The Press Release:
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), and NTWRK, North America’s premiere livestream shopping platform, today announced the first TRANSFORMERS Collaborative music-inspired item – the J Balvin Mash-Up, J Balvintron 3-Pack. Hasbro and NTWRK have partnered with J Balvin, one of the most influential and successful Latin artists, to bring this truly special blend of music-inspired toy and “More Than Meets the Eye” worlds together for fans.

Sound waves combine in this TRANSFORMERS-J Balvin mash-up pack! “Reggaeton’s global ambassador” joins the DECEPTICONS as the TRANSFORMERS robot, J BALVINTRON. This DECEPTICON wields the power of rhythm to crush his enemies! The 7-inch tall Soundwave-inspired figure converts into cassette player mode in 6 steps and features deco and details inspired by J Balvin – including packaging inspired by J Balvin’s rainbow color scheme and his iconic smiley face icon with lightning bolt eyes. He comes with two mini cassette figures, with deco inspired by albums “Energia” and “Vibras”. The Energia Buzzsaw converts to condor mode in 4 steps, and Vibras Stripes converts to tiger mode in 3 steps. The figure also includes a blaster accessory and two rainbow blast effects.

Balvin, who is a diehard TRANSFORMERS fan and watched the classic G1 animated series as a kid, had a huge part in making this unique collaboration happen. From his love for tigers, which inspired one of the mini-cassette figures with a strong big cat resemblance, to naming the figure J BALVINTRON.

The NTWRK platform that has brilliantly developed a new form of e-tail – selling products via bite-size video broadcasts and episodic content – will premiere an animated stop motion video highlighting J BALVINTRON converting and an interview with TRANSFORMERS team designer to give fans a behind the scenes, detailed look at the figure, before debuting for sale.

Find full product information below:
* Product Name: Transformers Collaborative: J Balvin Mash-Up, J Balvintron 3-Pack
* Shorthand Name: J BALVINTRON
* Size: Stands 7 inches when in robot mode
* Age: Made for ages 8+
* Retail Price: $69.99
* Promise Date: October 1, 2021

TRANSFORMERS robots have always been…More Than Meets the Eye, but now through the TRANSFORMERS Collaborative, fans can experience these larger than life characters as they team-up, mash-up, and meet up with other characters, teams, and people who share this same special quality. The J Balvin collaboration acts as the first music partnership for the brand since the TRANSFORMERS Collaborative launched in 2019, in addition to marking the first-ever Latin music, DECEPTICON, and G1-inspired collaboration! NTWRK is the first platform where viewers can buy the collaborative figure. The figure will be available for pre-order beginning Tuesday, July 13th at 9 a.m. PST / 12 p.m. EST on the NTWRK platform during a live episode which will feature members of the Hasbro design team.

About J Balvin:
J Balvin is one of the most consumed multi-platinum artists today. He has over 48 billion career streams and more than 53 million monthly listeners on Spotify, making him the most-listened-to Latin artist on the platform and the sixth in the world, while also being the first Latin artist to reach one billion streams on Apple Music. His influence and reach transcend cultural boundaries; Balvin was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020, is the only Latin artist with a collaboration with Jordan (which sold out in a minute), awarded in the Guinness World Record as the artist with the most nominations to a single Latin Grammy award show in its 21 year history, is the third superstar – and the first ever Latin artist – to get a signature meal on the McDonald’s menu, named one of Forbes’ 50 Most Creative from Colombia, and is VEVO’s most watched artist worldwide and the #1 global Latin artist on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and Shazam.

About Hasbro:
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a global play and entertainment company committed to making the world a better place for all children, fans and families. Hasbro delivers immersive brand experiences for global audiences through consumer products, including toys and games; entertainment through eOne, its independent studio; and gaming, led by the team at Wizards of the Coast, an award-winning developer of tabletop and digital games best known for fantasy franchises MAGIC: THE GATHERING and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. The company’s unparalleled portfolio of approximately 1,500 brands includes MAGIC: THE GATHERING, NERF, MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH, MONOPOLY, BABY ALIVE, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, POWER RANGERS, PEPPA PIG and PJ MASKS, as well as premier partner brands. For the past decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media and one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute. Important business and brand updates are routinely shared on our Investor Relations website, Newsroom and social channels (@Hasbro on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.) © 2021 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About NTWRK:
Named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2021, NTWRK is the premier North American livestream shopping platform where “entertainment meets e-commerce” (Forbes). Built on a digitally-innovative model of daily product drops, virtual shopping festivals and exclusive partnerships with world-renowned brands and creators, NTWRK has fostered an organic global community of artists and fans since its launch in 2018. Under the motto “Shopping At The Speed of Culture,” NTWRK provides a one-of-a-kind digital shopping experience for Gen-Z and millennial consumers.

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Piercing Ken Thoughts: As you know, we generally post any Transformers news over on PiercingMetal but with the subject being a non-Rock artist, I figured that I should use “The Chronicles” instead. This is an interesting collaboration for sure and one can only imagine that more items like this will be par for the course. As they mentioned, this figure is based on the original Soundwave Decepticon and I know that I owned one of those way back in the day. I loved the Transformers but they got to be too hard for me to collect as there were so many that I wanted but I digress. This will be something that the diehard collectors of the line will be hunting and of course the Balvin fans. It’s a little pricy but hey, its an item that will only be able to get for a short time and will likely sell out. While I am the occasional collector, I will be passing on this one myself since there are other Decepticons I am more interested in. Of course when Hasbro and The Transformers announce a KISS Collaboration then I am in trouble since I buy anything related to that band. Closing up I wonder what you readers think about this announcement. You can chime in down below in the comments section. See you next time.

Official Links:
Hasbro: http://www.hasbro.com
J Balvin: http://www.jbalvin.com
NTWRK: http://www.ntwrk.com