A Big Reveal (Reprise 3) - UPDATED!

Normally it irritates the hell out of me when I finish an article topic, thinking it's definitive, only to discover something else or to have it brought to my attention. It happens a lot, there are always surprises, so why should I be surprised? I'm not, I'm also not irritated this time because I seriously love these KO Spanish minibots by Gisima, and while I haven't found a new variant (well...), there is something new to add to the "Big Reveal". What you see above are all the minis already featured in the Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Finale, Reprise and Reprise 2, as well as an original Gisima store display slightly different to that featured in the previous chapters.

Previously seen complete Gisima store display

What's interesting here is that the display has obviously been carefully cut, seen from the side the styro tells the story of that amputation. The display shown before had three columns of six with individual styro slots for each minibot case. Now while this display could be the same dimensions (also see the Gisima sticker has been sliced, losing "Windcharger" and the "Transformer" label), it has styro slots for two minibots. If anything, I reckon this whole display could have had at least four columns of minibots, what a sight that would have been!

Crack on the back

Even if it is disfigured, and even if it is just a styrofoam shelf with a badly applied sticker on it that make a mockery of intellectual property, this is the *only* way to display these figures, especially with the orange base they have in their 'packaging' providing a lovely contrast from the all white shelves.

Never seen any in these colours

Gisima known mainly for miniature die cast vehicles

In addition to being sold in styrofoam store-front displays with varying configurations like the above, the Gisima minis were also sold on cards with stationary, or carded batches of three in various locations. They were all at some point purchased in Spain though, even if I have turned them up in France, Italy, the UK and Finland. Spain and its islands are not exactly unpopular holiday destinations.

Another recent find turned up a different store display made of the same styro, but with individual slots for the minibots:

The seller actually shipped these minis to me IN the store display. The display he'd cut up to use as padding for shipping. I hadn't thought to ask. Do I need to add a "Have you got the store display?" to every purchase I make these days? Damn. Anyway, there's no telling how big this display was originally, I guess it was probably similar to the one pictured above with individual styro spaces.

There was one great thing that came out of the above lot, apart from the price stickers on the minibot cases. One of the minibots, the black Windcharger KO, had a sticker right in the middle of the roof that I hadn't seen on any other black Windcharger so far, or any of the Windcharger colour variants. They all tend to have the same factory stickers per mould, some upside down, but never this. The sticker itself describes precisely how I find this whole corner of the Transformers universe...

Fantastico.

UPDATE!

Thanks so much to Joaquin Moreno for providing the following excellent background information on that sticker:

"The 'Fantastico' sticker on the black Windcharger is very funny and a true gem from the world of fictional crossovers. As you know, Windcharger's alt mode is a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. This is the same car, in black colour, as K.I.T.T., from the TV series 'Knight Rider', starring the illustrious David Hasselhoff, no less. Well, in Spain this series was entitled precisely 'El Coche Fantastico'. Since the Gisima minibots (I remember having "Seaspray" as a child) are a bit later than the original ones, and their release should coincide with the Spanish airing of Knight Rider, obviously the maker thought that the 'Fantastico' sticker would take advantage of K.I.T.T.'s popularity, and it would boost the toy sales. So this one is a DOUBLY unofficial product".

All the best
Maz