Success Of Transformers: Bumblebee Movie And Its Future For Hasbro

The Netflix series being referred to as "War for Cybertron" instead of the earlier-reported Siege is interesting. I bet we're gonna see WFC's line and the cartoon premiering closer together, which is something Prime Wars definitely seemed to struggle with. (Makes me wonder how late into production Prime Wars was conceived for it to have appeared so late in the timeline of releases)

Also I know we don't need any more evidence to conclude that BB is essentially the "reset button", but it's nice to hear that Hasbro is feeling refreshed with the franchise because of it. Makes me wonder if there was no news about the next TF movie at SDCC because they are really waiting for Travis' schedule to be clear and working on worldbuilding the new story told by the movies.

It's nice they're doing this near the beginning instead of more than halfway through the movies' lifecycle last time.

Bayverse is dead!

I knew it wasn\'t a coincidence we were seeing so many Bumblebee products and figures being continuously released…

ZapRowsdower

Ooooh… huh. Thank you for that!   That was quite informative. I was thinking the toy sales would show up sooner in their revenue, but a lot of what you say made sense. Huh.

I'm kinda sad I confused the date of the earnings call and missed the stock jump entirely!   But from what Goldner mentioned on that Mad Money interview, it sounds like the rest of the year will be even better for Hasbro (i.e. a ton of Disney movies this year!).

You are welcome.

Yes, what a time to own Hasbro stocks.

Autobot Burnout

The only reason they went forward with AoE and ultimately TLK was because of the opening Chinese box office. The Chinese Government literally was involved in making AoE, hence the super heavy pandering and the entire final battle happening on their side of the planet. And Paramount/Hasbro thought simply having stupid action sequences tied together with a hamstrung plot without giving a care to the quality of that plot, this technique having worked specifically with AoE since it was the first TF film to have such presence in China, would work again with TLK…without the massive assistance or pandering to the Chinese. And we all know how well that went.

I thought it was very amusing: Paramount thought it would have another huge success in China (with TLK) by… leaving the Chinese completely out of the movie?   The whole problem came about because of all the lawsuits from China after AoE. I feel like Bay/Paramount just chose to avoid China as a result (either in bitterness or in stupidity).

But all of that aside, my main criticisms were that Bay TF movies are all the same: looking for some doohickey, random explosions and janky camera, blah blah blah. I am not learned enough to make the argument better, but I'm paraphrasing comparisons others have made here. In reality, I find Bay movies to be so badly done, I can honestly say I forget the plot as soon as I leave the theater. That is, if I understood the plot to begin with (Spoiler Alert: I didn't!).

Back on topic, and relating to this criticism of Bay movies, I found it interesting that Goldner BARELY mentioned TFs in his interview on Mad Money. Maybe it's normal, but I think TFs were a bigger deal 10 years ago. In other words, whether or not you love the Bay movies, it's obvious that they have overstayed their welcome and have hurt the brand in recent years.   I think this is reflective in the last waves of Bay movie toys, where Hasbro settled for a bunch of re-releases (TLK line) rather than spend on new molds. The half-assed approach led to terrible sales of TLK toys (at least in the Generations line).

It may be like Gap said in their last earnings call: we had bad product so we didn't bother marketing it.   I'm not saying Hasbro sabotaged TLK on purpose, but it's possible they had so little belief in the product that they didn't spend more on the toy line. Or maybe they took the Generations budget and put it on the 1-steps or other products. I don't know.  

Look guys can't we all just stop the whole Bay fan vs Anti Bay fan arguments all ready? This is Hasbro's chance to really hit it big with the movie franchise right now and possibly make it so that both sides have a common ground like what the Bumblebee movie did for a lot of people. Do you guys really want to ruin it by still bringing up the sore spots in the past both for the movies as well as both sides of the fandom?

To the Bay Movie fans sure I totally get being annoyed at how the movies are being changed to being more like the thing the Anti bay fans have been screaming at the top of their lungs about and in a a time where Hasbro's been pushing for more G1 stuff it feels like we have less options for those who are getting both burnt out and sick of it but going crazy in return isn't going to change that nor will getting nasty at the haters will make your frustrations look understandable. Not to mention that whatever we like it or not the movies couldn't go forever doing the things people rage at them for doing and expect to keep making money. It had to change one way or another so why not be happy of what we were able to get a that end of it all? I know I am. Besides we still have Studio Series giving us figures that are both more movie accurate and some haven't gotten yet so it's clear Hasbro hasn't forgotten the original movie fans.

To the Anti Bay Movie fans I also get that you want the TF movies to be better,respectable,and well written but being mean spirited and insulting over the years about the films and to a lot of their fans makes you look just as insufferable as the people you find insufferable behind them. What doesn't help that ever since the Bumblebee movie came out you guys acted like such poor winners at the people who prefer how the original Tf designs looked along with the new direction Hasbro's taking with them. I know some of you will say "Well those whiny bay fans deserve being told to accept and move on like they did to us so w'ere fully justified in doing so!" but has it ever occurred to you that by playing their game you're ending up being just as immature as the Bay fans who did it to you? For crying out loud you're now getting what you wished for and Hasbro's going along with it so isn't that enough? Can't you be more civil and respectful to the other side on this? For some of them it was their G1 and you're doing the same thing that you felt the Bay movies did to your childhood.

So on that note that's my giant take on the argument. I'm sorry if what I said angered someone and if anyone hear wants to tell me that go right ahead. As for the article itself I do wish Hasbro the best of luck that what they'll be doing for the movies from here on out will continue to do what made the Bumblebee movie good to begin with and make more movies that everyrone can get on board with.

