Exciting 1979!

Chapter 400 The Origins of Transformers (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)
Once Wei Ming left, the two tables of young writers and young actors began to discuss him without restraint.

However, the person involved's sister and girlfriend overheard these discussions. Fortunately, nothing too outrageous happened. They just wanted to find out how rich Wei Ming was and how to handle the check business, as it seemed easier than handling cash.

Wei Lingling told them that there was no check business in mainland China, and that she and the people in Shenzhen used the Bank of China to make payments for the factory construction. She also said that she knew Cheng Naishan's grandfather.

So everyone found out that Teacher Wei had a secret stash of money outside. Doesn't that mean that even if he went abroad, he could still make a name for himself and just pack his bags and leave!

To insist on staying in the country like this is truly admirable!

Zhang Yu was about to write a letter to Chen Chong, who was washing dishes in the United States. He thought, "So you can earn and spend US dollars in China too. Why did you have to go so far away?"

~
In the Peace Hotel suite, decorated as a wedding room, Ah Long and Ah Ying looked at Wei Ming and Gong Xue in front of them, feeling very embarrassed.

Wei Ming: "I've already told Zhang Jianya to go out and replace her with your sister, what are you still hesitating for? If you keep dawdling, you can forget about your wedding night tonight."

Ah Long advised, "Ah Ying, why don't you just listen to him?"

Ah Ying gritted her teeth: "Hmph, for a check for ten thousand dollars, I'll risk it all!"

It's like they made some huge sacrifice. All they did was have them perform a pre-bedtime eye contact, a passionate kiss, and undressing in front of the camera.

Moreover, undressing only requires Ah Ying to unbutton one opening of Ah Long's shirt, and that's enough.

"Wait a minute..." Just as the two were about to ignite each other's passion, Gong Ying stopped and looked directly at the camera, which is called breaking the fourth wall.

Ah Long also looked at the camera, as if someone was spying on the couple. Then Gong Ying took off her veil and threw it at the camera, covering it and creating a hazy effect.

It took three takes to get the shot right for this shot.

Wei Ming said with relief, "If you miss again, I'll have to go to the Shanghai Film Studio again to get more film."

After finishing the shot, Ah Long wiped his mouth and urged, "Alright, you can leave now."

Getting married is exhausting. I never expected Ah Long to actually want to consummate the marriage, and he's in such a hurry, even though he's not a virgin anymore.

Wei Ming: "There's about a minute left in the shot. Take your shoes off, and I'll give you two more close-ups of your shoes."

He intended to use this shot as the ending, which was a subtle way of expressing himself.

After leaving the room, Wei Ming and Gong Xue exchanged a smile. But as they smiled, Gong Xue's smile faded. Today she had officiated her sister's wedding, but would she ever have her own wedding day?

She was certain that if Xiao Wei didn't marry her, she would never step into the marriage hall. She had completely become Xiao Wei's image, and there was no room for anyone else in her heart or body.

"Sister Xue, what's wrong?" Wei Ming noticed that his good sister was acting strangely.

"It's nothing, I just felt a bit sentimental seeing Ah Ying get married and start a family." Gong Xue then thought that she herself would be "getting married" in a few days, completing an ancient wedding in a movie.

Fortunately, I am an actor, so I can make up for my regrets in this way.

As the two were talking, they saw Uncle Liu Bin helping Teacher Yang upstairs. She was pregnant and a little tired, so she needed to rest.

Teacher Yang held Gong Xue's hand and said, "Xiao Xue, you really worked hard today. You did a great job hosting and your words were so well delivered. I almost cried when I heard the two children say 'I do'."

"Auntie, don't thank me. Those lyrics were written by Xiao Wei."

Teacher Yang: "Xiao Wei is also great. He was busy filming today, and he has the air of a director. But when can we see him?"

Wei Mingdao said, "After returning to Hong Kong, we will edit the video and then convert it into a videotape so that we can watch it at home. I have already explained this to Ah Long."

After Wei Ming and Sister Xue went downstairs, they parted ways. She still had to entertain her relatives and friends from her family. When Wei Ming arrived at the restaurant, he found that some guests at certain tables had already started taking out their lunchboxes and cleaning up the mess.

