Hasbro: Difference between revisions
→History
No edit summary |
|||
Line 2:
==History==
<!-->This is an overview of the history of Hasbro as a whole, should not be an in-depth history of ''My Little Pony''. That goes on [[My Little Pony#History]].</-->
[[File:Hasbro_logo_c_1980s.png|thumb|230px|Hasbro logo, c. 1980s]]
"Hasbro" as a name is shortened from '''Hassenfield Brothers''', three Jewish brothers named Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld. Beginning in the 1930s as a humble textile remnants seller, later manufacturer and seller of children's school supplies such as pencils. Sadly, in [[1944]], Hillel Hassenfeld died. The [[1945|following year]], the remaining brothers filed a trademark for the name '''Hasbro'''.
In [[1952]], Hasbro released [[Mr. Potato Head]], originally created by George Lerner but purchased by Hasbro. So confident Hasbro was in this product that they purchased advertising time for it on a thing called 'television', a rather new concept at the time.
By 1964, the remaining two Hassenfield brothers, Henry and Herman, had passed away. Henry's son, Merrill, was left in charge of the company. Merill saw amazing success when he bought a toy concept created by an inventor named Stanley Weston, a type of doll, or doll-like figure, of a U.S. Military soldier called an "action figure". After their then head of research and development, Donald Levine, named the figure G.I. Joe, after a 1945 film, ''The Story of G.I Joe''. This little toy would cause Hasbro to grow into the largest toy company in the U.S. by [[1968]], rebranding the company under the name '''Hasbro Industries'''.
[[File:SEARS_Christmas_Catalog.png|left|thumb|150px|''[[My Pretty Pony]]'']]
In [[1981]], the three person team of [[Bonnie Zacherle]], [[Charles Muenchinger]] and [[Steve D'Aguanno]] would patent the invention that would soon become [[My Pretty Pony]] later that year.<ref>[https://patents.justia.com/patent/D269986 Justia - Patent D269986]</ref> The [[1982|following year]], the first wave of 'true' ''My Little Pony'' toys were produced, known to by collectors as "[[Year One (Generation 1)|Year One]]". Hasbro would continue to launch new toylines on a roughly yearly basis until [[1992]], the 'end' of the franchises [[Generation 1|first generation]], thus beginning the [[Generation|generational cycle]] that has gone on to define the brand ever since. Oh yeah, in [[1983]], a little known franchise known as ''[[The Transformers]]'' would launch and would have the occasional [[crossover]] with ''My Little Pony''.
Also in the 1980s, Hasbro would begin a strong relationship with [[Marvel]], who would publish their comics, most notably ''G.I. Joe'' and ''The Transformers'' and produce their animated series, including ''[[My Little Pony (TV series)|My Little Pony]]''. This would begin Hasbro's strong emphasis on comic publication, which continues to this very day. Interestingly, the first ''My Little Pony'' comics were not published by Marvel, but instead by [[Fleetway]] as a European comic series, with art done by [[Selecciones Ilustradas]], a talent agency that employed artists from all over the Spanish speaking world.
In [[1984]], Hasbro bought out competing toy and game company [[Milton Bradley]], which resulted with the brief rename of the company "'''Hasbro Bradley, Inc.'''". Milton Bradley would go on to produce a number of early ''My Little Pony'' board games, especially in Europe, where it produced a number of European toys. Other toy brands Hasbro would launch around this time included ''Robotix'', ''C.O.P.S.'', ''Battle Beasts'', ''Inhumanoids'', and ''[[Jem]]'', the latter would become somewhat of a "sister-brand" to ''My Little Pony'', with the two swapping references to one another. The animated series for a number of these productions were produced by [[Sunbow Entertainment|Sunbow Productions]], who would create somewhat of a loose 'connected universe' among these shows, sometimes jokingly referred to as the 'Hectorverse' due to the recurring character [[Hector Ramirez]]. This was initially intended to include ''My Little Pony'', but the concept was scrapped.
In [[1991]], Hasbro bought out another former competitor, Tonka, who produced a toyline that rivaled ''Transformers'' known as GoBots. Since Tonka owned Kenner, they also acquired the rights to ''[[Star Wars]]''. Around this time, Hasbro had restructured many of its subsidiaries to have 'Hasbro' in their names, causing the company to become an international household name.
[[File:HASBRO_1992.jpg|thumb|200px|[[HASBRO 1992]]]]
In [[1992]], Hasbro would launch the second ''My Little Pony'' television show, ''[[My Little Pony Tales]]'', animated by [[AKOM]], which when compared to the original show, was a failure and the toyline would go on a 5 year hiatus in the United States, with only scarce releases in Europe. In [[1997]], [[Generation 2]] was launched, which also resulted in a failure in the U.S., but saw reasonable success in Europe. In [[2003]], [[Generation 3]] was launched, which in contrast, was a massive success and produced a number of toy releases all the way into the early 2010s, bleeding over slightly with [[Generation 4]], which was a monumental success. In [[2021]], Generation 4 concluded, with [[Generation 5]] taking over as the dominant generation.
In [[2018]], Hasbro would partner with [[Saban Brands]] to create ''[[Power Rangers]]'' toys. Later, on {{D|May|1|2018}}, Hasbro brought the rights to the ''Power Rangers'' brand, as well as other Saban brands such as ''My Pet Monster'', ''Popples'', ''Julius Jr'', ''Luna Petunia'', and ''Treehouse Detectives'' for an estimated $522 Million. This would, relevant to ''My Little Pony'', result in ''Power Rangers'' being among the franchises featured in the ''[[My Little Pony Crossover Collection]]'', alongside ''Transformers'' and ''[[Ghostbusters]]''.
[[File:Hasbro_Studios.png|150px|left|thumb|[[Allspark Pictures]]]]
In [[2019]], Hasbro became an even larger media powerhourse, purchasing [[Entertainment One]], a Canadian media production and distribution firm for $4 billion on {{D|August|22|2019}}, with the acquisition completed on {{D|Dec|30|2019}} of that same year. eOne would soon absorb [[AllSpark]] and became Hasbro's media production arm. This would give Hasbro control over the mega-successful ''Peppa Pig'' and ''PJ Mask'' franchises. Many eOne staff members would go on to work on media produced in the 5th Generation of ''My Little Pony''.
In [[2022]], many of Hasbro's comic series published by [[IDW Publishing]] were concluding due to the publishing house losing the rights. The [[My Little Pony comics|''My Little Pony'' comics]], including [[My Little Pony (2022 comic)|''My Little Pony'' (2022)]] and various Generation 4 spin-offs would remain in publication, however. Of note, many of IDW's Hasbro properties would share a loosely connected universe, usually referred to as the '''Hasbro Universe''' or ''IDW Universe'''. ''My Little Pony'' would not be apart of this universe, but would share its multiverse with it, as per ''[[My Little Pony/Transformers]]''.
==Staff==
| |||