The Tech Spec Train Wreck

“Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.” – Moliere

Most people familiar with the origins of the Transformers toy line are well aware of Hasbro’s haste to get their product to market in 1984 in order to compete with the Machine Robo/Gobots line and also to establish the brand ready for the Christmas sales rush. However, haste leads to mistakes and they were numerous. There’s already a lot of material out there about running changes to toys and packaging as Hasbro fixed issues as they went along but an area that hasn’t been looked at thoroughly, and one I’m asked about fairly often, is Tech Specs.

Bluestreak. Just because.

Tech specs (short for technical specifications) have been a constant of The Transformers from 1984 to present day with the original ones being more detailed with their character bio and graph of the character’s abilities that needed a red plastic film to ‘decode’ it. In the big rush, Hasbro made a few huge mistakes on the 1984 line and made a few others later on but there were also some seemingly pointless changes along the way….

1984
Let’s start with nitpicking and build up to the huge mistakes.
 

Frenzy
So first up is Frenzy, where the person who typed his biography obviously forgot to switch off the annoying auto hyphenation function in whatever program they used. “Oxy-gen”, “Disori-ents” and “circuit-ry” are all mistakes that you’d only normally see from an amateur desktop publication not from a multi billion dollar company. Presumably the tech was shrunk down which resulted in the hyphenation.

Frenzy is blue. Fact.

Thankfully, to satisfy pedants like me the gold weapon re-release of Frenzy in 1986 featured a bio that had been edited to fix the hyphens.

Still blue.

Ratchet
Ratchet underwent a revision but it wasn’t due to the techs themselves but the image alongside them. On the box art Ratchet is pictured with a red cross but it had to be removed at the insistence of The International Committee of the Red Cross as the symbol is protected under international law. This protection was regularly flaunted especially as orange crosses were regularly used on Ambulances so it was very common for red crosses to be used on toys, as it was on the Diaclone release of Ratchet.

Bad Hasbro! Bad!

In 1973 when the American National Red Cross complained over the infringement, this saw The Star of Life being introduced as a replacement symbol on all US ambulances and the ICRC starting to exercise their trademark rights more, including in 2006 asking all game developers to stop using the red cross on first aid kits in video games.

Crossed out

The Star of Life. Not to be confused with the crest of Slytherin.

I'm more than aware that someone reading this may think that the ICRC and American Red Cross were being petty in defending their trademark as "it's only a toy" but the Red Cross symbol is internationally recognised and the preservation of it's meaning is vital considering the work they do. (See footnotes for more information)


Megatron
Again this isn't so much as a tech spec problem as a box art one . Because of the window box style of Transformers, Megatron's right arm position had to be changed to fit around the window.

Microchange cel artwork

Rather than add in the missing parts of the arm, the design team just left an empty space.

This artwork is reproduced exactly on the tech spec.

At least they didn't omit the first 'y' in his motto.

Optimus Prime
While all the other characters went out of frame, for some reason Op's right arm was removed from the image.

Below is a close up of the artwork increased in size by 100% which makes it easier to spot.

The Decepticon jets
Now this is where things started to go wrong. While the biographies were correct, the graphs were mixed up as can be seen on Skywarp’s where his bio lists him as “Not too smart” yet he has an intelligence of 9.

Skywarp’s graph was clearly intended to go with Starscream’s bio as Starscream is referred to being the fastest flyer. The graph on Starscream’s box should have gone to Thundercracker, whilst the graph used for Thundercracker should have gone to Skywarp as it has the lowest intelligence score.

Confused yet? This gets better.


Sideswipe and Sunstreaker
The Autobot brothers also had a mix up but this wasn’t just graphs, this was the entire character. Ever noticed that Sideswipe doesn’t have a rocket backpack or piledrivers?

On the other hand, Sunstreaker’s engine block flips down onto his back and looks a little like a jetpack while he has those shoulder things which attach to his arms instead of hands….

Oh look, a rocket pack on a red lamborghini...

Originally the characters were indeed to supposed to be the other way around because the biographies were written when Hasbro was planning on using the Diaclone colours where Sunstreaker (as we know him) was red while Sideswipe was yellow.

The most beautiful thing on Earth?

Because of the short release times and the constant changing of names by the marketing department, the toys were referred to by their alt modes. Hasbro switched the colours somewhere towards the end of the production process but the packaging people were still working on the premise of the yellow car being Sunstreaker and the red one being Sideswipe so that’s what we got.

Sunstreaker bio and graph with the wrong character picture.

