MP Ultra Magnus Official Pics

[GoktimusPrime]

Lift this, Lift that..... Surely some of those should be "Rotate".....

Here's the original Japanese version. 起こします means to lift or raise up, and 回転 means to rotate.

[Krayt]

Well looks like if I follow the English instructions I'm going to be breaking his foot off....

And anyway, you've translated 2 words, what's the whole last panel say about the calf?

[DELTAprime]

Has everyone stopped trying to figure out transformations when they get a toy in hand or something? I look forward to figuring it out when I get it in hand and not going to youtube or the manual till after I figure it out. It's far more satisfying to figure something out yourself than going off manuals or videos.

[Sinnertwin]

Has everyone stopped trying to figure out transformations when they get a toy in hand or something? I look forward to figuring it out when I get it in hand and not going to youtube or the manual till after I figure it out. It's far more satisfying to figure something out yourself than going off manuals or videos.

no, can't say i feel any extra sense of pride or self satisfaction when i figure out how to manipulate a mass-produced plastic toy without looking at the instructions. But... whatever floats your boat

[drifand]

I would have break something, I definitely follow instructions.
I would strongly suggest not to view post of the instructions if you feel that it is taking the fun out of what you are about to attempt transformation without a guide.

[GoktimusPrime]

Well looks like if I follow the English instructions I'm going to be breaking his foot off....

And anyway, you've translated 2 words, what's the whole last panel say about the calf?

The English version is the translation of what the Japanese version says. So if you think that saying "lift" is an inaccurate description then take that up with Takara Tomy, because that's what they've written in the original instructions. I merely translated it to English.

[kaiden]

sorry to DELTA if you feel the pics i linked are spoilers...

in future, i will mark everything as a spoiler.

[xlojnr]

The English version is the translation of what the Japanese version says. So if you think that saying "lift" is an inaccurate description then take that up with Takara Tomy, because that's what they've written in the original instructions. I merely translated it to English.

Gok - was the english translation of the instructions a part of your role in translating/adapting the bio book for UM?

[GoktimusPrime]

Gok - was the english translation of the instructions a part of your role in translating/adapting the bio book for UM?

Pretty much.

What I did was:
* Translated the instructions
* Re-wrote the bio. Original bio is written from a Japanese continuity POV, so I re-wrote it from a G1 Anglophone continuity POV (e.g. disregarding events from Scramble City etc.). I also made a reference to IDW Ultra Magnus.
* Translated/adapted the little blurbs (about his transformation, weapons, abilities etc.).
* Edited the "History of Ultra Magnus" page on the back cover. It's the same style as the "History of Soundwave" page on the back of MP Soundwave's booklet, but the original version is totally Takara-biased (understandably), so I changed it to make it Hasbro-biased. I removed some of the Takara-exclusive UMs and replaced them with some Hasbro-exclusive UMs. However, the draft of the booklet that I received did not include this edition. I did mention it to Hasbro AU, who agreed with my suggested changes and said that they would speak to Hasbro HK about it; but that's the last I heard of it. So I have no idea if Hasbro HK agreed with my changes here, or stuck with their version which is a straight up English translation of the Takara-biased Japanese source.


L: From the original Japanese booklet, R: a rough MS Paint mock-up of what I've recommended for the Hasbro version.

One problem was that we had a VERY short time frame to complete this project. I was literally only given three days to do translate/adapt the booklet! And I was really sick on the 2nd day, and had to go to work on the 1st and 3rd days. In fact, I didn't start working on it until the evening of Day 1.

Hasbro gave me even less time with the next project, but that's a really simple toy/character, so luckily I was able to turn it around pretty quickly. They gave me about a week for the latest one I did (which I finished 2 days ago), so hopefully I did a better job on that one. But yeah, I'm spending hours of my spare time at nights and weekends doing this stuff, in between work and family commitments.

[griffin]

First of all, I'm like DeltaPrime, in that Transformers toys are designed as puzzles... so I always try to figure it out first before using instructions - because like a mystery book or movie, you only get one chance to work out the mystery for yourself, and only one chance to be surprised at the process and outcome.
This is why I don't pay much attention, or scrutinise images too keenly, in case it gives away something clever or hidden in the toy... so I will scroll past images that get too detailed, instead of looking at them, so that it doesn't "spoil" my one chance to enjoy the puzzle element of the toy.
Especially with the more expensive toys, as that is one of the cost/value elements of the toy to then evaluate if it was worth the expense (along with the elements of playability, sculpting, size, complexity/engineering, colours, etc).

Saying all that, people need to be aware that EVERYTHING in a News section posting should be treated or expected to be a spoiler, and only needs to be hidden if it relates to another item or element that isn't the subject of that news topic.
Otherwise, we'll end up having everything hidden, and people being too afraid to post up news... which makes my job easier for not having to post up all news postings.

On this occasion, this was actually a topic (with title saying so) that was to reveal images of the toy before its release. So all images should be treated as potential spoilers, because even in just images of their two modes and close-up of parts & limbs, it will reveal things that might not have been known until you get the toy out of the box.

If it is a significantly different element that could be seen as spoiler-ish in a general news topic, it CAN be split off into new topics. (like having a separate movie news topic for movie plots and trailers)
Full transformations could be something deemed different enough, to spoil the more complex and expensive toys, but a poll will be posted (soon-ish) in the intro/info section to see what most members think.

I just don't want to go so far as to having all potential transformation spoilers be hidden or in separate topics, or as a link to the image... as most toy photos released before the toy comes out will usually give away transformations, particularly to the keen-eyed people.
We've already had a heap of Ultra Magnus photos that gives away elements of transformations, including links to hobby magazine scans that showed the entire transformation already.


The one good thing about images though, as opposed to text spoilers, is that once you scroll down to recognise a transformation sequence or a detailed enough image to make it easily known, you can scroll away or close the window instead of looking closely enough at the images to see enough detail to be a spoiler.

But a poll is worthwhile, and will be posted up later in the Intro/Info section.