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73-420: In 2016, Mega Brands' Bloks was second in worldwide sales (11%) of toy construction building sets. In 1967, Victor Bertrand and his wife Rita founded the company as Ritvik Holdings (RH). Ritvik is a portmanteau word based on a combination of Rit a and Vic tor. RH began by distributing toys made outside Canada and also facilitated contracts between foreign brands and Canadian manufacturers. Ritvik later became

146-612: A ¥ 9 billion loss from Bandai the same month, attributed to declining game sales and the poor reception of the Apple Pippin console. Bandai felt Sega was an appropriate company to merge with, as it possessed an American management model and several international offices, in addition to owning several successful franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog . Opposition arose within Bandai's employees and midlevel executives, as neither felt

219-442: A " stish " or a " starsh ", it would be a blend. Furthermore, when blends are formed by shortening established compounds or phrases, they can be considered clipped compounds , such as romcom for romantic comedy . Blends of two or more words may be classified from each of three viewpoints: morphotactic, morphonological, and morphosemantic. Blends may be classified morphotactically into two kinds: total and partial . In

292-403: A Dragon series was released in 2003. Mega Play!, a block set large enough for children to fit inside, was also launched. With shares trading at almost $ 30, in 2005 Mega Bloks, Inc. acquired Rose Art Industries , including its Magnetix line of toys, for US$ 350 million. Soon, Magnetix was a source of lawsuits resulting from choking incidents, causing its share value to drop quickly. Magnetix

365-535: A form suitable for carrying on horseback; (now esp.) one in the form of a stiff leather case hinged at the back to open into two equal parts". According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ( AHD ), the etymology of the word is the French porte-manteau , from porter , "to carry", and manteau , "cloak" (from Old French mantel , from Latin mantellum ). According to

438-427: A kind of bath), the attributive blends of English are mostly head-final and mostly endocentric . As an example of an exocentric attributive blend, Fruitopia may metaphorically take the buyer to a fruity utopia (and not a utopian fruit); however, it is not a utopia but a drink. Coordinate blends (also called associative or portmanteau blends) combine two words having equal status, and have two heads. Thus brunch

511-513: A likelihood of confusion between its Micro Mega Bloks and the Lego line. Since Lego's brick shape patent had expired, the lawsuit dragged on for years as sales grew worldwide (at an average 70% a year until the mid-1990s), but finally Ritvik won the case by clearly distinguishing its brand from Lego. Suits were filed in Europe and the U.S. with similar results. In 1996, a 28% share of Ritvik was sold to

584-420: A line of build-it-yourself toy rolling ball "roller coasters" was introduced by Bandai in the 1980s. In May 1980, Makoto Yamashina, son of the founder, became president of Bandai. Naoharu Yamashina became chairman of the board. Upon his arrival, Makoto Yamashina completely changed the ageing staff of Bandai and replaced them with younger employees with the intent of not only bringing new ideas, but also revisiting

657-403: A mutual agreement to not renew their Power Rangers master toy license, effective Spring 2019, after which competing toy company Hasbro will inherit the license. This transition will not affect Bandai Japan's Super Sentai (the series from which Power Rangers takes footage) master toy license with Toei . A sister company, Bandai Spirits , was established on 15 February 2018. On 1 April 2018,

730-645: A price advantage. At 1984 trade shows, Ritvik showed the Mega Bloks line in the US and Canada. An immediate hit, Mega Bloks had generally large sales in Canada, including a $ 1 million sale to Toys R Us , and were available almost anywhere in the two markets in 1985. Several multinational companies had made offers just after the trade show for distribution rights, as well as to buy either Mega Bloks or RH itself. By 1989, Mega Bloks were in 30 countries and popular in Europe,

803-599: A purple logo. Some products from prior years have been sold with either branding. Mega Bloks were featured in a commercial for the Honda Element , in which bricks fell from the sky to assemble the full-sized vehicle. The commercial clearly identifies the bricks as Mega Bloks in the opening moments of the sequence. Mega Brands currently has the licensing rights for Thomas the Tank Engine , video game franchises Call of Duty and Halo , Barbie , Masters of

