Who owns transformers brand

Expand the sub menu Awards. Expand the sub menu Video. Expand the sub menu What to Hear. Expand the sub menu Digital. Expand the sub menu Theater. Expand the sub menu VIP. Expand the sub menu More Coverage. Expand the sub menu More Variety. Switch edition between U. Asia Global. To help keep your account secure, please log-in again. 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 , Hasbro had an even greater success with the original G. Joe toy designed by Don Levine, which caused Hassenfeld Bros. In , the company would change its name to "Hasbro Industries, Inc. Through a series of importing licenses and spin-offs, G. Joe ultimately led 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 At that time, Hasbro was employing the services of Marvel Comics and the advertising agency Griffin Bacal , who helped them come up with new marketing strategies and background stories for their toylines, including the revamped G.

In , Hasbro also bought out a competing toy company named Milton Bradley MB , which resulted in the merged company briefly assuming the name "Hasbro Bradley, Inc. S , and Battle Beasts — the latter eventually becoming closely if strangely related to Transformers. In , Hasbro bought out former competitor Tonka , and thus gained ownership of the names and character rights to Transformers s toy-aisle rival GoBots.

Since by that point in time Tonka already owned another former Hasbro competitor, Kenner , this acquisition also added Star Wars to Hasbro's portfolio. In the same year, Hasbro consolidated most of their international markets: Prior to this point, Hasbro subsidiaries such as the aforementioned Milton Bradley had still been responsible for distributing Transformers toys in some countries even though the toys' packaging had sported the name "Hasbro" since Those subsidiaries were officially restructured and given the parent companies' name in an attempt to establish "Hasbro" as a worldwide household name.

In Hasbro transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its Kenner subsidiary, then phased out the Kenner brand in In the new millennium, Hasbro, following Marvel 's example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company by starting a media producer, Hasbro Studios.

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.

It claims that the DC Bumblebee, a teenage girl with the ability to shrink, could easily be confused with the Autobot Bumblebee, reports variety. Hasbro has a lot riding on the Bumblebee character, set to star in the first Transformers spin-off, which is due in theatres on Christmas The company is now seeking to block the sales of Mattel's Bumblebee toy, which is part of the DC Super Hero Girls line of action figures.

Hasbro is also concerned about a Bumblebee Lego set. Bumblebee is one of the central heroes of the Transformers universe. Hasbro says that it began selling Bumblebee toys in and has been selling building-block toy sets with the Bumblebee brand since