User:Tribimat/Newspapers
From Transformers Wiki
This is a central archive for interesting articles about Transformers in the news, with particular reference to the 1980s. Most if not all of these articles were found on subscriber-only databases, so I don't want to infringe on copyright by providing the full text, but I'll give a summary of the contents and direct quotation (indented) of the most pertinent parts, as well as all necessary bibliographical information. If anyone is interested in a particular topic, drop me a note on my talk page and I'll try to find what you're looking for.
Contents |
1983
Washington Post, 2 Dec., Final Ed, (Metro section) p. C6
'Toys Selling for $5 or Less Selected as Bargain Buys'
Six toys were named by the Consumer Committee of the Americans for Democratic Action as particularly good buys for bargain shoppers. All of these toys were found selling for $5 or less. They include: "Machine Men/Bandai America/Diakron Power Dashers," an item by Takara that can be changed from a robot to a car or train in under 20 seconds.
Note the apparent confusion between Machine Men and Diakron (though this may just be bad copy editing).
1984
Macon Telegraph & News (Bibb Neighbors ed.), 28 February, p. 2
A write-up of the American Toy Fair, which concluded the previous week. A paragraph is devoted to the many robot toys on show, beginning with Ideal Toys' Roboforce (supported by an $8m advertising campaign), including Maxx Steele, a $300 programmable electronic robot.
The strangest concept in robot toys, designed in Japan, are Hasbro's Transformers and Tonka's GoBots—robot fantasy figures that convert into different mechanical marvels by flipping pieces sideways, back or inside out. Hasbro's Autobots and Evil Decepticons transform into sports cars, trucks, planes, cassette recorders and guns, and then back into robots. The GoBot Command Center turns into a missile. $3 and up.
Newsweek, 21 May, p. 90
'Hasbro: merging with Milton Bradley to get nearer the no. 1 spot'.
This concentrates on the Hasbro/Milton Bradley merger, but provides quite a bit of information on Stephen Hassenfeld. Hasbro's product development process is credited with the low failure rate of new toy lines.Among the recent hits: My Little Pony, a range of plastic and stuffed ponies and accessories; Gloworm, a battery-powered cuddly toy whose head lights up when its body is squeezed; and Transformers, an array of robots that can be reshaped into cars and trucks and back again.Hasbro's success is self-sustaining:
"People like to bring ideas to Stephen because he listens to them, they get a quick hearing, and they know they'll get a fair break," says [Henry] Orenstein, who took Transformers to Hasbro."
Inc, July, p. 19
'A marketing play: what makes GoBots go?' by Joshua Hyatt
As the title suggests, this article is mainly about GoBots, observing that the fact that the robots can be 'reshaped' into vehicles was not enough to sell them in the US:The toys (then called Machine Men) languished on the shelves for a year [1982] before Tonka bought the marketing rights. What GoBots needed was a story line.They got a story, and started to sell like hot cakes.
The toys hit the store shelves in January, priced at $3.29 to $9.99. By April, GoBots ranked as the fourth-best-selling toys in the country and toy stores were complaining of shortages. Tonka reported that a miniseries was in the works and licensing agreements were mounting. But the market is already getting crowded. In February, Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro Industries Inc. introduced the Transformers, a line of robots that can be twisted into cars, cassette players, and other objects. Ironically enough, the Transformers are also on their second go-round, having been marketed as Diakrons in 1983 by Takara Toys Corp., one of Bandai's chief competitors in Japan.Hasbro unveiled the Transformers line at the New York Toy Fair in February 1984 (thanks to Nevermore for this information). This article is the source for the first illustrative quotation for TRANSFORMER n. sense 3 in the online Oxford English Dictionary.
Adweek, 30 July, Eastern Edition
'Tonka and Hasbro Ready for Toy Wars With $8-Million Budgets' by Amy Saltzman
Armed with multimillion-dollar ad budgets, Cy-Kill and Leader One are preparing to do battle against the Heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons. It's the latest extension of the toy wars. And the stakes could be higher this year than ever before. Tonka Corp. and Hasbro Industries head up the battle, with introductions of what is essentially a new concept in toys in this country: transformable robot figures that can be folded into such shapes as guns, airplanes, cars, dinosaurs and even cassette-tape players.Both Tonka and Hasbro are stated to have an $8-million budget for their advertising campaigns, handled by Jordan, Case & McGrath and Griffin Bacal respectively. Interestingly, although the 'Go Bots' (sic) were first sold at the beginning of the year, their five-part mini-series is not scheduled to air until October, whereas
Hasbro, which began rolling out its line of Transformers in May, will run a three-part syndicated mini-series in September that will feature the toys as characters in a battle of good and evil between the Heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons.Perhaps this played a part in the eventual triumph of Transformers over GoBots? Hasbro's senior vice-president for marketing, Stephen Schwartz, is confident:
"We will be the dominant force in this area by Christmas. Our product is better thand Tonka's and so is our advertising."Both companies claim to have had orders amounting to $100 million for their products, although Tonka's director of marketing service, Lois Hanrahan, casts doubt on Hasbro's claims:
"There's no way they could have had that many orders in such a short time. We don't see how they can possibly catch up to us."
Observer (UK), 12 Aug., p. 15
'The March of the Robots' by William Feaver This article on a robot exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London contains the earliest mention of Transformers in a UK publication that I can find, though it isn't clear whether they are actually available in the UK, or merely feature in the exhibition. The author considers them to be Japanese (clear from omitted text).
The smallest, but most unnerving [robots] of all, are the 'Transformer' types by Bandai: robots capable of being reassembled into miniature cars or German tanks. Robots, it's implied, can assume any form; any hardware could prove to be a fiendish disguise.
Note again the confusion between Transformers and GoBots: the reference to Bandai suggests the toys on display were actually GoBots, but 'Transformers' seems to be the more memorable brand name. It's anyone's guess who the 'miniature cars' were, but Monzo suggests the German tank referred to was the Super GoBot Destroyer. [1] [2]
Washington Post, 9 Sept., TV guide pp. 27ff
According to this, Transformers was set to air at 4pm EDT on Wednesday 12, Thursday 13 and Friday 14 September, on the WTTG station, and at 12pm EDT on Saturday 15 September on NBC-WMAR. These precede by a few days the 17/18/19 September airdates for More than Meets the Eye 1-3 given on the wiki articles for these episodes.
