Time for another linkfest of Transformers news. It remains heavy on third party Transformers with a mix of G1 past and a new teaser for the Transformers Universe MMORPG coming next year.
Fansproject Heavylabor Teaser
The next vehicle in the Hercules (Devastator) set has been teased. The dump truck Heavylabor (aka Long Haul) will be the torso and hips once all the figures are out later in 2012. The estimated release date for the $100 figure is September 2011.
KM-01X Commander Images
Hit the link to view images and video of a redeco of the third party Heart of Steel Optimus Prime that is was released last year. This is the third repaint for this mold but this time in "evil" prime purple and gold colors.
Transformers: The Movie VHS Standee
Hit the link for images of a now nearly 25 year old standee created to promote the release of Transformers: The Movie on video cassette (which I use to have but lost) from Shawn Jones. It represents a nice walk down memory lane as does the image of his collection including those wall shelves that match exactly what I use to have in my room to hold my collection when I was growing up. One of these days I need to drag out my bins and boxes and see what my TF collection looks like when assembled together.
Not Sharkicon Teaser
Another third party toy inspired by G1 characters is being teased. Shark Sentry is based on the Transformers: The Movie Sharkicons with a new design. I think this is because this iGear toy has been released (or at least planned for release) back in 2009. For those curious by the "not" in the title, I have noticed that it has become common to refer to all these wonderful third party G1 inspired creations in the pipeline as "not G1_Character_name" as a way to signify what character it is really is but trademarks prevents the company from actually naming them as (thus "Shark Sentry").
Not Ratchet Painted Prototype
iGear has released the painted version of their Ratchet creation that is expected to be released in the next few months. The real G1 toy of Ratchet and Irhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifonhide was frankly an ugly mess that had nothing to do with the cartoon look. The Generations release a few years ago came closest to mimicking the cartoon but this one might just surpass it once completed.
Guido Guidi Concept Art
Long time Transformers artist (but no longer on series for who knows how long) has posted concept art on his Deviant Art page. Actually lots of art can be found up there both old and recent that he has produced over the last decade or so from the various iterations of Transformers from Dreamwave on.
Causality Thundershread Video Review
New review from Peaugh for Fansproject's next release, a G1 inspired creation based on the Insecticon Shrapnel. The figure very expensive ($50) for its deluxe class size but overall a pretty solid creation. I am still debating the purchase.
Exgraver Video ReviewA look at the first figure from the Hercules line. Exgraver (not Scavenger) is an expensive ($100) third party toy from TFC Toys that is the right arm of the not Devastator combiner. If prices hold, the combined Hercules toy will run $600 to complete. Still not sure if worth it. I see the potential and really like the idea but that kind of money needs more info. Wish TFC toys would reveal what the final Hercules figure would look like so can make a more informed decision on spending that much money. (via Seibertron)
Transformers Universe Teaser 2
Another teaser trailer for Transformers Universe that is still slated for release next year. The game MMORPG is rumored to hit beta sometime this year but there are no details past that. A few images of concept art can be found here.
Note: Vector Sigma section removed due to Facebook page being removed. Reason unknown.
Professional CGI created by fans? Geez! That is just Paramount and ILM viral marketing machine at work.
ReplyDeleteVector Sigma CGI there is made by either ILM or Digital Domain or both.
No one would be able to achieve those results in their spare time for free just as an hobby. And even if he/she was someone working in the field for studios surely wouldn't spend so much time working for free.
So Paramount removed "The Key to Vector Sigma" Facebook group now?
ReplyDeleteThat proves it was their viral marketing machine at work,obviously, no fans would be able to achieve that CGI for free on their spare time, nor any professional working for studios would do that for free and if anyone dares doing that without paying rights to Paramount and Hasbro would get sued anyway. So.. that group smelled viral marketing as soon as they posted some obviously ILM CGI shots claiming it was the work for some poor fan.. yeah..sure..
