It's a toyline, no shit Hasbro will get involved!

How can executives affect Transformers? Well... characters can be killed off, or flat out refused to be killed off. Studios can decide on what happens. Characters can be flat out replaced! You can tell I hate executive meddling.

Well... read this Tvtropes article
Executive Meddling - TV Tropes

• The Aerialbot Slingshot was killed off from the comic after a battle with Devastator, and was replaced by the new character Alpha Bravo. This was because Slingshot wasn't in the Combiner Wars toyline! He got a toy later, but the damage was already done. Alpha Bravo actually brakes the Aerialbots cause their goddamn jets, and Alpha Bravo is a helicopter. Also I like Slingshot more as a character. I felt he wasn't properly introduced. In this 2019 IDW reboot I want to see a Aerialbots mini series so Alpha Bravo can be properly introduced.
• Bumblebee was planned to die in the 2009 Transformers comic, but this was rejected by Hasbro. Ironhide died instead. Seeing how Revenge of the Fallen came out in the same year, it is safe to see why... but Bumblebee would die later on. I am guessing Hasbro gave IDW free range on the comics.
• In the 07' Transformers movie the Transformers weren't gonna talk, yet Hasbro detested. A good decision by Hasbro... but some Transformers (notably most of the Decepticons) were mute in the final film.
• Soundwave was planned to be a helicopter in the 07' film, but scrapped when: "Hasbro wanted Soundwave's alt mode to have something to do with music."

 

Executive Meddling is what gave us the Transformers in the first place. An executive saw the toys in Japan, thought the approach they were using in gi Joe would work on them, and 'meddled' to turn diaclone and Microman and whatnot into the Hasbro toyline it became.

Transformers is not, and frankly, never has been a labor of love. Whether it's marvel/idw/dreamwave executives deciding who to assign to write and draw the comics, Hasbro executives telling those writers and artists what characters need to be included or removed, or deciding what toy designs to pursue and what strategy for the toyline to take, which again filters down into the media to push, Paramount executives assigning a budget to the next Transformers film so that it can hopefully make a decent return, it's a business venture. And that means it's going to be managed as one, and that means management / executive decisions (which can be construed as meddling) all the way down.

 

I totally disagree with that remark

 

Fair criticism. It might be more accurate to say it has always been a business venture first and foremost. Plenty of creators have put a ton of love and care into the brand over the years, but have done so ultimately at the will of corporate owners who wish their efforts to drive a profitable bottom line.

I used the term more in place of the brand not being a wholly artistic endeavour, unbound to business expectations and produced for no compensation. Possibly an imprecise use of the term.

 

How about "Transformers has never been approached as a labor of love by the higher-ups, even though some of those immediately involved in the creation process might have seen things differently"?

 

Another potentially more accurate description.

 

Personally, I believe there are times executive meddling can be good. For instance, I like that Marvel cut some of Joss Whedon's tangents in Age of Ultron. I believe Hasbro had some say in the first movie, like Optimus' voice and color scheme (if I recall correctly, Bay wanted him to be all blue). Unlike some people, I don't believe the director always knows best, and I don't believe movies are (or should be) a singular vision, I see them more as a group effort overseen by the director. There are certainly times that executive meddling can lead to poor decisions too. I think it just depends on the individual circumstance.

 

Executive meddling complaints in two of my least favorite Transformers media (IDW comics and Bayverse films). Well, okay then.

But seriously, most of the time that Hasbro gets involved, it's for the better, IMO. They have the strongest idea of what their property is and should be. It's when they take the hands off the wheel that things usually get stupid. The only time I can think of where Transformers benefitted from going off script was Beast Wars - but I think we're finding that to be a "best case/lighting in a bottle scenario" situation. Because almost every time since that Hasbro gives creators some slack since then - phffft!

 

"The fans want to see Venom." They said.

 

Meddling is what killed off a lot of the G1 line. They had this bright idea that kids only cared about the toys and wouldn't care if the characters would be killed off, including Optimus, and would like to see the hottest new toys. The writers tried to convince them that it would be a terrible idea, but Hasbro stuck to their decision.

To say it spectacularly backfired is a huge understatement

 

It backfired in the short term. In the long term, I'd argue it was one of the defining moments for today's old G1 fans that separated it from other TV shows and solidified the fandom.

 

That entire trilogy was shit, SM3 suffered from trying to put 2 movies into 1. It was still the same shit cinema as the first two, though. Thankfully they killed that series since it gave us Amazing Spider-Man.

