#Source: Gogglebox

[incorrectendeavourquotes]

Morse: We all like a bad boy, though, don’t we?

Jakes: Yeah, not a fucking serial killer, though, Morse.

[incorrectspringquotes]

Ernst: If it’s spelt like ‘k-nights’, why is it pronounced like ‘nights’?

Hanschen, lovingly: Ernst, life is too short for me to answer pointless questions like that.

[angels-and-demons]

Nico: *simping for Toby* we all like a bad boy, though... don't we?

Hades, concerned for his son: Yeah, not a fucking arsonist though, Nico-!

[hitchell-mope]

Cameron: We all like a bad boy, though, don’t we?

Mitchell: Yeah, but not a fucking serial killer, though, Cameron.

[queenmeriadoc]

Celebrimbor: We like a bad boy though, don’t we?

Me: Yeah, not a fucking terrorist though, Celebrimbor. There’s a bad boy and there’s evil.

[paulagnewart]

Trans40mers Pt. 3/12: Freebies Are the Right of All Sentient Beings!

Where did that last month go? Probably the same place this post's initial opening paragraphs centering around themed coincidences and free Hasbro-affiliated goodies ended up.

Ah well. No need for long-winded introductions, let's dive right in.

19th March 2016: Hoping to win back the youth crowd, notoriously conservative-pandering media machine Herald Sun release a free set of Transformers-themed Top Trumps trading cards. They're made available to hundreds of participating newsagents in Victoria (& some for NSW).

-=-=-=-=-=-

For over two centuries Australia has enjoyed mutual cultural ties with the United Kingdom. Many like Cricket, Fish & Chips, Action Man and Gogglebox stood the test of time and became beloved hits. Others not so much. Despite its status as a popular, long-running children's pastime, Aussies were notably late to the Top Trumps party.

Their first 'major' publicity push came in the April 2004 edition of K-Zone magazine, who devoted a half-page "exclusive" article boasting how it "already has a cult following in the UK" and won said Toy Fair's 2002 Game of the Year. Elsewhere this issue featured a splash page promoting various decks including Marvel Comic Heroes, Buffy, Star Wars, Dinosaurs, and The Simpsons.

But 2004 was a tough year for cards. Spurred on by Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z, competition was fierce among companies over who could win the quadrangle. Against new Yu-Gi-Oh!, Duel Masters, Neopets, plus Croftminster's Genio or Myths & Legends cards, Top Trumps faced an uphill struggle living up to its "most addictive card game you're ever likely to play!" claim.

When 2016 rolled along, Transformers scored their first 'retro' deck. Presenting a cutout token earned newspaper readers one of four free packs; Shopkins and Adventure Time over the previous weekend, while Transformers united with My Little Pony. Some 919 newsagents participated in this event, but a paltry 40 were located in New South Wales (6 from Broken Hill alone) and a lone 1 represented Canberra.

Fans already put off supporting Rupert Murdock's racist rag found further disappointment when opening its plastic wrap. The box paraded a mighty montage of Marvel era illustrations, yet each card used reproduced 1984-5 toy packaging art on white backdrops likely sourced, as many did at the time, from Botch the Crab's excellent archive. Tech Specs faced creative liberties, character choices bizarre, plus an overwhelming number of Autobots left budding players bewildered.

"How do you do fellow kids?" indeed.

21st March 2003: Australia scored its first ever official Happy Meal promotion. McDonald's import and repackage all 8 USA Transformers Armada characters slated for sale over 4 weeks, until Megatron and Demolishor are recalled when real-world events label them "war toys".

-=-=-=-=-=-

After the half-hearted, half-a-toyline that was Robots in Disguise, Hasbro Australia were banking on Armada giving the brand a big boost of confidence.

First out the gate were Big W, stocking shelves with the second wave of toys just in time for Christmas 2002. Other retailers joined in by late January, by which point Hasbro went hard with cross-promotions. Those scallywags Jade and Ryan gave a glowing review in Cheez TV's toy testing segment. The 2nd anniversary edition of Mania magazine devoted two pages covering the series' history and introduced fans to new favourites like Alexa, Bureshock and Star Scream. Warner Vision scored the DVD rights, and with a Melbourne-produced video game in the pipeline, 2003 was shaping up to be Year of the Transformers.

But when Dreamwave's spinoff comic was skipped by newsagents, nor space to air the anime on Cartoon Network or Channel Ten until July and August respectively, they needed material to maintain momentum and fast. In stepped McDonald's who, in a first for its time, brought over all 6 toys from their 2002 USA campaign. Swapping out Hello Kitty for Ohio Art's Betty Spaghetty, young fans guzzled cheap fast food, saved their $5 Toys R Us voucher, then logging onto the Happy Meal website for a chance to win over $300 worth of toys.

