User:Tribimat/Newspapers

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.

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

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.

Presumably February is when Hasbro first announced the Transformers line.

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."