Interestingly though, while the 1980 Empire Strikes Back Star Wars figures featured the reversal of names for 4-LOM and Zuckuss, this was later corrected when Star Wars was relaunched as a toy line in 1995. It seems odd that Hasbro corrected the characters in one license but not another although that was likely down to George Lucas’ insistence rather than Hasbro rectifying mistakes. There have been opportunities along the way such as the Alternators and Universe lines, while Takara also could have made the change at any time, especially as they didn’t launch Transformers until 1985 so had plenty of opportunity to switch the names and bios back. For now it looks like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker will continue to be known as the red and yellow Lamborghinis respectively.
1985
The Jumpstarters
Despite the massive rush being over Hasbro still managed to confuse the hell out of themselves over which Jumpstarter was which.

Jumpstarter variants: about as valuable as toenail clippings.

Pro tip: the one with the big honking drills just may be the one with Twist in it’s name…


1986
The Special Teams
Nothing much to report on this year although there was a weird habit of reversing images from the single release of the special teams while also zooming in on the character and increasing the size of the yellow sun burst background. The graph lines were even redrawn. It definitely appears that more effort went into the giftset versions which feature better laid out text and the clearer images of the characters. In addition to this, Silverbolt was either the Aerialbot Leader or Aerialbot Commander depending on which version you bought.

Giftset

Individual

Hot Rod
Not so much an error as just something that really annoys me – a giant robot alien described as an “all-American-boy”. Seriously? Was GI Joe not patriotic enough that we needed an all-American boy Transformer?

Apple pie sold separately.

However, his graph has the wrong stats as he is totally overpowered. His Targetmaster release corrected this.


Tailgate
The only real error this year was Tailgate due to “ferrocobalt” being mis-spelled as “ferrodobalt”. This was then corrected with a sticker over the bottom three lines of text before a corrected printed version hit the market.

1987
The single figure to giftset changes carried on but this time in reverse as the single figures this time had the larger sunburst behind them and featured smaller images of the characters. The individual releases also had a thicker white aura around the character, presumably to make the character stand out from the background better. Another oddity was that the graphs were redrawn. No stats changed but the giftsets featured simplified lines that illustrated the character’s abilities whereas the individual figures had the usual um spikey style lines. I could refer to them as vertexes as I believe that’s the proper term, but does anyone care? I doubt it.

Single

Giftset

Scorponok
One of the most well known tech spec errors is Scorponok who’s graph was printed upside down and then later corrected.

Weak, stupid, does little damage but very fast.

That's more like it.

Targetmaster Hot Rod
Also 1987 spawned one of the most annoying and rare variations of all Transformers, Targetmaster Hotrod. Like Tailgate, there was an error in the text of Hotrod’s bio where his range is given as 150mph which was then corrected via sticker to 150 miles. Unlike Tailgate, Hasbro blatantly couldn’t be bothered to do a neat job and just stuck wonky stickers over the last two words of the bio. What makes this variation annoying is that a printed correct version exists, but it’s incredibly rare and very few pictures exist of it so you’ll have to use your imagination to picture this incredibly expensive and utterly pointless collectable.

At least they didn't call him American this time.

As mentioned above, Hot Rod's stats were corrected with this release.

All 5 of the reissued-as-Targetmaster characters had paraphrased bios and had added references to their new partners like Hot Rod's above.


1988
Thankfully the only thing that happened this year was the usual zoom in, reverse the image and change the sunburst for the giftsets. Again the white aura is used for the smaller images. Wow, we got through an entire year without a mistake!

Undersea Terminator? Your clams: give them to me.

1989
The Classic Pretenders had to have their bios edited for the Legends releases because the Legends didn’t come with the Pretender Shells. Bumblebee’s spec was quite wordy so the reference to the shell was simply removed.

In Grimlock’s case so much was removed that new material was put in, including him gaining Sludge’s ability to create mini earthquakes.

Jazz’s bio is largely unaltered except for the addition of details about his engine and seemingly gaining Smokescreen’s power to create a um...smokescreen.

Starscream again has a minor change to his bio.

1990
As the G1 line started to wind down, Europe got reissued figures on gold cards with the new style of tech specs. The line was small and so the information was simply transferred across.

Nothing to see here...

1991
G1 was now at an end but in it’s last year a lot more of the gold carded figures were released. Sideswipe’s courage dropped from 10 to 9 and the word “his” was added to the last sentence of the bio to improve it’s grammar. Finally Goldbug gained an extra point in Firepower and went from 1 point to 2.

New and improved mightier Goldbug

The original lesser powered one.

More cautious with age and so were Hasbro's spellcheckers.

