John Warden
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John William Warden is a former Senior Designer (later Design Director) and long-time creative lead for Transformers collector product (read: toylines weird grownups care about) at Hasbro and a man with a long history with the brand.
He began his career at Hasbro on the Star Wars and G.I. Joe brands before cutting his teeth Transformers-wise working on the Age of Extinction franchise and Thrilling 30. In 2014 he was appointed the design lead on the Generations mega-brand (inheriting the role from Joe Kyde) where he would dramatically expand its scope (and budget) in a reign stretching from Combiner Wars imprint all the way up through Kingdom in 2020. In addition to helming both the Prime Wars and War for Cybertron "trilogies" he was responsible for codifying the disparate live-action film series toylines under their own version of Generations in the evergreen Studio Series label as well several more whimsical projects such as the creation of the BotBots franchise alongside Associate Designer Aaron Gray[1] and the synergy-tastic Collaborative toyline. You're welcome, Bay heads.
After going out on a high note with the successful launch of HasLab Unicron, he announced in a tweet on July 17, 2020 that he had been promoted to the Global Design Lead on the Power Rangers and Ghostbusters brands.[2] On September 26 of that year at the first Hasbro Pulsecon, he passed his position on to Lenny Panzica in a formal ceremony.[3] From April[4] to October 2024[5] he returned to the world of the Transformers several rungs above his old job as the Director of Product Design for both Transformers and G.I. Joe, where he oversaw guys like his current successor as Generations design lead Mark Maher,[6] developing a shared strategy for both brands.[7] Due to the way toy production timelines work, this shakes out to the toys we actually see through 2025 and 2026.[8] He appears to be available at the moment, so if you're a toy company executive reading this, hit him up fast!
Dude just really loves Transformers.[9]
Known design projects
Generations: Thrilling 30
- Legends
- Voyager
- Brainstorm (with Yūya Ōnishi)
- Roadbuster (with Takashi Kunihiro)
- Sky-Byte (with Tomoya Miyake)
- Whirl
- Leader
- Jetfire (with Takashi Kunihiro)
Age of Extinction
Robots in Disguise
One-Step Changers
Electronic Stomp & Chomp
Generations/Series M4
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Autobot Drift (helicopter)
- Autobot Hound
- Evasion Mode Optimus Prime
- Galvatron
- Leader Class
Generations: Combiner Wars
- Legends Class
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Cyclonus
- Motormaster
- Optimus Prime
- Protectobot Hot Spot (with Takashi Kunihiro)
- Silverbolt
- Leader Class
- Armada Megatron
- Megatron
- Thundercracker
- Ultra Magnus (with Takashi Kunihiro)
- Titan Class
- Devastator (with Shogo Hasui)
- Box sets
- Victorion (Pyra Magna, Jumpstream, Dust Up, Stormclash, Skyburst, Rust Dust) (with Shogo Hasui and you)[10]
Generations: Titans Return
- Titan Masters
- Legends Class
- Deluxe Class
- Autobot Breakaway & Autobot Throttle
- Autobot Hot Rod & Firedrive
- Autobot Topspin & Freezeout
- Autobot Twinferno & Daburu
- Blurr & Hyperfire
- Chromedome & Autobot Stylor
- Decepticon Krok & Gatorface
- Decepticon Quake & Chasm
- Hardhead & Furos
- Highbrow & Xort
- Mindwipe & Vorath
- Misfire & Aimless
- Perceptor & Convex
- Scourge & Fracas
- Sergeant Kup & Flintlock
- Skullsmasher & Grax
- Slugslinger & Caliburst
- Triggerhappy & Blowpipe
- Twin Twist & Flameout
- Windblade & Scorchfire
- Wolfwire & Monxo
- Voyager Class
- Leader Class
- Titan Class
The Last Knight: Premier Edition
