|
|
| (49 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| [[File:Energon rapidrun cardback.jpg|right|upright=1.1|thumb|Typical trilingual cardback: photos of the wrong toy representing a different character, with misidentified factions and swapped names. No room for characterization, function or stats, but a franchise description longer than the Gettysburg Address appears in three languages.]]
| | (done) |
| '''Multilingual packaging''' is essentially the standard way ''Transformers'' toys are available in countries outside the United States. Rather than producing packaging sporting texts in a single language for different countries, Hasbro saves money by putting texts in several different languages on the same packaging, which will then be released in all the target markets. (There are a few exceptions, such as places like Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines, which traditionally get their toys in the same packaging that is available in the United States.)
| |
| | |
| {{:Multilingual packaging/translation}}
| |
| | |
| {{-}}
| |
| ==Multilingual packaging in the Americas==
| |
| [[File:GenT30Mini-ConAssaultTeamUSCA.jpg|right|upright=1.55|thumb|What, were you expecting a trilingual comic?]]
| |
| Multilingual packaging began in Canada back in 1984, was later expanded to also cover Latin America starting with ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' in 1996, then replaced English-only packaging for the United States between 2001 and 2005, and again beginning in 2014. It was eventually merged with European multilingual packaging into one worldwide packaging type in 2019.
| |
| | |
| In detail:
| |
| *'''1984-1995: English and French for Canada.''' When the original [[The Transformers (toyline)|''Transformers'' to line]] was introduced to the Canadian market in 1984, the packaging was bilingual (sporting texts in English and French). This language combination persisted for over a decade, up until the end of the ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' line in 1995.
| |
| *'''1996-2014: English, French and Spanish for Canada and Latin America.''' With the launch of the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)|''Beast Wars'' toyline]] in 1996, Hasbro introduced trilingual Transformers packaging, sporting texts in English, French and Spanish, now serving not only the Canadian market, but also Latin America. (Prior to that, Transformers toys had been distributed by various licensees in Latin America, such as [[IGA]] for Mexico, [[Antex]] for Argentina, [[HUDE]], [[BASA]], [[Abramowicz]] and [[Lynsa]] for Peru and Chile or [[Estrela]] for Brazil, with the packaging usually being entirely in Spanish or Portuguese.)
| |
| **'''2001-2005: English, French and Spanish also for the United States.''' With the launch of the [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 toyline)|''Robots in Disguise'' toy line]] in 2001, Hasbro decided to cut costs by using the trilingual packaging for the US market as well, which meant they only had to design one type of packaging for three markets rather than two. Thus the standard United States packaging, traditionally sporting English-only texts, was replaced by trilingual packaging with texts in English, French and Spanish. This move was, of course, [[Ruined FOREVER|well-received]] by fans. In 2005, Hasbro's ''Transformers'' team successfully convinced the company's higher-ups that the multi-lingual packaging was so ''phenomenally ugly'' that it was costing them sales.<ref>Kids also hate foreign languages; [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/0cd6f0724b39615f?dmode=source&output=gplain Steve-o's 2005 BotCon Report]</ref> English-only packaging was reintroduced with the launch of the [[Transformers: Cybertron (toyline)|''Cybertron'' line]], coinciding with the addition of English-only ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' packaging intended for the US market.
| |
| *'''2009-2019: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese for Canada and Latin America.''' Between the third and fourth waves of the various ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' [[size class]] assortments, Hasbro changed the packaging from trilingual to quadrilingual, now adding Portuguese as a fourth language for the Brazilian market. For a while, the use of Portuguese remained inconsistent; for example, both ''[[Transformers: Prime (toyline)|Transformers: Prime]]'' (including its ''Beast Hunters'' [[subline imprint]]) and the ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' line's ''Fall of Cybertron'' and ''Thrilling 30'' segments only featured English, French and Spanish, whereas the ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (toyline)|Dark of the Moon]]'' line featured Portuguese as well. By 2015, Portuguese became a fixed staple on American ''Transformers'' packaging (for the most part).
| |
| **'''2015-2019: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese also for the United States.''' With the launch of the ''[[Combiner Wars (toyline)|Combiner Wars]]'' toyline and the concurrently released ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' line at the end of 2014, Hasbro once again made multilingual packaging the default for the United States (barring few exceptions).
| |
| *'''2019-today: English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese for the entire world.''' Starting in late 2019 with the ''[[War for Cybertron: Siege]]'' line's [[Walmart]] [[exclusive]] ''35th Anniversary'' subline imprint, continuing with the final waves of each of the line's general retail size class assortments and the ''[[Transformers: Cyberverse (toyline)|Cyberverse]]'' line's ''Battle for Cybertron'' subline imprint/''Bumblebee: Cyberverse Adventures'' rebranding, Hasbro merged the two remaining packaging types (American and European) into one worldwide standard format, adding German as a fifth language as far as non-European customers were concerned.
| |
| | |
| A few exceptions exist:
| |
| [[File:LegacyBumblebeeCanadian.jpg|right|upright=1.67|thumb|Everything must be translated. ''Everything''.<br>Tout doit être traduit. ''Tout''.<br>Todo debe ser traducido. ''Todo''.]]
| |
| *Some store exclusives that were never intended to be released in Latin America were released in bilingual English/French packaging in Canada instead. Examples include the Walmart exclusive "Legacy of Bumblebee" three-pack from the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 ''Transformers'' movie toyline]], as well as the 2018-2020 Walmart exclusive "[[Vintage (Walmart toyline)|Vintage G1]]" reissues.
| |
| *Shortly before Hasbro largely abandoned English-only packaging for a second time, various store exclusives from the ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction (toyline)|Age of Extinction]]'' toyline and the [[Target]] exclusive ''Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters'' subline imprint ''Predacons Rising'' (with the exception of the Ultimate Class [[Predaking (Prime)#Ultimate|Beast Fire Predaking]] figure, which was only part of the ''Predacons Rising'' subline imprint in the United States but a general retail release in standard ''Beast Hunters'' packaging in all other markets) already reintroduced trilingual packaging for the United States market.
