Transformers Wiki:Images

Acceptable image sources
Ideally, this wiki prefers to use official promotional images whenever possible. These are images released by Hasbro or TakaraTomy in their press coverage, and can be clearly sourced to such to avoid confusion as to the ownership of the image. Leaked information that has not been officially released cannot be used on this wiki.

When detailing cartoon episodes or live action movies, screenshots of the media in question are acceptable assuming it has already aired to the public. As above, leaked shots that have not aired yet are not acceptable to use unless they were in an official teaser spot on television. In the case of live action movies, we usually wait until the DVD has released, as official shots can be hard to come by and may have been pirated.

In some cases with older toys or toys for which no promotional image has been released, we are forced to use secondary sources to get a photograph for illustrative purposes. Ideally we would prefer photographs you take yourself of the toy, as you can release the copyright into the public domain. If you cannot do this and wish to use a photograph from a fan website, make sure you get the explicit permission of the site's owner first.

If you do not know the source of an image, please tag it with the   template.

Image naming
When uploading an image, please make sure that the filename is descriptive of what the image depicts. The Transformers franchise heavily reuses character names, so avoiding confusion about which character is depicted is crucial. A good rule of thumb is to include both character name and series name. In cases where multiple shots of a character from a series might cause confusion, cartoon episode or comic issue names often help, as can one or more descriptive words about the scene. Abbreviation is acceptable, as long as it doesn't obscure meaning.

Image quality
Oftentimes there will be issues with the quality of an image uploaded to this wiki that will require it to be replaced. These include: Images with quality issues are often tagged with the   template. If you were directed to this page by an image bearing this tag, this is why.
 * Grainy graphical artifacts due to too much compression.
 * The image dimensions being too small to really see anything.
 * The image being zoomed in too much on a given detail, thus limiting its usefulness.
 * For photographs, if the image was taken under poor lighting conditions.
 * For screenshots, if the image is not a direct screen capture but a photograph of a television screen.

Image format
Most images you will see on this wiki will be in the JPEG format. We have found that in all but a select few cases this is the ideal format for our purposes as it helps keep filesize down and generally displays images clearly. It is not the only format we use, but in the case of screenshots of movies or cartoons, we request that you use it whenever possible.

Filesize
The filesize of images is important to keep an eye on when uploading. While this wiki has no hard and fast limits on the size of images, we are conscious of how big they are in an effort to keep page load times manageable. If an image is bogging down the loading of a page, it will often be requested that a replacement be uploaded in a smaller size, different resolution, or even different file format.

Of note are animated GIF files. While there are some of these in use in articles, this wiki uses animated GIFs sparingly at most. The reason for this is that many of these files are not made very carefully and the filesizes on them can get quite large very quickly. Use at your own peril.

Artist credit
Whenever possible, it is best to credit the artist or artists responsible for producing an image. This is not always possible with screen captures, but is usually expected of comic images and promotional artwork.

This wiki has the   template available to aid in identifying the penciler, inker, and colorist in any given image. It has several optional parameters.

If you cannot easily determine the artist of an image, please tag it with the   template so that this may be corrected at a later date.

Copyright labeling
When uploading images, it is important to properly label the source and any pertinent copyright info. This wiki has a number of tags which are used to aid in this process.

General
Some images are of uncertain copyright, but are generally assumed to be owned by Hasbro or TakaraTomy (this is a Transformers wiki after all). If you do not know the specific owner of an image (IE whether it is a Hasbro image, a TakraTomy image, or anywhere in between), it can be marked with the   tag as a general coverall. This tag may be replaced at a later date if the copyright can be more accurately determined.

Comics
Generally, we do not reproduce entire comic pages if possible. As a result, there are two copyright templates for comics which each have a specific use:
 *   is used when you are sampling frames from the interior pages of a comic.
 *   is used on comic covers, the one situation where it is acceptable to use a full page.

Screencaps
This wiki is in the process of developing a system of templates to better serve the numerous screen captures we host here for illustrative purposes. There are multiple templates, each with a specific use:
 *   is used for screen captures from the Generation 1 animated series from Sunbow. It has several optional parameters.
 *   is used for the title cards of animated series episodes.