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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.

01-01-2007, 07:31 PM	#4
Sonneilon aka 'Paul WS Anderson' ;) Offline --> Posts: 7,751 --> Join Date: Jul 2005	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.