In a rare move for the toy world, Hasbro is uniting its Transformers toys, media partners and storytelling to form a multiyear epic tale, titled the Prime Wars Trilogy.
Prime Wars will provide a framework for Transformers storytelling across multiple mediums and consumer products for the next three to four years. The move follows similar steps being taken by Hasbro and Paramount Pictures to formulate a plan for a cohesive cinematic universe that unfolds over the next 10 years.
“We decided to initiate the creation of a bigger deeper worlds,” said David Erwin who heads Hasbro’s Transformers story team. “The fan reaction was really good. And that’s when we decided we wanted to make this a trilogy and really make this immersive. And when we say immersive, that means to create that experience across all different platforms, to take it across everything that we do.”
Currently, the comics, Machinima digital series and Activision video games are in the middle of a storyline titled The Combiner Wars. That will wrap up sometime in time in summer 2016 to be followed by a chapter titled “Titans Return” in the fall.
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That storyline will feature the biggest Transformers robots in existence, fan-favorite Sentinel Prime and the return of a beloved action feature from the ‘80s: robots that convert into heads for bigger robots. It will play out across the entire Transformers Generations toyline and in IDW Publishing’s line of comics, as well as digital gaming.
Following “Titans Return,” the trilogy will conclude in late 2017 or early 2018 with the third chapter.
Erwin is now heading a war room of storytellers that are mapping out the arc of the trilogy. Much of the heavy lifting will be done by IDW’s comics.
The company’s two Transformers comics are among its best-sellers and a third title is on the way.
Among the new aspects being highlighted are female Transformers such as Windblade and Victorion.
“Our demo for our readership is incredibly diverse but it’s pretty close to being half men and half women,” said Transformers writer John Barber of IDW.
