Hasbro

2011-11-11T19:37:03Z

99.137.49.26: /* History */

[[Image:Hasbrologo.jpg|right|130px|thumb|Making the world transform. (Well, apart from Japan, [[TakaraTomy|these guys]] handle that.)]]
'''Hasbro''' is a [[toy]] company, and owner of the [[Transformers brand|''Transformers'' brand]] in most markets outside of Japan, where it is owned by [[TakaraTomy]].

==History==
[[Image:Hasbrooldlogo.jpg|left|75px|thumb|Siamese twins at home.]]

Hasbro was originally founded in [[1923]] as "Hassenfeld Brothers" by brothers Henry and Helal Hassenfeld from Rhode Island. The company originally sold textile remnants, but soon moved into manufacturing pencil boxes and school supplies.
In [[1952]], Hasbro first rose to fame with a little toy called [[Optimash Prime|''Mr. Potato Head'']]. The company went so far as to purchase advertising time for the toy on a newfangled invention at the time, called television.

In [[1964]], Hasbro had an even greater success with the original ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' toy designed by Don Levine, which caused Hassenfeld Bros. to grow to be one of the largest toy companies in the USA. In [[1968]], the company would change its name to "Hasbro Industries, Inc."

Through a series of importing licenses and spin-offs, G.I. Joe ultimately led to the ''[[Microman]]'' and ''[[Diaclone]]'' toylines by Japanese toymaker [[TakaraTomy|Takara]], which in turn would lead to Hasbro's release of the original ''Transformers'' toyline in [[1984]]. At that time, Hasbro was employing the services of [[Marvel Comics]] and the advertising agency [[Griffin Bacal]], who helped them come up with new marketing strategies and background stories for their toylines, including the revamped ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' and ''[[Generation 1 (franchise)|The Transformers]]''.

In 1984, Hasbro also bought out a competing toy company named [[Milton Bradley]] (MB), which resulted in the merged company briefly assuming the name "Hasbro Bradley, Inc." After the merger was completed, the company changed its name into simply "Hasbro, Inc." Milton Bradley's European facilities would also be used to distribute the initial wave of [[Toy|''Transformers'' toys]] to be [[Generation 1 (European toyline)|released in Europe]] before the merger was completed. Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as ''[[Visionaries]]'', ''[[My Little Pony]]'', ''[[Inhumanoids|Inhumanoids]]'', ''[[Robotix]]'', ''[[Jem]]'', and ''[[Beastformer|Battle Beasts]]'' — the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to ''Transformers''.

In [[1991]], Hasbro bought out former competitor [[Tonka]]—which by that point in time already owned another former Hasbro competitor, [[Kenner]], meaning that this acquisition added ''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]]'' to Hasbro's product portfolio. In the same year, Hasbro consolidated most of their international markets: Prior to this point, Hasbro subsidiaries such as the aforementioned Milton Bradley had still been responsible for distributing ''Transformers'' toys in some countries (even though the toys' packaging had sported the name "Hasbro" since [[1986]]). Those subsidiaries were officially restructured and given the parent companies' name in an attempt to establish "Hasbro" as a worldwide household name.

In [[1995]] Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the ''Transformers'' franchise to its Kenner subsidiary, then phased out the Kenner brand in [[2000]].

In the new millennium, Hasbro, following [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company, [[Hasbro Studios]]. Instead of merely commissioning animated TV shows as advertising vehicles for their toys, Hasbro licenses its brands to [[Hollywood]] studios, which turn them into big budget blockbuster movies, using the toys' established household names as a marketing appeal. [[2007]]'s ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]'' movie was the first of those feature films. The sequel, ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', and a ''[[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]'' movie were both released in [[2009]], and movies based on the successful board game ''Monopoly'' and [[Kenner]]'s old ''Stretch Armstrong'' toy have also been confirmed. Hasbro believes that their new "the movie of the toy" strategy will be more lucrative than the old "the toy of the movie" concept, which involves hefty licensing fees.<ref name="brandweek">[http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db20090611_333306.htm Brandweek article on Hasbro's new movie-related business strategy]</ref>

==Hasbro today==
===Employees===
====Corporate====
* [[Brian Goldner]], Chief Executive Officer
* [[Alfred J. Verrecchia]], Chairman of the Board
* [[Aaron Archer]], Vice President of Intellectual Property Development, Creative Director of ''Transformers''

