Live-Action Transformers Film gets Home/Release Date

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-07-27 01:05pm

VF5SS wrote:
JME2 wrote: Calm down and take a deep breath. Step away from the computer. Get som yogurt. Then start ranting again.
All we have is Carb free yogurt, damnit!

Ouch. Well, at least I have my low-fat lemon yogurt; I'm addicted to the stuff during the summer months.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-27 01:12pm

Zinc Panics's page on Binaltech should explain everything.

Oh and BT-11 will be Bumble(Bumbebee).

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-07-27 02:01pm

VF5SS wrote: Oh and BT-11 will be Bumble(Bumbebee).

You're jumping the gun. There is still no liscence agreement with MINI. Just because a couple online stores list a preorder doesn't mean it's coming out. Furthermore, even if they do get a MINI liscense, there's no guarantee that it'll be Bumblebee, because Hasbro/Takara is still in talks with VW as well.

LapsedPacifist · Post by **LapsedPacifist** » 2004-07-27 04:17pm

Does this new movie ave any relation to the cool but clearly faked videos of the car-robot that came out a while back, the one where the humanoid mini stops a land-rover?

LP

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-27 06:33pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote: You're jumping the gun.

Says who?

ZShade · Post by **ZShade** » 2004-07-27 10:07pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:because Hasbro/Takara is still in talks with VW as well.

Now see, I seem to remember VW declining participation in this, with the whole war machine bit. Have you heard different?

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-27 10:09pm

Someone should explain to VW that Bumblebee is no warrior.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-27 10:17pm

Someone should explain to Galvatron that not everybody is so intimate with all the details of the Transformers "universe" or is so inclined as to give a damn =p Business is business.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-27 10:35pm

VF5SS wrote:Someone should explain to Galvatron that not everybody is so intimate with all the details of the Transformers "universe" or is so inclined as to give a damn =p Business is business.

If anything, this would be excellent free advertising for VW since Bumblebee will no doubt have a prominent role in the movie.

There's your business angle, smartass.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-07-27 11:14pm

ZShade wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:because Hasbro/Takara is still in talks with VW as well.
Now see, I seem to remember VW declining participation in this, with the whole war machine bit. Have you heard different?

They declined before, but Takara/Hasbro are still in talks with them, trying to get them to reconsider.

What I am telling you is straight from the mouth of Hasbro, from the OTFCC.

ZShade · Post by **ZShade** » 2004-07-27 11:17pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:What I am telling you is straight from the mouth of Hasbro, from the OTFCC.

You mean ComicCon, yes? OTFCC isn't until this weekend.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-28 02:48am

Maybe someone ought to show VW how Mazda ran with the concept...

Mazda RX-8

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2004-07-28 10:10am

Soundwave should be changed to an AWACS if they arent going with the Tape deck route. It fits in with both his function, and the Decepticon flyer mentality

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-28 10:54am

Galvatron wrote: If anything, this would be excellent free advertising for VW since Bumblebee will no doubt have a prominent role in the movie.

Dude, they've already lost the rights to the name of "Bumblebee." Besides, you're really pushing is with the Joe Blow public recognition factor. You might get Optimus Prime, Megatron, and maybe Starscream. And what part of BINALTECH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE is not making it through your skull? The Mazda page is really funny. It references Binaltech's story and just slaps the Alternators label on

It probobably didn't help that they showed off a toy with no name and no test shot of the toy.

DPD, I'd take Hasbro's information with a grain of salt. My information is the official release schedule.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-28 11:50am

I feel your pain, V...

And no, that's not a Star Trek V reference, so anyone who attempts to make it one, especially JME2 because he's the kind of bugger who'd do it, can sod off...

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-28 12:36pm

Is V, me?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-28 12:46pm

VF5SS wrote:Is V, me?

A winner is you!!

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-28 01:05pm

Did I win a piece of pie?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-07-28 01:20pm

VF5SS wrote: Dude, they've already lost the rights to the name of "Bumblebee."

Actually, they never had it to begin with. They could do what the did back then, get the right to use it from the actual copyright holder.

DPD, I'd take Hasbro's information with a grain of salt. My information is the official release schedule.

