The last time the music business saw any Transformer of note was back in 1972 when Lou Reed released his solo album of the same title. 

That has just changed as Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin has partnered with the it’s-a-car-or-a-lorry-but-wait!-now-it’s-a-terrifying-giant-robot Transformers brand, working with toy company Hasbro to create the J Balvintron figure. The design incorporates the adapted smiley with lightning bolt eyes that Balvin has been using on his merchandise for several years. 

Fittingly it is a cassette player that turns into a robot and comes with two specially adapted “cassettes” that play music from his 2016 Energía and 2018 Vibras albums.

It is being trailed as the first Transformers collaboration with an artist or celebrity and it sells exclusively on the NTWRK “livestream shopping platform” for $70. Hasbro has worked on collaborations with outside brands since 2019, notably Marvel and Universal, but this is its first collaboration with a living person. 

“The J Balvintron Transformers that are coming out are a reflection of my dream toy,” the singer gushed to Billboard. “Ever since the proposal came to me I had this vision in mind.”

Cynicism aside, it is a big deal – especially with an artist from Colombia being the first to do this. It shows how brands in music are looking far beyond the obvious British and US acts to partner with, seeing the potential of huge global appeal that acts like Balvin have. 

Balvin, of course, is already enormous and is the number 7 global artist on Spotify, with 58m monthly listeners – while his YouTube channel has 31.4m subscribers. So partnering with him might be obvious, but it also symbolises a gear change in the way brands assess which acts (and where they are from) when they choose who to work with. 

He is not shy about affiliating himself with major global brands. Last October, McDonald’s created a J Balvin meal (if you’re interested: it involved a Big Mac, fries with ketchup, and an Oreo McFlurry) as well as a tie-in merchandise line that included obvious things like sweatshirts and hoodies – as well as less obvious things like, umm, chairs and bed sheets. In January, however, this part of the partnership was put on hold due to an “issue with our supplies” that “did not meet our expectations with the products”. 

Maybe the J Balvintron robot can now be reconfigured to also turn into (presumably very uncomfortable) bed sheets.