Thanks for answering by the way.
I have a complex animation that involves multiple clips and masks, and the math involved in calculating the positioning would be greatly simplified if I had control of the registration points. Some of the clips load jpegs, so I have even less than the normal authoring control.
I am currently using the holder mc solution, but was looking for a simpler alternative.
I did find someone who presented another solution, which entails internalizing the transformations with alternate mc properties, but am leary of too much movieclip prototype manipulation.
Again, i appreciate you help, Bill
Mike