Hello and welcome to another TFW2005 event coverage! From this very moment, we are officially starting our annual New York Toy Fair coverage. You are joining with us today to read all about the Hasbro New York Toy Fair 2015 Investor Event. This event is hosted by Hasbro to give a Preview of what’s in store at the Toy Fair tomorrow for the Investors and Press. Our News Crew is over there at the Fair Grounds to bring you news and images as they happen. So, stay with us for the best Transformers news coverage from the Toy Fair grounds.
Right, first of all… the highlights:
- Transformers: Combiner Wars New Images And Information Revealed
- Transformers 5
- Allspark Pictures
- Transformers: Robots In Disguise Toyline & Animated Series
- Transformers: Rescue Bots Toyline & Animated Series
- New Hasbro initiative: Transformers360
- Inside look of the Hasbro NY Toy Fair 2015 Transformers Booth
NEW TITAN DEVASTATOR IMAGE!!!
For more details and images… You can read our entire coverage after the jump. Brian Goldner; President and Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro began the event, welcoming everyone to the Toy Fair Hasbro Booth.
Gave an introduction to Hasbro.
Presentation highlights :
- Hasbro : Creating Brand Experience.
- 2015 will improve upon what was already done.
- Revenue increased in 2014.
- Emerging markets grew in 2014.
- Grew across all geographic regions.
- Hoping to grow 25% by 2017.
- Media consumption is expected to grow.
- Power of Story. Creates meaning and power.
- China is expected to become the 2nd largest country for the movie industry.
- Discover Family (previously Hub) will still get programming. Hasbro will be providing the kids programming, but the new agreement with Discovery lets Hasbro also shop around their older kids programming to other networks (Cartoon Network)
- Transformers 5 pre-production has officially started.
- Jem And The Holograms releasing October 2015. Trailer shown to the audience.
- Allspark Pictures logo released. Allspark pictures will be the home of smaller-scale projects – big-budget projects will continue the partnership with major studios.
- Transformers brand has fans from preschoolers to adults.
John Frascotti entered the stage…
Presentation highlights :
- Showed the brand architecture.
- My Little Pony is highlighted this year. The brand grew 47% last year.
- MLP is Hasbro’s new Billion Dollar Brand. It’s clear that Transformers has lost the crown to MLP.
- Transformers next…
- Runs under 3 categories; Recruit (Ages 2 – 4), Engage (Ages 5 -10) and Expand (Ages 10+)
- Combiner Wars will have more than just toys. Will even bring t-shirts to the adults.
- New Rescue Bots toys revealed – High Tide, Salvage and Blurr. The show continues to do well and Hasbro plans to continue to invest in the line.
- Robots in Disguise is being called the new chapter for Transformers. More story, more humor – Hasbro says this one is all about the fun.
- Gave a sneak peek to the audience.
- New initiative “Transformers360”. This project is to make Transformers brand accessible at all times on multiple platforms ranging from Toys to Games.
- Combiner Wars also shown. The idea was to let the core size classes interact, and to play to the customisation angle of the line.
- Titan Davastator was also shown!
- The Fan Built Combiner will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con 2015.
We also learned that our good friend Marcelo Matere had done the pencil art for the Combiner Wars Devastator boxset.
Our News Crew is over there at the Fair Grounds to bring you news and images as they happen. Make sure you tune into TFW Network Sites tomorrow onwards for our full coverage of New York Toy Fair 2014.
The Madness
When I said stimulated fan interest I certainly didn't imply that Hasbro had been gratifying adult fan interest, just stirring it up. After all, I went to the trouble of mentioning that Hasbro and third parties directly appeal to separate markets with limited cross-over.
It was the perceived shortcomings of Universe/Energon Burticus Maximus (& Supes) that really launched Fansproject. That is a direct combiner market stimulation by Hasbro, and an early organised 3rd party response. Whether fans were satisfied with Hasbro's effort or not is irrelevant, the possibility of new combiners was put on the table. Any combiners featured in print or animated media to keep the concept reinforced are also examples of indirect market stimulation, this includes G1 repeats. Fansproject's endeavors pretty much got the ball rolling in regards to fan confidence in 3rd party combiners while Hasbro apparently wrestled with a retail distribution nightmare, eventually resulting in an experiment with cheap PCC giftsets.
The want for updated G1 combiners has been consistent, yes, but it only really becomes demand when the possibility is presented, (ie We may want flying cars, but there is little demand).
The term "Combiner Wars" has been used by fans, almost as much as the term 'Megathread", but lets be honest, its not overly creative and incorporates a term used by Hasbro marketing since the '80s. Its then mixed with the familiar Beast Wars, Machine Wars title format that suggests mimicry by fans rather than Hasbro . If you keep looking at the last few years in isolation it does look like Hasbro is copying fans & third parties… but that's only because they're mimicking a Hasbro property from nearly thirty years ago.
Acoustic wave may have been an aggressive protectionist move by Takaratomy, (after all the MP/3rdP segments are pretty close), or it may well have been coincidence. statistically its bound to happen quite often considering how many 3rd parties are in play now.
Regardless, I don't think any reasonable person would deny TakaraTomy the right to protect a particularly valuable part of their shared property. Especially since TT and Hasbro are normally quite indulgent of 3rd parties and will look the other way most of the time.
