Was Sigma 6 a short-term fix gimmick or did it serve a greater purprose

[TheVileOne]

When Sigma 6 came around in 2005, it really got me back into the GI JOE series. Really wasn't that interested in the EXTREME days, or even the relaunch of the 3 3/4" line pre-Sigma 6.

But seeing Sigma 6 really got me excited about the series again. I loved seeing these characters in this new scale with new designs, as well as the great accessories. I didn't much care for the anime series for the most part, which was rather disappointing. But overall the toys were great.

Hasbro said Sigma 6 were the best selling GI JOE toys in years. And now they have been phased out for the 25th Anniversary series.

What kind of disappoints me about the line is that they made pretty much every character from the show, plus extras who never showed up except three: Baroness, Scarlett, and Jinx which I think they easily could've done re-using parts and molds like a bunch of the other characters. So it will always disappoint me we will never have gotten the three female characters from the series in Sigma scale.

But what I'm getting at is, do you think Sigma 6 was just a short-term gimmick that wouldn't have had major longevity now that its over? Or do you think it got the general public back into the product so it made the 25th Anniversary line possible? And I have to say the new stuff is fantastic, and very well above and beyond pretty much anything in that scale before GI JOE or otherwise. At the very least the relaunched 3 3/4" GI JOE line from several years ago.

I personally hope this isn't the end of bold new visions of GI JOE like Sigma 6. I'd definitely love to see a relaunch of the scale sometime in the future or even Joe trying maybe a 5-6" scale, I mean why not? I think the 8" scale was fantastic.

[Golobulous]

I think sigma six was a short term fix for many reasons

1.There is a limit to what you can do with the larger size figures

2.Now that they have basically created the "ultimate" 3.75 inch figure it is surely not as cost efficient to make the big figures

3.I don't really think sigma six brought many back to the brand in fact it turned many of us off to the brand who don't like the larger figures, or the anime styling of them

4. On the positive side it did keep the joe vs cobra mythos in stores until hasbro could pump out the greatest joes ever made. So all in all i would say they did serve a good purpose. Because the last time they took joes completely off the shelf it hurt the brand badly. A whole generation of kids went without experiencing the brand during the mid to late 90's.

[TheVileOne]

Well for one it did bring me back to the brand. And even if it cost more, apparently it sold better than any GI JOE in YEARS.

[Cksport]

Brought me back.. Sigma 6 was the best articulated toys I have ever had. I love the 25th, but they do feel like a let down after having the Sigma's.

[Cataclizm1]

Brought me back too...

[kndy]

I collect them all but of all the GI Joe's I've owned that has made me feel all giddy like I did back in the early 80's, Sigma 6 definitely made me like a kid again. I love the figures! The only line that has turned me off to GI Joe was the majority of the ones released back in the early 90's (not all, but definitely a lot of them).

[TENIME_art]

Brought me back. I love the 25th, but they do feel like a let down after having the Sigmas.

Ditto. Only thing that could make me like the 8" figures more, and the 25th less (I still like them, but they can't hold a candle to my Sigmas) is if they made ARAH-faithful 8" figures.

That would be amazing.

[gunslingercbr]

I think the Sigma styled figures were intended to be the next evolution of G.I. Joe, and had the line been a bigger success would have continued.

but as they started to produce the 25th line, and retailers exhibited a tremendous amount of excitement for it causing it to grow beyond its original conception of just the 5 packs even before it hit the shelves, I think Hasbro recognized that the line, and style of figures, was going to be a pretty good hit, bigger than Sigma, and decided to focus its resources in that direction.

I don't think it was intended to be short term, but Hasbro realized it was never going to be a long term line with its sales, once the 25th line gained momentum and when the movie got the go ahead (which with vehicles and playsets would require a smaller scale).

[DJxStealth]

likewise i got back into collecting big time when sigma hit now i got both lines and almost every variant for both which almost made me broker then hell$...but i always thought in my head "they should make a GI Joe movie" i thought of that when X-men 1 came out and all the marvel action movies hit. i still wish Sigma 6 Short Fuze hit retail that was one sick Figure!!!

[Shin Densetsu]

I think it was a well thought out line made to fit the demands of retail. 3-3/4" wasn't doing as hot as people think at the time, and the dreaded "hiatus" was heard everywhere. We all know how long that actually lasted; nowhere near as long anyone thought it would.

I think the line sold well initially but retailers realized how expensive it was going to be to support it further, when the anniversary line started to heat up and could be bought/sold for cheaper.

I loved the line. I am happy some figures are being sold again at TRU. It gives me a chance to catch up. The best things about this line are the accessories. The switchfire gimmick was brilliant, too bad it was Duke-centric, and until later, could only be found on Duke figures. Had the line gone on, maybe Flint's weapon may have recieved new components to add on. It was like Gijoe and the Centurions smacked together. Another thing I loved was consistency. Nearly all the figures had the exact same amount of articulation. Accessories were interchangeable. Surprisingly I was not very fond of the style. I did not mind it, but wished it was more realistic. In fact, though the figures were backed by an anime series, the figures looked substantially different than their cartoon counterparts, and did not strike me off as anime. They remind me more of urban vinyl, especially the baggy clothes, big hands/feet, and especially the faces.

