful has BW been for HasKen? B. Toys 1. Are the toys any good? 2. What are TransMetals and Fuzors? 3. Why are there so many TransMetal variations? 4. What's a TransMetal 2? C. Cartoon 1. Which continuity does Beast Wars fit into? 2. What's the TV show like? When is it on? 3. What's the show's setting? 4. Is it true that the show's writers read the newsgroups? 5. What else have Bob and Larry worked on? 6. Hasbro is full of idiots! Why are they ruining the show to make something lame like BW:G2?!?!?! 7. Are the Beast Warriors actually stranded on Earth? And what's the deal with this Golden Disk? 8. What is the name of the Predacon ship? 9. Are the BW aliens actually the Quintessons? 10. What are "protoforms" and "stasis pods"? 11. What does "CR Tank" stand for? 12. How did some characters become TransMetals? 13. Why does War Planets look so much better than BW? VII. Beast Wars in Japan A. General 1. What is this BW2 stuff about? 2. Okay, then what's BW Neo? 3. Is there really a Japanese BW movie? How unfair! B. Toys 1. Are there differences between US and Japanese BW toys? 2. What toys are in the Beast Wars Second line? 3. What toys are in the Beast Wars Neo line? 4. Can I get these toys without going to Japan? C. Cartoons 1. What BW shows has Japan gotten? 2. What is the BW2 cartoon like? 3. What is the BWN cartoon like? VIII. Closing and Administrative A. Closing Comments and Information 1. A note on translations 2. A list of common subject tags 3. Netiquette pointers for newsgroup newbies 4. Netiquette pointers for newsgroup regulars B. Silly Random Questions C. Glossary D. Revision History E. About the Author F. Acknowledgments and Legalese == I. TransFandom and Multi-Line Info =============== >> A. Transformers Newsgroups >> I/A/1 What TF newsgroups are available? There are currently six Transformers newsgroups. Three are for discussion, two for selling and trading toys, and one is for posting fanfic. The newsgroups and their topicalities are listed below. Take a look, and feel free to participate in any that you wish. A FAQ or guide for each newsgroup is available on the Transformers FAQ Homepage. Alt.Toys.Transformers - The original Transformers newsgroup. All Transformers discussion and fanfic are on-topic. Sales posts are not forbidden, but should be made elsewhere if possible. The ATT FAQ is written by Steve-o Stonebraker. Alt.Toys.Transformers.Marketplace - Marketplace group for Transformers and closely-related toys and merchandise. Discussion is to be kept to a minimum, but discussion of good / bad dealers is allowed. Fanfic and all other discussion is off-topic. There is no ATTM FAQ, but Burt "Skyflight" Ward has written "A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM". Alt.Toys.Transformers.Fanfic - For posting and discussing fanfiction based on Transformers and closely-related topics. Sales posts are off-topic. Non-fanfic discussion is off-topic. A FAQlet called "A Guide to Posting Fanfic" has been written by Patricia "Vulcana" Wright and will be turned into a full-fledged ATTF FAQ in the future. Alt.Toys.Transformers.Classic.Moderated - ATTCMod is a discussion newsgroup for all aspects of classic Transformers. At this time, this excludes only Beast Wars (both US and Japanese versions). Fanfic is permitted. Sales posts are not allowed. The ATTCMod FAQ is by Burt "Skyflight" Ward. Rec.Toys.Transformers.Moderated - RTTMod is a discussion newsgroup for all aspects of Transformers, old and new. Fanfic is not allowed for legal reasons. Sales posts are expressly forbidden. Chris "Robotech Master" Meadows is responsible for the "RTTMod Charter and Moderation FAQ". Rec.Toys.Transformers.Marketplace - Topicality in RTTM is exactly the same as in ATTM. The only difference is that it is in the rec.* hierarchy. There is no ATTM FAQ, but Burt "Skyflight" Ward has written "A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM". | Transformers newsgroups | news:alt.toys.transformers | news:alt.toys.transformers.marketplace | news:alt.toys.transformers.fanfic | news:alt.toys.transformers.classic.moderated | news:rec.toys.transformers.moderated | news:rec.toys.transformers.marketplace | Newsgroup FAQs and Information, host Steve-o Stonebraker | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ I/A/2 Why are there so many of them? Six does seem excessive, but the creation of each new group does have a justification. Here's a little history lesson: It all started with an email distribution list called, simply, the Transformers Mailing List, in 1992. By the middle of 1993 the list had grown large and unwieldy, so to lighten the burden a newsgroup was created to replace the list: alt.toys.transformers. ATT served the TransFan community well for several years, but as the Internet's population grew in the mid 90s, the ng started to become bloated. In an effort to make ATT easier to navigate by moving sales posts to a different newsgroup, alt.toys. transformers.marketplace was created in December of 1996. By that time, the internet boom had truly begun, and there was a huge influx of people to the newsgroups. Eventually there were enough posts that the fanfic-writing sub-community was feeling stifled; with so much going on, it was hard to find fanfics among the vast field of headers, and even harder to maintain a discussion about it. In order to provide a more nurturing forum for TF fanfic alt.toys.transformers. fanfic was newgrouped in January 1998. The low traffic of ATTF is better suited to the creative process. In 1998 talk began again of splitting ATT yet again in hopes of solving two problems: A) many of the new netizens who were posting to ATT seemed wholly unconcerned with behaving themselves, and 2) Beast Wars had become so popular that there was little bandwidth left for discussion of G1 TFs, which understandably distressed fans who didn't like BW. In the spring of 1998 the command message was sent to newgroup alt.toys.transformers.classic.moderated, providing a forum for classic TF discussions that would be safe from spam and flamewars. Shortly afterwards, the call-for-votes was completed on a proposal initiated by Renaud Lefebvre to create a new set of Transformers newsgroups in the rec.* hierarchy, which has higher visibility and distribution than alt.* does. As a result, two more groups were birthed: rec. toys.transformers.moderated, which is essentially a copy of ATT aside from the moderation, and rec.toys.transformers. marketplace, which is essentially a copy of ATTM. The addition of Transformers groups to the more "official" rec.* hierarchy is symbolic of the fandom's growing size and legitimacy. I/A/3 I can't read the newsgroups I want. What should I do? If you are unable to access any of the TF newsgroups using your ISP's newsfeed, the best thing you can do is write to your news or system administrator and request that the groups you want be added locally. Unless your admins are irresponsible they will most likely do this for you after only one request. However, you may need to nag occasionally to get some admins off their butts. For most netizens, the news admin's username will be news, root, or postmaster, and their domain the same as your own. So, if you are "joeschmoe@some.isp.com", your news admin is most likely "news@some.isp.com". As an alternative, you can access any of the groups through a free web-based news service such as DejaNews or RemarQ (formerly Supernews), or a pay web-based service like Newsguy. Many netizens use these services for all of their Usenet activity, even when they have other options, so clearly they are pretty good. | Free web-based Usenet news access | http://www.dejanews.com | http://www.remarq.com | Pay web-based Usenet news access | http://www.newsguy.com I/A/4 How do I write a useful subject line? Badly-written subject lines can cause a lot of consternation to newsgroup readers. If you saw a post titled "jetfire!!!!" what might it be about? Perhaps someone is writing an essay about Jetire's characterization in the comic book? Or they've created a web site devoted to the toy? Maybe this is a marketplace post that has been put in a discussion newsgroup by mistake? (In which case, even in a marketplace group, this would be a worthless subject because no one would know if the author was buying or selling.) How about the subject "NEW BW EP"? Sounds like someone is announcing the airing of a new episode, or perhaps reacting to one which they just saw. Would it surprise you to read this post and see that the author was asking a question about when the next new episode would be on? Perhaps they could have included a question mark in their subject? When you come across a post with a badly written subject, you are left wondering what the post is about. If you have to read a post to find out what it is about, this defeats the purpose of having a subject line at all. I have come to realize, and have even been told as much by some perpetrators, that sometimes the motivation for writing a vague subject is to "lure" people into reading the post, because the author fears that no one will read it based on its content alone. There are so many things wrong with that attitude that I don't even know where to start. The first ingredient to any subject line should be a "tag", a keyword or category, usually written in CAPITAL LETTERS, and between square brackets, like [CARTOON] or [REVIEW]. The tag allows someone who is looking through the newsgroup to instantly recognize the broad topic of your post, so they know whether they want to read it or not. Tags are also helpful for netizens that wish to automatically killfile certain topics or to flag them to be read. After the tag, describe the content of your post in a way that is accurate and informative. Your subject should tell someone what your post is about, not merely give them a hint. If you need more than one tag, that's okay just be frugal. I've listed some common tags and their meanings in VIII/A/2. Some other tips: Include the word "SPOILER" at the beginning or end of the subject if your post gives away key story details in a TF story that many people may not have seen yet (such as new episodes of Beast Wars). Long-running threads have the tendency of retaining their original subject lines, even if the topic under discussion has changed several times. If you make a followup to such a thread, take a moment to alter the subject in this style: "[TALK] Schizo TFs (was BW Megs' head-hand)". Examples of good subject lines: "[COMIC] Budiansky's early work wasn't that bad", "[G1] Soundwave a blackmailer?", and "[BW][TV] Code of Hero, wow! *SPOILERS*". Some bad subject lines are: "movie?", "IMPORTENT!1!!I NEED WASPENATOR", and "transformers". Paying special attention to how your posts are labeled will help out your fellow TransFans, and will reflect favorably on you. It's a good habit to get into. I/A/5 Are there any guidelines for making posts? Each TF newsgroup will have slightly different procedures which you should become familiar with before making any posts. Reading the group's FAQ is the best place to start. For the most part, however, the TF newsgroups use basic netiquette as their posting guidelines. A good resource is "How to win friends and influence ATT" by H. Jameel al Khafiz (spectre@dhp.com), which can be found on the TF FAQ Homepage. Further info is also available in the FAQ for whatever newsgroup you wish to participate in. Here are a few quick pointers, though: The standard line-length is 80 characters, so your posts should have less than 80 characters per line (70-75 is best) so that if you are quoted in a followup (which usually involves putting >'s along the left edge of your text) everything will fit. If your newsreader displays posts in a variable-width font like Times Roman, you may want to switch it to a fixed-width font such as Courier. When posting a rumor, clearly state that it's just a rumor as well as where you heard it. A rumor you heard from Ben Yee (who has an "in" with the people that make Beast Wars) is easier to believe than one you heard from George at the saturday night tractor pull. If you are making a post that reveals pivotal story details in a recent TV show or comic book that could ruin the story for someone who has not yet seen it, include spoiler warnings and spoiler space. See I/B/4 for more on spoilers. Refrain from posting flames. If you are the victim of a flame attack, do not flame back. If you absolutely must respond to restore your honor, make a single non-hostile post and ignore further flames. If someone trolls the newsgroup, ignore them rather than responding. (Even responding by email is encouragement to trolls, and if someone has been victimized by having a troll posted in their name, flaming them is inappropriate then as well.) Keep off-topic discussions to a minimum. A newsgroup can survive as an effective forum only if its subject matter is given nothing less than the highest priority. This does not mean that it is wrong to be punchy on occasion (heck, that's natural), or that it is reprehensible to make the odd off-topic reference for the sake of good humor, but we must watch our step. Sometimes, at the end of a largely-off-topic post, a TransFan will include a random TF thought prefixed by "ObTF:" (obligatory TF reference). These ObTFs have been known to turn into new, and on-topic, threads. Each TransFan should consider it their personal duty to use the newsgroup responsibly, and to set an example by doing so. This is everybody's Internet. Help keep it beautiful. | How to Win Friends and Influence ATT, by Jameel al Khafiz | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ I/A/6 What is "newsgroup strife"? "Strife" is a general term to describe recurring behavioral problems in the Transformers newgroups. Strife can be the result of irresponsible posting habits, personal attacks, off-topic debates over hot issues, and disagreements between "newbies" and "elders" or "regulars". Strife is, in a nutshell, all the crap you have to deal with in the newsgroups you read. The moderated groups were created in an attempt to escape from strife, and have been mostly successful. To avoid strife we must all behave responsibly and maturely. Post only if you have something to say. Don't flame and don't retaliate to flames. If you have such strong feelings about someone that you must tell them off, please do so through email and do not bother an entire newsgroup with it. Most of the people that suffer through a flame war simply don't care if person A offended person B's delicate sensibilities, or if group X has a problem with group Y. Keep in mind that every post you make on Usenet can potentially be seen by any of the millions of people on the net worldwide. Not even a marginal percentage of those people will be interested in your dispute. You should represent yourself better than that in front of so large an audience. I/A/7 What topics should I avoid bringing up? There are a few topics (Threads That Would Not Die, TTWND) that are good to avoid. These are questions, statements, etc., that have been discussed so thoroughly, or are so incredibly pointless, that even one post about them is a waste of bandwidth. Please respect other people's wishes and do not bring these up unless you are confident that you have a completely new and fascinating idea to contribute. If you feel that this FAQ is not informative enough on any "forbidden" topic, please email me and explain what is lacking. I will improve that part of the FAQ to spare us all from watching a TTWND remerge. 