| |
| *After Hasbro had largely abandoned English-only packaging again in late 2014, some figures were still released in English-only packaging afterwards, such as the ''Combiner Wars'' Deluxe Class figures with [[pack-in material|pack-in comics]], or various large electronic toys, such as those from the 2015 ''Robots in Disguise'' toyline or the 2018 [[Market six|Kohl's]] exclusive [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys#Super20inch|retool of ''Robots in Disguise'' Super Bumblebee]] in ''[[Transformers Authentics|Authentics]]''-style packaging. The ''[[Titans Return (toyline)|Titans Return]]'' line eventually dropped the pack-in comic books, thus eliminiating any further reason for English-only packaging altogether.
| |
| {{-}}
| |
| | |
| ===Characteristics and oddities===
| |
| [[File:StormSurgeUSCanMex.jpg|left|upright=1.67|thumb|In Soviet Canada, I'm an Autobot.]]
| |
| Bilingual Canadian packaging for the original ''Transformers'' toyline utilized a smaller printing font to fit the [[Tech Spec]]s and [[bio]]s in both languages onto the packaging. Even the ''characters' names'' required French translations! Sometimes errors slipped through; for example, [[Swoop (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Swoop]] is called "[[Tracks (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Tracks]]" in the English version of his bio, [[Frenzy (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Frenzy]] is called "Frenetik" in English, and [[Soundwave (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Soundwave]], [[Buzzsaw (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Buzzsaw]] and even ''[[Megatron (G1)/toys#The Transformers|Megatron]]'' are identified as ''Autobots''!
| |
| | |
| Whereas in the United States, the original ''Transformers'' toyline had ben canceled in 1990, Hasbro continued releasing new toys in Canada that were also concurrently available in Europe. Those figures would often sport different names in French, and sometimes even in English, than their European counterparts. (See below for examples.)
| |
| | |
| The (now trilingual) packaging for the ''Beast Wars'', ''Beast Machines'' and 2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' lines abandoned the need for additional French names of the individual toys. Due to the addition of a third language, the bios were now abbreviated compared to their counterparts from Hasbro's English-only United States packaging, in addition to the previously already used smaller print. Additionally, the ''titles'' for all three lines were now translated as well: ''Beast Wars'' was given the additional French title ''Guerre des Bêtes'' for Canada, and the Spanish title ''Guerra de Bestias'' for Latin America; ''Beast Machines'' was given the additional French title ''Mécanimaux'' for Canada, and the Spanish title ''Mecanibestias'' for Latin America; and ''Robots in Disguise'' was given the additional French title ''Robots Déguisés'' for Canada, and the Spanish title ''"Robots Camuflados'' for Latin America. Of note is that the French Canadian title for the ''Beast Wars'' toyline didn't match the French Canadian titles of the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|corresponding cartoon]] (''Robots-Bêtes''). Likewise, the names of subline imprints, size classes and gimmicks such as "[[Transmetal]]s", "Deluxe Class", "Premium Series" or "[[Triple Changer]]" also have to be translated. When ''Robots in Disguise'' was used again as a tagline for the ''Armada'', ''Energon'', ''Cybertron'', 2003 ''Universe'' and ''Alternators'' lines, it was again kept trilingual (using the same translations as for the 2001 toyline), whereas later waves of the 2003 ''Universe'' line, as well as all subsequent lines that used the tagline, were allowed to keep it in English only, even on multilingual packaging.
| |
| | |
| [[File:UniDelWave1CanMex.jpg|right|upright=1.67|thumb|Beast Machines anyone?]]
| |
| In 2002, when the [[Transformers: Armada (toyline)|''Armada'' toy line]] was about to be launched, someone (probably a lawyer) informed Hasbro that if any part of the packaging was trilingual, the ''entire'' contents had to be trilingual, including the [[Transformers: Armada (mini-comic)|pack-in comic books]]; this resulted in the comics' dialogue being in stilted, unpleasant prose, but on the bright side the unsightliness of the comics may have prompted the creation of the popular [[jaAm]] joke.<ref name="everything">"Everything must be trilingual" from the 2002 Hasbro BotCon panel, [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/3003d05818cf8b5e?dmode=source&output=gplain Steve-o's BotCon 2002 Report,: Zobovor Edition]</ref> Hasbro later realized this person was overcautious, and volumes 3 and 4 of the pack-in comic were printed in a much more eye-pleasing way: in English. Additionally, instead of settling for "incredibly short and banal" on-package [[bio]]s, the packaging for the ''Armada'', ''[[Transformers: Energon (toyline)|Energon]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'' toylines only featured lengthy summaries of the respective toyline's backstory (and, in the case of ''Armada'', a description of the [[Mini-Con]] [[gimmick]]) in all three languages. Instead, kids were instructed to go to the [http://www.transformers.com Transformers.com] website, where they were ''supposed'' to find bios for the characters. Unfortunastely, aside from being only in English at that time, the website was not very frequently updated, which resulted in many a toy's bio only being added months after it had already been released at retail, ''if at all''. With the launch of the ''Cybertron'' line in 2005, full on-packaging bios made a return, not just for the English-only packaging used for the United States, but also for the trilingual Canadian/Latin American packaging. The ''Alternators'' line, meanwhile, still didn't get bios, although the second assortment launched in 2005 introduced a redesigned packaging that now featured mottos that were translated fo the trilingual packaging version. With subsequent lines, Hasbro realized that trying to put three times as much text on a packaging of the same dimensions (especially on Deluxe and smaller-sized figures) would result in having extremely ''tiny'' (and therefore, pretty much impossible to read) text, and thus tried to come up with other options to make the information from the English-only packaging available to non-US customers. Some toys therefore instead feature [[cross-sell]]s on the back of their packaging, while other features such as tech specs, [[bio]]s, quotes, stock photography etc. are moved either to the back of the instructions ([[Transformers Animated (toyline)|''Animated'']]) or in a separate flyer inside the packaging (''Universe'').