This line had a lot of things going for it. To me it did everything right that Hasbro's 12" figures did wrong. The storage locker idea was brilliant. I had no breakages on my figures. Durability is extremely important to me, and I could handle my sigma 6 figures knowing full well they would not break. Hasbro's take on Snake Eyes' visor was the best I've ever seen(it was more believeable, I mean this one gave the impression that he could actually see through the damn thing). These toys are fun to play with, and the amount of customs I see of them is astounding. I don't think anyone could have ever imagined that there would be so many Sigma 6 customizers.

Like always, you could tell that the design team was having a ball with this line til the very end, and that retail was axing the line, even though the design team did not want it too. This was one line that I think could work for Hasbro outside of gijoe. Star Wars figures, Marvel characters, the thought of those franchises with Sigma 6 style figures excites me.

I found it interesting that you could gauge how much fun you would have with a figure depending on how many accessories they had. The more the merrier in this case.

[Elite Force Cobra]

I think is was as good of line as any other joe line, great collecting fun

[GrimlockAutobot]

The purpose it served was to be THE MOST AWESOME Joe line EVER.

I like the 3 3/4 but, if you compare the 3 3/4 inch version of any given character to it's S6 counterpart it's no contest.

The only thing the 3 3/4 inch line has going for it is nostalgia. I have collected 25th Joes and I honestly look at them and say to myself: "I played with THIS as a kid? How lame!!"

Imagine the things we could've done with S6 as kids!!

[Lt. Faceless]

I had alot of fun with the line.I think the line started selling better after it lost the Sigma 6 tag.Hasbro had alot of great figs. coming......Just when the line was starting to come into its own,it was gone.

[RockinHard]

I saw the line and the cartoon and could only wish and hope that the original figures and line would make a comeback, but I thought it would never happen. Thank goodness it did, and now I collect the 25th figures--the first figures I've collected since I was a kid.

[Shin-Gouki]

For me personally it turned me off of Joes. I hated the hard angles of the figures that made them look like a first generation Playstation 1 3-D Fighting game character. Combine that with the larger scale and I was done. I was impressed by some of the later 2.5 scale Vehicles but the 2.5 figures sucked beyond belief.

All in all my biggest love for the Joe line has been the blend of Great Characters and Great Vehicles. The Larger Sigma line Lacked the Vehicles and personally I hated the design ascetic, and the smaller line had great Vehicles but the figures just sucked.

[Dr. Henry E. Miller]

Gotta agree with Shin here, Sigma Six sucked, the figures sucked, no vehicles and the large size makes it a very impersonal toyline that lacks what made Joe great in the first place.

And the overall nerdgasam for what was basically GI Joe Extreme all over again was frustrating.

[Lifeline 71]

I thought Sigma Six was an interesting concept in many ways. It kept to the small core of "popular" characters that was definitely en vogue at the time. The figures had a tremendous amount of articulation and some really neat accesories. I even liked how they came up with some different uniforms for Snake Eyes (Arctic, jungle, etc) that were plausible and yet retained his look. However, I was put off by the decidely non-military looks of some figures, such as Duke. What I saw of the cartoon's first season looked dumb. I didn't see much of seaon 2, but it seemed as if they were trying to make it more sophisticated. And the price was a major turn off as well. I did pick up 3 figures-Snake Eyes v1, Spirit v1, and Inferno.In a way, it seemed like an expeiment-partly to try out some new articulation and accessory concepts, and to sort of say "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it" to disgruntled fans.

[KrymsynGardImmoral]

Sigma Six was a fantastic line, with some of the best designs for tored old characters ever offered in any Joe line. I do think it was a last ditch effort to keep hope alive that GI joe is a KID'S TOY, before just giving in and giving collectors what they wanted with the 25th line. I have yet to see a kid buy a single 25th anniversay figure. they're normally getting stomped by collectors before they can reach them.

[green firefly]

I love the 8 inch Joes. I liked the cartoon. I was hoping it would be the next big GI Joe thing. I too will always be disappointed that we didn't see the female characters. I've read 25 reasons why they didn't make the girls, but I truly believe it was a mistake not to make them. They would have been every collector's favorites.

I doubt we will see them again because of the success of the 25th Joes. It has got to cost a fraction of the price to make a 25th figure. The difference in cost of production and quality between Sigma 6 and the 25th is huge. The Sigma 6 soldier figures cost $8 something at Walmart and the 25th scale figures now costs about $6.

Would I ever love to see 8 inch scale movie toys, but it just ain't gonna happen. It would be a bad business decision.

[Steevy Maximus]

Sigma Six was a fantastic line, with some of the best designs for tored old characters ever offered in any Joe line. I do think it was a last ditch effort to keep hope alive that GI joe is a KID'S TOY, before just giving in and giving collectors what they wanted with the 25th line. I have yet to see a kid buy a single 25th anniversay figure. they're normally getting stomped by collectors before they can reach them.

