How is Transformers commercialised?

[HorsesandMOARGaloar 300]

May I know ways in which Transformers is commercialized?

e.g. MLP: Twilicorn, Royal Wedding, Princess Skyla, "Let's Fly To The Castle", EqG.

Any (infamous) examples (other than the recent Bay Movies) throughout every generation, from beginning, all the way up to now?

[Jeric 46,851]

1986 is the best example. Hasbro say sales for various character figures fall, so they had a movie and a series created where they would introduce a new line of TF characters. The movie killed dozens of the characters that has slow sales so they wouldn't be used in the future and the new episodes would feature characters currently on the shelves.

 

So, Optimus Prime/Ratchet/Prowl/Iron Hide/ etc dies so they could sell Rodimus Prime/Kup/Ultra Magnus.

 

Like MLP though, the studio made what is an a highly enjoyable film. It may have been commercially motivated ... but they made it work

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Yeah, as a transformers fan, I'd have to point out the entirety of G1.

 

As Jeric above me said the movie was there to kill off old autobots in order to introduce new characters to sell.

 

To add to this I'd like to point out the Season 1 episodes that introduced the Dinobots, Insecticons and Constructicons. They're just introduced, with little justification as to why they're made. S.O.S. Dinobots -  Let's make Dinobots because sure, why not? Insecticon Episode - They were there with little explaination, they were launched out of the Nemisis. Constructicon Episode - They were built without a reason given! Let's face it G1 really hasn't aged well and seems that some of the episodes were just there for advertising.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate G1. In fact I love it! While from a storytelling standpoint I do have to say that it's pretty bad but with that said the show is very fun to watch and as long as the show's fun that's good enough for me.

 

It's the same with MLP. Yes there can be flaws within the story but just because something's flawed doesn't make it bad. For all its flaws I enjoyed the Twilicorn Episode and Equestria Girls because they were just fun to watch. This is why I'm not too fond of the analyzers like Digibrony, Mr. Enter, Brony Curious, etc. I think they take the show way too seriously. Really, I think they just need to stop taking the show so seriously and enjoy it because, let's face it, it's somewhat dumb to be looking for "deep" stuff in a cartoon about ponies. Sure, I love that cartoon, but I don't need something to be deep in order for me to enjoy it. I actually prefer something to be "fun" rather than "deep ". You can have both combined, but my priority lies in the former.