 

ASM2 managed to be worse than Spiderman 3 and made every mistake that one did and then some, and ASM1 wasn't bad there was a lot of things that were annoying that kept me from liking it as much as the first two Raimi movies, while Spiderman 2 is both one of the best superhero movies out there and easily on the top of Spiderman movies, arguably the best(some would argue Spiderverse and Homecoming but it's hard to top 2)

I'd argue it was a hard lesson for Hasbro to learn as well as it was showed them that people do see these characters as more than just toys

 

If by top Spider-Man movies you mean inaccurate portrayals of the characters all the way around, then sure, it was the top.

ASM2's issues were simply two incredibly miscast actors as the villains. Past that, it still managed to keep the essence of ever character involved except Electro. There was no redeemable quality to Electro.

 

If only Disney would have realized Rian Johnson was an asshat earlier. Bay Abrams actually didn't botch Star Wars Ep7 like he did TF or Star Trek. If Ep9 sucks, I won't blame him, he was dealt a bad hand.

Hasbro higher-ups are morons for letting Bay run TF into the ground, wasted years on his nonsense. After the 2nd, or even 3rd, he should have been tossed out, replaced with somebody that understood story needs and designs needs (FOR TOYS! TOYS! HASBRO, THE TOY COMPANY!!!! ARGH! WTF?! That's why G1/G1esque toys sell, Bay toys are clearanced or simply do not exist.)

edit: Late night post, Abrams not Bay for SW/ST.

 

Bay had nothing to do with the production of Star Wars or Star Trek.

 

Years wasted making their company a shit ton of money in probably the longest 'hot' streak the brand has seen. It wasn't a hit with everyone (far from it), and it all came crashing down in the end, so while maybe you can blame them for not paying attention to the oncoming train, it's sort of hard to poo-poo business executives deciding to take a path that consistently made them boatloads of money for the better part of a decade.

Bay film toys (at least until the end of the era) DID sell, whatever else we want to say about them, or I wouldn't keep finding them all over my local thrift stores.

 

The way I see it there is good executive meddling that makes the franchise richer, like Pretenders, Headmasters, the 86 movie etc. And then there is bad meddling that makes the franchise poorer, like the dictatorial focus on the 84 cast since the Dreamwave days and on Bumblebee in particular.

 

Executive Meddling is a thing since business began. This franchise shouldn't be any different. Problem is, it took them too long to realize they needed to prevent it further with the movies. Bumblebee came pretty much 11 years too late.

Now, Hasbro has control of the film franchise, for the most part, and I'd imagine our feedback has been heard. Clearly, the movie worked because critics, as well as audiences and fans, liked it and it made money. Big money, considering the scale.

On the plus side, I'd say this EM worked in our favor because it just didn't pan out on the last try. It's a double-edged sword. It'll cut both ways and you better hope you're on the swinging end instead of receiving. It sucks, but it's a part of business and we just have to adapt to it. Besides, if we complain enough, our voices do finally get heard. On top of that, sometimes the EM gets blamed, but really it's all a smokescreen for those either writing, producing or directing the project wanting to do something they shouldn't probably do.

Killing off Optimus was a terrible idea to sell more new toys and designs, the complaints were heard and he returned and even got a new form. They learned from that. If you notice, he comes back awfully quick after biting the bullet because they know not to cross that line anymore.

 

This franchise has been built from day one on the idea of making money. If you think anything differently you are being delusional. Whether it's IDW trying to cash in on nostalgia or the popularity of the films or the original comics and television show existing solely to sell toys. Businesses thrive on making money, not warm and fuzzy feelings.

To be on topic, all the examples of Executive Meddling you listed were examples of why it helps. The only reason there is any passing resemblance between the films and the original property is because of such meddling, and why wouldn't you want the comics to tie into the generations figures? Why read a comic about a line of figures that doesn't actually exist as it's represented? It helps support both extensions of the property.

While it's true Executive Meddling can impair a creator's vision, but sometimes that's a good thing. Imagine if someone impaired Rian Johnson's vision of Star Wars. Imagine what kind of continuity we might have gotten if Exodus, War for Cybertron, and Prime all tied together like it was supposed to. Imagine if NuRID was made up to standard of Prime. If anything, Hasbro should be exercising more regulation.

Creative liberty is cool and all but some ideas are bad. Maybe Peter Parker shouldn't be gay. Maybe Steve Rogers shouldn't be black. Maybe Ghostbusters didn't need a big dance number. And maybe a live-action transformers film should have some passing resemblance to the source material.