Wei Ming was also responsible for seeing off himself and Liu's relatives. Ah Long's cousins ​​and uncles looked at Wei Ming with even more respect. He must be very rich to give a gift of ten thousand US dollars.

A man who appeared to be the head of the Liu family, Uncle A Long, held Wei Ming's hand tightly, expressing his desire to cooperate if the opportunity arose.

Wei Ming didn't take it seriously. He later talked to Ah Long and learned that in their small Foshan family, he was the most successful one. The others were not as successful as him, the third leader of the Japanese gang.

Zhang Jianya handed all the film to Wei Ming, while Wei Ming took the equipment back himself.

He also thought of a question and asked Wei Ming, "Without a clapperboard, how will you edit it?"

Since it was a real wedding, Wei Ming couldn't afford to be lenient: "As long as the film rolls have serial numbers, that's fine. I basically shot them in the order of the plot. Thanks, Lao Zhang."

Zhang Jianya waved his hand: "I've seen the world, I've eaten at the Peace Hotel, it's pretty impressive to say that."

Wei Ming saw everyone off one by one. When he got married, this kind of welcoming and sending-off would be Ah Long, Biao Zi, and Xiao Mei's business. In order for each of them to be the host, he would have to get married at least three times.

At this moment, Wei Lingling walked over with Lizhi: "Don't forget to go to the Shanghai Animation Film Studio tomorrow morning."

"The way you're saying that makes it sound like I'm not going home today."

Wei Lingling: Oh, are you going home today?

"We'll see. I don't know if Ah Long still needs me," Wei Ming said hypocritically, his eyes already glancing at Sister Lin. He knew that Sister Lin had suppressed her voice and hadn't had her fill of pleasure last night.

After the wedding ceremony was over, Wei Ming said goodbye to Uncle Liu Bin and Grandpa Yang and left, returning to the old villa on Huating Road with Zhu Lin.

The two leaned back on the sofa, and Wei Ming put his legs on hers again.

"Tired?"

Wei Ming nodded: "I walked at least 30,000 steps today." He might even top the WeChat step count chart.

Sister Lin immediately took off his shoes and started massaging him. While enjoying Sister Lin's massage, Wei Ming's legs were also restless, and he rubbed against her.

Zhu Lin slapped his butt: "You're not behaving again. Are you tired or not?"

"These two legs are tired, but the other legs are still energetic."

Zhu Lin checked and found that Wei Ming was right. She knew that tonight would be another fierce battle. Unfortunately, Gong Xue called shortly afterward, saying that he had to accompany his parents, who were grieving over their daughter's recent marriage, and would not be coming over tonight.

Wei Ming said, "There's plenty of time in the future."

He's going to stay in Shanghai for a few more days.

The next day, Sister Lin got up early to go to the film set to shoot. Because she had to redo her middle-aged makeup, she left before dawn and didn't even have time to make breakfast for Xiao Wei.

Wei Ming was hoping for another round early in the morning, but his opponent was gone.

After a moment of melancholy, Wei Ming headed straight for No. 2 Jueyuan. There, Wei Hong and the other two were having breakfast. Wei Hong thought her older brother had stayed at the Peace Hotel.

Seeing him sit down and start eating, she even said, "Brother Long, doesn't he provide you with breakfast?"

Wei Ming chuckled, remaining silent and cryptic.

Wei Lingling and Lizhi had already guessed this, but they didn't say anything.

The aunt said, "We're going to the Shanghai Animation Film Studio later, Xiao Hong, are you coming?"

"Go ahead, I want to see how Chief Black Cat was made!"

So the four of them set off together. Lizhi even pulled out two gift boxes from her bag. These weren't gifts for the Shanghai Animation Film Studio; they were two Transformers samples.

"It's finished? Let me see!"

"There are still some details that need improvement," Wei Lingling said. Fortunately, the factory's main task at this stage is the blind box series, so there is still room for further refinement.

