Nezha: Transformers (franchise)

Nezha: Transformers (哪吒与变形金刚 Nézhā yǔ Biànxíng Jīngāng) is a franchise for the Chinese market, a joint effort between Hasbro and China Central Television (CCTV). The series combines the Transformers with the characters of the 2003 cartoon The Legend of Nezha, a previous CCTV production. The title character Nezha is a Chinese deity who, among other things, is a protector of commercial vehicle drivers.

Announced in 2017, with a staggered release in 2020 (sort of, see below), the franchise consists of:

• A televised cartoon
• A toyline

Nezha: Transformers follows the design and package styling of the Cyberverse series, including the character models for major Transformers characters, with multiple toys being repackaged as part of the toyline.

While intended for release in China, former Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner stated that broadcast stations around the globe had expressed interest in airing the show.<ref>Hasbro First Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call</ref> However, due to the show's production issues, it remains to be seen if the series will ever leave China in any capacity.

A line in limbo

Information about this line is incredibly sparse, as the franchise itself is incredibly sparse. While the franchise did see release, it exists in a very clearly incomplete state, one that may or may not be only just now getting back on track.

While a trailer for the cartoon was released in December 2019, the actual series was substantially delayed, with no news for nearly five years until the sudden unexpected announcement in August 2024 that it would begin airing soon, finally coming to fruition at the very end of 2025.

There have been only three toys released that aren't building-block-based toys or pre-existing Cyberverse toys... and even among the block-based toys, the overwhelming majority of those are based on Cyberverse characters. Nezha himself has less than a half-dozen products in total, and he was the only Nezha-original character to have any toy released at all for years. (And the other two only barely count given the circumstances of their release!)

Just what the hell happened to this series is an open question, and the "best" answer is "probably a ton of different things". The [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}COVID-19 pandemic|{{#if:||COVID-19 pandemic}}]] doubtlessly played a role, but we know from NOTRAB that the line was concepted as far back as 2013, including early plans for the cartoon,<ref>{{#if: 今晚是怀旧局，这部动画片终于上映了，这个动画片的启动是在12年前，这12年未曾间断，在几个上映的关键节点都因为意想不到的事情而延后，早期经手的孩之宝同事已经全部都离职了包括我。今晚的各种老同事微信群此起彼伏，回忆当年的事儿，虽然大家都有很大变化，虽然大家已不再年轻，但感觉又重新聚在了一起。今晚这个动画片我最后还是没看，因为我怕修改之后的故事改变我之前看到的最早期那一版的印象，虽然那一版永远也不会播出了，但对我来讲那个才是原汁原味的[心]#幸好还有玩具# |"今晚是怀旧局，这部动画片终于上映了，这个动画片的启动是在12年前，这12年未曾间断，在几个上映的关键节点都因为意想不到的事情而延后，早期经手的孩之宝同事已经全部都离职了包括我。今晚的各种老同事微信群此起彼伏，回忆当年的事儿，虽然大家都有很大变化，虽然大家已不再年轻，但感觉又重新聚在了一起。今晚这个动画片我最后还是没看，因为我怕修改之后的故事改变我之前看到的最早期那一版的印象，虽然那一版永远也不会播出了，但对我来讲那个才是原汁原味的[心]#幸好还有玩具#"—|}}{{#if: https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332 |NOTRAB|NOTRAB}}{{#if: Weibo |, Weibo|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2025 |, 2025{{#if: 12 |/{{#switch:{{#len:12}}|1=012|12}}{{#if: 6|/{{#switch:{{#len:6}}|1=06|6}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://m.weibo.cn/status/5241025287161332%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref> so that can't be all of it. Strained relations between the United States government and Chinese government during production is another possible stumbling block, especially given CCTV is a government-run entity. Series art director Walter Gatus later uploaded several pieces of cartoon production material to his website in 2025, including the original pilot, which completely lacked any appearance by the human protagonist Xiaozha; when combined with Xiaozha's absence in the original trailer and comments made by NOTRAB, it becomes clear that the delay (or one of them, at least) was due to the show being rebooted and reworked to make Xiaozha the story's focus. And of course, there's likely a lot of backroom deal production shenanigans that we will never be privy to. The fact the cartoon was actually released at all feels like nothing short of a damn miracle at this point.

Toy-wise, that so little product exists while so much of the rest of Transformers continued to chug along does bring into question the original scope of the line to begin with... though it is possible that the show's production delays mean we've only seen the stuff that was ready to go or cheap enough to produce at the time, with more planned product intended to follow along with the show when it finally airs, though no such announcements have yet been made since the show's premiere.

But again, it's likely we'll never actually know the whole story, or even most of the story.

References

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