Personally, I think it's the people who are working GI Joe that are keeping it from reaching its full potential. Harvard educated businessmen and marketers? Maybe, but from what I've learned since I got back into the line in 2002, each head of GI Joe wants certain things. Some guys are into the nu skulpts and probably have some anime influences (Sand Viper, for example). But there are guys who grew up with the classic line. Unfortunately, SOME guys jumped on in 1986, some in 1982, some in 1993, y'know?

I'm guessing whoever thought up the DTC era stuff was trying to bring back a semi-classic look.

It's possible the boyz at Hasbro DON'T know what we really want. There are ton of online fans who love the classic ARAH and want to go back to that. There are others who were cool with the expansion themes starting in 2002. Fred and Justin might be able to back me up on the fact that each sculptor has their own ideas and each director has their own ideas. It might be backwards. It might be forward thinking. In the end, I believe there's a lot of butting of heads on how to handle the franchise.