Multi-property brand
A multi-property brand is a line of toys, with its own logo and (if successful) brand recognition, under which toys of characters and/or vehicles from several pre-existing properties, licensed or owned by the toy company, are produced. With rare exceptions, the brand has no characters of its own, but rather represents a play pattern such as construction toys or miniatures gaming under which any number of toy lines can co-exist. Transformers toys have been produced in a number of such lines, going back to Beast Wars, but more commonly in the 2000s with both contemporary and "classic" (Generation 1 and Beast Wars/Beast Machines, with the occasional oddball from Robots in Disguise) characters represented.
Brands
[edit]- Angry Birds Transformers
- Attacktix
- Built to Rule!
- Hero Mashers (the Star Wars and Jurassic World figures are sold under the same name, while Marvel Comics characters are sold as Super Hero Mashers)
- Kre-O
- MicroVerse
- MixMashers
- Playskool Heroes
- Speed Stars
- Tiny Tins
- Titan Heroes
- Titanium Series
- Transformers Collaborative
- Transformers: Crossovers (in several ways at once)
Borderline cases
[edit]- The Robot Heroes line sorta, kinda qualifies as well, insofar as it spans multiple Hasbro-owned brands and licenses, and has a uniform style and theme... except for the fact that it has no uniform name or logo. While the Transformers portion was named Robot Heroes, the Star Wars counterpart existed in various incarnations before finally ending up with the name Galactic Heroes; the Marvel version is named Superhero Squad, the Indiana Jones version is named Adventure Heroes, the Toy Story version is named Toy Chest Heroes, and the G.I. Joe version is named Combat Heroes.
- While not a "brand" per se, Hasbro released so-called "Ultimate Gift Sets" in 2011 that spanned the Transformers, Star Wars, Beyblade and Marvel Universe lines, with a second batch in 2012 that replaced Marvel Universe with The Amazing Spider-Man. All of them used a uniform "Ultimate Gift Set" logo.
- The Studio Series can be considered a "sister series" to Hasbro's Star Wars: The Black Series and Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years, which are based around a similar concept and feature a similar overall packaging design.
- Uglydolls was acquired by Hasbro as the master license of their toyline for the release of their 2019 movie, allowing a 2018 crossover with Transformers for San Diego Comic-Con, though the Uglydolls franchise has been crossed over with various non-Transformers franchises before this acquisition, including Star Trek and Hello Kitty.