Joe Kyde
| The name or term "Joe" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Joe (disambiguation). |
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kyde (born 1980) is a former Hasbro employee who last held the job title Product Designer, designing Transformers toys across multiple brand segments. He started as an Associate Designer in charge of store-exclusive product for the G.I. Joe and Transformers brands. He had previously done color layouts for many Transformers toys.
He began an internship with Hasbro in 2002, doing design work and color layouts for many Transformers toys as both an intern and freelance designer. He was hired at Hasbro full-time in 2007 as an Associate Designer in charge of store-exclusive product for the G.I. Joe and Transformers brands. By 2009, he had moved on to full Transformers toy design, contributing to the Hunt for the Decepticons/Reveal the Shield, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, and Generations toylines. He would go on to become the lead designer of both the Cyberverse and Generations toyline! If you like Springer, thank him.
After leaving Hasbro, he became a Senior Designer for The LEGO Group in Denmark. In 2022, his then and former jobs crossed paths when he got the opportunity to design the official LEGO Optimus Prime figure.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
- Photos of Cybertron Nemesis Breaker, Metroplex and Menasor in packaging, including the bios from the back of the packaging.[1]
- A color guide for Cybertron Deluxe Class Smokescreen, information about the Cybertron Mudflap redeco (aka Landslide) being canceled in favor of a Vector Prime redeco (aka "Galaxy Force Vector Prime"), information about Classics Optimus Prime only being available as a Voyager without a trailer (contrary to previously revealed information from other sources),[2] and his blasters transforming into parts of his vehicle mode.[3]
- A color guide for a new Alternators version of Megatron as an M1 Abrams main battle tank.[4]
- A color guide for Classics Grimlock.[5]
- Photos of the Cybertron "Galaxy Force Vector Prime" redeco in packaging.[6]
- Photos of Classics Voyager Megatron in and out of packaging.[7]
The one that stands out among these is the M1 Abrams Megatron color guide, a toy that was never released... and never intended for release to begin with. At BotCon 2006, Hasbro representatives stated that it was a "fanmade experiment by one of their friends outside the company" who "wanted to see what would happen in the fan community if he tried to make it look like Hasbro's color guides".[8] It was later revealed that the whole thing was actually intended for Joe Kyde's senior capstone project to "disseminate hoax information", conducted with Hasbro's approval.[9] It's unclear whether "SAGE2764" was actually Kyde himself or just someone acting on his behalf. Kyde only ambiguously commented on that question by stating that he knew "how to get stuff out there". He would later homage "SAGE2764" by using the name for Movie Deluxe Class Recon Barricade's license plate, and again with Revenge of the Fallen Decepticon Bludgeon from the "Master of Metallikato" two-pack, who sported "KN-2764" tampographs. Bizarrely, Vehicon from the Age of Extinction Platinum Edition "Breakout Battle" multi-pack, a toy whose deco was presumably designed long after Joe Kyde had left Hasbro, sports "2764-K-03" markings.
Notes
- Kyde decoed every version of the 2007 Transformers movie Voyager Class Starscream sculpt except the Toshiba-exclusive "Vardia Red" version.
- His favorite Transformer is Swerve
External links
- Joe Kyde's Transformers.com design notes for the Walmart-exclusive Deluxe class Movie figures at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
- Joe Kyde's Transformers.com design notes for the TRU-exclusive Ultra and Voyager class Movie figures at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Footnotes
- ↑ "More Metroplex, Nemesis Breaker & Menasor Photos" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ Rumor about the Classics lineup that turned out to be spot on aside from Voyager Soundwave and Deluxe Optimus Prime.
- ↑ "Cybertron Crosswise Redeco and Transformers Classics Info" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ "Unknown Megatron Drawing: Possible Movie Design?" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ "Possible Classics Grimlock Color Guide" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ "More Images Of Cybertron Galaxy Force Vector Prime" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ "New Pictures of Classics Megatron" (via "SAGE2764")
- ↑ BotCon 2006 Hasbro Product Panel notes
- ↑ "Capstone project" on Joe Kyde's portfolio
