AP reports that "Toymaker Hasbro says second-quarter profit rose on demand for brands such as Transformers, Littlest Pet Shop and Indiana Jones. Profit rose to $37.5 million, or 25 cents per share, from $4.8 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales jumped 13.4 percent to $784.3 million from $691.4 million. International sales rose 15 percent. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 22 cents per share and sales of $675.4 million. Pawtucket, R.I. -based Hasbro Inc. raised prices to help offset rising costs".

News agency Reuters, have issued the following press release which gives more details as to which areas saw the biggest increase

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hasbro Inc (HAS.N), the No. 2 U.S. toymaker, posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday, boosted by sales of toys tied to movies such as the latest "Indiana Jones" release and by brands like G.I. Joe and Transformers.
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Second-quarter net profit rose to $37.5 million, or 25 cents a share, from $4.8 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier when it took a charge for repurchasing its warrants from Lucasfilm Ltd and Lucas Licensing Ltd.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 22 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales rose 13 percent to $784.3 million.

While U.S. and Canadian sales rose 11 percent to $467.7 million, sales in international markets increased 15 percent to $293.7 million, aided by a weak dollar.

Hasbro, which also owns the Littlest Pet Shop and Playskool brands, has said it expects per-share earnings to rise this year, but has also pointed to challenges, such as higher costs for transporting its goods.

"While input cost inflation continues to be challenging, thus far we have been able to mitigate most of the impact through cost savings initiatives and pricing actions," Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer David Hargreaves said in a statement on Monday.

Even rival Mattel Inc (MAT.N) is feeling the pain of rising commodity costs. The world's top toy company raised prices by mid- to high-single-digit rates across most products in June.

Hasbro said it spent $51.6 million to buy back 1.646 million shares of common stock during the quarter.

Hasbro shares have traded as low as $21.70 in the past year. They closed at $37.99 last week, nearly $2 below the year's high of $39.97, on the New York Stock Exchange."

Thanks to Jim from Mech-RC for sending us the following press release regarding a line that both Andrew Wildman and Don Figueroa have designed mechs for, though not Transformers related, you may still find it of interest.

After over two years in development, MechRCTM will finally be seeing its commercial launch this holiday season.  MechRC will be available at all good hobby retailers and directly from the MechRC store (www.mechrc.com) from September priced at around US$599

MechRCTM is the latest and, in our opinion, the most user friendly humanoid robot to hit the hobby/collectors market so far. Featuring 17 independently driven high speed, high torque, servos, MechRCTM is capable of performing astounding acts of agility all under your command straight out of the box.

Other features include:
Fully featured 3D motion editor software allowing you to create your own motions and action sequences
User friendly remote controller, allows you to control your robot just like a video game character
Lithium Polymer battery pack, provides up to 45 minutes run time
Built in audio for playback of .wav sound files
Fully upgradeable through firmware download as well as electronic and mechanical “hop-ups”
Body styling by the legendary Transformers artist, Andrew Wildman
Interchangeable body shells, designed by Transformers fan-favourite artist Don Figueroa

For an example of what MechRCTM can do, check out the excellent “Evolution of Robotic Dance” which is based on the Judson Laipply’ smash hit YouTube video “The Evolution of Dance"

Groundpounder by Don Figueroa

Shadow Stalker by Andrew Wildman

Seibertron have spotted a listing on Gamestop for a Nintedo DS Transformers Animated game priced at 29.99 USD by Activison.

You can see the original report here.

TFWorld2005 are reporting that Wave 1 of Transformers Animated has started to hit the store in Venezuela.

You can see their report here.

It's been a little while since we added a toy gallery to the site, and been even longer since we added more than one image gallery to the site. The wait has finally ended with 4 new image galleries for you to choose from. Featured are the newely UK released Transformers Universe toys, which we bought from Hasbro UK's online store as well as THS-01 Galaxy Convoy, who we got in Japan in April.

• Transformers Universe Prowl
• Transformers Universe Sunstreaker
• Transformers Universe Tankor (Octane)
• Transformers Hybrid Style - Galaxy Convoy

The Allspark member Powered Convoy has gained a testshot of an upcoming Transformers Universe Treadbolt toy. The figure is a recoloured version of Transformers Classics Jetfire in G1 Mircomaster Air Patrol leader Treadbolt's colours.

You can see Powered Convoy's images here.

The organisers of Cybcon have sent out the following information regarding this years event.

The Unofficial Pacific Northwest Transformers Fan and Collectors Convention, aka The Cybertronian Conference, better known as CybCon, is a mere month away. On Saturday, August 23rd, from 10am to 5pm at the King Oscar Motel and Convention Center in Tacoma at 8820 and 8726 South Hosmer, there will be a large hall full of dealers and tons of Transfan fun.

Please note that registration IS required, even if you intend to pay your entry fee at the door. If you are not registered, you will not be allowed into the event. If you plan to come, it's best to pay in advance to save $5 per person off the door charge. Pre-payments are due by August 16th and are $10/attendee or $30/dealer. At the door, prices are $15/attendee or $35/dealer. Remember, this includes entry to the event as well as lunch of pizza or sandwiches and pops. You even get a couple tickets for raffle/door prizes.

If you haven't been to CybCon in the past, then you owe it to yourself to come. If you've been to past event, then you'll be happy to know that our formula has not changed. It's the same show you know and love to come to every year.

For more information, please see: http://www.ggaub.com/tf/cybcon2k8.html

Many thanks go to Rich for following up Matt's (Break) information we broke exclusively last week regarding the contents and ID of the Transformers in the next Argos catalogue.  Now Rich has got the product listings for the Transformers Animated (Wave 2) toys. 

More details from the Autumn/Winter catalogue (stock is now on shelves but still not priced);

• 369/7647 Animated Deluxe figures (Blackarachnia on shelf)
• 369/7685 Animated Voyager figures (Bulkhead on shelf)
• 369/7692 Animated Leader Megatron
• 369/7719 Animated Leader Bulkhead
• 369/7740 Animated Supreme 'Roll Out' Optimus Prime
• 369/7795 Universe Deluxe figures (Prowl and Sunstreaker on shelf)
• 369/8048 Universe Voyager figures (Blaster and Heavy Load on shelf)
• 369/7764 Animated Optimus Prime Arm Blaster
• Star Wars Transformers (369/5168) are carried over again.
• Catalogue is out next weekend.

Best regards,

Rich

jewelz_green, of Chinese fan community ACToys, has posted some images of the recently released Binaltech 19 Bluestreak figure. You can view the images by clicking on the link.

FantoFan have updated their early bird pre-order page with new images of Masterpiece Thundercracker.

The toy is said to have a new face sculpt and is the fourth colour variation of the MP Starscream mold.

This isn't really news, though will related to some in the future, but we have 5 new auctions on ebay at the moment to try and recover some of the money we spent researching Lucky Draw Transformers figures this year (costing us over $1000).

We've decided to sell the Japanese Magazines which we bought from Japan, breaking them down into five categories. The auctions on ebay are for the following:

• 17 Issues of Hyper Hobby Magazine (2000-2001)
• 26 Issues of TV Boy (2004-2007)
  
• 12 Issues of TV Magzine (2002)
• 31 Issues of TV Magazine (2003-2007)
• 21 Issues of TV Magazine (2000-2001)
  

1. SIDESWIPE