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876-609: A remote control electronic kit named the Mega Bloks RO Action Builder. Ritvik also added TV advertising that year with a $ 2 million campaign; the company spent $ 30 million on advertising, marketing, and research and development in 2002. With sales having approximately doubled since 1999, Ritvik went public via an initial public offering in May 2002 on the Toronto Stock Exchange under

949-486: A total blend, each of the words creating the blend is reduced to a mere splinter. Some linguists limit blends to these (perhaps with additional conditions): for example, Ingo Plag considers "proper blends" to be total blends that semantically are coordinate, the remainder being "shortened compounds". Commonly for English blends, the beginning of one word is followed by the end of another: Much less commonly in English,

1022-469: A trademark awarded to Lego in 1999. On September 14, 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the 8-peg design of the original Lego brick "merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark". Portmanteau In linguistics , a blend —also known as a blend word , lexical blend , or portmanteau —is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of

1095-483: A vertically integrated company as it expanded by adding plastic injection molding operations, design operations, tooling manufacturers, and marketing services. The company had a leading share of the Canadian plastic injection molded toy market by the early 1980s. Wanting to expand beyond Canada, Victor Bertrand took an interest in construction block sets. He saw room for growth despite them being an industry staple since

1168-472: A wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel as of April 20, 2014. Prior to the purchase, Mega and Mattel were partners in adding Mattel brands to Mega "Worlds" plus a line for Mattel's American Girl that competes with Lego's Friends line. Three years later, on February 10, 2017, Mattel announced that it was introducing Mega Construx , a new sub-brand of construction sets designed for children four and up as well as adult collectors. Construx's first license property line

1241-546: Is frankenword , an autological word exemplifying the phenomenon it describes, blending " Frankenstein " and "word". Bandai Bandai Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo . Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California , and Richmond, London . Since 2005, Bandai

1314-477: Is a Japanese blend that has entered the English language. The Vietnamese language also encourages blend words formed from Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary . For example, the term Việt Cộng is derived from the first syllables of "Việt Nam" (Vietnam) and "Cộng sản" (communist). Many corporate brand names , trademarks, and initiatives, as well as names of corporations and organizations themselves, are blends. For example, Wiktionary , one of Misplaced Pages 's sister projects,

1387-496: Is a blend of wiki and dictionary . The word portmanteau was introduced in this sense by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of unusual words used in " Jabberwocky ". Slithy means "slimy and lithe" and mimsy means "miserable and flimsy". Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the practice of combining words in various ways, comparing it to

1460-854: Is among the largest and most profitable toy companies worldwide, alongside Hasbro and Mattel . The company focuses on creating unique and innovative products for its consumers, and to bend established conventions within the industry; its slogan, "Break out of the box" was made in reference to this. Bandai Spirits Co., Ltd. produces figurines and plastic models targeted towards older demographics, utilizing popular licenses such as Mobile Suit Gundam , One Piece , Pokémon , Kirby , Disney , Star Wars , Hatsune Miku , Dragon Ball , Demon Slayer , Kamen Rider , Super Sentai , Ultraman , and My Hero Academia . Bandai produces confectioneries, board games, and capsule toys through its subsidiary MegaHouse Corporation, which also releases toys and figurines under its MegaToy label. MegaHouse also holds

1533-440: Is both phonological and orthographic, but with no other shortening: The overlap may be both phonological and orthographic, and with some additional shortening to at least one of the ingredients: Such an overlap may be discontinuous: These are also termed imperfect blends. It can occur with three components: The phonological overlap need not also be orthographic: If the phonological but non-orthographic overlap encompasses

