This page contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions when readers interact with or purchase items through these links. For more information, see our affiliate disclosures here.

Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Feel free to discuss anything about any of the thousands of Transformer toys here. Anything from Generation 1 all the way to the soon to be released, the never to be released or the hope to be released is fair game! Want to show off your stuff? Please post your's and see others in the Transformers Collections Forum.

Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Qwan » Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:21 pm

Motto: "There's no such thing as a no-lose situation, but if you try your hardest, you'll lose the least."
Weapon: Hand-Mounted Lasers
Thanks to fellow member LOST Cybertronian, we have two unique and interesting videos to share with you today! Despite having been around for nearly six months, these clips had largely flown under the radar until now. They give us, as consumers, a little bit of never-before-seen insight into the assembly and painting process in Vietnam of the Transformers toys many of us love!

The first video shows aspects of the actual assembly of these toys; pinning, screwing, and other more obscure processes are demonstrated (featuring toys such as The Last Knight Leader Optimus Prime, Deluxe Sqweeks, and more from Robots in Disguise, Rescue Bots and so on).

The second instead gives insight into the painting process, providing detailed clips of both the spray-painting process for larger areas, and tampographing - called 'pad printing' here, though both terms are correct and interchangeable.

Each video also serves as a demonstration of the sheer volume of Transformers toy being produced at any given time, for those who are interested in a reminder of how many figures actually exist (it can be easy to forget if you only see five or six copies of a figure personally).

Check out the videos below, and share any thoughts you may have on these clips in the Energon Pub forums! Do they give you more respect for the process? A greater tolerance for errors in your figures, or possibly lower by some chance? Let us know! And as always, stay tuned to Seibertron.com for ever more Transformers news as it comes in.



Image

ultraimpossibleman wrote:Grand innacurration and heavy mistakes !

Diem wrote:This is exactly the kind of nonsense I'm here for.
User avatar
Qwan
Gestalt Team Leader
Posts: 983
News Credits: 102
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:11 pm
Location: The side where the grass is greener
Watch Qwan on YouTube
Alt Mode: The very concept of transformation itself
Strength: 4
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 6
Endurance: 3
Rank: 4
Courage: 5
Firepower: 7
Skill: 7

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Hotconvoy » Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:53 pm

Motto: "Action figures are the right of all sentient transfomers fans"
Weapon: Cannon
Wow
Click link to view my new customs; Combiner Wars (deluxe class) Thundercracker,Combiner Wars Braver(nonbrainmaster), Titans Return Cliffjumper(comming soon) + more!
hotconvoy-s-custom-idea-mod-thread-t110853.php
Hotconvoy
Fuzor
Posts: 236
News Credits: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2017 12:26 am
Location: U.S.
Watch Hotconvoy on YouTube
Alt Mode: Dodge charger
Strength: Infinity
Intelligence: 9
Speed: 10+
Endurance: Infinity
Rank: 5
Courage: Infinity
Firepower: 10+
Skill: 9

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Lore Keeper » Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:56 pm

I'm genuinely surprised how much of the process is still performed by hand. I expected to see a lot more robotic assembly lines in the video.
Last edited by Lore Keeper on Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Lore Keeper
Headmaster
Posts: 1011
News Credits: 11
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 7:23 pm

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby o.supreme » Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:27 pm

Motto: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
So...many...jokes...must fight...urge...

ahh....... it passed.

Could be worse though.

Bucket/Want List: Botcon 2016 Customization Class Ratchet (G2 Deco), or Customization Class Ratchet (Marvel Comics Deco) **would also be willing to pay for an Unpainted Botcon 2016 Ratchet, TT Legends Fortress Head (only) with working Electronics

Wish List of Modern Combiners: Road Caesar, Monstructor & Dinoking (proper size to fiction), Landcross, Guard City, Battle Gaia, & G2 Defensor. Wish List of Titans:Metrotitan,Majin Zarak
User avatar
o.supreme
Guardian Of Seibertron
Posts: 7104
News Credits: 55
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:03 pm
Location: Born in the Bay Area, but stuck in Sacto.
Watch o.supreme on YouTube
Buy from o.supreme on eBay

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Ravage XK » Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:59 pm

Motto: "Are those my feet?"
Weapon: 20 Megavolt Stun Rifle
I found that a bit depressing for some reason.
Image

TF COUNT: Lost count!
Latest Additions: Haslab Unicron, Siege Jetifre, SS Blitzwing
User avatar
Ravage XK
Gestalt
Posts: 2344
News Credits: 15
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2004 10:38 am
Location: Maidstone, Kent, UK
Strength: 10+
Intelligence: 4
Speed: 9
Endurance: 7
Rank: 7
Courage: 10+
Firepower: 10+
Skill: 10+

