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04-14-2021, 09:44 PM | #1 |
Ne Plus Ulta
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 4,608
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Why doesn't Hasbro have collector's line for G. I. JOE? This is purely conjecture on my part, but I would imagine that the M.O.T.U. fanbase and the JOE fanbase is roughly the same size with some overlap. I'm a casual
fan of He-Man and I started collecting the line because I liked how it was a modern up date of the original figures. However, A Real American Hero is my first love and what brought me to the fandom. If there was a JOE collector's line out right now I would be buying that line instead of Origins and I would get the Origins line at a later date. Hasbro has to know that there is a market for this. They have a business model and they have to look no further than the 12 year run of M.O.T.U. Classics for the proof of concept. Just from a business stand point it doesn't make any sense that they're just leaving all of this money on the table. I personally think that Hasbro is trying to kill off the G. I. JOE brand. Sure there's a Snake Eyes movie coming out in the summer, some new figures, and other product out, but to me it seems as if Hasbro is doing the bare minimum with the line and as far as G. I. JOE is concerned Hasbro is engaging in a policy of benign neglect. It mindset over there seems to be, "we'll try this strategy and if it works, it works, if it doesn't the fandom can't say that we didn't "try." As I look at other lines, M.O.T.U., Transformers, Star Wars, Marvel, D.C., hell even the Super Mario Bros. line I'm noticing that those lines are successful because they're staying true to what those lines are. Transformers, robots that transform into vehicles, DC and Marvel superheroes, Stars Wars, space opera, M.O.T.U., sword and sorcery with a very strong sci fi influence. However, when it comes to the JOEs it seems it that Hasbro is hellbent in making A.R.A.H. something that it isn't namely ninjas and sci fi when at the end of the day G. I. JOE (in all it's incarnations,) is nothing more than army men. While other companies are embracing and running to what they are, it seems that Hasbro is trying everything in it's power to get G. I. JOE away from it's U.S. military roots and hertiage.
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04-14-2021, 10:56 PM | #2 |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 10,010
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Classified IS the collector line, and so is Retro. And no, Hasbro is NOT trying to kill off GI Joe. Classified and Retro are selling very well and Hasbro's team is doing a good job of trying to keep up with demand and please the fans (changing colors, answering questions etc.)
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04-14-2021, 11:01 PM | #3 |
Mass Nerderer
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Slitherin' around the tank- It's cool, though, 'cause I'm being "watched"
Posts: 9,048
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While I agree that Joe is but a shadow of it's former glory (even by the standards set by the small success of ME), everyone saying that Hasbro is actively trying to kill the brand really doesn't sound very smart. Remember how a year ago there was absolutely no new GI Joe? Yeah, that's right- it was A DEAD BRAND. If they wanted it dead, it already was.
Also, "benign neglect" and "trying to kill off" are kinda contradictory, eh?
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I NEED TOYS DAMMIT!!! Last edited by Sataninjaku; 04-14-2021 at 11:04 PM.. |
04-15-2021, 12:13 AM | #4 |
Retired Toy Hunter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Burbank, Ca.
Posts: 12,049
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Quote:
Classified IS the collector line, and so is Retro. And no, Hasbro is NOT trying to kill off GI Joe. Classified and Retro are selling very well and Hasbro's team is doing a good job of trying to keep up with demand and please the fans (changing colors, answering questions etc.)
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04-15-2021, 12:35 PM | #5 |
Crimson Nerd
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 12,573
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Joining the chorus here: The idea that Hasbro is actively trying to kill the Joe brand is patently ludicrous.