| |
| | |
| The requirement for multiple languages also leads to unfortunate omissions of [[pack-in material]] for the non-US markets, such as the comic reprints from the 2008 ''Universe'' comic two-packs and the ''Thrilling 30'' and ''Combiner Wars'' Deluxe Class figures, or the DVD from [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|25th Anniversary Optimus Prime]]. This even leads to modifications of the toys themselves: In general, electronic toys that feature sound chips that contain voice clips will often differ between markets: The versions sold in English-only packaging in the United States will often say full sentences in English, while all their international counterparts sold in any type of multilingual packaging will typically have their voice chips modified so they only say their names. (Ironically, this includes toys released in the United Kingdom).
| |
| | |
| In addition, trilingual packaging occasionally features odd errors, such as the packaging for ''all'' of the 2007 ''Transformers'' movie toyline's Scout Class figures sporting Autobot [[insignia]]s on the packaging, regardless of which faction insignia the toy itself featured. Also, the cardbacks for the first three waves of ''Universe'' toyline's Deluxe Class figures only depict the [[package art|character art]] of one "representative" toy per wave (Wave 1: [[Sunstreaker (G1)/toys#Universe (2008)|Sunstreaker]], Wave 2: [[Acid Storm (G1)#Universe (2008)|Acid Storm]], Wave 3: [[Ironhide (G1)/toys#Universe (2008)|Ironhide]]) on the front of the card, regardless of which toy actually ''was'' in the packaging. (The artwork on the side of the bubble is correct, though.) Individual character art for the Deluxe Class figures was finally used beginning with wave 4. The trilingual packaging versions of the Voyager Class toys, meanwhile, feature no character artwork on the front of the box ''at all''. This was repeated with the ''Generations Thrilling 30'' Deluxe Class figures, which not only omitted the pack-in comics, but used a ''sticker'' featuring the package art for [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generations toys#Deluxe|Orion Pax]] for the first two waves (subsequent waves use the correct package art for each figure).
| |
| | |
| ==Multilingual packaging in Europe==
| |
| [[File:CybStreetSpeedTeamUsEuro.jpg|right|upright=1.67|thumb|It could only get better after this.]]
| |
| [[File:Combiner Wars Viper World vs EU.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Similar, but not identical.]]
| |
| In Europe, multilingual packaging goes back all the way to a European release of the ''[[Pre-Transformer|Pre-Transformers]]'' line ''[[Diaclone]]'' by Takara licensee [[Joustra]] (with the packaging being in French, Dutch and German). European ''Transformers'' packaging has seen a plethora of different combinations, with various languages being added and dropped again at different times, multiple versions coexisting, all European packaging being merged into one single version in 2001, and more languages being added and then later dropped again. European packaging was eventually merged with American multilingual packaging into one worldwide packaging type in 2019.
| |
| | |
| In detail:
| |
| *'''1985: German, French, Dutch and Spanish.''' When Hasbro subsidiary [[Milton Bradley]] started distributing the [[The Transformers (European toyline)|original ''Transformers'' toyline]] in mainland Europe (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Denmark) in 1985, the packaging sported ''four'' languages, namely German, French, Dutch and Spanish.
| |
| *'''1986: English, French, Dutch and Spanish.''' For unkown reasons, the packaging dropped German texts in favor of English, even though the United Kingdom continued to get toys in plain English-only packaging. At the same time, the "MB" logo on the packaging was replaced by Hasbro's own logo, even though the local Milton Bradley branches still handled the distribution, and some of them weren't officially renamed into "Hasbro" until years later.
| |
| *'''1987-1993: French and Dutch.''' The formerly quadlingual packaging dropped both English and Spanish, comntinuing as bilingual French/Dutch up until 1993.
| |
| *'''1992-1993: English and Spanish.''' After Spanish-only packaging had been introduced in 1990, it was merged with the English-only packaging the UK had previously gotten, thus continuing as bilingual English/Spanish for two years. It was during that time that many toys that were never officially available in the the United States were released in Europe, such as the [[Turbomaster]]s and [[Predator (subgroup)|Predators]].
| |
| *'''1994-1995: English, Spanish and Portuguese.''' With the launch of the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)#Hasbro European line|European version of the ''Generation 2'' toyline]], Portuguese was added to the previously bilingual English/Spanish packaging version, thus making it trilingual.
| |
| *'''1994-2000: French, Dutch and German.''' At the same time, German was added to the previously bilingual French/Dutch packaging version, thus making it trilingual as well. This language combination lasted throughout the ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' lines.
| |
| *'''1996-2000: English, Spanish and Italian.''' With the launch of the ''Beast Wars'' line, Portuguese was dropped again from the packaging version that featured English and Spanish, replacing it with Italian instead. Italian Hasbro licensee [[GiG]], which had previously released ''Transformers'' toys in their own, Italian-only packaging, had its logo featured on the back of the packaging for the first two years, but was eventually phased out in favor of a newly-formed Italian Hasbro subsidiary in 1998. This language combination also lasted throughout the ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' lines.
| |
| *'''2001-2002: English, French, Dutch and German.''' With the launch of the 2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' line, both remaining European packaging versions were merged into a single version featuring four languages, dropping Spanish and Italian in the process.
| |
| *'''2002-2005: English, French, Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish.''' With the launch of the ''Armada'' toyline, Italian and Spanish were added back to multilingual European packaging, thus bringing the number of languages up to six.
| |
| *'''2005-2010: English, French, German,Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Polish and Turkish.''' With the launch of the ''Cybertron'' toyline and with the shift of the red ''Alternators'' packaging to the white bubble-style packaging, texts in Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Polish and Turkish were added to European packaging, thus doubling the total number of languages from six to twelve.
