Ahem. What I didn't put in my original post...

Sigma6 wasn't the overnight success Hasbro wanted. IIRC, there was some sort of shake up at the top and a new GI Joe head came in. Somehow, they got it worked out that 'slow-and-steady' wins the race, not the highest horsepowered entity. So hasbro went back to whatever formula they were using and probably tweaked it.

Keep in mind, the #s that came in for the 2002+ stuff (including VvV) were good. But a bunch of bean counters only see beans and wanted more.

I wouldn't say that S6 fragmented the Joe line much. Hasbro needed to find a way to get to the kids and S6 really worked, believe it or not. It DID alienate the 3.75" fans, yes. But we all knew there was to be a 'hiatus' of 3.75" and it's possible that the S6 era was that hiatus. *shrug*

Also, Hasbro's plan was to put Falcon in Duke's place. That's a fact. Who YOU want to be top kick is an entirely different matter and should be seen as 2 different things. Yes, Hasbro wanted to knock off Duke but the outcry over Optimus dying freaked people out. Right up there w/ the Dixie Chicks dissing the gov't and Michael Jackson liking lil boys.

Now... People are bugged w/ the 25th Anniversary. Why are they going back to the original designs? Why aren't they trying something totally new in terms of themes and whatnot? Well, they did that w/ the 20th Anniversary and it ended up being called GI Joe vs Cobra (w/ t-crotch!). My own feelings say that GI Joe is following the Star Wars and Transformers philosophy. We've seen our fave Joes get a new sculpt/uniform treatment. Just as we've seen, uh, Transformers get all sorts of new versions. SW too, to an extent. Shoot, even He-Man got it and that was by another company! :lol:

I dunno. I'm cool w/ them going backwards for the 25th. They can do whatever they want after they get this out of their system, y'know?