The Facebook page was removed by our admin and it will be up again soon. We are a team of individuals who like transformers and we are making a fan movie in our spare time. Those models were made by two persons who i won't name and there is a thread on internet about their progress. At first it was just a practice work for improving skills and now it grew into a small team who decided to make a short movie for fun and to show off their skills. The movie will be non profitable. We take your comment as a compliment.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 8/14/2011 5:19 AM: yeah, sure.. more fairy tales. Do you seriously believe to be able to make a fool of people like that?
ReplyDeleteYour claims are just silly. If any of you had those skill wouldn't be working for free but working at ILM.
So either you are ILM/Paramount employees part of the viral marketing campaign, or you are competitors employees. Surely you are not fans.
No one can achieve that CGI quality for free in his/her spare time.
For profit or not anything involving Transformers is under Hasbro copyright first and CGI models are under Paramount, ILM and Digital Domain copyright.
You can't just go around creating Transformers CGI without getting sued.
So if you don't get sued by Hasbro and Paramount you must be part of their team.
And anyway no normal people can achieve that CGI quality. Claiming that you do that in your spare time it's just beyond pathetic. If you want to lie as a cover up then come up with something better. You fool no one.
We are not trying to make a fool of anyone. It took us 2-3 years to learn and improve our skills and to make these models. I have nothing to prove to you.
ReplyDeleteWe are doing this in order to be able to show our skills to studios and get a job in future, so i don't see why that is hard to believe, and we are not just fans we are trying hard to learn new things and to improve and we chose this kind of project to do that.
@Anonymous 8/14/2011 9:04 AM: oh, so now it comes up that you are not just fans,uh?
ReplyDeleteBut at "8/14/2011 5:19 AM" you wrote:"We are a team of individuals who like transformers and we are making a fan movie in our spare time."
So.. yes you are trying to make a fool of people.
So now you are revealing that you are a bunch of professionals looking for a job at ILM and/or Digital Domain?
But if that is the case, how could you even think to go public like that?
Even if you have the skills to achieve those results on your own, you are stealing Hasbro and Paramount/ILM models copyright and concepts.
Unless Paramount/ILM/Digital Domain and Hasbro are aware of what you are doing it would be pretty crazy dumb and naive to go public with CGI models like those and the first claims of being just fans working their spare time wasn't going to help you avoiding getting sued.
So if you won't work for Paramount nor ILM and want to work for them, going public with what you achieved without their blessing (read: a signed legal agreement of some sort) would be just pretty naive. So either you are professionals really naive or you know what you are doing and everything I am telling you here but still want to look what you are not, despite having revealed to be professional CGI digital artists looking for a job...
"No one would be able to achieve those results in their spare time for free just as an hobby."
ReplyDeleteIncorrect. Doesn't sound like this commenter has any experience in 3D modelling or rendering. Still... looked like a LOT of work!
Though I dunno how you got 'Bee looking that good... maybe that's what this guy is on about.
And what's with the 'viral marketing' idea? Marketing for what?? TF3's already out, bro.
@burnsideo7: you obviously don't have a clue of how difficult is producing that CGI quality instead... Also you just contradicted yourself there with the "Though I dunno how you got 'Bee looking that good"...
ReplyDeleteDo you realize that no one other than Hasbro, Paramount and ILM is allowed to release anything Transformers related to the public?
And that CGI quality can't be achieved by anyone just by downloading some Autodesk Maya2011 or newer pirated copy package in their spare time for free.
That CGI looks the same as ILM one on Transformers movies. That spells viral marketing.
Now they first claimed being poor fans doing that stuff in their spare time for free, now they came up here replying that they are a bunch of professionals looking for a job at ILM, Paramount and so on...
But still doesn't make any damn sense. It's not that anyone could just decide releasing Transformers related CGI and announcing an upcoming Transformers CGI movie "to show the studios what they can do", that is what they say now and before they were saying "to show what we smart fans can do in our spare time for free".