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Leader Class
Generations: Power of the Primes
- Prime Masters
- Alchemist Prime (w/ Submarauder decoy armor)
- Alpha Trion (w/ Landmine decoy armor)
- Liege Maximo (w/ Skullgrin decoy armor)
- Megatronus (w/ Bomb-Burst decoy armor)
- Micronus (w/ Autobot Cloudburst decoy armor)
- Quintus Prime (w/ Decepticon Bludgeon decoy armor)
- Solus Prime (w/ Octopunch decoy armor)
- Vector Prime (w/ Metalhawk decoy armor)
- Legends Class
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Leader Class
- Evolution Optimal Optimus (w/ Optimus Primal)
- Evolution Optimus Prime (w/ Orion Pax)
- Evolution Rodimus Prime (w/ Autobot Hot Rod)
- Evolution Rodimus Unicronus (w/ Nemesis Hot Rod)
- Titan Class
Generations: Studio Series
- Deluxe Class
- Leader Class
Generations: War for Cybertron Trilogy
War for Cybertron: Siege
- Deluxe Class
- Commander Class
- Titan Class
- Omega Supreme & Countdown (with Shogo Hasui and Takashi Kunihiro)
War for Cybertron: Earthrise
- Battle Masters
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Commander Class
- Titan Class
War for Cybertron: Kingdom
- Core Class
- Deluxe Class
- Voyager Class
- Leader Class
- Commander Class
- Titan Class
Transformers Collaborative
Generations Selects
HasLab
Generations: Shattered Glass Collection
Generations: Legacy
Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection
Buzzworthy Bumblebee
- Origin Bumblebee
- Fangry with Brisko
Convention appearances
- BotCon 2014
- Toy Fair 2015
- BotCon 2015
- Toy Fair 2016
- BotCon 2016
- Toy Fair 2017
- HasCon 2017
- New York Comic Con 2017
- Toy Fair 2018
- San Diego Comic-Con 2018
- New York Comic Con 2018
- Toy Fair 2019
- San Diego Comic-Con 2019
- New York Comic Con 2019
- Toy Fair 2020
- Hasbro PulseCon 2020
- San Diego Comic-Con 2024
MCM London 2024
Hasbro Pulse livestream appearances
- November 13, 2020's "Hasbro Pulse | Fan First Fridays: Transformers & Ghostbusters | Event One" on YouTube, with Rachel Fleming and Sam Smith.
Notes
- As a kid living in Ohio, John got to tour the American Greetings AmToy design studio for an elementary school career-path project. After seeing how Madballs were made, he decided he wanted to be a toy designer.
- John graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from Ohio State University, and worked in the automotive industry designing car interiors before joining Hasbro in 1999.
- Prior to Transformers, John worked on Star Wars (including Episode 1, Episode 2, and 300th Boba Fett), Shrek 2, Rave Master, and all Pokémon toys from 2000 to 2005 (and was a co-signee on a patent for toy/game convergence used on Pokémon THINKChip Plus figures).
- He is probably best known to Hasbro fans as the lead designer on all G.I. Joe figures and vehicles from 2006 to 2013: Sigma 6, 25th Anniversary, Rise of Cobra movie toys, Pursuit of Cobra (including original designs Shadow Tracker, Jungle-Viper, Zombie-Viper, and Data-Viper), 30th Anniversary, and Retaliation movie figures. Some of the 50th Anniversary figures were also based on his "concept vault" work.
- At JoeCon 2011, Warden and Rik Alvarez participated in a "Treasures from the Hasbro Archives" panel, which revealed that a robot panther modeled on Ravage was intended for release with an unproduced Rise of Cobra "Arctic Baroness" figure. While Warden consistently denied that it was going to actually be Ravage, the use of Ravage design cues was intentional. Neither the Baroness nor the robot panther were tooled, with the panther in the photo being the only one in existence.
- His favorite Transformers are Roadbuster, Whirl, Sky Lynx, and Jetfire. He must be quite impressed with himself!
