Writers Behind 'GI Joe' and 'Transformers' Comic on How Hasbro's Movie Plans Informed Their Universe

All in all, a pretty generic interview. Not much in terms of Hasbro CU contrary to what the title says.

 

awesome! i love it when multiple things combine!

 

Wait, so it was IDW's idea to copy the movies. No wait, it was Barber's own, I'm guessing. I recall he's already introduced movie concepts into his comic, and he did write for the movie tie-in and adaptation comics. It doesn't really effect me, since I'm no longer buying those comics, but I really thought this was part of a franchise-wide attempt by Hasbro to make every version of TF the same. After all, both Generations and RID15 have mini TF, and combiners, and the Joblo rumors said TF5 would have mini Dinobots. Now it seems Hasbro's scheme to drain out all variety isn't as large as I had thought.

 

*facepalm* I still think this is the dumbest idea ever. It's bad enough that DC are copying Marvel with the whole 'cinematic universe' shtick, but a Hasbro Cinematic Universe almost sounds like a joke. Their other properties just don't have the clout to merit that kind of shared movieverse. This is the most pathetic attempt at a cash grab.

 

It's all bs to attract investors.

 

I knew something like this was going on.

 

Hasbro can't even produce adult media their core fans actually enjoy when they AREN'T trying to weave together half a dozen franchises. This is a premature cashgrab, and I'm sorely disappointed that Barber is the source.

Marvel's universe works because they tell good stories with characters established and loved in their own film franchises, while the Bay movies are summer action flick dumpster fires. I could not care less about the majority of these franchises, either. Sincerely hope this won't have any great affect on the TF books, and I guess at this point a movie reboot is beyond the realm of possibility, since they'll be riding on their only movie franchise to sell the new ones.

 

Of COURSE it's a cash grab! They're businesses, they're in the business of making money. You don't have a lemonade sale on a hot summer day and not offer the adults a little vodka shooter to go with it. That's just wrong  

Honestly, I don't know if the Bay TF movies will be a part of the "HCU", as we'll call it, at this point in time. There would have to be some retconning, and they could do it, but I think they're going to focus on rebooting G.I. Joe, while adding ROM and MASK to the fold. They're STARTING the HCU, not adding to it or continuing it.

Down the line, we may get mentions of certain characters from the different brands intertwined into the movies. It may be something as simple as Lennox or Epps (or part of their team) having known or having something to do with one of the members of G.I. Joe, which would be an easy, subtle way of mixing them together without it being too convoluted.

This could work, if done the right way. We've already got new, better writers at the helm of the new projects for the TF cinematic universe, so they may be able to make it work. I sure hope so.

 

Exactly how I feel. If Transformers isn't a part of this, I don't care what they do. But if it is, they need to reboot G.I. Joe. Those two movies just aren't going to fit right with the Transformers movies.

The execution with this is going to be the key.

 

Nice to hear things are going as planned, I guess.

To be honest, I haven't read Revolution yet nor whether I can be bothered. I put all of that and TF on the back burner currently. But who knows? Maybe I'll check it out.

 

1. These other Hasbro properties have zero public interest beyond G.I. Joe. and that's just in the comics. When it comes to movies... I mean... can you see any of the lauded PG-13 crowd showing up for something called "Action Man"?

And yet...

2. If this forces a TF movie reboot with new talent writing, producing, and directing, I'm 1000% behind it.

 

Micronauts is a hard one to pitch as the idea's premise might get in the way of the play pattern, I can see how you can make a great toyline with a cartoon or a OK Movie with more Movie style Marvel Legends like figures - But I really can not see how a Microman/Micronauts play pattern would easily work with a General Audience Movie at all. PERHAPS ripping off Small Soldiers might work - but that is about it - and that would get ripped to pieces by critics if they tried that.

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As For M.A.S.K. I bet they'd try to Mad Maxify it and not leave it as it is/was. everything that was cool about it is kinda impossible to do short of it being a 1980's period piece and - Movies that do that tend to be parodies.