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1606-699: Is neither a breakfasty lunch nor a lunchtime breakfast but instead some hybrid of breakfast and lunch; Oxbridge is equally Oxford and Cambridge universities. This too parallels (conventional, non-blend) compounds: an actor–director is equally an actor and a director. Two kinds of coordinate blends are particularly conspicuous: those that combine (near‑) synonyms: and those that combine (near‑) opposites: Blending can also apply to roots rather than words, for instance in Israeli Hebrew : "There are two possible etymological analyses for Israeli Hebrew כספר kaspár 'bank clerk, teller'. The first

1679-495: Is now under the management and a member of Bandai Namco Holdings (Bandai Namco Group). Following a group reorganisation in 2006, Bandai heads the group's Toys and Hobby strategic business unit (SBU). Bandai Entertainment announced it would cease its distribution operations in January 2012. Beez Entertainment is no longer releasing new anime in Europe. In February 2018, Saban Brands and Bandai's US division jointly announced

1752-433: Is represented by various shorter substitutes – ‑otel ... – which I shall call splinters. Words containing splinters I shall call blends". Thus, at least one of the parts of a blend, strictly speaking, is not a complete morpheme , but instead a mere splinter or leftover word fragment. For instance, starfish is a compound, not a blend, of star and fish , as it includes both words in full. However, if it were called

1825-405: Is that it consists of (Hebrew>) Israeli כסף késef 'money' and the ( International /Hebrew>) Israeli agentive suffix ר- -ár . The second is that it is a quasi- portmanteau word which blends כסף késef 'money' and (Hebrew>) Israeli ספר √spr 'count'. Israeli Hebrew כספר kaspár started as a brand name but soon entered the common language. Even if the second analysis is the correct one,

1898-487: Is the toy production division of Bandai Namco Holdings , currently the world's second largest toy company measured by total revenue. Between 1981 and 2001, Bandai was a manufacturer of video game consoles . Bandai was founded by World War II veteran Naoharu Yamashina as Bandai-Ya on July 5, 1950, as the corporate spin-off of a textile wholesaler. The company began as a distributor of metallic toys and rubber swimming rings, before moving to metal cars and aircraft models. It

1971-667: Is universally accepted as the rarest licensed NES game released in North America. A shrink-wrapped copy of the game sold for $ 41,270 on eBay in February 2010. The sister game to Stadium Events , called Athletic World was initially released with a label that indicated compatibility with the Family Fun Fitness mat, but was later re-released with an updated label that mentions the Power Pad instead. Stadium Events

2044-514: The Blackstone Group . Rita Bertrand and her daughter Chantal retired that year, while Marc and Victor Bertrand Jr. were active in management. Two international subsidiaries were formed, Mega Bloks Latinoamerica S.A. de C.V. in 1997 and Mega Bloks Europe N.V. in 1998. International sales in the 1990s were at 30%, with 70% from Canada and the US; all but 10% were from four major chains: Toys 'R Us, Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Ritvik followed

2117-533: The OED Online , the etymology of the word is the "officer who carries the mantle of a person in a high position (1507 in Middle French), case or bag for carrying clothing (1547), clothes rack (1640)". In modern French, a porte-manteau is a clothes valet , a coat-tree or similar article of furniture for hanging up jackets, hats, umbrellas and the like. An occasional synonym for "portmanteau word"

2190-642: The Weekly Toy News in Tokyo, Bandai-ya distributed and imported celluloid dolls, metallic toys, and rubber swimming rings. The company released its first original product the same year, the Rhythm Ball, a beach ball with a bell inside that suffered from numerous quality defects. Bandai-ya improved the quality of its products as it continued designing new kinds of toys, such as inexpensive metal cars and aircraft models. Several of these were exported to

2263-454: The 1968 New York International Innovative productions Exhibition. An additional manufacturing plant was acquired in late 1969 to further increase the production of toys. Bandai continued its expansion throughout the 1970s. The company established a joint venture with model car manufacturer Tonka in 1970 and established Tonka Japan K.K., as part of Bandai's continuing mission in establishing ties with foreign companies. A subsidiary named Popy