Anything Transformers related is under Hasbro copyright and Transformers CGI models even if any professionals in the field wanted to do something with those he/she needed a signed agreement with Hasbro as well Paramount and ILM, they own copyright and full rights.
Just think that otherwise, for example, there would plenty of Transformers games and apps for Android and iPhone developed by freelance developers and small businesses if it ever was so easy and cheap doing that.
Not only anyone must pay rights to Hasbro and Paramount/ILM for anything Transformers related but what is being released must be approved by Hasbro in the first place, if they don't like the design or anything they might reject your work despite a signed agreement, that is usually written in contract clauses.
@Anonymous who keeps crying that this isn't fan related...
ReplyDeleteListen up, I know you like to agree to disagree, so first off I'm going to tell you that this stuff isn't ILM/Digital Domain or Hasbro official work.
Secondly, have you ever noticed how many CGI videos are out on the net already, from many CG schools? It's because people want like these designs..there are plenty of drawings and renders done by fans out on the internet and you just keep insisting the same negative comments, over and over again like a little girl.
You think this took overnight to learn? It's probably been over 3 years of trial and error.
And please stop bringing up "sued"..it's so ignorant, there are tons of people attempting the same thing at home, or from school.
If you don't believe this isn't done by Transformers fans, then either you don't know anything about CG rendering or squat about art or both.
I'm not anonymous btw, I'm Moises...I couldn't get the Google acount to work.
ReplyDeleteI got tired of that little girl.
Did anyone find the new trailer for the transformers mmo cool
ReplyDeleteThat crying little girl's name is Jim Phong.Let me tell you I had a great lough from his stupidity.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 8/14/2011 1:50 PM: and you trust anything you see on Facebook.. who is the little girl here? "Moises" surely isn't your real name anyway.
ReplyDelete@"Anonymous 8/14/2011 1:31 PM": Internet fairy tales don't work with me, and I understand that whoever you are don't like anyone telling the obvious because any viral marketing tactic is based on fooling people and making them believe fairy tales forgetting how businesses and contracts work in the real world..
ReplyDeleteCG schools ? 1) They don't have ILM/Digital Domain resources; 2) Hasbro surely would sue any school publishing Transformers CGI models without having told them anything in the first place.
It's not that schools and universities are allowed to do whatever they want not taking copyright laws into account. It's up to Hasbro to grant permission to use anything Transformers related.
That CGI quality and claiming to have created a Transformers CGI short movie can't be done by anyone that doesn't have the skills and resources. It's not that just a bunch of high end Xeon servers would be enough. And it's not that Maya2011 includes all advanced filters and tweaks in the package. That CGI looks like ILM rendered one and unless you stole ILM algorithms and codes there is no way to achieve the same quality results. And it's stuff worth some millions of dollars, nothing poor fans nor students could even dream about.
So, first you claimed to be some poor fans doing that in your spare time. Then you claimed being some professionals looking for a job at ILM. Now the 3rd version of your claims is that you would be some CG school students looking for a job at ILM ?
That's beyond pathetic. You can't fool anyone.
I Cant write in poster name anything other than anonymous but so you know i am working on the project.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why you can't accept that someone who is learning Maya can make this.
I never said i am looking job at ILM or Digital Domain. I said we are doing this so we can have something in our portfolio for job aplication, i clearly never mentioned any specific firm.
Secondly i never said we are students or in a school program.
We get the point about copyrights you don't have to talk about it in your every post.
@Fangirl 5:23
ReplyDeleteI give up. Believe, say what you want.
(Moises)
@Anonymous 8/14/2011 6:38 PM: and you even think being funny calling people "fangirl" ? I am male, heterosexual. And trying insulting me or make fun of me won't turn your fairy tales and silly claims into truth everyone should believe.
ReplyDeleteI live in the real world and whoever sees what you people wrote and the CGI you are releasing should immediately be able to see how fishy all your claims and statements obviously look.
@ Anonymus 8/14/2011 7:23 PM
ReplyDeleteI for one never called you a fangirl, it was Moises.
