Sipher had me double-check with Hirofumi Ichikawa on this one, since he
did the design art for Wing Saber.  Ichikawa-san gave me a nice, LONG
response, which not only clarifies things about WS but also about the
current TF design process in general.  Feel free to edit it into the FAQ
wherever you feel it's applicable, Steve-O.  It'll be framed here by
commentary on Wing Saber, but I'll add extra space above and below the
general development commentary to set it apart.  Some elements of the WS
commentary might still be worth working into the general commentary, though.

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True, the Wing Saber toy was a Takara request, and development of it
began after Omega Supreme's.  However, Hasbro did participate at a few
points in the process, so you couldn't say it was solely a Takara
product.  And as with all the characters, the details of the toy
development are quite complicated.  (It's not nearly as simple as the
"Hasbro = Design, Takara = Engineering" scheme often brought up among
the fans.)

This seems like a good opportunity, so let me explain about the toy
production process.  (Though I should note that some points may be
insufficiently covered, as this will be limited to the scope of my
personal knowledge.  Also, this is just the current procedure in which I
take part; the methods used during the middle and later periods of G1
may have been different.)

Broadly divided, toy development proceeds through steps as follows:

1. BRIEFING
Takara and Hasbro consult each other by interview, fax and e-mail on the
series' direction, distinctive gimmicks, character organization,
transformation motifs and so on.

2. CONCEPT SKETCHES
Hasbro's designers present rough images of the various characters and
gimmicks.
In most cases, Hasbro mainly suggests the alternate form design, such as
the vehicle or beast mode.  Sometimes they send sketches of both robot
and vehicle modes, but the actual transformation mechanism hasn't been
considered at this point in the process.  (And depending on the
character, sometimes the concepts themselves are abbreviated or
omitted.)  The TF design images revealed by Hasbro or Draxhall Jump are
almost all from this stage.

3. BASIC PLANNING
The Takara designers complete the finished vision of the characters,
then set about planning the specific transformation mechanisms.
When it's Hasbro's concept, they respect it as much and endeavor to
reproduce it as closely as they can, but when this is physically
impossible, this is the point where design elements that interfere with
the transformation or gimmicks get changed.  (At this stage, the
character of the vehicle and robot modes are still vague, so this is
when they decide the where the axes for hinges or joints will go or how
to handle the internal space for the gimmick(s).

Aside from all that, Takara also draws up the schematics for the
transformation process and parts organization, which are used to explain
the toy to the prototype production company.

4. FINALIZED DESIGN
And here's where I finally come in!  Takara's blueprints and schematics,
Hasbro's sketch materials and so on are sent to illustrators or "mecha
designers" like us, and we draw up the design images that decide the
final outward appearance, details, character features, etc.
We draw and provide front and rear views of each mode and weapon, the
reverse views of parts where need be, and the various angle shots needed
for the work of the prototypers, TV show CG modelers, and animation
character designers.
We usually get supervision from Hasbro during this work, or even afterwards.

*I think anyone who saw the design panel for Transtech Starscream will
understand this process well, but just in case, here's a link:
http://obsequiosity.home.mchsi.com/tt/

The color image at upper left is Hasbro's concept design, while the line
art at upper right is Takara's final design.  In this fashion, the
design produced by Takara is the one ultimately used, regardless of the
character.

I was in charge of seven designs for Energon (Optimus, Scorponok,
Megatron, Divebomb, Cruellock, Omega Supreme, and Wing Saber--that's in
the order they were developed), and am now in charge of several more for
Cybertron.  You can see a few of my design images on ASM's web page
(www.alteredstatesmag.com).

5. PROTOTYPE MANUFACTURE
Based on Takara's blueprints and our designs, an affiliated prototype
production company establishes a full-blown blueprint and makes the
first prototype.
The prototypes covered in gray surfacer that you see in catalogs and
such are from this stage.

6. COST ANALYSIS/DIE PRODUCTION
Costs are calculated using the diagrams and prototype(s) as reference.
Depending on these calculations, a few gimmicks or movable parts that
were present in the design/prototype stage may be deleted.  (Gimmicks
and parts are also sometimes omitted depending on weight limitations.)
Since the priority for TF play value goes Transformation > Gimmick >
Posability, there are even times when posability, with its low
preference level, gets deleted in the Planning phase.
Hasbro's cost range, weight restrictions and package size regulations
are extremely strict compared to Takara's, and there are times when
these place limitations on the design itself.

After these assessments are received, the revised prototype is sent to
the die factory in China, where they make a "master model," a model with
parts made of metal, and the die is shaved out using a technology called
"electrical discharge machining."

7. COLOR ASSIGNMENT
In almost all cases, Hasbro is in charge of assigning color schemes.
They coordinate colors based on the Pantone color guide on the design
images from Step 4.  (However, there are also characters colored by
Takara, like Wing Saber.)

8. PRODUCTION
And then we go through the package/booklet production, molding,
assembly, and packaging work, and the toy is finally completed as a
commercial product and sent out to everyone.

And that completes this rough overview of a TF toy's journey from
development to production.

While Wing Saber is definitely primarily a Takara product, its
development also followed the above process, so I wouldn't say you could
view it as a counterpart to Mega-Dinobot.  (Mega-Dinobot's development
was done entirely without Takara's involvement.)

Wing Saber's toy was developed with the most heavily stressed concepts
being, "It should combine several ways with Optimus and make him even
bigger than his first super mode."

This all had to be implemented within the framework of Hasbro's
Mega-size product package measurements and weight limitations, so the
Takara designers devoted quite a lot of trouble to it.  Wing Saber's
lack of posability is all due to these limitations.

And for this project, Hasbro also added the instruction that it couldn't
be split up into separate pieces for the packaging, which was a big
constraint on the design.  Takara's designers said that they could
probably have given WS's vehicle mode much better styling if not for
these conditions.  Ironically, the American-market Wing Saber in
question was packaged split up into separate pieces!  This sort of thing
probably happens a lot in the business world.

Also, regarding WS's lack of a hand weapon, the developer had hoped to
make the Energon Saber his main weapon, but unfortunately, his request
wasn't granted.

That's all there is to tell about Wing Saber, but there's probably
back-stories like this for all toy development.
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Doug Dlin
apcog at hotmail.com