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Transformers Thread 2


Dangard Ace

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FOr the 2 pack picture above? THe only things retooled are primal's chest, robot head, and beast head. Megatron has a new head. Both of them have more accurate paint schemes. The golden disc has some visuals on the history of beast wars, hints at upcoming releases of the hasbro newly tooled deluxe primal and megatron, and other stuff.

The all new tools coming from hasbro are deluxe sized, and totally redesigned. Megatron IMHO looks better than the old but primal.....I dunno man they totally changed the transformation scheme and right now it lacks weapons other than a missle firing surfboard. Tfw2005.com has pics from toyfair of it.

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The new face sculpt is supposed to be more show accurate. Primes face shield is rarelly down in bw. Most of the time Prime has the metal beard look. Megatron's head is gritting his teeth like in the old mold.

I heard they are going to release a magnaboss resculpt with a golden disc. That sounds pretty weird considering it wasn't in the cg show. maybe it was in the hand drawn cartoon?

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While the SW TFs just plain look nasty to me, and are an assault on everything I consider to be intelligent and thoughtful mech design, the primary reason I hate them so much is that I see them as a missed opportunity. For years I thought certain SW vehicles would make some nice looking bots. I always thought it was something that would never happen, but wished it would.

Well, like they say, be careful what you wish for...

If these had spent a little more time in planning and had been made as SW vehicles that turn into TF characters, they would have been a winner for both TF and SW fans. But instead they give us a Tyderium shuttle with the wings hanging in a very inefficient manner and Palpys head resting on the shoulders. Booo.

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I'm eagerly waiting for someone to build masterpieces of triple changers like blitzwing or astrotrain.

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One of the Neo G1 deluxe figures set to debut in fall is Astrotrain........

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shin, where'd you hear that? I'm really hoping the neo-g1 isn't vaper ware

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I believe Junior from tfw2005 posted assortment listings for these on the boards, he got them from the TRU computer at work.

496477 - TRA Legends of Cybertron Ast 3.99

496558 - Cyber Unleashed Primus 49.99

496593 - TF 20th Anniversary Optimus Pr 89.99

496999 - GI TRA Deluxe Vintage Classic 10.99

498316 - TF TS TRA 6" Cybertron Heros A 14.99

498332 - TF TS TRA 3" Meta Robot Maste 4.99

498405 - TF TRA Voyager Classic Assortm 19.99

And cybertronian inquirer(most of their previous rumors came true surprisingly at toyfair)

The TF Classic Line:

Deluxe

Optimus Prime (with out Trailer)

Bumblebee

Starscream

Hot Rod

Astrotrain

Grimlock

TBD (To be Decided)

TBD

All of these are set to be released in October except for Grimlock, Astrotrain, and the 2 TBDs, which are set for February.

Voyager

Megatron

Jetfire

Prime with trailer

Soundwave

Megs and Jetfire are set for October and Prime and Soundwave for Feb

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Rerelease of G1 Jetfire?  I would find that unlikely... isn't the mold Bandai's regardless of Takara using way back then?

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Naw, TF Classics (or whatever the name of the line will be) is a reworking of classic G1 characters using modern engineering, so they're not reissuing Jetfire. Its speculated that, if this list is accurate, Hasbro might have designed 'Jetfire' using the Skyfire design actually seen on the G1 cartoon.

Or maybe even The War Within comic's Jetfire design with the flip-down Valkyrie-style faceplate.

Takara never released Jetfire, nor most of the toys from other japanese toylines/cartoons, like Omega Supreme, the Deluxe Insecticons, Roadbuster, Whirl, Skylynx ect. They did, however, release Shockwave.

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Shoji Kawamori's Hybrid Style G1 Convoy/Prime from the Wonder Festival 2006 Winter

Uploaded by Nevermore for speedier viewing.

Photos by yokubarion, originally taken from this site.

As originally posted by Nevermore: 'THS-02 was the only TF-related Takara toy on display, the others were MP-B02 Dragon Kaiser and some Microman stuff.'

Dengeki Hobby Jan 2006 size comparison with Masterpiece Convoy and Pepsi Convoy

My thoughts: Kawamori's redesign of Convoy/Prime, such as it is, suffers greatly from the tiny scale this toy is made in - Prime is roughly 4 inches tall in robot mode. He is too fat in robot mode, and has a very poor truck cab mode.

Many thanks to yokubarion and Nevermore!

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Aside from the limits of the size of the toy, I think Kawamori Prime looks fine in robot mode. Truck mode could be better, but it's already a great improvement over the Robot Masters version. wouldn't mind grabbing one, but yeah, I'd rather he was larger, like MPC Prime size. I think it is a better overall design than the MPC toy, and given that scale more could have been done to make the truck mode the best since the original.

