3-23-2006
Hey Fred,
So, I've been spending the last year working with other European fans to
assemble a complete list of toys available in Europe. Retroactive
checklists were not really an option as it turned out, but at least we
were able to gather lists for current lines. You can see the result here:
http://tfarchive.com/toys/checklists/european_releases.php
Note that this list is probably not complete, we're currently missing a
lot of recent Cybertron releases from Scandinavia. What I can confirm
for a fact is that Germany, Austria and France never got any Alternators
toys, and together with Spain and Portugal, we never got any Cybertron
toys (there is one store chain in the region of Germany where I live
that stocks Micromasters, Scouts and Deluxes, but that store is getting
its supplies from Hasbro Netherlands, so these toys are technically
"imports").
Now, on to the details.
Alternators:
Well, what a mess this is. Different countries are getting different
toys. The only country that so far got every Alternators toy ever
released in European packaging anywhere was Italy, which generally seems
to be the place to get the largest variety of toys (they're currently
the only country in Europe where Cybertron Megatron is available).
Europe-wise, Alternators Meister was only ever available in Italy. Italy
was missing out in Swindle for a long time, but eventually they got him,
and Decepticharge (so far yet another "Italy exclusive") shortly afterwards.
Let me tell you a few things about packaging. At the tail end of
Energon, Hasbro started changing the packaging for European toys:
Instead of the character artwork the US toys have (previously done by
Dreamwave artists, now mostly done by Marcelo Matere), European
packaging now sports a PHOTO of the actual toy! My own theory is that
this might be due to a law about "deceiving advertizing", but so far I
was unable to verify that.
The packaging change occurred with the second wave of Energon combiner
limbs... or shall I say "second half wave"? The only Energon combiners
we ever got were Storm Jet (Aerialbots torso), Steamhammer
(Constructicons torso), the original two Aerialbot limbs, the original
two Constructicon limbs and the two Aerialbot limb repaints. Supposedly,
UK online retailers later got the Combaticons in stock, but I was never
able to find out whether those came in European packaging or were
imports from the USA.
The new "photorealistic" packaging affected Alternators beginning with
Windcharger (whom some European countries got before Swindle), which
means Meister (exclusive to Italy, remember) was the last one with
character artwork on the box. All Cybertron toys released over here so
far come in the "photo" packaging as well.
See here for Cybertron Evac in European packaging:
http://tformers.com/article.php?sid=4950
Alternators Shockblast has been available from Argos stores in the UK
and Ireland. Oddly enough, he came in US packaging. According to
reports, Hasbro UK at one point claimed that they were not distributing
Alternators, which were supposedly only available from "import stores".
Well, that would explain the Shockblast import - but then, how did
Swindle end up in Forbidden Planet stores in the UK in European (!)
packaging before he was sighted in *any* other European country? Did
they import him directly from the factories in China?
Well, European Alternators packaging has now also shifted to the
"bubble" style packaging the current US waves are available in.
Decepticharge was the first toy realeased in that packaging (in Italy),
with the next one being Swindle... wait, Swindle? Wasn't he available in
Europe in the red packaging already? Yup, but still, he popped up at a
Chinese auction site and eventually came out in... South Africa, which
is traditionally getting toys in European packaging (because the country
is part of the British Commonwealth?). We also saw Shockblast in the new
packaging on Chinese auction sites, but so far the toys hasn't been
spotted in retail anywhere. Note that neither Decepticharge nor Swindle
nor Shockblast have so far been confirmed for a release in the new
packaging in the US. You can see pics of "Euro bubble" Swindle and
Shockblast here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/d75/binalternator/new_toys/alternators/
You might also notice the languages. Up to this point, European
packaging featured six languages: German, English, French, Dutch,
Spanish and Italian. Beginning with the new Alternators packaging,
however, we got an additional six lanuages, namely Portuguese, Swedish,
Danish, Polish, Greek and Turkish. Easily put, this means "more
convoluted text, less information".
Micromasters: (Some countries in) Europe got the Protectobots and the
Constructicons in "Energon" packaging and the Railbots and Aerialbots in
"Cybertron" packaging, whereas the US versions were (or will be, since
the Aerialbots have not been spotted at US KB stores yet) available in
"Universe" packaging. Supposedly, that's because Europe never *had* the
Universe line to begin with, so Hasbro stuck them into the current main
lines for their European releases. The funny thing about this is that
whenever a new wave of Micromasters surfaced in European packaging, fans
were screaming blood and murder and predicted the death of the Universe
line, thereby completely ignoring the prominent six languages on the
packaging ("what, you mean there are countries other than the USA that
get Hasbro toys?"), and now it seems like the US Aerialbots might be the
last toys to come out under the Universe banner...
Well, Cybertron... nothing really noteworthy here, you saw the checklist
I linked above. Instead, let's talk about... red Powerlinx Thrust!
As you might recall, Armada Powerlinx Thrust was depicted in red on the
packaging, but the actual toy was brown instead. Hasbro promised to
release the red version as a running change, but never came around to do
so. Red Thrust was available in Japan as a "USA Edition", which means it
was the Hasbro toy on a Hasbro card (albeit with a Japanese-style
bubble) with an additional Japanese sticker on the packaging,
exclusively available from the Toy's Dream Project member store Toycard.
Only... red Powerlinx Thrust was also available in Europe! Well, sort of.
The first and most well-known sighting is from Israel, reported in June
of 2004.
http://hydepark.hevre.co.il/hydepark/topic.asp?topic_id=983788
Some reliable Italian contacts of mine confirmed to me that the toy was
also available in (parts of) Italy around the same time.
There is at least one confirmed sighting from Portugal, retroactively
dated to "more than a year ago".
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost1328414-p12.html
In September 2005, the toy was also spotted in Australian toy stores,
albeit in European packaging... which means it's imported old stock from
Europe.
http://www.allspark.com/forumarchives/index.php?showtopic=83109&view=findpost&p=1626425
And lastly, red Powerlinx Thrust was finally also found in the UK today.
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-1143124317.html
Makes one wonder how many other European countries might still have
Thrust in their back storage collecting dust.
Well, so much for my European round-up. Hope you still have use for it. :-)
- Torsten