If children spend all their time on their smartphones, then why are traditional kids’ brands like Transformers doing better than ever?
It used to be that toys were made and enjoyed solely by children. Parents might have appreciated them too, at least in passing, but they were only marketed and bought for kids. Over the years though that has slowly changed. Toys and memorabilia related to them, and popular movies, shows, and comic books, are now big business and the audience is split surprisingly evenly between adults and children.
Even for something like Transformers, which started out purely as a toy line for young boys, there are now adults of all ages ready to spend hundreds on ordinary toys and more expensive merchandise aimed purely at them. After all, Transformers celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and that means that anyone that grew up with them at their inception is now middle-aged and, if they’re lucky, has a fair amount of disposable income to spend on nostalgia.
For an American toy company like Hasbro that’s great news, because it means not only can they sell toys to children, but they can also tempt their parents with more expensive collector’s items. Since I’m a fan of the franchise, I recently took the chance to speak to Hasbro Senior Product Designer Evan Brooks, who revealed that for Transformers at least, the breakdown is half and half between adults and kids, and it’s been like that for longer than you might think.
‘It’s about a 50/50 split, which is fascinating because that’s what it’s been as long as I’ve worked here,’ Brooks told me. ‘And that’s absolutely normal [for modern toy lines], I think. We talk a lot with kids and adults alike, just about the love of Transformers.’
According to Brooks the idea that kids are not playing with toys anymore, but adults are, is not something that really affects Transformers, whose demographics have been relatively stable for a while now. ‘It doesn’t seem to be affecting us that much, no. It fluctuates year to year, depending on what new media we have out, but that’s all,’ he says.
‘It makes me think of something my father used to say, which is that adults never stop playing with toys. It’s just the form of the toy takes a different look, a different appearance. And I think some of us just never stopped, because… it’s fun. So why not?’
It’s easy for those with other interests to sneer at the concept of adults playing with toys but it’s not a niche business. Properties like Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and My Little Pony – not to mentioned licensed products like Star Wars and Ghostbusters – have become generational, with parents introducing them to their children and treating what was originally created as a disposable distraction as a legitimate cultural touchstone.
Lego (with which Hasbro has teamed up for an ongoing series of Transformers figures) may be a little easier to justify to non-believers, given the construction and design element, but franchises like Transformers inspire just as much creativity amongst fans, with online communities – that often meet up at global events like Botcon – creating endless amounts of artwork, videos, cosplay (much of which does actually transform), and even unofficial toys.
‘I think fandom is a wonderful thing, all kinds of different folks getting together to celebrate this thing that they love. It can make something feel timeless, especially when something like Transformers reboots and changes its continuity every couple of years, so you have so many different entry points for different people and they’re all valid,’ says Brooks.
For many, liking Transformers – or whatever their toy-related passion may be – is just a focus for social activities, like going to a sports event or music gig might be for someone else. But that’s not to diminish the pleasures offered by the toys themselves, whose design and construction celebrates a very tangible pleasure, which is often missing from the modern digital world, whether you’re an adult or a child.
‘They’re tactile, they’re a physical object. That’s the whole point,’ says Brooks. ‘Whenever I’m stressed, the original Masterpiece [a line of realistically detailed toys aimed purely at adults] Optimus Prime is always my go-to to transform, as a kind of stress relief; to the point where I have destroyed that thing’s poor legs.
‘I think that’s why this brand continues to exist and do well, is that they’re just fun to play with. And I think that’s always the goal if you’re making a good toy: it better be fun to play with.’
It’s endearing how much Brooks enjoys his job, as he talks about his interactions with fans on Instagram, where he’s treated as a minor celebrity.
‘Fans can message me questions and I will attempt to answer them when I can. But there’s so many of them now, it takes a while. But it is incredibly satisfying when they reach out and they’re just like, ‘Hey, this figure that you worked on, it’s one of my absolute favourites. I love it.’ It’s just nice making people happy,’ says Brooks.
As many a Star Wars actor will tell you, interacting with a passionate fanbase is not always a pleasure, but Transformers fandom is a peculiar beast, where no two people ever seem to appreciate the concept in quite the same way.
The original 80s cartoon is the focal point of US fandom, to the exclusion of even the original toys, but in the UK, where the cartoon was only shown in piecemeal at the time, the comics are generally viewed as more significant. Especially as here they featured locally created story and art that interweaved with reprints of the US comic books which, like the cartoon, were aimed at a slightly younger age group than the UK material.
That difference of perspective means that some characters, from the hundreds that have been created over the years, may be considered unimportant nobodies in one country but one of the most interesting in another.
‘Every character is somebody’s favourite, that’s what we always remind ourselves of. And that could be because of the comics or a show or because it was maybe a birthday gift from a parent or something like that. And that’s one of the reasons that we try to make sure we cover everything and everyone at some point.’
I try to tempt Brooks into considering toys of Death’s Head in his original green armour and Rack’n’Ruin (obscure, essentially UK comics-only characters) and he seemed to imply they may actually be possible, while also hinting at ‘working with our partners in London’ on something which turned out to be a transforming version of Battersea Power Station.
This schism amongst fans isn’t just a UK thing, as the situation is complicated further in Transformers’ homeland of Japan, where there were many characters and toys that weren’t released in the West at all. Although in Japan, where giant robots in general are a common pop culture currency, Transformers are generally viewed as somewhat unsophisticated, at least in terms of storytelling, compared to favourites such as Gundam and Evangelion.
The only thing most fans are likely to agree on is that the 1986 animated movie remains the pinnacle of Transformers media and that Soundwave (the evil Deception that transforms into a cassette player, that shoots transforming tapes from his chest) is really cool – even if their specific reasons for thinking that might differ.
Finding solidarity through difference and collaboration digs unexpectedly deep into the heart of Transformers as a franchise. The concept began with a Japanese toy line called Diaclone, made by Takara in the very early 80s. Hasbro made a deal to import them, and other similar transforming robot toys, and rebranded them all as The Transformers.
To do this they utilised Marvel Comics writer Bob Budiansky, to create the toys’ back stories and names – as well as the little bios on every toy box, that made them seem so alluring to kids back in the 80s.
You’d imagine that by now the licensing rights would have been subject to several bad-tempered legal battles and an immediate falling out, as soon as Transformers became a hit, but, surprisingly, that’s not what happened.
Takara merged with Japanese rival Tomy a few years ago but otherwise they maintain the same relationship as always with Hasbro, with the Americans handling the merchandise and marketing in the West but Takara still making the toys in Japan. Add in the UK’s input via the comics – the lore from which is the foundation for much of the modern movies and animated shows – and you have a truly global franchise.
‘Our relationship with Takara Tomy is rather unique,’ says Brooks. ‘We have daily emails back and forth, weekly night-time video calls, and travel back and forth to each other’s offices a few times a year. We decide on character selection together for our fan lines, each team making proposals and suggestions till we meet in the middle.’
‘The Hasbro designers, such as myself, and engineers then put together kick-off documents to send to the TT team. After that, the Takara Tomy designer sends the figure plan at various stages to us which we review and send back comments, suggestions, redlines – having a back and forth till both teams are happy with the figure.’
Transformers may be robots in disguise but the harmony of dissonance that is the fan community mirrors the example set by the toy line’s original two creators. In that context, the tagline informing you that Transformers are ‘more than meets the eye’ couldn’t be more true.
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