Since much of continental Europe did not receive parts or any of G1 prior to 1986, the low-cost, Spanish-language IGA toys offered a great way to obtain popular early characters that were no longer regularly available. To make matters worse, a large quantity of IGA-produced toys turned up at retailers all over Europe around 1989, the result of a potential grey-market import deal. The only known exception to the Diaclone and Microchange tooling origins is the IGA Metroplex, produced with sparkling maroon weapons in place of the rust-red. Some tooling seems to date even further along, such as the Mexican Megatron being stamped “Made in France”, where that figure was not produced until 1987. The tooling used tends to best comply with later, post-rubsign variants, if not a variation on 1986 Hasbro tooling (for example, Mexican Cliffjumper has date stamping on both feet- a feature that would only appear on 1986 production Bumblebee and Hubcap toys). However, it is well established that the only offerings were based in Takara-designed molds of Diaclone or Microchange origin. Because new samples of previously unknown figures and variants surface from time to time, piecing together a comprehensive list of figures sold between 19 or -7 is difficult. The story of IGA’s production order and tooling is spotty at best. Their rarity, especially in color schemes not sold abroad, make many of these figures prized in the modern collector market. However, many IGA Transformers are considerably different than their global counterparts, often by color replacement, and use of non-retooled molds for characters that were retools in other countries. The IGA Transformers were often noted for their lower-quality plastics, blotted-out copyright stamps, and lack of factory-applied stickers seen in other markets. IGA obtained a license for Mexican production from Hasbro in 1985 and produced a large segment of the Takara-based US lineup to that point, including most or all of the Autobot Cars, Decepticon Jets, and Mini-Vehicles in some form. The most diverse offering of G1 Transformers in Latin America was presented in Mexico by Plasticos IGA, S.A. Movie - Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) (222).
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