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2336-622: The Magnetix recall. Rose Art's base operation was shut down in New Jersey, and in 2010 the company moved its stationery and activities division, with some key employees, to Irvine, California, under new executive Thomas Prichard, a former executive at Crayola , Pixar , and Hasbro . The subsidiary was not sold, and was reintegrated into Mega operations by 2012. On February 28, 2014, it was announced that Mattel, Inc. would acquire Mega Brands Inc. for approximately US$ 450 million. It became

2409-546: The Monster Machines , and Shimmer and Shine . They have even recently picked the license for Alien as well. Mega Brands has won 14 cases launched by competitor Lego regarding its Mega Bloks. The Lego Group has filed lawsuits against Mega Bloks, Inc. in courts around the world on the grounds that Mega Bloks' use of the "studs and tubes" interlocking brick system is a violation of trademarks held by Lego. Generally such lawsuits have been unsuccessful, chiefly because

2482-565: The NES. Shortly after its release, Nintendo purchased the rights to the FFF mat in North America, replacing it with their own redesign, the Power Pad . In order to maintain branding continuity, Stadium Events was pulled from shelves after a short period of availability at Woolworth's stores. Because the game was pulled from shelves and discontinued before many copies were sold, Bandai's Stadium Events

2555-445: The US and Canada. Up to 30 play sets were available. A piano set with Mega Blok-compatible keys for the pre-school market was released in 1988. In 1989, Ritvik sold all of its other toy and plastics lines. A Mega Bloks "Micro" line was released in 1991; these were compatible with or a clone of Lego bricks. This finally placed Ritvik and The Lego Group in direct competition. Lego Canada soon sued Ritvik for unfair competition, claiming

2628-550: The United Kingdom (Bandai UK), Indonesia (Bandai Namco Indonesia), France, Spain, Taiwan, and mainland China. In the past, it owned offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, and East Asia, which acted as distributors for Bandai products in their respective countries. Bandai is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings and heads its parent's Toy and Hobby Content Strategic Business Unit (CSBU). Bandai

2701-489: The United States and elsewhere as a result of their popularity, being among the earliest "Made In Japan" products exported outside the country. As its revenue increased, Bandai-ya began expanding its operations. A new shipping and warehouse facility was constructed in spring 1953, followed by research and development (R&D) and product inspection departments later that year. A manufacturing facility, Waraku Works,

2774-607: The Universe , Hot Wheels , Power Rangers , American Girl , Monster High , Pokémon , Destiny , and used to have the rights for the Despicable Me franchise . Mega Brands picked up the license for Nickelodeon franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after Lego discontinued carrying their version of the licensed sets. They also have the rights to produce sets based on Nick Jr. Channel properties like Paw Patrol , Blaze and

2847-502: The beginning of one word may be followed by the beginning of another: Some linguists do not regard beginning+beginning concatenations as blends, instead calling them complex clippings, clipping compounds or clipped compounds . Unusually in English, the end of one word may be followed by the end of another: A splinter of one word may replace part of another, as in three coined by Lewis Carroll in " Jabberwocky ": They are sometimes termed intercalative blends; these words are among

2920-512: The company had seen a run of 17 years of growth, becoming number two in the construction toy segment behind Lego. In 2003, the company formed a joint venture with the Japanese toy company Bandai for Asia. Bandai marketed Mega Blok sets with their existing licensed Japanese cartoon characters. With the success of movies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ,

2993-616: The company refinanced. Shares were consolidated 1-for-20, with Fairfax Financial becoming a major partner in the recapitalization. Rose Art was placed on the market in March 2008 as a result of inquiries from the previous owners and others. The former owners of Rose Art, Jeffrey and Lawrence Rosen, offered to purchase it back in April 2008. They then sued company management for insider trading in September 2008, alleging shares were sold prior to

