The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

Reading any message board will show that while fans love the Transformers brand and celebrate it, they are often unhappy with how certain aspects are handled. And what usually follows is how it might be better if the brand was handled by someone else. Well, how about Elon Musk? On one of his recent rants, he showed major displeasure towards Hasbro's apparent disregard for the creators of Dungeons and Dragons in the 40th anniversary making of DnD book. He then followed that by "How much is Hasbro anyway", hinting that he'd buy them out of spite so that he could own Dungeons and Dragons.

Now, were it literally anyone else in the world, a comment like that could and would be completely ignored. BUT Elon Musk is the richest man in the world and has bought massive corporations out of spite (Larry David style). Probably nothing will come of this, but it was interesting that the richest man in the world was at odds with the company that owns our beloved Transformers franchise.

If you want more details, Dexerto compiled a comprehensive timeline.

[Kyleor]

Just what we need, the guy who can't handle running Twitter ruining the entire Hasbro IP catalog...

[Silver Wind]

Can't escape the Musk even here.

[Gauntlet101010]

GD, I hate this guy. Hasbro messes up really hard, but this would just kill the entire company.

[alphatron10]

Uh oh, all the terminally online people who absolutely loved Elon before he bought Twitter decided that since he said some things that hurt their fee-fees that they don't want him involved in something he was probably joking about lmao

[Rodimus Prime]

Bezos and Gates could probably also buy Hasbro.

Real question is, if this were even remotely serious, what would he do? Get involved in the nitty-gritty of the IP catalog, or focus on having better distribution, which Hasbro does need? Or besides taking a personal interest in D&D, will he just stick to the boardroom?

He does have Tesla to run, also that animal torture place called Neuralink, and he's supposed to be an advisor (or actual cabinet member) to President Trump starting in January. Will he have the time?

[Glyph]

There's been a reasonable-looking counterthread going around pointing out that the money isn't there and he has no real route to actually do this, which is somewhat reassuring. Can never 100% discount some shenanigans, especially when he gets into some kind of ego crusade, but probably not one to worry about just yet (and wow do I not want him near anything I care about).

Best I can tell this is just standard chan-board-level trolling from Musk in his downward spiral. God I will be glad when I never have to hear his name again.

[Nemesis_1982]

As stated by Kyleor:

Just what we need, the guy who can't handle running Twitter ruining the entire Hasbro IP catalog...

I'm not too sure that Musk is doing a bad job with X. I mean, the lame stream media is bit by bit receiving more and more slander by the crowd, they finally recognize the msm for what it has been for decades; a lying government indoctrination machine.

The 'European Federation of Journalism' counting 320.000 members, has just decided to go away from X, apparently due to the reason of X being a wild west for disinformation; we know better don't we?
They can't handle the fact that the crowd is finally seeing the BS that msm has been spreading for many years. --> GASLIGHTING 3.0

Freedom of speech is slowly coming back and the msm is terrified by it, losing control of crowd manipulation!
The mass is bit by bit waking up from all the lies... and Musk is giving the crowd that chance.

[Lunatic Prime]

I'm not sure if that would be good as he wouldn't buy it for the sake of the Transformers franchise.
The way he handled twitter could mean that if Transformers are not profitable he'd just kill the Franchise.
On the other hand he might do a smart and good move and just sell the rights for the IP (temporarily).

[ScottyP]

A couple posts have been removed (both pro and anti Musk, for the record), some other stuff here is perilously close to over the line.

Folks, please keep this focused on Transformers and put down your rage bait pens or this is getting locked and bans are happening. Thanks.

[Dark Starscream]

As stated by Kyleor:

Just what we need, the guy who can't handle running Twitter ruining the entire Hasbro IP catalog...

I'm not too sure that Musk is doing a bad job with X. I mean, the lame stream media is bit by bit receiving more and more slander by the crowd, they finally recognize the msm for what it has been for decades; a lying government indoctrination machine.

The 'European Federation of Journalism' counting 320.000 members, has just decided to go away from X, apparently due to the reason of X being a wild west for disinformation; we know better don't we?
They can't handle the fact that the crowd is finally seeing the BS that msm has been spreading for many years. --> GASLIGHTING 3.0

Freedom of speech is slowly coming back and the msm is terrified by it, losing control of crowd manipulation!
The mass is bit by bit waking up from all the lies... and Musk is giving the crowd that chance.