- Warden even expressed interest for a potential crossover with Power Rangers. Yes, he's serious about this.[19]
- Warden's favorite Transformers toys that he has designed are Combiner Wars Devastator and HasLab Unicron, but neither holds the same special place in his heart as a Shrek 2 action figure that "toots" when you squeeze it. Yes, really.[20]
- While on assignment for MCM London in October 2024,[21] John (and the fandom) were blindsided when he was caught in a round of layoffs[5] of about 100 employees to "streamline the company" by slashing the design department.[22] This abrupt booting off of health insurance has led the Wardens into financial peril, as his fiancée suffers from a severe form of a chronic condition for which any gap in an expensive medication can bring the disease out of remission and potentially lead to even more expensive surgery.[23] Further information (and ways to help) can be found here. We wish him all the best.
References
- ↑ Botbots design notes from Hasbro designer Aaron Gray on ArtStation
- ↑ "Excited to share that I have taken on the global design lead role at Hasbro for Power Rangers and Ghostbusters! I am honored/excited to work on these iconic brands and can't wait for fans to see what's in store for them!!⚡️👻"—John Warden, Twitter, 2020/07/17
- ↑ Archive of the Hasbro Pulse Con 2020 stream
- ↑ John Warden on LinkedIn
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "I’ve had the privilege of a lifetime to be part of the creative force at Hasbro. When I was a boy in the early 1980’s, I was encouraged by my Dad, an inner city public school art teacher, to learn about industrial design.It wasn’t until I saw Where the Toys Come From in 1984 on a VHS cassette from my local library that I realized that the worlds of drawing, painting, sculpture, and mass-production engineering collided into a fascinating miasma resulting in the swivel-armed hero that I held in my hand.That next year, I would go on to write a letter for my fifth grade class to Ralph Shaffer, the mastermind SVP who (alongside the mighty James Groman) created the wacky MadBall line in the nearby metro area of Cleveland Ohio. To my surprise he wrote me back and I got a tour… the illustrations on frisket hanging on the wall, originals from Groman himself and the think tank of subversive designers. My career at Hasbro has taught me what it means to dream hard enough that your dreams come to life. And just like the closing act in The Muppet Movie, for 25 years, you as Hasbro’s fans of Transformers, G.I.Joe, MASK, Visionaries, Jem, Pokémon, Star Wars… we came together. Through the crashing anarchy of the rainbow 🌈 we came together, somehow. Like a family. To hundreds upon thousands of fans that I’ve met at conventions around the world, I say thank you. Your passion for the brands that we all grew up with and loved as children is beyond measure. It has been a privilege and an honor to talk to each and every one of you. We are all Family. Thank you fans and thank you Hasbro for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to bring my childhood dreams to life these past 25 years. Even to bring new dreams to life for a new generation of fans, like my kids who are now adults. As I gaze misty eyed on my career and what magic comes next, my heart is filled with gratitude.Fear not, Autobots. I am sure our paths will come together again. As sure as the sun beams in from above onto the singing Muppets below. Thank you."—John Warden, Instagram, 2024/10/23
- ↑ "mark is still very much the design lead on Generations"—John Warden, Twitter, 2024/07/30
- ↑ "I’m the design director in charge of GI Joe and Transformers. And part of my role is to think about how collectors engage with our brand, what sorts of things are they doing, and what opportunities can we do to try to build the brands up in a way where they’re kind of feeding off of each other, but also understand, are there common themes or things we can start to look at – whether it’s detail, accuracy to content, that sort of thing. So by uniting Hasbro’s legacy brands under a single umbrella, I think it does give us an opportunity to really do some amazing new stuff for the future."—John Warden, TFW2005, "SDCC 2024 Hasbro Interview – John Warden’s Return, Generations, Studio Series, Combiners, More!", 2024/08/03
- ↑ "Some of my teams creations are on the horizon for 2025 and 2026."—John Warden, Instagram, 2024/10/23