===Boys' Toys===
* [[Samantha Lomow]], Global Brand Leader, Vice President of Marketing and Design for ''Transformers''
* [[Vickie Stratford]], formerly Sr. Design Project Manager for ''Transformers'', transferred to the ''Star Wars'' brand as its head of design(?)
* [[Steve Bono]], Design Manager, ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Action Man''
* [[Eric Siebenaler]], formerly Senior Product Designer for ''Transformers'', transferred to the ''Star Wars'' brand

===Girls' Toys===
* [[Michelle Field]], formerly Director of Marketing for ''Transformers'' and boys toys, now Sr. Director of Marketing for girls's toys

===Toys for everyone!===
* [[Jared Wade]], formerly Director of Global Product Design for ''Transformers'', transferred to the ''Sesame Street'' brand
* [[Brian Wilk]], formerly Design Director for ''Transformers'', transferred to the ''Playskool'' brand
* [[Greg Lombardo]], formerly Sr. Director of Global Marketing for ''Transformers'', transferred to the ''Playdoh'' brand

===''Transformers'' Brand===
====Marketing====
* [[Michael Vibede Vanting]], Global Brand Marketing Director
* [[Kristin Hamilton]], international marketing
* [[Michael Ballog]], marketing
* [[Jared Jones]], marketing
* [[Matthew Proulx]], marketing
* [[Forest Lee]], copywriting

====Design====
(in alphabetical order)
* [[Brian Chapman]], Head of Design, Global toy/game/IP
* [[Joe Kyde]], Designer
* [[Lenny Panzica]], product designer
* [[Michelino Paolino]]
* [[Todd Patrick]], packaging design
* [[Bill Rawley|William Rawley]], Senior Product Designer
* [[Alan Roach]]

===Hasbro's regional offices===
Hasbro has smaller offices all around the world, who are not involved in the production of toys, but rather take care of the customer relationships and marketing in their local regions. Known locations of local offices include Denmark (covering the whole nordic region), [[Canada]], [[Germany]] (responsible for the distribution in continental Europe), the [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].

===Relationship with fandom===
[[Image:Hasbrotour-fleshlesskitty.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Hasbro showed they love the fans by giving a tour of their offices during BotCon 2007. Hasbro showed they hate the fans by including this!]]

[[Fandom|Fandom's]] relationship with Hasbro is as paradoxical and confusing as our relationships with our [[wikipedia:Alcoholism|parents]]. They are an incredible source of joy and happiness, as well as the focal point of rage and blame for pretty much everyone in the Transformers community. To much of the fandom, Hasbro's actual involvement in the Transformers franchise is rarely acknowledged when not negative. Many view their activities to consist entirely of:

* [[Thundercracker (G1)#Timelines|Slapping fans in the face]].
* [[Trukk not munky|Getting things all wrong]].
* [[For safety reasons|Screwing up Takara's toys]].
* [[Redeco|Being lazy]].
* [[To sell toys|Trying to make money]].
* [[Ruined FOREVER|Ruining everything forever]].

When they found the time to create and maintain a successful, celebrated franchise that was the basis of 26 years of obsession and happiness for the exact same fans is unknown.

===Questionable brand decisions===
* In the early days of the ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' line's run, Hasbro was entirely focused on "product" and viewed the attached fiction as a mere marketing tool. As a consequence, they viewed "[[character]]s" as easily replacable, and their strategy at that time can be summed up as "new toys, new characters". Hasbro certainly didn't anticipate the audience actually to attach to the characters featured in the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|television show]], and were utterly surprised by the fan backlash after nearly all of the 1984-85 cast had been graphically killed off in the [[The Transformers: The Movie|animated movie]] and replaced by newly introduced characters. Hasbro now recognizes that this move was a mistake that hurt the brand.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-06-28-transformers-main_n.htm USA Today: "Transformers: From Toy Story to Serious Art?"]</ref> In Hasbro's defense, though, it needs to be pointed out that this wasn't a flawed approach unique to them, as the importance of recognizable characters for the public image of a brand was a novel concept to the toy industry as a whole at that time. Hasbro has learned their lesson, and now [[Jazz (Movie)|mostly]] kill relative [[Blackout (Movie)|nobodies]], and rely a lot more heavily on recurring, recognizable characters across their various toylines and the corresponding fiction.

