Disney owns Marvel and Now Lucasfilm - Hasbro in Trouble?

Stealth Viper · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:49 pm

From a toy perspective - Disney Toys are almost exclusively made by Mattel. With the Marvel license being up in 2017 and Star Wars being up (reportedly) in 2018 - that's 2 of Hasbro's largest lines potentially going directly to the competition in the next 5 to 6 years.

Wonder how Hasbro is reacting to this latest news? I mean, Star Wars is their bread and butter.

Kilcarr · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:51 pm

It would probably be a huge blow but with the action figure industry in decline, it may just help them out of action figures sooner.

Macrossmaster · **Joined:** Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am

They've got it locked up through what? 2018? That gives them episode 7 (can't believe I just wrote that) and they have the molds to EVERYTHING. They might pay more, but Hasbro will stay in this game.

Mysterious Stranger · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:57 pm

Whose to say it couldn't go the other way? With 2 of Disney's biggest toy-related franchises with Hasbro there is no reason they couldn't pull their other licenses from Mattel and give them to the folks in Pawtucket.

HypnoHustler · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:07 pm

Very true. Plus Hasbri has a much better track record when it comes to boys toys, something Mattel has never quite captured outside of Hot Wheels. Besides, with everything being licensed, it makes more sense for them to play companies against each other rather than put everything under one roof. More money if you put them in a bidding war than if you pull the rug out from under one company.

Lance Sputnik · **Joined:** Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am **Location:** Pants

Line up Mattel's best licensed boys toys product next to Hasbro's, and tell me again who is in trouble.

FireFox91 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:03 pm

Handing Star Wars over to Mattel would be a tragic mistake. The first thing they would do is change the scale so they could make it their own and everything would be downhill from there. I don't see this one happening. Hasbro is going to make a crap ton of money in 2015.

AdrienVeidt · **Joined:** Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am

Yeah, I don't see there being any real loyalty between Disney and Mattel. The *truly* interesting idea is if Disney would buy Hasbro and keep ALL the money in-house.

J_Man · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:22 pm

If you really look at it, there has been less action figure related properties done for Disney by Mattel. Even Tron went to a whole different company than the big 2. The only main thing that Mattel has retained is the doll related properties. Really though, that's more of a given since Hasbro has failed to get into that market.

Over all, I doubt there will be a problem for Hasbro. There will probably be a bid war, but that's nothing new. I would be surprised if Mattel could produce a good enough package to make them look better than the company that has been consistently doing well with the property. The only thing that could happen is if Disney decided to not care and the old "it's cheaper through the other guys" idea kicked in.

lococaca · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:27 pm

Disney has always played the field with their properties. Currently they got properties all over the place. I dont know if its still there, but at one point Disney World had a giant Hasbro Toy Store.

J_Man · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:15 pm

Early 90s they had a store that sold primarily Playmates too. I remember cause it was when Exo-Squad was out and I found some of the items I never saw anywhere else.

toy-nutz · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:43 pm

The Toy Shop in Downtown Disney used to be run by Hasbro. They do stock other non-Hasbro Disney toys though. But really Hasbro has nothing to fear. They make not only Star Wars (Build-a-Saber, Star Tours, Build-a-Droid) and Marvel, but the Mr. Potato Head for Disney (not just Star Wars, but Disney Parks specific parts), My Little Pony Disney Princess, Little Pet Shops, and a large number of Disney Park themed games (Life, Scrabble, Trivia, ect.). The only thing Mattel has is the Princess' 12" and 3 3/4" Polly Pocket type dolls. Though Playmates and few other have got license for other scales. Oh and Cars, which is what Mattel is afraid of losing. I really don't think Hasbro has much to fear.

Michael

ogre_h · **Joined:** Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am

I'm actually pretty stoked over this. Maybe they'll get the team that worked on the Avenger films to work on Star Wars. (I know it won't happen, but it'd be cool).

psychoviper · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:55 pm

Great.... another Star Wars movie just means all the more reason for Hasbro to ignore G.I. Joe. Star wars fans will hate me for this, but I hope Hasbro does lose the license. They need some heavy competition in boys action figures, and then maybe they will put more thought/money/marketing into growing their Joe brand.

night force cynic · **Joined:** Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am

psychoviper wrote:

Great.... another Star Wars movie just means all the more reason for Hasbro to ignore G.I. Joe. Star wars fans will hate me for this, but I hope Hasbro does lose the license. They need some heavy competition in boys action figures, and then maybe they will put more thought/money/marketing into growing their Joe brand.

Not likely

Besides, the Star Wars team at Hasbro has nothing to do with the team for GIJoe

Disney owns Marvel and Now Lucasfilm - Hasbro in Trouble?

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