Simple practical problems pop up like if you put Thunderhawk in it what kinda of car is gonna be ?
How do you explain the existence of Anti-Gravity, Tractor beam rays, Energy Whips, Shrink rays and so on ?

Do I want to see Dusty Hays blow the doors off a Building or a car clean over with his Mask hell yes.
Do I trust hasbro to baby sit MASK to see it done properly - 'Nope'

I've seen the Convention Comic, I've seen the proposed Thundercats cartoon - I trust them as far as I can throw them - That said I don't think there is anyone who "Gets" M.A.S.K. - They could easily take one look at it at think it's a Scott & T-Bob Comedy show.

 

The issue is that Hasbro is downright terrible at making lemonade. Sometimes they use limes instead of lemons, or they leave the sugar out. Maybe there's a red hair in it, but the little girl has dark hair. Point is, they can't manage to tell a solid story with their individual brands, so it's entirely reasonable to expect a mash-up to go horribly wrong.

 

Here is a question : Is Transformers Robots in Disguise a Good cartoon (right got your answer)
Now regardless if you said yes or no to that.
Is Transformers : Robots in Disguise an appropriate sequel to Transformers Prime ?
Did your answer Change ?

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I suppose to be fair I should see how the new team that is behind the scenes at Hasbro working on The Last Knight has made a difference or not - heck know what it's going to look like so far - it seems like ET with a scooter robot and Elliot as a little girl sometimes to me.

If it's worse then - My confidence in a Hasbro Cinematic Universe would go down - if it's more of the same or better then - I'd expect that what ever Movies they make would be not worse than Gi Joe 2.

It might be Nice if they actually got to the Gi Joeing in Gi Joe Movies as there is an lot of almost getting to the point.

I feel a distinct lack of Hiss Tanks so far... Ironic as Captain America has something in that movie that may as well be a Hiss Tank.

Who knows though as Marvel Movies get more by the numbers perhaps Hasbro related movies might get more experimental ?

 

Hmmm maybe if they wanted to do crossovers with TF and another property, such as a GI Joe reboot, of MASK which fits right into the transforming thing, then it might be ok. I just think trying to cram everything in because they can will result in a bigger mess. Marvel and DC I can see the reasoning behind their CUs; their properties are by and large individual characters which all get brought together for team up movies or to have a supporting role in another's character's movie. but with Hasbro the properties they're talking about are team based to start with so trying to fit it all in, when it's all so different and doesn't necessarily mesh, seems a bit forced.

I mean a MASK or Visionaries movie would be great, I just don't see the need for them to come together.

 

Definitely this. I would gladly dump everything we've gotten before Transformers-wise to make it fit if it got rid of the current creative team, especially Bay.

 

I would eat crow in a heartbeat for this.

 

The problem is, just like in the comics, if they try and bolt on this RetCon, it's going to feel clunky/rediculous and not work (seriously, if you read the G.I. Joe books, which were by-and-large anywhere from Good-to-excellent for a good bulk of their run, their is just NO. POSSIBLE. WAY. to reconcile All Hail Megatron and pretty much every story to come thereafter with what happened on the Joe side of the fence ~ they really should have just brought the whole current IDW TF-verse to a wrap up with Titans Return story and had some kinda universe unraveling conclusion that could have set the stage for a clean reboot where they could have made a sensical shared universe, a concept i'm actually highly PRO them doing, just highly agains there "try and have our cake and eat it too" approach.

Marvel has worked (while so far everyone trying to emulate them has failed) because they took there time and did the hard back-end work to set up their Universe and seed connective tissue before bringing all together in their SIXTH movie. I feel like you can't cheat this if you want people to care.

Also, I'd really rather see this whole enterprise as a series of Netflix animations executed at a similar level to Voltron (and ala the Netflix Marvel shows): i think that could give you the space to breathe and make the worlds organically come together....