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Thread
:
Some General Observations On The 25th/Modern Era
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06-29-2008, 03:49 PM
minstrelboy
endlesssummerofthedamned
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Midway, PA
Posts: 3,773
When I was in the Army, we had bi-monthly meetings with our CO. Basically, to post our gripes, to see where training or leadership was lacking, to see things from his soldiers point of view and try to improve our lives. The catch was, that we were never allowed to complain unless we had a plausible solution for the problem. And there's a LOT of complaints across the board here (I've made some of my own), and there's been a lot of suggestions as to how Hasbro SHOULD be doing things. Unfortunately, a lot of those are impractical - from the stand point of a large company with stockholders trying to keep in the black in a consumer-driven global economy, and an increasingly volatile global economy at that.
Those of us who grew up with ARAH Joe were spoiled, I think, by the Reagan-omics of the '80's. The situation is way different now for the toy industry. I would say at least half of the toy market is geared more towards adult collectors, than kids. And that's good in it's own way, but bad as well. For one, the price goes up (and goes up even more as the cost of petroleum products rise). Production takes more time. Distribution isn't as thorough. There are a lot less toy stores, and on and on. And kids aren't as interested in toys. I have a daughter who's about to turn nine, and she's virtually done with dolls. She's into clothes and gadgets and movies and music. So, while places like Toys'R'Us does acknowledge adult collectors, it's still a place more geared towards younger kids. And we are (for the most part) adult collectors, so it's different than when mum took us to the store and we were treated with a new figure, or whatever. Then we'd go home and lose ourselves in our own world playing, and be content until the next time we went to the store. Now, we go online and breathlessly wait for the next bit of information about the next projected wave of figures - who'll be in it, when will it hit stores, etc. So, all that desire, all that hunger for new figures builds and builds, and it's still weeks away from the full-release of a new wave of figures. (Yes, I'm aware wave 9 has already been sighted.) I used to read the thread on the new vehicles spotted at Kmart, until it got so nauseating... Really, I use eBay as an indicator of when to go looking for new figures. Once it's been flooded with the new stuff, THEN I know I can go out and the odds of finding something are better than just HOPING for something.
I love the new line. I applaud Hasbro, and I know that a lot of people developing the new line probably love Joe as much as any of us. Sure, there are areas of improvement. Particularly, the heads of Grunt and Hawk. Butt-ugly. But they are getting there. There's pictures of a repainted Captain Ace that looks a helluva lot better than the comic pack where he looks like he's in a track suit. (Although I already took it upon myself to paint him up in a very similar fashion.) And the Firefly/Storm Shadow comic pack (which I just got) is outstanding. The new vehicles look really good, too. And the Cobra Arctic and Desert Assault packs are AWESOME!!!
So, here's a few suggestions I might have for the future of the Joe line:
- Weapons Packs. Especially some of the cooler items, like Firefly's backpack from the comic pack, or Spirit's backpack, or the Viper's vest. Not just guns. (This would help us customizers a lot.)
- Troop builders should only come with troops. Maybe one officer, but no individual figures (like Snake Eyes in the Red Ninja Showdown pack, for example.)
- Instead of, for lack of a better word, useless repaints (like the Duke and Cobra Commander comic pack), when an already released figure is decided to come out again, how about we just repackage them as "Arctic" or "Scuba" with a new head on a Snow Job or Arctic Snake Eyes, or Torpedo body? I'd buy that. With separate divisions (like Python Patrol or Tiger Force), those are fine as repaints. But with the countless Dukes and Cobra Commanders out there, who all have the SAME body, I just don't understand the logic behind those. At least with the several Snake Eyes and Storm Shadows, we get different bodies.
- Resuce Doc was great. Keep new and interesting ideas like that going.
- This was mentioned in another thread, but exclusive troop builder packs (delivered in non-descript cardboard boxes) available through the G.I. Joe Club membership (or something similar) would be great, as long as the prices are within reason.
- I know I'm not alone in this, but others may be against it - I'd like to see some figures not available before from the comic or cartoon line. You made Scarface. Now make Dr. Venom, or Kwinn, or the Oktober Guard. But even better, make some vehicles that only appeared in the cartoon or comic.
- Finish the original Joes. We'll have everyone from the first wave of Joes from '82 except Short Fuze and Zap. There's still a couple from the '83 line that we need as well, like Cover Girl and Airborne. I think Airborne and Short Fuze are on the slate, and if so - great. And if you're going to be thorough, we need a red Grand Slam, a Glider pilot Grunt (in tan) and a Cobra Viper Glider pilot as well. But I can forgive those omissions. The '84 line still has a slew of figures waiting to be made.
So, yeah - that's all I have for now. I'd like this thread to keep in line of suggestions only, so let's try to keep that in mind as others add to my list. Who's up next?
minstrelboy
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