| |
| *'''2011-2014: English, French, German,Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Polish, Turkish and Russian.''' With the launch of the ''Transformers: Prime'' toyline, Russian was added to European packaging, increasing the total number of languages to ''thirteen'', the largest number of languages ever featured on ''Transformers'' packaging to date.
| |
| *'''2014-2019: English, French, German and Spanish.''' With the launch of the ''Combiner Wars'' toyline and the concurrently released ''Robots in Disguise'' line at the end of 2014, Hasbro dropped nine languages from European packaging, leaving only four.
| |
| *'''22019-today: English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese for the entire world.''' Starting in late 2019 with the ''War for Cybertron: Siege'' line's ''35th Anniversary'' subline imprint, continuing with the final waves of each of the line's general retail size class assortments and the ''Cyberverse'' line's ''Battle for Cybertron'' subline imprint/''Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures'' rebranding, Hasbro merged the two remaining packaging types (American and European) into one worldwide standard format, adding back Portuguese as a fifth language as far as European customers were concerned.
| |
| | |
| A few exceptions exists:
| |
| *The packaging for the European-exclusive 1992 releases of the non-combining versions of the [[Constructicon (G1)#euro92|Constructicons]] and the [[Rescue Force#The Transformers|Rescue Force]] Were avaialble on ''language-neutral'' cardbacks that only featured textless instructions for all team members, and didn't even assign the figures individual names.
| |
| *The packaging for the ''Beast Wars'' line's European-exclusive VHS pack "[[Transmetal]]" [[redeco]]s of [[Spittor (BW)#video|Spittor]] and [[Claw Jaw#video|Claw Jaw]] featured the unique trilingual language combination English, German and Italian.
| |
| | |
| ===Bios and backstories===
| |
| [[File:Desertattackeurope.jpg|right|upright=1.67|thumb|Just three languages? Europe should be so lucky.]]
| |
| Historically, the French translations for the characters' bios, the franchise summaries and pretty much everything else have ''never'' matched up between Canadian and European packaging. The same applies to the Spanish translations for Latin America and those for Europe/Spain, and also to the Portuguese translations for Brazil and those for Europe/Portugal. Simply put, the people responsible for the translations for those respective markets never communicated with each other, essentially resulting in the same work being done twice. These discrepancies between translations into the same languages didn't stop until the introduction of standardized worldwide packaging in five languages in 2019.
| |
| | |
| While Canadian bilingual packaging for the 1984-onwards figures featured bilingual bios, the use of four languages on early European packaging rendered full bios impossible. For 1985 and 1986, MB/Hasbro instead chose to only feature the characters' functions and mottos in all four languages.
| |
| | |
| When the number of languages was trimmed down to bilingual French/Dutch (and later, when English/Spanish packaging was introduced), Hasbro decided that they could now fit full bios in two languages on the packaging.
| |
| | |
| Although bios still remained on trilingual European ''Generation 2'' packaging, the packaging layout was completely redesigned compared to their American counterparts, and the bios were alternatively heavily truncated, rearranged and/or rewritten from scratch.
| |
| | |
| Subsequently, European ''Beast Wars'' and ''Beast Machines'' packaging completely abandoned character bios in favor of trilingual summaries of the toylines' fictional backstories and a brief trilingual description of the character's function and the toy's features. The backstory summaries also became increasingly truncated as time went on, and in the case of the 1998 Fuzors and Transmetals, deviated from the US version to varying degrees depending on the language, with the German version even featuring a ''completely different story'' (which arguably constitutes its own [[micro-continuity]]) that involves "genetic malfunctions" caused by unspecified "alien viruses".
| |
| | |
| European ''Cybertron'' packaging initially featured heavily truncated bios, oftentimes restricted to a single sentence in six languages. Once the number of languages had doubled from six to twelve, bios were dropped entirely in favor of a brief description of the toy's features in those twelve languages.
| |
| | |
| The packaging for subsequent lines again features single sentence bios in multiple languages.
| |
| | |
| For ''[[Transformers (2010 toyline)#Hasbro Reveal the Shield subline|Reveal the Shield]]'', Hasbro apparently decided that since they weren't attempting to claim every single toy's name as an exclusive [[trademark]] due to both the large number of individual markets and the somewhat different nature of European trademark law compared to US trademark law, they could as well drop prefixes required for better trademark protection in the US from the bios. While the bios were still limited to a single sentence, they simply referred to the characters as "Jazz" and "Tracks" rather than "Autobot Jazz" and "Autobot Tracks" like the longer bios on United States packaging did (though the toys' official names are still "[[Jazz (G1)/toys#Transformers (2010)|Special Ops Jazz]]" and "[[Tracks (G1)/toys#Transformers (2010)|Turbo Tracks]]").
| |
| | |
| ===Names===
| |
| During the time when multiple different packaging variants coexisted concurrently in different European markets, it wasn't uncommon for the toys themselves to also sport different names between those different packaging versions.
| |
| | |
| Beginning with the 1992 Turbomasters and Predators, the names for the individual figures, as well as their subgroups, often differed between English/Spanish and French/Dutch packaging. For example, [[Thunder Clash#The Transformers|Thunder Clash]] was named "Eagle" on French/Dutch packaging, [[Skyquake (G1)|Skyquake]] became "Crash", the Turbomasters were renamed into "Canon Masters" {{sic}}, the Predators became "Scope Masters", [[Fearswoop (G1)#The Transformers|Fearswoop]] was named "Black Omen" on French/Dutch packaging, and [[Calcar#The Transformers|Calcar]] became "Roadraider". Typically, none of those names from the French/Dutch packaging versions matched up with the French names from the Canadian packaging for those toys (for example, Thunder Clash's French Canadian name was "Tonnerre", i.e. "''Thunder''", while Skyquake's was "Aéroséisme", i.e. "''Aeroquake''"). While ''at least'' the English names typically matched up between Canadian and English/Spanish European packaging, Rotorstorm was particularly weird: English/Spanish packaging called him, well, "Rotorstorm", French/Dutch packaging called him "Storm", and Canadian packaging ''also'' called him Storm… in ''English'', while his French Canadian name was "Tempête" (French for "Storm").
