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07-20-2022, 07:35 PM | #1 |
Resident Rottweiler
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Right here, baby
Posts: 626
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Hey folks, I should probably have just left this as a comment on Michael's video but that would have inevitably gotten lost in the shuffle and wouldn't have sparked the meaningful discussion I would like it to.
A few caveats: I usually agree with Michael on a lot of things (and if he cares to respond to this, I'd appreciate it), I know this is a homer post on a homer forum, I haven't many feelings for or against Bobby Vala or Action Force and I do not particularly enjoy defending a multi-billion dollar corporation. But I want to defend what I think is worth defending. Much like many of RetroBlasting's other videos on the topic of Action Force, Michael used this platform predominantly not to hype up the Action Force toys but to tear down the current iteration of the Joe brand. I won't say whether or not that's persuasive tactic, but to me I find it rather telling that Michael seems eager to move on to other topics. So then the bulk of the video hinges on Michael's thesis that Hasbro using the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a nostalgia cop-out lacking any sort of inventiveness and will ultimately end poorly. The ARAH brand is inextricable from the '80s and Joe will never have bona fide success in the modern day unless it sheds those trappings and does something new/inventive. As he puts simply, "Nostalgia isn't a jet, it's a glider." Shockingly, I don't necessarily disagree with this thesis. Particularly in that the ARAH brand is inherently '80s. Michael actually made a great point that I've been trying to preach myself: a great ARAH-inspired movie really ought to take place in the '80s in order to be the most successful and faithful adaptation it can be. Where I do deviate is in Michael's notion that what ARAH did to original Joe, something new must do to ARAH. Comically enough, Michael hits on a couple of the flaws in his own argument during the video. ARAH didn't dethrone original Joe. It was a progression past Adventure Team, consecrating the specialist-style figures of Adventure Team into specific characters wrapped in Hero Vs. Villain storytelling inspired by popular Sci-Fi of the time. Moreover, the olive-drab Original 13 actually harken further back to OG GIs and got that more AT-inspired facelift (that really breathed life into the line) after the initial wave. There was a lot more progression and evolution than Michael's argument represents. But even beyond that, this argument fails to see the ARAH characters as anything more than shallow forms stuck in time, like a corporate mascot from a very specific point in history (e.g., the Noid or the Frito Bandito). I'll let you in on a little Junkyard84 secret: I was born in 1996. Yeah. 15 years after the debut wave of ARAH. How'd I get into Joe? A little SpyTroops, a little VvV and a whole lotta Sigma 6. The characters of ARAH are just that: characters. Larry Hama is our gracious God because he carved three dimensions into nearly all of our favorite Joes--something the original Joes totally lacked. Yes, the aesthetics of ARAH harken to decades past but do we cry nostalgia every time we get another Batman flick? ARAH characters have already proven to stand the test of time--it was those early '00s iterations that hooked me and many others, line and sinker. Why must we decry a good faith resurrection of a successful brand as engine-less nostalgia-bait simply because it was born out of a different decade? Why must new must always be different? ARAH didn't work because it was different, it worked because it was better...because it built a mythology, a lore, a pantheon. And a hearty one, too...fleshed out beyond cartoons aimed at grade schoolers with a truly fantastic comicbook penned by an industry titan (so, please don't use He-Man and Transformers to drag down Hama's baby). I'll end on this: clueless movie execs diluted and destroyed the essence of ARAH and Hasbro, themselves, tied the brand to an anchor through the '10s. The current iteration of G.I. Joe, spearheaded by Hasbro's mass-market 6" Classified line (which has been a massive hit and has become readily available to anyone with an IP address--just like Action Force--so let's please nip that narrative right in the bud), is a return to the brand. It isn't some bring-back-my-childhood trip like MOTU Origins. It's an introduction to new fans and a reminder to old. That this mythos is strong, viable and ready to take on all comers. That the only reason it ever went away is because the wrong people got ahold of the steering wheel. And, in the end, Action Force doesn't and shouldn't need Joe to fail in order for it to become a success. But then again, if it does, doesn't that just mean it wasn't so new and fresh after all? Anyway, here's the link to the video if you'd like to watch: |
07-20-2022, 08:31 PM | #2 |
Just a fan
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: NY
Posts: 8,566
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The ARAH characters are just as memorable as Marvel's, the former just haven't had a great creative team behind them since the 80s.