Much like this article, tech specs started off pretty interesting but slowly became less and less so as time progressed. For the first few years tech specs gave life to characters who despite being robots, were incredibly flawed and human but later on the sheer volume of product led to increasingly bland characters who's personalities were fleshed out more in comics and cartoons. In fairness, it must be incredibly hard to keep characters interesting but when they end up with mottos like Skalor's "I stink therefore I am" or names like Hun-Grrr then the well is dry.

Initially the errors gave unique insight into Hasbro's haste to establish Transformers and their last minute changes but as time went on, the errors increasingly seemed to be down to lack of due care rather than anything else. Of course, tech specs are just one part of the puzzle as there are plenty of things to explore in the box art, packaging pictures, catalogues and instructions....



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The Star of Life image is trademarked by The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and is used here for reference only. The image was lovingly stolen borrowed from Wikipedia who stole borrowed it from someone else.

Massive thanks are due to Adam Alexander of Botch the Crab.  Without his 10+ years of maintaining his website, this would have been a lot of words with pictures of tech specs that I drew in Paint.

Thanks to Tikgnat of TFW2005 for reminding me about the Hot Rod stats change.

Megatron production cel, red Diaclone Lamborghini Countach LP500S Super Tuning and yellow Diaclone Lamboghini New Countach LP500S images are from the author's own collection. Any further articles referencing those two Diaclone toys will have the names copied and pasted because I'm not typing them out again.

The International Committee of The Red Cross do incredible work. Their symbol is globally recognised as being that of a neutral force who are unarmed non-combatants and it's vital that the symbol is exclusively used by them so as not to be seen as endorsement by them. While we perhaps think of The Red Cross as being people who give out rice in starving countries, their duties actually go far beyond that and usually see their people operating in, and often being killed in warzones as they try to provide care to prisoners of war, injured soldiers and civilians. The Red Cross were, for example, instrumental in the care, supervision and recovery of Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, the pilot captured during the Battle of Mogadishu 'Black Hawk Down' incident. If you enjoyed this article which took about 6 hours to research, write and format to give away for free, then perhaps you could consider making a small donation to the Red Cross for one of their many appeals. Even £1 ($1.68ish) can make a big difference and they accept Paypal. Plus I'll love you forever ;)

Original G1 Transformers Script - Megatron's Master Plan

Megatron's Master Plan, parts 1 & 2 - 1st generation original script copies

Donald done good

For those of us who found our way into the world of Transformers via the Sunbow cartoon in the mid-eighties, those episodes we remember from childhood still hold a very special place in our hearts and will forever be recognised as the gateway to the hobby we cherish today. In the UK, many of the episodes were not easily accessible and it wasn't until the mid-to-late nineties that a number of fans were able to view seasons 1 to 3 in their entirety, until then VHS tapes were like gold dust. Then the DVDs came and the VHS tapes became worthless. However, as one collector recently said to me wisely, we tend to now enjoy the episodes that we had as children the most. My favourite childhood G1 episode was Megatron's Master Plan, and thanks to Masterforce.co.uk, I now have the original G1 script for that episode, from Marvel Productions Ltd and written by Donald F. Glut.

Parts 1, 2 and additional/deleted scenes sheet

Cast sheet for speaking parts

This article will focus on the Megatron's Master Plan script, both parts 1 and 2, as well as the additional/deleted scenes sheets that this treasure came with. Masterforce have a stack of other G1 episode scripts, but I'll be comparing some of the key differences between this original script first generation copy that used to belong to story editor Bryce Malek (sent to him by Hasbro for editing), and the final production episode that we all know and love intimately.

Different dialogue to final episode throughout

From the very first scenes in the script, there are differences in dialogue and even sequence of events, albeit nothing major. The amount of visual detail and scene-setting evident in the script is just what you'd expect from such a document, and there are pointers to character traits with references to real-life character examples where necessary. Shawn Berger, the main human protagonist in the episode, is referred to as a "hefty, middle-aged, commanding 'Edward Arnold' type" - a famous American screen actor from the early 20th century. It's also interesting to note that Autobots Warpath and Smokescreen were originally intended to have speaking parts in this episode, but the final production version never featured any lines from them.