| |
| | |
| With ''Generation 2'', the names of the various subgroups and [[gimmick]]s were still different: The figures named [[Autobot Cars]] in the United States were called "Heroics" on both trilingual European packaging versions; likewise, the [[Decepticon Planes|Decepticon Jets]] were renamed into "Skyraiders" for Europe, the [[Cyberjet]]s became "Mini-Jets" (and "Les Pirates Du Ciel", i.e. ''The Pirates of the Sky''", in French), the [[Auto Roller (G2)|Auto Roller]]s and [[Laser Cycle]]s were both spelled as a single word, "Autorollers" and "Lasercycles" respectively (and named "Motolasers" in French for the latter, in contrast to the French name "Motos Laser" from Canadian packaging), and the [[Go-Bot (G2)|Go-Bot]]s were spelled without a hyphen, "Gobots" (and named "Turbo-Transfo" in French).
| |
| | |
| Meanwhile, the name discrepancies for the individual figures were now limited to very few markets with ''Generation 2''. For the most part, toys now sported the same English names across all packaging variants. Aside from GiG's Italian packaging (which wasn't multilingual), French/Dutch/German packaging now assigned many of the figures that weren't re-released or redecoed from the original ''Generation 1'' line new French names in addition to the English names, which (surprise, surprise) rarely, if ever matched up with their French names on Canadian packaging. Another exception were a few toys that were previously released in Europe ''before'' the official launch of the ''Generation 2'' line, which were given different names for the United States (in some cases, they were reassigned the European names of ''other'' figures from the same batch). Additionally, the redecoed wave 2 Cyberjets and Go-Bots were treated as mere color variants of the wave 1 figures on French/Dutch/German packaging, whereas United States packaging gave them the names of existing ''Generation 1'' characters. So the US Cyberjets [[Air Raid (G1)/toys#Cyberjet|Air Raid]], [[Jetfire (G1)/toys#Generation 2|Jetfire]] and [[Strafe (G1)#Generation 2|Strafe]] were instead sold as the "Mini-Jets" [[Skyjack (G2)#Toys|Skyjack]], and [[Hooligan (G2)#Toys|Hooligan]], [[Space Case (G2)#Toys|Space Case]], respectively, while the Go-Bots [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#GobotOptimusPrime|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)/toys#Go-Bot|Megatron]] were sold as "Gobots" [[Firecracker#Toys|Firecracker]] and [[Blowout#Toys|Blowout]], respectively. While the redecoed wave 3 Go-Bots (or "Gobots") finally featured the same English names as their US counterparts (all of them reused from established ''Generation 1'' characters), the somewhat bizarre alternate French names were kept unchanged, so both Optimus Prime and [[Sideswipe (G1)/toys#Go-Bot|Sideswipe]] were called as "Turbo-Diablo", both [[High Beam#Toys|High Beam]] and [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys#Go-Bot|Bumblebee]] were called "Turbo-Libero" and so on.
| |
| | |
| Additionally, for some bizarre reason, Hasbro decided not to market the two [[Hero (G2)|Heroes]] figures as the well-known leaders [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#HeroOptimusPrime|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)/toys#Hero|Megatron]] (whom the toys were clearly designed as) for the European market, but instead as separate characters named "[[Sureshot (G2)#Generation 2|Sureshot]]" and "[[Archforce#Generation 2|Archforce]]". Those names were used on both English/Spanish/Portuguese and French/Dutch/German packaging.
| |
| | |
| As mentioned before, prior to ''Beast Wars'', Hasbro licensee GiG had distributed toys in Italian-only packaging in Italy, which typically featured translated or localized names for the various characters. When Italian was absorbed into English/Spanish/Italian packaging starting with ''Beast Wars'', that tradition was continued, with the alternate Italian names now being listed below their English counterparts. Possibly the most bizarre example was [[Optimus Primal (BW)/toys#Ultra|Optimus Primal]], whose Ultra figure was named "[[Blackjack (disambiguation)|Black Jack]]", while the Transmetal figure was named "Metal Gorilla", and Optimal Optimus was named"Optimus Primal". Meanwhile French/Dutch/German packaging changed the faction name "Predacon" into "Predator" for unknown reasons. With the launch of ''Beast Machines'', alternate names finally came to an end… for the most part.
| |
| | |
| In later lines, only name discrepancies were usually limited to prefixes and gimmick names: The [[Optimus Prime (Movie)/merchandise#BattleRigBlaster|Optimus Prime Battle Rig Blaster]] role-play toy from the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 ''Transformers'' movie toyline]] was called "Optimus Prime '''Big''' Rig Blaster" on European packaging; the ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction (toyline)|Age of Extinction]]'' [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys#Mega1Step|Mega 1-Step Bumblebee]] was renamed into "Mega Flip Bumblebee" for European packaging; the large electronic [[Optimus Prime (WFC)/toys#RIDPowerSurge|Power Surge Optimus Prime]] figure from the 2015 ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' toyline was given the additional names "Gigawatt Optimus Prime" and "Super-Energía Optimus Prime" on European packaging instead; and many of that same ''Robots in Disguise'' line's same-character redecos such as "Night Ops Bumblebee", "Alpine Strike Sideswipe", "Gold Armor Grimlock" or "Blizzard Strike Autobot Drift" had their prefixes translated into French, German and Spanish.
