Transformers aren't just titans at the box office, they're flying off store shelves, too. Toy giant Hasbro said Monday strong sales of the morphing robots as well as G.I. Joe helped its quarterly profits crush Wall Street expectations. Summer movie tie-in toys have been one bright spot for toymakers during the consumer-spending slowdown. Hasbro has been buoyed in recent years by toys tied to movies, including this summer's hit 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' and the upcoming 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.' 'We couldn't be more pleased with the performance both at the box office and at retail,' said CEO Brian Goldner. 'Retailers around the world recognize that certain brands like Transformers bring to life the entire store for consumers, which translates into premium placement and representation across multiple departments for those brands.' Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder said in a report Monday that he expects the benefit to Hasbro from movie-related toys to continue into 2010, when the company will also have toys tied to the 'Iron Man 2' and 'Toy Story 3' movies. Goldner also said Hasbro sales and profits are likely to climb for the full year. Still, weak international sales due to the stronger dollar, as well as costs related to a joint venture, crimped results in the latest quarter. Another weak spot was games and puzzles. Hasbro owns a multitude of game titles including Scrabble and Monopoly - and sales in that division fell 17%. But the company said that was due to the timing of shipments for promotional programs rolling out over the next few months. Net income grew 28% to $39.3 million, or 26 cents per share, from $37.5 million. Revenues inched up 1% to $792.2 million, falling slightly shore of expectations

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Sure, a lot of fans haven't reacted well to Sienna Miller's American-accented turn as the Baroness, although pretty much everyone agrees she looks pretty darn good. So we have to give credit to Hasbro for this amazing sculpt in their otherwise utterly awful line of 12' 'Rise of Cobra' figures. It's a shame she's stuck as an SDCC exclusive, because we imagine most Joe fans will want to get their hands on this figure. This toy looks so realistic that it wouldn't surprise you much if she leapt off your display shelf, seduced you, and then shot you in the leg for being a lech. Or maybe that's just our fantasy.

6) Ice Viper

Coursing through the snow, icing G.I. Joe, it's Cobra, Cobraaa!!! Most of the Cobra troopers from the film don't look as neat as the original designs, but the Ice Viper is something special. Each one is decked out for cold weather in grey camo and a white parka packed with supplies, and wears a sweet visor. These figures are totally cool, and you can army-build them to your heart's delight -- if you can find them.

For the children of the 1980s who rushed home from school every day to see the G.I. Joe cartoon and stage mega-battles with their action figures, Hasbro must’ve had you in mind when it came up with this product, complete with a DVD of the cartoon and toys.

 

You’ll laugh and cringe at some of the bad dialogue (“vibrating like a $50 milkshake” and “What this doesn’t look like is good” – ouch) and unrealistic elements of the 5-part Pyramid of Darkness mini-series, where the Joes split off into different groups to foil Cobra’s latest nefarious plan. This time around, those snakes plan on controlling the world’s electricity with the Joe team’s space station at the nexus point, where team leader Duke (why wasn’t General Hawk, a founding Joe, in the early seasons of this cartoon?), Scarlett, Dusty, Mutt, and other Joes are located (and eventually captured).

 

Zartan hijacks the station by siccing Fatal Fluffies on the Joes. Really! They’re the cutest little things this side of the Ewoks, but once you blow a whistle, they mutate into mean, tall, horned Chewbacca-like monsters.

 

Meanwhile, Snake-Eyes and Shipwreck, along with their pets (Timber the wolf and Polly the parrot, respectively) split off from the rest of the team and are pursued by Cobra agents. They meet a singer named Satin, who helps them. There’s a funny scene where Satin gets the two up on the stage as part of her kick-line. Then, Snake-Eyes really busts a move by break-dancing. Yes, break-dancing! And the hell of it? He’s good. You can tell this was made in the mid-1980s.

 

Wait! It gets better! From there, he and Shipwreck travel incognito and Snake-Eyes gets the dress. Shipwreck looks like a poor man’s George Michael and Snake-Eyes is a cross between Boy George and Cyndi Lauper (he wears the gaudy clothes over his black head-to-toe combat gear). You don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Polly the parrot gets annoying. The bird saves the duo’s butts a few times, most notably by getting them past the guards by saying, “Cobra Commander! The great snake rules forever!” Polly and Timber also wear sunglasses and dance when their owners put on disguises then fight their way out of a group of Cobra troopers (who, like the Joes, can’t shoot the broadside of the barn, making Storm Troopers look like marksmen).

 

Oddly enough, Snake-Eyes – the most popular character in the G.I. Joe canon – didn’t have much of a role on the cartoon as opposed to the starring role he had in the comic (probably because the writers couldn’t do much with a mute character and the audience was little kids). This is one of his very few times in the spotlight in this cartoon. And instead of fighting Storm Shadow, he break-dances and dresses in drag. You’re surprised that the action figure included of the character doesn’t have him in this get-up. Would’ve been funny if it did. Perhaps a mail-order exclusive?

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Name R4-J1 Toy Line Legacy Collection, Star Wars Number Manufacturer Hasbro Released 2008 Materials ABS, PVC Scale Category Action Figure Series Episode II Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Designer Orig. Price $Build-A-Droid

You get the RJ-41 droid when you combine all the droid parts from the following figures:

• Obi-wan Kenobi
• Clone Scuba Trooper
• IG Lancer Droid
• Clone Trooper

R4-J1 is one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' droids. He appears on screen for a split second on the streets of Mos Espa in Attack of the Clones.

Name Transformers Breakaway Toy Line Transformers Number Manufacturer Hasbro Released 2009 Materials ABS Scale Category Robot Toy Series Transformers Designer Orig. Price $11.99