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10-13-2010, 09:58 AM | #1 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Kansas
Posts: 231
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Last night I was thinking about how popular Joes were back in the 80's when I was a kid and I was trying to figure out why they weren't as popular today. I believe it had to do with the popularity of the cartoon but I also think it was partially because kids didn't have the cartoon selection that they have today. Growing up in rural Kansas Joe's were on when I got home from school, and we only had 3 channels growing up in the country. So they pretty much had a captive audience.
I know there have been a lot of arguments about why the new joe toy lines haven't been as successful as back in the 80's, but I can't help from thinking that a major contributing factor is that the cartoon back then was pretty much all that a lot of kids had to watch. Hence, GI Joe will never again be as popular as it once was, no matter what they do from a toy perspective. Of course, then I look at Transformers and Star Wars and it keeps me hoping they'll throw everything they have into making it work by sheer volume of toys. Anyway, what do you think? Agree, disagree? |
10-13-2010, 10:31 AM | #2 |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Land Of Confusion
Posts: 3,046
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In the 80's you had action figures, vehicles, the cartoon, comic books and commercials. Stores had displays and rows and rows of toys.
Nowadays kids have multiply video game systems, computers and internet, ipods, cell phones and 300 channels on TV. Your lucky if your local Walmart has GI Joe at all. Mine don't. And Walmart has killed off all the competition in the toy market. Plus you've got the people that hate military toys, but don't mind sci-fi toys. Star Wars on the other hand has 7 popular movies, 3 of which are released every few years and a cartoon. Shit, the movies are on TV almost every weekend on Spike it seems. Plus Star Wars toys have practically been on the shelves since the late 70's because of it's popularity. GI Joe can never match that. Last edited by CornDog_The_Ninja; 10-13-2010 at 10:33 AM.. |
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10-13-2010, 10:35 AM | #3 |
Ex-Pharisee
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 742 Evergreen Terrace
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I know we've covered this in some form or fashion in other threads, but I'm willing to chime in anyway.
I think that with the electronic age, there is so much to grab the attention of kids other than toys. My 6 yo likes SW and Joe, he has several action figures, but if I give him the option, he'll play the Nintendo DS or Wii anytime over playing with toys. It kind of makes me sad because I'd rather him develop his imagination a little more. I think you are right regarding the cartoons. My boys did watch the ARAH cartoons when I had them on DVD, and they seemed to like them quite a bit (my oldest, the 6 yo, liked Scarlett the best, which kind of made me proud). But there are no cartoons at this time to get kids interested in Joes and there are tons of other cartoons out there. My boys like Phineas and Ferb. Not a lot of cool action figures coming from that one. I think that Joe does have some appeal because they are cool looking military figures with guns, and they are the same size as SW figures, so kids wouldn't mind playing with them alongside the SW toys they want because they saw this character or that on the latest episode of Clone Wars. Anyway, I don't think Joe is dead, and as long as I'm alive, there will be at least one person to buy their products, but I don't think it will ever enjoy the popularity that it once did.
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10-13-2010, 12:29 PM | #4 |
Hisstank Ninja
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Its simply because, as has already been mentioned, cartoons don't rule the airways anymore. Playstation, internet, etc. all compete for kids attention, so instead of kids all wanting toys from their favorite line, they want iPods, new PS3 games, and more.
It doesn't help that parents want to turn their children into mini-adults at a very early age; parents focus on making their kid "cool", instead of focusing on providing an imaginative childhood.
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10-15-2010, 02:51 PM | #5 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
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Another issue to consider is that comics no longer hold the imagination of kids the way they did back in the 80s. I was never really into the cartoon myself, but discovered G.I.Joe through the comics and the toys. Kids have more cartoons to choose from today, but they're also less frequently picking up comic books - that market seems to have evolved with its older readership to appeal more to geeky adults than grade school kids.
As far as the cartooon goes, like others have noted, variety and "nichefication" has a lot to do with it. Similarly, no modern pop music act is as big as Michael Jackson was in the 80s, because now our musical listening is spread out among so many more styles of music. But would we really want G.I.Joe to become huge again amongst kids? Now that it has a smaller target market, they can tailor a higher proportion of their products to dedicated long time, and older fans. To make another musical comparison, would you rather see your favorite band in a huge football stadium with 60% of the crowd being new to the music and only wanting to hear the singles from the new album? Or would you rather see them in a smaller, more intimate venue where they played more of their less known back catalogue to the fans who had been with them for a while and knew the music better? |
10-15-2010, 02:56 PM | #6 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Illinois (northwest suburbs of Chicago)
Posts: 792
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It was the 80's, there was a tremendous belief in America and patriotism. As Sam Kineson said; "It's the 80'S, Man! Reagan is President and Clint Eastwood has his own police force!"
G.I. Joe tapped that market at the kids level, with just the right parental nostalgia to guarantee success. That was a decade that we truly believed, as a nation, that we could do anything! Realism would come later, but have a top secret branch of the military running covert ops in garish outfits from their own aircraft carrier made perfect sense back then, believe me. |
10-15-2010, 03:02 PM | #7 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Greenville, S.C.
Posts: 148
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IMO the cold war was another factor that made Joe work well in the 80's. I also agree that electronics are the new must haves for kids. It upsets me that Hasbro can't seem to accept that fact and won't acknowledge the real consumer base for action figures are now adults.
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10-15-2010, 03:03 PM | #8 |
St8POPO
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Surprise Arizona
Posts: 210
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I'm sure one good reason that GI Joe is not popular is that they dont advertise any of it, I have not seen one commercial for GI Joe since the 80's. When we were kids they had the big commercials for the toys and the comics and it was one of the biggest toy commercials you would see. I think the only toy commercials I see now are for Nerf and Baby Alive. They need to advertise. I think the only way most of the GI Joe stuff is selling is because Joe fans like us and the others not on this site are nostalgic and if we have kids, we get them into what we liked , I think most of the kids that buy now are second generation, I know my kids are.
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10-15-2010, 03:13 PM | #9 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Kansas
Posts: 231
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True on the advertising side. Also, the fliers in the new toys you buy are mostly missing. I remember one of the first things I'd do as a kid was check out all of the other characters on the backs of the cards or the new vehicles in the fliers in the vehicle box. It got me wanting more.
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10-15-2010, 03:18 PM | #10 |
Hisstank.Com General
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