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3066-403: The company transitioned from working on original products to funding the creation of new television series and acting as a sponsor during their run, with advertisements that showed off Bandai's tie-in action figures and costumes. A similar blockbuster hit was found with action figures in the likenesses of Ultraman characters, largely due to the popularity of the television series at the time;

3139-526: The company's family-friendly work ethic meshed well with Sega's top-down corporate culture. As a result, Bandai called off the merge in May before its finalization in October. President Makoto Yamashina took responsibility for its failure, publicly apologizing and resigning his position within the company. Bandai instead agreed to a business alliance with Sega. After its merger with game developer and amusement facility operator Namco in 2005, Bandai Company

3212-434: The creation of several subsidiaries; Tonka Japan in 1970 following a joint venture with Tonka , Bandai Models being established in 1971, and finally Popy , who specialized in the manufacturing of toy characters. Although not their most profitable range, Bandai's 1/48 scale AFV models dominated that segment of the model kit market. Bandai America Inc. was established as local US sales/marketing operation in 1978. Spacewarp ,

3285-445: The division of Bandai that dealt with products for adult customers (including figures and plastic models) as well as Banpresto 's prizes business were transferred over to Bandai Spirits. (incomplete list) Bandai has developed kits of the following Star Wars vehicles and figures: Bandai's headquarters is in Taitō, Tokyo , Japan . The company owns offices in the United States (Bandai America), Mexico (Bandai Corporación Mexico),

3358-605: The early 1990s, Bandai published games for Nintendo in the United Kingdom , including Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . In January 1997, Bandai announced it would merge its operations with Japanese video game developer Sega . The merger, a $ 1 billion stock swap where Sega would acquire Bandai and dissolve the company, would have established a new entertainment conglomerate named Sega Bandai Ltd. with an estimated $ 6 billion in revenue. The announcement followed

3431-546: The early years of the 20th century when the Batima Block was released in Belgium in 1905. With Lego being the leading construction toy, Bertrand chose to make a similar set. Bertrand ignored friends and advisors, feeling he had two advantages in launching Mega Bloks: he aimed to produce jumbo-sized bricks for toddlers, who Lego bricks were not designed for, and he considered his expertise in injection molding would give him

3504-461: The field, the two worked long hours to establish a small toy distribution division within the textile business. Yamashina assumed full control of the toy division on July 5, 1950, when it was spun-off as a separate company named Bandai-ya in Taitō, Tokyo . The name was derived from Japanese reading of Chinese phrase "bandai fueki" ( 万代不易 ), meaning "eternally unchanging" or "things that are eternal." Being assisted by Atsuko Tatsumi, publisher of

3577-595: The figures were later released in North America to little fanfare. In July 1966, it released Crazy Foam, a line of bubble blowing canisters that sold 2.4 million units in three months, thanks to the backing of an extensive marketing campaign. Bandai's other products included the Thunderbird electrical vehicles, the Water Motor bath toys, and the Naughty Flipper, the last of which received a gold medal at

3650-599: The final syllable ר- -ár apparently facilitated nativization since it was regarded as the Hebrew suffix ר- -år (probably of Persian pedigree), which usually refers to craftsmen and professionals, for instance as in Mendele Mocher Sforim 's coinage סמרטוטר smartutár 'rag-dealer'." Blending may occur with an error in lexical selection , the process by which a speaker uses his semantic knowledge to choose words. Lewis Carroll's explanation, which gave rise to

3723-721: The first third-party developers for the Nintendo Family Computer in 1985. Among its first titles was Tag Team Match: MUSCLE , a video game adaptation of the Kinnikuman manga, which sold over one million copies. Bandai also produced the Family Trainer Pad, released outside Japan as the Power Pad , which also performed well commercially. A series of games was released both in the US and in Japan, including Athletic World and Stadium Events for

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3796-592: The functional design of the basic brick is considered a matter of patent rather than trademark law, and all relevant Lego patents have expired. On November 17, 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Mega Bloks' right to continue selling the product in Canada. A similar decision was reached by the European Union 's Court of First Instance on November 12, 2008, when it upheld an EU trademark agency decision following an objection by Mega Bloks against

