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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 7, 2009 21:54:36 GMT
Does anyone know how the Transformers (or Diaclones) came into existence?
I assume that the TF toys of today are designed on computers that can create 3D models that demonstrate how the toy will work in practice, what pieces need to be manufactured and how to put them all together. But does anyone know how it was done 25 years ago?
Take the Constructicons, for example. What mad fool worked out how to make such a monstrosity? Did they make single prototypes before building machines to automate the manufacturing and assembly process?
What kind of machines are used to make Transformers? Are the bits put together by hand or by robots? Do they have to build new machines for each new TF design?
Has anyone involved in creating Transformers ever been interviewed? Has anyone seen photos or videos of TF assembly lines?
Does the supreme toy knowledge of certain individuals here extend confidently into these realms of enquiry?
Martin
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Hero
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
King of RULES!
Everything Rules
Posts: 7,498
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Post by Hero on Jan 7, 2009 22:38:18 GMT
Botcon have done interview panels with Hasbro in the past.
I'd be interested to find out how the design process in the early TFs/Diaclone worked out. Looking at the old Black and White instruction booklets and the perfect illustrations of the toys I assume some early complicated form of CAD was used.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 8, 2009 18:02:11 GMT
Nobody knows, do they? We've all seen comic creators at work, and there are tons of video documentaries showing animators doing their business, but how Jetfire got from being a twinkle in a marketing director's mind to a mass-produced plastic-and-metal masterpiece... it's all done by magic, innit?
Martin
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 8, 2009 18:03:43 GMT
Some of them produce mock ups out of paper, the original design for the VF-19 (Jetfire) was made entirely out of paper to prove it could be done. Karl shared the info with us at new year when we were discussing the Macross line and how it evolved from Diaclone.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 8, 2009 18:54:07 GMT
It's all done with goblins, I heard.
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 8, 2009 20:20:18 GMT
Some of them produce mock ups out of paper, the original design for the VF-19 (Jetfire) was made entirely out of paper to prove it could be done. A likely story. I find Ralph's goblins more plausible. If Karl thinks a transforming Jetfire can be made out of paper, I challenge him or any other poor deluded fool to do so!  Martin |
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Post by legios on Jan 8, 2009 20:44:01 GMT
Some of them produce mock ups out of paper, the original design for the VF-19 (Jetfire) was made entirely out of paper to prove it could be done. First, rough design concept out of paper - to prove the point that a transforming robot toy that didn't have to have parts removed could be made. Not sure that it was dead-on to the look of the final design, but by all accounts the basic architecture of the transformation was there. By all accounts by the time Shoji Kawamori had finished working on Diaclone he had become somewhat tired of being told that a perfect transformation was impossible for a toy robot, and so when he was one of the lead show-runners and the lead designer on Macross he was not taking no for an answer from the folk at Matsushiro. (According to some accounts they were not entirely sure initially what to make of this youngster and his paper robot). (It was the VF-1 for the record, rather than the -19, the latter was protoyped in Lego, of all things.. These days Kawamori-sama prototypes everything in Lego to check it is physically feasible before CAD gets anywhere near it. (One of the things I love about his designs is that they don't cheat, they are pretty much all capable of existing in three-dimensional space - no things disappearing into sub-space or anything)). A likely story. I find Ralph's goblins more plausible. If Karl thinks a transforming Jetfire can be made out of paper, I challenge him or any other poor deluded fool to do so! Martin Heh. I do not pretend to have Sensei's skills. If I did I would be making my money designing transforming aircraft for hit TV series I guess...... :-) But to be serious, what I understand of the general outline of the process as it used to be is something like this:- The concept designer would come up with rough sketches of what the toy was to look like, showing roughly which bits went where and if these were approved they would go away and refine these working out the process of how it was supposed to get from one mode to another. These designs would then be passed to the engineering types who would work out how to actually make it happen in practice - how it would need to be hinged, whether that was possible at all given the available materials. As far as I know it was all done by line-drawings, mathematics, eye and a pinch on instinct- pretty much the way all manufacturing was done before CAD. I'd wager that the precision of things like the design art and the instruction booklets was due to a very precise eye on the part of the various artists. Sadly I suspect that we have lost our chance to ever see the Diaclone design folks ever comprehensively interviewed on the subject. Some of them are lost to obscurity, and those that have gone on to fame have done a fair amount since so I suspect that their memories of that time will have long since faded. Karl |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 8, 2009 20:59:30 GMT
Ah, Lego! Now you're talking.
Lego I can believe.
Farewell, Goblins, I can believe in non-magical TF creation if Lego was involved in the design process.
Martin
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Post by legios on Jan 8, 2009 21:06:39 GMT
Ah, Lego! Now you're talking. Lego I can believe. Farewell, Goblins, I can believe in non-magical TF creation if Lego was involved in the design process. Martin Ah, sadly the Lego is only confirmed to have entered the design process in later years - there is no certainty that it was involved in the design of the Valkyrie/Jetfire, although it certainly was involved in the design of the successors. You may still be stuck with the goblins unless more evidence comes to light. Actually the involvement of Goblins might make a certain amount of sense. After all, they have to do something with their time - they can't spend every waking hour tormenting people who are trying to solve Labyrinths.... Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 8, 2009 22:34:14 GMT
Ah, Lego! Now you're talking. Lego I can believe. Farewell, Goblins, I can believe in non-magical TF creation if Lego was involved in the design process. Martin But it's the goblins who make the Lego. -Ralph |
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