PGPoA’s Guide to Third Party Transformers Products

May 23, 2012 | @abuddah

With Playmates’ announcement of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle line based on the 1980s cartoon, the circle of nostalgia for the toy industry is just about complete. The TMNT, Snake Eyes, He-Man, and Luke and Leia have come and gone a few times since the ’80s, but one property has always had a spot on the shelf: the Transformers. Kids love cars, robots and the idea of getting two toys for the price of one. (On the other hand, there are the Go-Bots…)


I certainly loved my original Transformers toys, but even back then I could tell something was amiss. The robots who waged war on my carpet in the afternoon didn’t look exactly like the ones battling over the fate of the planet on TV. The designers had taken quite a bit of creative license in order to get the Autobots and Decepticons into streamlined character models that would be easy to animate. (more…)

Toy Aisle Trolls > Transformers Crime

May 22, 2012 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe@poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: SL

Should look like:

Poe’s Note: I think the orange in SL’s pics is due to the photo, not the packaging or troll activity.

Toy Aisle Trolls > Barren-ess

May 18, 2012 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe@poeghostal.com.

Baroness, Cobra Librarian

Submitted by: CT

CT writes: “This is an odd thing I found in a Tallahassee Walmart. The figure is a Baroness from the Valor v. Venom line (if I recall correctly) from several years back in the package of a Rise of Cobra Baroness. Makes no sense to me, but whatever.”

Odds ‘n Ends

April 30, 2012 | Poe

  • Happy birthday to The Fwoosh, who are celebrating their 10th birthday this month. Early on the Fwoosh established itself as the place to discuss Marvel Legends, and later Marvel Universe and DC Universe Classics. I’ve met some of the folks behind the Fwoosh at conventions and Toy Fair and they’ve always been great. They’ve got all sorts of events going on, including a giveaway, so if you’re a superhero toy fan be sure to stop by.
  • Pixel Dan has a review of Diamond Select’s exclusive Battle Beast figure from C2E2.
  • The first Fall of Cybertron toys are available for preorder at BBTS. They look cool, and it’s possible these may be the first Transformers toys I buy since Masterpiece Grimlock, but can someone please, PLEASE explain to me why Hasbro prefers to give us yet another Optimus BEFORE giving us FoC Grimlock?!? I just don’t understand the thinking here. I really, really don’t. And yeah, I’m just impatient for a FoC Grimlock toy. I admit it. I hope it’s Voyager class…the Classics Grimlock disappointed me only in that it was so small. We need a big, updated-for-current-science Grimlock.

What Battle Beasts Rights Does Diamond Select Have?

April 18, 2012 | Poe
battle beasts

battle beasts by toy find!, on Flickr

Phil Reed over at Battlegrip speculates on the specific rights Diamond Select Toys has to Battle Beasts. I actually discussed this on PGPoA way back in 2009, and even then it was rumored DST only had the trademark on the brand name, not the creature designs (or the rub-sign feature).

It seems obvious TakaraTomy (the Japanese rights holder of Transformers) still has the rights to Beastformers, the Japanese toy line that became Battle Beasts when imported to the U.S. and Europe. As the original name suggests, in Japan the line was tied in to Transformers (specifically the Japanese Headmasters franchise). And now it looks like TakaraTomy may be moving forward with some new product under the name Beast Saga.

(A brief aside to Phil’s main question: I suspect the confusion over whether DST “paid someone” for the trademark is due either to someone at the C2E2 DST panel misspeaking, or someone misunderstanding or misreporting what was said. I do think they simply snapped up the trademark when TakaraTomy let it lapse. Also, I believe you pay the government a fee when you pick up a lapsed trademark, so that may be what the “paid” is referring to.)

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