My topic of musings and ideas

[Tripredacus]

Did all the 1997 Beast Wars JP toys come in both regular box and including the TV show ad sticker? For example, I know C-1 Convoy has both version, and so does Megatron, but I can't find any pictures of VS-1 that is without the sticker.

[Tripredacus]

Also, speaking of Canadian TFs, should there be some standard format to naming them? I've noticed that the ones I've added aren't very uniform... What do you think?

Jetfire/Bolide (plain wing)
http://shmax.com/product_details/8486/j ... plain_wing

Astrotrain
http://shmax.com/product_details/8466/astrotrain

Technically, Astrotrain is Astrotrain/Astrotrain, since there is no translation for it.

Blitzwing (Le Blitz)
http://shmax.com/product_details/8465/b ... g_le_blitz

[engledogg]

If there's no translation, why would we need another name for it?  Isn't there just ONE name on the package?

As far as the / vs (   ), yes, that should be cleaned up at some point.

MIKE
engledogg

[Tripredacus]

If there's no translation, why would we need another name for it?  Isn't there just ONE name on the package?

You'd think that huh. I don't have a better picture of it right now, you can barely see it that the name is actually listed on the box twice. Right behind Unicron's hand that is holding the Matrix, you can see it:



OK also, since you can use BBTS images, what is the procedure to add a picture to an item that BBTS has on their site? Example, here is the Canadian Animated Blitzwing picture:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... picture=in

[engledogg]

Yep, and Carnivac's has his name listed once.  So, even Hasbro isn't consistent with that, I suppose.

[attachment=0:108wh33z]carnivac1front.JPG[/attachment:108wh33z]

But, If there's one name, even though it's listed twice, with NO CHANGES from one name to the other, there is definitely no need to list the name twice...

To submit a BBTS photo, and I'm not sure that users have this ability, you'd save the image from BBTS to your computer, and upload it like you would your own photo, but give credit to BBTS instead of yourself.

I looked through the rest of those Animated tri-logo pics BBTS has, I'm thinking that they're all too small, unfortunately.

MIKE
engledogg

[Tripredacus]

Yeah fortunately my own particular needs for product pictures are 200x200 max. I just went about and updated my Blitzwing page. Which reminds me, is there any links/banners for shmax?

Update1: I've found something that I wanted to change but can't figure it out. Concerning Movie Barricade listings.

On this one:
http://shmax.com/product_details/7888/b ... con_frenzy

the additional toy is Frenzy, but the entry name says Decepticon Frenzy. If I modify package, I can't rename Frenzy as Decepticon Frenzy. if I click on Frenzy, it goes here:
http://shmax.com/part_details/12064/frenzy

Which shows that this item is also in the US release as well and named Frenzy. The package scan of the US version:
http://shmax.com/product_details/2398/b ... con_frenzy

Does not mention Frenzy or Decepticon Frenzy on the front. The Zeller's version has Frenzy listed as Decepticon Frenzy, but the package name is just Barricade.
http://shmax.com/product_details/7901/barricade

1. How would you go about changing a figure name?
2. In this case, which of these should actually be changed? Should the Zellers one match the other two as far as the Frenzy figure included name?

Update2
Finally got a "better" picture of a dual-named Canadian TF:


Update 3
I'm wondering if it is possible to see who else has items in reference to the "number collected by shmax users" thing...

[Tripredacus]

Also this dandy of a confusing question I posted on TFW but no one answered
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... n-tfs.html

[Tripredacus]

Whats the story with this Dinobot?
http://shmax.com/product_details/4686/dinobot

Is it a 2008 as the section it is in, or a 2009 like the release date says?

[engledogg]

The universally-accepted name of the line is Universe (2008) to differentiate it from the original Universe.  If you would have looked around, you'd have found many more Universe (2008) figures that weren't actually released in 2008...figures were released under this line up through 2010.

So, yeah...that's the story with Dinobot...

MIKE
engledogg

[engledogg]

Yeah fortunately my own particular needs for product pictures are 200x200 max. I just went about and updated my Blitzwing page. Which reminds me, is there any links/banners for shmax?

Update1: I've found something that I wanted to change but can't figure it out. Concerning Movie Barricade listings.

On this one:
http://shmax.com/product_details/7888/b ... con_frenzy

the additional toy is Frenzy, but the entry name says Decepticon Frenzy. If I modify package, I can't rename Frenzy as Decepticon Frenzy. if I click on Frenzy, it goes here:
http://shmax.com/part_details/12064/frenzy

Which shows that this item is also in the US release as well and named Frenzy. The package scan of the US version:
http://shmax.com/product_details/2398/b ... con_frenzy

Does not mention Frenzy or Decepticon Frenzy on the front. The Zeller's version has Frenzy listed as Decepticon Frenzy, but the package name is just Barricade.
http://shmax.com/product_details/7901/barricade

1. How would you go about changing a figure name?
2. In this case, which of these should actually be changed? Should the Zellers one match the other two as far as the Frenzy figure included name?

