It's that time again!
 

Good morning GI Joe Q&A participants!

I hope your surviving these dog days of summer!

This is a reminder that the next round of questions is due a week from today
- Monday, August 13th at noon EASTERN time. I am more than happy to accept
them prior to that time, as usual, but that is the deadline.

As a reminder, PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS UNLESS IT IS
URGENT. All questions and correspondence should go to GIJoeQA@hunterpr.com.

I am in the office all week, so if you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to ask.

Thanks again for your continued support and participation.

Have a great week!

Best,

Mike


Mike Surabian
For GI Joe

Please throw down your questions in THIS thread. Prudential will compile the questions and email them in. Please do not email them yourself!

are we going to see Glenda in any of the upcoming sets,?

Is there any word on Vehicles and/or Playsets being made, or Joe Cartoons being released on DVD??? :)

Are we going to get any more old sculpt style figure 6 packs like the viper pit etc?

yeah, forget everything else, ask about a cartoon. that has to the one most important question there is. thats the one i was trying to think of, i knew i had one i couldnt remember.

John Warden is the new guy who seems to basically be in charge of most of the 25A stuff (at least the looks of it, etc).

Warden is NOT a fan of "updated looks".. he wants classic characters in classic uniforms. The "updated" Serpentor was not his idea, and by the time he was made aware of it, it was too late to change him back. This is apparently true for a few other figures and/or certain aspects of some of the figures.

Why are army building figures (such as the Cobra Trooper and future Cobra Trooper releases) being placed 1 per 8 figure case and 1 per 5 pack, yet each case seems to have 2 Snake Eyes, 2 Storm Shadows, and 2 Cobra Commanders. 1 Flint, 1 Cobra Officer. We need some cannon fodder, Hasbro!

Why are we already getting repaints making new characters (Cobra Jet Pack Trooper) when there are so many characters from the 25-year history, including ones only seen in the comics and cartoon and not toys before, still left unmade? Is this going to continue, with more brand-new characters/troops just to allow reuse of molds?

And more important because it actually affects the money Hasbro could get from me:

What are the odds, or % chances, of old-style sculpt figures ever being released again outside the Collectors Club?

Thanks gang!! I just sent all the questions in......let's see what we get for answers!!!!

I'm REALLY anxious to see the answers. I think any question I could of though of is already here!

Answer Time!!!!
 

And the answers are...........


1) Is there any word on Vehicles and/or Playsets being made, or Joe Cartoons being released on DVD???

These are all options the team is currently considering as we expand the 25th anniversary. It is too early to reveal our plans for 2008.


2) Are we going to get any more old sculpt style figure 6 packs like the viper pit etc?

In the future all sculpts will be in the 25th anniversary style.


3) Why are army building figures (such as the Cobra Trooper and future Cobra Trooper releases) being placed 1 per 8 figure case and 1 per 5
pack, yet each case seems to have 2 Snake Eyes, 2 Storm Shadows, and
2 Cobra Commanders. 1 Flint, 1 Cobra Officer?

Great question. For the first wave we wanted to get the most popular characters out in force. This will change as we move forward and the
second case pack of wave 1 figures switches over to 2 officers. Also
look for the second Cobra 5-pack to meet your troop building needs.


4) Why are we already getting repaints making new characters
(Cobra Jet Pack Trooper) when there are so many characters from the 25-year
history, including ones only seen in the comics and cartoon and not
toysbefore, still left unmade? Is this going to continue, with more
brand-new characters/troops just to allow reuse of molds?

We are thrilled with the success of the 25th Annvierary line. In fact,
the original plan was for only two 5-packs. Once we saw the figures,
we knew we had to do single carded figures as well and the line expanded
to 25 figures. Because the single packs were decided after the five
packs, you will see some re-used tools in wave 1, but totally new figures in
waves 2 and 3 The current plan is that the Collectors Club will
continue to work in the 80s type sculpting.

And more important because it actually affects the money Hasbro could get from me:
What are the odds, or % chances, of old-style sculpt figures ever
being released again outside the Collectors Club?

No answer given


5) Are we going to see Glenda in any of the upcoming sets?

No plans as of right now.

Cool! There's some pretty good news in there, and I really like the direction the 25th line is going. Very anxious for the 2nd wave of figures to hit.

I like how they side-stepped my question about making up new characters just to reuse molds...

Dang. What is the point of Hasbro having so many old molds but refusing to use em?!? :confused: :( :rolleyes:

They did give an answer. ;)

That addressed the part just beneath that, asking about the chances of them using old sculpts again, but the part about making up new characters with reused molds (Jet Pack Trooper, unless someone can show me a comic or cartoon they were in?) instead of following their original stated plan of drawing from the 25-year history, wasn't answered. They just started talking about why they're doing single packs... :confused:

Cobra used white JUMP jet-packs in the second episode of "Pyramid Of Darkness"-when they were chasing Snakes and Shippy in the Utility Railroad below Enterprise City.

Stormer, all I can assume is that Hasbro needs to stretch the molds as far as they can in terms of reuse AND they need to make a quick buck to help do more for the future. I agree it seems pretty odd that there'll be 3 CCs, 3 SSs and several different type of troopers. We'll have:

Blue w/ black mask (Trooper)
Blue w/ silver logo (Officer)
Blue w/ red mask (Trooper)
Blue w/ jet pack (JetPackTrooper)
Gray w/ black gear (Stinger Driver)

Who knows what else.

It seems to me that if they want to stretch the use of the 25thA molds, they should just add gear when necessary, pull the repaint thing and frankenstein the parts into new figures. I'm sure there'd be a way to create a Falcon that way. ;) Certainly, Stalker is Snake Eyes with a different head and jungle camo, right?

And for the record, apparently, John Warden is NOT the head of GI Joe. He's a designer but from how it sounds, things have to go thru him for approval or something. I dunno. Sounds like some odd management and stuff going on.

I just have mixed feelings over the whole thing; they made such a big noise about giving us characters from the history of the line rather than move it forward with new characters/uniforms but they're going back on that already. It might not bug me as much if this new guy wasn't a frankensteined semi-new (head, kinda) figure. If they wanted to reuse that body, there was still the comic-style Officer or PP, or Night Watch. And really, who would have minded them including a basic Officer or Trooper (red logo) again?

Any way you cut it, though, I think they shot themselves in the foot by not doing an all-army builder set!