3869-461: The gradual drifting together of words over time due to them commonly appearing together in sequence, such as do not naturally becoming don't (phonologically, / d uː n ɒ t / becoming / d oʊ n t / ). A blend also differs from a compound , which fully preserves the stems of the original words. The British lecturer Valerie Adams's 1973 Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation explains that "In words such as motel ..., hotel

3942-403: The ingredients is the head and the other is attributive. A porta-light is a portable light, not a 'light-emitting' or light portability; light is the head. A snobject is a snobbery-satisfying object and not an objective or other kind of snob; object is the head. As is also true for (conventional, non-blend) attributive compounds (among which bathroom , for example, is a kind of room, not

4015-442: The late 1990s licensing trend in 1998, with its first licensing agreement being for Teletubbies , followed by an agreement with Fisher-Price with its Sesame Street characters license. A NASCAR line was also introduced. Ritvik Toys, Inc. was amalgamated with Ritvik Holdings Inc. on June 30, 1998. Lego, K'Nex and Ritvik added features to their lines in 2000. Ritvik made transformable building sets that changed into vehicles, and

4088-439: The morphemes or phonemes stay in the same position within the syllable. Some languages, like Japanese , encourage the shortening and merging of borrowed foreign words (as in gairaigo ), because they are long or difficult to pronounce in the target language. For example, karaoke , a combination of the Japanese word kara (meaning empty ) and the clipped form oke of the English loanword "orchestra" (J. ōkesutora , オーケストラ ),

4161-426: The new name of Mega Bloks Inc. The company traded at $ 14.50 a share. The founders' sons, Victor Bertrand Jr. and Marc Bertrand, became chief operating officer and chief operating officer/president, respectively, while Victor Sr. remained chairman of the board. The toy market was in a down cycle from 2002 to 2003, with the construction toy segment losing 10 to 15%, but Mega Bloks experienced increased sales. Since 1986,

4234-495: The original "portmanteaus" for which this meaning of the word was created. In a partial blend, one entire word is concatenated with a splinter from another. Some linguists do not recognize these as blends. An entire word may be followed by a splinter: A splinter may be followed by an entire word: An entire word may replace part of another: These have also been called sandwich words, and classed among intercalative blends. (When two words are combined in their entirety,

4307-453: The result is considered a compound word rather than a blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a blend, of bag and pipe. ) Morphologically, blends fall into two kinds: overlapping and non-overlapping . Overlapping blends are those for which the ingredients' consonants, vowels or even syllables overlap to some extent. The overlap can be of different kinds. These are also called haplologic blends. There may be an overlap that

4380-399: The sounds, of two or more words together. English examples include smog , coined by blending smoke and fog , as well as motel , from motor ( motorist ) and hotel . A blend is similar to a contraction . On the one hand, mainstream blends tend to be formed at a particular historical moment followed by a rapid rise in popularity. Contractions, on the other hand, are formed by

4453-454: The strategy of the group. The new president took a different commercial approach by selling directly to retailers rather than going through intermediates. In July 1980, Bandai launched the 'Gundam Plastic Model' based on the animated series Mobile Suit Gundam which gave birth to the Gunpla range of scale model kits. In November, the subsidiary Celent was created. Bandai became one of

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4526-484: The then-common type of luggage , which opens into two equal parts: You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word. In his introduction to his 1876 poem The Hunting of the Snark , Carroll again uses portmanteau when discussing lexical selection: Humpty Dumpty's theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take

4599-462: The two words "fuming" and "furious". Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first … if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say "frumious". In then-contemporary English, a portmanteau was a suitcase that opened into two equal sections. According to the OED Online , a portmanteau is a "case or bag for carrying clothing and other belongings when travelling; (originally) one of

