Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was a first for the live-action Transformers films. Not only did it introduce the Maximals in the live-action history of the franchise, but the film also marked itself as an entry into a shared universe.
As the film closes out, the protagonist of the movie, Noah Diaz (played by Anthony Ramos), is approached by a government agency, which takes care of all the issues he is facing (such as monetary issues and his younger brother’s deteriorating health). He then hands him a card, with a stylized G.I. Joe written on it, signaling the organization’s existence worldwide. However, as exciting as the prospect sounds, Hasbro might be in for a nasty surprise should it go ahead with making its shared cinematic universe with such properties with diverse lore.
Hasbro would benefit from keeping G.I. Joe and Transformers separate
There is a multitude of reasons why Hasbro could benefit from keeping the Transformers franchise and the G.I. Joe IP separate. For starters, both these franchises have deep lore that can be used to write stories in their isolated universe. There have seldom been crossovers between these two IPs in the comics, and they have not had any lasting effects on their respective universes.
As Hasbro tries to ape the successes of the Monsterverse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what it needs to function like is more akin to Disney than any of these smaller franchise labels. Fusing the Transformers and the G.I. Joe universes is more akin to bringing Star Wars into the same universe as the MCU. While the properties have some similarities, it makes no sense that they should share a cinematic universe.
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G.I. Joe might not be compatible with Transformers
While we have grown accustomed to seeing billionaire playboys with high-tech suits of armor co-exist with extradimensional aliens identified as Norse Gods, how G.I. Joe and Transformers exist in their separate continuities makes them incompatible with each other.
To begin with, G.I Joe is an IP that focuses on the various branches of the American Military. While the brand went through multiple continuity reboots (including a science fiction theme) the one that stuck was the team being a super-elite group of soldiers fighting the secret organization called Cobra from taking over the world.
Transformers, on the other hand, went through fewer continuity reboots, in the sense that the concept of it remained the same, even if older events were written out of continuity.
Fusing these two franchises into one universe may cause the erosion of the G.I. Joe brand, making it unusable in any sense. Given that rebooting the universe might be a very time-consuming endeavor, Hasbro is better off keeping the Joes separate from the Transformers, as the crossover runs the risk of making the former a supplement to the latter, damaging its brand value.
Hasbro needs to think about its audiences
Marvel was able to appeal to the audiences of Iron Man and Thor because there was a reasonable overlap between the two. When thinking about Marvel, it was clear that readers and audiences were thinking about superheroes. Similarly, Kong and Godzilla were catering to kaiju fans at large. However, when it comes to audiences that are consuming Transformers and G.I. Joe content, while there might be an understanding that these two genres cater to a similar audience, it becomes too absurd to have these franchises exist together.
Here, the company runs the risk of alienating an audience because a crossover such as this exists, which might sideline one property for the sake of the other, as seems to be the case for G.I. Joe when compared to Transformers. While these toys were all produced by Hasbro, there is no longstanding united narrative that brings together all these properties and neatly organizes them in the form of source material. Without the lack of this, new and old audiences might find themselves scratching their heads about the new lore that the studio might have to develop, which has the potential to alienate fans from either franchise.