1) Unicron vs. ________. See I/F/13. 2) FIRRIB / FIBRIR. See II/C/6. 3) Scenes cut from the movie. See II/E/14-15. 4) Brawn is Dead / Brawn is Alive. See II/E/9. 5) Where to hold the next BotCon. See I/E/7. >> B. TransFan Net.Culture >> I/B/1 How old are TransFans? In July '96 Joseph Neo did a statistical analysis of the TransFan ages on ATT. His results fell into a typical bell curve with a mean of 20 and a range from 11 to 34. At this time, those people are all two years older. Generally, TransFans are people who were the right age to appreciate Transformers when they were really popular, from around 1984 to 89 or 90. However, there are outliers on both sides, and the range continues to grow (mostly on the younger end) because of Beast Wars's popularity. This question is almost on the "don't ask" list, but unless it continues to come up (despite having an answer in here) I'll leave it off. This is a bad question for the ng because whenever it is asked, for a week or more afterwards we are plagued with posts that have no content but "I am X years old!" It's a waste of bandwidth. If you'd like to get a look at pictures of some TransFans, visit the TransFan Gallery, put together by Craig "Mr. Brax" Cicero (cicero@students.uiuc.edu). Don't forget to send in your picture, too! | TransFan Gallery, by Mr. Brax | http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~cicero/TFGallery.html I/B/2 What is all this terminology you guys use? There's a bit of jargon floating around in TransFandom. Some of what you'll see has its origin in Transformers, some of it comes from other toy and TV show fandoms, and some of it is basic internet lingo. There is a glossary of easy, one-line definitions and abbreviations at the end of this FAQ (section VIII/C), but here are some of the more interesting or complicated terms: G1 / G2 - "G2" refers to "Transformers: Generation Two", Hasbro's 1992 relaunch of the Transformers line. G2 toys included re- releases of old toys as well as several new ones. The G2 cartoon was an edited version of the original cartoons with CGI effects added to the borders and scene changes. The G2 comic was an all-new 12 issue series written by Simon Furman. Although there was never technically a Transformers: Generation 1, "G1" refers to Transformers *before* G2. So, all original TF toys, shows, etc., are referred to as G1. seekers - The groups of identical Decepticon warriors which transformed into F-15 fighters on Earth, and "pyramid ships" on Cybertron. In MTMTE these fliers were referred to as "hunter-seekers", and the name stuck. Six seekers were developed as characters (Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust), but the 'con army was shown (in the cartoon, at least) to have many more than six robots of this design among their ranks. kitbash - Kitbashing is the act of modifying a toy, or creating a new one out of spare parts. This can be as simple as adding paint details to make a toy look like it's TV counterpart, or as complex as mix-and-matching limbs, filing away portions of plastic, and adding new features with epoxy. "Kitbash" can also be used as a noun to refer to a toy which has been so modified. retcon - An abbreviation for "retroactive continuity". A retcon is when the writer of a story adds previously unknown details to the story's history, or sometimes completely reworks it. For example, the introduction of the Matrix in the movie: previously, the leader of the Autobots was placed in that position by more or less democratic means, or possibly by military rank. According to the movie, however, the mantle of Autobot leadership is much more meaningful than had ever been indicated before, as it entailed becoming the guardian of an artifact of near infinite power which entitled that robot to leadership as if he had been anointed by the gods. Another retcon, this one from X-Men comics, is when Magneto's real name changed from "Magnus" to "Erik Magnus Lensherr" simply because the writers liked it better; suddenly, characters throughout the Marvel Universe who had called him Magnus for decades began referring to him as Erik. HasKen - In 1995 the Hasbro Toy Group took over one of their previous rivals, Kenner Toys. Kenner still sort of exists as a division of Hasbro, but they are fully owned and controlled by "Big" Brothers Hasenfeld. Hasbro passed the Transformers line down to their new acquisition when they released Beast Wars (the packaging even had a Kenner mark), but it's not incorrect to say that TFs are made by Hasbro. Sometimes the two names are contracted together into the word HasKen to indicate the close relationship of the two firms. This is less important now, however, because the action figure lines (including TF and GI Joe) have been moved away from Kenner and back to Hasbro proper. binary - In order to send a binary file (eg. a non-text file, such as a picture or sound clip) through a text-only forum such as email or Usenet, the file must be converted into a text form in a process called encoding. That text file can then be converted back to the original file after transfer. (Long ago, most files were UUencoded, but now a format called MIME has become more common.) When you send an email with a file "attached", all this happens behind the scenes. A binary is any file encoded into a text format. Binaries are usually pretty long, and are comprised of many, many lines of what appears to be garbage characters, but with the proper software they can be translated into a useful file. gestalt - Also called a "combiner", a gestalt is a robot who is composed of several smaller robots. The word "gestalt" was derived from German for use in psychology, where it refers to something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly, the team of Transformers becomes more than just a pile of robots when they couple together because an entirely new personality is formed. I/B/3 What's the "TF Code" gibberish in people's signatures? TransFan Code goes along the lines of Geek Code, which you may or may not be familiar with. It isn't a way to encrypt messages, but a string of letters and other other characters to put in your .signature (or elsewhere) which summarizes your involvement in TransFandom. For example, the letter G is followed by a series of pluses or minus, the number of which express your "General love of TFs". There are more ltters for MUSHing, fanfic, size of toy collection, etc.. The TransFan Code was created by Lizard (lizard@dnai.com), and H. Jameel al Khafiz (spectre@dhp. com) has created a TransFan Code web site that can provide you with the information you'll need to compose your code: | TransFan Code, by Lizard | http://www.dhp.com/~spectre/Tformers/tfcode.html I/B/4 What are "spoilers"? A "Spoiler" can be loosely defined as any bit of information that might reveal plot points in a work of fiction, if that information is not yet public knowledge. Essentially, posting a spoiler about a TV show might reveal aspects of the plot that most people aren't aware of yet. As far as what is a spoiler and what isn't a spoiler, use your common sense. Never, never put a spoiler in the subject of a post or email message, because then you may spoil a story for someone before they even have the chance to look away. If you make a post which contains spoilers, there are two precautions that you should take for the sake of others: First, put the word "spoilers" in the subject, and preferably the title of what you are going to talk about. Like, "[BW] Main season two story arc *SPOILERS*". You can also use a [SPOILERS] subject tag. Second, include "spoiler space" - twenty blank lines at the beginning of your post - so that someone reading posts one by one, without looking at subjects first, will still not be in danger of having the story ruined for them. Now, a horror story to illustrate what happens when you don't use spoiler warnings and spoiler space. In the next paragraph I'm going to reveal story details about "Code of Hero", a pivotal episode in season two of "Beast Wars". By now most people have seen it, but in a section about spoilers, I thought I'd better give fair warning. ;) "Code of Hero" was aired first in Canada, then a month later on cable TV in the US, and another month later on broadcast TV. At the end of this episode, the popular character Dinobot was killed in battle. After its first airing, ATT was bombarded by posts regarding "CoH" which not only didn't contain spoiler space, but often revealed the story in such subjects as "Dinobot dies!" and "I can't believe they killed him!" These posts made it impossible for anyone who read ATT to stay in the dark about what should have been a total surprise. At CoH's second airing, on the Cartoon Network, posts were more reserved because the group was still in an uproar over the first volley; some people attempted to slightly disguise the event with subjects like "[SPOILER] is dead", but even this is not useful as it still reveals that there will be a death. Although many ATTers posted courteously regarding CoH, a handful of irresponsible TransFans were all it took to completely ruin the shocking events of the episode for hundreds, if not thousands, of ATTers as much as two months or more before they could see the episode for themselves. That, dear reader, is truly repugnant. Use of Spoiler Space and the [SPOILER] tag will allow you to post discussions about exciting new stories without exposing plot points to other TransFans who are unaware of them. Use your common sense when posting spoilers. It is better to err on the side of safety. Depending on the medium involved, a spoiler might take a week or two (or more) to become common knowledge within the United States, and sometimes as much as a year or two before fans in places like Scandenavia or Israel will get to see it. (And we *do* have regular readers and posters from all over the world.) I/B/5 What is WWFF? Early in 1998, a group of TransFans began writing a series of fanfic parodies under the title "The World's Worst FanFic" (WWFF). The WWFF series was inspired by a series of sub-par fanfics which had been posted to ATT containing a lot of mistakes and some questionable story ideas. Thankfully, the author of these fanfics took the teasing well, being aware that his work isn't quite Hugo-worthy, and actually enjoys the WWFF series. (But he doesn't take well to non-stop MSTing of his fics by other fans, so cut him a break.) WWFFs are the source of many in-jokes in net.TransFandom such as "I like pie" and "Dinobot has spoken. My rigid grill structure...". The WWFF crew hangs out on DALnet IRC, usually in the channel #WiiGii!, and the main contributors are Picard42, PerceptorTFWW, Walky. The WWFF series has started a bit of a fad in writing silly fanfics. While these are quite welcome and enjoyed by the community, there is no need to call *every* parody a WWFF. For the sake of preserving the integrity of the WWFF label, and out of respect for those who started it, please do not call your parody a WWFF unless it is an "official" part of the series, co-authored or endorsed by at least one member of the WWFF group. | Transformers: World's Worst web site, by PerceptorTFWW | http://www.rpi.edu/~goliej/tfww/index.html I/B/6 Are there any Transformers MUSHes? A MUSH is an online game which many people can play at once. The letters stand for "Multi-User Shared Hallucination." MUSHes are similar to MUDs, in that people connect to it and control characters which interact with other players and the environment. However, while the focus on MUDs is generally on fighting, MUSHes tend to be much more plot-oriented and focus on role-playing. By that turn, Transformers MUSHes allow you to "assume the role" of a particular Transformers character, allowing you to act as that