My Two Cents
 

I just read through this thread for the first time and had to laugh. It makes me laugh that we (a bunch of grown men) can get so worked up about toys. And the animosity towards Hasbro really surprises me.

The fact of the matter is that the 25th Anniv. stuff is selling. Its selling better than than the last few waves of the new sculpt did, and way better than the DTC. The line was dying and they tried something new. It appears to be working right now.

We have to remember that the collecting community isn't big enough to support a toy line. There just isn't enough of us. That means Hasbro has to create toys that will sell to kids. If Hasbro thought that the only people who buy the 25th Anniv. stuff would be collectors, they never would have bothered to produced the stuff in the first place.

What I don't understand was the need to switch to yet another construction format. Hasbro has proved they can produce new ARAH versions of old characters in the recent con sets. They sometimes act like there is no possible way to create new ARAH style molds.

One thing is certain though: Hasbro is not trying to kill the line. With the new movie coming Hasbro is extra motivated to keep this line successful. The idea that Hasbro is trying to kill the line is absurd. But they also have no need to expand the roster.

They already killed the line -- they don't make 3.75"-scale GI Joe figures any more. They do this 4.1" scale and are filling their new toy line with figures based on 3.75" Joes. It annoys me that they say they are "celebrating" the last 25 years by discontinuing it in favour of this do-over.

And if you read around their responses to the Q&As they've been doing, they've actually said that the 25th line IS aimed at collectors and NOT at kids they're trying to bring into the fandom. They've said in response to things related to the movie and/or stuff like "Galactic Heroes"-style figures that if they refocus the line's attention to include kids that'll play with them as well as collectors, they'll consider more options regarding styles.

I'd be very interested to see actual sales figures for the likes of VvV, DTC and 25th -- people say 25th is selling because their stores are out of them, but at the same time people are complaining about not being able to find them in the first place. If they're making them in more limited numbers and with more limited distribution, it's going to simultaneously give the impression of a high demand if shelves are always empty, and of driving up the determination in collectors to buy whatever they DO find because of the perceived value due to scarcity. Are they REALLY selling better than VvV did just because you're not seeing any hanging around shelves? What about the VvV wave with Torch, Bazooka et al? THAT had a more limited release than others and those figures have been in high demand, fetching high prices on eBay and such, ever since. If Hasbro is aiming this line at collectors, as they've implied, then limiting their availability like this is a great way of exaggerating the demand.

I don't feel that I'm "so worked up about toys" -- it's not like I talk about this to my family or non-collector friends. But this is a GI Joe toy collectors' forum, so in that context it's a significant issue for me. Plus, you have to take into account the considerable financial, emotional and time investments I've put into this hobby. To simply dismiss those would be to invalidate not only them but also any reason I'd have to need or want to like/accept the 25th line anyway.

It just upsets me that, one one hand, there's Hasbro saying "It's great that we made it to 25 years; we couldn't have done it without the fans," and on the other it's "Your previous patronage means nothing to us. Buy our NEW toyline, which is just BASED on the one that you've loved for all this time."

Are they trying to kill the line or not?
 

Uncle flint!! You just way confused me.. :confused:
As above.. You say "hasbro is trying to kill the line.. and then hasbro is motivated to keep the line successful? The idea that hasbro is trying to kill the line is absurd.. "

:confused:

I've seen some confusing things in my time, but reading this gave me a headache.. or is it the way i am reading it? Anyone else read that it says hasbro is trying to kill the line then read that hasbro aren't trying to kill the line..

I dunno.. :o I've read this paragraph 10 times and it makes absolutely no sense.. Heeeellllpp.. :o

ditto :confused:

Right.
 

Ok Flatline, now that would make sense..
You mean like:
One thing is certain though: "Hasbro is to trying to kill the line" -.
With the new movie coming Hasbro is extra motivated to keep this line successful. The idea that Hasbro is trying to kill the line is absurd. But they also have no need to expand the roster.

