[HitandRun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormtrooper12

I wish the 86 - 89 figures would get remade first in retro. The 82 - 85 figures have been beat to death in re releases, and most of the neon brigade simply sucks. I want to see figures like Beach Head, Repeater, Outback, Hydro Vipers, Recoil, Muskrat, Dial Tone, and so many more.

We have too many Dukes, Too many SE, and too many 82 -85 characters in general. Sure there are some I want, like maybe a a retro collection Lady Jaye in the way she appeared in Sunbow. Or even another Cover Girl, but for the most part I think we get those characters way too much.

If they are the vintage figures it will be interesting to see the quality of them due to the price point. I agree with Sataninjaku that 85 is when the Joes really took that leap though but if there are quality vintage releases of the 82-84 figs I will probably get them just because I don't have many at all in my collection. More O-ring figures are better than less!

[jscott991]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormtrooper12

I wish the 86 - 89 figures would get remade first in retro. The 82 - 85 figures have been beat to death in re releases, and most of the neon brigade simply sucks. I want to see figures like Beach Head, Repeater, Outback, Hydro Vipers, Recoil, Muskrat, Dial Tone, and so many more.

We have too many Dukes, Too many SE, and too many 82 -85 characters in general. Sure there are some I want, like maybe a a retro collection Lady Jaye in the way she appeared in Sunbow. Or even another Cover Girl, but for the most part I think we get those characters way too much.

The problem with not doing the main characters is that once you start a line with Dial Tone or Muskrat, you are automatically limiting buyers to an extremely small subset of an already small group (O-ring Joe collectors). That doesn't seem like it would accomplish much from Hasbro or Walmart's perspective.

[Stormtrooper12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitandRun

If they are the vintage figures it will be interesting to see the quality of them due to the price point. I agree with Sataninjaku that 85 is when the Joes really took that leap though but if there are quality vintage releases of the 82-84 figs I will probably get them just because I don't have many at all in my collection. More O-ring figures are better than less!

I will probably be getting most anyway no matter who they are. I would prefer figures from later in the line. However my collection of vintage figures is fairly small, so I would probably get a few anyway.

[xasonnex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jscott991

The problem with not doing the main characters is that once you start a line with Dial Tone or Muskrat, you are automatically limiting buyers to an extremely small subset of an already small group (O-ring Joe collectors). That doesn't seem like it would accomplish much from Hasbro or Walmart's perspective.

This. After almost 15 years since o ring have been seen at retail (save one SnowJob), you want this nostalgia-based line to feature characters that people remember (and the TMs are all up to date on)

[Stormtrooper12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jscott991

The problem with not doing the main characters is that once you start a line with Dial Tone or Muskrat, you are automatically limiting buyers to an extremely small subset of an already small group (O-ring Joe collectors). That doesn't seem like it would accomplish much from Hasbro or Walmart's perspective.

If they were to release the characters that I want them to release, I think that they would be mixed in. And mixing it up a bit would be a good idea because if Hasbro wants to keep buyers interests for a while they will release the figures from a certain era slowly. So if lets say Billy Bob only wants the 82 line up, he will have to wait a few years to get it. And along the way he will probably pick up a few extra figures, because why not. And next thing you know he has bought 3 times as many figures as he wanted to because he only got what he wanted and then another one caught his eye, that he may have not seen if he had already completed the 82 line up. Making both Hasbro and Walmart happy.

So maybe Wave 1 would look like this:

5 figures (because that was Classified wave 1's size)
(Also no straight armed figures)

Stalker v1 styled
Duke v1
Lady Jaye
Beach Head
Cobra Trooper v1

[HitandRun]

I'd be happy even if they characters were just 3 3/4" versions of the classified figures being released. I actually like the design of the 6" figures but just have no desire in getting them in that scale.

[Doctor Venom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoadPigJohn

Most of the 80s figure were good before the neon colors appeared in the 90s...

Agreed. IMHO the last really solid wave of ARAH figures came out in '89.

I stopped collecting toys in the late '80's - early '90's, but I still kept up with casually looking at the ARAH releases from 1990-1994. And, honestly - much of the '90's figures/vehicles were poor/sub-par re-hashes, and many looked like cheap bootlegs. Gone were the creativity & interesting character designs that you saw re: most of the '80's Joes. It's obvious they had run out of good ideas at this point: I.e. Eco Warriors, Star Brigade, Sonic Fighters, Ninja Force, Sky Patrol, etc. - bleaghhhh....