* Hasbro's corporate executives were eager to make the move to [[multilingual packaging]] for the United States market to save money, forcing that decision upon their ''Transformers'' staff. Although representatives were prepared with responses to fan complaints about how ugly and uninformative it was, the design team eventually managed to convince their higher-ups how ugly it was, so the US packaging returned to normal.<ref name="botcon2005">[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/0cd6f0724b39615f?dmode=source&output=gplain Steve-o's 2005 BotCon Report]</ref>

* At times, Hasbro has been willing to allow the broadcast of clearly incomplete or poorly-constructed [[Energon (cartoon)|advertising media]].

* Hasbro often have their official promotional [[toy]] [[stock photography]] done by people (both internal and outsourced third party photo studios) who have a tendency to display the toys in awkwardly mistransformed states, sometimes so glaringly incorrect that the photos could be viewed as detrimental representations of Hasbro's products... yet they are used in official advertising, including Hasbro's public website and even on the toys' packaging. Reportedly, Hasbro has recently decided to send a member of the design team (at least an intern) along to the photo studio to transform and pose the toys properly.

* As the toys became more and more complex, Hasbro's official toy [[instructions]] became less and less helpful. Written directions were omitted entirely in favor of pictures-only instructions with the launch of the ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada]]'' line in 2002, and those pictures-only instructions have a tendency to omit useful steps, are sometimes unclear on vital details, and might occasionally be based on early [[prototype]]s that [[design change|differ from the final toy]], thereby including transformation steps that aren't ''possible'' with the toy in hand. ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] even recycled the instructions from his [[mold]]-mate [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]], even though Sideswipe was supposed to use an alternate transformation as compared to Sunstreaker.

* In the lead up to the [[Transformers (2007)|2007 live-action movie]], to deal with the expected international audience for both the movie and the accompanying toys, Hasbro started to redirect visitors of their official ''Transformers'' website to localized versions of the site based upon their IPs. However, it was obvious that Hasbro's interest in their international markets was rather marginal, as demonstrated by the fact that many of these international localised sites were rarely updated, if at all; and if they were, the updates were still marginal, and the product lists remained incomplete. To the frustration of non-American fans, clicking any links to the US version of the site resulted in the user being automatically redirected to their outdated localized versions. Even bugs that allowed users to circumvent the redirect were eventually "fixed" in favor of an even more aggressive redirect. This was ''finally'' resolved for good in 2009, with the addition of a US-specific website URL that doesn't redirect anyone anywhere anymore.

* The somewhat more "mature" tone of the live action movies, [[Transformers (2007)|''Transformers'' (2007)]] and ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', especially the crude, often sexually-themed humor displayed in both films, has been the center of much controversy. In particular, a lobbyist group named the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood repeatedly tried to lobby the Federal Communications Commission into tightening regulations for marketing movies rated "PG-13" and [[Movie (toyline)|associated]] [[Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|merchandise]] to children.<ref name="fccfilter">[http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/08/transformers-movies-get-caught-in-fcc-content-filtering-inquiry.ars Ars Technica article on the CCFC/FCC story.]</ref> Hasbro themselves appear to be still undecided about their official position regarding the more "mature" tone of the movies and its ramifications for the [[Transformers brand|brand's]] public image, having left several questions to this effect unanswered.<ref name="allsparkqa">[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61539 July/August 2009 edition] of the Allspark [[Hasbro Q&A]]</ref><ref name="tformersqa">[http://tformers.com/transformers-hasbro-answers-your-burning-questions-part-v/12149/news.html July/August 2009 edition] of the TFormers Hasbro Q&A]</ref>

==Home video==
{{factions/body|vhs|dvd|worldwide}}
Hasbro has produced some home video releases as part of their marketing strategies. The earliest of these were VHS tapes of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' packed with ''Beast Wars'' toys. Subsequently, two different ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'' tapes, along with another ''Beast Wars'' tape, were produced as giveaways for [[KB Toys]] promotions wherein you would get a free tape for purchasing ''Beast Machines'' toys. The promotions were not terribly successful, leading to leftover tapes being disposed of in various ways including being sold by themselves. The last VHS tape bundled with a toy held the first two episodes of the [[Go-Bots (cartoon)|''Go-Bots'' cartoon]] and came with a [[Speed-Bot]] toy. Since then, Hasbro has produced a variety of [[Pack-in_material#CD-ROMs_and_DVDs|pack-in DVDs]].