The name of the figure in EVERY instance is Decepticon Frenzy...just like it says on the package here:

http://shmax.com/img/transformers/large ... 1272674603

and twice here:

http://shmax.com/img/transformers/large ... 1271036528

and here:

http://shmax.com/img/transformers/large ... 1271444248

and here:

http://shmax.com/img/transformers/large ... 1270604091

and here:

http://www.shmax.com/img/transformers/l ... 1271461721

As far as the database is concerned, none of the figures should be named as "Frenzy" is his fiction-associated name.

The only time you'll see "Frenzy" without "Decepticon" in front of it (in the U.S. anyway) will be associated fiction.  They had to name the figure Decepticon Frenzy to obtain the trademark/copyright/whatever as "Frenzy" by itself could not be used for the figure.

Just like with "Autobot Grapple" from the Commemorative Series reissue line.  Or Autobot Jazz, or Autobot Ratchet, and so on...

1. How would you go about changing a figure name?

You'd submit the name change the same way you'd provide a picture or release info.

MIKE
engledogg

[GoktimusPrime]

Hi folks.

I noticed that there's a category for 3rd party items. I don't want to open up a can of worms debate about this thing, but I think the SHMAX database should really focus on "real" Transformer toys, i.e. toys manufactured under licence from Hasbro/Takara(TOMY) and marketed as part of their Transformers brand.

Because if we are to allow 3rd party toys to be included, then where do we draw the line of where people can subjectively and arbitrarily include toys that aren't really part of the Transformers brand, but they like to think they are? e.g. counterfeits (knockoffs), pre-Transformers (imagine adding all sorts of Macross VF-1S toys to a so-called "Transformers" database?!), customs etc.

If people really want to have a database to keep track of these other sorts of things, then perhaps set up a separate database for them. But I'd really rather not have anything that's not a legit Transformer in the database if that's okay. If not, please let me know and I'll respectfully withdraw my membership here, because I don't want to waste my time filling out a SHMAX database for my collection if in the end the numbers don't match up to what I consider to be "Transformers." I mean no disrespect to people who collect these sort of things, but I just set up this account earlier this afternoon and I've spent most of my day adding stuff to my collection here... and I've barely scratched the surface. It's gonna take me a long time to add my collection here, and I'd rather not waste my time doing this if the database is going to include any "Not Transformers."

Thank you very much.

[shmax]

Not to worry, it's just temporary. We've had a lot of people over the years asking us to add support for some of the garage kits, and while it's something we've always planned to do, we wanted to add it to a new category that is outside the "Transformers" branch. There are some snarly technical issues to resolve before we can do that (we're working on it now), and I got tired of promising people we'd get to it someday, so in the meantime I just snuck the "3rd party products" cat in there (we're drawing the line at knock-offs for now, though someday we'll probably support those as well). It will move away to its proper home once we're ready for it, so don't despair.

[Tripredacus]

An idea about this concept would be that the "reporting" of one's collection be able to be separated from other things. For example, once Diaclone is added to the database (a non-TF property) there should be differences in how it is reported. You can have either an overall collection, with subsections for Diaclone or Transformers.

I'm thinking of how things are currently reported. If you were to add G.I.Joe, how would this reflect in the Collector ranking? Currently the ranking is only for TF products, but if I were to add G.I.Joe items, that ranking could increase. That particular ranking would only be related to "total toys" instead of the "total TFs" as it is now. It would be the chagrin of people that only collected Transformer items if their numbers were skewed by hardcore collectors of other products, such as Star Wars which has more items than Transformers does.

How to figure out the best way to do this, I can't say. But once new lines are added, there should be a separation so that collectors of different things can relate to other people who collect the same things they do. Third Party TFs or KOs shouldn't count towards a total TF count, but if a user wants them to, they should. Maybe in the future, the different types of series could be chosen at random to reflect one's collection. Whether this be on some leaderboard, or even in the Shmax signature.

[GoktimusPrime]

Can't we have entirely separate databases for toys outside of the Transformers franchise? I for one would definitely be miffed if my ranking was affected because I was being compared with people who were including toys outside of the TF franchise in their collections.

Would it be possible to have different ranking options/settings? e.g. allow people to choose if they want to display their ranking as a specific franchise collector (e.g. Transformers) or as an overall toy collector? Or can the database display both ranks?

e.g. Your Transformers collector rank is X, and your Toy collector rank is Y.

[GoktimusPrime]

I just noticed that the photos of the loose 1985 Seekers are mistransformed.

e.g. G1 Ramjet
SHMAX's image: http://www.shmax.com/part_details/867 (the stickers are also horrifically misapplied, but anyway)
Correct transformation: http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/c/c0/G1Ramjet_toy.jpg