Upper Deck has been on a roll over the past few years, and that trend looks to be continuing thanks to a new powerhouse partnership. Upper Deck previously teamed up with DC Comics to bring their iconic heroes to trading cards and games, and now they have revealed they are teaming up with Hasbro to create games and trading cards for beloved franchises like Transformers, Power Rangers, M.A.S.K., and more. ComicBook had the chance to speak with Upper Deck Director of Entertainment Brands Travis Rhea all about the partnership, the Transformers: The Movie 40th Anniversary set, and what’s in store for these amazing franchises.
Upper Deck and Hasbro’s new partnership will consist of both trading cards and games for a number of recognizable franchises, including Transformers, Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., and Jem and the Holograms, and things are kicking off with a special Transformers: The Movie trading card set, but there’s even more in store for fans before the year comes to a close. As for the future, we got some teases of what may be happening down the line, and there are some possibilities that should excite franchise fans in a big way.
“Choosing to collaborate with Upper Deck opens the door to premium trading cards that commemorate the properties fans have loved for generations,” said Marianne James, Senior Vice President, Global Licensing at Hasbro. “Transformers, Power Rangers, and GI Joe continue to inspire passionate communities around the world, and we’re proud to work with a company that understands what makes these brands resonate so deeply with fans and how to capture those moments in beautifully designed trading cards.”
Upper Deck is no stranger to working with big franchises and IP, and even worked with some of Hasbro’s properties in the past, but a full collaboration was something that just hadn’t worked out timing-wise until now.
“We’ve wanted this for a long, long time, but for whatever reason, the timing wasn’t right, or the parties weren’t ready for it, or what have you,” Rhea said. “We dipped our toes in a long time ago. We did some trading cards for Marvel Legends, the figures, and we did that just to incentivize GameStop purchases. So that’s how very small and specific our early interaction was, and then really, in terms of a broader relationship, we’ve just been talking for about the last couple of years, and it just takes that long to kind of commingle 2 big brands, right? We just wanted to make sure that everything was right and that we were getting off on the right foot and focused on the right things.”
“They have an incredible team over there that we’ve been working with, and everything started to come together. We’re just getting going on this and really, really excited that we can bring products into the first year, which is not really easy to do when it comes to trading cards, but that Hasbro team really knows their stuff. They understand their IP forwards and backwards, and they have been very helpful in getting us off on the right foot and moving forward quickly,” Rhea said.
If you’re going to launch a new line, it’s difficult to think of something more iconic than Transformers: The Movie, especially since it’s the 40th Anniversary. Upper Deck will celebrate the big milestone with not one set, but two sets, and they will both arrive before the end of the year.
“Focusing on that anniversary is a really cool way to get started, and I really love what Hasbro’s doing with it. You know, the whole apology tour of sorry, we killed Optimus Prime. Like, it’s so good. That’s really clever and really fun, and just really speaks to how they understand their fandom, right? So the first thing out of the gate is Transformers Day in September, so we’re syncing up with that. We have a Target exclusive pack of cards that’s branded for the 40th anniversary, and there’s some cool stuff in there, like some Peter Cullen autographs for the voice of Optimus Prime,” Rhea said.
“Then what’s cool is after that Target activation, like in the tail end of the year, we’re going to squeeze in a full hobby set of Fleer Transformers. So it’s Fleer-branded, and it’s for the movie again,” Rhea said. “It just allows us to go a little deeper, and there’s lots of cool stuff in there like lenticular cards, we’ve got a bunch of different autographs in the set, also sketch cards. We’re even making a card that transforms, believe it or not. That’s going to blow your mind. So there’s some cool stuff that, to your point, we try to sync up with the theme of whatever IP, that is as much as we can, and this is just a super fun one that we’ve been wanting for a long, long time.”
“I think you’re going to feel the passion in the product. You really will, because there’s a lot of passion in the building for what Hasbro brings to the table. So those are the ones fresh out of the gate. We’re starting with Transformers, starting with that anniversary, and then going to have a big bang this year and move into next year with all kinds of cool things,” Rhea said.