When Wei Ming opened it, he saw Optimus Prime from the Autobots and Megatron from the Decepticons. They could transform into a truck and a pistol, respectively. The Autobots' transformations were all vehicles, while the Decepticons' transformations were mainly weapons.

Their initial form was that of robots, about 30 centimeters tall, which seemed quite substantial.

Wei Ming and Wei Hong each took one and started transforming them in the car. Usually, there are simple instructions on the packaging, but these didn't have any packaging yet, so they had to figure out which joints could be changed and in what order to bend them.

Gradually, the Megatron in Xiao Hong's hand began to resemble a pistol, but Wei Ming's vehicle was still half-man, half-car.

In the end, it was only with Xiao Hong's help that Optimus Prime was turned into a truck.

Wei Lingling stroked her chin: "Isn't the difficulty a bit too low?"

Their target audience is elementary and even middle school boys; if it's too easy, it might not be challenging for them.

Wei Ming: "No, no, no, my pace is just right. I can play with one toy all day. Don't imagine all children to be like Xiao Hong."

During the game, he roughly understood the problems his aunt had mentioned. Some transformation processes were not very smooth, and if the movements were too forceful, the object might break. It definitely needs further optimization.

When do you plan to launch the blind box series?

Speaking of this, Wei Lingling perked up: "This month we plan to test the waters in Hong Kong. If the response is good, I will directly expand to the Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States and Japan markets."

If the response is not good, then we can only proceed slowly.

"Do you have enough money?" Wei Ming asked. If it's going to be rolled out across the board, the marketing expenses will definitely be substantial.

"The Spring Festival and birthday greeting cards for citizens brought in tens of millions of yuan in profit, in addition to loans from my uncle and aunt." Because it has become independent, these loans still need to pay interest. According to my aunt, the main focus in the first half of the year was blind boxes, along with plush toys and popular comic book figurines, while the second half of the year was all-out effort on Transformers.

She'll definitely have to invest even more money and effort in Transformers, and she's hoping that blind boxes will be profitable enough so she won't have to live on borrowed money anymore.

"How do you plan to price this?" Wei Ming asked, waving the large truck in his hand.

"It'll cost at least 20 dollars. The two leaders are quite large, while the others are smaller, so it'll still cost over ten dollars."

One toy is equivalent to the monthly income of a family in mainland China. As long as production is increased, the unit price can be reduced, not to mention there are branch factories in mainland China, where the profit margin is huge.

How could a child possibly only buy one transforming toy?

What's more, Wei Ming later designed a combination Transformer. One is simply not fun to play with. If you buy a Transformer, you'll be embarrassed to greet your classmates at school.

As they spoke, they arrived at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, where busy work had resumed.

As usual, Wei Ming first went to Director Wang Bairong and introduced Wei Lingling, the boss, to her.

Upon seeing the beautiful Wei Lingling, Director Wang even had some doubts about her relationship with Wei Ming. Not only did they look well-matched, but they even resembled a married couple. However, upon hearing that she also shared the surname Wei, he realized that he was probably mistaken.

Wei Ming also introduced Wang Bairong's personal achievements and stated that he would personally serve as the director of the first Transformers movie.

Wang Bairong was eager to know the other party's budget, but he knew he would have to discuss that after meeting Factory Director Te Wei.

The old factory director received Wei Lingling and her entourage in his office, along with several deputy factory directors and directors. This was something that needed to be witnessed by everyone, to avoid accusations of private dealings.

Because the other party was Chinese, the translation issue was eliminated.

However, Te Wei didn't rush to discuss cooperation; instead, he started checking household registration information.

"I wonder where Ms. Wei, a Chinese person, came from?"

Wei Lingling said, "I grew up in Taiwan."

Upon hearing this, several deputy factory directors and directors immediately became alarmed. Taiwan, this is a place where mistakes are easy to make. Didn't Teacher Wei mention Hong Kong businessmen before?

Wei Lingling knew what they were worried about, and smiled, "My father is from Hebei, my mother's ancestral home is Fujian, and I just acquired a piece of land in Shenzhen to build a factory. You can confirm these things with the people in Shenzhen."

