It seems that every media company wants to create its own shared universes nowadays. No one cared when Marvel first started doing it but ever since the success of the MCU it has become a business model that everyone wants to replicate. The only issue is that creating a cohesive universe in movies is no easy task. Who’s to explain this to Hasbro who already has plans on making one with their toys. Here are essential details about Hasbro’s new Transformers Universe.
The Long Game
People at Hasbro have determined that they want to create a full universe with all their properties and not just transformers. Although, the Transformers have been the ones that succeeded in getting the most money from the box office. Still, Hasbro has other properties that have already made it to the theatres and that can be comparable with the Transformers universe. These properties include Battleships and G.I. Joe. If rumors are to be believed there are a lot more IPs that Hasbro is considering turning into movies.
Crossovers
It is still uncertain what this universe will look like but we are confident that Hasbro is determined to find a way out. They even set up a writer’s room some time back to make the entire thing work but it did not go well. With the new transformers’ sequels in the works, this idea may come back even stronger than before. We only hope to see some great crossover content soon.
A fresh start
The transformers’ universe came into existence with the original transformers movies. The entire thing became a thing of legend worldwide but soon the story got too complicated to follow. Then the studio made Bumblebee and showed us just how endearing this universe idea could be with a fresh start. We just hope that future movies learn from this one and show us the great possibilities of a shared universe.
The Animation connection
Even though Hasbro has been gearing up to create a shared cinematic universe they still seem to be focused on their animated content. While studios like Marvel choose to integrate every piece of media in the core franchise it seems that Hasbro wants to take a separate route. They plan to keep their animated universe completely separated from the cinematic universe as evidenced by the upcoming shows on Netflix. We only hope that it helps the company create the stories they want.
Michael Bye
The original Transformers trilogy was directed by Michael Bay, one of the directors infamous for shooting too many explosions. As things went on that universe and the trilogy it housed became a mess. The studio has hence decided to move away from the director, both literally and figuratively. They want to try a different brand of movie-making as evidenced by Bumblebee. We only hope they can stay on track long enough to make it work.
Slow and Steady
Unlike other studios creating a shared universe, Hasbro has been slow and steady about the entire universe creating project. They announce a single film and work on it until it is ready to be released. Whereas other companies usually have a 5/10 year plan in place, that is the idea of shared universes, to throw a big enough net. But I digress, it seems that Hasbro is much more content to make a single movie at a time and not worry about the entire thing too much though it is rumored that they have other projects in the works.
One Step After another
Hasbro has supposedly set itself in a rhythm. Even though the latest G.I. Joe movie tanked at the box office, the company is still releasing Snake Eyes and they are going to be following the same policy with Transformers. It seems they have understood that to properly establish a universe they have to create a lot of lore before they can get people excited. Marvel had over 60 years of comic history and Hasbro is now capitalizing on their iconic toys.
Loyalty pays off
The original Transformers movies were bad because of a very obvious reason. The utter disrespect of the source material in the movie was unreal. It felt like the filmmaker’s never bothered to watch the original series in a way to interpret the lore. The characters looked nothing like we remembered and the entire villain arc was completely weird. However, now the company has made it a point to focus on the source material so maybe we will get better movies.
Possible TV shows
Transformers became famous as an animated TV show before any other form of media. The toys suddenly had a whole other life and an ethos attached to them. Now, it is time to do something similar with the cinematic universe. Hasbro knows that they have a lot of audience on television the question is whether they can capitalize on this information.
Character focus
A big problem with the Michael Bay movies was that they focused too much on action and not enough on character development. I mean, we liked Megan Fox but she was easily replaced in the third movie. It is the same with the machines, although Optimus Prime got his time to shine as a mentor to Shea Lebouf, the rest of the team suffered from low screen time. We would really for the characters to be explored more.
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