TT's Hot Topic #1: Transformers 50th

[Time Traveller]

Hey guys, an interesting discussion started at TFL HQ the other day: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Transformers franchise. Do you think Hasbro will continue to market and sell Transformers until the 50th anniversary of the brand in 2034? Mind you, I'm sure there will still be collectors, and maybe even 3rd party producers still in business, but do you forsee any interruptions (1991-92, US) or end to the official franchise? Check your crystal ball, or just weigh in and discuss!

[trance]

My bet is yes, but with some interruptions...watch how wrong I am
Here's what I bet...
TF4, TF5, and TF6 will keep the franchise floating for 7 more years. About a year after the 6th movie, interest will begin to fade, culminating in an end to production around 2 years later (about 2020).

There will again be renewed interest around the 40th Anniversary (2024), possibly another movie, this time just 1. The line will reboot and quickly fade out again by 2026.

The 50th anniversary will certainly be a big deal, another movie Trilogy, and a continued franchise for about a decade more, then TF will be no more.

BUT the good news is TFL will surpass all expectations and be the #1 Transformers site on the "outer-web" where there are no longer any archaic devices like iPhones, just misting canisters for our displairs <G>

[Time Traveller]

Thats if Bay doesn't direct the 2024 movie

I think the line has a little more momentum outside of the movies. Hasbro has been reinventing their end of the brand a lot lately, getting Transformers toys into niches that are popular, but not obvious. For example, Bot Shots rode the wave of pop-open game figures like Bakugan, Construct-Bots bring Transformers into the buildable action figure market like Hero Factory, and we all know where Kre-O is going. Further, Kre-O has a minifigure-based subline at a time when Lego and other building toys are focusing heavily on minifig collecting.

I don't always like the toys that result from these forays, but I have to admit Hasbro is good at leveraging their I.P., especially TF, into any toy niche. I think the 50th anniversary toys will be very different than those today or through the last 30 years, and may only be digital game-based releases. (I'm thinking Toys R Us will be online only, since kids won't want physical toys at all). Maybe they'll fire up the dusty old plastic melters in 2034 to make some reissue G1 Optimus Primes!

I guess I'm optimistically calling it for continuous production, but maybe not stuff we adult fans like.

[trance]

As long as they issue a few brittle gold plastic guys every so often to keep you on edge, I'll be happy...

[Time Traveller]

Watch out, or I'll transform that Bristleback on the bins behind you.

[Countdown]

I've been mulling this over for the last week. So much could happen in fifty years. Companies rise and companies fall. Products are made and products are stopped. Brands are crafted, remolded, modified, phased out, and altered.

I would put money that in 50 years, Transformers will still be around. I don't know that it will be the brand that we recognize today, or that Hasbro will be the principle manufacturer (I'm looking at you third parties). But, I see Hasbro holding on to the brand itself and continuing to develop there IP into something current and modern. And, if in 50 years that TFs still exist and the action figures don't - it'll be a sad day.

I look at the transformer brand 30 years ago and you have a collection of toy manufacturers combining their lines under the Transformers flagship brand (for the most part) with a focus on simple but fun action figures. We have toys from Hasbro, Bandai, takara/diaclone/microman. All of this from a comic and a cartoon designed to sell toys.

Fast forward to today, now the TF brand has diversified greatly. I can think of a few ways that the TF Brand has branched out to stay relevant and to gain the most market share.

I see the following:
1. console games - a la War for Cybertron / Fall of Cybertron.
2. Kreons - building blocks that compete directly with Lego.
3. Construct Bots which as far as I can tell competes with Bionicle.
4. Generations figures with exposure to IDW comics
5. 3 major motion pictures
6. The continued manufacturing of various action figures.
7. Bonus - 100 different deluxe class Bumblebee variants (just teasing)

I'm excited to see what the future holds. Lets just stop Mr. Bay from any more movies.

[Time Traveller]

You bring up a good point... originally, the comic and cartoon were made to sell toys. Now, the movies could very well sell themselves at the box office, the toys are more of a bonus, financially. TF: Prime was very nearly a toyless cartoon, until the 11th hour. Maybe 3rd parties will be the only toy manufacturers... It will be interesting when fans of the movie "Land Before Transformers 13: Baysplosion in 3D VR with smell-o-vision" want toys of the main characters, but Hasbro is out of the plastic biz. 3rd parties get away with remakes and homages, but I bet even then Hasbro will fight to keep them from making straight-up toys of Hasbro's screen characters.

[Rhymus]

Lets just stop Mr. Bay from any more movies.

Um, he's already making another movie. Jokes aside, while i'm not the biggest fan of the live-action movie continuity, a part of me subscribes to the notion that "There's no such thing as bad publicity." (Another part of me violently disagrees, but even if i don't like the movies, i'll be glad if someone likes them, because that's one more person who won't dismiss all Transformers as uncool and/or outdated.)

The makers of G1 were making something to market to kids. As those kids grew up, enough of them "outgrew" TFs for the series to lapse. But a lot of the people making TFs today (at Hasbro, TakaraTomy, the Hub, IDW, 3rd parties, etc.) are TransFans themselves, targeting dual markets of kids and nostalgic adults.

The real twist in toymaking--and not just for Transformers--is going to come from 3D printers (paving the way for replicators and holodecks). As 3D printers become less expensive and more widespread, maybe toymakers will start selling toy schematics for consumers to download and produce at home, rather than making physical toys that have to be packed, shipped, shelved, and not shelfwarm. A side effect might be that consumers will have their choice of materials, including the colors: Do i want to print a Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Sunstorm, Acid Storm, or some other Seeker, perhaps one of my own fanfic creations?

We might see TransFans-turned-pro focusing more on comics, TV, movies, and games, as those become a greater source of income than the toys. In fact, i've read that the most expensive part of making a TF toy is designing it: Maybe Hasbro/TakaraTomy will stop making toys altogether, but retain their rights to the intellectual property of TF and other characters, licensing those rights to the highest bidders to make the comics, TV, movies, and games, and only 3rd parties will be making "Trasformers" toys. And maybe those 3rd parties will be TransFans everywhere, anyone with a 3D printer and the appropriate software, designing their own TF toys and sharing/selling/swapping their designs with other TransFans with 3D printers of their own.

There still won't be a G1 accurate Arcee toy, although by then there will be actual cars resembling her alternate mode.

[Roadbuster]

There still won't be a G1 accurate Arcee toy, although by then there will be actual cars resembling her alternate mode.

I own a couple of those already. Got one for sale if you're interested?