[DFender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWOL

I may be alone on this, but they need to give the retro-inspired card-backs a rest.

I am with you. They do nothing for me. I toss the packaging immediately, and in most cases within this sub-line, the artwork has been questionable to downright awful.

For a sub-line that is pretty much dependent on the nostalgia packaging, the packaging is the weakest part of the offering.

When you compare this to what Hasbro does with the retro spiderman cards, it's like night and day. I still throw those out too, but part of me still wants to keep them.

[280-CUSTOMS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFender

I am with you. They do nothing for me. I toss the packaging immediately, and in most cases within this sub-line, the artwork has been questionable to downright awful.

For a sub-line that is pretty much dependent on the nostalgia packaging, the packaging is the weakest part of the offering.

When you compare this to what Hasbro does with the retro spiderman cards, it's like night and day. I still throw those out too, but part of me still wants to keep them.

I had to fight myself not to keep any retro cards btwn legends/black series and joes they are great but Joe card art is the worst anymore I don?t collect anymore cardboard than I have to and that?s fine , I do wish the art was a bit better not just phoned in ..


I do enjoy using my empty boxes for kindling for the fire pit though ?

[GI FLINT]

6 inch joe has at least 4 different card style for 6 inch - the original window, windowless, Retro, and smaller windows.

Makes keeping them carded for display kinda frustrating.


But the joe figs are so good they really should be out of the package and geared up. Loose displays look great.

My star wars black 40th anniversary figs stay carded. The card art is great and sw figs always disappoint me out of the package.

[DarthBrett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWOL

I'd call that one a double-dipper. It's a card-art/Sunbow homage.

Yeah, I'd even argue that and would say it's probably more card art/o-ring homage than Sunbow (blue trim, flesh neck, dark grey visor area, longer Officer-style gloves, octagon shape/pattern for the buttons on the shirt).

[AWOL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarthBrett

Yeah, I'd even argue that and would say it's probably more card art/o-ring homage than Sunbow (blue trim, flesh neck, dark grey visor area, longer Officer-style gloves, octagon shape/pattern for the buttons on the shirt).

Hasbro may end-up stealing Super 7's thunder, again:

[Dusty Ayers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wedge1968

Actually, I think we just agree, and I also think you have illustrated the point that I think both of us may have been trying to make.

First, though, let me again try to say that I was not specifically trying to say you were guilty of any of what I had been talking about or directing my comments directly at you. I tried to find a way to state that in my previous post and apologize that I failed.

I think what you and I (and most everyone else here) are saying is the same thing. By and large, everyone is here because the team is Hasbro is doing a fantastic job. These labels of retro and modern debates are getting reduced to either-or arguments and then get turned into straw-man arguments (not by you) when there is a lot of nuance to be had and no agreement on what these terms even mean.

Some people view the term (or use the term) to mean 100% recreations of o-ring figures. Some people consider modern to mean wave 1. Hasbro considers retro to mean on a retro card.

When this debate comes up, some people (and again, I know I had responded to your post, but I am not lumping you in this category) accuse people who do not want retro (by which I think they mean not slavish adherence to the o-rings) of wanting to return to wave 1 aesthetics. This is a straw-man arguments. Has anyone made or heard anyone making this claim?

I have heard a couple of people say they only want 100% exact replications of o-ring figures (which they might label retro), but I do not think I have seen that opinion come up a lot either.

Defining the debate one way or another begins to make it easy to have a discussion, but rather than look at it as a starting place or a continuity, some people (not Dusty Ayers) want to make it an either-or argument and then apply the straw-man argument of wanting to return to wave 1. I was simply saying that that is disingenuous.

I know that it requires a much more nuanced conversation, but what really needs to happen is a case-by-case discussion, leaving room for acknowledgment that poor choices may enter into the discussion? Is Storm Shadow v2 retro? He is recognizable as Storm Shadow from that era of his life. Is he modern because some changes were made? If he is modern, were those changes good or bad? That last question is removed from the first two, and it does not and should not have any bearing on the larger issue. We are so far removed from 1986 that we no longer (or perhaps never did) question whether some of those design choices were poor (and it would be looking at things through rose colored glasses to say there were no poor choices).

I think we are all in agreement (with some nuance on the spectrum) of what we want. We all, want great figures. We all want our favorite characters to be recognizable. Most of us probably do not want 100% reproductions of soldiers from the 80s who drew a lot of inspiration from the Vietnam Era. When changes are made, we can then question whether they enhanced or diminished what came before it (which I think is a conversation that happened with Jinx).

A final agreement: I think we all love the line and hope it becomes the next Marvel Legends, which has given us multiple iterations of characters. Nobody would complain if we ever got two versions of Jinx, and we can then point fingers at each other over who has which displayed on his or her shelf.

Absolutely no need to apologize brother, you didn?t offend.

I think your point of straight ARAH up scales is a valid concern as it relates to the mass appeal and longevity of the line.

If I were to pitch an idea to Hasbro it would center around the fact that the ARAH weapons were fairly distinct to a particular fig and I loved that. This coupled with the fact that as an adult I have embraced the wacky in Joe and a sense that wilder designs look better as a 6 inch fig leads me to Spirit. Great character and a great fig. As a kid I hated his arrow gun but a few weeks ago I found a dude who sells Classified scale weapons, including the arrow gun and I bought the shit out of it. Some days Spirit has his regular rifle and other days he has his arrow gun.

My proposal to Hasbro would to include the classic weapon from ARAH with the modern accessory load out.

At the end of the day Classified is simply amazing. I mean they took one of the Joes legendary peg warmers, Crystal Ball, and hilt a fig that sold out before a lot of folks got one.

[dchimpy]

I think I'd have to vote Retro over Classified for me in most cases. I find myself buying both. The question I have to ask is: "if the Retro version was released before the Classified version, would I still buy the Classified version?" In most cases I'd be satisfied with the Retro version, though there are some Classified figures that are too good of an update to pass up, like Tripwire and Blowtorch. They're similar to the O-rings, but updated with just a little bit of added, realistic looking detail.