Wait. All 6?

One day before this promotion began, Australia's Government ordered SAS troops in the Persian Gulf to join a US-led 'Coalition of the Willing' and launch mass strikes on Baghdad. "Countdown to Conflict!" blared across the news. Disney Adventures magazine's feedback column filled with letters from readers who "feel scared and sometimes unsafe". The War in Iraq had begun, and after witnessing mass anti-war protests across our cities, McDonald's ordered Megatron and Demolishor with their controversy-causing tank modes be swiftly scrubbed from stores.

Yet again Transformers were embroiled in real-world conflict, and yet again Australia banned a Megatron toy for being too realistic.

25th March 1996: Speculation mounted among locals at alt.toys.transformers over whether or not Hasbro Australia would import Kenner's brand new Beast Wars toyline. This soon hit a peak when Melbourne fan David Golding logged on to proclaim the series had been discontinued.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Transformers DISCONTINUED?" may sound like yet another buzzword-boasting, self-aggrandizing social media effluencer's conspiracy theory video, but for fans pondering the fate of Cybertron's finest nearly 30 years ago, a message title like that meant nothing short of serious business.

Better people on better sites have waffled philosophically how The Transformers were in terminal decline. Those glory days of being crowned Toy of the Year had long passed, and not even a nation like Australia who enjoyed ten unbroken years of plastic robot action were immune. They survived He-Man. They survived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They survived The Simpsons. But stiff competition from superheroes, Matchbox Action System and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers looked to be their undoing.

Easter and a potential sales spike was two weeks away. If Hasbro hoped Cheez TV's 7am repeat run of Generation Two would elevate interest, they were quashed days later when Power Rangers introduced Australia's own Katherine "Kat" Hillard to the team. Ninjor powered heroes were in, while unsold Laser Rods, Rotor Force and Classics Combiners languished in discount bins.

Speculation on the brand's future flooded from emails over to then-juggernaut watering hole alt.toys.transformers. Eyebrows were raised when one user delivered "bad news for Australian Tf fans, it looks like we AREN'T getting Beast Wars down here. I ran hasbro today and they said they weren't carrying TFs this year.", but Golding's later proclamation drew the most discourse.

"I live in Melbourne, Australia, and at a toyshop recently I was told that the Transformers line had been discontinued. I would like to know if this was errant b******t on the part of the toyshop owner, or if this is really true?"

The comment was evaluated, dissected and criticized by fans both local or overseas. And while Beast Wars did eventually arrive in time for Christmas, those next 9 months would prove an ultimate challenge for diehard Aussie fans.

31st March 2023: Taronga Zoo Sydney and Western Plains Zoo Dubbo culminate their Hasbro partnership with the official Rise of the Beasts Roar & Snore Experience. Over five nights, a select few lucky fans (and celebrities) are treated to a beastly Base Camp under the stars.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Is it truly a Transformers movie without heavy emphasis on promotional contests? Be it humble days of free posters and toys in late-1986, Civic Video's colouring page for free toys come 2007, right up to an Oliver Brown sponsored New York trip complete with… free toys. This may be a series built on change, but as Airazor once proclaimed, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Not since the long-forgotten Transformers stage show at Louisville Zoo had fans witnessed their favourite robots duke it out among nature. Unusual for the time, but after two generations plus a new film built on 90's eco messages and character nostalgia looming over the horizon, promoting the brand at two wildlife sanctuaries were simultaneous strokes of creative and obvious genius.

The contest began on 9th January and focused on zoogoers wandering around to complete their free Beast Power character map. Dubbo's visitors were assigned to locate and decode a message among each Maximals' signature animal; Siamang, Ostrich, White Rhinoceros, Cheetah and African Wild Dog. Sydney on the other hand received their own set of beasts in the forms of Western Lowland Gorilla, Andean Condor, Asian Elephant, Sumatran Tiger and Corroboree Frog. Once complete, the decoded message was submitted online and in with the chance to win.

Quite the generous contest in itself, but Taronga were only getting started. A week later, obnoxious stickers slapped on by underpaid workers littered figures across every Big W. They boasted more prizes; 10 guided zoo tours, 100 free entries, 100 movie tickets plus another round of overnight stays at the newly-branded Beasts Base Camp.

Parents, celebrities and social influenza fans who believe the brand revolved around them flocked at the chance to attend. And thus those nights soon came to pass; drinks, cheese patters, twilight tours, selfies and more free toys awaited them, all under the watchful gazes of life-sized Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal statues.

