Italy
Italy, formally the Italian Republic, is a Western European nation in the Mediterranean Sea. It's heavily involved in international bodies (including NATO), is a democracy with a high standard of living, and has been responsible for many cultural movements and influences such as the Romans, the Renaissance, and opera. Its capital is the city of Rome.
Unfortunately, we haven't yet edited a joke about pasta, the mafia, or Super Mario Bros. into this page.
Transformers in Italy
Italy has a very strong and often overlooked connection with the Transformers franchise, starting even before the establishment of the "Transformers" brand proper as it was one the first non-Japanese countries to receive a pre-Transformers toyline (that is; to have a licensed international release of the Takara figures that would later constitute the original The Transformers toyline). There's also the longstanding debate on whether the very name of the Transformers brand was either born in Italy or just sneakily stolen by one of its companies at an opportune time.
In 1982, GiG launched their localization of Takara's Diaclone toys, under its original Japanese toyline name. In early 1984, GiG rebranded their Diaclone toys into Trasformer as the Diaclone Car Robots - as well as the now newly-acquired Micro Change toys - were rolled out, parallel to Hasbro introducing the Transformers name in the U.S. to designate their own releases of Diaclone / Micro Change toys. Inevitably, this has led to long heated discussions as to who exactly merits the credit for the Transformers name: on one hand, GiG's renamed toyline was first advertised two months after the reveal of Hasbro's Transformers at the 1984 Toy Fair and five months after Hasbro's registration of the Transformers trademark, but on the other hand, GiG already used terms like "trasformazione" (Italian for "transformation") and "trasformare" ("to transform") to market their Diaclone figures dating back as far as 1982, thus; given how temporally close all these marketing decisions were, it is ultimately not at all implausible that either toyline might have inspired the other. Notably, GiG also used the term "Autorobot" to describe their Car Robots, which seems to bear some similarity to the Autobots. The projectiles in their toys also had a unique funky flat shape.
Eventually, starting from 1985 and beyond, GiG would get the Transformers license from Hasbro and release their toys using the official Transformers packaging - with all the writing translated into Italian - using both the international brand logo and also, added at a smaller scale, the Trasformer logo so as to create some continuity between the two toylines. This would continue up until 1988, where the Pretenders would drop the Trasformer sub-branding entirely. Nonetheless, GiG would remain involved with the distribution of Transformers figures in Italy up until Beast Wars, with their logo dropping from multilingual European boxes - and thus, presumably, marking the end of their relationship with Hasbro - during one of the later Transmetals waves. Most famously, throughout their era of involvement with the Transformers brand, GiG also managed to get an Italian release of the otherwise Japanese-exclusive Galaxy Shuttle.
On the media side of things, Transformers dubs in Italy have also received a few entirely unique theme songs, from Generation 2 to Energon and even all the ways into the 2010s with Prime! National publisher Panini has also released multiple Transformers comics across Europe, as well as creating the 1986 The Transformers Sticker Book.
Fandom
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the country's extensive history with the brand, Italy has one of the most active Transformers fandoms in continental Europe. One of its largest online hubs used to be the now-defunct Autorobot.it forum, whose userbase has since mostly migrated into the eponymous Transformers Autorobot.it Facebook group. [1]
Notable people
- Guido Guidi, an Italian comic artist who has worked extensively with the Transformers brand.
- Emiliano Santalucia, another Italian comic artist who has also worked extensively with the Transformers brand.
- Marco Balzarotti, an Italian voice actor who's dubbed multiple Transformers projects.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
The transcontinental Europa 2000 car race cut through Italy. Trans-Europe Express
Victory cartoon
The Decepticons destroyed Egg Rock in Italy and used the site to spring a trap on Star Saber, involving metal-eating Doriya. The Death-Bringing Space Insects!!
Young Corgi continuity
In the near-future of 2000 AD, Italy and the rest of Western Europe is part of the Federation of Western Europe. Battle Beneath the Ice
Transformers/G.I. Joe
Italy was briefly conquered by the might of Cobra and their Decepticon allies in 1938. Transformers/G.I. Joe
Cybertron cartoon
Starscream's Ancient Decepticon army swarmed over the nation, spreading panic. Invasion
Live-action film series
IDW Revenge of the Fallen comics
Under Soundwave's command, Fracture and her men Gunbarrel and Reverb landed in Italy. Fracture smashed into an Italian military base to find the others some suitable alt modes, then they destroyed the place. Alliance #3
They then proceeded to do... well, not much, cos NEST and the Autobots destroyed them all. Alliance #4 Presumably this would make Italy a member of NEST.
The Veiled Threat
Starscream and Italian criminal Bruno Carrera made a deal, where Carrera would help to destroy Optimus Prime in exchange for ruling Europe for the Decepticons.
Under this plan, Swindle and Deadend begin causing chaos on the streets of Rome to attract Autobot attention. After this was achieved, Starscream challenged Optimus to a battle in the Coliseum.... where Carrera had arranged a trap door and set of restrains for Prime, bwa ha ha! The Autobots would've been terminated in this ambush if not for the human allies in NEST.
Carrera would later find out Starscream was very unhappy... The Veiled Threat
2005 IDW continuity
Thundercracker arranged a meeting between Marissa Faireborn and her father on the Italian island of Sicily. Dance Among the Shadows
Notes
- Japanese moe idol Lyrian grew up in Italy, which seems to explain her choice to name the two Transformers she designed Angela and Rosanna, rather than something more conventional for a Transformer.