You don't have to believe that we made this and i do not have to prove it to you although i have a prof which i won't bother posting here.
Also if you would bother to see the differences between these renders we made and the original ones you could clearly see that they are not the same.
ReplyDeleteFans CAN recreate whatever they want if they dont claim any rigts and dont make profit from it.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the person who is raving obviously doesnt want that project to see the light of the day for some reason, most likely some personal weakness.Do you want to sue anyone? well obviously you want them to be sued.
And stop puting words to people mouth the way you put artificial facts in your head.
Facebook page is again online. Thanks everyone who support it.
ReplyDeleteIf this were my blog, I would have locked comments nine comments ago. Troll whining is tedious. Let us all be grateful that this is not my blog.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 8/15/2011 5:25 AM: are you 5 or are you pretending being 5 ? Uh?
ReplyDeleteNo, "fans" can't do anything just claiming that "it's not for profit".
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19990315/27745-lucasfilm-sues-little-brown-for-copyright-infringement-.html
Volume 245 Issue 11 03/15/1999
Lucasfilm Sues Little, Brown for Copyright Infringement
Calvin Reid
Mar 15, 1999
In what appears to be a preemptive strike to protect the multi-million-dollar licensing business expected to be generated by the upcoming release of its new Star Wars film, Lucasfilm Ltd. has filed a lawsuit against Little, Brown Co., charging the publisher with copyright and trademark infringement over Little, Brown's recently released The Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium by Ted Edwards.
In published reports, officials at Lucasfilm claimed the book infringes the Star Wars trademark and copyrights in the lucrative Star Wars publishing galaxy. Lucasfilm officials claimed that "characters and events, as well as the name Star Wars, are Lucasfilm's valuable property. We can't sit back and let others tarnish, abuse or confuse the public about this property."
http://www.slashfilm.com/lucasfilm-demands-wicked-lasers-stop-making-lightsaber-like-laser/
ReplyDeleteLucasFilm Demands Wicked Lasers Stop Making Lightsaber-Like Laser
Posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
A couple weeks back we highlighted the Spyder III Pro Arctic laser from Wicked Lasers, a very powerful, very dangerous blue laser that happens to look a lot like a lightsaber. Guess what? LucasFilm isn’t terribly happy that anyone can order a $200 product that looks like a lightsaber and can easily damage fragile things, like people.
Warning: Extremely dangerous is an understatement to the power of 1W of laser power. It will blind permanently and instantly and set fire quickly to skin and other body parts, use with extreme caution and only when using the included eye protection. Customers will be required to completely read and agree to our Class IV Laser Hazard Acknowledgment Form.
That being the case, the LucasFilm legal response shouldn’t come as much of a surprise:
It has come to our attention that a company called Wicked Lasers is selling a highly dangerous product out of Hong Kong that is designed to look like a lightsaber from Star Wars. This product is not licensed or approved by Lucasfilm in any way. We have demanded that Wicked Lasers immediately cease and desist their infringing activities. As Wicked Lasers itself admits, this product can cause serious injury to the user and other people. We strongly discourage consumers from purchasing it.
Hey blog owner why are you censoring the truth now?
ReplyDeleteDo you want to provide coverup for those claiming that "fans can do anything" with copyright works?
Ask Paramount and Hasbro CEO if they agree with such a silly naive statement..
@Anonymus 8/15/2011 11:54 AM
ReplyDeleteDude what do you actually want? Why are you saying all that stuff and what do you want to achieve by saying that.
You all need to stop feeding the troll. The Internet is fill of jealous haters and this is one of them. As someone who has dealt with Hasbro and Paramount over the years this isn't their style. They did nothing about the Vector Sigma thing because a few pics on a website isn't worth acting on. If they acted on everything that used Transformer images then all those fan videos and websites you find on YouTube would't exist as it would take nothing for them to get YT to yank them. You may diagree with some of their choices with the franchise but one thing they have been is very tolerant of the creative efforts of Transfans. To assume the the words of this hater of true is a disservice to their patience.
