Licensing Expo 2018 is just around the corner and Hasbro is ready to showcase their upcoming lineups.
Speaking to License Global, this toy giant has given a lengthy description of their future plans for the Transformers Franchise.
“We decided on Bumblebee because we wanted to go in a bit of a different direction. We wanted a character-focused film versus an ensemble. He is loved by kids, multiple generations, girls and women. Everyone loves Bumblebee,” continues Warner.
Hasbro is capitalizing on the film’s surroundings with a slate of ‘80s-themed launches including a TV series, a vinyl album and a graphic novel, which the company hopes will “lead a wave of Millennial nostalgia.”
[…]
Hasbro is off to a running start with two new television programs, “Transformers Cyberverse (Chapter 1)” and “Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy.” The first is an animated series from Hasbro Studios and Boulder Media that follows Bumblebee as he attempts to recover his memories on Earth. “Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy” picks up on the “Transformers: Combiner Wars” story line and offers a more detailed look at the franchise’s characters and history.
Though the shows are not set in the 1980s, “Cyberverse” emphasizes the idea of keeping memories alive, while “Prime Wars,” which debuted on Verizon’s streaming service VerizonGo90, was conceived as a way to reach older, devoted fans who have grown up with the franchise.
[…]
Hasbro’s 360-degree approach to the new film is one that reflects the company’s continuous evolution from a toy company to a global entertainment and play business.
“Our first piece is to step outside of the traditional heartland business and think about opportunities way beyond the toy aisle,” says Waters. “Our blueprint is a dramatic expansion and that includes stories, new movies, consumer products—it’s about navigating the consumer product landscape as a whole and, as all entertainment companies face dynamic challenges, it means not relying entirely on one sector.”
You can check out the lengthy article at License Global. You can check out a brand new image from Transformers: Cyberverse, after the jump.
RodimusSupreme
Now I'm curious.
Venixion
Nope not that one. Someone has one. Such a bad-ass figure.
RodimusSupreme
This guy?
Venixion
I guess? He's the black one.
RodimusSupreme
Are you talking about Shattered Glass Goldbug, or is there another evil Bumblebee that I missed?
I feel like you lost some of the shows heart in translation. I don't know what you read that made you think the characters were treated like things, but they never were. FYI.
Max Tower
I've read the synopsis for all the episodes and a lot of ancillary information I know what happens – I just don't care to watch them – it was easiier for me to get up to speed that way and not have to view something I didn't enjoy – I only did that much as I do actually like some of the characters and I like the toys – I just didn't like the direction or the way they did things on that show. I'm hardly alone in not liking some aspect of the franchise i'm sure there are hundreds of people registered on this Board who have never bothered to watch a lot of the Japaese shows and similarly are dismissive of them – I'm not dismissing anyong fondness of animated – I'm just saying I don't personally enjoy it and wouldn't want to spend any further time on it it's ben a decade since that show came out and I've barely thought of it since – Like Beast Wars Neo it's just not at the front of my mind franchise wise.
Sorry about that.
Venixion
@pilot00 What on Earth is a boron compressor?
I like G1, Bayformers and Prime Bumblebee. Animated and NURiD15 are the only ones I dislike thus far. Also, evil Bumblebee looks bad-ass.
RodimusSupreme
That…is…I don't even know what to say about that…
RodimusSupreme
That's not even what I said. You said "THE show sucks", not "THE ONE SEASON I WATCHED sucked, so I didn't feel like watching the rest. I don't know how the rest turned out, but whatever". It sure did sound like you were claiming the whole series sucked, despite not watching the all of it. You wouldn't know if the whole series sucked. And you're reasons for why it was bad aren't even real ("They treated them like things, not characters". That literally never happened in that show, they always treated them like characters).
The majority of people on here, for one. Yes there are users whining about one thing or another that may or may not be an actual problem, but Bumblebee has been overused by now, and they think focusing on him is a different direction? It's just amazing to see the disconnect from reality companies sometimes have.
