Since Transformers started out as Diaclone in the 80s and two nations' children (Japan and America) in particular fell in love with the two-toys in one robot action figures, there really has been no going back. The property is firmly in the top 25 highest-grossing media franchises of all time, raking just over $17 billion between toys, comics, movies, television, and other merchandise.One thing that Transformers as a series, but more in particular Hasbro, is known for however, is using media to advertise its newest offerings in the toy world. Children were made aware of this as early in the franchises' existence as The Transformers: The Movie when Optimus Prime, the series main protagonist, was killed off in surprising fashion. The move created a huge outcry among parents who reported children being inconsolably upset as well as some locking themselves in their rooms. Prime was a victim of both Megatron and corporate greed whose sole motivation behind the move was to push new merchandise on parents to buy for their kids. To be fair, they likely didn't know the franchise would be cranking out new offerings almost 40 years later.

Merchandising is in fact a powerful force for any business, especially those that hinge product offerings on new shows. Given that fact, it comes as a surprise that Netflix passed on the newest Transformers offering, Legacy. The announcement came from TFcon when F.J. Desanto made the announcement, and the Mike Siebert Radio Podcast broke the news. Desanto is not new to the franchise monster, having been the show runner for both War for Cybertron and Prime Wars Trilogy. Those two series were produced in part with Rooster Teeth and later, Netflix picking up the War for Cybertron offering itself. Both of these series, had toylines that lasted for several waves over several years. Legacy just hitting stores, will be no exception. That toyline is coming off of the Kingdom offering in the final part of the War for Cybertron trilogy.

Related: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts First Look Reveals Autobots and Terrorcons

Netflix Hosts a Lot of Transformers Content

Frank Welker talks Transformers Prime

Netflix has recently been a hub for older viewers of the franchise, offering War for Cybertron titles Siege, Earthrise, as well as Kingdom. The streaming service also house Transformers Prime, a show from 2010 than ran three seasons and a straight to video movie. These titles were geared more for fans of the original series, Generation One, while other shows have been geared towards bring in younger, newer, viewers to be fans of the franchise.

Transformers Earth-Spark is gearing up to making its debut on Nickelodeon later this year, and Netflix did opt to pick up Transformers: Bot Bots, a show in the same vein as Teen Titans Go. Hasbro is ramping up for its big release, the newest feature length film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts which was delayed until next year. As of right now, the push to flood the market with more Transformers media will halt because of the Netflix decision, but older fans can hope another service picks up Legacy before they are able to wet their beaks next summer.