Toy Fair New York 2016 Coverage - Hasbro Webcast

While Seibertron.com was on its way to New York and the Javits Centre (and something slipped in the internet cracks), Toy Fair 2016 has already started for Hasbro and the Transformers brand! Tuning in to the investors webcast, we have collated below all of the relevant information for fans of the giant robot franchise, including all the relevant images from the presentation shown during the event.

Note: Opinions and statements expressed during webcast may not result in actual results. Photography not allowed.

First speaker is Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, repeating some of the information covered in the interview given in the past couple of days. Overall, good franchise revenues, despite Transformers decline.

Hasbro is intent on building on digital gaming - venturing for the first time into mobile gaming with Backflip’s Transformers: Earth Wars. More below.

Paramount: Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg are confirmed as returning for Transformers 5, which is set to be released on June 23rd 2017. No images, but more on all this below.
Multi-brand universe with Allspark Pictures: Micronauts, G.I. Joe, ROM the SpaceKnight, M.A.S.K., Visionaries.



Deb Thomas CFO - General investor and economy information.

John Frascotti - Hasbro Brands
The biggest share is among 12-17 year olds, but Hasbro also dedicated to special collections in the form of Star Wars Black Series, Marvel Legends, Transformers Generations, with the intention of connecting multiple generations of fans.
China Transformers Live show mentioned (more later)
Big focus was placed on the ‘modern fan survey’: identifying consumers from casual fan to superfan. Entertainment and storytelling are recognised as being crucial to the brands, fandom is not just about collecting the action figures.



Fans want to meaningfully participate - they feel a sense of ownership, loyalty, willingness to co-create, give feedback, participate in fan votes
Machinima Combiner Wars series mentioned, ‘short form entertainment’.



Digital Gaming - As above, big focus for future Hasbro strategies.
Social Reward trend driving gaming (2bn gamers in the world!)
Gaming, competing, sharing - particularly excited for the new Backflip partnership: Transformers Earth Wars.



Transformers - Tom Warner and Jared Wade
Rich history of the brand, ‘but we’re just getting started’.
Fans are acknowledged and recognised as crucial to the brand (30% of all consumers), and they make no distinction between movie year or non-movie year: 2015 proved that.
Trypticon, the fan-vote poll winner, will be featuring in comic series, digital series, and of course, as a toy.
Transformers are expanding online presence to Instagram, Snapchat, Weibo - and we can expect more convention presence from Hasbro around the world.
Entertainment expansion: Live show in Las Vegas, Roll Out album, IDW Publishing (150+ stories planned for 2016 already).
A brief segment on trend and licensed apparel, fashion week, more clothing and accessories to be seen.
Hasbro is meaning to expand global reach, with a specific focus on China in 2016, as they establish a new blueprint - which includes the CybertronCon presence and the live show.

Entertainment focusing on multiple age brackets (yet somehow still insisting on it being all just for male fans):
Rescue Bots: Season 4 (longest running animated show for Transformers!), new theme (Race to the Rescue), new Rescue Bot Quickshadow.
Robots in Disguise: Season 2 airs in March on Cartoon Network - re-introducing the Mini-COn Weaponizers theme and gimmick. They show Power Surge Optimus Prime and NAME, which has four modes of play, automorph with minicon interaction.
Older fans: Machinima animated series, 8 episodes, 7 minutes each - Windblade’s perspective, Starscream has Enigma of Combination, fan-built first female combiner Victorion (as overwhelmingly requested by fans) will also appear in series. It sounds like the story is very close to the IDW version.
Backflip - Transformers: Earth Wars is the first part of Prime Wars trilogy.
In Fall 2016, we will have Titans Return, the second part of Prime Wars trilogy, that starts where the story of Earth Wars ends, but with a specific toy line. They point out that Titan Masters figures are compatible across entire line, and Fort Max is in showroom at Toy Fair.
[Video shown in room, not via link]

As for the cinematic universe, they reiterate the importance of the writers’ room at Paramount, and confirm Transformers 5 release on 23rd June 2017. They also revealed a Bumblebee spin-off movie for 2018, and the next movie in the main series to appear in 2019. Deadline seem to be confused about this. I’d rather trust Hasbro on that matter.






That’s all for now! Stay tuned to Seibertron.com as we bring you updates throughout the whole weekend, including in person galleries, thoughts and more!