Help:Official info

TFWiki has a policy that information about upcoming toys or media be officially released before it is fit for inclusion on this wiki. There are 4 reasons for this.

1. Such information (charmingly called "scoops" on many news sites) is almost always based on stolen prototypes or leaked scripts, and TFWiki doesn't feel that is legitimate behavior, and that any information obtained this way is dubious at best.^[1]
2. Things are subject to change, and thus early information may not reflect the final product—in fact, it stands an excellent chance of misrepresenting the final product.
3. Information obtained this way is often flat-out wrong due to the scooper's ignorance or lack of context. The information is almost always incomplete, with guesswork to fill in the gaps, but no clear indication what part is guesswork.
4. This information is inevitably posted on TFWiki as "fact", with no citation for the source from which it came. Because some of this information inevitably proves to be to be wrong, this harms the overall accuracy of this wiki.

TFWiki is for information, not disinformation. Stolen, subject-to-change, misinterpreted and badly translated scoops are not "information" because they have a much higher potential to misinform than to inform. Including such pseudo-information on this wiki as fact legitimizes the info while hurting us.

In summary, TFWiki has decided not to include information from stolen toys and media for ethical reasons, concern that it may not be final, and reasons of general accuracy/stupidity.

What constitutes official information?

Simply put, anything coming either directly or indirectly from Hasbro and/or TakaraTomy, or from other official parties such as (currently) Skybound Entertainment, Paramount Pictures or other companies officially involved with the Transformers brand.

What's important is that this information should have been cleared through official channels. Hasbro's website is a valid source, as is Skybound's. Preorder and inventory listings from established retailers, such as Toys "R" Us or Amazon, are also fair game. Information revealed by individuals involved in the production of Transformers, if it's revealed in an "official" venue (such as a printed article, a post from them on a message board, or a convention panel) counts, but your behind-the-scenes talk with a current member of Hasbro's Transformers team at BotCon does not count.

Official information does not negate this Wiki's spoiler policy!

So what is unofficial information?

To put it simply, any information *not* gleamed from the aforementioned sources shouldn't be here. If you heard it from a friend, and that friend heard it from his friend, then you'd best do some more research before you post it here.

Other things to note

Stolen toys are bad

The Fandom has a long, arduous history with toys winding up on eBay and other auction sites months before their shelf-dates.

This behavior is widely tolerated in Transfandom, but TFWiki isn't one of those places. Why? For starters it's illegal in the purest sense of the word. These toys or prototypes were stolen from their rightful owners and resold on the black market to people willing to pay extra for the thrill, status or collectible value of something they are not supposed to have. People can and do lose jobs over these things. Those who buy knowing what they're purchasing is stolen are complicit in this cycle and, though it's seldom enforced, their actions are outright illegal and demonstrably actionable.

TFWiki exists in a legal gray area of safe-harbor laws, diffuse responsibility, crowdsourcing, de minimis, ostensible fair use, selective interpretation of the phrase 'derived work', not-for-profit status and the legal vagueness^[2] surrounding the extent to which organized collections of facts can be copywritten. We see Hasbro and TakaraTomy as silent partners who do not give us legal hassles and for whom we, in turn, look out for their best interests.

That includes things like:

1. Attempting to respect, recognize and reaffirm Hasbro's copyright and trademarks, and encouraging such best practices, thus protecting Hasbro's intellectual property from erosion and de-valuation while still sharing the keeping it open for use.^[3]
2. Discouraging people from stealing tens of thousands of dollars of Hasbro's property rather than rewarding such behavior.
3. Not encouraging piracy of Transformers media (movies, DVDs, games, comics etc.) which is available for legitimate purchase.

In 2008, when literally dozens of each of the BotCon 2008 toys began showing up on eBay, Brian Savage put his foot down and threatened legal action against the buyers as well as the sellers if the toys were not returned to him, on the ground they were knowingly receiving stolen property. He officially confirmed what had long been suspected, these toys were not 'lunch hour specials' (extra toys produced 'off the books,') but had in fact been stolen from the very limited production run he paid for, which had been delivered short. Because the per-unit production cost of Botcon toys is significantly higher, literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise— which had been paid for— has been stolen.

But even if all that wasn't the case we'd still probably be against posting info from stolen sources. Because it's wrong. Remember "wrong?" This is not a complicated morally-ambivalent situation filled with shades of gray. "Stolen" is the key word.