4672-406: The use of 'portmanteau' for such combinations, was: Humpty Dumpty's theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words "fuming" and "furious." Make up your mind that you will say both words ... you will say "frumious." The errors are based on similarity of meanings, rather than phonological similarities, and

4745-542: The whole of the shorter ingredient, as in then the effect depends on orthography alone. (They are also called orthographic blends. ) An orthographic overlap need not also be phonological: For some linguists, an overlap is a condition for a blend. Non-overlapping blends (also called substitution blends) have no overlap, whether phonological or orthographic: Morphosemantically, blends fall into two kinds: attributive and coordinate . Attributive blends (also called syntactic or telescope blends) are those in which one of

4818-580: Was Pokémon , launched in mid-2017. In March 2021, LaRose Industries, the company founded by Lawrence Rosen in 2008, announced it purchased the RoseArt brand from Mattel. The purchase reunites the RoseArt brand with the Rosen family. Mega Construx micro figures do not follow the iconic Lego modular mini figures: instead their figures allow up to 16 articulation points, i.e. poses and customization. In 2022, many lines of Mega Construx were rebranded to MEGA with

4891-413: Was formed a year later that specialized in the manufacturing of toys based on popular children's characters. Though Bandai became a major player in the Japanese toy industry, competing with companies such as Takara and Epoch , executives believed the company needed to further spread out into international territories to help increase worldwide brand awareness. Bandai continued to expand in the 1970s with

4964-690: Was not released by name again, but instead was slightly modified and relaunched as the Power Pad pack-in game, World Class Track Meet . Since the 1980s, Bandai has become the leading toy company of Japan, and to this day, has the main toy licenses in Japan to popular properties including Daikaiju , Ultraman , Super Robot , Kamen Rider , the Super Sentai and Power Rangers series (which it took part in creating), Gundam , and many others. In February 1989, it acquired arcade game developer Coreland and reorganized it into Banpresto , which became Bandai's coin-operated entertainment division. In

5037-463: Was opened in early 1955 to increase the production of toys. In the same year, it implemented the toy industry's first quality assurance system; the first toy approved by this was the 1956 Toyopet Crown model car, which was also Bandai-ya's first product with a guarantee. The growing company worked on creating a friendly corporate image for itself, introducing a new logo, slogan, and television commercials that emphasized its quality products. Bandai-ya

5110-513: Was renamed Bandai Co., Ltd. in 1961 and achieved considerable success with its action figures based on the anime Astro Boy . In 1947, Naoharu Yamashina began working for a Kanazawa -based textile wholesaler. The eldest son to a rice retailer, Yamashina had studied business in high school and was enlisted in World War II , where an impact from a grenade shrapnel blinded him in his right eye. The textile business, ran by his wife's brother,

5183-552: Was renamed Bandai in July 1961, the same time it started spreading its operations overseas, beginning with the establishment of Bandai Overseas Supply in New York City. While its toys often sold well in Japan, Bandai didn't achieve considerable success until 1963, when it began producing action figures based on the anime Astro Boy . The toy line's success prompted Bandai to reorganize and rethink its business strategies, as

5256-466: Was struggling financially as a result of Japan's post-war economy. He made little money working, and as he was having a difficult time finding ways to allow the business to pick up, a neighbor told him about the potential of the toy industry and the financial success that could be generated from it. Intrigued, Yamashina convinced his wife to travel to Tokyo with him to begin studying the potentially lucrative market for toys. With little money or exposure in

5329-599: Was then recalled. The company acquired Board Dudes, Inc., makers of Board Dudes posting and marking boards and Locker Dudes locker products, in January 2006, through its Rose Art Industries subsidiary. On June 15, 2006, following the acquisition of several brand names not associated with construction brick toys, the company again changed its name, this time from Mega Bloks Inc. to Mega Brands Inc. with Rose Art Industries, Inc. being renamed Mega Brands America, Inc. After 23 consecutive years of growing sales and profit, Mega lost $ 458 million in 2008. Heading towards bankruptcy ,

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