Hasbro Investor Day 2021 Reveals Two New Cartoons

Today was Hasbro Investor Day event where they announce their results from previous quarter while also providing some info on their future plans. On the Transformers front that includes 2 new cartoons series. Allspark has provided a nice summary of the entire event but here is the Transformers specific parts. If could sum up future plans for Transformers, it really comes out seeming like a whole lot of "Beast Wars" inspired content. 

Transformers 

- Feature film in partnership with Paramount slated for summer 2022. 

- New animated full-length feature film in development. 

- War for Cybertron: Kingdom to be released July 2021 on Netflix

- Transformers: BotBots, a new 20-episode animated comedy series at Netflix. 

- New 26-episode cartoon series on Nickelodeon.

The feature film refers to Transformers 7 that may or may not be called Transformers: Beast Alliance that will be directed Steven Caple Jr (Creed II) and could be a heist type film. The animated film has long been rumored to be an origin story of the Transformers civil war which has been touched on in War for Cybertron and sorta being told sorta in the current IDW reboot Transformers story. Considering how heavy War for Cybertron: Kingdom toy line is with Beast Wars characters, I assume its going to act as a kind of reintroduction of those characters, useful if the live action movie plans on using them too. 

 As for the Nickelodeon cartoon series, it sounds like its their plan to replace the Cyberverse line of toys. The series is being described as about found family but for Transformers' fans the key bit is "a new species of Transformers must find their place and purpose among Autobots, Decepticons, and the human family that adopts them". Again this sounds a whole lot like "Beast Wars" type characters since likely have to be human size or smaller and not part of the traditional 2 factions. 

 Portion of Nickelodeon Cartoon Press Release:

Nickelodeon, the number-one network for kids, and Hasbro’s Entertainment One (eOne) have partnered to co-produce an original animated Transformers series (26 half-hour episodes), based on the iconic global property. In the action-comedy series, a new species of Transformers must find their place and purpose among Autobots, Decepticons, and the human family that adopts them. The series will premiere exclusively on Nickelodeon in the U.S. before rolling out internationally.

“As soon as I read the creative concept, which at its core is about family, I knew we absolutely had to tell this story with our good friends at eOne and Hasbro,” said Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation. “The series will tell a reimagined story featuring both original characters and fan-favorites for a whole new generation of kids and families. The creative team at Nick, overseen by Claudia Spinelli, SVP of Animation Development, can’t wait to get started on building this new world.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Nickelodeon to expand the Transformers animated universe and bring an all-new more than meets the eye story to life,” said Olivier Dumont, eOne’s President of Family Brands. “This new series is a fresh creative take on the brand, which will excite longtime fans around the world and soon to be fans alike, all being introduced to the robots in disguise by an A list creative team led by eOne’s Mikiel Houser .”

The all-new animated Transformers series is executive produced by Ant Ward (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and Nicole Dubuc (Transformers: Rescue Bots) and developed and co-executive produced by Dale Malinowski (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio, the series is developed for television by Spinelli and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, Senior Director, Current Series and Development, Animation. Production will be overseen for Nickelodeon by Conrad Montgomery, Vice President, Current Series, Animation and for eOne by Mikiel Houser, Director of TV Development.

Portion of Netflix BotBots Press Release:

● Netflix and Entertainment One (eOne), Hasbro’s entertainment studio, announce Transformers: BotBots, a new 20-episode animated comedy series following the mischievous little Transformers robots, otherwise known as BotBots.

● Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt (Spider-Man, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy, Stretch Armstrong & the Flex Fighters) will serve as executive producers and showrunners.

● Logline: BotBots are Transformers robots that disguise themselves as everyday mall objects. By day, these BotBots hide quietly on store shelves but at night, they jump into adventure until a group of BotBots called ‘The Lost Bots’ run into the mall security guard and put all the bots in danger. Will these misfits be able to overcome their differences, defeat the security guard and gain acceptance in the eyes of the other bots?

● Olivier Dumont, eOne’s President of Family Brands: “We are delighted to partner with Netflix to bring an all-new Transformers story to life and explore a whole new universe with BotBots. Transformers storytelling has expanded into so many new avenues and we can’t wait to surprise both existing fans and new fans coming to the franchise for the first time with these fun bots who are definitely more than meets the eye!"

● The series takes inspiration from Hasbro’s popular Transformers: BotBots toy line, released in late 2018. BotBots are 1-inch collectible characters that can change from an ordinary object into a little robot in just 3-5 easy steps.