Target and ToysRus

[Ranger_22]

Am I the only one who goes into Target and sees only S6 and no 3.75" figs? :confused:
The ToysRus's I go to are mostly selling S6 too but they have the smallest selection of 3.75" figs and a thousand snow vehicles.
Last time I went to ToysRus they had one snow sepernt and thats it!
I am so mad that they just stopped putting them on the shelves. :mad:

[ender098]

Around where I live, the 3.75 figures go like lightning, while the S6 stuff lingers on the shelves. I don't think they have the inventory to restock the 3 3/4 inch. Hasbro doesn't Care.

"Transformers the live action/CGI Movie" is coming and they need to ramp up those robots that will transform from car to robot and back, yet you still have to add the head and 1/3 of the parts that won't fit when it's in one form or the other! (Do I sound bitter? :D)

When is someone gonna make "GI Joe: the Live action Movie" ? Man, could you imagine the marketing drive after that?

[Dersham]

I know on myspace there's these guys who are making their own live action style movies of GI JOE. They aren't spectacular but they're amusing enough to watch. I think that may be as close as we get when it comes to live action for a joe movie.

[Sonneilon]

Uhmmmmmm, the 3.75" Joes were for TRU only. Don't expect to have seen them elsewhere. Now here's the dealy-o.

When the launch of themes showed up in 2002 (JvC, Spy Troops, VvV), those 3 were produced in about 100k units. Unfortunately, nobody seems to know if 'units' means cases or individual figures. In any case, when Hasbro was producing those type of #s, they could supply Target, Walmart, TRU (the Big 3) as well as Fred Meyer, Meijers and wherever else.

By VvV, things weren't going well. Blame it on the 'fans'. Blame it on Hasbro. All that matters is that Joe wasn't selling as hot as Hasbro wanted. Sigma6/Robot Rebellion was to be the next theme. Instead of doing Robot Rebellion, the bigwigs changed things up and went w/ 8" figures and a whole new take on GI Joe.

So there was a bit of an uproar of the 3.75" "HIATUS". It's revealed, irrc, at the convention that there would be a Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) line of GI Joe. The 1st wave was revealed and it was back to single cards and ONLINE only. The thing to note here is that #s were significantly decreased to around 40k per unit. It wouldn't be enough to sustain any brick n mortar store. (It's possible that the DTC was revealed between Toyfair and the Con because I remember people who went to the Con get order online on the computers there.)

Now, when Wave3 finally came about, TRU got in on the action. There are numerous theories on why the DTC showed up in stores. It's a popular belief that Hasbro couldn't sell their own stock out (face it, they want overnite success, not something that takes 9 months to sell out). Wave3 is made available thru both HTS and TRU. To get rid of the rest of the stock, TRU gets Wave1 and Wave2. Or at least, it was to bring the #s down.

TRU has always been a supporter of GI Joe but they have to look at #s and if the 3.75" isn't selling in general, they aren't about to take a dive w/ Wave4. I think everyone has said that NONE of Wave4 turns them on. The selection is OK. If you guys want a better history about this GI Joe thang, seek out EagleEyeJoe or AdrienVeidt over on the JBL.

[Ranger_22]

When VvV was out My 4 Targets were selling them.

What I can do is still go to the PX BX exchange at military bases. They sell alot of S6 and once in a while they would sell 3.75". They have like 4 dragonhawks, 40000 SE's, 1 Duke, 2 HeavyDuties, and alot of other things for S6. I went to fort Belvoir(didn't spell it right) and they had like 10 sky bats!

[Sonneilon]

VvV was available to everyone. It was during the VvV days that things really started to go sour. Hasbro tried something different w/ JvC and it didn't quite pan out. I'm guessing that VvV was already in full effect when Hasbro decided to let it gel. VvV, as a theme, was extended for another half year. Themes were supposed to be yearly. But VvV got extended. Why? It's my hypothesis that Wave7 of VvV was actually Wave1 of Robot Rebellion. We usually don't get 2 radically different molds for characters in 1 theme. Repaints, yes. But Wave7 had a new Snake Eyes and a new Overkill.

Instead of calling them RR W1, it was VvV W7. The DTC line, ALL those figures that were made (including the absent W4) were slated to be made. Amazon.com had a list of chars to be made and almost every one of them were made! (A prime example of a figure(s) not made was Dusty w/ Mech and Hotwire.) Amazon made the list disappear in a very short time too. (lol)

So VvV is extended. IIRC, at the same time, the fans found out that the Joes were going on 'hiatus'. People freaked. Then a short time later, 'we' learn about Sigma6. The RR cartoon is changed last minute to reflect the now-new S6 theme.

Those Skybats you were finding, a few months ago, you probably could've ebay'd 'em for a pretty nice price. HTS was out and only recently added them back to their stock! I know they're ugly and all, but it's about the ONLY trooper Cobra currently has and what else can you do? (well besides gripe, moan and cry!)

[Lava Boss]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]
By VvV, things weren't going well. Blame it on the 'fans'. Blame it on Hasbro. All that matters is that Joe wasn't selling as hot as Hasbro wanted. .[/QUOTE]

Yeah.

I'm sick of fans blaming other fans. Like complaining is going to force people to buy what they simply don't want? Neither is excessive praise. I'm not into Sigma Six stuff no matter who loves it. I just don't care about it. If that makes me less of a GI JOE fan in the eyes of anyone, I don't care. I remember when fandom wasn't about the blame game.

The numbers of 3 3/4" GI JOE collectors seems pretty small (especially now) compared to Star Wars and Transformers or even lego collectors.

[nando]

you all are lucky , in my country theres no toys r us i have to buy joes ONLINE .......damn

[Sonneilon]

I don't remember if it was Justin, EEJ or AdrienVeidt over on the JBL (or someone else even), but the 3.75" Joe fans are about 15% of the market. TF has a larger fanbase and SW, iirc, was between 60-80%.

In the end, the 'fans' alone couldn't support the online-only Joes. People can blame it on prices, weird frankensteining, online-only, lack of proper ads or whatever. But everyone knows that for a toy to succeed, there IS a formula. TV show/movie, ads and toy product. How did Hasbro think GI Joe would sell just to 'collectors' online???

A lot of us tried to do our part in helping the line, but the 'collectors' and 'fans' money can only go so far.

But here's a question I don't know the answer to. How come the Viper 6'r and the SB vs Plague pack isn't available on HTS???

[Sonneilon]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=Purple]Oh btw...

What Nite Force Cynic has to say about SW fandom! Originally available on the JBL.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

At the forums on rebelscum.com, a new wave of figures doesn't even have a topic thread the dedicated to it... there's a seperate discussion thread dedicated to EACH and EVERY FIGURE in every single wave.

Chief Chirpa, every Darth Vader, Gragra, and the Battle Droids 2-pack have 10-15 pages of discussion dedicated to them over the course of all the months that encompass the announcement of the waves and case breakouts up to and through the first pictures and then finally to the release, store reports, and the reviews of them.

[Ranger_22]

I am a member on the rebelscum fourm there. They get VERY deep in discusion there. I am a SW collecter too. As I said I have more SW than joes!
On rebelscum my screenname is Tarkin_22.