Big difference between free speech and hate speech. That's possibly why X is in free-fall:



We don't need Elon's politics mixed up with Transformers, even if a huge injection of funds might be helpful to Hasbro's sustainability.

[Gauntlet101010]

Twitter aside his involvement in Tesla resulted in the Cybertruck, an unmitigated disaster driven mostly by his personality and Tesla being used mainly as his own personal piggybank for X and Grok (he raided Tesla for coders in order to make Grok).

From the sounds of it he's only interested in D&D, so the best we could hope for is a benign neglect where he mostly lets TF do what it wants because he doesn't care about it. At worst he seems little value in TF and runs it into the ground.

I may not like what Hasbro's been doing as a whole lately, but as far as TF is concerned we've been treated pretty well. To trade that for a guy who just likes D&D and not any other brand seems terrible.

[blackeyedprime]

Transformers might have electronics again? XD dunno if this could be a good or a bad thing, more than likely a things will continue to be the same thing

[Bumblevivisector]

And in the inevitable polarization of any mention of Elon, one relevant point has been missed so far.

Contrary to any posts advancing the B.S. narrative that everyone critical of Musk's handling of Twitter/X are against his "support of free speech" and politics, the reason people have been abandoning X in fresh droves over the past few weeks is his decision to sell user data to third parties for use in training A.I. bots, sparking privacy concerns. Now Musk suggests the possibility of buying Hasbro due to interest in it's gaming division, shortly after Chris Cocks announces plans to shift the company's focus to online gaming over physical products.

Put all those factors together, and Musk buying Hasbro any time in the near future seems like exceptionally bad timing. Hasbro's marketing is going to have to spend the next few years convincing parents that their gaming platforms will be safe for their kids to use, and even if they do set up the necessary safeguards, Musk's handling of Twitter will just undermine those efforts if he owns Hasbro, regardless of how much or little meddling he actually does.

Not being much of a gamer, I'm not crazy about Cocks's new direction for Hasbro, but I certainly don't want his grand plans to backfire so spectacularly that it hurts the company enough to affect our most beloved brand.

[william-james88]

And in the inevitable polarization of any mention of Elon, one relevant point has been missed so far.

Contrary to any posts advancing the B.S. narrative that everyone critical of Musk's handling of Twitter/X are against his "support of free speech" and politics, the reason people have been abandoning X in fresh droves over the past few weeks is his decision to sell user data to third parties for use in training A.I. bots, sparking privacy concerns. Now Musk suggests the possibility of buying Hasbro due to interest in it's gaming division, shortly after Chris Cocks announces plans to shift the company's focus to online gaming over physical products.

Put all those factors together, and Musk buying Hasbro any time in the near future seems like exceptionally bad timing. Hasbro's marketing is going to have to spend the next few years convincing parents that their gaming platforms will be safe for their kids to use, and even if they do set up the necessary safeguards, Musk's handling of Twitter will just undermine those efforts if he owns Hasbro, regardless of how much or little meddling he actually does.

Not being much of a gamer, I'm not crazy about Cocks's new direction for Hasbro, but I certainly don't want his grand plans to backfire so spectacularly that it hurts the company enough to affect our most beloved brand.

I've been mulling over writing another article about Cocks and how he wants Hasbro to change. It's extremely compelling stuff for the future of the company with some crazy drastic steps being taken by Hasbro in 2025, like having Playmates design and make toys of Hasbro properties instead of it being Hasbro themselves. However, there hasn't been mention of Transformers anywhere. No plans for that brand within their investments in gaming, nor in their foregoing of manufacturing toys. Maybe I'll write it closer to the new year in a summary/look towards the future type of thing. Hasbro is really going places we never expected, it's just unclear where Transformers sits in all this where it seems more status quo while everything around it changes.

[SpaceEagle]

Considering how terribly other businesses have gotten after his purchasing of them, I feel like execs at HasTak would probably keep him far, far away

[Solrac333]

I am so sick of this guy. I would really have no problem just stopping collecting Transformers if that happens. I pretty much stopped getting Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black series already.

[Dino-Snarl]

Transformers Tesla car and truck collection.

[alphatron10]

I am so sick of this guy. I would really have no problem just stopping collecting Transformers if that happens. I pretty much stopped getting Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black series already.

So stunning and brave of you

[ScottyP]

Not warning twice, we're done here. Do not post personal attacks against other users like the post above.