Call it a tale of two toycos. Both Hasbro and chief rival Mattel reported Q1 stats today, but the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based toy titan came out on top this time, marking a substantial 13% increase in net revenues over last year’s numbers for the same period.

The company reported net revenues of US$704.2 million, an increase of US$78.9 million compared to US$625.3 million a year ago.

President and CEO Alfred J. Verrecchia credits the continued success of 2007 hits Transformers, Littlest Pet Shop, Playskool, Star Wars, Baby Alive and My Little Pony for driving sales growth.

Affecting the bottom line too was a US$156 million payment to repurchase 6.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of US$25.63 per share.

Net revenues for the US and Canada segment for the quarter were US$428.5 million, an increase of 6% compared to US$406.1 million in 2007. However, the same segment reported an operating profit of US$37.3 million, down from US$45.8 million last year. The decrease was due to investments made in Wizards of the Coast’s new digital initiative and the Cranium acquisition.

On the international side, revs were up a sizeable 22% for the quarter to US$248.3 million.