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby firefox91 » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:09 pm

It's a little shocking to think about that. All this tech in 2018 but in places in Asia it's still cheaper to pay all of those workers to do it by hand. Really shows how little money they make. Makes me thankful for the opportunities I have in the USA.
User avatar
firefox91
Mini-Con
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:18 pm

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Deadput » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:27 pm

Motto: "Let's kick the tires and light the fires!"
Weapon: Fusion Blaster Cannon
Hope this makes people think before they complain about the paint on the Hasbro figures.
Va'al wrote:
Deadput wrote:Actually I don't know my mother's name is Valerie so is Va'al actually my mother?

Yes. Now go to your room and don't play with yourself.


Image
User avatar
Deadput
Faction Commander
Posts: 4592
News Credits: 54
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 7:37 am
Location: Alberta,Canada
Alt Mode: A mec suit for redundancy.
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 9
Endurance: 3
Rank: 3
Courage: 7
Firepower: 10
Skill: 5

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Starscream » Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:37 pm

Weapon: Null-Ray Rifle
Just to be clear, I am the brillaint MF that found these videos and posted them two days ago thank you very much.

https://twitter.com/collecticon/status/ ... 7751919617
User avatar
Starscream
Targetmaster
Posts: 628
News Credits: 16
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2003 10:16 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Watch Starscream on YouTube
Buy from Starscream on eBay
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 10
Endurance: 4
Rank: 9
Firepower: 8
Skill: 9

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Rated X » Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:56 pm

Motto: ""Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.""
Weapon: Saw-Edged Pincer
Rated X
Banned
Posts: 8420
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:25 pm
Location: Miami, Florida
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 2
Endurance: 10
Rank: 7
Courage: 10+
Firepower: 10+
Skill: 8

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Wolfman Jake » Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:56 pm

Motto: ""A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
-Edward Hoagland"
Weapon: Retractable Mecha-Fangs
It's always eye-opening to see how the proverbial sausage is made. I can see how Hasbro is so gung-ho about reducing "parts counts" on their modern figures, especially if that means paying fewer human workers to put together a given figure in full. It might also mean fewer quality control issues if there are fewer parts and fewer different hands in the mix...I'm not sure if it works out that way in reality, though. As for the paint process, a lot of it does seem to be automated, especially when it comes to the tampograph details. Most of the "hand painting" seems to be for total coverage of a whole part or a large area of plastic. If Hasbro is going to take out things like swiveling wrists and folding panels that hide hollow parts, they could at least spend a few pennies more on paint jobs. Now all we need is a video showing how those terrible foil stickers are applied.
Wolfman Jake - Spendin' the day howlin' away.
User avatar
Wolfman Jake
Faction Commander
Posts: 4266
News Credits: 65
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:22 am
Location: Little Canada, MN
Alt Mode: Wolf
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 10
Speed: 7
Endurance: 8
Rank: 5
Courage: 9
Firepower: 2
Skill: 8

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Qwan » Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:04 pm

Motto: "There's no such thing as a no-lose situation, but if you try your hardest, you'll lose the least."
Weapon: Hand-Mounted Lasers
Starscream wrote:Just to be clear, I am the brillaint MF that found these videos and posted them two days ago thank you very much.

https://twitter.com/collecticon/status/ ... 7751919617
Thanks for your investigative work, in that case! We news staff don't always see everything on our own, so if you have something like this you think might be newsworthy, always send it through to us - in this case another user was the one who alerted us to the videos so they were the one who was credited here.

Regardless, thanks for helping bring attention to these so we could share them further!


Wolfman Jake wrote:Now all we need is a video showing how those terrible foil stickers are applied.
Well it's not a video, but I do in fact have a highly-confidential insider image of one of Hasbro's top sticker-application employees hard at work:

Image

Image
Image

ultraimpossibleman wrote:Grand innacurration and heavy mistakes !

Diem wrote:This is exactly the kind of nonsense I'm here for.
User avatar
Qwan
Gestalt Team Leader
Posts: 983
News Credits: 102
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:11 pm
Location: The side where the grass is greener
Watch Qwan on YouTube
Alt Mode: The very concept of transformation itself
Strength: 4
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 6
Endurance: 3
Rank: 4
Courage: 5
Firepower: 7
Skill: 7

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby kurthy » Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:22 pm

Motto: "Illumination through acceleration!"
Weapon: Metal Tearing Serrated Circular Blade
Qwan wrote:Well it's not a video, but I do in fact have a highly-confidential insider image of one of Hasbro's top sticker-application employees hard at work:

Image

Image


I thought that was one of their top executives trying to respond to emails about stickers.
kurthy
Pretender
Posts: 709
News Credits: 13
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 7:51 pm
Location: Iowa City, IA
Alt Mode: John Deere 6M Series Tractor
Strength: 1
Intelligence: N/A
Endurance: 4
Firepower: 1
Skill: ???