Shawn Berger

Those meddlesome robots

Those opening scenes where Starscream and the coneheads attack the solar energy facility being opened by the mayor are a great example of how much the original script was altered to suit television. First of all it was edited to exclude the below outlining of how Optimus and the Autobots acknowledge the mayor's call for help, in the cartoon they just show up shortly after the mayor says "Get me the Autobots". You can see Warpath's axed lines in the image below as well, along with Ironhide, Spike, Bumblebee and Prime's lost lines:

Lots of unused lines here

One of the key things that makes this script such a special item for me, aside from the above, is just how different the dialogue was in the final production cartoon that aired compared to this first gen. copy that Bryce Malek received, and obviously thoroughly edited. You can see the comment above from Bumblebee about how important "teamwork" is, and that somewhat juvenile lack of sophistication in the script dialogue is present throughout the whole document. In the cartoon, none of those lines are spoken, the Autobots arrive, Prime orders them to transform, then Tracks takes to the sky in order to "throw a little dark on the subject" - one of my favourite lines in the episode, and incidentally that was in the script!

Who doesn't love coneheads?

Warpath is speaking but we never get to hear it!

The unused mid-battle Autobot banter continues in the script page below, with Smokescreen giving Warpath some stick over his prediction of an easy fight after Thrust comes to Starscream's rescue. Again, no evidence of Thrust's eventual "Taste death, Autobots!" line in the original script. Optimus Prime was even supposed to chime in with an uncharacteristic "I'll bring that braggart down!" to which Thrust responds. Again, none of that made it to the final cut.

Prime spouting uncharacteristic stuff

This battle scene is probably one of the few I remember almost word-for-word and scene-by-scene from childhood because of how many times I watched it, and because I felt it was really well-constructed with an unforgettable soundtrack. The lines that were uttered during the fight were much fewer and far between than the script outlines, and I feel the final episode benefits greatly from the reduced volume of in-battle speech, and the higher quality of the dialogue used for the final cut. "Panic will defeat you, Dirge" is another of my favourites from the episode, spoken by Ramjet. That line was originally much simpler and far less memorable.

Typically submissive Starscream

While 80% of the dialogue spoken seems to be different to the final version of the episode, other differences can be more profound and interesting, such as a completely different character engaging in a scene or conversation in the script compared to the aired episode.

Hound and Spike, the love affair that never happened

Look! Masterpiece-accurate Bluestreak launchers!

One man and his bee.

When the Autobots are framed by Megatron and the public sees them as evil, during Sunstreaker's tirade the script portrays Hound as their main defender, implying a close relationship between him and Spike that we saw before in the More Than Meets The Eye pilot. By the time Megatron's Master Plan came to air, the relationship between Bumblebee and Spike was far more pronounced, and the final cut of the episode gives those lines to Bumblebee. Another indication of how decisions were made later that changed the direction of the show, and subsequently required further script editing.

Very serious

As mentioned before, in addition to the full scripts for parts 1 and 2 of Megatron's Master Plan, the set came with a few sheets detailing additional scenes, corrections and notes. These extra bits discuss the framing sequence where Decepticons dress up as Autobots to rob energy from an oil field. Hilariously, it goes to great pains to point out that since Starscream is wearing a disguise and acting as Optimus Prime, he should not be shown as one of the opposing Decepticons rescuing the humans...which of course in the episode final cut he is!

"WHAT REALLY IS HAPPENING IS..." that no one is paying attention

He was so fooled by the disguise that he turned up to fight himself

The "home movies" line from Dirge is also outlined in these additional notes, as well as a crossed out sequence where Optimus hurls a boulder at Megatron, knocking him backwards, whereas in the final cut Megatron is depicted as being more impervious to Prime's laser attacks. A delightful little nugget and insight into the thinking behind what was undoubtedly one of G1's classic episodes in my opinion.

Lost treasures

Notice Thrust wearing Dirge's bombs

One of the most amazing things about this script is the inclusion of a number of scenes involving the coneheads and Starscream which were completely omitted from the final aired cut of Megatron's Master Plan. These are not mentioned in the additional scenes and notes, they are in the script proper and were intended to be part of the story.

Saturday Night Starscream

 

After the Autobots are banished from Earth having been wrongly accused, the humans celebrate their new 'friends' the Decepticons with a parade and various special events around the city. There are a number of scenes involving Starscream, the coneheads, Soundwave and his cassettes mentioned in the script, of which only one featuring Soundwave and his minions survived the cutting room.

You are being deceived

The first is Starscream on a chat show with a "Slick Johnny Carson type" host asking him about a potential career in Hollywood and feature films, but the real standout omission for me is a scene describing Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust opening a supermarket and signing autographs for their adoring fans. The whole scene is an exercise in juvenile hilarity and I desperately wish we could have seen it animated in the actual aired episode had it survived the edits. "Autograph sounds too much like Autobot!". Brilliant stuff.

How about the time Optimus drove into your face?