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Not really - Kawamori's design sketches even have proportional problems, at least compared to the G1 Prime of the past. Short, stubby forearms and a too-wide chest. If it were made in a larger scale, the problems wouldn't be as noticible, but they would still be there.

This may be rather obvious, but as it stands, MP Convoy/20th Prime has the more accurate robot mode, and an infinately better truck mode - truck mode is important, given these are 'Transformers', and not 'generic japanese robot'.

I'm not sure if it was a good idea to get Kawamori to redesign Convoy, presumebly in a desperate attempt at industry and geek publicity. Because, just like the japanese public in general, traditional japanese mecha designers don't really 'get' the concept Transformers. The idea that these are sentient beings, not human-piloted mecha.

This is one of the reasons why Transformers remain relatively unpopular in Japan. Hell, even TAKARA doesn't really understand the concept of Transformers as a fiction, as evident by their hamfisted marketing over the past 2 years.

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I'm not sure if it was a good idea to get Kawamori to redesign Convoy, presumebly in a desperate attempt at industry and geek publicity. Because, just like the japanese public in general, traditional japanese mecha designers don't really 'get' the concept Transformers. The idea that these are sentient beings, not human-piloted mecha.

This is one of the reasons why Transformers remain relatively unpopular in Japan. Hell, even TAKARA doesn't really understand the concept of Transformers as a fiction, as evident by their hamfisted marketing over the past 2 years.

371652[/snapback]

Let me vent for a minute on what I believe to be the main problem with Transformers in Japan. There just is an overall sloppiness in the G1 Transformers storyline that just doesn't resonate well with the average Japanese person. Even the really kiddy shows in Japan (think sentai) pay meticulous attention to technical detail. There is a somewhat complex storyline dealing with somewhat serious issues. If a robot shows up in a Japanese show, rest assured that it has been spec'ed out in detail. Height, weight, power source, designer, maximum speed, blah blah blah. Transformers, on the other hand, came into being for one main purpose, to sell robot toys. Sure, Gundam is a merchandising powerhouse as well, but you have to admit the story came before the toys.

So you have a transforming toy gun and a transforming toy truck, how do you make a show out of this? Well the gun is the leader of the bad guys and the truck is the leader of the good guys. Unfortunately in robot form they are the same size, yet when Megatron is a gun he magically shrinks. American kids can usually let this stuff go, but a Japanese kid will be baffled. Where does the mass go? There are fundamental laws of physics being broken here!

Think of how Power Rangers was initially brought to America. Rather than protecting the world from domination, the backstory was that these kids had to save a little town called Angel Grove. Instead of going into technical detail of why someone (or some organization) designed these robots for the rangers, they were just awesome Zords that spontaneously appeared out of nowhere. Techincal details be damned, they're just so mighty morphin that no one cares. American kids shows tend to just really dumb things down, and I find it really condescending.

So things like Soundwave having the awesome ability to transform into a fantastic piece of architecture on his native cybertron. Or the convenient fact that the robot forms on cybertron had parts like grills and headlights on their chests that just happened to match the modern day cars of present day Earth. That certain transformers can change size on demand, and it's not even clear what size they are supposed to be (all the decepticons can fit inside Astrotrain?!). That you can kill Prime with a few gunshots, yet you can also completely disassemble him and stick his arm on the top of the Empire State building just to piss people off, and then put him back together again with no ill effects. These little details just gnaw at the Japanese and their technically trained minds.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up on Transformers, and still love them to this day. While lacking in technical details, the Transformers had some really memorable characters and plenty of pretty decent storylines. But I really think it's the overall sloppiness of technical details that kept The Transformers from the success it deserved in Japan.

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The biggest turn off to me is the size, THS Convoy is barely taller than a microman!!Now had he been 2x what he is now, around 8 inches, THEN I wouldn' mind spending near 50$ for it!

Also for the NEo G1 line you had to be at botcon to see the prototypes of gun megatron and F-15 starscream, but these were in a slideshow and NOONE was permitted to take photos. MEgs is a futuristic gun, and I hear these guys looked badass. Since the initial release is in october I expect to see the prototypes or hasbro pics not too long for now, MAYBE spring, but if anything DEFINITELY summer!

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Fit For Natalie, compared to which G1 Prime of the past? The original toy? The original toy's box art? The various G1 Prime toys that came after? The G1 animation model sheet? The various stylistic takes on Prime by various comic artists since the very first issue of the G1 comics, to the latest incarnation of the series in that medium?

