Hasbro US Conference talks about a Cinematic Universe

[griffin]

At the annual JP Morgan Conference in America, the CEO of Hasbro was there to tell the audience about the future of the company, and a little bit about its major brands... including Transformers.

The full list of the details can be seen here, but these are the highlights that relate to Transformers...

- The Transformers Brand is currently going through a transition period, but didn't note what that meant. (we've already seen them taking back the Convention & Club licenses, so they are obviously a part of their new marketing strategy)

- Transformers 5 will continue the story of the previous movies.

- The Fan Community (noted as customers over 16), are acknowledged as being a significant part of their revenue, and they will be looking at more fan-focussed items in the future. (A figure of 20% of their revenue is noted, but that was added in later, so I'm not sure if that was in the speech, and if it was, how would Hasbro know that for sure anyway, so it could just be a very rough estimate.)

- As I had heard someone mention earlier in the year, Nerf has now replaced Transformers as Hasbro's number one earning Brand.

- They mention Activision in the past tense, so maybe their future games will be by someone else (or in-house, as they have been developing their own interactive departments recently, like Allspark Pictures and Allspark Industries).

- There is a mention of "Frustration Free Packaging" specifically for Online Retailers, which could mean more toys that are not for regular retail release, just being packaged in a bag inside a brown box, like the Amazon exclusive Rescue Bots toys last year... as online retailers don't need fancy packaging, and prefer a more condensed packaging for storage.

- The confirmation of a "Hasbro Cinematic Universe" (if it wasn't already officially revealed), which will see the first movies come out in 2018/2019, with the HCU featuring Micronauts, GIJoe, ROM, MASK and Visionaries (and probably Transformers some time down the road, when it is time for a reboot, or one series needs the support of the other).
(it seems everyone is trying to to copy the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now)

[UltraMarginal]

It'll certainly be interesting to see where games go from here. perhaps they were disappointed at Activision for letting High moon bite the dust when everyone was looking forward to a follow up game to Fall of Cybertron.

[DrLockdown]

Ugh...why does EVERYTHING have to be a cinematic universe now? Can't we just have standalone blockbusters that don't need sequels?

[GoktimusPrime]

Ugh...why does EVERYTHING have to be a cinematic universe now? Can't we just have standalone blockbusters that don't need sequels?

I'm all for it, because it might improve the story-telling quality for TF films.
It couldn't possibly be worse.

[UltraMarginal]

I don't mind the cinematic universe thing, it's like non-episodic television, which is what the world seems to love. just with bigger budget and more time between episodes.

It's an interesting space, actors signing up for a decade or more worth of film, potentially only ever being well known for one character, writers spending the majority of the prime of their career on only a couple properties.

I expect there will be a swing back the other way at some point, where people just want a stand alone story. but if something is really good, you always want to see more of it, so even though it may have started out a single film, there will be another if the studios think there is an audience, look at Independence Day, it took 20 years but the sequel is coming out this year.

[griffin]

Another US conference, that has a few minor bits of info about the future of Transformers, but is mostly about other Hasbro brands.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Another US conference, that has a few minor bits of info about the future of Transformers, but is mostly about other Hasbro brands.

I found that article hard to understand. Not too sure whether it was due to the company lingo, or the reporter on the board not proof-reading their work before posting.

I was pleased to see they are looking at using MASK again, but I noticed all they are doing is reviving old lines. No new ideas?

[Zommael]

I found that article hard to understand. Not too sure whether it was due to the company lingo, or the reporter on the board not proof-reading their work before posting.

I was pleased to see they are looking at using MASK again, but I noticed all they are doing is reviving old lines. No new ideas?

The trouble is that revived old lines have an in-built audience, no matter how small. They look at something like Transformers which has been kept alive for 32 years, in no small part due to a fanbase which is now at the stage where they are having children who are encouraged to purchase TFs, and the thinking is that there must be someone out there who has a nostalgia for a property like MASK and if they have a kid that's two sales instead of one.

On the other hand, to come up with something new, they have to persuade that older audience that it's worth looking into rather than just relying on nostalgia, which means walking a tightrope between appealing to the "core" audience of kids which is always diminishing and to the more sophisticated (though often not by much ) adult audience. It's also harder to get licensees involved for a property they know nothing about.

That's not to say new properties can't make it but it makes more sense for the likes of Hasbro to focus on properties they can revive and turn into a money-spinner if they're super-successful, like MLP.

[griffin]

I was pleased to see they are looking at using MASK again, but I noticed all they are doing is reviving old lines. No new ideas?

Transformers has been all about recycling characters and concepts, because it keeps working for them... and if they didn't recycle ideas, us fans get upset about it (like an old character name being allocated to a new character, especially of the opposing faction).

[Ozgardian]

I would love to see a cg animated Beast Wars movie or even a cg retelling of the original 1986 movie in cg ( as long as it's does justice to the original!). As for toys, I believe the best pretender toys were those of the animals. So if they decide to revise pretenders I would like to see them incorporated into the Beast Wars Line. ...Monstructor anyone?