Old G1 era Hasbro toyfair catalogs online
Evil King Macrocranios
catalog went up on ebay for $500 and sparked some discussion of
prototypes? Well I found a site with many of the Transformers pages of
the Hasbro toy catalogs from 1986 through 1990. It's called Botriot:
http://botriot.jemmagic.com/transformershasbro1986.html
It doesn't have the '86 pre-toyfair book or the '84 and '85 books but
it's got lots of other good stuff like the Hasbro originated line art
sheets used by retailers in newspaper ads for 1987 and 1988. I've
offered to donate scans of the toyfair '84 and '85 books so maybe
they'll take me up on it. Even without the '84 and '85 books it's an
impressive resource.
Deathsauras
in the G-2 catalogs I had there were a bunch of transformers items
that got cancelled in 1995. like the 2 recolored+minor retooled
autorollers optimus prime & sergant hound. G-2 dreadwing repainted as
megatron & starscream. combat heros more G-1 accurate colored megatron
& a weird colored optimus prime. G-2 Laser cycle recolors of jazz &
soundwave
the only thing I saw that was weird in those beastwars catalogs was
1996 deluxe tigertron had orange colors instead of white/off-white.
Evil King Macrocranios
I guess you got rid of them? If you did, could you tell the story of
why and how that happened?
> in the G-2 catalogs I had there were a bunch of transformers items
> that got cancelled in 1995. like the 2 recolored+minor retooled
> autorollers optimus prime & sergant hound. G-2 dreadwing repainted as
> megatron & starscream. combat heros more G-1 accurate colored megatron
> & a weird colored optimus prime. G-2 Laser cycle recolors of jazz &
> soundwave
I remember seeing pictures of those over the years. It would be nice
to have them all up in one centralized location. I've been reading
your blog, maybe you could scan them and post about them there if you
still have them?
> the only thing I saw that was weird in those beastwars catalogs was
> 1996 deluxe tigertron had orange colors instead of white/off-white.
Sometimes it takes a bit of more intensive inspection to uncover
interesting tidbits beyond obvious color and mold variations. Like in
the 1990 catalog pages on that site the name for Action Master Skyfall
is instead Fireball. Is it a coincidence that the names for this
figure that looks like it turned into a a red and white jet had both
"Sky" and "Fire" in them? I wonder if Hasbro was intending this figure
to be an homage to Skyfire with the way the prototype's design is
vaguely reminiscent of a Macross Valkyrie in spots (the rocket booster
style backpack and the arms look like they have Jetfire's clip on
armor). It seems like there's constantly new stuff in these catalogs
that I notice every time I look at them.
Deathsauras
that I used to show case all my Hasbro Toyfair catalog pics & that
dinoking combiner I created using several beastwars dinosaur/bot
toys.
It's been 10+years since I got rid of all those hasbro TF toyfair
catalogs. I might have given a few pages away to those who won TF toy
auctions from me.
I don't have them anymore,that I know for sure.
I also remember calling that 1800 hasbro consumer number & asking the
lady for a read out of all the transformer items being released. the
lady on the phone,said all the G-1 stunticon & protectobots names.
oddly enough the stunticons & protectobots pictures were not in any
G-2 Hasbro TF toyfair catalogs.
as the years went by Hasbro would create less & less pages in there
toyfair catalogs. I think starting with beastmachines the hasbro
toyfair catalogs were non-existant. hasbro at some point started
giving out computer CD'S with toyfair catalogs pics on them.
I was always amazed at the high resolution glossy art pics in those
Hasbro toyfair catalogs. the hasbro toyfair catalogs were huge. as the
years went by,they got smaller until hasbro phased them out all
together.
Zobovor
<evil.king.macrocran...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://botriot.jemmagic.com/transformershasbro1986.html
Dude, this is awesome. You do find the most amazing stuff.
1986 Toy Catalog—
Page 4: Hey, it's the pink Hot Rod! The only other time I've seen
photos of him were in the actual Transformers catalog, so I was
beginning to think they'd just done some weird color-correcting and
that toy didn't actually exist. Here it is, though, looking just like
his animated appearance in The Transformers: the Movie. (And check
out Blurr's weird creepy yellow eyes!)
Page 6: Motormaster's transformed all straddle-legged, just like his
U.S. box art. Weird. (As an aside, I love how they use the same rock
formations to display the Autobot teams and Decepticon teams, but they
change the lighting to make it look like a totally different
landscape. Very 1960's Star Trek.)
Page 10: Holy crap, it's the wacky prototype Broadside!!! Yes, that
really did merit three exclamation marks. Somebody sent me a really
grainy picture of this about ten years ago, but I lost it in a
computer reformatting and I kicked myself forever over it. 'Sok, this
is a much clearer picture anyhoo. Wow, look at the differences. He's
got legs that can separate! Arms that extend! A two-stage nosecone
transformation! A canopy that somehow disappears when he changes to
robot mode! Look at the extensions on his wings in jet mode! This,
friends, is the Broadside that doesn't completely suck!
Page 14: I love the prototype Predacons. Check out Razorclaw's
head. Heck, check out Predaking's head. (Ah! Now, I finally see
where Predaking's shoulder guns came from.) And is that a STICKER for
Tantrum's face? Heh heh heh heh.
Page 16: Aww. Steeljaw and Ramhorn have cute little Autobot symbols
on their butts.
Page 25: "Sky Lynx transforms into an endless number of combinations
so kids can make their own robot creations." Erm, excuse me?
