Disney rumoured to be considering Hasbro purchase

[Dominic]

We so not have a dedicated rumour forum here, so "General Discussion" is likely the best place for this thread.


Lewis texted me a few minutes ago, letting me know that there are rumours that Disney is looking to buy Hasbro.

If true, this pretty well screws Mattel. But, who cares? (Their toys kind of suck anyway.)


What does this mean for TF?

The toys are likely to remain unchanged. They may even improve with Disney money behind them. (I really do not see them getting appreciably worse unless Disney lets pre-existing trends play out as they would with or without Disney influence.)

The movie license may get chaotic. But, Bay's run had as good an ending as anyone could expect with TF3, and I am not sure that anybody has any real attachment to the movies beyond "summer action flick". If Disney buys Hasbro, the lawyers can sort this out. That is hardly an issue for us.

The TF show is likely to get shuffled in to a Disney line-up. That cannot be worse than its time on Cartoon Network. And, Disney being a media company may actually help the show get more consistent production and distribution. If this happens, it could also make RiD available for distribution again.


My only worry is the comics. Disney owns Marvel, so they may not be willing to let a recognizable property like "Transformers" sit with a license holder like IDW....unless Disney also buys IDW (which is pretty unlikely). I may be in a minority, but I have generally been happy with IDW's handling of TF. I want them to keep that license.

I suppose that I could live with the property shifting back to Marvel if Disney kept the creative and editorial teams more or less intact. I want Furman/Wildman/Baskerville. I want Robert/Coller. Hell, I am willing to wish upon a star for a return by McCarthy. But, if Disney does buy Hasbro and take the comics license back, they might well put TF under some kind of "Marvel Adventures" banner. Van Lente and Tobin are not *bad* writers. But, any book by them (or similar writers) is likely to be a step down from most anything that IDW has published.


Dom
-what are the rest of you thinking?

[Shockwave]

That would also open the door for a Gargoyles/Transformers crossover. God help us if they decide to kill the franchise like they did with Gargoyles. If we'd actually gotten a full release of that show on DVD and they'd let the comic book run it's course, I would have better confidence.

[Dominic]

I just got an email from Chris Ryall. (I wrote him to tell him how much I generally liked IDW's TF comics.)

"Just a ridiculous rumor. Don't believe the Internet. "

My response: "Phew."


It looks like this is less than a ripple in the chamber pot.


Dom
-should consider a trip to the privy soon actually.

[Shockwave]

Where did you read this originally? I know some of us over on TFW were debating it in their GD, but nothing was ever officially stated that it was happening.

[Onslaught Six]

The rumour originally started on MTV.com, a reputable source if there ever was one. [/sarcasm]

In all seriousness, given the recent LucasFilm buyout, it's not unreasonable for there to have been ambient discussion of "who will Disney devour next," and Hasbro is arguably high up on the food chain. (Especially since they have the Star Wars license--I wonder what the status of that is now?)

[Dominic]

The buzz today is that it was all rumour.


Dom
-kinda relieved.

[Tigermegatron]

The buzz today is that it was all rumour.

Rumor has it Hasbro has denied this merger. but then again Hasbro often lies due to the rabid internet fan base forums out there.

Honestly,the TF francise has been going down hill ever since the movie verse happened. the number od awesome superb TF toys gets less every year. nowadays the current TF toys are more mediocre & most are not worth buying.

I don't seem the harm in disney buying out Hasbro. at best disney might get rid of the spawn type movie TF toy/media designs & bring us back to the softer TF toy/media designs that AEC had.

At the very least the Disney buy out of Hasbro might fire some incompetent/tools at Hasbro like Aaron archer & his staff.

Maybe the disney buy out of Hasbro will cancel out & void the TFCC/Fun pub botcon club/convention liscense

Having Disney purchase Hasbro would be huge on the media front. because Disney owns so many Cable networks. Disney could air the older & newer TF cartoons series on a dozen+ of the their networks. one of the numerous reasons TFP did badly in toy sales because it was being advertised via a cartoon series on a newe network called the hub. many don't get the hub due to it being on a higher tier pricing plan.

If the Disney+hasbro buy out happened. I don't think disney would mess with the IDW TF comics. because these days the comics industry is INVISBLE & not main stream. comics weren't even main stream in the 1980's. these days only older guys over 20 who are nerds or geeks buy comics.

[JediTricks]

Disney and Hasbro cannot outright lie in this matter, they are publicly traded companies and as such the federal Securities and Exchange Commission prevents them from lying in matters such as this because it would affect their stock prices (and in fact it has affected Hasbro's stock price already, up 2 points).

Hasbro would not be a smart buy for Disney, they currently pick and choose their merchandising manufacturers from pretty much everywhere and they keep it loose to allow change at any time. Hasbro doesn't have strong brands to exploit beyond toys - these TF movies are an anomaly and expected to fade soon enough - so you don't see GI Joe, Battleship, and their other brands performing at box office or even on TV right now, so there's nothing for Disney to buy there. Disney has never wanted to be in the manufacturing industry either. And now they've both said as much. So this rumor is probably going to fade out now.

[Tigermegatron]

Disney and Hasbro cannot outright lie in this matter, they are publicly traded companies and as such the federal Securities and Exchange Commission prevents them from lying in matters such as this because it would affect their stock prices (and in fact it has affected Hasbro's stock price already, up 2 points).

Hasbro would not be a smart buy for Disney, they currently pick and choose their merchandising manufacturers from pretty much everywhere and they keep it loose to allow change at any time. Hasbro doesn't have strong brands to exploit beyond toys - these TF movies are an anomaly and expected to fade soon enough - so you don't see GI Joe, Battleship, and their other brands performing at box office or even on TV right now, so there's nothing for Disney to buy there. Disney has never wanted to be in the manufacturing industry either. And now they've both said as much. So this rumor is probably going to fade out now.

I think Hasbro has way too much for one company to buy them out.

I can totally see one or a few companies buying out hasbro & each taking a piece of their properly. like milton bradely being bought out by another board game company. G.I Joe being bought out by todd mcfarlane,transformers being bought out by playmates or bandai. kreo being bought out by lego & so forth.

I honestly don't see why didney would want to buy Hasbro as they cater to different audiences. Hasbro is more hard core,while disney is more soft core.

If Hasbro were to ever be bought out by another company or go bankrupt/file chaper 11. I can totally see Takara taking back the global TF liscense & preventing other companies from using it. I can totally see Takara becomming like bandai & taking their brands global,meaning Tomy-Takara would start selling Transformers toys in America,Canada,UK,Austrailia & other countries. I just don't see Tomy-Takara taking newer TF toys/media instructions/advice from Disney or other companies like mattel,playmates or todd mc farlane.

[Onslaught Six]

It doesn't work like that though--Hasbro and Takara jointly own the TF stuff. Hasbro owns the characters and can pretty much do whatever they want with them. Takara only really helps with the toys and the media that's developed on their side of the pond. If Hasbro says, "Michael Bay is making a fourth movie," Takara just goes, "Well, I guess we have to make the toys, then."