[jscott991]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YouNotCookin

After all the shit he talked about virtually every other toy company, Bobby found out that making toys is difficult. Hard to have much sympathy for him though.

It is.

I felt dirty ordering Delta Troopers from Dorkside. I don't like supporting Vala. But I don't think Classified "real world" soldiers are imminent so I took a shot on these.

[MadFlava76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nancy2K

Where's this Mattel talk coming from? Is it just idle speculation or has Vala been floating the idea?

In any event, it seems very unlikely to me. Mattel's never shown much interest in competing directly with Hasbro in the military figure market and even less interest in non-established IP. I just can't see them picking up a GI Joe knock-off with a few thousand adult collector fans to compete directly for shelf space with Classified (itself a relatively niche line). What's in it for them?

I'll give this to Vala: he's done an impressive job of convincing his fans that he's as important as he thinks he is.

Yeah, I saw the Articulated Ninja video and I feel like he's just taking a guess and there really hasn't been any talk or rumors of it happening. Articulated Ninja also mentioned Neca and at that point it really sound like guessing because I feel like Vala might have burned that bridge a while ago.

Saw that the Joefest exclusives are going up on Friday and man are they expensive. $500 for the unpainted set of Wave 1 and $150 for Slaughter with a soft goods coat. It's going to be a pass for me.

[SmokePants]

What would Mattel need Bobby for? If they were interested in doing a military line (which they aren't, because it's a can of worms), they would just bring back GUTS (I had to google that; totally forgot about GUTS). They certainly wouldn't buy a line called "Action Force", which is an IP that Hasbro still owns (just not the trademark). Whereas Bobby is small, insignificant, and will probably fail on his own, Hasbro might actually invest resources into obstructing Mattel were they to try to launch a line called "Action Force". That liability alone -- which I have pointed out since Day 1 -- puts a firm cap on how big AF can get. As soon as it becomes a threat to Hasbro/the GI Joe brand, it will be litigated out of existence.

And NECA? Please. They deal with licenses, because licenses are the only things they are good at selling to retailers. If they were going to do this type of acquisition, they would have bought Mythic Legions.

I can understand why Articulated Ninja would think of bigger companies, because he's focusing too much on what Bobby said about getting into retail. That's just some bullshit Bobby throws in to pander to his base. That audience views him as Rocky trying to challenge Apollo Creed (Hasbro) and getting into retail is important to them because that's the only venue for a fight to happen.

Notwithstanding that Rocky was not a realistic movie and boxing is a horrible analogy for the toy industry, Bobby's personality is more like the abusive and self-loathing Pauly character than the humble and unassuming Rocky. Bobby taking on Hasbro is a war being waged only in the minds of the truly delusional.

You just have to ignore the bit about getting into retail. He could partner up with a small company that doesn't have a retail presence and still claim the goal is to get into retail. It just might take a few decades longer than you thought.

I'm going to reiterate my opinion that if he's talking to another company, it has to be a small one, like Skeletron or Nacelle. Bobby needs someone to handle the mundane business of dealing with factories, distributors, legal consultants, shipping/handling, etc. The boy just wants to get back to designing without all the stress of entrepreneurship. Getting into stores is a red herring.