MB (Milton Bradley) was responsible for the distribution of the first Transformers toys in mainland Europe. MB was taken over by Hasbro in 1984 and they decided to market the first wave of Transformers toys in Europe under their newly acquired MB brand (MB was a very well known brand in Europe in 1985, contrary to the Hasbro brand).
For the European launch MB released a selection of the first (1984) and second (1985) series of Transformers that were released in the U.S. I recently acquired a very, very rare dealer catalog that MB released for its 1985 line up in Europe. Dealer catalogs are special toy catalogs that are usually sent out only to toy shops to sway them into carrying the product line. The catalog is beautifully designed and is printed on glossy paper.
One of the more interesting details about this catalog is the fact that there’s a seperate inlay that, obviously, seems to have been added later after the initial version of the catalog had been printed. It contains photos and catalog numbers of the MB Transformers that weren’t present in the original MB catalog that was included with boxed MB Transformers and the toy store catalog that was meant for consumers. It includes Optimus Prime, the Autobot cars, some more mini vehicles, Starscream and two Decepticon cassettes. To my knowlegde, these photos haven’t been published anywhere else as part of MB’s promotional material for its 1985 Transformers line up! Please enjoy these sneak peeks.
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