The Hollywood Reporter: Hasbro CEO on ‘Transformers’ Future and Marketing ‘My Little Pony’ to Boys

Paxtin

Why not? What have they got left to work with?

Ancient Japan! Tons of mythical beasts to take from(nine-tailed fox, Yamata-no-Orochi, Kirin, the 4 Gods, etc) as well as an opportunity to throw in Bludgeon as the archenemy of Drift's clan for some epic samurai showdown. Maybe a ninja side story featuring Sixshot and Nightbird and of course the misrepresentation of Windblade as a geisha  

Technically throwing TFs into ancient anywhere seems like a good idea for spinoffs, especially when it deals with their legends and folklore. I mean, I certainly want to see a tale of titanmaster Hercules battles the transtector Nemean lion, travels down to the underworld(decepticon base) and fights robot cerberus and takes on, I dunno, maybe Liege Maximo as Hades? Heck we could probably have Reflector as the three blind witches, lol.

You wanna know how to get boys into ponies? Make it a robot.

I played with MLP as a kid. I would take my transformers into war against my cousin's ponies. They were epic battles.

Autobot Burnout

Actually, oddly enough Hasbro once added too much articulation to a specific sub-type of the pony toy. In addition to the head swivel, the front legs had two ball joints each – one at the top and one in the middle – while the rear legs also had two ball joints in a similar, but not identical layout. The problem with this superior level of articulation is something amusingly basic: getting the rear legs to line up so the figure looks like it stands properly.

The 'Guardians of Harmony' style articulated ponies retained the front leg articulation and upgraded the head/neck joint so it can actually bend down, but the rear legs were simplified into being swivel joints parallel to the body. The reduced rear leg articulation actually makes the base pony far more stable as a whole, which is excellent for interacting with the large accessories that require the legs to be plugged into parallel sockets.

I don't even remember this happening. Was it over a decade ago?

A few years ago actually.

Venixion

Maybe Transformers the Umpteenth will be a retelling of Carnage in C-Minor but we'll have wailing heavy metal dudes instead of singing elves? XD

No, keep the elves.  

Timesynch

I do want to echo the sentiment that improved articulation would be awesome. More action figures and less static statues, would be my advice, no matter the brand.

Actually, oddly enough Hasbro once added too much articulation to a specific sub-type of the pony toy. In addition to the head swivel, the front legs had two ball joints each – one at the top and one in the middle – while the rear legs also had two ball joints in a similar, but not identical layout. The problem with this superior level of articulation is something amusingly basic: getting the rear legs to line up so the figure looks like it stands properly.

The 'Guardians of Harmony' style articulated ponies retained the front leg articulation and upgraded the head/neck joint so it can actually bend down, but the rear legs were simplified into being swivel joints parallel to the body. The reduced rear leg articulation actually makes the base pony far more stable as a whole, which is excellent for interacting with the large accessories that require the legs to be plugged into parallel sockets.

I'm also reminded of that story not too long ago of Target eliminating gender-specific toy aisle markers, and the controversy that seemingly innocuous move prompted.

I don't even remember this happening. Was it over a decade ago?

A step in the right direction toward gender neutral toy marketing so I applaud the idealism (even if it is couched in a toy company simply trying to maximize its profit margin and, let's face it, alienating half your target market based just on their sex probably isn't a great strategy). I expect the results of the execution will get mixed reviews though.

I do want to echo the sentiment that improved articulation would be awesome. More action figures and less static statues, would be my advice, no matter the brand.

I'm also reminded of that story not too long ago of Target eliminating gender-specific toy aisle markers, and the controversy that seemingly innocuous move prompted.

Autobot Burnout

What a surprise, the Roman Pantheon were all robots from space. Whoopiee.

No, they were Autons from space.  

ScientistMan

My favorite part of the interview was how defensive Goldner got when Battleship came up. "Look, we learned a lot in the process. Battleship came out the week after Avengers. And who knew just how big Avengers would be?"

Yeah, the ultimate superhero movie, the only people who knew that was going to be colossal was…well, freakin' everybody.

Goldner only got in because he was an exec producer on the 2007 film which made a lot of bank, though how that translated to becoming CEO of a barely even related beyond owning the franchise toy company I am still unclear about. Battleship was proof that trying to recreate Transformers in something else wouldn't make up for a rush-job shit script and horrid acting. And AllSpark Pictures is Goldner's pet prized project that only has the historically bad Jem film to its name thus far, with its second entry – the Pony film – coming up in October.

Goldner knew how big Avengers was going to be. He wanted to turn Hasbro brands into the next Avengers, but he's failing miserably.

spartan 3764

No that movie doesn't take place in ancient Rome, it just deals with Cybertronians having been involved in ancient Rome and our current cast having to travel there. You know, the same plot as the last 5 movies.

What a surprise, the Roman Pantheon were all robots from space. Whoopiee.

The movie they want set in ancient Rome will be interesting.
Nothing but cybertronian alt modes.

Paxtin

…Sooo…More Transformer movies, huh?….How about that….*Cough*

Wonder if they're planning a Transformers 10, 11 and 12?