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Thread
:
Some questions I've been wondering . . .
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10-08-2008, 12:05 AM
Acrizer
Laser Rifle Trooper
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: So. San Francisco
Posts: 7,509
Crazy fun time. Here's a bunch of unsupported opinions...
Run now if you want to avoid the insane wall of text!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RockinHard
1) Why did Cobra go neon in 87?
Anything vaguely military or gun-like did due to rising gang violence and shootings amongst children. We still feel the impact of a lot of this today. Back then, I could get a toy uzi that was black and about the size of a real thing. Now you get some weird sci-fi design that is not only neon colored, but still blaze-orange tipped on the barrel!
Quote:
2) During the ARAH era, why were the vehicles better-looking than the figures? I went back and dug through my collection at my dad's this past summer after getting back into the 25th line and my first thought was, "dang, that Rolling Thunder is cool, but that Wild Weasel figure looks silly with that big head."
3) Why did almost all of the ARAH Cobra vehicles after 86 start to become wildly fantastical and unrealistic, but most of the Joe vehicles were still good?
The earlier ones were better than the later ones. Once they did the basics, they had to get more inventive with designs in part because "I'm not buying you that, Jimmy, you already have a tank."
Quote:
4) Why did the ARAH line mostly suck after 91?
The idea well starts to dry up, you try to stick with the trends (dinosaurs or space aliens, etc) and there you go.
Quote:
5) Why did Hasbro make terrible, lazy 25th versions of Grunt and Cutter?
It's safe to say that everyone at Hasbro is better off with superior profit margins from their products.
Quote:
6) Why is The Fridge the only figure from 82-90 that I despise?
My guess is a lack of familiariaty with most figures from 87+
Quote:
7) Why did they make Annihilator, TARGAT, and the Razorback differ from the IG color-scheme?
If the toys look to close to each other, mom and dad think junior already has it and, thus, don't buy it.
Quote:
8) Why does every single version of 25th Cobra infantry have to have a different color scheme?
See above.
Quote:
9) Why does a single figure go from 4.88 to 6.99 or 5.99 tp 7.99?
Companies want to maintain a certain margin in profit. Today, it's easy to blame oil (to make the plastics, the paint, the bubbles, the printing, the shipping to distribution then to the stores). When their costs go up, so do yours (this is also used as an argument point for some who are against raises in minimum wage and such. The poor stay just as poor when costs of goods settles out to make up the added expense of higher wages, and everyone else just took a step closer to poor, also).
Secondly, they will charge what you pay. Which is why Nike's can cost $100+ when they only cost $2.05 to make and distribute.
Quote:
10) Why, as of the first of October, are so many figures hard to find in stores?
Most toy lines run into this kind of thing. A store finally "cacthes on" that it's a got a hot seller on its hands and over-orders to meet what it thinks is demand ("sold out" is not good for stores because it means you'll go somewhere else to spend money). This usually means "peg warmers" which, as a collector, is just like a c**k block. No new stuff gets to the pegs (or orders are then scaled back) because now demand doesn't seem so hot.
Other trouble times are post holidays and pre-inventory periods for stores.
Quote:
11) Why are we getting more Cobra Commanders and Dukes (although the Cobra Commander from the upcoming DVD "Best Of" pack looks awesome)?
Most every product or line has to include what someone has determined is the recognizable or signature character. Since so many people focus on the cartoon series as the definitive version, it means your main good guy and bad guy are Duke and Cobra Commander.
Quote:
12) Where is a 25th Cover Girl, Recondo, Rip Cord, Airtight, Footloose, Dr. Mindbender, Zandar, and Zarana? These are hotly wanted, among others.
They are on a drawing board somewhere, I'm sure. Some might never make it. Some may be waiting for their production cost to be ok'd. EG: Cover-girl. If they want long hair, that's an added expense as they have to produce a whole additional piece. So it may be more cost effective for using someone that will, instead, use one of the existing helmet mold that are already in mass production.
Quote:
13) Why not, at a minimum, an internet exclusive Joe Headquarters and Terror Drome?
Because the cost would be way too high for such limited release.
Example: Back when I ordered videos for a gov't training program, a 15 minute videotape could cost $500. Something that people would watch once. Ok, more mainstream - A really crappy Rob Schneider movie would cost $100. A popular Disney movie would be like $12. Why? Because tons of people will buy that disney movie and nobody wanted "The Animal." But rental stores
still had to buy it
, even if not very many.
So Disney made a lot more money with volume. Where-as Columbia pictures had to make just as much money with a small percentage of the business - thus the much higher price.
Even as a fan, I'm not interested in a $200+ Terror Drome. Have you seen that $100 Cloverfield monster toy? Never sold out. Never heard of anyone even owning it (anyone here have it? Just curious).
Quote:
14) Will the third time be the charm for a 'classic' Serpentor?
Nope.
Quote:
15) Why does Buzzer come with a chainsaw that would make Leatherface blush when he never had anything like that originally?
It's flashier than a piece of yard equipment.
Quote:
16) Why couldn't the TRU Cobra Officer come with an AK like the original, since the TRU Officer is most 'classic-looking?' Furthermore, why did the carded one have gray paint apps and the trooper have a white sigil?
The carded ones came with the dragonuv, too. They may have misplaced the AK mold? Maybe they thought AK's were too terroristy? No idea.
Quote:
17) Would it really have been that much more money to include stands for Crankcase and Grand Slam, a visor for Steeler, and equipment for Tele-Viper? Hell, cut out the redundant Breaker and Serpentor and give us the equipment.
I bet if you saw the actual cost per unit, you'd say no. But if you saw the total cost per production run, you might think differently. Those Target sets were dirt cheap and the overall success of the line was likely not determined at the time the designs and production started.
Quote:
18) Why do the 1st versions of Scarlett and Baroness have hunchbacks and absolutely no ability to sit? Why does the five-pack and wave one and two trooper and officer have the worst crotches?
Early production on something that was possibly a gamble. A lot of early production toys have issues that later seem totally odd.
Quote:
19) Why Brazil Missions Leatherneck instead of the one most all of us want?
Now they can sell you another one later.
Also, I'm a bit unsure of just how much appeal the "later" Joes actually have as a nostalgic product.
Quote:
20) What do people do with 200 troopers, 50 officers, 100 BATS, 150 Crimson Guards, 50 Air Troopers, 80 Eels, 80 Snow Serpents, 50 Red Ninjas, 30 Night Watch, 100 Vipers, 30 HISS Drivers, 20 Stinger Drivers, 50 Greenshirts, 20 Para-Vipers, 20 Bazooka Troopers, and so on and so on . . . Do they just go in boxes in a closet? Buy 'em then sell 'em? Where is the space?
Play with them? Display them? I think those numbrs are crazy but!...
It can be very, very cool to have them lined up. It's impressive. I had a huge Star Wars shelf that displayed the arrival of the Emperor on Death Star II. All the imperial troops, lines up with Darth and the Old Man (with guards) walking in front of them. Everyone loved it. I would say it was close to 200 figures.
I have 3' shelf with foam board steps that holds 6 rows of 13 and then half an acrylic box on top of those that hold another 6 rows of 13. That's 156 figures (on their joe stands). In total a 3' shelf, 10" deep, with a 12" tall acrylic cover = 156 figures. Personally, I keep my "troop builds" to squads of 5 (2 squads of the ordinary cobra troops).
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