Louise Belcher
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.
So Transformers going to be Gi Joe 2.0 only having different kind of death? I mean Gi Joe had good toys until the end, but Hasbro kept focus on lazily pandering adult collectors rather than marketing it to the new generation of kids (and no suckish live action movies aren't aimed at kids *looking at Micheal Bay' TF movies*). Where as in Transformers, they do try marketing it for children, but the shows are mediocre and the toys are cheap, as well still making lousy live-action movies.
I don't understand how come is that hipsters love good old things, yet always keep making inferior terrible stuff/reboots inspired by them. I guess those lazy people only like them in very superficial shallow way and don't have the discipline nor self awareness to try hard and reach that same level of quality.
It's not outdated and it's not the problem. The real problem is how they market and design toys for girls or boys! We used to have strong distinctive designs for toys and now everything is blend and dull as the term "gender*"-neutral itself. And as I mentioned previously, She-Ra and Golden Girl were very girly toylines and still badass! Compare and contrast Padme Amidala and Asajj Ventress to ugly tomboy MRey Sue in her toilet paper outfit. Heck, even bald Asajj Ventress more feminine than Rey. Of course, girls can play with boy toys and vice versa, but there still need to be clear distinction as girls and boys do have tendency for different play patterns and in order to have great strong designs, you need to focus on one main direction. In other words you can't have your cake and eat it.
*Gender is the BS Social Science term, the right term is sex.
RobotKnight95
Excuse me, I need to give Hot Rod some emotional support.
BigRed
Show me a single person that isn't a petty geek that actualy says "I'm upset that Transformers uses Optimus and Bumblebee in everything".
Find someone that says the same about literally any franchise too since every single one has a major face.
Max Tower
I'm hardly going to keep watching it if I don't like it now am I ?
Just because it's not to my tastes doesn't stop anyone else from llking it.
NominusDP
What is the point of using terms like "furiously jerking off on camera" , "protracted ass cancer" , what kind of reaction are you trying to get out of this? I have my fair share of issues with Hasbro and don't put Takara on a pedestal , in fact remember the reissue of God Fire Convoy from RID01 that had a ton of issues with the soundbox , tabs breaking and all that fun stuff?
Takara isn't exactly perfect.
My opinion on Bayformers is simple : I love criticizing the hell out of the sequels , love the first movie and the toys/designs are a mixed bag. Hell , if it were not for Transformers (2007) I wouldn't be in this fandom , but I notice problems when I see it ; TLK being a huge flop , all three parts of the Prime Wars Trilogy having huge potential but are hopelessly badly written , RID2015 being very mediocre and the steep downturn in quality in revent years. THEN came brand unification , thus forcing Takara to sell Hasbro's relatively-decent to ungodly-bad stuff with no changes.
I have no high hopes anymore , sure theres new toys of my favorite characters , collecting the Prime Masters from POTP , loosely keeping with IDW via TFWiki but literally nothing excites me.
Cyberverse looks a lot like RID2015 ; bland , mediocre and paint-by-numbers and the Bumblebee spinoff will probably bomb.
We are not so different except for our base opinion on Bayformers
TFfanatic88
Because of better quality control and the fact they weren't responsible for the protracted ass cancer that is Bayformers and the serious decline of the entire brand. The Unicron Trilogy and the 2001 RiD series were far more worthy of the Transformers name than the movieverse. The live action films may as well been nothing but two and a half hours of Michael Bay and Paramount collectively and furiously jerking off in front of the camera.
But this is the same decade that is giving us Nu-Star Wars and Thundercats Roar, since the entertainment industry is in toilet right now and people will still blindly defend this shit and make up reasons why.
RodimusSupreme
And the constant push that's been happening since ROTF is slowly killing interest.
SPLIT LIP
Except circa 2007, that ain't how it happened.
Deluxe modern Camaro Bumblebee was actually hard to find when he first came out, because the character was wildly popular. Bumblebee's popularity absolutely came before the big push in marketing.