===Releases===
;VHS
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Aftermath]]''' & '''[[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)]]''' (1998, packed with [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] or [[Razorclaw (BW)|Razorclaw]])
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Aftermath]]''' (1998, UK exclusive [[Claw Jaw]] pack-in)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)]]''' (1998, UK exclusive [[Spittor (BW)|Spittor]] pack-in)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Bad Spark]]''' & '''[[Code of Hero]]''' (1999)
* '''''Beast Machines: Transformers''''' — '''[[The Reformatting]]''' & '''[[Master of the House]]''' (1999)
* '''''Beast Machines: Transformers: Battle for the Spark''''' — '''[[Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike|Sparkwar Part I: The Strike]]''' (2000)
* '''''Go-Bots''''' — '''[[Typhoon Twister]]''' & '''[[Arctic Oil Spill]]''' (2003, packed with the Video Go-Bot edition of [[Speed-Bot]])
<center><gallery>
Image:Hasbro BW Combo 1 VHS.jpg|The Aftermath & Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)
Image:Hasbro BW Aftermath VHS.jpg|The Aftermath
Image:Hasbro BW Fuzors VHS.jpg|Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)
Image:Hasbro BW Combo 2 VHS.jpg|Bad Spark & Code of Hero
Image:Hasbro BM Combo VHS.jpg|The Reformatting & Master of the House
Image:Hasbro BM Sparkwar VHS.jpg|Sparkwar Part I: The Strike
Image:PlayskoolGo-BotsVHSCover.jpg|Typhoon Twister & Arctic Oil Spill
</gallery></center>

;DVD
===[[Transformers: Beast Wars 10th Anniversary]] ===
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Equal Measures]]''' (with [[Cheetor (BW)/toys#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Cheetor]])(2006)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[A Better Mousetrap]]''' (with [[Rattrap#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Rattrap]])(2006)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[The Spark]]''' (with [[Rhinox (BW)#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Rhinox]])(2006)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Spider's Game]]''' (with [[Tarantulas (BW)#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Predacon Tarantulus]])(2006)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Possession]]''' (with [[Waspinator (BW)#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Waspinator]] or [[Optimus Primal/toys#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Optimus Primal]] vs. [[Megatron (BW)/toys#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Megatron]])(2006)
* '''''Beast Wars: Transformers''''' — '''[[Code of Hero]]''' (with [[Dinobot (BW)#Beast_Wars_10th_Anniversary|Dinobot]])(2006)

=== Others ===
* '''''[[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Transformers: Cybertron]]''''' — '''[[Hidden]]''' (2006)
* '''''[[Optimus Prime vs Megatron: The Ultimate Battle]]''''' (2006)
* '''''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]]''''' — '''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)/home_video#Pack-in_disc|The Battle Begins]]''' (2008)
* '''''[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The Transformers]]''''' — '''[[More than Meets the Eye (episode)|More than Meets the Eye]]''' (2008)
<center><gallery>
Image:Hidden DVD.jpg|Hidden
Image:Ultimate Battle DVD.jpg|The Ultimate Battle
Image:Animated Battle Begins DVD.jpg|The Battle Begins
Image:25th Optimus MTMTE DVD.jpg|More than Meets the Eye
</gallery></center>
{{-}}

==Notes==
* The [[Decepticon]] [[Flamewar]] collects Hasbro memorabilia.
* Hasbro isn't all about [[To sell toys|selling toys]] and making money. According to [[Transformers (2007)|''Transformers'' live-action movie]] writer [[Roberto Orci]], some at Hasbro argued against updating some returning characters in ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', so that parents would '''not''' have to buy the same toy twice for their children just because of a minor change or modification to the characters' designs. <ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2186879&postcount=171 Roberto Orci posting at TFW2005.com]</ref> (We will just point out now that they ''still did that''.)
* According to Hasbro Australia representatives and designer [[Eric Siebenaler]], all of the Transformers toys jointly developed between Hasbro and Takara/TakaraTomy are manufactured at factories contracted to the Japanese toy company. This means Takara is indirectly responsible for whatever [[quality control]] problems you have been having with your toys, so you can stop complaining about it being entirely Hasbro's fault.
* Hasbro is the patron of the [http://www.lifespan.org/hch/about/ Hasbro Children's Hospital]. See [[Toy Fair 1986#Transformers Fan Community Charity Drive|here]] for how the [[fandom]] contributed to it in 2010.
* In 2008, Hasbro purchased all rights to the library of Sunbow programming based on the toy company's brands, including the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|American Generation One ''Transformers'' cartoon]] and international rights to most of the televised Japanese Generation One canon.
{{-}}

==See also==
*[[The Hub]]

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.hasbro.com/ Hasbro's official website]
*[http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/ Hasbro's official ''Transformers'' website]

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