Fan-backed Hasbro project: Unicron

[griffin]

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[Paulbot]

This video (from an official Hasbro website) is very interesting and for those that haven’t seen much about how a toy is made you’ll learn a few things.

[reillyd]

This must have been a monumental effort to arrange if they took over fifty people doing it! 372 pieces seems like a lot - so I wonder whether this would make it the most intricate Transformer released yet (although some of those Masterpiece ones are pretty involved too - but it did say double the tools [but maybe not necessarily parts] for a Titan class). I'd hate to have to be assembling one of these from scratch, and I think its going to be a huge task to actually transform him back and forth. I'm really excited to see more behind the scenes videos like this: would be great to see it being assembled

[Magnus]

For comparison, Jabba's sail barge has 250 parts, for anyone who's wondering.

It's been argued before that part of the reason Unicron is so expensive is that custom tooling needs to be made for what would be a limited production run. That tooling can't really be reused for different figures.

[griffin]

From the link above...

HASLAB WAR FOR CYBERTRON UNICRON: PRODUCTION UPDATE #1

Unicron is almost ready for what we call tool start.
Tool start is when we begin the process of manufacturing the tools, or molds, that will be used to create each piece of this massive figure. However, before tool start, we need a tool layout. A tool layout is the plan that organizes all the pieces that make up the figure into different tools. One tool might make five small pieces, while another tool might make one big one. The number of pieces in a tool vary based on the material, color and size.

To plan this out we used what's called a tooling model, a grown physical model of the figure. We took the Unicron tooling model apart, laying out approximately 372 pieces, so that we could plan which pieces go into which tools. It was sort of like when Rodimus Prime blew up Unicron at the end of the 1986 film. Pieces of him, everywhere.

We can only run one type of material in a tool at a time, so we had to figure out which parts of Unicron would call for the same material. We also had to consider the strength and durability of certain plastics. Unicron will be made of a total of 6 different types of plastic. If you watch our update video, you might catch big bold letters like ABS, PP or PA on the tool layout sheets. We didn't get the alphabet mixed up; those identify the different types of plastic.

Beyond material, we also needed to consider the color of the pieces and which combination of pieces best fit into one tool. Ultimately it came out to 59 different tools, which include tools for the to-scale shuttle ship, Galvatron, and Hot Rod slug figures. That's double the number of tools used in the average Titan Class figure!

So, that's where we're at. After a trip to Hong Kong, two very long days, coffee, about 50 people all working and planning together, and coffee, we have a tool layout. That tool layout will be used to create the tools into which we'll inject various types of melted plastics. Once they cool, what we'll pull out will be the individual pieces that will make up a Unicron figure. Then, those pieces will all be hand-painted and assembled into the insatiable Planet Eater!

As noted above, there is a video included in the update #1 posting to watch - it only goes for 56 seconds and shows the grey model broken down into its parts and layed out to show the mould trees/plates for the plastic moulding machines.

[DELTAprime]

Update 2 for Unicron is here. Lots of pictures of test shots, the mould for the head and the packaging.

https://www.seibertron.com/transform...-photos/44786/

[griffin]

Just pasting up the text and most of the images from the Hasbro Pulse page at that Seibertron link...

In these chaotic times, the Chaos Bringer finds order.
Even working from home, our engineers are working hard to keep Unicron development on track. Below you'll see images of what we call a T1 sample, which stands for Test 1. It's the first time we run the molds with plastic so the sample is very rough. It's not the final colors and the parts don't all fit exactly right at this stage. We normally don't see T1 samples in Rhode Island, usually we wait until EP1, which stands for Engineering Pilot 1, to get the first samples. But for the immense Planet Eater we wanted the samples earlier in the process.
Here is 1 mold which includes the face of Unicron. This is what the plastic is run through in the factory.





And here is the T1 sample, standing at 27 inches tall when on his stand. This is the first photo of him in plastic, albeit a funky array of colored plastics. Without rings, he is 16 inches wide, but with rings, he hangs over our engineer's side table at 32 inches wide. And not including the stand, he has a depth of 11 inches. The stand itself has a width and depth of 21.5 inches.
Since we're still in these very early stages, all dimensions are approximate and subject to changes.




It was also crucial to see how Unicron compares in size sitting next to the common house cat.
Our engineer's cat, Charlie, was ready to assist. He's a professional sitter.

As you can see, the results show Unicron is very big.






This next shot isn't of the T1 sample, it's a model our instructions designer is using as he works on the instruction’s booklet for Unicron from his beautiful kitchen.
The Chaos Bringer really brings the whole room together. And fills the space nicely in planet mode at 33 inches tall and 37 inches wide including his ring. Without the ring he's 20 inches wide.

Again, since we're still in these very early stages, all dimensions are approximate and subject to changes.






And here we have some more very important engineering testing.
We really want to make sure Unicron is durable, so our trusty engineer's assistant, Charlie, did a bite test.
He checked both horns. He's very thorough. But not even the fangs of this "ferocious" feline could defeat such a formidable foe.
However, there was one thing left inconclusive, does this make Charlie The Planet Eater Eater?






And now, a sneak peek of final package graphics:



If you were wondering what possible vessel could hold the mighty Unicron, the answer is this giant 26” x 26” x 26” box. Fun Fact: Our 6-foot tall brand manager can fit inside. We checked.
Despite the unique circumstances and a little cat hair on the sample, we're still plugging along, working to bring you the Bringer of Chaos you've been anxiously anticipating.

Stay tuned for Unicron Update #3 down the line when we'll bring you even more updates on our development process.