| |
| | |
| Occasionally, errors happened; for example, the original ''Beast Wars'' [[Spittor (BW)#Toys|Spittor]] figure was identified as as Maximal instead of a Predacon/Predator on French/Dutch/German packaging (even though the figure's "[[rubsign|energon chip]]" remained that of a Predacon), whereas Transmetal 2 [[Jawbreaker#Toys|Jawbreaker]] retained an earlier working name, "Cackle", on both the English/Spanish/Italian and French/Dutch/German packaging versions, and likewise, some samples of the European release of ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]] Scout Class [[Dead End (ROTF)#Toys|Dead End]] featured a name insert with an earlier working name, "Detour" (even though the back of the packaging and the instructions called him "Dead End").
| |
| | |
| ===Titles and taglines===
| |
| [[File:AltPrimeUSEuro.jpg|right|upright=1.1|thumb|Transformers: 2 in 1! Find more information on the underside! (Not a knockoff.)]]
| |
| [[File:UltimateBattleUSEuro.jpg|right|thumb|European packaging for the "Ultimate Battle" boxset was noticeably smaller because it lacked the DVD case. In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the [[Optimus Prime vs Megatron: The Ultimate Battle|DVD]] was included only in a paper sleeve; in other European stores, it was given as a freebie separately.]]
| |
| [[File:AOE Evolution Optimus US 23 vs EU.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|right|Numbers? What numbers?]]
| |
| The titles of the various toylines, as well as the taglines "[[More than Meets the Eye (disambiguation)|More than Meets the Eye]]" (and variations thereof) and "[[Robots in Disguise (disambiguation)|Robots in Disguise]]", were often subject to localization, rather than a mere translation.
| |
| | |
| When Hasbro changed the original ''Transformers'' toyline's tagline from "More than Meets the Eye" to "More… Much More than Meets the Eye" in 1988, they initially chose to keep that tagline in English for French/Dutch packaging. By 1990, the English tagline had been replaced on French/Dutch packaging with "Robots Transformables" in French, and "Transformeerbare Robots" in Dutch (both translate as "transformable robots"). At the same time, Spanish-only packaging introduced its own localization, "¡Todo Un Reto En Tus Manos!" ("a whole challenge in your hands!"). By 1992, when English and Spanish had been merged into one bilingual packaging, the English language tagline on the packaging was changed to "Robots in Disguise", but the Spanish version remained unchanged except for the omission of the exclamation marks, and likewise, Spanish/Dutch packaging also kept its localized taglines unchanged.
| |
| | |
| By 1995, Hasbro had dropped the ''Generation 2'' moniker from the packaging versions used for the United States and Canada. Despite this, all European packaging versions were still branded as part of ''Generation 2''.
| |
| | |
| Just like Canadian/Latin American ''Beast Wars'', ''Beast Machines'' and 2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' packaging, the corresponding European packaging was also given alternate titles: ''Beast Wars'' was given the additional title ''Biocombat'' for the italian market on English/Spanish/Italian packaging, and the additional title ''Ani Mutants'' for the French market on French/Dutch/German packaging; ''Beast Machines'' remained unchanged for English/Spanish/Italian packaging but wasgiven the additional title ''Ani Machines'' for the French market on French/Dutch/German packaging; and ''Robots in Disguise'' was given the additional titles ''Les Robots Mutants'' (French) and ''Getarnte Roboter'' (German) on English/French/Dutch/German packaging.
| |
| | |
| ''Armada'' kept "Robots in Disguise" as well as those two localizations as a tagline, but added it the older Dutch localization "Robots Transformables", as well as the new Italian localization "Robot Trasformabili" (Italian), and… "Robots in Disguise" again for Spain. Those same six versions were also used for the first two types of European ''Alternators'' packaging (blue and red). The third version of European ''Alternators'' packaging (the white bubble boxes) dropped the tagline entirely, as did European ''Energon'' packaging, with the exception of the Micromaster [[Protectobot (Universe)|Protectobot]]s and [[Constructicon (Universe)|Constructicon]]s (which were released under the ''Universe'' line in the United States instead), while European ''Cybertron'' packaging featured the tagline in English only.
| |
| | |
| ===Packaging designs, formats and graphics===
| |
| During ''Generation 2'', European packaging design differed considerably from its United States and Canadian/Latin American counterparts. Instead of clamshells, European packaging used a variation of the more traditional blister cards for the "Heroics" (Autobot Cars), "Skyraiders" (Decepticon Jets), Dinobots and "Heroes". Meanwhile, the European versions of the "Autorollers" were sold in boxes, whereas the American "Auto Rollers" were available on blister cards. On top of that, the [[cross-sell]]s featured completely different photos (with actual backdrops instead of neutral backgrounds in a single color), the bios were formatted differently, and in general, nearly ''all'' the graphical elements, including the choice of colors, were completely altered for European packaging (though shared between the different European packaging types). European ''Beast Wars'' packaging continued that discrepancy between American and European packaging, though to a slightly lesser degree. With ''Beast Machines'' and ''Robots in Disguise'', Hasbro continued to harmonize the different packaging designs.
