Transformers

Spork Enlargement

Monday, June 18th, 2007

Found this last night while reading an article about the making of the new Transformers movie:

The image of Bonecrusher®, a Buffalo® MPCV™, was something the art department pulled off the web. “It’s actually a funny story,” recounts Mann. “We found this image of a mine-sweeping vehicle that had a huge arm with what appeared to be a fork on the end. So we called the people who owned it, hoping there was a chance we could rent it or buy it, but when we got the data, it turned out the fork was only 14 inches wide — they had totally cheated the whole thing in Photoshop,” he laughs. “In their picture, it looks like the thing could lift a bus. We had to make an appliance to fit over the existing arm, that wouldn’t bounce around too much because it was about 10 feet wide, but those are the logistical challenges you face.”

This is the image of the vehicle he’s talking about, the Buffalo MPCV. I’d say it’s not so much Photoshop-trickery but image perspective… regardless, the Buffalo is still a beast.

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We Got Him

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

Bonecrusher arrived at our offices yesterday. I was pretty excited… these toys aren’t supposed to be available to the public until June 2. Last night, as I was marvelling at how well connected I am, I hop online and find this press release. Seems they’re caving to pressure and releasing the figures early. Oh well.

He took me about 15 minutes to transform, though I’m getting progressively better each attempt. We also just got the green light to start incorporating some TF-related stuff on the Force Protection website. Check back often… you might be surprised what you find.

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Can I get a taste?

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Having any role in a big-budget movie is exciting, no matter how small. I imagine it must feel a lot like one of the ushers at the Masters that holds up the “Quiet Please” signs. Sure, he’s on the green and gets a t-shirt for his hard work, but at the end of the tourney he loses his STFU sign and goes back to his full-time job of yelling at those damn kids to get off his lawn.

We’ve been tasked with creating a little buzz around the Transformers movie on the Force Protection website. Images and video clips have been pouring in from Paramount and we’ve been given pretty free-reign to do what we like, save that anything we do gets run past them first before we post it.

We also got a hold of some advance toy images. Seems like some of the figures are already being sold on e-bay… the rest of us have to wait until June 1st to get our hands on them legitimately. The photography on the toy concept artwork looks strikingly familiar.

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Mean Animation

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

Final stop in San Fran was a visit to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio. Many of Lucasfilm’s (George Lucas’ digital entertainment empire) divisions are located here within the former army base. It’s an incredible place…the facilities are top shelf, hundreds of talented people running around, and halls packed with movie memorabilia and artifacts. Particularly exciting (to us) is their animation work on the new Transformers movie set to debut on July 4th. Our friends at Force Protection will have one of their vehicles featured in the movie….the Buffalo will become Bonecrusher. You’ll see him in action in the trailer below.