Fellow German fan Metro was wondering about this... Around 1989, Transformers toys released in Germany sported this weird sticker on the packaging. 1) Did any other countries get the sticker? 2) Does anyone remember when exactly the sticker started getting used? Could this have been in response to the infamous flood of overstock Transformers toys from Mexico?
First of all, for those of you wondering why a Triggercon was marked as being new in 1989 - the Triggerbots and Triggercons weren't released in Europe until 89. Sidenote: Some French Triggercons were marked TriggerBOT Decepticon. As for the sticker I remember it well. It was mainly on larger (see more expensive) TFs. You may be right. I can't remember exactly when in 89 Mexican TFs filtered thru, but i do remember the sticker appearing a little after the launch of the 1989 line and thinking it a sign that TFs had lost market share. Since later G1 TFs weren't as popular as earlier ones, and earlier (albeit Mexican) ones were available much cheaper than newer ('official') ones at the time they may have beent trying to claw back some sales. Maybe it was intended to function like a 'Seal of safety/quality' as well - at the time Mexican TFs got some coverage over 'Dangerous' levels of lead.
Hasbro Europe also added rubsigns shortly after that if I recall correctly - at least I got some "Classic" reissues with rubsigns (but not all of them, oddly).
IIRC they included rubsigns in the first year of the Classic line, but ditched them for the second - hence things like The Throttlebots with the rubsign indent filled in, and the rubsign itself replaced with a conventional Autobot logo.
