Hasbro is heading to courtroom to go toe - to - toe with DC comics , and it ’s for a very strange cause : the battle over who make to the rights to sell toys with the name “ Bumblebee ” on them .
With the dear Transformer about to get his own standalone moving picture and a wave of merchandise to go with it , Hasbro is filing a wooing seeking to block sale of DC Superhero Girls - mark Mattel dolls and Lego sets that feature the size - change teenaged superhero Bumblebee . Why ? Because Hasbro owns the Bumblebee name as a trademark , so they conceive DC ’s character could be confuse with the bright yellow Autobot by the time his own line of reasoning of toys starts hitting shelves .
It ’s a weird caseful , considering that Bumblebee herself is actually about a decade elderly than Hasbro ’s transforming robot — she was DC Comics ’ first distaff African American superhero , make her debut in December 1976 ’s Teen Titans # 45 before withdraw on the Bumblebee pall three issues later . Bumblebee the trustworthy Autobot , meanwhile , would n’t come out until the Transformers enfranchisement made its debut in 1984 .
But where waters are muddied is the fact that Hasbro successfully trademarked the name Bumblebee in December 2015 — several months afterDC harbinger Superhero Girls , a new female person - rivet fussy - media initiative that reimagined several female DC characters , including Bumblebee , as teenagers attend to a superhero high school together . An animated serial launched in October 2015 , and since then has spun off into lines of action figures , comics , direct - to - video movies , dolls , and Lego . Hasbro is banking on its Bumblebee being more popular than the DC theatrical role , and is plainly even resorting toIGN listiclesto prove it in court , harmonise toVariety .
Whichever way the shell expire , it ’s going to be a special one .
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DC Comics
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