Should Hasbro commission an adult Transformers cartoon?

[GoktimusPrime]

No no, I don't mean something weird like KISS Play, I mean something cool like G.I. Joe Resolute. I was watching G.I. Joe Resolute on DVD today and watched the special features where people like Hasbro's Steve Drucker spoke about how Hasbro intentionally wanted to make a G.I. Joe series for adult Joe fans - realising that many fans of Joe fans are adults now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SunBHrLpZlg

So it's got me thinking... why doesn't Hasbro do the same for Transformers?? Isn't Transformers a bigger franchise than G.I. Joe? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

I'd really like to see something like Resolute made for Transformers -- short episodes (that can be later compiled into a continuous movie) and released directly to home video (maybe later aired on TV during later more adult viewing hours, like Adult Swim). Having shorter eps means they might be able to spend more money on animation quality as they seem to have done with Resolute.

If Hasbro were to go ahead and do this - I'd personally like to see them draw characters from the Classicsverse toy lines. But perhaps some of you would rather they just be given complete freedom with choice of characters and aesthetic designs, independent of the toys.

Imagine this as an animated cartoon!

[tinyJazz]

I seem to recall there might have been some talk about this while Resolute was in production, like if Resolute did well they'd consider doing something similar for Transformers. Don't ask me where I read it though because that was before resolute was released lol.

It would be cool to have a resolute style Transformers cartoon. I'd like to see a WFC based one, just because personally, I kind of see WFC as the Transformers answer to Resolute anyway.

Also, if they can't do an adult cartoon, maybe Hasbro just needs a better production team working on Transformers. So they can still market TFs to kids, but satisfy a wide audience for the cartoon.

My Little Pony is marketed for little girls but the current cartoon is wildly popular among young adult males (in case you haven't been on the Internet in the past year )

[Skullcruncher]

No I think Hasbro should concentate on cartoons for this kids. Just keep doing what they are doing now.

My Little Pony is marketed for little girls but the current cartoon is wildly popular among young adult males (in case you haven't been on the Internet in the past year )

Really... in that case I'm very pleased I dont fall into the young adult male category anymore.

[SkyWarp91]

Isn't the majority of TF's current fanbase comprised of kids? They could make a show for adults but it'll take much effort, more than Hasbro would be willing to dish out.

[GoktimusPrime]

The majority of G.I. Joe's consumer base would be children too I imagine, yet Hasbro were still willing to cater for the adult fan minority with G.I. Joe Resolute. And to put things in perspective, Resolute was a mini-series -- only a handful of eps, and each ep was only a few minutes long (they weren't full length 25 minute eps). Kinda like the old Clone Wars cartoon (the cel animated one) only it only ran for about a dozen episodes.

So it was a fairly "lite" show - which is understandable if they're making it for a minority - they're not going to commit the same amount of resources and money into developing a full series like Animated or Prime. So what I'm suggesting here isn't anything like that -- I'm suggesting that they make a similarly "lite" cartoon series for Transformers adult fans. Maybe x10 10 min eps? (as opposed to x13-26 25 min eps).

If they did it worked for G.I. Joe, why can't it work for Transformers? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Transformers is now Hasbro's top selling franchise. If this is so, and if G.I. Joe Resolute worked, then surely it can work for Transformers.

I seem to recall there might have been some talk about this while Resolute was in production, like if Resolute did well they'd consider doing something similar for Transformers. Don't ask me where I read it though because that was before resolute was released lol.

I'd be interested to find out how Resolute worked out for Hasbro. If it was a bomb (which would be a shame because it's a really cool cartoon) then I could understand why they'd be hesitant to try it with Transformers.

Also, if they can't do an adult cartoon, maybe Hasbro just needs a better production team working on Transformers. So they can still market TFs to kids, but satisfy a wide audience for the cartoon.

That's what I miss about Beast Wars, and IMHO I don't think we've had any other Transformers cartoon that was primarily marketed to kids on one level but was able to engage adults on a different level.

My Little Pony is marketed for little girls but the current cartoon is wildly popular among young adult males (in case you haven't been on the Internet in the past year )

Cartoons aren't just for kids, and as G1 voice actor Michael McConnohie said, adults don't give kids enough credit. Some cartoon writers need to stop insulting children with banally stupid and shallow storylines and ridiculous and annoying characters like Professor Princess and Miko Nakadai (someone kill her please). We didn't like it when we were kids growing up with G1... there's a reason why Daniel Witwicky and Wheelie have been widely hated by Transformers fans for a LONG time; and also why many G1 fans (such as myself and many others) prefer the G1 comics over the cartoon. On the whole the comics didn't talk down to us like the cartoon sometimes did.

There are a lot of great cartoons these days which enjoy more smarter writing, even when principally being marketed at kids. I've quite enjoyed watching Star Wars Clone Wars.

If Hasbro aren't willing to do an adult oriented mini-cartoon, then how about making smarter TF cartoons that are principally aimed at kids, but keep adults in mind too? That's what we got in Beast Wars during the 1990s; writers were aware that the children of the 80s who grew up watching G1 would now be in their late teens or twenties when they were making Beast Wars... and it shows.

Here's a suggestion: no more children as TF partners. Either don't have any humans as TF partners (ah, another thing that made Beast Wars great! ) or have competent and useful adults as TF partners! We don't need any more Daniels or Saris or Mikos or Rafs etc. - if they want to have humans, give us people like Epps, Lennox or entire teams like G.I. Joe or NEST helping the Autobots out. Or maybe adult villains like Dr. Archeville helping or Cobra helping out the Decepticons. Hasbro seems to think that Transformers need to have children partners so that child audiences can better relate to them. Not really... just use a cool adult character and children will relate to them better because children will fantasise about being that character!

