I agree... the toys are getting really good. How about this...

Remember the 80's when Marvel was like "now, Omega Supreme!" or "Aerialbots!" ... the comic was blatantly an advertisement for a new toy. And that's okay. Because we need *some* sort of emotional attachment to the characters to sell the toys. Toys which look dope but need a push... (I often pass on good looking toys because I know nothing about the character)

What if there's two books? One that's selling the current toy line (a monthly one-and-done), and something akin to MtMtE, a long-form narrative?

 

Yup.

This is exactly why Studio Series came to exists.

In 2017, Hasbro realized that everyone who was 12 and 14 years old in 2007 was now 22 and 24, and not relying on parent's money anymore to buy things, and would only make more money over the next 5 years. Those same 12 and 14 year olds are now 27 and 29.

Studio Series came to exists because Bayverse stuff sells well, Takara was doing Movie the Best, and Target (particularly) was interested in a movieverse line at regular intervals even if there wasn't a movie release. And a lot of that all works because a LOT of people's first exposure to Transformers was the Bayverse films as kids, and they're all grown up now.

Sure some of them may have come to appreciate G1 and the Unicron trilogy and beast wars over time. But for us old time G1ers, it was weird for a while seeing maskess, bug-armor, a lot of blue and grey Optimus Prime from the 2007 movie as 'Optimus' for a long time. And now from a marketing and public mindset and probably fandom standpoint too, he's as much of an Optimus as 1984 G1 red-flatnosed Truck Optimus. He exists in parallel. They two Optimus primes are marketing peers more or less - retro and kids stuff on one hand, and cinematic Transformers on the other.

FWIW I think a reason that so many of us came to accept it over time, besides just being deluged with Bayverse stuff (and coming to like it), is that Peter Cullen voiced both Primes. It legitimized the character as "peer-level" in a sense, to us super-old school fans, in a way I don't think it would have happened if they had some Hollywood A-Lister do it like was rumored at the time.

 

I'm not sure it's provable one way or another. I know I personally plan to pick up Velocitron Blurr because it's the IDW incarnation. But I can't say that it will have a significant impact on the bottom line or now. I don't have that data and anything I look at will be anecdotal. Further clouding the issue is that IDW Skids, T30 Springer, CW Ultra Magnus were IDW inspired for sure, but they're also often the first release of that named character in a while. So who knows there?

I think we can say that IDW clearly impacted design. Did it impact sales? Dunno

 

That’s fair. I think people buying those Velicitron toys were going to buy them no matter who designed them.

 

I think it still is. I saw the first book at Walmart and picked it up. Wasn’t bad. The second book is there now. I just haven’t bought it yet. It’s probably on Amazon too.

 

It worked so well for Marvel because all the characters were brand new. Furthermore, the story crafted by Budiansky allowed for him to introduce new characters which seemed organic to the story. Unfortunately, it seems like Hasbro is currently just reacting to social media engagement and what people say on forums. A lot of which can be faked with bots and sock puppet accounts. 1 person can create 50 accounts and amplify whatever narrative they want. Tracking online buzz is inexpensive (cheap) but unreliable.

Edit: Would the 2 books be in the same continuity? Like spotlight books? Some of those were really good. It has worked before so if there’s a publisher with the talent and vision, then they should go for it.

 

I definitely think that’s the case for T30 Springer and CW Ultra Magnus. Like I said, in many cases the IDW inspired toy was also the first modern toy that character had in a long time.

Maybe that’s the impact IDW had on the toys. By raising the profile on Springer maybe it convinced Hasbro to finally release a true triple changing Springer? Skids has been relegated to the trash heap of the fandom, but maybe his prominence in MTMtE convinced them to finally take a shot at giving him a toy in T30?

I think that’s the strongest case you can make in terms of impact that IDW had on the toyline:

 

I don't want to pick on any one response here, but the recent discussion in this thread is so comically narrow. I guarantee that Hasbro does not measure the success of the ancillary media by interest in a particular character design or even in a specific character. I'm sure there are fans that came to the franchise via a toyline only, but for the vast majority of us, we fell for the characters and stories in media. Even if few of us discovered Transformers through IDW, I know at least for me it helped me rediscover the property, even more so than the feature films. Not to go all brand manager on everybody, but the best way for the media to sell toys isn't as an advertisement only, but to help people have a relationship with the property, to not just be collectors but also fans.

I can't tell you how many people bought, I don't know, Generations Trailcutter because of MTMTE, I don't know that there's any evidence for that at all. But it's verifiable that even today fans are building their Lost Light crew shelves or Wreckers shelves. And I'm sure there's some demand for Flamewar because of the simple rarity of the original figures, but how many people are excited to pick her up because she's a perfect little chaos goblin? How many collectors stay collectors because they can't quit these stories and characters? Those are better questions.

I'm sure the limited reach of the IDW comics in recent years was a factor in Hasbro looking for another publisher, but it doesn't come down to merely putting eyeballs for the latest toys. It's about making people excited to get the toys, and for almost forty years now, that's been through storytelling across a range of media.

 

Lol per a Bloomberg media newsletter today, Hasbro may have already decided they can't be a media company, and may announce as soon as October that they want to sell off some of the eOne assets. So my quoted post was about half right.
Hasbro To Reevaluate Its Entertainment Plans - Transformers News - TFW2005

 

What are you pro frakking?

 

Imagine being that sensitive that you get mad at *Deadpool* for being self aware.

The dude celebrated International Women's Day by letting his girlfriend...well... we can't get in to that here.

 

Or getting mad at social issues being brought up in a manga, now if you excuse me I'm gonna read non-political stories like, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam, Psycho Pass and many other non-political stories because Japan doesn't have politics like the West does!

 

Oh, hey, I remember that issue, Deadpool (2013) #40.
That's the one where Roxxon, the shady oil company of the Marvel universe, tries to lobby Deadpool to promote gracking (gamma fracking) as a 100% safe and ethical source of energy despite all the horrible environmental and human consequences it causes, in which Deadpool quite notably does not kill any oil executives (although that would be absolutely based if he did), the only murdering in the issue is actually done by the oil executive/evil minotaur, Dario Agger, the CEO of Roxxon.

 

Wait, do you mean to tell me yet another person in this thread was critical of the comic but hadn't actually read it?

I hate political comics like Transformers. No wonder they fail where non-political comics, like X-Men, thrive.

 

Closed until next update maybe