I think TT has learnt from third parties that there is a viable market for frequent collector grade Transformers and I'll concede that Titan devastator is totally doing a 'Crossfire 02' with the parts-forming missile blocks. But the only reason 3rd party toys seem 'better' or 'more advanced' to us is that they're made for us specifically. They don't need to appeal to children, they don't need to conform to any certification or safety standards, they don't need to be durable, and importantly, they don't need to clear the marketing and accounting department's approval. All of these considerations point to some pretty remarkable designers at TT/Hasbro, not ones that can't pull off a third party toy from lack of trying or lack of creativity/knowledge, its just not in their brief. As to whether anyone ever stops learning, that wasn't really the point, apparently Hasbro are following 3rd parties lead, rather than doing their own design, promotion, marketing strategy/research.
Its seemingly become a trend in the last few years to fall short of accusing Hasbro of IP theft from 3rd parties… no wonder A. Archer switched sides
kaijuguy19
1 more minute left. I'm SO excited!
Grimlockimus
So many things I'm hoping they show off today with Ultra Magnus being the main one. I'm wondering what, if any, surprises they'll have for us in addition to what they've already announced.
bsutton1
10 more minutes.
Slingshot
I can't wait to see Magnus. Hopefully he's got his IDW design minus the little component.
In other words, I hope is transformation is like MP Magnus.
Slingshot
I can't wait to see Magnus. Hopefully he's got his IDW design minus the little component.
In other words, I hope is transformation is like MP Magnus.
SilverOptimus
Yes. On events such as these, we are getting Record (and Server) Breaking crowds. Hang in there, folks. We are sorting out the matters for a great Coverage.
Lazerwave
I think the crowd of people trying to see what's up with Toy Fair is causing problems on the site. I'm trying to access some thread and the site is slow or keep saying error or something.
edgs2099
…you did see where the event doesn't start until 1 Eastern, yes? They don't put new shit out to see until after the presentation. After is also when Hasbro usually releases their PR packages with all of the pictures. Relax.
Lazerwave
I thought they mentioned Defensor will be there, but I don't see squat.
Calabask
I imagine you're really wrong on this. Third parties capitalized on a demand for combiners that Hasbro wasn't tackling and hadn't been tackling. The demand had always been there and I suspect that Hasbro didn't seek to capitalize on it until they saw how much money there was in it. I might be wrong, but I'd also point out that "Combiner Wars" was something that people coined in the third party section during the Predaking War, we had Combiner Wars going before Hasbro did, and I think they jumped on that. It's not the first time we've seen a reaction from Has/Tak in regards to the third party market. The most famous one was Fanstoys Acoustic Wave. Apparently when Takara saw that they rushed MP Soundwave into production and development in an attempt to beat it to the market which ultimately led to Acoustic Waves cancellation. I do think the markets inform the other, but to say Hasbro has learned nothing from third party groups is a bit naive. Trust me, they've learned and are learning, just as the third party groups are also learning. The difference is the Third Party groups are able to adapt more quickly than Hasbro to the changing market. Which makes sense given that Hasbro is a giant corporation.
Fort Max
I see arielbots and stunticons plus devy looming large in the background. Nothing new.
Calabask
This was posted on 4chan yesterday, kind of surprised noone posted it here. Let the zooms and speculation begin.
The Madness
What evidence have you to back up this claim? Takara/Hasbro have been designing Transformers full-time for thirty odd years, there's very little they could learn from outside ventures, regardless of whether they're run by fans or not. If you looked at the last couple of years in isolation and ignored any creative properties involving Devastator, then yes, it would seem like a reactive move from Hasbro. However, if you consider the fact that Hasbro has been testing the market with forms of combiners since PCC you'd recognise it has been a slow and deliberate progression to this apex.
As you rightly pointed out; 3p and Hasbro goods are different products, for different markets. 3rd Parties are effectively designing toys for soft-handling adults with little child playtesting or safety concerns from an engineering standpoint. Each party has clearly distinguishable goals and priorities, with a small sweet-spot area of cross-over. While 3rd parties command high purchase prices due to their niche market, don't be fooled into thinking they risk the same money Hasbro does when they decide to be adventurous. Considering how much influence the conservative bean-counters at Hasbro seem to have I'm surprised Hasbro has moved this quickly.
In contrast, most 3rd parties seem to be initially self-funded and self-directed, thus allowing a more reactive speed with the ability to take greater risks.
If anything, I'd suggest that 3rd parties have been picking up, and capitalising, on fan interest for combiners stimulated by Hasbro's conservative efforts to modernise combiners over the past decade and also find the best distribution method for retail.
Calabask
I think you're wrong though. There is a lot old original designs out there, and some stuff was done without a Hasbro thing that was updated. Giant and Hercules being one of them. Then there is TFCs takes on Defensor and Predaking, Warbotrons Bruticus, and many more.
Lazerwave
So I should wait until the afternoon for any photos?
Jalaguy
The Hasbro fan media event begins with a presentation at 1PM EST, during which they'll announce stuff and show stock photos. After the presentation, the fan media representatives are allowed out into the showroom where all the new stuff is on display. Hasbro will also likely send out stock photos of the new product shortly after the presentation.
Vanessa
I don't read the IDW comics, but looking at that picture, even IDW got the tread colours of Bonecrusher and Scavenger correct.
Bonecrusher = Green
Scavenger = Purple
Lazerwave
So what time do they open?
Goaliebot
Nor, apparently, can the mind of a rabid Hasbro-hater be changed it seems.
Perhaps the answer lies in not being a rabid anything, and just liking what you like and being fine with others liking what they like.