Multilingual packaging

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.

Multilingual packaging is essentially the standard way Transformers toys are available in other 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.)

L'empaquetage multilingue est essentiellement la manière standard dans laquelle les jouets Transformers sont disponible dans des pays autres que les États-Unis. Plutôt que de produire des emballages portant des textes dans un seul language pour différents pays, Hasbro économise de l'argent en mettant des textes dans plusieurs langues différentes sur le même emballage, qui sera alors envoyé sur tous les marchés. (Il y a quelques exceptions, telles que des endroits comme l'Australie, la Nouvelle Zélande, Hong Kong, la Malaisie, Singapour ou les Philippines, qui obtiennent traditionnellement leurs jouets dans le même emballage disponible aux États-Unis.)

El empaquetado multilingüe es la forma corriente que los juguetes, Transformers, estan disponibles en otros paises fuera de los Estados Unidos. Hasbro ahorra cuando pone texto en varios lenguajes en el mismo embalaje en vez de hacer embalajes separados con texto en solo un lenguaje para regiones diferentes. (Este embalaje universal entonces estaría distribuido por todos los mercados, con la excepción de paises como Australia, Nueva Zelandia, Hong-Kong, Malasia, Singapur o las Filipinas, que usualmente usan el mismo embalaje como los Estados Unidos.)

Mehrsprachige Verpackungen sind gewissermaßen die übliche Form, in der Transformers Spielzeugfiguren in Ländern außerhalb der Vereinigten Staaten erhältlich sind. Statt für verschiedene Länder Verpackungen mit Texten in einer einzelnen Sprache herzustellen, spart Hasbro Geld, indem dieselbe Verpackung mit Texten in verschiedenen Sprachen bedruckt wird, die dann auf den jeweiligen nationalen Märkten veröffentlicht wird. (Es gibt einige Ausnahmen, darunter Orte wie Australien, Neuseeland, Honkong, Malaysia, Singapur oder die Philippinen, an denen die Spielzeuge normalerweise in denselben Verpackungen erscheinen, die auch in den Vereinigten Staaten erhältlich sind.)

Multilingual packaging in America

In Soviet Canada, I'm an Autobot.

When the original Transformers toyline was introduced to the Canadian market in 1984, the packaging was bilingual (sporting texts in English and French), using a smaller printing font to fit the Tech Specs and bios in both languages onto the packaging. Even the characters' names required French translations!

With the launch of the Beast Wars toyline in 1996, Hasbro introduced trilingual Transformers packaging, sporting texts in English, French and Spanish, for the Canadian and Mexican markets (prior to that, Mexican Transformers toys had been distributed by a sub-contracted company named IGA between 1985 and 1986, with the packaging being completely in Spanish), now also featuring abbreviated bios in addition to the already used smaller print. In addition, the toyline itself sported additional, alternative titles for the French Canadian and Mexican markets, Guerre Bêtes for the former and Guerra Bestias for the latter. However, at least the individual toys' names no longer required translations into French (the Mexican toys had always used the English names).

With the launch of the Robots in Disguise toyline 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 kind 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 as well. This move was, of course, well-received by fans.

In 2002, when the Armada toyline 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 pack-in comic books (on the bright side, tHis pRObLem lEAd to GReAt joKe).<ref>"Everything must be trilingual" from the 2002 Hasbro BotCon panel, 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.

Everything must be translated. Everything.
Tout doit être traduit. Tout.
Todo debe ser traducido. Todo.
Alles muss übersetzt werden. Alles.

Instead of settling for "incredibly short and banal" on-package bios, Hasbro's Transformers team sent kids to the English-only Transformers.com website, where they promised-hope-to-die there would be bios for the characters. Sometimes this was true, but often it was not.

In 2005, Hasbro's Transformers team successfully lobbied the Brand Overlords to return to English-only packaging; arguing that the multi-lingual packaging was so phenomenally ugly that it was costing them sales.<ref>Kids also hate foreign languages; Steve-o's 2005 BotCon Report</ref> As a result, the launch of the Cybertron toyline heralded the return not only of English-only packaging for the US market, but also of full bios printed on the packaging. At the same time, Alternators packaging intended for the US market also became monolingual (although bios would still not be included).

Meanwhile, the Canadian and Central/South American markets still have to live with trilingual packaging to this very day... except for store exclusives that are intended to be released in Canada but not in Central/South America, which only feature bilingual English/French texts. Amazingly, French translations are required for even the most incidental bit of English texts on the packaging (such as "Deluxe Class" or "Premium Series"), with pretty much the only exception being the characters' names (which is an improvement over the Generation 1 days). As a quick Google search shows, nobody actually seems to care for those alternate non-English names outside the toys' packaging. However, it appears that the term "Robots in Disguise" is finally allowed to remain untranslated starting with the newer waves of the Universe line.

Beast Machines anyone?

The requirement for multiple languages also leads to unfortunate omissions for the non-US markets, such as the comic reprints from the Universe comic two-packs or the DVD from 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime. This even leads to modifications of the toys themselves. For example, the electronic Leader Class figures from the Revenge of the Fallen toyline have alternate versions distributed in markets outside the US and English Canada that only say their names rather than saying full sentences in English (ironically, these markets include the UK). In addition, trilingual packaging occasionally features odd errors, such as the packaging for all of the 2007 Movie Scouts sporting Autobot logos on the packaging, regardless of which faction logo the toy itself sported. Also, the Universe toy line's Deluxe Class figures only sport the character art of one "representative" toy per wave (Wave 1: Sunstreaker, Wave 2: Acid Storm, Wave 3: Ironhide) on the front of the card, regardless of which toy actually is in the packaging. (The artwork on the side of the bubble is correct, though.) The Voyager Class toys, meanwhile, feature no character artwork on the front of the box at all.