Debating proportional issues on Transformers is sillier than debating them for Macross toys, since there really is no set design for the characters. Especially here as a redesign, where it's obvious Kawamori was not simply tracing over someone else's design from the past, but giving his own interpretation.

And beyond deviating from a set design, you don't get very far before your opinion of the character's proportions are entirely subjective. I for one prefere the overall proportions Kawamori gave this Prime to the MPC Prime (specifically in the line art).

I will agree that the truck mode is important, though, and it seems the designers of both this toy and the MPC Prime kind of let that mode suffer in favour of a more appealing robot mode. I suspect given the MPC size, this Prime could have gotten a much better truck mode with few concessions to the look in robot mode.

As to whether or not it was a good idea to get Kawamori for this....why not? If Kawamori indeed does not "get it" as far as Transformers go, I don't see it reflected at all in what looks to me to be an excellent take on an old favourite.

I will certainly agree that Takara has made plenty of poor decisions in its handling of Transformers, but I don't think asking Kawamori to do a version of Prime is one of them.

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Let me vent for a minute on what I believe to be the main problem with Transformers in Japan.
Okay then.

Oh dear, Japanophile Alert.

There just is an overall sloppiness in the G1 Transformers storyline that just doesn't resonate well with the average Japanese person.  Even the really kiddy shows in Japan (think sentai) pay meticulous attention to technical detail.  There is a somewhat complex storyline dealing with somewhat serious issues.
There is a flaw in your argument given facts we know.

It is widely acknowledged that the Transformers series originally written in the US, with a US audience in mind, such as the American G1 and US Beast Wars, when dubbed into Japanese, tended to be much more popular in Japan than any of the Japanese-written Transformers series, written with a japanese audience in mind.

Yes, real japanese fans confirm this. Imagine that!

If a robot shows up in a Japanese show, rest assured that it has been spec'ed out in detail.  Height, weight, power source, designer, maximum speed, blah blah blah.
Its because the people who are into mecha series to such an extent have too much time on their hands to study technical details of things that don't exist.

Besides, Transformers aren't mecha. They are ALIEN, SENTIENT, LIVING robots who walk talk, sleep and occasionally eat. They're like humanoids, except robotic and the ability to change form.

What's the point of inane technical details and rules for robots who are beyond all realistic (imagined or not) human technology?

Transformers, on the other hand, came into being for one main purpose, to sell robot toys.  Sure, Gundam is a merchandising powerhouse as well, but you have to admit the story came before the toys.
You're telling me this... about Japan... a country where the expressed purpose of most kids-targeted anime is to FLOG TOYS AS HARD AS THEY CAN?

GIMMICK NAME! CATCHPHRASE! HENSHIN! GATTAI!

I don't see what the difference is between Transformers being flogged in their cartoon to well, every other japanese cartoon that flogs toys in Japan's tired, unimaginative 'Toy Gimmick Stock Footage' ways.

So you have a transforming toy gun and a transforming toy truck, how do you make a show out of this?  Well the gun is the leader of the bad guys and the truck is the leader of the good guys.  Unfortunately in robot form they are the same size, yet when Megatron is a gun he magically shrinks.  American kids can usually let this stuff go, but a Japanese kid will be baffled.  Where does the mass go?  There are fundamental laws of physics being broken here!
The technical term for this size-changing is called Mass Shifting, or Subspace. They grow or shrink in size by putting their mass into subspace pockets.

That or its just a kids cartoon. A kid being Japanese does not make him or her a genius that cannot accept the scientific implausibility of such events happening within a children's cartoon.

I can point you to why Japanese kids cartoons have so much 'time freeze stock footage'; scenes where people stand around in the middle of battle yammering away without anybody being hit; characters dying only to be reborn in a new body or new mecha of some sort because they miraculously survived through a Plot Contrivency, all to flog a new toy. Or weird japanese 'comedy' involving chibification or manga-esque expressions.

Because they are kids cartoons.

Think of how Power Rangers was initially brought to America.  Rather than protecting the world from domination, the backstory was that these kids had to save a little town called Angel Grove.  Instead of going into technical detail of why someone (or some organization) designed these robots for the rangers, they were just awesome Zords that spontaneously appeared out of nowhere.  Techincal details be damned, they're just so mighty morphin that no one cares.  American kids shows tend to just really dumb things down, and I find it really condescending.

Dude. I mean... Dude.

