Okay, this is going to be a tough one...
Back in 1985, Hasbro started releasing Transformers toys in mainland Europe through Milton Bradley, whom they were in the process of taking over at that point. The early MB packaging was sporting texts in German, Dutch, French and Spanish, which would imply the toys were available in Germany (and possibly also Austria), the Netherlands, Belgium (maybe also Luxembourg), France and Spain.
http://www.tf-1.com/articles/eurous_frame.php?art=mb
First question:
Were the Canadian versions with alternate French names available in France as well, or were they limited to Canada?
http://www.oocities.org/futuristgroup/vcanada.html
Anyway...
Supposedly, the UK initially got toys in US packaging (English only), and with a different selection of toys than the rest of Europe.
Italy got toys by a company named GiG, who had obtained the license from Hasbro. The Italien toys had alternate names ("Tiran", "Saxo" etc.), an additional "Trasformer" logo (which originally stemmed from the days when they were trying to cash in on the success of Hasbro's Transformers using their license for Takara's Diaclone line without having to pay extra royalties to Hasbro) and sometimes even used packaging based on Takara's versions, such as boxed Scramble City combiners (complete with Japanese numbers for the toys!) or the "Hero Set" (with different names than the original Italian releases of these characters!).
http://www.tf-1.com/articles/eurous_frame.php?art=gig
http://www.oocities.org/futuristgroup/vitaly.html
http://www.muscara.com/transformers.html
http://www.oocities.org/futuristgro...pgiftsets.html
("Italian giftsets")
Even the THROTTLEBOTS came in boxes!
http://www.animerobot.it/catalog/advanced_...594dea3544431ab
Then there's the case of the odd yellow Constructicons on multilingual (French/English/Dutch/Spanish) G1 cards with "Hasbro" instead of "MB" logos, which were reportedly available in France, but are also rumored to be Chinese bootlegs.
http://www.oocities.org/futuristgroup/vjap6.html
(the second ones)
Later, Hasbro released the "Classics" reissues in Europe, which were available in English-only packaging.
http://us.oocities.com/futuristgroup/veurolist.html
Well, there's a case of a Spanish "Classic" Wheeljack (but not actually CALLED "Classic").
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/wheeljack.htm
GiG released their own version of the "Classics", which seem to be a story of their own.
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/gig_sludge.htm
The languages on this Euro Overlord's packaging are impossible to make out, but there's clearly a French sticker...
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/overlord.htm
Other European releases were also available in English-only packaging.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9316/crankcase2ad8.jpg
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/sideswipe.htm
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/charger.htm
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/tracks_UK.htm
Interesting observation:
English-only packaging with a German safety warning sticker.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5834/needlenuv8.jpg
English-only packaging with a German safety warning that's NOT a sticker. Also note how it's "Hasbro Inc." here.
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/817/astrosqsb4.jpg
Meanwhile, the UK division was apparently still "Hasbro Bradley, Inc."
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/1...deswipeig7.jpg
Well, what do you say... bilingual French/Dutch packaging.
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blok-10/Powerflash.htm
http://www.seibertron.com/infozone/convent...02/uk/uk012.jpg
More Italian toys by GiG.
http://home.student.utwente.nl/j.blo...otorvators.htm
http://www.tons-of-toys.com/tonnellatedigi...i-trova.php#535
There were the weird yellow pre-G2 Constructicons which couldn't merge into Devastator anymore.
http://www.oocities.org/futuristgroup/vjap6.html
European pre-G2 toy in bilingual English/Spanish packaging.
http://www.oocities.org/tfrework/eurotf/snare.jpg
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestea...hurricane.html
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/scorch.html
Some toys even had alternate names in different countries.
Meet Clench (mainland Europe) aka Colossus (UK).
http://www.cobraislandtoys.com/tf/1993/clench.html
Meet Pyro (mainland Europe) aka Spark (UK).
http://www.cobraislandtoys.com/tf/1993/pyro.html
To make matters worse, Clench and Pyro both have bilingual English/Spanish packaging, with Pyro's bio being longer (and slightly different!) than the UK bio for Spark.
Okay, it gets worse: Trilingual English/Spanish/Portuguese packaging for Colossus and Spark.
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/1...ossus01ll1.jpg
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2...pspec01ye9.jpg
Meet Zap (bio in two languages, copyright notes including German and even an Austrian address):
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/zap.html
Meet Skram:
http://www.oocities.org/oblivionsboxes8/skrama.html
Apparently, Zap and Skram were also named "Rush" and "Smash" in some countries.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~wjtbeek/a.html#axeler
Meet Terradive:
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestea...terradive.html
Meet Tornado:
http://www.cliffbee.com/reviews/tornado.htm
Apparently, Terradive and Tornado were also named "Nightmare" and "Vulcano" in some countries.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~wjtbeek/s.html#skyscor
G2 toys in trilingual French/Dutch/German packaging...
http://www.seibertron.com/infozone/convent...02/uk/uk002.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5750/g2frenzyjo2.jpg
Note how the German Hasbro branch was named "Hasbro Playskool" at that time...
GiG kept being in charge of the Italian releases throughout the G2 line, but had dropped the old "Trasformer" logo by this point.
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/...collection.html
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/jazzg2.html
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestea...deswipeg2.html
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/...collection.html
With Beast Wars, it became weird... There were some toys with GiG on the packaging, which was trilingual in English/German/Italian, including the alternate Italian title "Biocombat", and a sticker with a Kenner logo slapped over it.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7175/dinobotve9.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9144/dinobot2js4.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7...stickerdx8.jpg
We have packaging with bot GiG AND Kenner logos, without a sticker...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/IMG_1776.jpg
Apparently, that packaging was even used for releases in New Zealand! Also note how "Hasbro International, Inc." is mentioned. Does this mean the weird Prime-thing seen [url=http://www.oocities.org/futuristgroup/vkorea.html]here[/i] is
not a bootleg after all?
And then there were toys in Kenner-only packaging, also with trilingual packaging in English/German/Italian and the alternate "Biocombat" title (also note how Optimus Primal is called "Black Jack" in Italy).
http://www.cosmicrust.com/toys/bw/clawjaw_ukvideo.php
http://www.cosmicrust.com/toys/bw/spittor_ukvideo.php
http://www.toywebb.net/prod2057.htm
Here we have French/Dutch/German Beast Wars packaging, with the alternate title "Ani Mutants" (also note how the Predacons are called "Predators").
http://www.toycentre.com/acatalog/Transformers.html
http://www.tons-of-toys.com/tonnellatedigi...i-trova.php#535
After that, European packaging became more and more universal. RiD gave us four languages with English/French/Dutch/German packaging, and Armada introduced six languages with English/French/Dutch/Spanish/Italian/Dutch packaging which was also used for Energon, Alternators (blue and red packaging) and the first waves of Cybertron.
The European bubble packaging Alternators and the later waves of Cybertron now give us twelve languages with English/French/German/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/Dutch/Swedish/Danish/Greek/Polish/Turkish packaging.
Does anyone know of any other weird early European language packaging variants?