Another problem with trilingual packaging is 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, so Hasbro had to find another way to keep the information that formerly was on the packaging. This resulted in the idea that what could not be on the toy's box had to be placed somewhere else. As such, some toys had their packaging's back filled with cross-sells, and what would normally be on the back of the box (tech specs, bios, quotes, stock photography, features, etc.) is moved either to the back of the instructions (Animated) or in a separate flyer inside the box (Universe).

Multilingual packaging in Europe

Just three languages? Europe should be so lucky.

Europe has its own history of multilingual packaging:

When Milton Bradley started distributing Transformers toys in mainland Europe (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Denmark) in 1985, the packaging sported four languages, namely German, French, Dutch and Spanish. As with the trilingual packaging, that meant that instead of bios, the tech specs simply sported the characters' mottos in four different languages.

A year later, distribution was shifted from Milton Bradley to Hasbro's European branch. Possibly because sales in Germany were less than stellar, German texts on the packaging were replaced with their English counterparts (even though the United Kingdom continued to get toys in plain English-only packaging), or perhaps to "cover" more European countries.

By 1987, Hasbro apparently realized that English as a fourth language was pointless when the United Kingdom was getting toys in different packaging, so the languages on the European toys' packaging were reduced to bilingual Dutch and French texts. Spain later got their own toys in Spanish-only packaging; although it's unclear at what point exactly that packaging was introduced, Spanish-only packaging is confirmed for the 1989 Micromasters toys and the Classic reissues (this is not to be confused with the Spanish-only packaging for the early 1984-86 toys originally distributed by IGA on the Mexican market, which were later semi-legally imported to Europe).

It could only get better after this.

In 1991, after the original Generation 1 toyline had ended in the USA, Hasbro continued producing new toys for the European market. Starting with the Turbomasters and Predators, English and Spanish texts were merged into a new, bilingual packaging which would be released on the markets in the United Kingdom and Spain. In addition, the French/Dutch packaging now sported different (but still English or at least English-derived) names for the individual toys and sub-groups than the English/Spanish packaging.

The European version of the Generation 2 toyline introduced yet another variant: The formerly bilingual English/Spanish packaging became trilingual, now incorporating Portuguese as well. At the same time, the formerly bilingual French/Dutch packaging also became trilingual, incorporating texts in German language again for the first time in nine years. Also, name variants for the different markets were abolished again (although some of the toys still sported different names than their American counterparts).

With the launch of the Beast Wars toyline, trilingual French/Dutch/German packaging remained the same (with the toyline itself sporting an additional alternate title, "Ani Mutants", for the French market), while the formerly trilingual English/Spanish/Portuguese packaging replaced the latter language with texts in Italian, thereby gradually shifting out GiG, the company that had previously been distributing Transformers toys in Italy, in favor of Hasbro's own Italian branch. For the Italian and Scandinavian markets, the toyline also sported the alternate title "Biocombat", as well as Italian (or at least Italian-esque) names for the individual toys.

With the later waves of Beast Wars and going into early waves of Beast Machines, the toys in "Biocombat" packaging started to include an additional instruction sheet in Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish). The packaging itself did not include nor hint at those additional languages, though, and this practice was abandoned with later waves of Beast Machines.

European stores gave away the DVD as a freebie separately. Seriously.

With the launch of the Robots in Disguise toyline, the two trilingual packaging variants were merged into a single, quadrilingual packaging style featuring texts in English, French, Dutch and German. This also finally marked the end of any further name variants for the individual toys between the different European markets, as well as between the European and American markets.

With the launch of the Armada toyline, the number of languages on the formerly quadrilingual packaging was expanded to hexalingual, now incorporating texts in Spanish and Italian again. Also, at least since the days of the Armada line, whichever packaging was available in Europe has also been used for Israel.

Finally, in the middle of the Cybertron toyline's run and with the shift of the red Alternators packaging to the bubble-style packaging, the number of languages on European packaging was doubled to dodecalingual, adding texts in Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Polish and Turkish to the established languages English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian.

Somewhere around the addition of the six new languages and the replacement of package art with stock photos of the toys themselves (see below), 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 USA, so Hasbro feel that they really need to drive home the point that Transformers toys are really two (or three) toys in one.

Amazingly, unlike Canada (which requires French translations for even the most incidental cases of English texts on the packaging, except for the individual toys' names), European packaging has gradually reduced the amount of multi-lingual versions of text elements over the years. The current Animated and Universe toys even feature 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.). The occasional officially imported toys in US packaging are still isolated incidents, however.

Package art

Transformers: 2 in 1! Find more information on the underside! (Not a knockoff.)

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 stock photos of the toys themselves instead. One of the commonly suggested possible reasons for this was that some countries might have rigid regulations concerning "deceptive depictions" (i.e. artistic renditions) of products on the packaging. However, no official explanation has ever been given by Hasbro.

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, Sky Shadow, Sledge and Duststorm, still used package art; the second wave, featuring Terradive and Windrazor, already used toy photos instead) and Alternators Windcharger and Swindle (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 and Fast Action Battlers from the 2007 Movie toyline (the "main" Movie line toys still used stock photos of the toys instead of the artwork of the robot heads). With the launch of the 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.

Psychology

One of these this doesn't belong.

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.{{#ifeq: ||}} 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 packaging art or faction logo) are also possible factors for a collector's rejection of multilingual packaging.

References

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