Cybertron Con returns to at the end of July.  The event is being held at the Shanghaimart Expo from July 29th to the 31st in China with the lineup of guests scheduled to attend including Sara Pitre-Doucher, Shogo Hasui, Alex Milne, Hisashi Yuki, and Peter Cullen. There are also going to be displays featuring Transformers toys from G1 to Titans Return, panels, art displays and contests, a gaming area, a party for guests, panels of course, and a mystery statue said to be life-size.

Details on tickets can be found here (English version here)

The UK toy fair is over and with Hasbro Inc deciding that an appearance was not worth it and that Germany would be the best option for their European offices focus from fans around the world now point at the Spielwarenmesse Nürnberg Toy Fair 2016 which takes place today.  The German fair is well known for leaked product reveals and shall be followed by the US Toy fair.

For years Hasbro Inc produced most of its toys and games out in China then a few years ago they shifted to factories in Vietnam, partly due to increase labour costs in China, and now it looks like they are moving again but this time to India.  According to an article published on The Wall Street Journal on January 6th Hasbro are looking at India as a solution to Vietnam becoming saturated with factories.

“John Leung, chairman of GFT Group Ltd., a manufacturer of Transformers, “Star Wars” and other toys for Hasbro that is based in China’s Guangdong province, said he plans to start producing soon from a rented factory in Chennai.

Eight years ago, GFT shifted much of its production from China to Vietnam, where today the company’s workers earn around $215 a month, less than Chinese counterparts’ salaries. But Vietnam is quickly becoming saturated with factories, Mr. Leung said.

“In the next eight to 10 years, Vietnam will be finished,” he said. He said Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., had urged him to set up shop in India.”

Credit to TFW2005.com for the news

ACToys user laomaocsh has shared some photographs from the first day of the Transformers Expo 2013 which is currently taking place at the China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts in Beijing China.  The Expo consist of what is probably the world largest single display of Transformers toys ever as well as dioramas and full and partial size set recreations.

The displays also include some of the prize campaign figures known as Lucky Draws including a Black Galaxy Convoy of unknown origins.

You can view a mirror of the images after the jump.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura has announced that the four winners of Chinese "Reality TV" competition to win parts on Transformers 4 have been chosen after four months of of the contest.

"I want everybody to have fun," Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the film's producer who has produced all the Transformers movies, told China.org.cn about the producers' decision to recruit actors through a TV contest aired on the China Movie Channel. "We are always looking for different ways to learn about other cultures. This is a great way to see people's passion and excitement. It allows for everybody to have fun together," he added.

Byron Li, Austin Lin, Candice Zhao, Teresa Daley eventually won the much-coveted movie parts Sunday night on the "'Transformers 4 Chinese Actors Talent Search Reality Show," launched by Paramount Pictures in cooperation with Jiaflix and the China Movie Channel in April. The contest was open to both professional and amateur actors, attracting more than 70,000 contestants.

You can read more over on China.org.

Recently we reported a news story regarding allegations regarding factory conditions at a factory in China called Jet Fair that Hasbro used to produce many of their products including Transformers. Well Hasbro issued a press release on the 22nd of December regarding the factory, a copy of which you can view below.

Hasbro Inc. Statement Regarding NGO Allegations on Factory Conditions

Immediately following some unsubstantiated allegations posted by an outside group regarding working conditions at the Jet Fair factory, Hasbro, together with ICTI, deployed a team to investigate, as we take such claims very seriously. Following an unannounced, nine-hour inspection of the facility this past week, we are satisfied that Jet Fair meets with Hasbro's rigorous requirements.

While Hasbro is committed to continual improvement in all facets of corporate social responsibility, including continued ethical product manufacturing at Jet Fair and all factories that produce Hasbro products, the inflammatory allegations made by the NGO in their report were unsubstantiated by our investigation. As a matter of course, Hasbro will continue to monitor conditions at Jet Fair and all of our factories.

The Company has a strong track record and has had long-standing policies and processes in place for years to help ensure good working conditions, including health and safety, at factories making our products. We strive to conduct business throughout our supply chain in accordance with the highest ethical standards, and we utilize not only ICTI-- but also our own on-the-ground workforce-- to monitor social compliance.

For more information about Hasbro's comprehensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, including more detail regarding Hasbro's policies and practices related to ethical product manufacturing, please visit Hasbro.com/csr.

You can vierw the original press release at http://csr.hasbro.com/new01-news.php.

Other investigations have been made into the author of the report which bring into question his track record. As well known and respected Transformers related researcher Nevermore points out the writer of the report was already found just last week to have written a similar report about another Chinese factory where he had made some unsubstantiated claims as well. http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/22/kardashian-family-sweatshop-claims-not-true/, http://www.tmz.com/2011/12/21/kim-kardashian-factory-china-slave-labor-tmz-live/#.Tvnnppd6hIG. Whilst there may still be truth to the original report, these latest twist do back up Hasbro's stance.

Our thanks go out to Nevermore for the update on the story.­

A Chinese factory called Jet Fair has been slammed in a damning report published by GlobalLabourRights.org.  The 34-page PDF file, available to download here, covers conditions at the factory that produced Hasbro products including the Transformers: Prime figures.

The GLR group focus on the factories Transformers output even though it is not an Hasbro owned factory, and suggests that workers at the factory are body searched three times a day to try to stop goods from being smuggled out of the plant.

It is certainly an interesting reading into what is sadly common place still within Chinese factories when it comes to pay and working conditions.

Our thanks go out to Blueshift of ­Transmasters UK for the link to the article.