Million Hero, the publisher in Japan that is running the Emergency Green Ratchet campaign has posted a bio and more images of the toy! This figure is only available to residents of Japan that have purchased the Transformers Visual Guide and sent in the accompanying form.

You can see the bio here, and the images here . To see a translation of the bio click here. Thanks to TFW2005 for the links! 

Keep an eye out for the latest issue of Toyfare hitting shelves this week! The magazine is full of Transformers Animated news and images! Allspark Member Dake has stopped by to share some of the news reported in the Animated article. Revealed are Earth Mode Megatron and Roll Out Command Optimus Prime. The Optimus will have something called "Auto Spin Conversion," which allows the torso to transform automatically as you push the vehicle along the ground! There's also plenty of images of figures that have already been seen, but still worth ogling!

Click here to read what Dake has to say about the issue! 

A TFW2005 member is reporting that he's found the third wave of Transformers: The Movie Allspark Battles Legends 2-packs and the sixth wave of Fast Action Battlers at various Walmarts and Targets in California. For those that need a refresher, the Legends are Bumblebee vs Scorponok and Battle Jazz vs Ice Megatron, while the FABs are Rescue Torch Ratchet, Desert Blast Brawl, Night Attack Megatron, and Rally Rocket Bumblebee.

You can see the Legends report here and the FAB report here. Then discuss them in Nevermore's thread here, or report your own sightings here for Legends and here for FABs! 

He's mean, he's bad, and he's gunning for you!  The Botcon 2008 Shattered Glass Exclusive Evil Optimus Prime is now up for viewing pleasure at Botcon.com.  Botcon 2008 theme features Evil Autobots and Heroic Decepticons.

You can view the images here, and discuss the news in our forums here.

Two new financial articles bring to light the continuing impact of the Transformers brand and movie on both Hasbro and its competitors.

First, Bloomberg name-checks Transformers as one of the driving forces behind Hasbro's high fourth-quarter profits. Apparently sales of Transformers toys specifically--along with other movie-related properties--exceeded analysts' expectations at the end of last year, raising overall profits beyond their predictions. 

Additionally, the profits from the toys as well as the more direct revenue from Transformers: The Movie have apparently inspired other toy companies to try to follow Hasbro's lead.  Brandweek reports that Mattel has signed a deal with the all-powerful talent agency CAA to develop some of their properties into big-budget and big-profit feature films. What will follow Transformers into the fray? See & Say? Magic 8-Ball? "In summer 2010, the world will be shouting UNO!" The floodgates have opened.

Read the full articles on the Bloomberg and Brandweek sites. 

It was a big night for big robots at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards, as Transformers: The Movie picked up four of the five awards for which it received nominations, including the top prize of "Outstanding Visual Effects." Transformers won in the following categories:

• Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture 
  
• Best Single Visual Effect of the Year (Desert Highway Sequence)
• Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Motion Picture
• Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture

Sadly, Optimus Prime was denied his prize for "Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture," as that award now sits on the top shelf of Davy Jones' locker. But, it's worth noting that in four of the last five years, the winner of "Outstanding Visual Effects" at the VES awards went on to win the Oscar for visual effects.

A full article, including the list of winners, is available at the Hollywood Reporter. Also check out IESB's brief red-carpet interview with Michael Bay.  

A couple of TFW2005 members have spotted the third wave of Transformers: The Movie Allspark Power figures on the West Coast! Jungle Bonecrusher was spotted at a Walmart in Santa Anna, California and Overcast in Washington. For those that need a refresher these are repaints of Bonecrusher and Dreadwing. So fans of these recolors head on out to your local stores and start hunting!

You can see the original sightings report here! Don't forget to post your own sightings here on the Allspark!

A slew of Transformers Animated Character and Background Designs have recently showed up at Yahoo Japan's auction site.  The images shown give us our first look at some of the characters who have yet to appear on the show as well as those who have yet to show their alternate modes.  You can view the auctions here and here.

Thanks to Buster Darkwings for the news, which you can discuss and view the images in his thread.

We've received the latest update from Allspark sponsor BigBadToyStore.com!  Check out the latest Transformers related items below, or click "read more" for the entire newsletter.

CLEARANCE SALE - 200 MORE ITEMS: We've slashed prices on 200 more overstocked and older items and we've also left the previous 200 item sale running, so there are now 400 items with discounts averaging 50% to 75% off or more. The new batch features a wide variety of items including Sports Picks, Star Wars, Cars, Spider-Man, Transformers, Imports, Titanium, Gentle Giant and much more. Just take a look at the home page for 4 new lists of 50 clearance items each:

New Arrivals

G1 MASTERPIECE STARSCREAM - IMPORT VERSION: Just in from Japan is the international release of the G1 Masterpiece Starscream. We could not find any real differences between the US and international versions upon a quick inspection, but this version does come with a fancy new sticker on the front of the box - in stock now for $94.99

TRANSFORMER MOVIE - IMPORT EXCLUSIVES: We've just received hard to find battle damaged versions of Voyager Prime as well as Deluxe Arcee. Prime is in stock at $49.99 and Arcee is $27.99. The MD-22 Black Incinerator has also just arrived - available now for $49.99.

BBTS VINTAGE DEPARTMENT: Look for increased vintage department listings starting soon, our new department members have been trained in and will start listing next week. There are a lot of new items listed this week including GI Joe, MOTU, Transformers, and a variety of misc items.

TRANSFORMERS - CLASSICS DEVASTATOR: Back in stock at $59.99, this awesome giftset includes 5 different figures with the original green & purple paint colors.

TRANSFORMERS MOVIE DELUXE: The latest case wave has just arrrived and we now have available inventory for: Stockade, Cliffjumper, Camshaft, Landmine, Overcast, Jungle Crusher and many other somewhat older figures:

New Preorders

JAPANESE TF CLASSICS: Takara has just unveiled the D-03 Gray Astrotrain, the second classic figure with a substantially updated paint scheme (along with Megatron) is now up for preorder here - take a look!

Our friend Moonbug has stopped by to share a report from Transformers at the Moon on the Transformers display at the UK Toyfair that was held last week! Transformers Animated, Transformers: The Movie, Robot Heroes and Universe were all on display, as well as the new Marvel Transformers line! Unfortunately there are no images, but there are descriptions from each line.

A few items of interest from the report:

• There were three Animated Bulkheads on display: Deluxe, Voyager and Leader. There were also three Optimuses, one from from each of those classes.
• Animated Megatron Earth mode was on display. This helicopter version of Megatron will be roughly Leader size!
• Animated Jazz was also there, and in near G1 colors!
• The Fast Action Battlers line will continue in Animated, but under a different name.
• Venom, Hulk and Iron Man were on display for the Marvel Transformers line. Venom turns into a Jeep, Hulk a tank and Iron Man a jet, and they are comparable in size to Star Wars Transformers.

You can see the full text report here, and discuss it here in Moonbug's thread!

*UPDATE!* Some more information from the UK Toy Fair has been posted! This information comes from the Hasbro Buyers' Catalog:

1. Transformers Animated 'Bumpber-bots' is the name of the new Cyber-slammer type line.
2. Animated 'Activators' are scout-sized versions of characters which feature spring loaded transformations.
3. There will also be a Cyber Slammers version of Animated Bumblebee.
4. Universe Legends were listed
5. A supreme-scale 'Roll Out' Optimus Prime that has a moving mouth with sounds from the cartoon!"

You can see the original report here!