transformers

Things are getting serious in the world of toys as the holiday shopping season approaches. It's a close contest this year between industry giants Mattel and Hasbro -- like battling Transformers -- but the latest entry in the latter's line of interactive Elmo toys should put it over the top.

Cars 2 doesn't open until June 24, but its toy line is already revving up the summer movie-toy season. Sales of Cars 2 merchandise will surpass Disney's entire Toy Story franchise within 12 months, predicted Jim Silver, editor in chief of TimetoPlaymag.com.

Reading and collecting comic books can get expensive: These days, comics run between $3 and $5, which adds up after umpteen issues of Iron Man and the Fantastic Four. As a poor college student, it's difficult to justify buying or reading comic books when you have to pay for, say, textbooks. But...

Hasbro (HAS) reported Monday morning its second-quarter profit climbed 11% to $43.6 million, or 29 cents a share, from $39.3 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago. This despite a 7% fall in revenue to $737.8 million from $792.2 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of 24 cents per share on...

Viacom demonstrated the power of cost-cutting Thursday when it reported fourth-quarter and year-end earnings. Despite a continuing swoon in ad revenues and disappointing video game sales, it posted a fourth-quarter profit of $694 million, more than quadruple what it earned the year before.

The comic book industry may not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but it has withstood the worst economic decline since the Great Depression fairly well. According to industry estimates, sales to specialty retailers rose 1% to $324.66 million between January and September. Experts say...

Kids' shoe maker Buster Brown is recalling 1.4 million pairs of car-shaped water clogs because their decorative wheels can fall off and pose a choking hazard to young children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.The Chinese-made clogs were sold at major retailers nationwide from...

Everyone knows it's been a cruel summer for General Motors. What gets less press is the lone bright spot in the company's current situation: the new Chevrolet Camaro. The muscle car stars in the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (out today), and it's also a hero in real life -- for while its...

With the 2007 release of Michael Bay's Transformers movie, it's easy to forget that the toys have been with us for over 20 years. An adaptation of Japan's Microman and Diaclone lines, the Transformers offered something truly unique: toys that could, with a few deft moves, morph from one thing to...