| |
| | |
| In addition to the increasing number of languages cluttering the packaging with an abundance of text, European multilingual packaging also didn't sport [[package art]] for several years, replacing it with airbrushed [[stock photography|stock photos]] of the toys themselves instead. The most likely reason is a newly introduced European Union guideline (subsequently implemented into national law) regarding "misleading advertising", which ''could'' be interpreted to extend to artistic renditions of products on the packaging, especially in [[:File:SuperionMaximusCatalogArt.jpg|poses not actually possible with the toy]]. Package artwork was dropped from European ''Transformers'' packaging and replaced with stock photos of the toys themselves starting with one of the last waves of ''Energon'' (the first wave of [[combiner]] limbs, featuring [[Treadshot (Energon)|Treadshot]], [[Sky Shadow (Energon)|Sky Shadow]], [[Sledge (Energon)|Sledge]] and [[Duststorm (Energon)|Duststorm]], still used package art; the second wave, featuring [[Terradive (Energon)|Terradive]] and [[Windrazor (Energon)|Windrazor]], already used toy photos instead) and ''Alternators'' [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] and [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] ([[Jazz (G1)/toys|Meister]], who had only ever been released in Italy, had still featured package art). The first toys to feature package art on the European ''Transformers'' packaging again were the [[Robot Heroes (toyline)|Robot Heroes]] and [[Fast Action Battlers]] from the [[Transformers (2007 toyline)|2007 ''Movie'' toy line]] (the "main" ''Movie'' line toys still used stock photos of the toys instead of artwork of the robot heads). With the launch of the ''[[Transformers Animated (toyline)|Animated]]'' and ''Universe'' lines in 2008, European multilingual packaging as a whole has finally returned to depicting package art, coinciding with the aforementioned drastic reduction of texts in multiple languages in favor of English-only texts wherever possible. What prompted the decision to use package art again is just as uncertain as the reasons for dropping it in the first place.
| |
| | |
| Somewhere around the addition of the six new languages and the replacement of package art with stock photos of the toys themselves, European packaging also started to feature obtrusive "2 in 1" logos ("3 in 1" in the case of Triple Changers). Apparently, ''Transformers'' is considered not as much of a household name in Europe as it is in the US, so Hasbro feels the need to drive home the point that ''Transformers'' toys are really two (or three) toys in one. Those logos were also quietly dropped again after a few years.
| |
| | |
| With the ''Dark of the Moon'' and ''Transformers Prime'' toylines, European packaging left a lot of space on the side flaps or the lower portion of the back of the packaging for large "Warning!" or "Attention!" notes in a plethora of languages, presumably in order to point out the inclusion of a safety warning sheet in all these languages inside the packaging. In practice, it implies that those toys pose enormous safety hazards. For the Deluxe Class figures, this was compounded by the fact that around the same time, the size of the cards was often ''reduced'' to around 5/6ths of the US standard. The same applied to the few ''Thrilling 30'' Deluxe Class figures that were released in Europe. The reasons for the size reduction are currently unclear.
| |
| | |
| Additionally, just like the Canadian/Latin American packaging, the ''Thrilling 30'' and ''Combiner Wars'' Deluxe Class figures also lacked the pack-in comics; however, at least European ''Thrilling 30'' packaging featured correct individual package art.
| |
| | |
| Another common omission from European packaging are various numbering systems. The ''Alternators'' line dropped the American versions' numbers after the first figure ([[Smokescreen (G1)#Alternators/Binaltech|Smokescreen]]), and the "[[Thrilling 30#30 special toys|X of 30]]" numbers for the ''Transformers'' brand's 30th anniversary were omitted entirely in favor of neutral faction insignias. Presumably, the reason for this is because Hasbro doesn't want to use a numbering system for markets that aren't supposed to see a release of half of those numbered toys anyways.
| |
| | |
| One element of the packaging design that has evolved over the years is the age label. While the majority of the original ''Generation 1'' line had featured full texts such as "Ages 5 and up" in however many languages there were on the packaging, starting with the 1990 ''[[Classics (Europe)|Classics]]'' line-up, French/Dutch packaging introduced a pictograph of a boy followed by a simple "5+", initially in white with no special background. By 1992, this logo was slightly modified, now in black inside a white rectangle. That same year, bilingual English/Spanish was introduced, which adopted this logo. With the launch of ''Beast Wars'' in 1995, the logo was slightly modified again, now adding a pictograph of a girl for a gender-neutral logo, with the width of the white rectangle increased accordingly. In the middle of the ''Armada'' toyline's run, the logo was completely redesigned, dropping the pictographs entirely and changing the rectangle into a circle that now simply contained the age, usually "5+". Both the circle and the text could vary in color, sometimes within the same toyline. With the launch of ''Combiner Wars'' and ''Robots in Disguise'' in late 2014/early 2015 and the reduction of the number of languages from thirteen to four, the circle was dropped as well, now simply featuring the age ("5+" or "8+") in whichever text color the rest of the packaging used, with no special background. The circle later made a return in late 2019, with the introduction of "worldwide" packaging in five languages. Once again, both the text and the circle can vary in color, though usually Hasbro aims for a high color contrast, so it's typically either dark text inside a white circle, or light text inside a black circle.
| |
| | |
| ===Other===
| |
| With the later waves of ''Beast Wars'', the toys in ''Biocombat'' packaging started to include additional [[instructions|instruction sheets]] in Nordic languages (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish). The packaging itself did not include nor hint at those additional languages. This practice continued into early waves of ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'' with the English/Spanish/Italian packaging, but was abandoned with later waves of ''Beast Machines''. Later lines featured instruction sheets with minimal texts, though a lot of the legal information was in an ever-increasing plethora of languages regardless of how few languages there were featured on the packaging.
| |
| | |
| Amazingly, unlike Canada (which requires French translations for even the most trivial instances of English texts on the packaging, except for the individual toys' names), European packaging gradually ''reduced'' the amount of multi-lingual versions of text elements over the years. The ''[[Transformers Animated (toyline)|Animated]]'', ''[[Transformers: Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' toys even featured text blurbs describing a toy's gimmicks in ''English-only'', with only the back of the packaging featuring translated and country-specific texts (bios, Hasbro contact info etc.). On the other hand, European ''Universe'' packaging replaced individual [[franchises|franchise]] logos used for the "timeline" on the back of the US toys' packaging with the name of the franchise in a neutral font.
