This year marks two pretty significant anniversaries for two things I love: the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie and the 60th anniversary of Star Trek.
And watching how the companies behind those franchises have handled those anniversaries has been an interesting lesson in how you celebrate a fanbase.
Hasbro seems to understand it.
Paramount? I’m not convinced they do.
Now, to be fair, Paramount has actually done quite a bit for Star Trek’s 60th.
There have been theatrical screenings, convention events, merchandise, partnerships, television specials and the inevitable cross-promotional appearances. There is a dedicated anniversary hub. There are commemorative products. Paramount even brought classic Star Trek movies and episodes into more than 750 U.S. theaters around Star Trek Day.
So this isn’t really about quantity.
It’s about how the celebration feels.
And that is where Hasbro is absolutely eating Paramount’s lunch.
Hasbro made 1986 matter again
The Transformers: The Movie wasn’t even a huge success when it originally came out.
It was a bizarre, occasionally traumatic, 84-minute toy commercial that killed off half the characters kids loved, introduced a new group of toys we were supposed to immediately care about, featured Orson Welles as a planet-eating robot, and somehow found room for Weird Al Yankovic.
I love it.
And Hasbro has treated its 40th anniversary like the movie actually means something to the people who grew up with it.
Throughout 2026, Hasbro has released a steady stream of figures explicitly tied to the movie: Optimus Prime, Starscream, Scourge, Cyclonus, Cliffjumper, Prowl, Hound, Shockwave and others. These aren’t toys that happen to be released during the anniversary. They are branded and marketed around the anniversary.
Then there’s a $139.99 electronic Matrix of Leadership replica that lights up and actually plays part of Stan Bush’s “The Touch.”
That is ridiculous. And I kind of want one.
Hasbro also commissioned a new version of the soundtrack, staged a 40th anniversary concert at San Diego Comic-Con, developed retail collaborations and brought the movie back to theaters in restored 4K.
But the smartest thing Hasbro did was make something new.
The theatrical re-release includes Optimus Prime: Awakening, a new 12-minute animated short featuring Peter Cullen’s final original performance as Optimus Prime alongside Frank Welker returning as Megatron and Soundwave. Think about that for a second.
They didn’t simply pull an old movie out of the vault, slap a “40th Anniversary”
logo on it and charge people another $20.
They added something to the legacy. And gave fans a reason to go.
That is how you turn nostalgia into an event.
Compare that with Star Trek
Star Trek is celebrating 60 years.
Not 20.
Not 40.
Sixty.
There are people who watched “The Man Trap” when it premiered on September 8, 1966 who are still watching Star Trek today.
There are people like me who discovered it in syndication.Then another generation found The Next Generation. Another came in through Voyager or Deep Space Nine. Others found the franchise through the movies. Even the (shudder) the JJ Abrams film.
Star Trek isn’t just an old television program. It’s one of the foundational pieces of modern popular culture. So this anniversary should feel enormous.
Paramount has unquestionably assembled plenty of individual cool things.
There are restored theatrical screenings. LEGO has produced a 1,701-piece Original Series Enterprise bridge set. Magic: The Gathering has a Star Trek collaboration. There are commemorative coins, books, merchandise and even officially licensed Saurian Brandy. Paramount also used The Price Is Right, Let’s Make a Deal and other parts of its corporate ecosystem to promote the anniversary.
Those are all perfectly fine. Some are genuinely cool.
But where is the centerpiece?
Where is the thing that makes somebody who hasn’t thought about Star Trek in five years suddenly say: “Oh, wow. It’s Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.”
That’s the difference.
Hasbro is selling a story
Hasbro’s Transformers campaign has a simple narrative.
Remember this movie? Remember how it made you feel? Come celebrate it with us.
Here’s the movie.
Here’s the soundtrack.
Here’s the Matrix.
Here’s the characters.
Here’s a concert.
Here’s a new animated story.
Here’s Peter Cullen.
Here’s Frank Welker.
Here’s Optimus Prime.
Everything reinforces everything else.
Hasbro isn’t just selling individual products. They’re selling participation in an anniversary. That’s remarkably smart marketing.
Paramount’s Star Trek celebration feels much more fragmented.
Here’s a LEGO set.
Here’s a screening.
Here’s a game collaboration.
Here’s a TV special.
Here’s some merchandise.
All perfectly reasonable activities individually, but they don’t create the same sense of momentum. It sometimes feels less like a celebration and more like somebody populated a spreadsheet titled “Star Trek 60th Checklist.”
Which is a shame, because Star Trek practically writes the campaign for you.
Imagine what Paramount could have done
I don’t think this needed to be particularly complicated. Give me one definitive 60th anniversary trailer that celebrates the whole franchise. Not just the shows currently airing.
Six decades of people going where no one has gone before.
Put it in theaters. Put it on television. Put it everywhere.
Then give fans something genuinely special.
Produce a documentary about the creation and cultural impact of Star Trek. Restore several classic episodes in 4K. Commission new retrospective interviews with surviving cast members.
Put The Original Series back on broadcast television for one night. Release a beautifully produced and CURATED 60th anniversary box set, not just a repackaging of the first series.
Bring the casts together for one major televised celebration. Create something new that connects 1966 to 2026.
You have 60 years of material. Use it.
And yes, I know many of these things involve contracts, rights, actors, budgets and scheduling. I spent enough of my career around large organizations to know that “Why don’t they just…” is usually followed by an enormous list of reasons why they can’t just.
But that’s also what makes Hasbro’s approach impressive.
Somebody apparently decided the anniversary mattered enough to coordinate a lot of stuff around it.
Nostalgia works best when you respect it
There’s a cynical way to exploit nostalgia. Put an old logo on a T-shirt. Call something “Anniversary Edition.” Increase the price.
Done.
Then there’s another approach.
Understand what people loved about the thing in the first place and give them an opportunity to experience that feeling again. That’s what Hasbro has been doing with The Transformers: The Movie.
They know exactly who this is for.
It’s for the kid who sat in a theater in 1986 and couldn’t believe Optimus Prime had just died.
It’s for the kid who wore out the soundtrack cassette.
It’s for the adult who can still tell you exactly what happens when you’ve got the touch and you’ve got the power.
They’re selling toys, obviously. Hasbro is a toy company. But the marketing understands the emotional connection behind those toys.
Star Trek has an even deeper connection with its fans.
For millions of people, it represents optimism. Curiosity. Exploration. Friendship. Science. Possibility.
It introduced characters who have been part of people’s lives for decades. That should make a 60th anniversary almost embarrassingly easy to celebrate.
The lesson isn’t really about Transformers or Star Trek
There’s actually a useful product lesson here. Your most loyal customers don’t necessarily want more stuff.
They want recognition. They want you to acknowledge the history they have with your product.
The best anniversary campaigns say: “We remember this, and we love it too.”
Hasbro’s Transformers campaign repeatedly gives me that feeling. Paramount’s Star Trek 60th celebration occasionally does. But not often enough.
And considering we’re talking about the 60th anniversary of one of the most important science-fiction franchises ever created, “occasionally” feels like a pretty big missed opportunity.
Hasbro looked at a 40-year-old animated movie and decided to throw it a birthday party.
Paramount has one of the most remarkable pop-culture anniversaries imaginable sitting in its hands.
I just wish the party felt bigger.