[G1] original tech specs and names
Steve-o Stonebraker
brought with him (again) his pile of awesome old stuff. After the panel
he did with Don Figueroa, I asked if I could take pictures of some of his
papers. He seemed to think this was weird, so I didn't push it and only
took one: a sheet of graph paper on which he worked out what the stats
would be for the 1984 characters.
Papers I didn't get to look at but that he had with him: the draft of the
treatment that Jim Shooter passed off to him, and handwritten draft bios
for Megatron and a few other characters.
Here is the image:
http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p70800479vp.jpg
I have several observations to make from this. Some of this info is old
news, but some of it I've never seen before. In cases where stats have
changed by a point or two, it's hard to know for sure... Different
sources within the fandom list slightly different numbers for certain
stats, probably mainly because the tech spec cards were seemingly
sometimes printed a little out of alignment.
AUTOBOT observations:
Sunstreaker's stats match those for Spinout, so apparently only the bio
text was switched between he and Sideswipe for the toy release. Their
stats stayed attached to the same names.
Prime's toy had a speed of 8, but it looks like the chart reads 6. There
are remnants of another, erased number there. Based on the "total" column
it was probably a 7 and then Bob lowered it.
Early name for Cliffjumper: Blow-Out.
Early name for Windcharger: Sprint.
Early name for Sunstreaker: Spinout.
Early name for Bluestreak: Blue Streak.
Early name for Jazz: Jazzz.
Early name for Trailbreaker: Guzzle.
DECEPTICON observations:
The original stats assigned to the names Starscream and Skywarp ended up
being switched. Additionally, the INT 4 on Skywarp was upgraded to a 7
before being accidentally given to Starscream's toy.
Thundercracker's stats were unaffected.
Rumble's stats were lowered for the toy. His original END 9 and SKL 6
were dropped to 8 and 5, respectively. The SKL 6 does admittedly look
like it was modified from an earlier 5, but the total indicates its
supposed to be a 6.
No sign of Buzzsaw on this list.
Early name for Laserbeak: Slazer.
I'm not sure what the numbers down the left-hand column are. Do they
appear anywhere else, like as product ID numbers on toy boxes or
something?
--Steve-o
--
Steve Stonebraker (sst...@gmail.com) Physicist and All-Around Geek
www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/ AIM: srstoneb Y!IM: sstoneb
Lars Eriksson
> appear anywhere else, like as product ID numbers on toy boxes or
> something?
Yes, that's exactly what they are.
All Transformers toys are equipped with a product/assortment number
somewhere on the packaging. The exact format has changed a bit over the
years, but typically smaller figures have both a unique product ID and
an assortment number (e.g. 5701/5700 for Bumblebee, when part of the
1984 Mini-vehicle assortment), and larger figures have a single number
which serves as both a product ID and assortment number (e.g. 5796 for
Optimus Prime).
*At least* on American packaging, and sometimes in other countries too,
the product ID also correspond to the last figures in the UPC barcode.
Until 1992 the product/assortment numbers consisted of four figures;
from 1993 and onwards it consists of five figures.
--
Lars Eriksson, grounds...@ntfa.net
Nevermore
Lars Eriksson wrote:
> All Transformers toys are equipped with a product/assortment number
> somewhere on the packaging. The exact format has changed a bit over the
> years, but typically smaller figures have both a unique product ID and
> an assortment number (e.g. 5701/5700 for Bumblebee, when part of the
> 1984 Mini-vehicle assortment), and larger figures have a single number
> which serves as both a product ID and assortment number (e.g. 5796 for
> Optimus Prime).
>
> *At least* on American packaging, and sometimes in other countries too,
> the product ID also correspond to the last figures in the UPC barcode.
>
> Until 1992 the product/assortment numbers consisted of four figures;
> from 1993 and onwards it consists of five figures.
To expand on that, the numbers used from Generation 2 onwards usually
start with an "8" (e.g. "80455" for Transmetal Spittor). Later Hasbro
would started to equip store exclusive toys with numbers that start
with "2" (e.g. "27239" for the Wal*Mart exclusive Universe Sunstorm
toy). The latter part isn't a set "rule", i.e. there are store
exclusives that still have product code numbers that start with "8"
(e.g. "80884" for the Costco exclusive Energon Overload/Optimus Prime
two-pack), but two things are for certain:
1) If the toy is a mass retail release, the number WILL start with "8".
2) If the number starts with "2", it IS a store exclusive.
The product code numbers don't follow a specific pattern, sometimes
Hasbro will just attribute whatever number is still available to a toy,
sometimes toys that come out in the same wave will have numbers in
totally different regions, which might occasionally indicate that those
toys weren't conceived at the same time, and sometimes two toys even
share the same number (usually when one of those toys is considerably
older than the other one), which is supposedly due to an error of
sorts. Sometimes, gaps in a constant string of numbers might also
indicate that another toy was planned but ultimately cancelled.
Alternators used to have numbers in the "813XX" realm, starting with
"81300" for the original assortment and "81301" for Smokescreen. The
hightest Alternators number so far is "81361" for the yet to see Jaguar
figure found listed in Wal*Mart's computers.
However, for whatever reason, Classics Starscream is "81362", thereby
being out of range with the other Classics toys (which are all in the
"81291" region), and the SDCC exclusive Nemesis Breaker is "81456".
I'm collecting those product code numbers for all Transformers-related
toys here:
http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/references/product_code_numbers.php
And to return to the original topic: The product code numbers for the
G1 toys were also included on the animation model sheets, and can be
seen on-screen at least once in "Heavy Metal War".
crazysteve
> took one: a sheet of graph paper on which he worked out what the stats
> would be for the 1984 characters.
> http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p70800479vp.jpg
Awesome picture, Steve-O! I was hoping you were snapping away at all
of the papers he brought. I noticed the look of mild confusion on his
face when you asked if you could take pictures of the papers. I think
Bob doesn't understand the level of interest fans have in his
treatments, character profiles, cover sketches and such.
Hopefully if he's at a convention in the future he'll be more open to
having this stack documented. He said there's all sorts of interesting
things in his box of papers so I thought he'd be more open to people
who want to photograph some of them. So yeah, his reaction to you
seemed strange.
Will you be doing a writeup on the Budiansky panel? I saw you taking
notes and I was wondering if the things discussed there would make it
into your Iacon One report. I am working on a transcript of the comics
panel and I'm about halfway done. I'll wait for your review to be
posted before I put up the transcript so you can post the more
interesting tidbits first.
--
crazysteve with rubber tires
Optim_1
the best. It is a shame that later tech specs from the late G1 era, G2,
Beast Wars and later on were not written with the care and attention of
the earlier ones.
I love those behind-the-scenes info on how the Trasformers mythos were
created. Especially by Bob Budiansky the guy who almost created it all
by himself. The G1 era remains the best Transformers in my opinion.
Can't you ask Bob to hand over all his documents pertaining to
Transformers so that you can scan them on your website?
I am sure that I and other Transformers scolars would love to read
about the creative process behind it.