Seriously... when I waa a kid my friends and I would sometimes run around pretending to be say characters from Star Wars or Monkey or He-Man or Ghostbusters etc. -- even when you play cops and robbers or cowboys and native-Americans, you're mimicking adults. What kind of kid _wants_ to pretend to be another kind of kid? Umm... unless that kid has some kind of awesome super power like Ben Tennyson, I can't imagine who would. Let's face it, given the choice of playing Batman or Robin the Boy Wonder... I reckon most kids would opt for Batman. Not many kids _want_ to be the useless sidekick. That's the kind of role you gave to a kid you didn't like!

"You can be Wheelie and guard the base while we go off and have adventures!"
"Say what?!"

[liegeprime]

Reading your first post Gok... yeah Kiss Play came t6o my mind whe I read only the title hehehehe... oh and reading through your first post --- "no Brain..er" would be the operative word why there isn't a resolute for Tfs as there is for Joes.

My guess is that the teams working for all the various franchise have different approaches to their products as it stands there could be a "competition" of sorts as well ( we may never know) within the planning/concept teams for each toyline so copying the success of one would prolly not be on the top list of the other team lest they be called copycats with no roinginality of planning - these are all just speculation on my part. Hasbro is a big company now so employs a whole lot of people to work on various toyline. Granted that the go signal for each will prolly be ending in the hands of 1 decision maker - Say Archer... it all will depend on the sales pitch presented by the ongoing teams... he may prolly just add, decline, approve each... so yeah that's what I think how it is.. of course , all pure speculation if I may reiterate.

[LordCyrusOmega]

There should be a cartoon aimed at adults though if done well it could still be accessible by a younger fan base. No more child sidekicks. While I understand the need for a 'human factor' they could do a better job. Sari (Animated) was annoying but was a core part of the storyline.

[GoktimusPrime]

I can understand the desire for human partners, but I don't know if it's a "need." After all, Beast Wars didn't have recurring human partners (and if anything, Cheetor's interaction with Chak and Una was done to teach them how to defend themselves from Predacons (and it worked - much to Waspinator's chagrin )).

And if they're going to have human partners, they really should ensure that they are useful (and not just wasting air time or getting in the way like freakin' Miko) and not annoying. Why not use more mature humans instead of children all the time?? In G1 we started off with Buster Witwicky - a high school senior. Then we got Spike Witwicky, who in the cartoon was old enough to work at an oil platform, and in the comics was a university student. Chip Chase is also probably a university graduate, and Carly had a science scholarship at MIT. They were all smart and capable young adults -- not stupid whining kids who are like, "Ooh! Giant robot fight! I wanna plaaay!" (again, someone please kill Miko). Heck, even the live action movies - which have proven highly popular with kids - gave us Sam Witwicky, who was a high school senior in TF1, a uni student in ROTF and a uni graduate looking and company employee in DOTM. Not a freakin' primary schooler or junior high schooler.

Hasbro sometimes think that they need to give kids an appeal character of the same age as the audience, but this isn't necessary. They tried this for us G1 kids when they gave us Daniel Witwicky... and he remains a widely hated character among G1 fans. You ask G1 fans who their favourite human characters in G1 were, how many would pick the child Daniel or would they pick one of the older characters like Buster, Spike, Carly, Chip, Marissa Fairborne, Zarak etc. Give kids clever characters to appeal to... don't insult them by giving them dim-wits. Kids don't like it, and adults certainly don't either.

[kup]

I don't know about 'the only small because it's for a minority audience' angle.

The DC direct to DVD releases are full length animated movies aimed at young adults and fans and they are hugely popular or at the very least, popular enough to warrant several releases.

The only reason why Hasbro is not doing this with both Transformers and expanding on GI Joe further is simply because they don't want to. Hasbro is not one that likes to step outside their 'comfort zone' unless they are in financial trouble (and even so I am not sure if the people currently in charge are clever enough to innovate).

There is clearly a market for such productions as the DC animated movies have proven and if there is decent marketing for it and the movie is of a reasonable quality, I am sure it would be successful.

[liegeprime]

I choose other - mebbe tell Tfs in another light - like they land NOT on earth but on a different alien world with a culture entirely different , mebbe those natives will be more useful , if not, just have em there for background and well, cannon fodder... if still on Earth, then humans mainly as cannon fodder..slaves to coerce into stealing stuff for the bad guys or building stuff, just no more kids ( freaking delinquents, and such horribly faulty parenting IMO) that's it.

Funny when you look at the "child" characters in G1 there is a marked difference of what a "child" is with Hasbro and Takara's version - Hasbro's child characters are... well annoying children.. a nuisance who once in a while helps but are just stupid delinquents really... as for the Takara ones , they actually help - look at the Jr Headmasters...though nothing can save Daniel both in Japanese and US version he's a ne'er do well , for a moment there in that Jap episode when a part of Fort Max got blown away with him in it, - YES!! LEAVE HIM be! but noooooo, they couldnt just tell Spike - erm your kid is lost ( prolly dead) just make a new one ( less annoying ok?), you and Carly are still young anyways instead they had to go after him... drats. Oh well at least he met his painful demise in the comics heheheheh

What Im saying is, it's a cultural thing I guess , as long as Hasbro (which is a US company with US bosses and staff) thinks this way about they're kids there - annoying, overbearing, good for nothing, get in the way little creeps we wont get "relevant" kid support characters - though for a Japanese kid - Miko ( waste her soul) is totally sooooooo the exception. Totally bratinella!!