Where did you get your "official release scehdule"? Considering what both of us said, I'd say you're much more likely to be BSing, since your "official" schedule contradicts WHAT HASBRO SAID.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2004-07-28 02:16pm

My information comes from Zincpanic.com which in turn is from their contact at Takara toys. I know that doesn't sound like much, but you have to remember that Takara wears the pants in the Transformers family. I think an old post from Toyboxdx.com. It was a response to a question of whether or not the MP Convoy was a co-venture by Takara and Hasbro.

This thread hurts my brain.

The Hasbro PR machine seems to have convinced a lot of people that it actually has a significant say in the Transformers franchise. This just ain't true. At all. Even a little.

- Takara is an enormous toy manufacturing company. Hasbro doesn't manufacturer anything. The sole reason for its existence is for marketing the products of their partners and wholly-owned subs. Just to be clear here - Takara is bigger than Hasbro.

- The Japanese toy market is larger and more lucrative than the US Toy market. Really. And Takara already distributes in Asia without Hasbro's "help." Of course the American market is far from being an insignificant source of revenue, but the toys and shows are generally designed with the Japanese market primarily in mind.

- Hasbro cannot and does not tell Takara what to do. They can, and often do make suggestions about character design, but the direction of the toy lines is up to Takara. Orson/Aaron suggesting that Armada Megatron should have antlers hardly implies any degree of creative control.

- Masterpiece Convoy was conceived due to the results of a Japanese poll (I read this on the 'net so it MUST BE TRUE) and was most likely a direct response to Bandai's SOC line. The fact that it took three years to make it to market probably had a lot to do with the terrible state Takara was in at the time of its conception. It's also worth remembering that Takara has indicated that the Masterpiece line will not be limited to Transformers properties in general. Which says a lot about Hasbro's involvement with Takara's development/marketing decisions. I'm just waiting to see an autobot logo on a Soltic.

- Takara designs other huge lines that never see the light of day outsite the Japanese/Asian market. Brave, Webdiver and Daigander come to mind (each line about the size of any of the various Transformers universes). All of those could easily have been transplanted to North America as Transformers if Hasbro had been interested. But they weren't and lines went ahead anyway.

The real relationship probably works something like this:

- Takara keeps Hasbro "in the loop" with its current designs and projects. Sometimes Hasbro chooses to contract out domestic talent to help tailor stuff to the US market, which in turn pass some suggestions back to Takara.

- Takara designs the characters (sort of - most of this stuff is subcontracted out to Japanese design firms), engineers the toys, contracts out the TV show development and then actually makes the things. Then it presents this shopping list to Hasbro who gets to pick what they would like to distribute. At this point they get to make big decisions like "what colours will appeal most to American kids" and "the stacks need to be shorter for US safety laws" or "it should have a mouth like in the cartoon."

To use the above as a basis for insisting that Hasbro has any real creative direction behind anything Takara does, is sort of like saying that Toys R Us is the controlling force behind Bandai and Yamato because TRU sometimes gets exclusive versions of certain toys.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-07-29 01:46am

Hell, worst case scenario, replace the Transformers you can't get with EVA's; nothing like a Decepticon leader getting his ass kicked by an A.T. Field.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-07-29 01:47am

JME2 wrote:Hell, worst case scenario, replace the Transformers you can't get with EVA's; nothing like a Decepticon leader getting his ass kicked by an A.T. Field.

[Edit]. My bad; it should be "Hell, worst case scenario, replace the Transformers with EVA units; nothing like a Decepticon leader getting his ass kicked by an A.T. Field. :twisted

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-07-29 01:58am

Yeah with Galvatron devouring their gooey innards and using Shinji as his personal chewtoy.

Pfft...let's not bring it here.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-07-29 02:08am

Ghost Rider wrote:Yeah with Galvatron devouring their gooey innards and using Shinji as his personal chewtoy.

Pfft...let's not bring it here.

I gotcha. Sorry; I couldn't resist that.

LMSx · Post by **LMSx** » 2004-07-30 07:09am

Sadly, we'll probably either get stupid DW warp-gate scifi cliched rubbish or Earthbound transformers with the Ark stuck in Mt St Helens.

Don't be ridiculous-the Ark was buried in Mt. St. Hilary, a mountain located in the Pacific Northwest that erupted in the 1980s.

I can't imagine why you'd ever get it confused with Mt. St. Helens.