character would throughout a series of events. It's a bit like living inside a Transformers cartoon. An index of TF MUSHes and their corresponding contacts is maintained by Gary "Saberwind" Williams (saberwind@saberwind.com) on his web page. | Transformers MUSH list, by Saberwind | http://www.saberwind.com/mushlist.html I/B/7 What's the Transformers Purity Test? The original "Purity Test" is one of the internet's long- lived traditions. It consists of a long list of "yes" or "no" questions regarding sexuality and sexual experience intended to provide a gauge of one's "purity". It's a big joke, but it's fun to play with. In the same vein, several fandoms have created their own Purity Tests to find out just how devoted its fans are. The TF Purity test is written by Diana Calder (az529@freenet.carleton.ca), and can be found on Iggy Drougge's web site. Remember, though, that the test is a joke - having a higher score than someone else doesn't mean you're a "better" fan, or that they aren't a "true" TF fan. | Transformers Fan Purity Test, by Diana Calder | http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf/purity.txt >> C. Transformers Net.Resources >> I/C/1 What are some good Transformers web sites? There are literally hundreds of Transformers web sites out there. Some of them are great, some of them are not. But there are way too many for me to keep track of, especially when I'm also trying to maintain this FAQ. But, Renaud T. Lefebvre (rtlefebv@videotron.ca) is up to the task. Visit the Complete Transformers Listing Page (CTLP) for access to just about every TF-related link on the internet. It can sometimes be hard to find what you want on the CTLP because of its immensity, but using the "find text in page" command in your web browser should help. | Complete Transformers Listing Page, by Renaud Lefebvre | http://www.bigbot.com/ctlp/ I/C/2 Where can I get a list of [something TF related]? There are many Transformer-themed lists around. I used to have them in separate questions, but in an effort to condense things, I've lumped them all together here. Look at the lists that are available, and go grab what you want. Toy Lists - Robert Jung (rjung@netcom.com) maintains what is probably the definitive TF Toy List, which is maintained and updated on a regular basis, and lists all toys from the US, Europe, and Japan, along with descriptions and year of release. Andrew Frankel (sideswipe@earthlink.net) pieced together a list of Japanese TFs and their serial numbers (that is, the C-XXX and D-XXX IDs from the Japanese toy boxes). The Transformers Variations List, maintained by M Sipher (msipher@ibm.net) enumerates the many toy variations which have been released over the years (toys that only exist in one form are also listed). The Variations List includes sections for Go-Bots and Battle Beasts as well as Transformers. Tech Spec Lists - The original "Official Unofficial Transformers Tech Spec List" was written by Dave "Hex" Tashjian (hex@iac.net). There is also a tech spec list written by Nick "The Nixtr" Morency (the-nixtr@jerseycape.com) which has a different format, but only has G1 specs. A tech spec viewing program called "Tech Spec 2000" is available, written by Lewis Brooks (optimusprime@mediaone.net). And lastly, the Hartmans (of BotCon fame) have an archive of tech spec scans on their web site. Artifact List - A TF "artifact" is just about any object other than a toy, comic, or videotape that has Transformers on it. This includes lunch boxes, sleeping bags, books, pencils, and the famous Optimus Prime cookie jar. An exhaustive list of Transformers artifacts has been compiled by Raksha (jkink@ postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu). Take a look, and see how much stuff your collection is missing! FanFic List - There are two large fanfic archives on the web. The first is the Lexicon (which actually has more than just fanfic), run by Charlotte Brogden. The other is Vulcana's Tranfic Base. These sites are searchable. If you want your fanfic to be included on their sites, all you need to do is submit it to them. Cartoon Episode Guides - The episode guide compiled by Aaron Marsh (amarsh@samasher. com) is sorted by US airdate and has brief summaries for each episode. It can be accessed in both text and hypertext formats. Another ep list can be found on the web site of Marek Kozubal (marek@portents.com) which lacks summaries, but does have some other info, such as episode writers. Quote Lists - Our main Quote Guy is Robert E. Powers (repowers@artsci. wustl.edu). He has extensive quote lists for the cartoon, the comics, and Beast Wars. An alternate Beast Wars quote list is written by M Sipher (msipher@ibm.net). Voice Actor List - A list of all TF characters and voice actors is kept by Dave "Zobovor" Edwards. The list is conveniently available in two formats: alphabetical by character, and alphabetical by actor's name. Dead Characters List - Liane Elliot (tetra@eskimo.com) compiled the "Transformers Book of the Dead" which lists TF deaths in several different continuities, complete with the circumstances of each termination. This list is on my web page. | Transformers Toy List, by Robert Jung | http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/tf/Transformers.shtml | TF Serial Number Checklist, by Andrew Frankel | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ | That Big Transformers Variations List, by M Sipher | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Chamber/2020/ | Tech Spec List, by Dave "Hex" Tashjian | http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/6798/ | tfs-idx.htm | Tech Spec List, by Nick "Nixtr" Morency | http://members.xoom.com/nixtr/site2-7.html | Tech Spec 2000 viewing program, by Lewis Brooks | http://people.ne.mediaone.net/optimusprime/transformers/ | techspec.htm | Tech Spec scan archive, by Jon and Carl Hartman | http://www.noblecan.org/~jhartman/tf/tf.html | TF Artifact List, by Raksha | http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/tf/Transformers.shtml | Lexicon, by Charlotte Brogden | http://lexicon.tf/ | Tranfic Base, by Vulcana | http://tfb.l8r.net/transformers | Cartoon Episode Guide, by Aaron Marsh | http://www.cs.rit.edu/~abm4111/ | Cartoon Episode Guide, by Marek Kozubal | http://www.portents.com/marek/transformers/ | TF Quote Lists, by Robert E. Powers | http://members.tripod.com/repowers/ | Beast Wars Quote List, by M Sipher | http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/tf/Transformers.shtml | Voice Actors List, by Dave "Zobovor" Edwards | http://members.aol.com/zobovor/ | Transformers Book of the Dead, by Liane Elliot | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ I/C/3 I don't know the names of my TFs. Can someone ID them? Certainly. Many of the regular posters to our newsgroups (and I'm sure a lot of the lurkers) can identify your TFs without even having to look them up. Simply make a post to one of the discussion groups with a subject like "[TOY] ID these TFs" or something similar, describe what you've got, and you should get emails or follow-up posts about it in less than a day. Even if the toys aren't real TFs, be they ripoffs like Shackwave, or just a similar toy like Go-Bots or MASK, or whatever, go ahead and ask; just make sure you say that they aren't (or might not be) Transformers so people know what to think about. I/C/4 How do I buy, sell, or trade TF toys? It would be a good idea to read "A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM" by Burt Ward (beavis@cris.com) if you plan on taking part in any TF sales. It tells you where to go, how to do it, and how to estimate conditions and prices of TF toys. For now, though, here's some general information. On the net, the best places are the two marketplace newsgroups, ATTM and RTTM. Some people will hold TF auctions on their web pages, and lately E-Bay, the web auction house as www.ebay.com, has become rather popular. Be cautious at E-Bay, though. The dealers there generally don't seem to know much about what they're selling, and items often go for very high prices. The newsgroups will probably get you the best deals as well as the protection of the community there, but E-Bay can be a great resource, too. Just make sure you know what you're doing, because the other person might not. :) Also, be sure to read "A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM" by Burt Ward (beavis@cris.com) before delving into the TF marketplace. If you want to sell TFs, look at some current auctions to see how they work, and then follow the guidelines put forth in "A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM", by Burt Ward (beavis@ cris.com). If you are looking to buy TFs, whether you want a specific toy or are just in a general buying mood, you should browse through current auction and for-sale posts. If no one is selling what you're looking for, there are a few options: You can make a "wanted" post to the marketplaces. These posts are not very successful in general, as if anyone wanted to sell Item X there would probably already be a post about it, but you're welcome to try. (But please look through current posts to see if it's already mentioned before asking for it.) You can also leave cyberspace and go back into meatspace to find TFs: Toy shows (BotCon in particular), flea markets, and garage sales are good places to look for old TFs. At a toy show, many of the toys will be in good condition, often with their boxes, and are consequently expensive. But, you can find some rare items this way, including TFs that were never released in the US. At flea markets and garage sales you can sometimes find bins or piles of toys which will have Transformers among them. The condition of these toys will not, in general, be as good as at a show, but they will probably be dirt cheap. It's important not to let on to the dealer how much you want something, though; once a TransFan found three components of the Japanese gestalt LioCeasar at a flea market, and was able to get them for just a few dollars each because the dealer had no idea what they were worth. Act cool and slightly disinterested to get the best price. | A Guide to Using ATTM and RTTM, by Burt Ward | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ I/C/5 What TF and BW stuff can I get for my computer? Transformers and Beast Wars desktop themes can be found among many big-name themes collections. Look through Renaud's CTLP (on www.bigbot.com, remember?) for sites that offer them. The same story goes for other media, such as sound clips, screen captures, box scans... There is, at this time, no centralized index or collection of TF media. Just lots of scattered pages. (If anyone wants to start one, we'd all be in your debt! Please!) I have links to some of the larger media archives on the TF FAQ Homepage, but that's far from a complete list. Again, browse the CTLP to find more. There is a shareware program called "Cool Edit" which allows the alteration of sound clips. Among its features is "flanging", the process used to create the "robotic" voices in the original TF cartoon series. Using this feature, you can record your own voice and flange it to produce a TF voice saying anything you want. Neat-o. :) If you are looking for TF games, Quake skins, etc., read question I/D/1, regarding TF video games. | TF and BW desktop themes | http://www.winfiles.com | http://www.casba.com/95themes/categc.htm | Cool Edit, sound clip editor with flanging feature | www.shareware.com, www.download.com, etc. I/C/6 What other resources and references are out there? The "Transformers Encyclopedia" is the brainchild of Stanley Lui (sslui@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca). The TF-Ency is intended to be a source of TF canon info for fanfic writers. Major articles in the encyclopedia center on specific characters, events, and places from all TF fiction continuities (although the focus is on the US cartoon and comic). For each article there is a general info section, followed by a history for each continuity. For example, the Optimus Prime article would start with "Op is the leader of the Autobots, yada yada yada" and then have subsections with his life story from each continuity. The TF Encyclopedia is still under construction, and Stan welcomes contributions of material from TransFans (if you help, you will be credited, of course). Tengu (tengu@mindspring.com) has a similar resource available: he has converted the Marvel Comics "Transformers Universe" series to HTML, complete with scans of the portraits. This includes profiles that were later used to fill space in the TF comic. Now you can look up any character you want for a quick look at their official bio! Guides have been written which list every appearance of every TF in every American comic issue and cartoon episode. The cartoon guide is from Sarai "Astrotrain" Feria (astrotrain@ prodigy.net), and the comic guide is by Aaron Marsh (amarsh@samasher.com). If you're trying to match up TF toys and TF accessories, or you want to know if your toys are complete (ie. you have all their parts), there are two websites which will be of use to you. First is Rework's Parts Identification Aid, by John Runski. The PIA features scans of TF weapons and parts, labeled by the TF they belong to and the name of the item as given in the TF's instructions. Second is John Forbus' TF Toy Photo Archive, with pictures of toys and all their parts, nicely laid out. "The Ark Archives" has a wide array of catalogue and TF toy images available; the ultimate goal of this site is to provide a picture of every Transformers toy, merchandise artifact, advertisement, and prototype made. Another