GiG

We used to make toys with funny missiles.

GiG was an Italian toy company that held the license to distribute pre-Transformers, and later also Transformers toys, 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 market Diaclone and Micro Change toys in Italy from Takara in the early 1980s. Around the same time Hasbro introduced the Transformers brand throughout much of the rest of the world, GiG rebranded its Diaclone toys as Trasformer [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 the Transformers property, 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 to Skydive as "Log", labeling Astrotrain and Blitzwing as "Triplex Uno" and "Triplex Due", respectively, or calling Scourge "Sheriff") and for selling various pre-Transformers and Transformers toys that were otherwise unavailable outside of Japan, including the Micro Change version of Blaster (which was a working AM radio), the Diaclone "Helicopter Type" Triple Changer and Galaxy 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 original Devastator giftset was one of the few toys that kept the original English name, but then the Action Master version of Devastator was named "Uragan", and then that name was reused for the Turbomaster Thunder Clash.

Distribution of Transformers toys in Italy was gradually shifted from GiG to the newly formed Italian Hasbro branch during the Beast Wars line: By this point, European toys were released in two different trilingual packaging combinations in multiple markets each. One of these versions sported texts in English, Spanish and Italian. The initial Beast Wars toys featured a Kenner logo on the front and back of the packaging, and a small GiG logo on the back of the English/Spanish/Italian versions. By the time Fuzors and Transmetals were 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 some knockoffs, such as off-color versions of the Constructicons.

The exact relationship between GiG and Hasbro

According to George Dunsay, the brand name "Transformers" originated with the advertising agency Griffin Bacal.^[1] Jay Bacal, company founder Joe Bacal's son, is occasionally cited as the person who came up with the name (then-Hasbro employee Henry Orenstein has also once been credited, but this was refuted by George Dunsay^[1]). Either way, it's commonly assumed among the fandom that the name definitely originated with Hasbro or one of its partners at the time. Thus, the widely accepted theory regarding GiG's Trasformer line is that it represents a blatant attempt at exploiting the global popularity of Transformers via their existing business relationship with Takara without paying royalties to Hasbro.

The truth, however, is that GiG used the noun "trasformazione" (Italian for "transformation") and "trasformare" ("to transform") referring to some early Diaclone toys 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 their Transformers toy line at Toy Fair, although also a full five months after Hasbro initially filed for the trademark name of Transformers.^[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's also possible that the name Autobot was "inspired" by GiG's use of the name "Auto Robot" (itself a direct adaptation of "Car Robot", the name Takara used for the Diaclone toys that would ultimately end up as Hasbro's Autobot Cars assortment) as part of their Trasformer line.^[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 the Transformers line because they were (as mentioned above) allegedly "cashing in" on Hasbro's success with The Transformers. Another possibility is that Takara was phasing out production for Diaclone altogether in favor of the more popular Transformers versions for Hasbro (Takara discontinued Diaclone in Japan and started their own version of Transformers in 1985), which not only resulted in a variety of transitional Diaclone/Transformers hybrids in Italian Trasformer packaging, but would have also ultimately deprived GiG of Diaclone products, which left them with two options: Canceling Trasformer entirely, or acquiring a license from Hasbro and thereby also gaining access to additional promotional material, such as the cartoon 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 Italian Transformers toys, as well as the release of some toys (or at least versions of certain toys) that were otherwise exclusive to Takara, such as Bruticus and Abominus giftsets, the "Hero Set" (renamed "Set Commandos" for the Italian market) featuring the inner robots of the Classic Pretender versions of Bumblebee, Jazz, Grimlock and Starscream in their Japanese-market decos, and the aforementioned Galaxy 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