Another side effect of stolen toys sold on auction sites is that the sellers, lacking context (intended toyline, purpose, character's name etc.), occasionally guess a name, or make one up on the spot. This name is then taken as gospel by fan sites, even though it can occasionally turn out to be awfully wrong.^[4] Other times sellers might have access to information such as names, but those could later turn out to be non-final working names.^[5]

In recent years, the amount of stolen samples turning up on auction sites long before Hasbro would ever officially reveal those figures has considerably decreased compared to what it was like a decade ago, but this doesn't change any of the above.

Changes from true to false and back again

At various points, each of the below was true. Only one ultimately turned out to be definite.

There's gonna be a Decepticon helicopter called "Blackout" in the movie!

Listings in US (and occasionally also foreign) retailers' computers are often cited, but this information can also be wrong, and stay wrong.^[6][7][8][9]

This doesn't negate the point of this article, however. It simply means that one has to be careful with information released by official sources (which might even contradict each other). Official information still has one advantage over unofficial information: It is intended for the public and has a—presumably reliable—official party to be held responsible for the accuracy of the information in question.

The bottom line

The above guidelines are not to be taken as strict legal rules that are tightly enforced regardless of circumstance. There are cases where information that falls into the above descriptions can be used on this Wiki, but only under certain conditions.

For example, stolen prototypes that are different from the final toy can be cited as evidence for changes in the development process of said toy. After the toy has been officially released. Likewise, leaked concept art, scripts etc. for episodes or movies can be cited as evidence to make a point, or to point out changes in the plot, after the episode or movie in question has been officially released. In those instances, companies are a lot less likely to go after sites posting the information in question simply because it doesn't affect a still-in-development product anymore.

Stolen prototypes can also be cited as evidence for planned toys that never came out, if it can be reasonably assumed that the toy is not going to be released anytime soon anymore. Evidence for a canceled release are:

• Hasbro officially declares the line the toy has been intended for to be over.
• A considerable amount of time (like, two years or more) has passed since the stolen toy has surfaced for the first time, and there has still been no official word on it.
• Hasbro officially confirms that the toy in question has been canceled (thereby also officially confirming its existence, for that matter).

In some instances, knowledge about stolen prototypes for toys that never got released has actually led to the toy in question getting released through a different venue after all due to explicit fan request.

As stated above, there is no clear ruling on when information about a stolen toy, or a leaked script, or whatever else becomes sorta-okay for this Wiki. Reasonable restraint on the individual editor's behalf should be the primary guideline to decide whether knowledge about possibly canceled (or already sorta-released) products is no longer likely to affect a still-upcoming product.

Still can't decide? Ask yourself:

Has the information been officially confirmed by Hasbro, Takara or another official party (Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Skybound Entertainment, Japanese hobby magazines, online retailers, etc.)?

1. If yes: Will it spoil an upcoming plot (comic, cartoon episode, movie etc.)?
   1. If yes: Follow the official spoiler policy of this Wiki.
   2. If no: Share the news! Please mind the copyrights, and please mind your grammar.
2. If no: Has a reasonable amount of time passed since whenever the information was to be announced?
   1. If yes: You may add it to this Wiki as long as you respect the corresponding copyrights and have taken the necessary steps to ensure that it will really not affect an upcoming product anymore.
   2. If no: Don't post it to this Wiki.

References

1. ↑ You can probably add "Legal concerns about stolen information—and assets!" in here too, but we don't expect to move you with that argument.
2. ↑ It is not actually vague, people just pretend to misinterpret it so they can claim "good faith."
3. ↑ Every time a picture is used without a copyright notice and Hasbro fails to issue a cease-and-desist letter, their ownership of that image erodes just a little bit. Yes that's stupid, but it's how copyright works.
4. ↑ At one point everyone believed that Alternators Decepticharge was going to be Drag Strip. Lacking context, someone suggested a name which was then taken as confirmation by others ("someone said it, so it must be true").
5. ↑ Early samples of Revenge of the Fallen Scout Class Dead End were alternatively referred to as "Dead End" or "Detour" by sellers. (The "Detour" name was later revealed to be an early working name for the figure via erroneous cardboard name inserts with the "Detour" name for the first batch of the European production run, as well as for the official in-packaging stock photo of the European version.)
6. ↑ In 1999, Wal-Mart's computers had a listing for a Transmetal 2 "Kangaroo" that ultimately turned out to be Jawbreaker, a hyena.
7. ↑ Poison Bite and Razor Claw also had alternate names listed.
8. ↑ The Alternators Mazda RX-8 (Meister) as "Camshaft", Ford Mustang (Grimlock) as "Freeway", and an unspecified Mitsubishi which ultimately never came out, among other things.
9. ↑ The not-Micromaster Universe Constructicon redecos of the Robots in Disguise Build Team listed as mass retail releases on Walmart's website, even though the toys were eventually released as Target exclusives.