I agree, and I still feel that the early year of Sigma Six saw more originality and pure passion for toy design than just about any of the 25th onward figures have shown.

Sigma Six was the last big attempt to reinvent the line for a modern kids audience. Sadly, I think two things happened to hurt it:
1. the 2.5 line was bungled from the start. From the beginning, the entire subline lacked focus: was it about the vehicles (ala, the MASK or Dino-Riders kind of line) or was it about the little figurines (like the Star Wars Unleashed line)? There were mini-statues, gimmick figures, and a few actual figures all mixed supposedly compatible with some very nicely designed vehicles. There was no focus and it sold weakly enough that I think the flop of 2.5 did a LOT to hurt the brand name of Sigma Six.

2. It was several years too late. By the time Sigma Six was launched, not only had the anime craze long passed, but the market in general was already moving back to smaller toys.

Sigma Six could have completely revitalized and jumpstarted the brand just as Armada had done with Transformers....had it come out in 2002.

[Amberbratt]

Gotta agree with Shin here, Sigma Six sucked, the figures sucked, no vehicles and the large size makes it a very impersonal toyline that lacks what made Joe great in the first place.

And the overall nerdgasam for what was basically GI Joe Extreme all over again was frustrating.


Sigma Sixx was the coolest thing ever....


If they had done it in the ARAH/25th style... and in that size.. it would have been the best thing since the power rangers......

Hell the coolest thing since the playboy mansion for that matter LoL

[gdztoyz]

Sigma Six personally wasn't my thing. When I got word that it was being produced by GONZO (Blue Submarine No 6, Hellsing, and many other popular anime), I was expecting a Joe series with that kind tone and edge. And then I found out it was a 4Kids show...it didn't have a chance.

I watched a few episodes, they were okay, but not for me. The character designs were tight, but the size and price point of the line turned me off.

I think Sigma Six deserves some credit, if only for keeping the GI Joe name out there for a new generation. And it was GI Joe's big return to television. Not since GI Joe Excrem- um Extreme, had there been a series. So even though I'm not a big fan, Sigma Six, in my opinion, does have an important spot in GI Joe history.

[DOCHOLIDAY56]

I Actually Didnt Mind Sigma Six

I Collected Them All, Customized A Bunch And Stil Have Them On Display,

Im Sure What Was Going On Over Here, But Months Before Sigma Six Came Out , Everyone On Another Board Were Freaking Out Over

Marvel Legend Style Joes,

Not That Sigma Six Ever Compared To Marvel Legends But I Think , Imo, That Sigma Six Was Hasbros Attempt To Make

A "new Generation" Gi Joe Andalso Appease Our Want For Joes Styled Some What Like Marvel Legends,

My Only Complaint With Sigma Six Was They Couldve Stayed Loyal To All The Figures And Kept The Personas
Of All Of Them, Mainly,

Flint And The I.g. &, Bats

And They Couldve Given Us The Baroness And Scarllet In The Full Size Figures
Doc

[Davestro]

S6 got me back into collecting Joes...I like many of you collected ARAH as a kid back in the '80s. I had always kept an eye on a "relaunch" of the brand, checking out the latest at the local Toys 'r Us and other brick and mortars. The Valor vs. Venom and other lines never really nailed it for me and did not get me to collect again. I noticed the Sigma line at Walmart and was intrigued by them - the new dimensions (8" seemed to be the logical choice with most popular figure lines being around this size - Spawn, Marvel, LOTR, etc - bigger than the traditional 3 3/4" and smaller than the doll size 12"). I saw it more as a "reimagining" of the line, paying homage to the Joe mythos with many of the characters and taking design cues from the figures and cartoon remembered so fondly. 52 S6 figures later, I am back into collecting G.I. Joe, and now transitioning to the new line, quickly scooping up the 25th Anniversary figs and vehicles. I just hope that Hasbro doesn't get too greedy and go the Star Wars route - reissuing the same character under different waves.

I am sad to see S6 end, but it was getting too repetitive - any time you need to make multiple versions of the same character, its time to pack it up (too many Dukes, Storm Shadows and Snake-Eyes). Branching out into the different teams - Adventure, military, etc. was also not a smart move and caused confusion (two Recondos?). They should have stuck with just updating characters with the S6 styling. I think time will show S6 as great collectibles, especially since you cannont run to the store and pick one up anymore.

[Sergeant Slaughter]

I actually think S6 would still be around. Sales were supposedly good. I think the 2.5 stuff hurt the line a bit, but ultimately I think the 25th Anniversary stuff is what killed the line.

Sales were good for S6, but paled in comparison to the hype and interest and ultimately sales that the 25th stuff got. Instead of juggling several properties, Hasbro decided to go full bore with the 25th and kill the S6.

I love the idea of the S6 stuff being more or less the future of the 12" line though. The evolution of it, if you will. And I hope much like hte 12" stuff, it makes a comeback from time to time.

[Albert_Pine]

I don't think it was a short term fix. Sigma 6 brought me back into collecting Joes and the packaging for the 25th ann. kept me in.

I truly believe what killed the line was the lack of the cartoon and the price point.