A very interesting decision because the final episode edit seems to feature the coneheads wherever possible in favour of older characters, even Starscream (we'll see later), but this whole scene was taken out, undoubtedly due its slightly childish and comical nature. As a whole, I think the tone of Megatron's Master Plan is less silly than some of the removed scenes would imply.

Watch this scene. Now try to get the song out of your head.

More examples of speaking lines being axed or changed can be seen below, where Bluestreak's lines were removed from the shuttle scene with the Autobots heading into the Sun. Eventually, all conversation on the shuttle ended up being between Prime, Ironhide, Hound, Cosmos and Cliffjumper - with one or two things uttered by Bumblebee and Huffer.

Bluestreak has always been underused

Hound's last stint as travel agent

The script outlines how the camera should linger on Trailbreaker - the eventual hero of the piece thanks to his forcefield - but the final edit never gives the game away so obviously. Maybe another example of how the slightly immature first draft of the script was improved?

Welcome to D.C., Decepticon City!

Generally, part 2 of Megatron's Master Plan is where the differences are more pronounced, not just in dialogue but in actual events and scenes being changed, removed or added between the script and the final aired episode. For once, in the above/below scene, the script seems to have a slightly more believable approach to the dialogue, with Dirge christening the conquered city as "D.C.: Decepticon City" as opposed to the cartoon where Megatron names his prize "Megatronia 1".

No spoken lines by Dirge here

It's amazing how just a few seconds of visual scene-setting when animated can equate to almost two whole pages of descriptive text. The below sequence detailing the enslaving of the humans for energy mining is a great example in this epsiode:

2 Pages of descriptive text...

...a mere 10 seconds of footage.

Up until now we've only discussed scenes from the script that didn't make it to the screen, but there is one example of a whole sequence of scenes being added to the episode that were not ever present in the first script or even the additional notes!

Added for cartoon, never in script

The whole chain of events where Chip Chase decides he needs to get to Teletraan 1 - by first getting Spike to incapacitate Rumble as a diversion and then rolling on out of the power station - does not exist in this iteration of the script. One wonders if the scenes featuring Starscream on TV and the coneheads opening a supermarket were cut to accommodate Thrust's chase of Chip.

A burnt out wreck

Reject parts

It makes sense that the editors/writers would include these scenes with Thrust chasing down Chip to Teletraan, only to destroy it and give power back top Cosmos, thereby facilitating the return of the Autobots, because in the script their recovery is all a little too simple. Introducing Thrust and Chip's segment into the story allowed the writers to maintain suspense and danger for the Autobots even after Trailbreaker's heroics, as well as link the destruction of the shuttle and the return of the Autobots in a more staged way, rather than the rapid depiction outlined in the script. It also put more spotlight on Thrust and the coneheads, fulfilling season 2's role of selling more Transformers toys. Worked on me, I was a huge Thrust fan and lapped up every second of dialogue he was given in G1.

The return of Optimus Prime

Vintage Megatron

The final battle between the Autobots and Decepticons progresses on screen much as it does in the script, and that shouldn't be too surprising as it's the defining battle of the whole 2-part story arc. Much of the dialogue is similar too.

The gang's all here

Seaspray and Gears, turning the tide

One last alteration to the episode reminds us what the focus of the whole piece was yet again, the script describing the Decepticons' retreat in detail but saying that the camera should linger on Starscream. The final cut shows the camera focusing on Thrust as he is the last to transform and join the retreating horde, making reference to the newer toys requiring advertisement and also to his enormous part in the outcome of the story -  a part written in at a later stage than this original script.

Buy me!

The concluding page of the script concentrates on how Shawn Berger should be spared heavy punishment because at one point he tried to save Spike from Ravage and Laserbeak, and it is referred to more than once in part 2 of the episode. This is quite representative of the values and morals that the writers were trying to embed within episodes and the public service announcements (remember "teamwork"?). Yet again, the animated version does away with this a little bit and instead portrays Berger as a man repentant but ultimately having to face justice.

"From now on we'll always trust our friends..."

Fin

So there it is, a comparison of the original Megatron's Master Plan 2-part script and the final edit that made it to animation. We've had deleted scenes, added scenes, characters that never spoke with long-forgotten lines and even bizarre comic relief that may never have come to light were it not for the discovery of these absolutely historic and significant masterpieces. Reading these documents from cover to cover and watching over my favourite episodes has been a great experience, one akin to holding your cherished childhood G1 toy next to a prototype. A reminder of what could have been and how what we have come to adore so much was built up layer by layer.

Roll for home

Who says the cartoon models don't resemble the toys?

All the best
Maz