[louisliamforever]

Idk if you already have this on your blog but 😂

https://www.tumblr.com/sockgate/645845264399286272?source=share

I love that like 97% of the time on GoggleBox Liam & Louis were pressed up close against eachother 😆 with the bare skin of their arms pressed against eachother 🥺 I feel like with people, skin touching like that for that long it’s usually quite a vulnerable thing right? To be sitting that close, not only resting against another, but with both of your bare skin of your arms exposed and pressed up against another? Like the couch is big enough, it is only two of them there, and they don’t have to sit that close if they don’t want to lol. Liam & Louis were just so comfortable and familiar with eachother that sitting that close for that long with their bare skin touching was just, I guess, natural-like and second nature-like to them? 🥺 Their friendship bond was really something else 💞 Neither of them look uncomfortable sitting that close either, and it actually looks like they might be drawing comfort from the closeness or, idk, but they just seem to like being in that close of physical proximity? I feel like if they didn’t like it they wouldn’t be sitting that close as they are here and tbh it’s making me emotional, it’s very heartwarming to me 😭

Idk maybe I’m being weird bout it tbf it’s bout 3am as I’m typing this out and I’m sleep deprived lmao but lilo just fucks me up so much ok bc to me, to me right, I really think you got to feel safe with your friend and trust your friend to be able to sit like that resting against eachother, bare skin of your arms pressed against eachother, and feel natural and comfortable bout it the whole time 🥺

I sooo agree anon! I definitely think it's a vulnerable thing and it's actually funny cause I was planning on watching this clip of Niall and Olly Murs on Goggle Box and I decided to watch it just to compare them with Lilo and the vibe is very different. Olly seems fine to be pressed up again Niall, but Niall seems to wish he had some space at some points

Versus these two being pressed up against each other for like 95% of the video. And even when they weren't pressed up against each other they were still touching

And it just reminded me of their press conference at the start of the WWAT

I tried to find gifs, but the tab crashed on me cause I was scrolling through my 2014 tag, but there's definitely a video on YouTube somewhere and they definitely spent minutes with their arms pressed against each other. They were just really comfy with each other's energy like that. And I agree that it's not the norm in every friendship to feel comfortable to always be pressed against someone. It takes me to other moments like Louis being tucked under Liam's arm while Liam talks during an OTRA speech and doing his darndest to stay under Liam's arm as Liam drifts across the stage.

Their friendship truly was the stuff of legends. And their affinity to physical contact with each other warms my heart as well 💖

[ostensiblynone]

Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell will appear on Channel 4 show Gogglebox on 17th October 2014. The pair, who have been friends since the early 90s, will also be joined by Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher, making the episode a real Brit-pop special.

source: [marieclaire uk]

[enwoso]

https://www.tumblr.com/enwoso/771388779393122304/so-its-like-less-than-12-hours-till-the-end-of?source=share

SOMEONE SAID THE LIONESSES GOGGLEBOX IS TOMORROW!!!!

OMG!

i can’t wait! this is the best news i’ve heard all year!

[gabbysthoughts4thots]

oml these videos keep coming up and i get so sad if he leaves imma cry for like days like him and balde ik they will always be friends and we will still see them tog but it won't be the same

https://www.tumblr.com/archivingbarca/778276069021253632/alejandrobalde-ig-170325?source=share

Ffs why u doing this to me im tryna watch gogglebox🤧

[incorrectendeavourquotes]

Strange, discussing a case: You know how some people leave a trail of breadcrumbs?

Strange: This bloke’s just leaving whole loaves of bread.

[seriouslyimagine]

i rly want to see dan and phil on gbbo but also i think they would be funny on gogglebox! i was wondering recently if they ever got asked to go on shows like gbbo/strictly back in the day

oooo they would’ve been so good on gogglebox!im pretty sure they were asked to do these sorts of things Back in the Day. i remember dan mentioning i’m a celeb in a livestream in like 2015/16, and drag race and maybe strictly at some point??? I have no sources for any of those, so i could’ve imagined them lol.

also they defo mentioned going on the dog house (love that show), but it was before ii so they couldn’t commit to a dog :(

[alpha-mag-media]

Gogglebox star overcome with emotion remembering brother’s terrifying health ordeal | December 22, 2023 at 06:08AM

Gogglebox star overcome with emotion remembering brother’s terrifying health ordeal Read More … Check full articles at Source: ALPHA MAG

[incorrect-malfoys]

Bellatrix, to Rodolphus: You were SO smashed for the first few years of our relationship

[incorrect-aotquotes]

S4 Eren: ~exists~

Mikasa: Ooh, we like a bad boy don't we

Armin: Yeah, but not fucking terrorists, Mikasa

[incorrectstation19quotes]

Jack: I've been messaging the help centre on ASOS for four months.

Jack: So, am I in a relationship?