| |
| | |
| Once the number of languages on European packaging had been trimmed down from thirteen to a mere four beginning with ''Combiner Wars'' and the 2015 ''Robots in Disguise'' toyline, European packaging became barely distinguishable from American multilingual packaging on a first glance. There were still lots of differences, though—European packaging featured German as a fourth language while American multilingual packaging featured Portuguese instead, French and Spanish translations were still completely different between both versions, as were various minor details such as the age recommendation label (which had a multilingual "Age/Edad/Idade" added for the American version). When Hasbro finally merged European and American multilingual packaging into one single worldwide packaging design featuring five languages in 2019, all those differences disappeared, and now the only way to tell a European release apart from an American one is the use of different barcodes (American packaging features UPCs with 12 digits, European packaging features EANs with 13 digits). This mostly applies to toys released under ongoing assortments that were launched prior to 2019, though; with most assortments started since then, as well as many standalone exclusive releases, Hasbro has decided to use EAN barcodes as the worldwide standard going forward.
| |
| {{-}}
| |
| | |
| ==Multilingual packaging in Asia==
| |
| [[File:GenerationsAsianDeluxes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|English only in China, Chinese as a second language in the US. Seriously.]]Asia doesn't have much of a history of multilingual ''Transformers'' packaging—or at least, not one widely documented in English-speaking circles.
| |
| | |
| There have been the occasional instances of ''Transformers'' figures released in Korea in standard English-only packaging, but with additional stickers in Korean language (quite similar to how toys from various lines have been released in Japan).
| |
| | |
| With the increasing prominence of the Asian market for Hasbro and the introduction of figures (mostly "special edition" redecos) specifically aimed at an Asian target audience, some toys have been released in actual multilingual packaging sporting texts in English and Chinese. The first known example is the "[[Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys#YOTDPrime|Year of the Dragon]]" edition of ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (toyline)|Dark of the Moon]]'' Ultimate Optimus Prime, that was later made available for US customers through [[Amazon (website)|Amazon]]. Additional texts in Chinese were limited to the front side of the packaging, though, whereas the back was in English only. The figure also gave way to the annual Chinese New Year-themed ''[[Transformers: Platinum Edition|Platinum Edition]]'' figures, which came in standard English-only packaging again.
| |
| | |
| There also exist some stock photos of ''Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters Cyberverse'' figures in bilingual English/Chinese packaging. Again, information regarding these is hard to come by.
| |
| | |
| Another curious case were the various "[[Transformers: Generations#Asian market exclusives ("GDO")|GDO]]" redecos released under the ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' line in 2012: When they were released in Asia, they were available in standard English-only packaging; however, when Hasbro made them available in the US and Canada as [[Toys"R"Us]] exclusives, they were sold in bilingual English/Chinese packaging, this time with texts in both languages on both sides of the packaging. On top of that, the Leader Class figures (which were available in Canada but not in the US) no longer came in ''Generations''-branded packaging, but instead in bilingual ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (toyline)|Dark of the Moon]]'' packaging with additional ''[[Movie Trilogy Series]]'' labels for whatever reason.
| |
| {{-}}
| |
| | |
| ==Psychology==
| |
| Fans ''hate'' multilingual packaging (although having the tech specs and bios on the instruction sheet is a great space saver versus hanging on to a chunk of the box in addition to the instruction sheet).
| |
| | |
| While a typical child rips open cardboard packaging to free the misassembled plastic figure encased within like the sweet meat from a nut, discarding the useless shell, adult collectors store their mint-on-card Transformers unopened in humidity-controlled fireproof rooms. Because this is essentially playing with the package rather than the toy, adult fans prefer cleaner mono-lingual packaging.
| |
| | |
| This can affect the secondary market value of a toy; if there are monolingual and multilingual versions of the same toy, the monolingual version is ''usually'' worth more money.{{fact}} One of the possible reasons for this is the omission of features (bios, tech specs etc.), which make up part of the nostalgia value especially of older toys. Frequent errors (such as the wrong [[package art]] or [[insignia|faction insignia]]) are also possible factors for a collector's rejection of multilingual packaging.
| |
| | |
| Another indirect effect of the above is the overall degree of ''documentation'' of multilingual packaging by fans. It's safe to say that there are quite a few [[unreleased toy|''unreleased'' toys]] whose (English-only) packaging has been documented and examined in more detail than the vast majority of multilingual packaging of toys that ''have'' been released, ''in particular'' pre-''Beast Wars'' Canadian packaging. As a matter of fact, we here at TFWiki still have a lot of gaps in our documentation of foreign-market names featured on multilingual toy packaging.
| |
| {{-}}
| |
| | |
| ==Notes==
| |
| *Just in case you are under the impression that the country you happen to live in has been completely ignored by the above overview: English-speaking markets such as Australia and New Zealand, as well as various Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines and Malaysia, typically tend to get toys in whichever packaging is available in the United States. A few rare exceptions have occurred over the years, where some or all of those markets received toys in European packaging instead. Likewise, at least since the days of the ''Armada'' line, whichever packaging was available in Europe has also been used for Israel.
| |
| *In some rare instances, toys in US (or Canadian/Latin American) packaging have been available in Europe. Most of them were actually [[parallel import]]s without Hasbro's involvement, while only a fleeting few of them were officially initiated and distributed by Hasbro's European divisions.
| |
| *Even more rarely, Hasbro, rather than actually producing entirely separate packaging for Europe, had decided to distribute toys in American (English-only or multilingual) packaging in some European countries, sometimes simply with a few additional safety warning stickers in several languages, while in some ''really'' bizarre instances, such as ''Titans Returns'' [[Fortress Maximus (G1)/toys#Titans Return|Fortress Maximus]], the packaging was ''converted'' into pseudo-European packaging via an extensive use of stickers.
| |
| {{-}}
| |
| [[Category:Armada]]
| |
| [[Category:Energon franchise]]
| |
| [[Category:Fandom]]
| |
| [[Category:Toys]]
| |
| | |
| ==References==
| |
| <references />
| |
| | |
| [[Category:Armada]]
| |
| [[Category:Energon franchise]]
| |
| [[Category:Fandom]]
| |
| [[Category:Toys]]
| |