good source of information regarding Transformers toys is "The Transformers Collector". The site maintains an image archive of specific TF toy items as well as other "collectible" TF merchandise. And lastly is the Box Art Archive run by Botch. Unsurprisingly, it has many, many scans of TF box art. | Transformers Encyclopedia, by Stanley Lui | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/6563/ | Transformers Universe Archive, by Tengu | http://tengu.simplenet.com/ | Cartoon Appearance Guide, by Sarai "Astrotrain" Feria | http://pages.prodigy.net/astrotrain/astrotra/astrotra.htm | Comic Appearance Guide, by Aaron Marsh | http://www.cs.rit.edu/~abm4111/ | Rework's Parts Identification Aid, by John Runski | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/3392/pia.html | TF Toy Photo Archive, by John Forbus | http://users.itnur.net/~forbus/tf/tfarchive.htm | The Ark Archives, by Phule | http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/pratchett/169/ | The Transformers Collector, by Chris Bucci | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/6215/ | TF Box Art Archive, by Botch | http://tatooine.fortunecity.com/kirk/331 >> D. TF Related Products >> I/D/1 Are there any TF video games? There have not been many official TF video games, but there are a few. And, there are many fan-made games. The only official game that's at all *modern* is a Beast Wars game for the Sony Playstation and PC. It's called, predictably, "Beast Wars". It's a third-person shooting game, similar in play to "MDK" and "Tomb Raider". It's not all that great - on the level of a first generation PSX title. But, it's not abominable either (at least, most people don't seem to think so), so if you'd like to run around as a Beast Warrior and shoot things, it's not a terrible choice. The game features most of the first-season BW characters as playable characters (and you can transform except in the "flying" bonus stages). You can download a free demo of the game for PCs from Hasbro's Beast Wars web site. There have been reports that in March 99 a BW2 fighting game will be released for GameBoy in Japan. It is doubtful that this will be sold in the US, to say the least. :) If we go back in time we come across a few other official TF games. In the 80s a Transformers game called "Mystery of Comvoy" (sic) was released for the FamiCom (the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System). The player controlled Ultra Magnus and had to take out droves of Decepticon jets and tanks in a typical platform-game manner. ROM images of this game can be found on the net for use with an NES emulator. A few years later, a HeadMasters game was released for the FamiCom Disk System. It is very similar to the other NES game, but can only be played on an emulator that supports the disk system such as fwNES. Both of these games, and fwNES can be found on Rockman666's website. Also in the 80s, two Transformers games were released for the Commodore 64. These games, and C64 emulators, can be found on the web as well. The first of these was a platform game in which you controlled a set of Autobots in a search for four energon cubes hidden within each level and return them to your base where they became parts of an Autobot symbol. Each of the handful of available Autobots has a smooth transformation animation, as well as the ability to fly... The other C64 TF game was called "The Battle for Cybertron". Set in an ambiguous time frame (both Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime were available to control), your mission was to defend various places on Earth from Decepticon attack, preventing them from building an ultimate weapon. The game had a map screen with around 15 locations, and you could send about eight Autobots to any locations you wished. (The Decepticons tended to attack the same sites every time the game was played, however, and neglected to attack some places at all.) Once your Autobot engaged the enemy, the game switched to a first-person view, and you had to move a crosshair to shoot down nearly endless Decep jets that flew onto the screen. If you were struck to often by enemy missiles, your screen would "crack up" and that Autobot would be incapacitated. There was also a nearly impossible scene where you had to stop a tyrannosaurus rex from stepping on the space shuttle. In the realm of fan-created games, there are several TF- themed patches and conversions for popular shooting games like the Doom and Quake series. There are some really sweet TF models for Quake 2 out there. The most promising project is the TFQ total conversion group who are hosted on Telefragged.Com, but they've only released one model so far. There are many other TF models to be found, however. Optimus7 has put together the beginnings of a TF rpg with a Final Fantasy-ish interface. The game constructs a story around the Machine Wars toys. Also, PaliXade has recently been working on a Transformers-themed version of "Tetris Attack". It is also in beta stages, and is available for downloading and testing. | Official Beast Wars web site with game demo | http://www.beastwars.com | TF NES games and NES emulator, host Rockman666 | http://members.aol.com/rockman666/ | "More Than Meets the Eye" C64 game and small selection of | emulators, host Fabian Borges | http://tuanix.simplenet.com/c-64/ | "Battle for Cybertron" C64 game, host Iggy Drougge | http://www.canit.se:8000/~optimus/tfpics/Transformers.zip | TF Doom and Doom 2 files, by Andrew Southam | http://www.bee.net/Optimus/ | TF Quake files, various authors | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/7802/tc.html | http://members.aol.com/joshbot/tfquake.html | http://www.bee.net/optimus/tfquake.htm | http://www.cs.buffalo.edu/~trs2/TFQuake/TFQuake.html | TF Quake II files, various authors | http://www.telefragged.com/transformers/ | http://bodyshop.telefragged.com/ | http://members.home.net/shattertite/ | Quake II Clans | http://lonestar.texas.net/~wigger/cwclan/index.htm | http://24.112.115.126/CW/scores.html | TF rpg, by Optimus7 | http://members.spree.com/optimus7/ | TF Tetris Attack, by PaliXade | http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~quang/ I/D/2 Is there a TF role-playing game? Not as-such, but there are rpgs that allow for Transformer- like characters. One example is RoboMACs, created by Transfandom's decoy-painting Dave Van Domelan (dvandom@ pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu). RoboMACs has been around in development for some time, and will likely be published this summer. Woo hoo! :) Mark Chase (mchase@cdc.net) has written a Mekton Z+ supplement to cover the Transformers which provides a conversion section telling you how to change tech specs directly to Mekton stats. This game is more stat-based than RoboMACs. | Info on Dave Van Domelan's RoboMACs rpg system | http://phile.electricmulch.com | Transformers Mekton Z+ supplement, by Mark Chase | http://www.meta-arth.com/mearth.html I/D/3 Are there any TF trading cards? At the time of the TF's big popularity, Milton Bradley released a set of Transformers Action Cards. There were 8 cards and a sticker in each pack. Overall there were 192 cards and 24 stickers. Some cards featured the tech specs and profiles of TFs on the text side and the picture from that toy's box on the other, and the other cards had stills from the 1st season of TF cartoons with text describing the action. There were also two checklists, cards 96 and 192. There were slight variations on many of the cards. Most of these variations are differently colored backgrounds on the profile cards, but there were also some flipped and miscolored cartoon cards. Posting a message on ATTM or RTTM to the effect that you'd like to sell, trade, or buy Action Cards will probably get you a response or two. More recently, a Beast Wars collectible card game (CCG) was released, but didn't seem to get distributed well. Cards feature things such as characters, special attacks, and transformations. More information is available on Ben Yee's BW web site. | BW CCG info, by Ben "Wonko the Sane" Yee | http://www.bwtf.com/ I/D/4 What TF books are available? There are indeed a great many Transformers books out there; but if they were all listed in the FAQ it would be quite a few pages longer than it is already. :) The TF Artifact List by Raksha (jkink@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu) has an extensive list of TF books (as well as many other TF items). Among the TF books you will find coloring books, activity books, a variety of storybooks, and a group of choose-your- own-adventure type books under the name "Find Your Fate". | TF Artifact List, by Raksha, host Rob Jung | http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/tf/Transformers.shtml I/D/5 How can I get some good TF artwork? A highly skilled TransFan artist named Dan Khanna (artguy101@ earthlink.net) will contract out his talents to do requested drawings. He has a slew of example pictures on the web which have been computer-colored. Dan will draw single portraits, group shots, fights, whatever you want - just give him the details. You can have the picture done just in pencil, or get it inked and colored, although this does raise the price. Many TransFans, including myself, will vouch for Dan's talent and honesty. Take a look at his web site, and then get in touch with him. If you'd like TF art on a t-shirt, you can visit the RIDToyz website. They can make TF shirts with a variety of artwork on the front and back. | Dan's Robot Art, by Dan Khanna | http://home.earthlink.net/~artguy101/robotartindex2.html | TF T-Shirts, from RIDToyz | http://members.aol.com/RIDtoyz/WebMain/WebUpload.html >> E. Business and Fandom Questions >> I/E/1 What's the latest news on the current TF line(s)? As you are probably aware, the main force in current TFs is Beast Wars. If you are not familiar with BW, I strongly recommend reading part VI to see what it's all about. Beast Wars toys continue to sell very well in stores, and the TV show is still doing great, although it was knocked from number one in it's target audience to number two, it's throne usurped by another Mainframe production: the beautiful but rather banal "War Planets". Also, HasKen is expanding the meaning of "Transformer" from a specific toyline to a sort of trademarked adjective with the marketing of Animorphs toys. Read about that in the next question, I/E/2. BW itself is going through some changes. Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio, the story editors from seasons 1-3 of the BW cartoon, have moved on to other projects, and the show's formula will be reworked for season four. The latest BW toys are the "TransMetal 2" (TM2 or TMII) toys, with "mutated" beast forms. (See VI/B/4.) The Japanese Beast Wars line is continuing with the recent release of the TransMetal toys. Beast Wars Second has drawn to a close with a movie called "Beast Wars Special" which, though consisting mostly of recycled Mainframe BW stuff, included an all-new anime segment which teamed up BW Convoy and LioConvoy. JBW will now move on to "Beast Wars Neo", a new anime series, with a new assortment of toys. Read up on JBW stuff in part VII. Lastly, it seems that we may finally see Transformers comic books again. Bench Press Comics is working on a deal with Hasbro to begin publishing two ongoing TF comics - one set in G1 cartoon continuity, and another about Beast Wars. They also plan a nine-part limited series with an as-yet unrevealed story. See VI/A/3 for more info. | Hasbro / Kenner Customer Service | http://www.hasbrotoys.com | 1-800-255-5516 | Hasbro's Toy Collectors Site | http://www.hasbrocollectors.com | Hasbro's Beast Wars Site | http://www.beastwars.com | beastwars@hasbro.com I/E/2 Are Animorphs really Transformers? No, they're not. At least, not in the sense of being a part of the "TF universe". "Animorphs" is a series of books by K.A. Applegate for young readers (aimed somewhere around the 8-14 range) about a group of teenagers who have the magical ability to morph into animals. They use their powers to fight against a group of aliens called Yeerks that are trying to invade Earth. Animorphs is a very popular and successful series, and is in general well-respected. (It's not Shakespeare, but it's pretty good for what it is.) The books have recently spawned a live-action TV series on Nickelodeon. HasKen is now marketing Animorphs toys; they are human action figures which can turn into animals. The packaging has the "Transformers" logo on it, underneath the Animorphs logo, just like Beast Wars packaging. What this means is that HasKen is using the word "transformer" to indicate the sort of toys they are (it can turn from one thing to another). They are not saying that Animorphs has any connection to the TF mythos. It's quite possible that other HasKen toylines in the future will also bear the word "transformer". All it means is that the toy is Transformer-like. (But, it's still a trademark of HasKen, so other companies can't put it on their Transformer-like toys.) I/E/3 What's the history of Transformers as a business? Early in the 1980s the American toy company Hasbro began looking for a new line of action figures to sell to the young boy market. The Japanese company Takara had a long history of producing popular robot toylines in Japan, one of which - Microman - had already been successfully imported to the USA by a company called Mego under the name "Micronauts". This was an ideal situation for the American marketers of Micronauts, because the toys had already been designed and the molds already cast. All they had to do was buy the rights to sell them and