ReplyDeleteTrolls do not go away but instead get fed and encouraged by comments and replies to them. The worst thing you can do to a troll/hater on the Internet is simply refuse to acknowledge what they wrote even exists.
WOW, I'm just checking in and checking out the comments and man this sounds like an insane asylum, too many conspiracy theories, you've done lost your minds, I'm outa hear!!! Have fun with eachother.
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI regarding names - anyone can add a name to their post by selecting the 'Comment as:' drop box and selecting "Name / URL", and entering the name there.
ReplyDeleteIt'd make following arguments much easier ;)
Peace.
@tflamb: calling people "trolls" just when they point out some fishy things it's a pretty naive move on your side.
ReplyDeleteDo you seriously think that people will stop questioning by censoring them like in USSR or China?
Also if you are just a blog owner it doesn't make any sense you willing protecting those claiming to be just fans releasing CGI that is on par with official Transformers CGI by ILM.
If they don't work for Paramount and/or ILM then they are violating copyright laws unless authorized by Hasbro to use any Transformers models and names.
Dude are you a f%cking idiot or something? They would violate copyright laws IF and IF they would do that for profit. You're like ten years old or something? To create something like that doesn't need you to be in ILM or Hasbro or any other company you have mentioned. I guess you have never even saw 3D at work. By reading your comments I am starting to think that to make a model like that you need to be a god. No it only needs determination, motivation and not to be an idiot like you.
ReplyDeleteIf doing fan work would sue anyone, then half of the Internet would be gone by now. Dude seriously finish at least first grade before writing something like that.
@Misucra: you are the little kid here.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
"Infringement
Main article: Copyright infringement Copyright infringement, or copyright violation, is the unauthorized use of works covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works Copyright holders frequently refer to copyright infringement as "theft". In law copyright infringement does not refer to actual theft, but an instance where a person exercises one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder without authorization.[68] Courts have distinguished between copyright infringement and theft, holding, for instance, in the United States Supreme Court case Dowling v. United States (1985) that bootleg phonorecords did not constitute stolen property and that "...interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, conversion, or fraud. The Copyright Act even employs a separate term of art to define one who misappropriates a copyright... 'an infringer of the copyright.'" In the case of copyright infringement the province guaranteed to the copyright holder by copyright law is invaded, i.e. exclusive rights, but no control, physical or otherwise, is taken over the copyright, nor is the copyright holder wholly deprived of using the copyrighted work or exercising the exclusive rights held.[69]
For electronic and audio-visual media under copyright, unauthorized reproduction and distribution is also commonly referred to as piracy. An early reference to piracy in the context of copyright infringement was made by Daniel Defoe in 1703 when he said of his novel The True-Born Englishman "Had I wrote it for the gain of the press, I should have been concerned at its being printed again and again by PIRATES, as they call them, and PARAGRAPHMEN: but if they do justice, and print it true, according to the copy, they are welcome to sell it for a penny, if they please: the pence, indeed, is the end of their works."[70] The practice of labeling the act of infringement as "piracy" predates statutory copyright law. Prior to the Statute of Anne 1709, the Stationers' Company of London in 1557 received a Royal Charter giving the company a monopoly on publication and tasking it with enforcing the charter. Those who violated the charter were labeled pirates as early as 1603."
It doesn't matter if you use others copyrighted work,models,characters for profit or not, you still need copyright owner authorization to use it. Otherwise you are acting out of law, your works are illegal. It's just as simple as that. Either you are doing it for money or just personal gain being proud of your copy of others copyrighted work.
ReplyDeleteCheck it with a lawyer if you don't trust people commenting here.