Last edited by AWOL; 07-20-2022 at 08:33 PM.. |
07-20-2022, 09:00 PM | #3 |
Salty Scallywag
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Swabbin' with Shippy
Posts: 3,226
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Yeah, nothing wrong (and a lot right) with the ARAH characters. I guess the trick is finding the right combo of new vs old, toy and media aesthetics, story tone, character selection, nostalgia vs updating, kid-oriented vs fan/collector-oriented, etc etc etc and more.
And condensing it all into a concise compelling media event that will trigger genuine lasting interest.
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07-20-2022, 09:11 PM | #4 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Northern California
Posts: 3,082
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The end of nostalgia featuring a toyline where the two flagship figures are STEEL BRIGADE and SGT SLAUGHTER. Yeah, ok.
Philosophical ruminations are all well and good, and there are plenty of toy lines doing originality well, but the bottom line is Action Force is a subpar toyline with terrible uninspired character designs. Their version of Steel Brigade is vastly inferior to the Pursuit of Cobra version and their Slaughter looks like a geriatric Popeye. The one decent design, SWARM, is a rip off of a DC character. |
07-20-2022, 09:20 PM | #5 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Northern California
Posts: 3,082
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And how dare he come after Emily and Lenny. Callign them MBA's with no connection to the product only looking for a promotion. Whatever. They are killing it. F this guy.
Unsuspecting viewers wouldn't even know he's tight with Bobby Vala. Typically disengenious. |
07-20-2022, 09:25 PM | #6 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Northern California
Posts: 3,082
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07-20-2022, 09:34 PM | #7 |
Just a fan
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: NY
Posts: 8,566
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Quote:
French comes off as a huckster when peddling Action Force. Not that I think it's a bad line (I actually really like Vala's Steel Brigade), it just isn't in the same league as ARAH. Last edited by AWOL; 07-20-2022 at 09:37 PM.. |
07-20-2022, 09:36 PM | #8 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 1,035
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Quote:
Three female figures in a movie line of five in the boys action aisle? Two half-Asians duking it out in an uncreative way in a mockbuster movie? At least have a Kill Bill half-Japanese quip or "The good half" line in Wu Assassins to acknowledge this potentially foundational cool story beat. They had all the chicken salad they ever needed, but right quick turned it into chicken shit.
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Tarred and Feathered. Maybe even the ravings of a lunatic. You are on a Joe board after all. Last edited by Bubbavader; 07-20-2022 at 09:40 PM.. |
07-20-2022, 09:39 PM | #9 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 1,035
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Quote:
The end of nostalgia featuring a toyline where the two flagship figures are STEEL BRIGADE and SGT SLAUGHTER. Yeah, ok.
Philosophical ruminations are all well and good, and there are plenty of toy lines doing originality well, but the bottom line is Action Force is a subpar toyline with terrible uninspired character designs. Their version of Steel Brigade is vastly inferior to the Pursuit of Cobra version and their Slaughter looks like a geriatric Popeye. The one decent design, SWARM, is a rip off of a DC character.
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Tarred and Feathered. Maybe even the ravings of a lunatic. You are on a Joe board after all. |
07-20-2022, 09:48 PM | #10 |
A Cimmerian
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Mountain of Power
Posts: 11,060
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When there's not a current media tie-in, it's easy to accuse something of being nostalgia driven. Spiderman hasn't changed much since the 60s, and no one is saying that kind of shit.
That said, I think retro blasting sucks. I know we can be a negative lot, but he's just a joyless miser who seems to consistently miss the point of toys.
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