make up a story. Nice way to make a quick buck. So Hasbro looked at their options, and worked out a deal with Takara to market robot toys selected from the Diaclone and New Microman lines under a new brand name: Transformers. Although these lines did have their own background stories (what toyline doesn't?), they were not firmly entrenched in anyone's mind. There was no real "mythos" associated with them. This meant that Hasbro was free to construct things however they wanted to. Working together with both Takara and Marvel Comics, they developed a new backstory for the toys involving a civil war between giant alien robots. Famed comic artist John Romita headed a team who took the toys' designs and adapted them for portrayal on television. This involved body redesigns, such as giving Ironhide a real head, as well as designing unique faces for each robot to replace the rather generic faceplates and visors on most of the toys. "The Transformers" first hit the US in an animated TV commercial for the upcoming comic book from Marvel. This first aired in the early spring of 1984, at the same time the toys were beginning to hit shelves, and the comic premiered that May. Sometime in the late summer or fall the first three episodes of the cartoon aired, and when they proved successful, the show was put into full production and went into weekly syndication near the end of that year. At some point in 1985 enough episodes had been made that the show could be "stripped" - shown five times a week. Nothing lasts forever, though - especially in the minds of the American public who are so fickle that the intended final moon landing (Apollo 18) was basically canceled due to lack of interest. In the face of such mind-bending apathy, even the Transformers were destined to fall out of favor. After several valiant efforts to re-establish interest with such off-the-wall ideas as non-transforming Transformers (ActionMasters), Hasbro gave up and 1990 was the final year of the American Transformers line. Sales in the Japanese and European markets remained high enough to support the line in those areas, and Hasbro continued to manufacture toys for those regions. In 1992 a relaunch of American Transformers was attempted under the name "Transformers: Generation Two". TF:G2 got a respectable marketing budget, with old toys, new toys, a new comic series, and the return of TF cartoons to television. The three separate markets merged slightly, but Europe and Japan continued to get toys that were not released in the USA. Ultimately, G2 faltered - Hasbro reps at BotCon have expressed that the biggest mistake in their treatment of G2 was the mentality that they needed to release as many toys as possible in order to gain market share. This resulted in a lot of toys which could have been done better, and a lot of toys that didn't need to be done at all (like the fourteen Go-Bots made from only six molds). In 1995 Hasbro transferred the TF:G2 line to their newly- acquired subsidiary, Kenner. Kenner recognized that G2 was going nowhere and wanted to start totally fresh, so their first action was to stop making all Transformers toys. In 1996, they shocked the fan community by releasing "Beast Wars: Transformers". Beast Wars was an almost immediate success, and has been among the top-three selling toylines in the US for about three years now. The TV show from Mainframe has enjoyed equal success. During 1998 there was an internal power struggle between Kenner and Hasbro proper over their action figure franchises. According to MicroZone, this was largely motivated by each side's coveting of the GI Joe property. In the end, HasKen's action figures were moved away from Kenner's Ohio HQ and back to Hasbro in Pawtucket, RI. Consequently, starting with the TransMetal II assortment, Transformers packaging has dropped the Kenner logo, and regained Hasbro's. And that's it; Transformers from inception to the present. I/E/4 Where have "pop culture" references to TFs appeared? Transformers have enjoyed a long-lived popularity in the hearts and minds of people around the world, and like Star Wars, Batman, or Monica Lewinsky, there are many references to Transformers in other movies, TV shows, songs, and the like. Here's a short list: * in the movie "The Professional" about a hit man sheltering an orphaned girl, the girl watches TF cartoons on three occasions: clips from "MTMTE 3", "War of the Dinobots", and "MTMTE 3" again are clearly heard and sometimes seen * in the movie "Boogie Nights", Dirk (Mark Wahlberg's character) sings "The Touch" by Stan Bush, which the director heard on the TF:TM soundtrack (it's an anachronism for Boogie Nights' setting, but oh well) * the rap group Wu Tang Clan makes TF references in several songs, tossing in words like Galvatron and Decepticon * a ska band exists with the name "Decepticonz" * in the movie "Spaceballs" the bad guys' spaceship turns into a robotic maid and is referred to as a transformer * other TF references in songs include "We Care A Lot" by Faith No More, and "The 12 Pains of Christmas" I/E/5 Are there any TF clubs? There are a few major TF clubs that are still active today. Contacts and web pages for some of them are listed below. If you have a TF club that isn't listed that you would like to have me include, please feel free to contact me. :) In addition, there are many continuing TF fanzines and fan-made comic books besides the ones published directly by these clubs. There's a large list of fan media on the TransMasters website. | TransMasters International | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/8034/ | transmasters@geocities.com | TransMasters UK | http://www.geocities.com/~tmuk/ | The Survivors | Liane Elliot (Leader): electra@masterpiece.com | The Alliance: Transformer Fan Club | http://members.xoom.com/AllianceTFC/alliance.html | TCDOC1@aol.com | Alabots, a club for TransFans in Alabama | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/6225/ | Transformers fan-made media, host TransMasters International | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/8034/media.htm I/E/6 Are there any TF conventions? Since 1994 there has been an annual BotCon held every summer (the name is a pun, meaning both "robot convention" and combining the words AutoBOT and DeceptiCON). BotCon was started by Jon and Karl Hartman, who later brought aboard their friend Glen Hallit. Together, they form "3H Enterprises", the company which owns BotCon and operates (or at least oversees) the convention every year. BotCon is far from a money-making gambit for them, however; they lose money - big money - on the convention every year. But Hasbro only deals with companies, not people, so forming 3H was a necessity in order to run the convention. BotCon traditions include dealer tables for toys, comics, fanzines and art, showings of US and Japanese cartoons and the movie, panel discussions about things like TF fanfic, toy repair lessons, art, trivia contests, celebrity guests like Peter Cullen, Simon Furman, and Vince DiCola, and a limited-edition TF figure available only to people at the convention. In other words, BotCon is great. :) BotCon '94 was held in the Hartmans' hometown of Ft. Wayne, IN. In 1995, Raksha organized the second BotCon in Dayton, OH, and BotCon '96 was run by Men-In-Black Collectibles in Chicago. BotCon '97 was run directly by 3H in Rochester, NY. And, lastly, BotCon '98 moved out west to Anaheim CA, again under the direct control of 3H Enterprises. BotCon '99 will be held July 16-18 in St. Paul, MI. Planned guests include several BW voice actors. There will also be a EuroBotCon '99 held on August 13-14 in London. There has been no announcement yet regarding this year's BotCon Japan. For more info, and to register yourself as an attendee, visit the BotCon website. (You can also buy BotCon merchandise that is left over from previous years.) The Men-In-Black, organizers of BotCon '96, also run an annual robot convention which is oriented towards buying and collecting toys, mostly Transformers and Micronauts. TransCon III was held in September '98. There has yet to be an announcement about their next convention. | Official BotCon web site, by 3H Enterprises | http://www.botcon.com | Official TransCon web site, by Men-In-Black Collectibles | http://www.htonline.com/Men_In_Black/ I/E/7 They should hold BotCon in [your favorite place]! You may think so, but I'm sure there are many people who would disagree with you. In any case, it is completely pointless to make newsgroup posts recommending locations. BotCon '99 is totally set, and plans for BotCon 2000 are already underway (but the details remain undisclosed). It is very unlikely that 3H's plans will change, and even if they do, they won't turn to a newsgroup vote to pick where to go instead. Without a fully thought-out proposal and an offer to devote your time, effort, and money to help 3H put the convention together, expressing your opinion has zero - absolutely ZERO - benefit, and actually serves to make people angry and use up bandwidth. Jon Hartman (jhartman@noblecan. org) has stated this all publicly, and asked that people not post with their suggestions. If you don't believe me, send Jon email and ask him yourself, but keep in mind that he may feel you are wasting his time. One more time: Locations for BotCon 1999 and BotCon 2000 are already chosen, and making suggestions for years 2001 and beyond is fruitless unless you are prepared to back up your feelings with a full proposal. >> F. Continuity and Background Questions >> I/F/1 Why doesn't anything agree with anything else? As many readers will be aware, there are serious story discrepancies between the TF cartoon and comic book, and sometimes even between the cartoon and itself (and more rarely, the comic and itself). Many fans enjoy finding ways to explain the discrepancies to make everything still fit together, arguing within the mythos. Arguments like "the writers were lazy" and "it's just a kids show" step outside the TFU, and are therefore considered either uninteresting, or just plain cheating. Stay *inside* the mythos for these debates, or they'll all end before they even start. The important thing to remember when comparing the comic book and cartoon series is that they are different tellings of the story. There's no need for them to agree with each other on everything, just as the universe you set your fanfic in doesn't have to agree with either one of them. Look at the myth of King Arthur and Camelot; how many different ways have you seen it done? And is any of them more "right" than any other? (Well, okay, many people consider Malory's version authoritative, but that's not the only extant telling of the legend.) As with any mythos, there can be more than one version of Transformers. But, just because we don't *have* to reconcile continuity problems doesn't mean that we can't choose to simply because we want to or like to. Such attempts are a major source of discussion and debate on the Transformers newsgroups. In the following questions I'll provide some background information and some ideas to get you started. Continuity issues that are internal to a single TF line are found within the relevant section of the FAQ, rather than in this multi-line part. For example, discussion of the many origins of the Constructicons in the cartoon are in the G1 Cartoon section. I/F/2 How can the cartoon and comic origins be reconciled? If you don't have a clear idea of the two origin stories, you may want to refresh your memory by visiting the G1 cartoon and comic parts and reading II/C/1 and II/D/1. The short version is: in the cartoon TFs were built by the Quintessons to be used as slaves, and in the comic they were created by their god, Primus, to battle his rival, Unicron. Previously in the FAQ I stated my opinion that attempts to reconcile the disparate continuities were futile. However, TransFans have proven me wrong by coming up with some fairly reasonable theories which do not excessively tax one's suspension of disbelief. Personally, I still prefer keeping them separate, but I retract my statement that a satisfying compromise does not exist. Here are a few possibilities (I'm sure there are more): Cybertron and the TFs were created by Primus. Soon afterwards, the opportunistic and capitalistic Quintessons discovered Cybertron and found it populated by primitive robotic life forms. The Quints quickly decided to take advantage of their discovery, and began enslaving, duplicating, and selling the early TFs. Eventually, through Primus' influence, natural evolution, or possibly even upgrades by the Quints themselves, the TFs became self-aware and revolted against their five-faced masters. Cybertron and the TFs were created by Primus. The Quintessons, minions of Unicron as described in the _Transformers Universe_ comic, were sent to find Primus and ruin his plans. The Quints then enslaved the TF race (either as part of Uni's plan, or because they got greedy), the TFs became self-aware, yada yada yada. Again, Primus is the creator. But this time the Quints are a part of Primus' own plan; whether he created them, or summoned them, or whatever, the Quints were included to create conflict and force the TFs to advance, so that they would be prepared to fight Unicron when the time came. (A variation on this idea is that the Autobot / Decepticon distinction was not an accident or even a legit war, but a move of supreme manipulation on the part of Primus, a way to guarantee that his children would be quite capable of fighting a major war when Unicron came calling. Primus might not even see the TFs as individuals, but as pawns and