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Ultra Markus » Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:13 pm

Motto: "“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” - Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight"
Weapon: 16 Cannons
i found another photo of them hard at work
roseanne-season-1-19-workin-overtime-rosie-crystal-jackie-laurie-metcalf-barr-natalie-west-wellman-plastics-factory-review-episode-guide-list.jpg
roseanne-season-1-19-workin-overtime-rosie-crystal-jackie-laurie-metcalf-barr-natalie-west-wellman-plastics-factory-review-episode-guide-list.jpg (140.66 KiB) Viewed 28097 times
User avatar
Ultra Markus
Gestalt
Posts: 2287
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2004 5:48 pm
Alt Mode: the biggest baddest thing ever
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 10
Speed: 7
Endurance: 10
Rank: 9
Courage: 10
Firepower: 10
Skill: 10

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby RacerCheetor » Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:04 am

Motto: "Interesting? *Mrow!* Optimus, the word is spot on smooth. *Prrrrr* It's a crime."
Weapon: Quasar Cannon
Someone tell one of them that they missed this detail with my MP-38 hahaha... :lol: :-(

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=110109&p=1917624#p1917624
Image
User avatar
RacerCheetor
Mini-Con
Posts: 40
News Credits: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2016 6:12 pm

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby noctorro » Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:58 am

That didn't make my day any happier. I don't think any of them would like to have a Transformers toy at home.
Image
http://www.plasticpolygon.com
I 3d design and print! Check out my instagram http://www.instagram.com/plasticpolygon3d for some Transformers weapons if you're interested. The War for Cybertron standard machine gun is ready as well as the Armada Optimus gun (smaller) and a Robotech Gunpod.
User avatar
noctorro
Gestalt Team Leader
Posts: 925
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:45 am

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Acesmcgee » Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:22 am

Motto: "It only takes one step to move forward."
Weapon: Vibro-Axe
It is always odd to me to see these types of videos in some ways, and not in others for a few reasons: One, I've done the factory floor job before. I worked in a copper tubing factory, dirty, hot and not fun, but I did learn a lot about the processes that go into getting the copper into tubes for brake lines, refridgerators and the like.
Two, we in the United States and similar countries are a more research based economic system, in that, more of our expenses for human labor are pushed into researching technologies (be it drugs, robotics, or other fields) rather than into labor itself. Most of the countries that we recieve our goods from push expenses into actual human labor. Which is part of the reason so many of our goods that we recieve are at least assembled overseas, the larger labor force is overall cheaper there (other reasons besides just the size are factors too, like pay scale but that is a whole other topic to get into). Often companies that build higher end tech has the parts made in places like the United States, where the process has become largely automated. It is cheap to produce those circuit boards and the like that way, they then ship those bits somewhere else that puts them together into actual product to sell, shipping them off from that point. It's crazy, but from a corporate stand point, makes sense. They actually use less money to produce their product and sell it by doing it that way then all in one place.
Does it make it any easier to see assembly lines of people putting together our toys, maybe not, but we can hope that at the very least they are treated well and given enough of a decent wage to live off of and that they aren't sweat shopped.
Acesmcgee
Fuzor
Posts: 207
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:20 pm
Location: Birmingham, Michigan
Alt Mode: Pickup truck
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 4
Endurance: 8
Rank: 4
Courage: 8
Firepower: 6
Skill: 7

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby Emerje » Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:53 am

Motto: "Spellcheck's antithesis."
Weapon: Saw-Edged Pincer
Lore Keeper wrote:I'm genuinely surprise how much of the process is still performed by hand. I expected to see a lot more robotic assembly lines in the video.

Some assembly line jobs just aren't practical to automate. Think about it, every single Transfomer on the shelf, big and small, simple and complex, would require a specialized system of machines to build. And for what? 4 months on the shelf and then another bunch of machines would need to be built for the next wave of toys. And that's just Transformers, now think of every toy in the toy aisle, comic shops, and Japanese web stores. It's much, much more cost effective to teach humans how to assemble all of the toys for years to come than to build machines that can only assemble one toy for a few months and maybe never be used again.