1987 1st Quarterly—
Page 3: Interesting that the tank-and-plane Duocon is called
Battletrap and that the helicopter-and-jeep Duocon is named Flywheels
here. Seems eminently more appropriate than what we got. (Also
interesting that the Duocons are being marketed as TV characters
here. Clearly, there was some plan for them to be included in season
four that never saw fruition.)
Page 4: There's that wacky Rippersnapper prototype again. Somebody
want to explain to me how he can transform into an Abominus arm when
his head doesn't fold down? (Seriously, look.) Also, here's a new
alternate spelling for the Terrorcon leader's name, "Hun-Gurr," with a
"u" and only two "r's."
1988 Pre-Toyfair Catalog—
Page 4: Wow, early names for the Triggerbots! Backstreet was
originally "Speedtrap" and Override was originally
"Chopper." (Override is a silly name for a motorcycle.)
I love stuff like this. Thanks for sharing!
Zob
Chad Rushing
<evil.king.macrocran...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Remember last year around this time when a 1986 pre-Toyfair Hasbro
> catalog went up on ebay for $500 and sparked some discussion of
> prototypes? Well I found a site with many of the Transformers pages of
> the Hasbro toy catalogs from 1986 through 1990. It's called Botriot:
Thanks for the link!
What is it about seeing toys in a catalog that makes them seem so much
desirable than they do in person? My initial reaction to seeing those
pictures was, "Man, it would be so cool to own those!" But, I then
realized that already -do- own like two thirds of them as reissues,
yet half of them sit unopened in their boxes while the other half is
hardly ever catches my attention.
Maybe, I should redesign my display area to have all of my TFs
standing on stacked rock plates. That seems to be the secret, because
I vaguely remember STAR WARS toy catalogs doing the exact same thing.
- Chad
...also known as Thunder
> Maybe, I should redesign my display area to have all of my TFs
> standing on stacked rock plates. That seems to be the secret, because
> I vaguely remember STAR WARS toy catalogs doing the exact same thing.
Careful, Chad. Now that you know the secret Hasbro might send somebody
to keep you silenced. ;)
t.k.
Chad Rushing
wrote:
>
> Careful, Chad. Now that you know the secret Hasbro might send somebody
> to keep you silenced. ;)
Thanks for the warning! I'll be sure to watch my back from now on ...
- Chad
Evil King Macrocranios
> Dude, this is awesome. You do find the most amazing stuff.
I always feel weird when people tell me that. On one hand I'm not the
person who created the stuff and they really deserve the credit, but
then again if people didn't spread the word about stuff I'd never find
anything either.
> 1986 Toy Catalog—
> Page 6: Motormaster's transformed all straddle-legged, just like his
> U.S. box art. Weird. (As an aside, I love how they use the same rock
> formations to display the Autobot teams and Decepticon teams, but they
> change the lighting to make it look like a totally different
> landscape. Very 1960's Star Trek.)
It took me a while to notice that about the landscape. The backdrops
used in these catalogs were so much better than what we got with the
pack in toy catalogs. I guess it's easier and less of an eyestrain to
present the toys on blank backgrounds, especially since a small fold
out poster has a lot less space. Some of these same pictures did
appear in the toy pack-in catalogs in Europe, but again the large size
of these original pages is so much more impressive.
I know it's hard to see at this size, but the stickers on the
Silverbolt, Hot Spot and Onslaught on the left side of the page are
different from the stickers on the Silverbolt, Hot Spot and Onslaught
on the right side of the page. They're too hard for me to make out on
Motormaster.
> Page 14: I love the prototype Predacons. Check out Razorclaw's
> head. Heck, check out Predaking's head. (Ah! Now, I finally see
> where Predaking's shoulder guns came from.) And is that a STICKER for
> Tantrum's face? Heh heh heh heh.
What's also kind of cool is the Razorclaw line art that can be seen in
the 1987 line art pages is based off of these prototypes-in lion mode
he has the transforming Predaking head tucked between his front legs.
But the Predaking head shown on Predaking's line art doesn't seem to
be the transforming version from the actual photographs. Or maybe it
is and I just can't make it out clearly enough or I'm getting confused
because the Predaking head was so badly mistransformed in the '86
catalog photo.
Trypticon is also an early version with arms that are different from
the final production version.
> 1987 1st Quarterly—
> ....(Also
> interesting that the Duocons are being marketed as TV characters
> here. Clearly, there was some plan for them to be included in season
> four that never saw fruition.)
I think the TV designation just means those assortments were would get
advertised in commercials. In later catalogs all the way through 1990
there are many figure assortments that get TV blurbs but that were
released well after the show went off the air.
> I love stuff like this. Thanks for sharing!
I wish I would have found it sooner. Looks like it's been up since
August, which incidentally was when I first started wishing someone
would do something like this. Strange how that happened!
primus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80HRsZLBblQ
It's a video of a Toy Store near where I live. The video's a couple years
old and they have re-done some of the displays (for example the shelves at
the end of the video are gone and replaces with a city scape with a ton of
Marvel, DC and other action figures fighting). This video does not do the
store justice.
primustf - who sometimes goes into the store just to look at the displays.
"Chad Rushing" <not...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:75f874d5-cc34-4d6e...@b2g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
...also known as Thunder
t.k.
Shin Hibiki
>Page 3: Interesting that the tank-and-plane Duocon is called
>Battletrap and that the helicopter-and-jeep Duocon is named Flywheels
>here. Seems eminently more appropriate than what we got.
That's also how they were named for their Japanese release.
(As I recall, they appear briefly in Headmasters.)
- Shin Hibiki