- ↑ "I was working with Lenny for about three years as the design director over top of GI Joe, as well as some other kid-based brands within Hasbro, new inventions and things like that. The love of Transformers really and the Transformers community brought me back. I looked across the Hasbro portfolio, and I started to see some commonalities – not just in true crossovers, but in the way that fans interact with our brands. The way they understand them, that curve of nostalgia and popularity, and also the precision and intricacies within the Transformers universe. I think more than anything, I was drawn back to the rich lore and universe of Transformers, and the promise of immortal metal men that are able to live forever and scan and transform. That’s really a magical premise that I think will never ever go out of style, and something I’ll never stop being in love with."—John Warden, TFW2005, "SDCC 2024 Hasbro Interview – John Warden’s Return, Generations, Studio Series, Combiners, More!", 2024/08/03
- ↑ "Designer Desk" feature on Combiner Wars Victorion at the official Transformers YouTube channel.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Glad to hear you like these guys. Fun fact: when I was doing the deco I actually ordered touch up paint for the actual vehicles these guys were based on to get that tone just right."—John Warden, Twitter, 2022/04/28
- ↑ "Leaked from Cybertron" presentation on Studio Series Grimlock at the official Transformers Instagram
- ↑ Toy Fair 2019
- ↑ "a cool little doodle I found when I designed the concept for the snake-shield/roadway transformer (which later became #slitherfangtransformers ) this sort of this was pretty normal, we would have an idea, I would sketch it out on scrap paper, snap a photo and send it to an artist like @santalux75 to drive home and bring it to life." --John Warden on Instagram
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 *July 17, 2020's livestream on Facebook, with Rachel Fleming and Mark Maher.
- ↑ "One of my favorite projects I've worked on in my career - glad you love all the extra detail we put in!"—John Warden, Twitter, 2022/06/10
- ↑ Transformers panel at New York Comic Con 2019
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/ClLfJnsNsGK/?img_index=1
- ↑ Hasbro Transformers Designer On Possibility of Power Rangers Crossover
- ↑ Get to Know John Warden – Our Interview with the Global Design Lead for Power Rangers
- ↑ "Are you in the London UK area and have questions about G.I.Joe Classified? I’ll be attending @mcmcomiccon with @naveskoorb Evan Brooks to showcase some reveals in person! Some fun surprises and a great chance to talk to the design team!"—John Warden, Instagram, 2024/10/22
- ↑ "The Toy Book can exclusively reveal that fewer than 100 employees will be affected by a workforce reduction amid operational streamlining across the board. These changes should increase speed-to-market by trimming at least three months from the process while empowering teams to make decisions quickly and to “design to value” (design with price in mind) from the start. These changes reflect Hasbro’s “all in” bets on Digital, Direct, and Technology-assisted innovation.."—The Toy Box, "Exclusive: Hasbro Continues Organizational Changes to Fuel Growth, Innovation", 2024/10/23
- ↑ ""My fiancée Meaghan Elderkin, suffers from a condition known as Crohn’s Disease. Crohn's disease can be both painful and debilitating, and sometimes may lead to life-threatening complications. There's no known cure for Crohn's disease, but therapies can greatly reduce its signs and symptoms and even bring about long-term remission and healing of inflammation. With treatment, many people with Crohn's disease are able to function well. She has survived a total of twenty (20) lower abdominal surgeries in the past 15 years, ranging from untangling her lower intestines to resections to splice living tissue together. And while she is able to digest food, the scar and nerve damage from the surgeries cause her to be in a constant state of pain. A biological medicine called Skyrizi keeps her Crohn’s stabilized to the point where her chronic pain is tolerable and she can lead a normal life as a Mom. Unfortunately, a single dosage (2 months) of Skyrizi costs $21,017.34. Without it to stabilize her Crohn’s, she runs the risk of another Abdominal Surgery which costs an average of $114,000.""—John Warden, GoFundMe, 2024/10
External links
- John Warden on Instagram
- John Warden at LinkedIn
- John Warden on Twitter
- "Help John Warden's Family" on GoFundMe
Interviews
- Interview with John Warden at Bleeding Cool
- Podcast interview with Warden and Lynsey Urban at Slate.
- Interview with Warden about the development of Siege Omega Supreme on the Hasbro Pulse blog:
- SDCC 2024 interview with Warden and the rest of the Generations team (but mostly Warden) at TFW2005
- Interview on the October 2024 Hasbro layoffs with Providence Now