Hearing that she had already partnered with Shenzhen, they were indeed somewhat relieved, but they would definitely still need to confirm with them.

Wei Ming added, "When we were raising funds for the Sichuan disaster relief, Mr. Wei's Langning Toy Factory also donated a large sum of money. He was probably the philanthropist with the smallest business that night."

Wei Lingling laughed and said, "Teacher Wei, you underestimate our strength. Although our company is not large, we are very willing to invest in content. This time, we have prepared three million Hong Kong dollars to shoot this Transformers TV animation."

Three million Hong Kong dollars!
The group exchanged glances. What a big investment! It made even more money than "The Legend of Sealed Book" back then, and the level of detail and workload of the film was incomparable to that of the TV animation.

Of course, this is also related to the number of episodes.

Wei Lingling added, "The total investment for the first part is HK$300 million, which will consist of 16 episodes, with each episode having a minimum of 20 minutes of content."

That's equivalent to nearly HK$200,000 per episode, or nearly HK$10,000 per minute. In contrast, each episode of "Black Cat Detective," including materials and the salaries of all crew members, would probably only cost around RMB10,000. This job is worth it!
However, Factory Director Te Wei still hoped to earn as much as possible for the country, so he showed a hint of difficulty, as if he was not satisfied with the price.

Wei Lingling said, "I have great respect for Shanghai Animation Film Studio. When I was studying in the United States, I watched 'Havoc in Heaven' and 'Little Tadpoles Looking for Their Mother.' How about this, after the animation is completed, I will give the broadcasting rights in mainland China to Shanghai Animation Film Studio for free!"

Lizhi's mouth gaped slightly; these old men were bullying her too much!
Wei Ming raised an eyebrow slightly. "Auntie, you're too greedy. The mainland is so poor, how dare you squeeze us?"

He saw right through his aunt's thoughts. Giving away the animation for free was just a favor; his real intention was to use the animation to get Transformers toys into the mainland market.

Transformers toys are a game-changer for toys in Europe and America, let alone in mainland China, except for the very unfriendly prices.

Moreover, since it was given to Shanghai Animation Film Studio for free, Wei Lingling might actually have gotten a good deal.

She learned about the rules of American television stations: if you want Transformers to air on their platforms, you have to pay them.

Wei Lingling's concessions saved the leaders of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio both face and substance, and now they could discuss the details of the cooperation.

With a budget of HK$300 million, Wei Lingling could initially contribute HK$80, requesting that Shanghai Animation Film Studio complete three episodes by May, as multilingual dubbing would be required later, with the series airing in June or July alongside the toys.

If the task is not completed, it will be considered a breach of contract. If it is completed within the stipulated time but the client is not satisfied, the 80 yuan will not be refunded, but subsequent cooperation will be off the table, meaning there will be no issue with the subsequent 220 million yuan.

Completing three episodes before May is relatively easy, which is equivalent to one episode per month. However, Wei Lingling also requires all 16 episodes to be completed within this year, which means two episodes per month after that.

Wei Lingling added, "During the production process, we will entrust Mr. Wei Ming as the supervisor to control the style and direction of the work."

After saying that, Wei Lingling took out a contract she had prepared in advance: "The matter of gifting the mainland broadcasting rights will be added when the formal contract is signed."

Several factory veterans looked at it and thought it made sense. Wang Bairong said, "President Wei, didn't you say you brought some other things?"

Wei Lingling gestured to Lizhi, and the beautiful assistant immediately took out two Transformers toys, which were now in car and pistol forms.

Everyone was a little bewildered by the two large figures, but they knew that this was the second form of the toy. Te Wei said, "Could you show everyone how it transforms?"

This opportunity to shine naturally belongs to Xiao Hong, since she has already done it once before and now all she needs to do is reverse it. And since she can even reverse the steps of a Rubik's Cube, let alone a mere Optimus Prime.

Xiao Hong deftly manipulated the truck in her hands, and before the other party could even see what was happening, a lifelike and majestic steel warrior appeared before them.

They were amazed by the toy's magical transformations and impressed by Wei Hong's craftsmanship.