Matty

I've said it for years, the movies could have and should have been so much more than what they are/were.

And that's been my belief all along. Unfortunately the guys making the earlier ones didn't share that view.

Matty

Bumblebee gave me hope.

Bumblebee was directed by an Transformers fan who found himself in a position to do what he wanted. I'm a bit worried the Paramount old guard may still find a way to sabotage the next one.

Decepticon Miner

Anything involving the use of faeces would be the perfect title.

I prefer 'The Last Failure' because, hilariously, all it had to do was not fail…and it did so in such a way that nobody in their right mind would think a sequel was even remotely possible without Paramount deciding that surefire suicide was a sound business plan.

Primus Productions

While I don't mind being rebooted as obvious it was, Even through it did clash with bayverse within Bumblebee. Hasbro needs to understand, To make it fair for both verses. So awhile I'm happy to hear confirmation, But quite disappointed of Hasbro's decision. And if I could state one thing, Hasbro doesn't have much to say so when it comes to bayverse. That lays upon Di and Paramount. Hasbro practically owned Transformers Prime, Cyberverse and of course Bumblebee in modern time anyways. Pretty much anything aside of bayverse. The most they "owned" of bayverse was simply allowing the rights of Paramount/Bay to use the transformers. Either way, I for one hope they can come to a agreement of doing two verses at once. Finish off Bayverse and continue on a story that Travis Knight started. Make. It. Fair. Hasbro.

10 YEARS shouldn't have been wasted.

As many have pointed out, 10 years were already largely wasted. I speak as a fan of the movie franchise. I've said it for years, the movies could have and should have been so much more than what they are/were. Bumblebee gave me hope.

WishfulThinking

This could simply also be one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing situation. Deborah Thomas is just a Hasbro’s Chief Financial Officer – she's more or less a glorified accountant (no offense to her as it's a very important role in the organization). While she sits in on executive meetings regarding the franchises, I doubt she's actually floor level where decisions on media content and artistic direction take place. She's more about what gets financed and what does not.

A glorified accountant … ouch.

TFXProtector

10 years WERE wasted. Don't blame Hasbro, blame the producers and Michael Bay, as well as Paramount pictures. Hasbro more or less had little to no control over certain things, and they even had to buy rights to produce toys based on the movie based on their property! Now? The ball is Hasbro's court and so far, they're 1 for 1 and that's a good track record considering The Last Knight botched it so badly that they lost $150+ million on that garbage fest.

TLK was supposed to be the end, anyway. It was Bay's last, it was stated by the producers that it was over, and it was Bay that decided to put that mid-credits scene in, undoing the ending of the film/series leaving it open-ended. It was supposed to end with the Autobots returning to Cybertron as they had at the end of the film, Prime's speech was supposed to be slightly different and there was supposed to be a scene with Cogman being the Headmaster we were promised, but Bay hacked it to pieces and changed this, that, and the other thing.

You blame him, you blame the producers, you blame Paramount, but Hasbro had no real control over it for the longest time. Allspark Pictures is their production company, they produced Bumblebee, they took control along with Travis Knight and we're getting a reboot with nods to the original time line, but a new direction. It's assumed that John Cena's Agent Burns is going to lead into a new G. I. Joe movie franchise. There's a Hasbro multiverse in the works and there's no reason to go backward when forward is the future.

Oh, and one more thing… You can complain all you want, but the rest of us have watched loose end get thrown about for decades. We had to watch Optimus and crew get killed out of nowhere as a vehicle to sell new toys. We watched him return only for the series to abruptly end. We watched as Beast Wars started something great and then utterly crap the bed with Beast Machines. We had to import Japan's stuff just to get through until they had a battle plan and that plan wasn't good. They forced shows to become a trilogy and it's no wonder they haven't lined up correctly.

On top of that? The Aligned Continuity AND the mess that is the Bayverse. Heck, the shows and movies in those two universes alone couldn't figure out who or what they wanted to be. The sequels contradicted what came before. The stories didn't line up. Even the movies changed the history of the story unfolding right before our eyes. First, Megatron was looking for the Allspark/the Cube. Then, we find out he was working for The Fallen, all along. But wait, there's more! He was secretly working with Sentinel Prime throughout all of this and still somehow failed on each and every front. How? Then, we find out that he's not dead, he's now Galvatron (FOR ONE FRIGGIN' MOVIE, ONLY). And finally, somehow, he's Megatron, AGAIN, but with Galvatron's voice and somehow they're all pawns of Quintessa who was really the big bad, all along and somehow Unicron is Earth and the Cube was never necessary, nor was Sentinel Prime or The Fallen. Quintessa had the power to heal the planet all along and just needed some human chick to help her find all the MacGuffin pieces to build another MacGuffin to save Planet MacGuffin in MacGuffin: The Movie Extended Director's Cut with a big "F*CK YOU!" to the fans.

And you want a sequel/ending to that? No thanks. It's undoable. The damage is so twisted and messy, you couldn't find a survivor in there, even with the jaws of life. When a little, barely 2 hours, fun family flick can tell the saga's story better than any of the friggin' 2.5-2.75 (THAT'S NEARLY THREE HOURS, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY!) "chunks" did.

Better ingredients, better movies, Papa Hasbro.

MAKE. IT. FAIR. BAY.

Yeah. Quoted for truth.

I watched TLK on netflix, the plot was all over the place. The knight thing was weird as well.

Bumblebee was ok. It felt like a lifetime movie at certain sequences but ok overall.  . Definitely better than tlk overall