Before you can join the TransMasters please read then select below.

The TransMasters Ethics Agreement      last update: 6/1/2005

     It is the opinion of the club's founders that its sole purpose is to help connect fellow transfans with each other and to further the Transformers mythos through media creation, education, and the sharing of views. In this respect, we would like to request that in heated debates between members that ideas and concepts are the focus, not the individual member that happens not to agree with you. Please keep things civil.

      Although, not one of the reasons the club was formed, we recognize that many of you will be interested in trade and commerce between members. We would prefer that you use some form of online service like eBay and Paypal for these transactions since they have procedures for resolving bad interactions. The TransMasters will not accept any liability should you fail to heed this warning and a trade goes badly. You may report the problem to one of the officers and we will try to contact the member about the transaction. Because the club is an entirely voluntary organization there is little we can do besides drop that member from the club and list their name on a black list of people to avoid, which will be placed prominently on the home page of this site.

      Understand that the TransMasters club has been given a non profit agreement from Hasbro to create our fan media, comics, etc. as long as we place the copyright notice. (© or Copyright 2006 Hasbro/Takara Tomy). At minimum use the Hasbro name, but with Takara and Tomy merging recently it might be a good idea to add them to protect their international rights. The ethics point here is that you should not attempt to create Transformers items for profit without seeking to negotiate a license with Hasbro. Should Hasbro contact us concerning one of our members that has violated the non profit agreement, it will be an immediate expulsion of that member without possibility of refund for any funds paid. (A member might be allowed back if they can show that a court of law has decided in your favor and you were in compliance with the non profit agreement.) The club cannot afford to take chances with the agreement since Hasbro retains all rights and could possibly rescind the permission at any time. A possibility that would eliminate all choice as far as fans having any say in a club since then there would only be the official licensed one in existence.

     Unless we receive a court order, or the club is dissolved without sending its members the items that the dues were to pay for, there shall be no refund of collected funds. In such an event the return of funds paid will depend upon the delivery of said items, how much your dues has yet to be used, and when the dues were paid. Should it cost more to return funds than would be paid back (ie. There's only 50¢ or less to each member's account) the account will be closed out and the Treasurer will be responsible to use the funds to buy Transformers toys to be donated to a local charity that Christmas season.

The TransMasters reserves the right to add and revise this agreement at any time. All efforts will be made to let the membership know what changes have occurred. Any new versions supercede and replace the old conditions. Membership renewal automatically symbolizes your agreement with the Ethics Agreement at that time.

The Transformers are Copyright 2006 Hasbro/Takara Tomy. All rights reserved. I know this sounds like a lawyer got into the works here, but we had almost no formal rules before and it led to problems. I hope that by setting down the foundations here we can try to avoid those in the future. Thanks.