As to quote what others have said? If your right you should get a gold star.. as reading it from a person's reading viewpoint without seeing this makes it very difficult to understand. :o :confused:

Yeah it's selling....and it has nothing to do with they're cool or they're better than ARAH sculpts....it's because Hasbro is SUPPORTING this line! Since 2001 have you seen an ARAH or NEW sculpt ad in a Magazine? No, they just complained sales were crap and then relegated them to an obscure website to die!





I think someone alread tackled this one. But Toys just don't sell like they used to! Kids want XBOX, Wii, Guitar Hero and Halo3! They don't want toys. My neighbor is a Joe fan and he got his boys all 3 five packs for Christmas. Two days ago only 3 figures we're broken or damaged. "They don't make 'em like they used to" he told me, and said he figured these weren't made for kids. And I gotta say, they AREN'T. They're too delicate...



EXACTLY! I feel like they're saying to me "Thank you for your support all these years and buying 2,500 of our figures, but our need to make money and our habit of not listening to what you want has brought us to the conclusion that we need to remake the entire line, so you're years of loyalty and dedication now takes a back seat to our greed....F*%K you very much Mr. Nash....throw out that old non compatible collection and REBUY 25TH!!!!!"




Wanna know my biggest gripe? I'm tired of seeing the same figures again and again. I wanna see Mayday, the Red Shadows, Firewall, Wraith, Alexander and Lady Armada, and NOT Duke Version 234,578! And instead of just redoing the classic figures, why not Update them? Update them like DD did with MainFrame? (ok, maybe not the best update to use as an example, but....)Scarlett in a black commando type outift. I'd even buy Duke in black Halo gear.

Something cool and yet BELIEVEABLE and REALISTIC! Not stuff like the Sand Razor that has a two man open turret on top that is as big as the vehicle itself!
My last 15 Purchases have been PTE, or BBI because I'm so sick of the same unbelieveable crap! I started buying GI Joe 25 years ago because they had the closest thing to a Humvee and an Abrams! Now I get a purple hiss with snake scales on them! Huh?

The thing that made GI Joe sell in the 80's was everyone else was selling WWII figures, guns and vehicles. Kids wanted to play with what the Army had now (well, THEN!)! We were tired of our Grandfathers coming up and saying "I drove one a them tanks in Belgium" We wanted something new, sleek and modern. Something realistic. And Hasbro gave us that with the original 13....but as time wore on, they became rock starts with football Jerseys, long hair and Ninja Training until it got to the point they were hunting dinosaurs! And now they've gone from science fiction to porcelin collectors items! BLAH! Bring back the ARAH Molds and the "O"ring, get me an M988 Hemtt, or I'm giving BBI and PTE my money....Oh, and Marauder John....but I'll buy his stuff even if Hasbro listens to me and makes my dream come true!

For me, I enjoyed the articulation. As much as I loved Star Wars, these had more playability.

Not trying to kill the line.
 

Sorry, guys it was just a typo. Sorry if I confused everybody. However crappy the products are, Hasbro is NOT trying to kill the line. They need it to keep going and even growing. They wouldn't have bothered to create a whole new line if they only expected it to last one year. And with the movie coming they have to be trying to increase the fan base as much as possible.

There is no conspiracy here, or anything. the new sculpt stuff wasn't selling. the ARAH 6-packs weren't selling because they were poorly executed. so I guess they said "Lets' try somthing completely new."

I know they claim the 25th Anniv. stuff is for collectors, (and that may be true about the packaging) but they're just saying that to make us feel good. Hasbro has to sell this stuff to kids to make it profitable. They want to keep us happy, and keep us involved, but there just isn't enough of us to make a difference. We proved that with the DTC stuff.

Actually, the problem is, Hasbro left alot of us out of the picture with the DTC stuff, heck us non- US fans have no other choice but to go on E-Bay for alot of the items that we were looking for, yes TRU up here carried some of the VvV line and Spy Troops, but the really cool stuff was only available to US residents, and now with the 25th line, it's still only available to US residents, unless you go on E-Bay or a dealer like Small Joes (who is really good). Hasbro just plain ticks me off.