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[[Image:Hasbrologo.jpg|thumb|130px|right|Making the world transform.]]
[[Image:Hasbrologo.jpg|right|130px|thumb|Making the world transform.]]
'''Hasbro''' is a [[Toy|toy]] company, and owner of the [[Transformers brand|Transformers brand]] in most markets outside of Japan, where it is owned by [[TakaraTomy|TakaraTomy]].


'''Hasbro''' is a [[toy]] company, and owner of the [[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]].  You might have heard of it. The company went so far as to purchase advertising time for the toy on a newfangled invention called television.  You might have heard of that, too.


==History==
In 1964, Hasbro had an even greater success with the original [[G.I. Joe|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."
[[Image:Hasbrooldlogo.jpg|thumb|75px|left|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]].  You might have heard of it. The company went so far as to purchase advertising time for the toy on a newfangled invention called television.  You might have heard of that, too.
Through a series of importing licenses and spin-offs, G.I. Joe would ultimately lead to the [[Microman|Microman]] and [[Diaclone|Diaclone]] toylines by Japanese toymaker [[Takara|Takara]], which in turn would lead to Hasbro's release of the original Transformers toyline in 1984.


In 1964, Hasbro had an even greater success with the original [[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."
In 1984, Hasbro would also buy out a competing toy company named [[Milton Bradley|Milton Bradley]] (MB), which would result 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 manufacture the initial wave of [[Toy|Transformers toys]] to be released in Europe before the merger was completed. (See also: [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|Generation 1 Europe (toyline)]].)  Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as ''[[Visionaries|Visionaries]]'' and ''[[Battle Beasts|Battle Beasts]]''--the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to Transformers. 


Through a series of importing licenses and spin-offs, G.I. Joe would ultimately lead to the [[Microman]] and [[Diaclone]] toylines by Japanese toymaker [[Takara]], which in turn would lead to Hasbro's release of the original Transformers toyline in 1984.
In 1991, Hasbro bought out former competitor [[Tonka|Tonka]]. In 1995, Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its [[Kenner|Kenner]] subsidiary (which had previously been a subsidiary of Tonka), then phased out the Kenner brand in 2000.


In 1984, Hasbro would also buy out a competing toy company named [[Milton Bradley]] (MB), which whould result 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 manufacture the initial wave of [[toy|Transformers toys]] to be released in Europe before the merger was completed. (See also: [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)]].)
In the new millennium, Hasbro, following [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company. 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|G.I. Joe]]'' movie are both scheduled for a 2009 release, and a movie based on the successful board game ''Monopoly'' has also been confirmed.


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


==Hasbro today==
==Hasbro today==
===Employees===
====Corporate====
* [[Brian Goldner|Brian Goldner]], Chief Executive Officer
* [[Alfred J. Verrecchia|Alfred J. Verrecchia]], Chairman of the Board
===Boys' Toys===
* [[Samantha Lomow|Samantha Lomow]], Vice President of Marketing and Design
* [[Joe Kyde|Joe Kyde]], Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)
===Girls' Toys===
* [[Michelle Field|Michelle Field]], Director of Marketing


===Employees===
====''Transformers'' Brand====
* [[Brian Goldner]], Chief Executive Officer
=====Marketing=====
* [[Alfred J. Verrecchia]], Chairman of the Board
* [[Greg Lombardo|Greg Lombardo]], Sr. Director of Marketing
* [[Michael Vibede Vanting|Michael Vibede Vanting]], Global Brand Marketing Director
* [[Michael Ballog|Michael Ballog]], marketing
* [[Jared Jones|Jared Jones]], marketing
* [[Forest Lee|Forest Lee]], copywriting
 
=====Design=====
* [[Aaron Archer|Aaron Archer]], Sr. Design Director
* [[Eric Siebenaler|Eric Siebenaler]], Lead Designer
* [[Jared Wade|Jared Wade]], Design Director
* [[William Rawley|William Rawley]], Sr. Designer
* [[Vickie Stratford|Vickie Stratford]], Sr. Design Project Manager


====Boy's Toys====
===Hasbro's regional offices===
* [[Samantha Lomow]], Vice President of Marketing and Design
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|Canada]], Germany, the [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], [[France|France]], [[Australia|Australia]] and [[New Zealand|New Zealand]].
* [[Joe Kyde]], Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)


=====Transformers Brand=====
* [[Greg Lombardo]], Sr.Director of Marketing
* [[Aaron Archer]], Sr. Design Director
* [[Eric Siebenaler]], Lead Designer
* [[Jared Wade]], Design Director
* [[William Rawley]], Sr. Designer
* [[Vickie Stratford]], Sr. Design Project Manager


===Relationship with fandom===
===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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Alcoholism">parents</a>. 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:


[[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 subsist entirely of:


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


When they found the time to create and maintain a successful, celebrated franchise that was the basis of nearly 25 years of obsession and happiness for the exact same fans is unknown.
When they found the time to create and maintain a successful, celebrated franchise that was the basis of 25 years of obsession and happiness for the exact same fans is unknown.
 