So things like Soundwave having the awesome ability to transform into a fantastic piece of architecture on his native cybertron.  Or the convenient fact that the robot forms on cybertron had parts like grills and headlights on their chests that just happened to match the modern day cars of present day Earth.  That certain transformers can change size on demand, and it's not even clear what size they are supposed to be  (all the decepticons can fit inside Astrotrain?!).  That you can kill Prime with a few gunshots, yet you can also completely disassemble him and stick his arm on the top of the Empire State building just to piss people off, and then put him back together again with no ill effects.
- Soundwave is still mocked to this day for turning into a streetlight/mailbox outside of Iacon. Kind of a fan in-joke.

- They didn't have the budget (or time) to design Cybertronian robot modes for the characters. Especially as the initial episodes of Transformers were only meant to be a three-part miniseries.

- Mass shifting. Or Suspension of Disbelief. Take your pick.

- I'll grant you City of Steel was a terrible episode of G1, but then again its a kids cartoon so I can forgive it due to the comedy value of Prime being turned into a crocodile. Hee.

These little details just gnaw at the Japanese and their technically trained minds.
You know, if you didn't put so much effort into your argument, and if this wasn't a mostly pro-Japan board, I would think you are just joking.

Details GNAW at the japanese and their technically trained minds? What in God's name are you talking about?

Because they're japanese they're automatically ultra-logical and technical? That is a hilariously unintentionally racist comment.

You've just broadly painted an entire culture as one based upon an outdated ethnic stereotype.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up on Transformers, and still love them to this day.  While lacking in technical details, the Transformers had some really memorable characters and plenty of pretty decent storylines.  But I really think it's the overall sloppiness of technical details that kept The  Transformers from the  success it deserved in Japan.

371739[/snapback]

Transformers is unsucessful nowadays in Japan because its a Gaijin (foriegn/outsider) series sold as a japanese series, even by Takara, and isn't particularly marketed well by the company, who appears to be unsure of what to do with the line in their home market.

In the early 1980s, Takara produced a toyline called Diaclone. They were partially die-cast metal cars, trucks and planes with little magnetic drivers. They could change into robots. Unfortunately for Takara, it was unsucessful and was dying a slow, painful death.

Then, a US company called Hasbro acquired the license for these toys (as well as for Takara's Microchange line and others) for a US release. Working with comic publisher Marvel, they came up with a new background, story, characters for the newly unified line and its accompanying comic and cartoon series, and thus was born The Transformers.

The series became a huge sucess in the US, and Takara took notice. It was so sucessful that Takara re-imported into Japan in 1985, redubbed the cartoon and released essentially the same toys it had been selling previously. It was a much bigger sucess than Diaclone, Microchange and the other lines.

Then, in 1987, Hasbro ended their US Transformers cartoon, and Japan took over creative control for the first time, to make cartoons intended for the japanese market, and popularity started to wane.

Whoops.

Here's something: Takara admitted in an official interview that JAPANESE FANS PREFERRED HASBRO'S ALTERNATORS OVER THEIR DIE-CAST METAL BINALTECHS :o

SHOCK AND HORROR!

I suggest you move to Japan, if you haven't already done so. I'm sure they'll love another gaijin invading them.

Edited by Fit For Natalie
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Here's something: Takara admitted in an official interview that JAPANESE FANS PREFERRED HASBRO'S ALTERNATORS OVER THEIR DIE-CAST METAL BINALTECHS :o

SHOCK AND HORROR!

Didn't that same article also say that Western fans preferred the Japanese Die-cast Binaltechs to the Alternators?

Grass is greener on ther other side.

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I'm not sure if it was a good idea to get Kawamori to redesign Convoy, presumebly in a desperate attempt at industry and geek publicity. Because, just like the japanese public in general, traditional japanese mecha designers don't really 'get' the concept Transformers. The idea that these are sentient beings, not human-piloted mecha.

This is one of the reasons why Transformers remain relatively unpopular in Japan. Hell, even TAKARA doesn't really understand the concept of Transformers as a fiction, as evident by their hamfisted marketing over the past 2 years.

371652[/snapback]

Let me vent for a minute on what I believe to be the main problem with Transformers in Japan. There just is an overall sloppiness in the G1 Transformers storyline that just doesn't resonate well with the average Japanese person. Even the really kiddy shows in Japan (think sentai) pay meticulous attention to technical detail. There is a somewhat complex storyline dealing with somewhat serious issues. If a robot shows up in a Japanese show, rest assured that it has been spec'ed out in detail. Height, weight, power source, designer, maximum speed, blah blah blah. Transformers, on the other hand, came into being for one main purpose, to sell robot toys. Sure, Gundam is a merchandising powerhouse as well, but you have to admit the story came before the toys.

