EDIT: I think it might be a better idea for any potential designers to wait until I get approval from Hasbro before putting any time into this. I will update this main thread once I hear back from them.
OK, so I am back after a short hiatus (several days in the hospital, surgery, and now home from work for a month to rehab) chaulk full of ideas. You may or may not recall my previous call to designers to come up with a custom chip for
me--see thread
here--well, that flopped for the most part because I am an idiot. I provided no real direction, no significant ideas, yet I expected people to come up with stuff that would blow me away....despite this I did receive some really nice designs, most notably from fins and flavah. What can I say, I learned from that and am ready to try again if you are!
THEME
Transformers (the cartoon), more significantly Generation 1 models; if you are unfamiliar with this cartoon, check out a brief
history by scrolling down to the PLOT section.
IDEAS
This is not a cartoon chipset where I am looking for chips with different transformers on them so no chips with Optimus Prime or Megatron standing there, etc. I am looking at capturing the essence of the Transformers story, and have a detailed suggestion on how to proceed. I have used italics to distinguish an idea from an explanation or a focus; you do not have to go with the italics, they are just ideas I had which I thought would help.
Transformer Timeline--the chip denoms start at the beginning of the story, and continue to the end.
Chip 1: a Cybertron chip. This is the Transformer home world where their adventures begin so the lowest denom could start the tale. The Autobots and Decepticons engaged in war on their planet until there was no more energy, so they were forced to leave.
A landscape of Cybertron on both sides, maybe a small Autobot and Decepticon symbol on seperate sides.
Reference images:
Cybertron. 
EDIT (J5) - OFFENSIVE IMAGE REMOVED
Autobot logo.
Decepticon logo.
Chip 2: a Travel chip. When the Transformers left Cybertron in their respective chips, they fought and crash landed on prehistoric Earth and were dormant for thousands of years before being reanimated and repaired during modern times.
On one side have the Autobots and Decepticons spaceships--perhaps engaged in a battle--with a small image of Earth in the background. On the other side, the crash locations of each spacecraft.
Reference images:
Decepticon spacecraft, the
Nemesis.
Autobots spacecraft, the
Ark. 
Chip 3: a Leader chip. During their many battles on Earth, at one point the Autobots defeated the Decipticons but Optimus Prime lost his life. Megatron was severely damaged, but his body was jettisoned into space where Unicron found him and re-engineered him into Galvitron so that he may return defeat the Autobots.
On one side have a darkened image of the Autobut leader Optimus Prime, or maybe have his shadow cast onto something like the Autobot symbol, or something symbolic-like. On the other side, an image of the Decepticon leader--half the body being Megatron and the other half being Galvatron--with Unicron present somewhere in the backgroundhttp://www.homestead.com/jasonpaulhamus/files/transformers/unicron.jpg in planet form.
Reference images:
Megatron.
Galvatron.
Mega-Galva.
Optimus Prime.
Unicron 
Chip 4: a Quintessons chip. The Quintesson's made the Transformers and used the Plasma Energy Chamber to give them free will, with which the Transformers rebelled against their Quintesson creators. The Quintessons fled Cybertron, which had been their robot factory, and plotted their revenge against the Transformers so the Autobots and Transformers worked together against their common foe.
One side showing an image of the Quintesson Judge overlooking a robot assembly line with the Plasma Energy Chamber in view, the other side showing a half Autobot-half Decepticon logo with Cybertron in the background.
Reference images:
Quintessons. 
Plasma Energy Chamber.
Chip 5: a Plague chip. The Hate plague was engineered well before the Transformers were created by the Quintessons, and it bred violence and hatred to any living entity it touches. The virus spores were discovered in space during testing of an alloy in a spaceships hull; they could not penetrate the ship but they survived the trip back to Earth and spread to all lifeforms. The only way to eradicate the Hate Plague was with wisdom and knowledge, and Optimus Prime was ressurected and coated with the special plague resistant alloy so that he could open the Matrix of Leadership. When the Matrix was opened it spead across the cosmos healing all infected beings and saving the universe, but using all of the Matrix's power in the process.
One side showing a Transformer all red and seemingly engulged in fire, with a spaceship surrounded (but not engulfed) by the same red fire. The other side showing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership being opened by a silver Optimus, and cosmic rays being expelled out into the universe.
Reference images:
Infected Rodimus Prime.
Infected Rodimus battling resurrected Optimus.
Autobot Matrix of Leadership.
Chip 6: Generic chip. Just a chip with the Transfomers printing, or something that is easily to identify with the cartoon.
One side for Autobots, the other for Decepticons. Have the Transformers printing on both sides, and the respective logos. For the Decepticons side, perhaps have an outer ring resembling the Space Bridge they used to transfer Energon cubes from Earth to Cybertron. For the Autobots side, maybe feature Teletran 1 in some manner. OTHER DETAILS
Denominations: rather than use traditional denominations, I was thinking of using Energon cubes as the value. So the first chip might be 1 Energon cube (indicated using stacks of Energon cubes on the chip face) and go up to 200 Energon cubes rather than using traditional currency.
Edges: the rolling edge could have the text '20 Energon Cubes' on it, and the edge colour being a variety of the traditional poker chip colours with a Transformer twist. For example, rather than using a regular blue it could be a steely type blue that is more consistent with the cartoon.
Well, that is it. I have spent a LOT of time trying to provide anyone interested in giving this a shot with sufficient detail, as well as relevant images. Please do not hestitate to PM or email me (through my profile) if you need more; the images I have put in this post are not complete, there is a TON of Transformer imagery out there--an exhaustive amount actually--but there should be enough to get you going.
Thanks!
Linear Mode
