Back to Mexican variants
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Disclaimer first. The info I want to post is stuff I've absorbed from people
like Morg, Devvi etc and others with Mexican TF sections on their website.
I've asked a few guys if I can reference their sites and lists and they've
given me the green light so here it is. I am in NO way taking credit for the
discovery or documentation of these variants, but I do want to talk about
them and share the info so here it is =)
The Transformers were released in Mexico by a company called Iga. Mexico
received the 1984 and 1985 run of TFs, and some 1st year minbots were
repainted (but NOT remolded) to serve as 3rd year minis, and that's all
Mexico got from Iga. Burchy informs me that US TFs were also imported in
small quantities to Mexico also. As for exports, Mex TFs were exported and
sold in the UK, Netherlands and some other European countries too on a small
scale. Possibly even Russia. Mex toys are not easy to find, in fact I'd go
so far as to say that the Prowl and Smokescreen variants show up less than
things like Red Tracks. They show up in the UK more than most places.
The packaging on Mex TFs is a tad different too. The writing is in Spanish
and the little hasbro logo in the bottom left corner of the box/card was
replaced with a white square containing a house and the company name "Iga".
The same was done on the back.
The first year toys had strange techspecs. The 'graph' spec chart was
replaced with a white rectangle which had the Iga logo in the middle of it.
Here's an example:
However, the second year (and 3rd year mini) releases had the proper
techspecs, as seen here:
Also, there was no Mexican mailaway TF promos so there were no robot points
on the boxes either. The inner packaging on the boxed TFs is usually of
lesser quality. It has been known for the toys in MISB Mex boxes to fall off
the backing card where the adhesive holding the bubble to the card had given
up!
Onto the toys. The Mex TFs had no rubsigns. The stickers are usually of a
more papery quality and different fonts and colours have been used on some
Mex TFs. Paint application is usually pretty sloppy too. They are generally
of a lesser quality than US and Euro TFs.
Many Mexican variants exist, but towards the later end of the run, some of
the variations were changed, resulting in a few versions of some toys. Hence
3 (maybe 4) versions of Mexican Prowl, 2 versions of Smokescreen etc. In the
UK, there was quite an uproar about the high lead content in the paint Iga
was using on the Mex TFs when they were imported and sold here. Some later
boxed examples can be found with safety stickers on saying that there are no
toxic substances used in the construction of the TFs.
Copyrights now. A good deal of Mex toys have the "Japan" section of the
copyright blocked out by a slightly raised rectangular bit of plastic.
Possibly due to the toys being manufactured, assembled and painted in Mexico
and having slightly unique molds. They are all still Hasbro and Takara
stamped though. It should be noted that there ARE Mex TFs with no blocks on
the copyright. So that's not an airtight test.
Mexican TFs usually have quite potent un-neutered launchers also, so watch
your eyes if you ever pick one up!
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Back to Mexican variants
Also, there was no Mexican mailaway TF promos so there were no robot points
on the boxes either. The inner packaging on the boxed TFs is usually of
lesser quality. It has been known for the toys in MISB Mex boxes to fall off
the backing card where the adhesive holding the bubble to the card had given
up!
Onto the toys. The Mex TFs had no rubsigns. The stickers are usually of a
more papery quality and different fonts and colours have been used on some
Mex TFs. Paint application is usually pretty sloppy too. They are generally
of a lesser quality than US and Euro TFs.
Many Mexican variants exist, but towards the later end of the run, some of
the variations were changed, resulting in a few versions of some toys. Hence
3 (maybe 4) versions of Mexican Prowl, 2 versions of Smokescreen etc. In the
UK, there was quite an uproar about the high lead content in the paint Iga
was using on the Mex TFs when they were imported and sold here. Some later
boxed examples can be found with safety stickers on saying that there are no
toxic substances used in the construction of the TFs.
Copyrights now. A good deal of Mex toys have the "Japan" section of the
copyright blocked out by a slightly raised rectangular bit of plastic.
Possibly due to the toys being manufactured, assembled and painted in Mexico
and having slightly unique molds. They are all still Hasbro and Takara
stamped though. It should be noted that there ARE Mex TFs with no blocks on
the copyright. So that's not an airtight test.
Mexican TFs usually have quite potent un-neutered launchers also, so watch
your eyes if you ever pick one up!