GiG

We used to make toys with funny missiles.

GiGwas an Italian toy company that held the license to distributepre-Transformers,and later alsoTransformerstoys, in Italy from the early 1980s up until 1998. Founded in 1968 by Gianfranco Aldo Horvat (whose father had already founded a toy company of his own, Horvat Giocattoli), it was headquartered in the Florentine hinterland and eventually gained subsidiaries such as De Franchis (based out of Milan), Fulli (based out of Rome), and Minale (based out of Naples). In 1994, major Italian toy company Giochi Preziosi became a shareholder of GiG and, following a financial crisis for the latter company, eventually bought them out entirely in 1999.

Pre-Transformers and Transformers by GiG

GiG obtained the license to marketDiacloneandMicro Changetoys in Italy from Takara in the early 1980s. Around the same timeHasbrointroduced theTransformersbrand throughout much of the rest of the world, GiG rebranded itsDiaclonetoys asTrasformer[sic].The exact sequence of events regarding this affair has been put into question in recent years (see below). Either way, GiG eventually acquired a license from Hasbro for theTransformersproperty, although for the next several years, a smaller version of the old "Trasformer" logo would remain on GiG toys in addition to the larger, internationally known "Transformers" logo.

GiG is also known for renaming characters in strange ways (such as referring toSkydiveas "Log", labelingAstrotrainandBlitzwingas "Triplex Uno" and "Triplex Due", respectively, or callingScourge"Sheriff" ) and for selling various pre-Transformers andTransformerstoys that were otherwise unavailable outside of Japan, including theMicro Changeversion ofBlaster(which was a working AM radio), theDiaclone"Helicopter Type"Triple ChangerandGalaxy Shuttle.

Also, their names were often hilariously inconsistent: Sometimes a character that had multiple toys was assigned different names for each toy (seemingly at random), while the same names were sometimes reused for toys representing completely different characters. And sometimes both at the same time. For example, the originalDevastatorgiftsetwas one of the few toys that kept the original English name, but then theAction Masterversion ofDevastatorwas named "Uragan", and thenthatname was reused for theTurbomasterThunder Clash.

Distribution ofTransformerstoys in Italy was gradually shifted from GiG to the newly formed Italian Hasbro branch during theBeast Warsline: By this point, European toys were released in two differenttrilingual packagingcombinations in multiple markets each. One of these versions sported texts in English, Spanish and Italian. The initialBeast Warstoys featured aKennerlogo on the front and back of the packaging, and a small GiG logo on the back of the English/Spanish/Italian versions. By the timeFuzorsandTransmetalswere released in 1998, the "Kenner" logo had been replaced by a "Hasbro" logo (even though the toys' United States and Canadian/Latin American counterparts still sported a "Kenner" logo on their packaging), and the English/Spanish/Italian packaging versions now listed "Hasbro Italy" as the Italian distributor. Despite this, the GiG logo was still retained on the back of the packaging until it was dropped entirely with wave 3 of the Basic Fuzors, wave 3 of the Deluxe Transmetals, and wave 2 of the Mega Transmetals.

Subsequently, GiG released someknockoffs,such as off-color versions of theConstructicons.

The exact relationship between GiG and Hasbro

According toGeorge Dunsay,thebrandname "Transformers"originated with the advertising agencyGriffin Bacal.^[1]Jay Bacal,company founder Joe Bacal's son, is occasionally cited as the person who came up with the name (then-Hasbro employeeHenry Orensteinhas also once been credited, but this was refuted by George Dunsay^[1]). Either way, it's commonly assumed among thefandomthat the name definitely originated with Hasbro or one of its partners at the time. Thus, the widely accepted theory regarding GiG'sTrasformerline is that it represents a blatant attempt at exploiting the global popularity ofTransformersvia their existing business relationship withTakarawithout paying royalties to Hasbro.

The truth, however, is that GiG used the noun "trasformazione" (Italian for "transformation" ) and "trasformare" ( "to transform" ) referring to some earlyDiaclonetoys in official advertising as early as 1982. (And just in case someone's wondering, the Italian language offers several potential synonyms they could have used instead.) Furthermore, the earliest confirmed official use of "Trasformer" on behalf of GiG was a magazine advert for the toy line published in April 1984, a mere two months after Hasbro had officially unveiled theirTransformerstoy line at Toy Fair, although also a full five months after Hasbro initially filed for the trademark name ofTransformers.^[2]Therefore, it's possible that whoever came up with the name "Transformers" on Hasbro's behalf was "inspired" by GiG, rather than the other way around.

Even moreso, it'salsopossible that the nameAutobotwas "inspired" by GiG's use of the name "Auto Robot" (itself a direct adaptation of "Car Robot", the name Takara used for theDiaclonetoys that would ultimately end up as Hasbro's Autobot Cars assortment) as part of theirTrasformerline.^[3]

Another commonly held belief among the fandom, seemingly backed up by a vague statement from George Dunsay, is that Hasbro eventually pressured GiG into acquiring a license for theTransformersline because they were (as mentioned above) allegedly "cashing in" on Hasbro's success withThe Transformers.Another possibility is that Takara was phasing out production forDiaclonealtogether in favor of the more popularTransformersversions for Hasbro (Takara discontinuedDiaclonein Japan and started their own version ofTransformersin 1985), which not only resulted in a variety of transitionalDiaclone/Transformershybrids in ItalianTrasformerpackaging, but would have also ultimately deprived GiG ofDiacloneproducts, which left them with two options: CancelingTrasformerentirely, or acquiring a license from Hasbro and thereby also gaining access to additional promotional material, such as thecartoon series.The still existing direct business relationship between GiG and Takara also resulted in a unique mix of Hasbro-inspired and Takara-inspired packaging for ItalianTransformerstoys, as well as the release of some toys (or at least versions of certain toys) that were otherwise exclusive to Takara, such asBruticusandAbominusgiftsets,the "Hero Set" (renamed "Set Commandos" for the Italian market) featuring the inner robots of theClassic Pretenderversions ofBumblebee,Jazz,GrimlockandStarscreamin their Japanese-market decos, and the aforementionedGalaxy Shuttle.^[4]

Notes

• A common misconception among non-Italian fans is that the company's name is "GiGi" (a nickname for Luigi, a true Italian name). Close examination of the company's logo, however, shows that the name definitely only contains one "i".

External links

• Italian language Wikipedia article on GiG
• GiG article at TF-1.com

References