Vice President of Development for Hasbro Studios Mike Vogel Interview

Did you feel like there was enough of an opportunity to wrap up the story you were telling with Transformers Prime, for the third and final season?

VOGEL: There absolutely was. The plan for Transformers Prime was always to do three seasons. We knew, from day one, where we were going to try to wrap everything up, before we decided what the next chapter of Transformers was going to be. And it was really successful in working with the toy teams to find something new.

How often do you want to rotate the characters or add new characters, in shows like Transformers or G.I. Joe? Is that something you’re always thinking about?

There are certain characters, like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony, that you’re not going to get rid of. They’re always going to remain the ambassadors of your brand, but you create stories that allow you to bring in new characters. What was great about Transformers Prime was that it’s not like we got rid of Megatron and Starscream, or Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. They’re still there. And we figured out a really cool way to bring this awesome new character, Predaking, to life within the story that we were already telling.

With Comic-Con just around the corner, are you already thinking about what you’ll show in San Diego?

We definitely have some very cool plans for Comic-Con. We have some big news on some of our big brands coming out. I can’t say what it is because I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Comic-Con is a lot of fun for us. Hasbro has been upping their game significantly in the past few years, now that we have so much great entertainment, in addition to our great toys, and I think this year is going to be no different. We’re going to have some really, really cool stuff for the fans.