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenjaminXavier

The neon colors started appearing in 85 and 86

There weren't really that many neon figures in the '80's. I found most of the '80's figures (both the carded figures & the pack-ins with vehicles) either superb, great, or adequate. And, for the most part - the ones that had neon-like colors were actually decent figures, i.e. "Alley Viper" (1989).

[LockOn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor Venom

Agreed. IMHO the last really solid wave of ARAH figures came out in '89.

I stopped collecting toys in the late '80's - early '90's, but I still kept up with casually looking at the ARAH releases from 1990-1994. And, honestly - much of the '90's figures/vehicles were poor/sub-par re-hashes, and many looked like cheap bootlegs. Gone were the creativity & interesting character designs that you saw re: most of the '80's Joes. It's obvious they had run out of good ideas at this point: I.e. Eco Warriors, Star Brigade, Sonic Fighters, Ninja Force, Sky Patrol, etc. - bleaghhhh....

I feel like 1990 and the first half of 1991 are closer to 1982-1989
than 1992-1994. They still had unique weapons and backpacks despite some having missile launchers.

I enjoyed a lot of the 1990's figures
Bullhorn, Freefall, Rampart, Metal-Head, Undertow, Night Creeper
Capt Grid-Iron, Rock-Viper, Overlord
The Sonic Fighters (Dial-Tone, Tunnel Rat, Lamprey, and Viper) and the TBCs. The sound effect were fun! I only had Static Line of Sky Patrol but I liked that they had parachutes and I liked the Chrome too lol.
Big Ben, Heavy Duty, Low-Light, General Hawk, Dusty & Sandstorm, Snow Serpent, Red Star, Sci-Fi, Grunt, Snake Eyes, BAT v2, Cobra Commander, Mercer, Big Bear, The Ninja Force (especially Storm Shadow) and quite a few of the Battle Corps (Flint, Duke, Shipwreck, Beach-Head, Keel-Haul, Roadblock, Alley Viper). Mega Marines Gung-Ho and Clutch.

Some of the positives for me
* new versions of favorite characters
* first chance for me to get some characters (Ace, Firefly, Scarlett, Clutch etc)
* the missile launchers were a fun play feature (see downsides)
* I was at the age I could earn more to purchase figures by myself
* Figures started including battle stands
* The 1990 vehicle selection was strong. Afterwards not as much but
the Badger, Mudbuster, Barracuda, and Ghoststriker X-16 were nice!

Some of the downsides
* Once the Battle Corps were released, there were a lot of variant colors of the same characters released in consecutive waves
* The missile launchers and weapons trees became more generic

One thing that was disappointing for me about the 25th anniversary line is that we didn't get a lot of retail (non-FSS/Convention) characters from 1988-1991. However I was very happy with being able to get a lot of the characters in their classic designs from 1982-1987. And they released a decent amount of improved interpretations of classic vehicles.

I made a list of all the characters and their versions that I would like if they started a new 4" line. Assuming great sculpting, I pretty much would want almost all of the characters from 1982-1987, plus a fair amount from 1988-1991 (mostly ones that I or my sister owned before). However, I wouldn't get all the characters I had previously from 1992-1994. And there are of course newer characters / versions that I'd like from 1997 up (Bombstrike, TRU Python Patrol, etc) And any new interpretations would be cool too. (For example PoC Dusty is one of my favorites from the ME)

[xasonnex]

I am enjoying looking at Yojoe.com's database, looking at what options there are for a true "retro" figure. If an '82 figure, straight-arm, or v1.5 swivel? What variation, if the figure had variations? Duke alone had 2 (slightly )different headsculpts, an arm variant and a waist variant within the arm variant. Yojoe has 5 total variants, between part and color differences. I still have not ruled out Hasbro being...well Hasbro, and using "wrong, but close enough" parts.

One of my favorite things about Black Major and Red Laser is when they give us a figure that just happens to look like something Hasbro promised and didn't deliver. BM has an upcoming Snake Eyes figure based on a '97 mockup and RL released a "Hollow Point" figure that is a headswap away from being the prototype Stars 'n Stripes Rock and Roll. If this retro line works, that's what I'd like Hasbro to do in some capacity eventually.

We still have a while before when SDCC was going to be, so I'm not worried about lack of info yet.

[Stormtrooper12]

What if this whole thing turns out to be a joke created by some Walmart employee.