automatons. A similar story is told in "Babylon 5", regarding the seeding of telepaths on young worlds by the Vorlons - lords of order like Primus - because they knew they would need them as living weapons in a coming war with the Shadows - lords of chaos, like Unicron. However, this idea loses a bit of weight in light issue 75, in which Optimus realizes, correctly or not, that Primus did not intend the TFs to be cannon fodder after all, but to carry on after he used his own essence to destroy Unicron.) One thing these ideas leave out is Primacron; in the cartoon he clearly claims to have created both Unicron and Tornatron. Does he have a connection to Uni in these joint continuities, or is he simply looney? Perhaps Primacron himself is a god as well, and truly is the father of Unicron, and maybe Primus as well. In Greek mythology, the major gods (Zues, Poseidon, et. al.) are *not* the first generation, but mostly grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the very first gods. Then again, looking at Primacron's portrayal in "Call of the Primitives", his only appearance ever, it's hard to imagine him as omnipotent. I/F/3 How did the Great War start? In the comics, the war began simply and realistically because some of the Transformers were power hungry and hostile. They formed a group called the Decepticons, and began to make strikes against Cybertron's cities in order to take it over. Transformers who opposed this formed another band called the Autobots and fought against the Decepticons. This idea is explored in more detail in a UK comic annual with the text story "State Games". In the cartoon, the war began soon after the Quintessons were driven from the planet. The warrior robots were in general more hostile, and wanted to control the planet. They began to call themselves Decepticons. The household robots, who called themselves Autobots, tried to resist this takeover. I/F/4 Is there a full Transformers history anywhere? A TransFan named Jeremy Pace wrote a nice Transformers Chronology following the Quint origin some time ago, but seems to have since disappeared from the fandom. His Chronology can still be found, however, on Vishal Rao's TF site. If you know of any other TF timelines, let me know. | Transformers Chronology, by Jeremy Pace | http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~lvr/transformers.html I/F/5 Does Cybertron have an atmosphere? Undoubtedly. In the cartoon, there is clearly an atmosphere at the time the Spike travels there and breathes easy. Some believe that Cybertron stole a part of Earth's atmosphere in "The Ultimate Doom" when Megatron put it into orbit around the Earth. But, there is more evidence to show that Cybertron *always* had an atmosphere of some sort: 1) Cybertron has sound, which can't exist without some medium, 2) even in the first episode, the Decep "pyramid" jets were shaped aerodynamically, implying an atmosphere, 3) Cybertron used to be a factory run by the Quints, who are (more or less) organic, and would need to breathe something, 4) rocket engines require oxygen for combustion, so if there was not an atmosphere, the TFs must have been hiding a massive operation to extract oxygen from minerals and bottle it for use, considering how ubiquitous jet engines were. In the comic book, Cybertron also appears to have had an atmosphere for its entire history (with fires and rockets and sound effects and all), and most definitely has one late in the series when humans visit and you can sometimes even see clouds or rain. We might wonder, though, how Primus was able to *get* an atmosphere on a measly wandering asteroid. Even a massive asteroid is unlikely to have an appreciable atmosphere; Mars is a full tenth of the Earth's mass and its atmosphere would be too thin for a human to breathe (Mars also has a mixture of gases which is poisonous to us, but that's neither here nor there). A rogue asteroid isn't likely to have any atmosphere worth mentioning. Maybe Primus was able to transmute elements, or had a telekinetic ability which he used to attract matter from surrounding space to bulk up the planet and atmosphere he was forming. But however he did it, it clearly got done. I/F/6 How big is Cybertron? Again, this is a matter of continuity choice: Issue #1 of the TF comic stated that Cybertron is "Saturn-sized". Of course, a Saturn-sized planet made of solid metal rather than hydrogen would have an incredible gravitational pull, and would in fact be many orders of magnitude past the limits for becoming a black hole. Thankfully, the TF mythos already provides us with an explanation for why it is not: Cybertron is not solid. Its interior is a honeycomb of corridors and chambers. And this makes sense; even if Primus could somehow increase the mass of his asteroid by some means, it would be a lot less work to make it so big if he also made it largely porous. In the cartoon continuity, Cyberton's size is never clearly dictated, although "The Ultimate Doom", a story-arc in which Cybertron is placed into Earth orbit, provides a good basis for estimate. Judging from the visuals, the consensus is that Cybertron is about the size of our moon. Cartoon Cybertron also contains a good amount of empty space, although probably not as much as Comic Cybertron. I/F/7 What's the story with female Transformers? Dividing Transformers into two sexes which are exactly analogous to the sexes in humans is an issue which can bring out heated debate among TransFans. Some believe that sexual dimorphism is universal and that it doesn't matter if the TFs are mechanical, some believe that the concept can and should be justified to match the clear canon examples, and some (like myself) believe that there is *no* way to justify the idea of robots with sexes that are even remotely analogous to our own, and thus try very hard to explain the apparent male / female distinction in other ways. And, of course, some people don't really care at all and ask things like, "why do you get so worked up over a cartoon?" But we'll forgive them. ;) The comic book continuity was unique in that it took the road of asexual Transformers; time and again, TF characters stated that they did not have different sexes, and expressed confusion when fleshlings tried to apply such roles to them. While it's true that Arcee existed in the UK comics, she did not represent the existence of female Transformers on Cybertron: she was constructed at Prime's request in order to promote understanding between TFs and humans and to explore the notion of "gender". This is chronicled in issue 234, "Prime's Rib". The cartoon, however, was fairly explicit in creating female characters. Although no female toys were ever released in the US until after G1's death, there were several female robot characters on the show. Female TFs first showed up in "The Search for Alpha Trion", in which the Autobots returned to Cybertron to save a band of female Autobots from captivity at Shockwave's hands. This band was led by Elita-1, a counterpart for Optimus Prime, and the other females were paired up with their respective guys as well. Elita-1 also appeared in "War Dawn"; this is the ep where the Aerialbots go back in time to Cybertron's Golden Age and witness the beginning of the Great War. At the end, Alpha Trion turns Orion Pax into Optimus Prime and Pax's girlfriend-bot into Elita. And of course we had Arcee the robot Barbie in the post movie episodes. Other female characters that had cameo appearances in the cartoon include Beta in "Forever is a Long Time Coming", a female Junkion in "The Big Broadcast of 2006", and a mint- green copy of Arcee in "Fight or Flee". The robotic ninja, Nightbird, from "Enter the Nightbird" in season one, was also characterized as a female, although her sapience is debatable. (She has some very enthusiastic supporters, though!) In Japan, the character Minerva was characterized as a female in both the Masterforce cartoon and in her toy incarnation (this toy was released in the US with a color and sex change, under the name of Nightbeat). Also in TF anime, Mega (one of the two engines for GodMaster Overlord) and the MicroMaster Clipper were also female. The Beast Wars TV series has introduced two female Beast Warriors: Blackarachnia and Airazor. These characters are less stereotypically female than previous attempts. Although Blackie follows, to some extent, the "evil bitch from hell" model, she's not quite so shallow. But Airazor is the real achievement: she is pretty much a normal person. For once we have a female cartoon character for whom simply being female isn't the beginning and end of her personality. Of course, many fans think she's also sort of boring, but that's a complaint that has been made of male characters as well. The title character in the episode "Transmutate" was also, apparently, female, but sadly she didn't survive. Aside from previously mentioned Japanese characters, the first female Transformer toy was Nightracer, the BotCon 95 exclusive figure. Nightracer was a recolor of the GoBot High Beam, and her tech specs were written by Raksha (jkink@ postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu), the convention's organizer. When Beast Wars was released, Blackarachnia's tech specs used female pronouns, making her the first official female TF toy in the United States. Following shortly afterwards came Airazor, but no more females have been released to stores since then. Most recently, however, the BotCon 98 exclusive toy was a female black repaint of BW Inferno named Antagony. I/F/8 How do TFs reproduce? There has been a lot of discussion on this question. There are several different answers provided by "official" sources, and there is also a lot of speculation by fans. In the original comic book series, Transformers could only reproduce by building new TF bodies and infusing them with life via the Creation Matrix. In the Generation 2 comics, an alternative method of "budding" was introduced which is explained in detail in V/C/2. In the cartoon, on the other hand, sometimes it seemed enough to simply build a robot and turn it on. However, this method usually led to fairly dim-witted Transformers. The Dinobots and Trypticon were created this way. The Technobots, who were quite intelligent, were also simply "built", but they were created by Grimlock in "Grimlock's New Brain"; for that one episode, Grim became extraordinarily brilliant, far surpassing any other TF scientist. In "Starscream's Brigade", Screamer created the Combaticons, but all he really did was download pre-existing personalities (Cybertronian criminals who were disembodied and put on file) into old military hardware. In order to create new TF with normal intelligence levels, Vector Sigma is needed. VS is a supercomputer at the heart or Cybertron which sort of runs the planet and has the ability to create TF lifeforces. The Aerialbots and Stunticons were given life by Vector Sigma. A more complete list of TF reproduction methods has been compiled by "Playground Psychotic" (tenorguitr@psnw.com) and can be found on Iggy's web site. | TF Reproduction Methods List, by Playground Psychotic | http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf/reproduction.txt I/F/9 Are the Decepticons actually evil? It may surprise some fans, but this is sometimes an issue of hot debate on the newsgroups. Everyone is familiar with the Autobot's side of the story; after all, that's the story that was presented to us in cartoons, comics, and tech specs. It was impossible to miss. But, is there something *more* to the war? Were the Decepticons misrepresented? (Some Con supporters feel that storytelling in the canon was so biased that they refer to it as propaganda.) Most Decepticon supporters see the Decepticon philosophy as one of freedom of action, loyalty, and self-betterment. Decepticons stand up for their rights and for each other, they don't take crap from anyone, and they don't let anyone get in their way. Conversely, the Autobots are seen as oppressive hypocrites; they *claim* to believe that "freedom is the right of all sentient beings", yet they go ahead and try to stop the Decepticons from doing what they want to. In a sense, the Decepticons believe that there is no absolute Right or Wrong, but only a spectrum of equally valid world- views. The Autobots believe in an absolute morality which supports the freedoms of individual choice, except when those choices limit the freedoms of others. (This is also the position that the United States Constitution describes.) So, this makes the Bots see the Cons as monsters with no concern for others, and the Cons see the Bots as double-talking busybodies who have nothing better to do than interfere. I/F/10 Why do they transform? Why not just be big robots? Following the comic book timeline, Primus incorporated the ability to transform in his children to mimic the shape-changing method which Unicron used. On the TV show there are a few slightly conflicting answers given. In MTMTE Spike asked Trailbreaker about transformation and gets the following answer: "Disguise! Besides, it sure beats walking." Another answer, put forth during FFoD, is that transforming was a technological innovation which the Autobots "discovered" as a secret weapon to use against the Decepticons, who had superior firepower. It's that "robots in disguise" thing. This advantage was quickly turned against them, however, when the Decepticons also began to use this technology. Of course, in this same episode when the very first Autobots were shown, even before they knew how to transform they had wheels on their shoulders... :) I/F/11 Are Transformers immortal? Barring