Yeah these would be for the international market and I guess because they need to have multi-language texts jammed on the card there's not enough room for the tech specs. I can see why that'd be disappointing for MOSC collectors though..
Yeah these would be for the international market and I guess because they need to have multi-language texts jammed on the card there's not enough room for the tech specs. I can see why that'd be disappointing for MOSC collectors though..
Can someone please kindly post up a pic of the back facing of the backing card. Thanks.
It appears the U.S. variant is bi-lingual with English & French(?) (for Canada) whereas the International has 4 languages.
Thanks doublespy.
The G1 'purist' won't be happy with these minibot reissues. The backing card text has been modified. The toys are essentially Encore reissues with notable exception of Bumblebee, previously stated by Goki-san in another thread somewhere.
While I understand how the international packaging variation would be disappointing for some people, I also think it's unfair to accuse Cotton On Kids of deliberately trying to screw fans over by sourcing this stock. I highly doubt that their retail buyer contacted Hasbro and explicitly asked for European stock over American stock for this express purpose. I highly doubt that the retail buyer woke up one morning and as s/he was brushing his/her teeth thought to him/herself, "Ya know what? I think I'll call Hasbro and order the G1 reissue Mini bots... but I'll be sure to ask them to source me the European versions without the tech spec bios instead of the American ones. Yeah, that's totally what I'm gonna do when I get to work today!"
When Beast Wars first came out in Australia you guys also got similar European packaging that skimped out on tech spec bios (not me, I was living in Japan at the time ). Again, I doubt that this was done to deliberately bugger fans over. It's more than likely due to where Hasbro Australia gets their stock from which they then distribute to local stores here. Being made as Wal★Mart exclusives in the US, maybe it was easier for Hasbro AU to source stock from Europe.
It should also be mentioned that at the Play World convention 2 weeks ago, both Tha Phantom and I mentioned to a Hasbro rep that it would be really good if they could get the 2018 G1 reissues released here. I don't know if this stock was ordered before the con or after, but either way I'm just glad to see reissues being released here and also at a pretty good price. Remember when TRU were releasing inferior Hasbro G1 reissues here at high prices? And by inferior I don't mean the packaging, I mean things like oversized missiles, lack of chrome etc., and by high prices I mean that they initially sold for nearly the cost of buying a Takara reissue from a local specialty import store (sometimes the import was cheaper).
If it really bugs you that much, get the North American versions. If you've already bought the European versions from Cotton On Kids then I'm pretty sure that you'll have no problem selling them considering how quickly they sold out.
For those who missed out (like me) these seem to have returned to the CottonOn website. Just put in an order for all four.
If you're a G1 purist you wouldn't like these. These toys have the changes introduced in the Encore version - the blue eyes on Swerve, Tailgate and Outback - and the cartoon face on Bumblebee that originaly came from the Transformers Collection version.
The US/Canada card back looks like this for comparison.
Not a fan personally, not quite the accurate G1 reproduction I'd want. Close but just a bit "wrong" for me.
Source
I only bought them cos they were a reasonable price. I couldn’t care less about the cardboard as I’m ripping them open anyway. Apart from a crappy Platinum G1 Predaking, these are the first ‘G1’ bots I’ve bought since the 80’s. Will probably regret it as soon as I see them.