Here’s some new grist for the rumor mill, courtesy MTV Geek: Disney may be in talks to buy Hasbro, thereby picking up some big brands like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony.
It’s just a rumor at this point, but does anyone else think – if this turns out to be at all true – that it’s all happening a little too fast? First Disney buys Marvel, then Lucasfilm, and now Hasbro? The crossover fan in me (and I’m a big crossover fan – it’s my weakness) is imagining all sorts of cool possibilities, but as someone who’s skeptical that giant corporations are a good thing for the world in general, the idea of one company owning so many different geek properties is vaguely troubling to me. What do you think? Would this be a good or bad thing?
GalvaTRION
Personally, I hate this stuff. On the one hand, sure, Star Wars is finally out of George Lucas' hands, Marvel will never face a situation where they go bankrupt and they'd have to stop publishing comics, Nickelodeon seems to be bringing the TMNT back to the forefront of kids' entertainment, fine. Okay.
That said, wearing a Ninja Turtles shirt is now advertising not an independently produced creation, or a symbol of what two comic book fans can do through self-publishing. It's now just you paying $20 to be a walking Viacom billboard. Marvel Comics is no longer its own company depending on its home grown stable of characters and stories- it's a sub-division of one of the most powerful companies on the planet. Star Wars, warts and all, was George Lucas' baby. The Muppets were Jim Henson and crew's babies. These were things created out of a love of storytelling- which are now merely merchandising icons for Disney, who will use their incredible market prowess to squeeze every nickel out of them as effectively as possible.
Of course, that's what Lucas had been doing to Star Wars, and Eastman and Laird had been doing for the TMNT. I just really don't like the idea that I'm throwing so much of my income at a company like Disney.
dayraven
i agree w/ most of your points galvatrion, BUT i disagree w/ your conclusion… these properties that we knew and loved, properties that were created owned and controlled, they're arrived, they've matured, they're now on to being establishment, just as the bands we grew up listening to are now rock royalty and hall of famers (can you fucking believe anthony keidis is 50???)
but that means a whole new crop of creator owned, small production companies get to step in and have their day. it's evolution man, our backyard legends and cartoon heroes are now extinct dinosaurs, it's time for the rise of the mammals, so to speak. think of it in tech terms, microsoft is still the big software company on the block, but you've got really small start ups offerings aps and peripherals that are all kinds of genius and innovative in ways that the 'soft just can't/won't make happen… that's how the modern era plays. i'm looking forward to seeing what's next, who are the new ninja turtles or the new he-man.
meanwhile, the properties we know and love have a solid caretaker with a perpetual bankroll… we're going to get our nostalgia fix with clockwork regularity, so if we chose never to get back into that creative vibe we had as teens, that's ok too. i truly hope disney does buy hasbro… we might finally get gi legends and star wars legends that will fit with our marvel legends, and all of them might fit into the new transformers legends line of transformable vehicles… how stupid cool could that be?
Mark
After the terrible way Hasbro have handled Transformers and G.I. Joe, Disney taking control would be a great improvement, but due to Hasbro's stupidity I no longer collect G.I. Joe or Transformers anymore.
James
I didn’t even know Disney owned Marvel until the Star Wars stuff came out. Where was I in 2009 and what was I doing?
Barbecue17
I'd actually be concerned with what Disney would do with G.I. Joe. It just doesn't seem like a property they would handle well. Honestly, I'm really uncomfortable with Disney controlling everything I like. Seriously, slow down guys!
AmericanHyena
The thing that bugs me is this would certainly mean comic publishers like IDW and Dark Horse eventually losing some of their best titles to Marvel. IDW's GI Joe and Transformers are fantastic.