Hahaha... nice one you just showed the proof how wrong you are. I am starting to like you :D Read that paragrapgh again and again and again until your head will start to understand what it says. :D. Every moron knows what COPYING work and selling or using it for your own ends is PIRACY and not legit, but this group didn't copy their works. Of course before you start... They didn't copy the original models. They didn't take the source models from the company. THEY MADE THEM FROM SCRATCH by using the real models for reference. Secondly they don't take the profit nor credit for idea. Thirdly their models are not 100% accurate to original ones ( few tiny missing details, different size of details, different textures etc...) and for the last part there is a PHONE to contact ILM. Tried that? I guess not because that would just show you how stupid you're. So I took the liberty to call them and guess what? YOU'RE A MORON. The worst thing that could happen for this guys is that they might get hired by ILM. And that shit you were sprouting about "poor fan cannot make such models". Go to hell jackass. If you can't make a cup of tea in 3d that doesn't mean that others are the same. Do you know why people make such high quality models for free? That is called training. You don't need shitload of money to make a model. You need shitloads of money not to spend 16.000 years while rendering the movie. Not to mention actors, real life explosions, even special space for filming that costs a lot, but to make a 3d model like that... a pro can do that in maximum 2 weeks. Seriously you made a freakin fool of yourself.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention VIRAL MARKETING on cgtalk or facebook? Actually do you even know what the hell are you talking about? Dude they're big ass corporations and for them to put half finished models on facebook... I can't even believe you had nerve to write something stupid like that.
By the way I might sue you to get back all the money I spend while calling ILM. :D
You know... I feel kinda ashamed for going down like that. I checked your Facebook account... you're still a child. At first I thought you're some jealous 40 years old asshhole. Well then... listen up kid. There is such program called 3D MAX (there is Maya too).This program has a thing called Mental Ray which you can use to do high quality renders. There are better ones, but Mental Ray is minimum if you want to get realistic renders. So this Renderer has shaders which you can use to improve model or textures quality and detail. Now to create the model itself is kinda hard in the beginning, but if you're determined about it and if you're not a moron... after some time you will get a hang of it. Some guys master it in months other in years.
ReplyDeleteAs for textures... If you want to get a realistic texture you just need few things... like a camera or google and photoshop. Such needs barely cost anything so almost everyone can get it. If you know how to handle 3d max and photoshop you can create such model as Transformer. You just need a bit of knowledge about lights, shadows, materials, a lot of anatomy knowledge and just to know how to mend a form. One of the guys in the group is my cousin (and I am damn PROUD of having such cousin) and I saw this models at work and even if that was a short glimpse, I saw that they went through a lot of trial and error. So kid if you don't even know what the hell are you talking about and how the 3d works do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up. It might be better for you, as all of your comments have insulted not only this group of hard working fans, not only me, but pretty much the rest of 3d modelling community. We don't need shitloads of cash to create something like that. We just need determination, motivation and patience. If someone needs to buy or waste a huge amount of cash to make a texture, WE can improvise and get them for free. Even so we need to put a lot more effort in work and our models are not that high quality like professional studios, but with hard work we can at least touch their feet. As for "That CGI looks the same as ILM one on Transformers movies. That spells viral marketing. " If you wouldn't be so blind and would pay a bit more attention, you could see that this models qualities are way different. Even if they look alike, there is a lot of differences in models and textures. Every good 3d modeler could tell a difference between a real ILM work and this fan work. Not to mention the Facebook page is clearly fan made. If you're still insist that we are "too poor" to create something like that (even thought it costs almost nothing) ,well I can tell you one thing. Goddamn you better pray that I would never see you in real life or I will show you what "a poor fan" can do.
P.S as I have mentioned. My call to ILM just proved that your words are full of shit. Not only they don't sue anyone for makin a simple fan work (as that would be so stupid), but they strongly SUPPORT any kind of work what is inspired by them. And oh I have sent them some of the photos through email and even showed the thread on Cgtalk. My cousin and his friends are still kickin.
P.S.S I started my own modeling with doing lots of fanwork. Harkonnen cannon from Hellsing, Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, Street Fighter 4 characters, Final Fantasy and so on. No one sued me for makin 3d fan work.
P.S.S.S You are a childish idiot.
P.S.S.S.S I am damn serious