injuries or death in battle, there is no reason to believe that, with proper maintenance, a Transformer could not live indefinitely. So, in short, they pretty much are. Some confusion arose at one time around an issue of the UK comic which showed a Rodimus Prime from the future who appeared aged; he was frail, bearded, and generally geezer-like. According to later issues, however, Rodimus appeared this way due to the polluting effects of Unicron's essence within the Matrix, and not because of being old. I/F/12 Where does Prime's trailer go when he transforms? Although it wasn't ever explained in the TV show, the generally accepted (or invented, rather) theory among TransFans is that each Transformer has their own "compartment" in another dimension which we call subspace. The TF can teleport anything to or from subspace at will for storage purposes. Each Transformer is "frequency locked" to a certain pocket of subspace, so there isn't any possibility of a transformer stealing weapons that were placed into subspace by another transformer. Subspace storage is the "official" explanation used on the TF MUSHes. Subspace can also be applied to size changes which accompany the mode changes of several Transformers, such as Soundwave and Megatron. The mass which they lose when shrinking can be stored in subspace, and drawn out again upon transformation. Although Megatron can clearly choose between a normal and giant size when in gun mode, we never see Soundwave as a 12 foot tall tape deck, or either of them as a one foot robot. Options of size in various modes therefore seem predetermined, probably at their time of creation (or in some TF's cases, the time of their redesign at the hands of the Ark). Also, a Transformer has never been shown walking around in any in-between size, so it would seem that the mass transfer with subspace is all or nothing. (Shrinking *cannot* be explained by simply reducing the amount of space between molecules in the TFs body, because this would change their size but not their mass, so you'd have a gun-mode Megatron that weighed 15 tons.) The subspace theory seems to be consistent with the cartoon, and is even supported by a scene in "Demon's Swamp", when Kickback's gun suddenly materializes in his hand in plain sight for no apparent reason, as well as one of the post-movie commercial bumpers in which Blurr transforms and his weapon appears in his hand. In the UK comic story "Dinobot Hunt", Jazz opens a hidden compartment in his hip from which he removes a small version of his gun that grows to its full size for use. In this case, although the gun is stored in the real world, there is still a size change to contend with, and the subspace theory can explain it. Of course, sometimes in the UK comic Prime's trailer didn't go away. It was often treated as a separate unit which had its own things to do while Prime was busy walking around and acting noble. Again, the "subspace" theory is not the end-all-be-all of explanations, but it is generally accepted by a great number of TransFans. I/F/13 Unicron vs. the Death Star: who would win? Hitler. Seriously, though, this is a perfect example of a question that has been beaten into the ground. Someone asked this sometime during the '94 school year and the discussion went on and on as more new people jumped in expressing their opinions, which were, invariably, opinions that others had already expressed. It degraded into the kind of discussion you might see in a religious debate area where one person says "no, don't you see? it's this way!" and the next person says "no, you're wrong! it's THIS way!" and then someone else agrees with the first person, and then the second... The problem is that this is a fairly common first question for people to post because they think (rightfully so) that it's an interesting question to muse over for a little bit. Unfortunately, we've been put through this all several times now and it's worn awfully thin. IOW, most of the ATT regulars will be extremely annoyed with you if you post this question, or even something similar (Unicron vs. Galactus, Unicron vs. the Zentradi war fleet, Unicron vs. M.Bison). To actually answer the question... The side that favored Unicron gave rationale such as his superior speed and mobility, the ability to transform, and the toughness of his hide (if an exploding moon didn't scratch him, what good will the Planet Destroyer beam from the DS do?). They also noted that since the Matrix was the only thing that could destroy him, the DS sort of loses by definition. The Death Star side said that the DS actually had superior mobility because of its hyperdrive, and that the Planet Destroyer could basically blow up anything in the universe, even planets with tough metal hides. The size question came up over and over again, comparing Uni's size in the comic to Cybertron in the comic, Uni in the movie to Cybertron in the cartoon, Uni's head to Uni's body to Cybertron in "The Ultimate Doom", and every other comparison that can possibly be imagined, in the hopes of figuring out which one was bigger. In the end there was no consensus, just a bunch of people yelling at each other. I/F/14 What were those Cybertronian units of time? Issues 17 and 18 of the comic book focused on events on Cybertron, mainly with Blaster's efforts to free a neutral scientist named Spanner from Decepticon captivity. In number 17, two units of Cybertronian time were introduced, and occasionally popped up in dialogue in later issues. Also, in issue 60 Thunderwing mentions another unit of time. The conversions are as follows: 1 Breem = 8.3 Earth minutes 1 Vorn = 83 Earth years 1 Orn = 1 Cybertronian lunar day = ??? in Earth time More recently, the BW TFs have been using some Cybertron time units. Approximate conversions were supplied by Larry DiTillio, but keep in mind these are only order-of-magnitude: Cycle = minute Megacycle = hour Klik = second Nano-klik = 10th of a second And then of course there are "astroseconds" which were mentioned all the time in the G1 cartoon, but who knows how long those are? :) I/F/15 Which TFs died in the movie/comic/cartoon? A fairly comprehensive "Transformers Book of the Dead" was written by Liane Elliot, listing TF deaths in several different continuities, complete with the circumstances of each death, and can be found on Iggy Drougge's TF page. However, for you impatient types, here's a brief list of the movie deaths in approximate order, sans causes. Keep in mind that the Insecticons might have just been clones, some people don't consider the 'cons reformed by Unicron to be "dead", and Brawn's status is a matter of great debate: Brawn, Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Kickback, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream. | TF Book of the Dead, by Liane Elliot | http://www.canit.se/~optimus/tf/dead.txt == II. Generation One =============================== >> A. General >> II/A/1 When did G1 come out? The very first appearance of the Transformers was an animated TV commercial for the Marvel comic book which aired in the spring of 1984. The first issue of the comic itself was dated as September 1984. However, at the time of this writing Marvel is dating their comics about 2 months ahead of when they hit the shelves, so it's likely that issue one was actually released in July '84. The first batch of toys were released in spring '84, and the original three episodes of the show aired several months later. The cartoon then went weekly (on Sunday mornings in most places) a little before Christmas of 1984, and then daily in 1985. II/A/2 Why did the line go into decline and die? It isn't universally agreed upon, but many people think that the TFs decreased in quality in the last few years of G1 production, and never (until Beast Wars) came out of the slump. This is seem mostly as an issue with the toys themselves. Some people feel that it was related to the change in materials from which the toys were made (from "good" plastic and metal to "cheap" plastic). Another opinion is that the *Master themes got out of control. Every new toy had to have some new gimmick; it wasn't enough to make cars that turned into robots anymore. Part of the charm of early TFs was that they *looked* like toy cars or toy planes or a real tape player, but also turned into robots. Later toys no longer looked like real things. They had to be futuristic cars, or cars that had people who turned into their head or their gun or their engine. The ActionMasters also took a lot of flak, but like most TFs, deserve to be defended. Yes, they are Transformers that don't transform, and yes, that is a bit oxymoronic. But on the other hand, they are pretty nice action figures that actually look like their cartoon portrayals. The truth is, there's no definitive answer as to why TFs lost popularity. In retrospect, the quality of the toys really didn't change all that much; Hasbro just seemed to be offering toys that kids didn't want to buy anymore. Many of the "crappy" toys from late G1 now fetch pretty high prices among fans. It was a different story in Europe and Japan, where rather than having a break occurring between G1 and G2, TFs have been in continuous release since the mid-80s. There's info about the European and Japanese lines in later parts of the FAQ. II/A/3 What other countries did G1 appear in? Transformers were a fairly ubiquitous phenomenon, reaching many areas of the world in one form or another. The FAQ has parts devoted European and Japanese G1 (III and IV, respectively), but those are not the only areas outside of the US and Canada where TFs popped up. I've got a little info about Mexico, Russia, and Brasil, but this is another area where I plan to expand, but ran out of time for this update. I'll pester my contacts for more and fix this up for the next FAQ update. In December of 1984 the TF cartoon premiered in Mexico. It was a fairly decent dub of the show into Spanish. Much later, some of the Japanese TF cartoons were also dubbed to Spanish by a studio in the LA area. This dubbing was quite shoddy, but it's interesting to note that it was done at all (and by an American company!). TFs in Russia are much more recent (after the breakup of the Soviet Union, natch). The series aired as a poor dub to Russian from 1993 to 1996. Toys were released, as well as other artifacts like books and stickers, but no comic books. There are apparently several fan clubs in Russia, but they are not on the Internet. The Brazilian TF line was a little more substantial. The series premiered on Rede Globo in May 1985. In response to the immediate popularity of the program, four TF toys were soon released by Estrela: OP, Jazz, Megatron, and Starscream. The comic book was also released by Editora Abril, but was not very successful, and ended after issue 11. In July, the rest of the first-year toys were released. In March '86 the second season of cartoons began to show, and the following July, toys for the new characters began popping up in stores, with the gestalt teams finally appearing in December. TF:TM made it to Brasil in February 1987 and was very popular, but the new characters were largely rejected by fans. In April the 3rd season cartoons were broadcast, but went down quickly as a result of the unpopular characters. Only a few toys were released this year, and in September Brasil's youth went crazy over imported sentai shows, and Transformers died out. There is a web page devoted to TFs in Brasil; it's written in Portugese only, but the translation service at AltaVista does a passable job on turning it into English. | Transformers Brasil, by JetfireBR | http://transformersbrasil.simplenet.com/ | Translation service for web pages, from AltaVista | http://babelfish.altavista.com/ >> B. Toys >> II/B/1 Which older toylines were the first TFs based on? All of the original Transformers were re-released and often recolored versions of older Japanese toys. You can figure out when a TF from the first few years was originally designed / released in Japan by examining the copyright dates stamped on its body. There will be two dates: the first is the year in which the toyline it was a part of was first marketed, and the second is the year that the toy itself copyrighted. Most of the toys came from one of two lines produced by Takara: New Microman (specifically, the Microchange subset) and Diaclone (sometimes written as "Diakron" - this was the name under which some Diaclone toys were sold in the US prior to the release of TFs). The Minibots and the cassettes were part of the New Microman line - specifically, from a subset of NM called Microchange. NM was a sequel to the original Microman line which was imported to the US under the name "Micronauts", but TransFans will often refer to New Microman as just Microman for brevity. Microchange was divided into several smaller assortments such as GunRobo (from which Megatron and Browning came), MicrocassetteRobo (the first few tapes), and Microrobot Cars (the minibots). Some Microman toys came in more than one color, which explains the proliferation of red Bumblebees and yellow Cliffjumpers (the same is true of Diaclone). On most of the minicars you can easily locate a "M" in the plastic which served as a brand logo. The Diaclone series contained toys which we now recognize as the Autobot cars and Decepticon jets (and many, many others). The Diaclone story was one of humans piloting mecha to fight against evil alien invaders called the Waruders. The toys came with little human figures with magnetic feet which were interchangeable among all the Diaclone toys. This is the reason behind the mysterious "seats" found on