So you have a transforming toy gun and a transforming toy truck, how do you make a show out of this? Well the gun is the leader of the bad guys and the truck is the leader of the good guys. Unfortunately in robot form they are the same size, yet when Megatron is a gun he magically shrinks. American kids can usually let this stuff go, but a Japanese kid will be baffled. Where does the mass go? There are fundamental laws of physics being broken here!

Think of how Power Rangers was initially brought to America. Rather than protecting the world from domination, the backstory was that these kids had to save a little town called Angel Grove. Instead of going into technical detail of why someone (or some organization) designed these robots for the rangers, they were just awesome Zords that spontaneously appeared out of nowhere. Techincal details be damned, they're just so mighty morphin that no one cares. American kids shows tend to just really dumb things down, and I find it really condescending.

So things like Soundwave having the awesome ability to transform into a fantastic piece of architecture on his native cybertron. Or the convenient fact that the robot forms on cybertron had parts like grills and headlights on their chests that just happened to match the modern day cars of present day Earth. That certain transformers can change size on demand, and it's not even clear what size they are supposed to be (all the decepticons can fit inside Astrotrain?!). That you can kill Prime with a few gunshots, yet you can also completely disassemble him and stick his arm on the top of the Empire State building just to piss people off, and then put him back together again with no ill effects. These little details just gnaw at the Japanese and their technically trained minds.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up on Transformers, and still love them to this day. While lacking in technical details, the Transformers had some really memorable characters and plenty of pretty decent storylines. But I really think it's the overall sloppiness of technical details that kept The Transformers from the success it deserved in Japan.

371739[/snapback]

post-2744-1140472376_thumb.jpg

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That's really funny that the Alts were more loved over there. What were the reasons?

What they should do is get kawamori to handle alternator jets in his own reimagining of the decepticons. But if they do autobots: make Jetfire his classic vf1 version of course - if they can't do that give him a transformation similar to it. I liked how in the lineart of prime he has a really mean look in his eye! They should translate that into the decepticon toys.

Edited by 1/1 LowViz Lurker
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Here's something: Takara admitted in an official interview that JAPANESE FANS PREFERRED HASBRO'S ALTERNATORS OVER THEIR DIE-CAST METAL BINALTECHS :o

SHOCK AND HORROR!

Didn't that same article also say that Western fans preferred the Japanese Die-cast Binaltechs to the Alternators?

Grass is greener on ther other side.

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Yeah, I don't deny that, but there seems to be some kind of weird, disturbing trend for westerners and other asians to think of Japan = Better.

And mistaken belief that the japanese are very content with their 'obviously superior' [versions of the toys].

That's really funny that the Alts were more loved over there. What were the reasons?
Well, cost is a major factor. Even with the comparitively high income of the japanese workforce (to go with a high cost of living), Binaltechs are expensive luxury collector toys that are released at a rapid pace.

Takara attempted to envigorate the line with Binaltech Asterisk... with an accompanying increase in price. The line bombed.

Another factor is that Alternators, being either painted plastic (Silverstreak, Grimlock) or unpainted plastic (everybody else), they are far less susceptible to surface damage and more playable.

On a side note, Binaltech appears to be in limbo at the moment. Hirofumi Ichikawa, the number-1 japanese TF fan turned Takara illustraitor/writer, said that the last bunch of bios and backstories he wrote for upcoming (now apparently cancelled BTs) are now no longer required by Takara, suggesting that the toy giant isn't going to release anything BT-wise for awhile.

I don't think Takara has even announced Ford GT Mirage and Honda Civic Rumble yet.

What they should do is get kawamori to handle alternator jets in his own reimagining of the decepticons. But if they do autobots: make Jetfire his classic vf1 version of course - if they can't do that give him a transformation similar to it. I liked how in the lineart of prime he has a really mean look in his eye! They should translate that into the decepticon toys.

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At Botcon (late September 2005 I believe) Hasbro said they were going to talk about Alternators jets with Takara 'next week', so they're still probably at the conceptual stage at the moment. Then, if they're going for real-world jets, its convincing the various jet fighter manufacturers to give them the licenses.
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By my understanding, they won't call them 'Alternators', but they'll be real world jets that fit in the same line as the Alternators, but in a different scale because, let's face it, if they made real world jets in the same scale as the current Alternators they'd be BIG.

Like ham.

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Remember there was a TF, I think TF-Ginrai, in that show the robots were controlled by humans and it was a Jap sequel to TF-G1.

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Masterforce.

Ginrai was the human who had Prime's new body since Prime wasn't around to get it. Ginrai himself turned into the engine and then plugged into the trucks chassis enabling the transformation. The small robot could fold and plug into the trailer forming Super Ginrai. Then combine with the drone God Bomber to become God Ginrai.

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