While trading cards are obviously a big focus, gaming is just as important to this new partnership, so you can expect both trading cards and tabletop games to be in the mix for your franchise favorites. There’s also the possibility of bringing these characters and worlds to some already established Upper Deck franchises, including a certain system known as Legendary.
“It’s really neat. It’s a great vote of confidence that Hasbro wants Upper Deck to make games for them because clearly they can make their own games. They make great games, but they value what we bring to the table with that category, and we couldn’t be more excited or thankful for that opportunity to really work with those brands on our games level too,” Rhea said. “Because, I mean, you can imagine the team that’s been making Legendary, not saying we’re making a Transformers Legendary, but can you imagine that they probably have been salivating over that opportunity for a very, very long time? So it’s really neat to have an opportunity to make some games with those brands.”
“Some of the larger brands that we’re working on, you’ll probably see rolling out in 27. We’re making good progress on some stuff with G.I. Joe and with Power Rangers both. We’ll see, depending on how quickly we can get them through the process, but we’d love to not waste any time when it comes to touching all of these brands,” Rhea said.
The good news is that while Transformers is leading the way this year, the team is already working on bringing the whole lineup of franchises to market, and that seems to be happening sooner rather than later, with 2027 really ramping things up.
“We kind of look at it as, it’s not like we have to do one at a time. We want them all to be happening concurrently, and so far the Hasbro team has been really helpful in that process too, because we require a lot of bandwidth, as you can imagine, right? Like, we need a lot of assets, and we need a lot of the licensor’s bandwidth in terms of approvals, and it really makes a difference when you have a partner that understands that and can sync up with that. So really, really encouraged to see how quickly we’re able to move with these properties, and I think 27 is going to be a big year. Like, we’re making a statement right away here in 26, and 27, we’re just going to raise that up to 11,” Rhea said.
Now, as a Power Rangers fan, I had to ask about some hints regarding the plans for the franchise, especially with an initial set of trading cards. The natural place to start is often Mighty Morphin, but we’ve also seen Upper Deck take a broader approach to a world as they did with DC’s first set, so the question becomes: which way will they go with Power Rangers?
“That is a very deep debate that’s happening internally right now, because yeah, I agree with you that Mighty Morphin is like the logical starting place, especially if you’re going to go chronologically, right? But what’s interesting about Power Rangers is there’s been a lot of different iterations from different companies, so we’re taking a really contemplative approach, and we’re making sure that the expert fan is going to recognize what we’re doing and appreciate it,” Rhea said.
“Like, I was not a Power Rangers expert, but I mentioned before, we’ve got some experts internally who really educated me on all the ins and outs of Power Rangers. So it’s been a really great journey learning about it, but it’s made for a lot of debates on how to really get started with that. I think you could go both ways,” Rhea said. “Like, I think you could just start with Mighty Morphin and make a really compelling product that way, or you could really just dive into the whole thing right out of the gate, but I think the important thing to note is just that we’re, we’re gonna have several products over the years, right? So it’s not going to be a one-and-done situation. We’re going to be able to focus on different aspects of that property throughout the years and really do it justice.”
The team at Upper Deck has already had a stellar year with big releases like DC Legendary and Enemies of Gotham City, and they can’t wait to start revealing what they have planned for franchises like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, and more.
“I’m really looking forward to building that for these iconic IPs with Hasbro on the trading card side, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that there’s a good chunk of the building that’s just really excited to make games for these too. It’s, it’s the best of both worlds for us, and there’s enough excitement in this room to fill 500 Energon cubes. There’s just a lot of fandom in the building, and so I’m looking for that nostalgic brand feel and how those marry up, but I’m also really excited to see what the games team’s coming up with because so far it’s looking really cool,” Rhea said.
Rhea then threw out a delightful possibility by saying, “Enemies of Cybertron”, and it really makes all the sense in the world. In that same vein, I threw out “Enemies of Angel Grove”, and he liked that idea as well. Whether we’ll see either of those (or both) remains to be seen, but the future of this partnership has immense potential, and it all gets rolling later this year.