so many TFs (including the Insecticons and Dinobots). Optimus Prime was also a Diaclone toy. The generic Diaclone semi truck was called Convoy, and two different trailers were available: a basic box container (for OP) and a car-carrier (Ultra Magnus). Some of the other toys came from companies other than Takara. For example, the Deluxe Insecticons were designed and originally produced by Takatoku Toys, and later by Bandai after Takatoku went out of business and Bandai bought their molds. Takatoku / Bandai also made Jetfire, which began as a Macross toy, and Roadbuster and Whirl, who had their origin in a mecha anime series called "Armored Trooper Dorvack". Another company called Toybox was responsible for designing Omega Supreme, Shockwave, and Sky Lynx. Although almost any pud toyline will have some sort of a "story" to go with it, most of the toys Hasbro bought for the TF line didn't have a widely popular fiction connected to them. This allowed Hasbro to construct their own. For more on that, read about the business history of TFs in I/E/3. For more info on the toylines TF was spawned from, check out Jeroen Zuiderwijk's Pre-Transformers Page. | Pre-Transformers Page, by Jeroen Zuiderwijk | http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/pratchett/170/ | index.html II/B/2 What's the deal with red/yellow Bumblebee/Cliffjumper? They were both originally from the Microchange assortment in the New Microman toyline, as were the two other toys in their "family": Hubcap and Bumblejumper (see below). Some toys from both New Microman and Diaclone came in multiple colors. These four guys were among them, each mold being available in red, yellow, and blue. When Hasbro bought rights to the toys, they also bought some backstock which included some of the color variants. About 1 in every 20 Bumblebee toys sold during the first year was red (and, presumably, the same goes for the yellow CJ). They are, as one would expect, more valuable than the "correct" versions. At BotCon '96, dealers were trying to sell red BBees for anywhere between $20 and $120. (That should give you an idea of how precise any price guides for TFs might be.) I'm not aware of an explanation for Hasbro's decision to sell both the red and yellow versions, but not the blue ones. Blue Bumblebees were released as Transformers as a part of the Brazilian TF line, but nowhere else. Aside from Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, there was another similar minibot named "Hubcap" who was released after the movie, at the same time as the other minibot recolors (Outback, Swerve, Tailgate, ...). He was released only in yellow, but the G2 Hubcap was red chrome. The fourth TF in this "family" was sometimes mistakenly packaged as both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, in both colors. Without any real name, this toy is usually referred to as Bumblejumper, or just Bumper. Bumper is much more "boxy" looking than the other three, and is considerably more valuable. Pictures of Bumblejumper are available on the web. | Bumblejumper / Bumper pics on the Ark Archives, host Phule | http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/pratchett/169/ II/B/3 Why is Jetfire just like a Robotech Veritech fighter? Technically, he's a Macross Valkyrie, as "Robotech" was a derivative of three separate anime series: "Macross", "Southern Cross", and "Genesis Climber: Mospeada". Hasbro felt that the first wave of Autobots was too short on air power, and their search for a cool airplane toy came up with Takatoku's Valkyrie (which was then being made by Bandai, since Taka went out of business). To leave a lot of legal technicalities out, Hasbro and Harmony Gold (who released Robotech in America), as well as a few other companies (like FASA, the makers of Battletech) bought the rights to use that robot design, and Jetfire was born. There has been some debate on exactly what model of Valkyrie Jetfire is. His body and head match the VF-1S, although there was no VF-1S with Jetfire's coloring in the series. There was a special edition release of Valkyrie toys to accompany "Macross: The Movie", in which Hikaru (Rick Hunter) flew a white VF-1S with red and black trim. Although the colors are Jetfire's, their placement is reversed - that is, black where Jetfire has red, and red where he has black. The Super Armor for movie edition Valkyries was red (like Jetfire's) but their eye strips were green. Also, Fokker's "skull special" Valkyrie was a VF-1S with black and yellow paint. Change the yellow to red, and paint the nosecone, and you have Jetfire. So, although he's definitely a VF-1S model, there was never a Valkyrie that looked *exactly* like Jetfire in Macross. Since he was based on a Macross toy, some Jetfires have a small Macross symbol (a circle with a double-winged thingy inside) on one wing along the red stripe. Some toys have this symbol painted on, some have it as a sticker, and some do not have it at all. Later Jetfires do not have the symbol, and also came from a slightly different mold: non- Macross Jetfires have a more rounded nosecone and slightly modified head-guns. II/B/4 Was there a Skyfire toy? Despite the occasional rumors that may pop up, neither Hasbro nor Takara ever made a Skyfire figure. However, a fan named Hirofumi Omichi kitbashed a Jetfire toy into Skyfire, using stiff paper among his tools. Omichi has created at least one other "oragami" TF - an Arcee modified from a Gundam robot. Both toys were fully transformable, and for Skyfire he even created an elaborate G2-style box. Skyfire ActionMasters have also been created by several TransFans. II/B/5 Was there ever a blue Bluestreak toy, like on the box? Many TransFans state that they can vividly remember either owning a blue Bluestreak toy or seeing one first-hand many years ago. While the pictures in G1 catalogues and in Bluestreak's instructions show a silver car with blue sides, it is now generally accepted that these were photos of a Diaclone version of the toy, previously released by Takara in Japan. Promotional photos of that sort are almost always taken of prototypes, so there's no reason to insist that a toy *just* like those in the pictures was ever released to the public. (Other Diaclone variations of the mold include a black car with silver sides, which matches Bluestreak's portrayal in the cartoon and comic, and a police car version, which we know as Prowl.) To this day, no one has been able to publicly verify the existence of a blue Bluestreak toy *released as a Transformer*. All signs point to the conclusion that the only Bluestreak ever released in TF packaging was of the silver-only sort. The only evidence which would convince the TransFan community otherwise would be a factory-sealed box with the toy inside. If you come upon a loose blue Bluestreak in your travels, carefully consider that it may simply be a Diaclone. (I have personally held one in *excellent* condition that even had an Autobot insignia sticker applied to its hood. But, that doesn't mean much. Anyone could have applied that label; heck, I used to put 'bot and 'con stickers on my Tonka GoBots, but that doesn't make them TFs.) Burt Ward has written a FAQlet on this topic which delves a little deeper into things. It can be found on the TF FAQ Homepage. | FAQlet: The "blue Bluestreak" is a Legend!, by Burt Ward | http://astro.bu.edu/~srstoneb/tf/ II/B/6 Did Hasbro ever make a Unicron toy? Although there was never a released Unicron toy, Takara did make two prototypes for consideration. The first prototype was small, and when Hasbro saw it they did not like it, so Takara made a larger prototype (he's a little shorter than Fortress Maximus). The big Unicron also had some sort of a recording of Orson Welles so that it could say 10 phrases in his voice. One of the larger Unicron prototypes, from the personal collection of Hasbro Marketing executive Vinnie D'Alleva, was on display at BotCon '96. The consensus was that it was a pretty ugly toy, and probably wouldn't have had any play value at all. The voice chip was not functioning at the convention (it may have simply needed batteries). His legs are spindly, his body is completely spherical, and his arms are poorly shaped (they become the planet's ring in robot mode - ack!). At BC96, one of the toy's arms was hanging halfway off of the body, due to the fact that it popped off during shipping and the convention organizers were explicitly told not to move the toy at all, or attempt to transform it. Add all of these factors together, and you had a big, ungainly lump that looked very little like a "Universal Dominator." The toy actually resembles Orson Welles a bit more than Unicron... ;) | Unicron toy photos, hosted by Phule's Ark Archives | http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/pratchett/169 II/B/7 I've got these weird tiny TFs. What are they? There are three possibilities: Minispies, Decoys, or MicroMasters. The first two were limited-time offers that were packaged in with other TFs. MicroMasters were one of the sub-lines that Transformers split into in the last few years of Generation 1. Minispies came first, and were about an inch long. They had tiny pull-back motors, and were the first TFs to have the black rub symbols on them, the point here being that since they were spies, you had to check which side they were really on. Later the rub symbols were put on all TFs to show that they were "real" Transformers and not knock-offs. Minispies came in a handful of body-types and several different colors. Transformer decoys were made later, and were nothing but small rubber statues of various TFs in their robot modes. The Autobot decoys were red, and the Decepticon ones were purple (although there were a few red 'Con decoys, which are worth 2-3 times more than normal ones). Dave Van Domelan (dvandom@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu), the kitbash-god, has made a hobby of painting TF decoys to match the characters they are based on. His work is simply outstanding. You can see for yourself by visiting his website. MicroMaster TFs were released on the tail-end of Generation 1, at the time that every Transformer was a Something-Master. MMs came in packs of four referred to as "patrols". They were about the same size as minispies, but were much better toys. Most McDonald's Happy Meal toys are better than minispies, which had very flimsy plastic. MicroMasters were pretty much like very small TFs. They were more solid than minispies, and sometimes had more articulation. It's hard to fit much on a toy that small, so there wasn't much articulation, and their transformations were quite simple, but they were still sorta cool. :) | DVD's Painted Decoys | http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/decoys.html II/B/8 What's the switch on the Jumpstarters' heads for? This switch was actually mentioned in the Jumpstarter instruction books, but as many people never read the instructions, or lose them, or buy toys used with them, the switch has caused a lot of confusion. For those of you who don't know about Jumpstarters, they were two Autobots with a very simplistic transformation (their legs flip up and they turn into something that's supposed to look like a tank / spaceship kind of thing). However, the cool thing about them is that they had pull-back motors inside them, and when you let them go they would roll for a few feet, and then their spring-loaded legs would suddenly flip back to their robot mode position, and the momentum of this flip would cause the TF to jump off the ground and land standing up in robot mode. The switch in question is a small triangular piece of plastic on the back of their heads (marked with an A and a B) that could be tilted slightly from side to side. The purpose of the switch is to act as a counterweight during the jumping part of their transformation. If your Jumpstarter always falls over to one side when he tries to transform, then you can move the switch over a bit and he'll suddenly grow out of his awkward adolescence and land on his feet every time. It makes a surprisingly big difference, considering how small it is... As a bonus for those of you that wonder: Yes, the pictures on the tech spec cards for the Jumpstarters were switched on most boxes. Topspin is the pontoon boat, and Twin Twist is the drill tank. II/B/9 How many combiner teams were there in G1? The combiner or gestalt Transformers were among the most popular G1 toys. Most of them were previously a part of a Japanese set called "Scramble City". The point of the SC toys was that any group of robots from any of the teams can be put together. Every "limb" piece works equally well as an arm or a leg for any of the "body" pieces. That is why most of the gestalts appear so modular, with a big leader robot for a body, four smaller robots for limbs, and add-on parts for feet, fists, and a head. The Scramble City teams all consist of five members, with the exception of the Seacons, who have six; the Seacon gestalt, Piranacon, was a TargetMaster of sorts. Not only could any of the smaller team members be any limb, but they also each had a "gun" mode which could serve as Piranacon's weapon. The Seacon gift sets, however, exclude Nautilator, the lobster, to reduce the team size to five. This is true for the US Piranacon set as well as the BW2 recolor, God Neptune. The Japanese G1 set, King Poseidon, included all six Seacons. Devastator, Monstructor, and Predaking were the non-SC gestalts, composed of characters who were all approximately the same size. Devastator and Monstructor have six each. Predaking is made up of only five smaller robots, but because he is so