So the old men gathered around Megatron and began to study the blueprints provided by Wei Ming, hoping to personally transform the pistol back into a robot.

Director Wang said to Wei Hong, "Comrade Wei Hong, you truly deserve to be the top scorer in the province back then. It's simply amazing. I'd like to film your combined movements with a film camera, and then break them down step by step to make it easier for us to create an animation. What do you think?"

Wei Ming agreed on her behalf: "Of course, no problem, it's what we should do."

He was happy to give Xiaohong something to do, so she wouldn't always interfere with his good things.

The old men were having a great time, but they probably wouldn't be able to recover in a short time. Wei Ming and Wang Bairong said their goodbyes first, as Wei Ming still wanted to talk to Director Wang about the plot of Transformers.

They walked and talked.

"First of all, let me tell you the English name of Transformers, which is 'Transformers'. This will be shown at the beginning of the movie."

"I can't remember," Director Wang said, looking troubled.

"Don't worry, it will all be written out, including drawings of each character's two forms, as well as their height and weight parameters," Wei Ming added. "I will give you the detailed scripts for the first three episodes later, which are about the origin of the Transformers species."

"Teacher Wei, let's skip the first three episodes and start with the first five. That way, if we finish them ahead of schedule, we can work on the later episodes and avoid running out of time later."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "I've only written the first three episodes so far. And if I can finish the first three episodes ahead of schedule, I can deliver them ahead of schedule. President Wei will definitely want to see the quality of the first three episodes before deciding whether to continue the cooperation."

"Okay, keep talking."

Wei Ming recounted the contents of the first three Transformers movies in a storytelling style.

"Billions of years ago, intelligent life forms in the universe, the Quintessons, ruled the planet Cybertron, commonly known as the Electro Planet..."

As Wei Ming spoke, Li Zhi immediately searched for information and took out the image of the Five-Faced Monster to show it.

Wei Ming: "The Quintessons built two robot production lines on Cybertron, one for military robots and the other for civilian robots. They are the ancestors of the Transformers."

"With these robots, the Quintessons became arrogant and decadent, and later they even took pleasure in robot arena battles. Eventually, the intelligent robots united to drive away the Quintessons and became the masters of Cybertron..."

Later, the two groups of robots also fell out. The civilian robots loved peace and were called "Autobots," while the military robots were obsessed with force and were called "Decepticons"...

Wang Bairong listened with rapt attention. While others were still speculating about what aliens looked like, Professor Wei had come up with such a self-consistent theory of robot life.

Moreover, when discussing a character, they can take out a drawing to help them understand it, and there are two forms of drawings available, which greatly reduces the difficulty of their work.

You don't need to draw the main characters yourself; you just need to recreate the scene.

However, the occasion didn't really require it. Wei Lingling also brought a lot of photos of New York. Since the Autobots were new to Earth, New York could be their main place of activity.

After chatting with Director Wang all the way, Wei Ming went to check on the production team of Black Cat Detective. The fourth episode had already aired, and they were racing against time to produce the fifth episode.

Director Dai Tielang not only directed a great film, but also provided Wei Ming with many interesting anecdotes about the animal kingdom, which seem to be useful for later plot developments.

After leaving the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the four of them went to the Peace Hotel. Ah Long and the others were leaving the next day, and they came to see them off. Gong Xue was also there.

Ah Long was in a hurry to go back and oversee the release of the "Qin's Moon" single volume. He also told Wei Lingling, "The "Transformers" comic will be officially serialized in March."

Wei Lingling wants to get the comic book ahead of time. She plans to send it to the United States for publication. She contacted Marvel Animation during her last trip to the United States and plans to use their channels, but of course, she will have to pay some price.

If Marvel feels the art style isn't suitable, they might have to remake it, since American comics have a strange art style, and the preferences of American comic book readers are quite different from those of Hong Kong readers.

Everyone had dinner together that evening. As they were leaving, Wei Ming said to Gong Xue, "Would you like to come to my place for a bit? I have a batch of goods there; I'm sure you'll like them."

……

(First update of the day, more tonight! Please vote with your monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)