Emerje
User avatar
Emerje
News Staff
Posts: 10048
News Credits: 229
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:15 am
Location: Maine
Alt Mode: Lobster Moose
Strength: 9
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 4
Endurance: 8
Rank: 6
Courage: 10
Firepower: 3
Skill: 6

Re: Videos Showing Factory Assembly and Painting Process for Transformers Figures

Postby fenrir72 » Sat Mar 10, 2018 4:23 am

Motto: "Power to the strong and the right!"
Weapon: Plasma Cannon
Ain't capitalism grand?! :lol:
User avatar
fenrir72
God Of Transformers
Posts: 10540
News Credits: 60
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:37 am
Location: SEA
Buy from fenrir72 on eBay
Alt Mode: Mobile Ground Fortress
Strength: 9
Intelligence: 9
Speed: 6
Endurance: 10+
Rank: 9
Courage: 10
Firepower: 8
Skill: 9


Return to Transformers Toys Discussion

Transformers and More @ The Seibertron Store

Visit our store on eBay
These are affiliate links. We may earn commissions when you purchase items or services through these links.
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "GARGOYLES #10 Cvr F Dynamite Comics 2023 JUL230332 10F (CA) Kambadais"
GARGOYLES #10 Cvr ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "STAR TREK YEAR FIVE #25 RI 1:10 IDW Comics 2021 MAY210463 25RI (CA)Lendl 211013A"
STAR TREK YEAR FIV ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "Star Wars MANDALORIAN #8 var 1:50 Marvel Comics 2023 DEC220806 (CA) Dodson"
Star Wars MANDALOR ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "STAR WARS ADVENTURES #12 RI 1:10 IDW Comics 2021 SEP210466 12RI (CA) Francavilla"
STAR WARS ADVENTUR ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "STAR TREK DEFIANT #8 Cvr B IDW Comics 2023 JUL231226 8B (CA) Unzueta (W)Cantwell"
STAR TREK DEFIANT ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "GARGOYLES #11 Cvr C Dynamite Comics 2024 Disney AUG230318 11C (CA) Leirix"
GARGOYLES #11 Cvr ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #1 5th Anniversary Cvr B IDW Comics JAN231612 1B (CA) Yardley"
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #53 RI 1:10 IDW Comics 2022 JUL221625 53RI (CA) Fourdraine"
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #63 Cvr C RI 1:10 IDW Comics MAY231371 63C 63RI Fourdraine"
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "STAR TREK #12 Cvr C IDW Comics 2023 JUL231215 12C (CA) Levens (W) Kelly"
STAR TREK #12 Cvr ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "GARGOYLES DARK AGES #3 Cvr P 1:30 Dynamite Comics 2023 JUL230293 3P (CA) Danino"
GARGOYLES DARK AGE ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "GARGOYLES #6 Cvr E Dynamite Comics 2023 Disney MAR230497 6E (CA) Lee"
GARGOYLES #6 Cvr E ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "STAR WARS ADVENTURES #9 Cvr B IDW Comics 2021 MAR210469 9B (CA) Dowdy"
STAR WARS ADVENTUR ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "Star Trek Motion Picture ECHOES #1 Cvr B IDW Comics MAR231651 1B (CA) Chudakov"
Star Trek Motion P ...
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.
Find the items above and thousands more at the Seibertron Store on eBay
Transformers Podcast: Twincast / Podcast #346 - Gas Station Jamboree
Twincast / Podcast #346:
"Gas Station Jamboree"
MP3 · iTunes · RSS · View · Discuss · Ask
Posted: Saturday, March 23rd, 2024

Featured Products on Amazon.com

These are affiliate links. We may earn commissions when you purchase items or services through these links.
Buy "Transformers Authentics Bumblebee" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers MPM-03 Movie 10th Anniversary Figure Bumblebee" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Toys Megatron Cyberverse Ultimate Class Action Figure - Repeatable Fusion Mega Shot Action Attack Move - Toys for Kids 6 and Up, 11.5-inch" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers: Bumblebee -- Energon Igniters Nitro Series Optimus Prime" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Deluxe Ratchet Action Figure" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Power of The Primes Evolution Nemesis Prime (Amazon Exclusive)" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers: Generations Power of The Primes Leader Evolution Rodimus Prime" on AMAZON
Buy "Cyberverse Warrior Class Megatron" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Deluxe Class Arcee Figure" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers: Robots in Disguise Combiner Force Team Combiner Menasor, 8.5-inch" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Titans Return Titan Master Monxo and Wolfwire" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Robots in Disguise Warrior Class Steeljaw Figure" on AMAZON