Gormiti are kinda like Battle Beasts from the mid '80s. They have been a huge craze in Italy for about 5 years. They were official launched in the USA in January 2009 by Playmates Toys. However there were two distinct test markets conducted in 2008. On was by Playmates who won the license. The second was by Upper Deck in the San Diego area. Upper Deck did not end up as the USA distributor. Although Playmates actually made new packaging for the USA test market that was different from the mass release, Upper Deck simply rebranded the UK packs packaged by Flair. To this end they simply placed a sticker in the upper left hand corner denoting Upper Deck. The four packs of figures each came with 1 Lord figure, and 2 visible figures, and a 4th obscured secret figure. This method was also used in the Playmates test market. However the obscured figures were dropped from the mass release, and the four packs no were only in 10 styles, unlike the 24 styles with repeats that the blind package version had. The blind package version was intended to get kids interested in trading figures to complete a set. Also of note 2 characters that were scheduled for the 1st series mass release but were left out, were featured in the blind packs. I managed to acquire 23 of the 24 variations, and tonight I bought the final 24th pack. I look forward to receiving it and hope to god it matches the picture and has the Upper Deck sticker.
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