===Questionable brand decisions===
===Questionable brand decisions===
* Hasbro now recognizes that abruptly and graphically killing off nearly all of the 1984-85 cast in the [[The Transformers: The Movie (1986)|animated movie]] was a mistake that hurt the brand.  They've learned their lesson, and now mostly kill relative [[Blackout (Movie)|nobodies]]. <sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup>


* Hasbro now recognizes that abruptly and graphically killing off nearly all of the 1984-85 cast in the [[The Transformers: The Movie (1986)|animated movie]] was a mistake that hurt the brand.  They've learned their lesson, and now mostly kill relative [[Blackout (Movie)|nobodies]]. <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>
* Hasbro was eager to make the move to [[Multilingual packaging|multilingual packaging]], and its representatives were always prepared with responses to fan complaints about how ugly and uninformative it was.  Then those representatives themselves noticed how ugly it was, so the packaging returned to normal.


* Hasbro was eager to make the move to [[multilingual packaging]], and its representatives were always prepared with responses to fan complaints about how ugly and uninformative it was.  Then those representatives themselves noticed how ugly it was, so the packaging returned to normal.
* At times, Hasbro has been willing to allow the broadcast of clearly incomplete or poorly-constructed [[Energon (cartoon)|advertising media]].


* 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|toy]] 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 glaring that the photos could be viewed as really bad representations of Hasbro's products... yet they are used in official advertising, including Hasbro's public website and even on the toys' packaging.


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
* The [[Decepticon]] [[Flamewar]] collects Hasbro memorabilia.
* The [[Decepticon|Decepticon]] [[Flamewar|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|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. &lt;sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"&gt;&lt;a href="#cite_note-1" title=""&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;


==Footnotes==
==Footnotes==
<references/>
&lt;ol class="references"&gt;&lt;li id="cite_note-0"&gt;[#cite_ref-0" title=""&gt;↑&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-06-28-transformers-main_n.htm USA Today: "Transformers: From Toy Story to Serious Art?"]
&lt;li id="cite_note-1"&gt;[#cite_ref-1" title=""&gt;↑&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2186879&amp;postcount=171 Roberto Orci posting at TFW2005.com]&lt;/ol&gt;
==External Links==
*[http://www.hasbro.com/ Hasbro's official website]
*[http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/ Hasbro's official ''Transformers'' website]


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


[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category: Hasbro| ]]
[[Category:Hasbro]]

Revision as of 06:49, 19 March 2009

Making the world transform.

Hasbro is a toy company, and owner of the Transformers brand in most markets outside of Japan, where it is owned by TakaraTomy.

History

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 Mr. Potato Head. You might have heard of it. The company went so far as to purchase advertising time for the toy on a newfangled invention called television. You might have heard of that, too.

In 1964, Hasbro had an even greater success with the original 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 would ultimately lead to the Microman and Diaclone toylines by Japanese toymaker Takara, which in turn would lead to Hasbro's release of the original Transformers toyline in 1984.

In 1984, Hasbro would also buy out a competing toy company named Milton Bradley (MB), which would result 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 manufacture the initial wave of Transformers toys to be released in Europe before the merger was completed. (See also: Generation 1 Europe (toyline).) Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as Visionaries and Battle Beasts--the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to Transformers.

In 1991, Hasbro bought out former competitor Tonka. In 1995, Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its Kenner subsidiary (which had previously been a subsidiary of Tonka), then phased out the Kenner brand in 2000.

In the new millennium, Hasbro, following Marvel's example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company. 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 movie was the first of those feature films. The sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and a G.I. Joe movie are both scheduled for a 2009 release, and a movie based on the successful board game Monopoly has also been confirmed.


Hasbro today

Employees

Corporate

Boys' Toys

Girls' Toys

Transformers Brand

Marketing
Design

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, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand.


Relationship with fandom

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's relationship with Hasbro is as paradoxical and confusing as our relationships with our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Alcoholism">parents</a>. 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:


When they found the time to create and maintain a successful, celebrated franchise that was the basis of 25 years of obsession and happiness for the exact same fans is unknown.


Questionable brand decisions

  • Hasbro now recognizes that abruptly and graphically killing off nearly all of the 1984-85 cast in the animated movie was a mistake that hurt the brand. They've learned their lesson, and now mostly kill relative nobodies. <sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup>
  • Hasbro was eager to make the move to multilingual packaging, and its representatives were always prepared with responses to fan complaints about how ugly and uninformative it was. Then those representatives themselves noticed how ugly it was, so the packaging returned to normal.
  • At times, Hasbro has been willing to allow the broadcast of clearly incomplete or poorly-constructed advertising media.
  • Hasbro often have their official promotional toy 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 glaring that the photos could be viewed as really bad representations of Hasbro's products... yet they are used in official advertising, including Hasbro's public website and even on the toys' packaging.

Trivia

Footnotes

<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-0">[#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-06-28-transformers-main_n.htm USA Today: "Transformers: From Toy Story to Serious Art?"] <li id="cite_note-1">[#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2186879&postcount=171 Roberto Orci posting at TFW2005.com]</ol>

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