The massive preponderance of evidence points towards Hasbro trying...and trying pretty hard, at that...to revive the brand. As noted, a couple years ago, GI Joe WAS dead. Nothing beyond a trickle of licensed product was available, if that. Come 2020, and Hasbro puts at a minimum several million dollars into a new line of 6" figures, complete with video game tie-ins, Convention Exclusives, and generally more Joe-themed merch than has been available in years. Yes, there have been distribution woes, but have you looked at toy aisles for the past year? Shelves were basically bare all throughout 2020, and not just with the Joe Classified line. Barring a couple pegwarmers (Hi Jar-Jar) almost all of Hasbro's 6" lines were difficult to get ahold of at brick and mortar retail. Yes, the Cobra Island exclusives were a supreme example, but then again, so were the Din Djarin and Red Hulk and various other Target exclusives last year. Do we think Hasbro is "trying to kill" Star Wars or Marvel because of that? Even Transformers are pretty scarce around here, and we KNOW Hasbro ain't trying to kill those (and while Target Transformers exclusives this year seemed to be "findable" there were some Amazon exclusives that...weren't, so the phenomenon is not unique to Joe). The bottom line is that retailers were conservative on ordering Classified based on the dwindling off of the old 3.75" stuff. It was effectively a new, untried line that at least at first didn't have a media tie-in (Hasbro doesn't make those purely because they want to, they do it because retailers freaking love media tie-in, and yes, both manufacturers and retailers are always hoping for the next tie-in to be the new Star Wars 1977 or even just Transformers 2007, and will keep trying over and over again because the level of success those lines produced really is THAT MUCH MORE than anything a regular line with a modest market of adult collectors reliably buying manages to pull off. Hasbro will NEVER kill GI Joe. They might put it to bed for a while from time to time, but they will ALWAYS try to bring it back, usually with a tie-in, sometimes not, because it's a brand they own lock, stock, and barrel, and success for GI Joe means more success for Hasbro (and importantly, success that doesn't rely on holding a license from Disney). "Letting it die" is the opposite. Last edited by Jmacq1; 04-15-2021 at 12:37 PM.. |
04-15-2021, 12:52 PM | #6 |
That Ruined Face
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: magical mid-tn
Posts: 4,715
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Quote:
While I agree that Joe is but a shadow of it's former glory (even by the standards set by the small success of ME), everyone saying that Hasbro is actively trying to kill the brand really doesn't sound very smart. Remember how a year ago there was absolutely no new GI Joe? Yeah, that's right- it was A DEAD BRAND. If they wanted it dead, it already was.
Also, "benign neglect" and "trying to kill off" are kinda contradictory, eh? And like Yeet said. Classified IS a "collector's line".
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04-15-2021, 01:32 PM | #7 |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: A little town called Springfield
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They did! They had the 12 inch lines going decades ago. I recall the boomers browsing TRU's and Kaybees scooping those while I was perusing the cheap repaints Hasbro was shilling to us back then. Those 12 inchers were gorgeous too and basically we were being fed the table scraps. This carried on for years.
Well today the boomers don't buy toys anymore! That generation eventually grew up. When Gen X grows up then lets see if Hasbro caters to the "collectors". So be careful what you wish for! |
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04-15-2021, 02:08 PM | #8 |
A Cimmerian
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Mountain of Power
Posts: 11,002
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Can you expand on what exactly you mean by Collectors line? If Classified isn’t it, 25th and forward is pretty much tantamount to bringing old figures forward with modern sensibilities. Not sure what you’re looking for here...
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04-15-2021, 02:35 PM | #9 |
I LIVE!
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Altus, OK
Posts: 6,087
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"Evergreen" simply refers to a standardized design across the line for merchandising purposes. The first wave(s) of Classified sported the "Evergreen" designs, but there is no guarantee Classified will continue to use those designs. Evergreen designs are more to ensure that licensees aren't limited to, often short lived, media pushes. It's to allow licensees to sell GI Joe blankets, wall stickers, clothing and other crap for years on end, instead of being limited to the marketing window for a specific branding (like a movie). On Hasbro's end, Evergreen designs allow them to sell the same "basic" products (the 3 POA figures we've seen images of) for years on end without worry that Snake Eyes or Duke won't match the designs used by the current cartoon, for example. Those designs are "evergreen" because they won't expire (like the Snake Eyes movie designs will ultimately become "dated" after the movie's marketing period). Evergreen has nothing to do with the longevity of the line. If sales are crap, GI Joe can be shelved just like it has before.
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04-15-2021, 03:45 PM | #10 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,424
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Quote:
They did! They had the 12 inch lines going decades ago. I recall the boomers browsing TRU's and Kaybees scooping those while I was perusing the cheap repaints Hasbro was shilling to us back then. Those 12 inchers were gorgeous too and basically we were being fed the table scraps. This carried on for years.
Well today the boomers don't buy toys anymore! That generation eventually grew up. When Gen X grows up then lets see if Hasbro caters to the "collectors". So be careful what you wish for! |
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