[IzzyTipsy]

Definitely felt the Gulf War had a hand in the disappearance of GI Joe. As a kid my mom was always "why are you buying him war toys" around that time? And I remember the controversy when Topps was releasing Desert Shield and then Desert Storm trading cards.

[books]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IzzyTipsy

Definitely felt the Gulf War had a hand in the disappearance of GI Joe.

Good point.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 coinciding with the 50th of Pearl Harbor left a pretty strong impression too, what with all the "End of History" talk. A lot of optimists were ready to believe it, and a lot of cynics were eager to redirect their anger towards domestic matters.

And as a result, as Kirk says, he went from managing however many millions in Boy's Toys, to managing Play-Doh.

[books]

On the corporate side of things, Kenner was a possession of a larger company at the time. I confess to having remembered it as Ertl, but actually it was Tonka. Somewhere in there Parker Bros and Milton Bradley figure in too.

Pretty sure the main drama in Toy Wars was a Mattel-attempted hostile takeover of Hasbro though? Or was that the sequel?

[Joe Bro]

It was an awful development, another sign of decline, in quality if not in sales. One of the things that made Joes so fun and collectible, was how each figure had his own unique load out, suited (in most cases anyway) to their particular specialty and/or environment. The weapon trees made them feel more like cheap generic toys.

As far as I'm concerned '92 was the last year of 'real' Joe as we knew them. The last couple of years may have had a few good figures, but their accessories were crap.

[IzzyTipsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bro

It was an awful development, another sign of decline, in quality if not in sales. One of the things that made Joes so fun and collectible, was how each figure had his own unique load out, suited (in most cases anyway) to their particular specialty and/or environment. The weapon trees made them feel more like cheap generic toys.

As far as I'm concerned '92 was the last year of 'real' Joe as we knew them. The last couple of years may have had a few good figures, but their accessories were crap.

As a 7-13 yo when I collected Joes, I loved the trees. It gave me a ton of accessories for them, so alot of the time I'd leave all of those at my vacation house so the Joes I took with me would have plenty of weapons to use there.

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by books

2) The apparently very intensely held belief that a brand is either rapidly growing or about to crater, with no other possibilities. Seems kinda like an old fashioned 80s "business knowledge" fad that insisted on dichotomy for no real reason, but probably triggered very bad memories of 70 stagflation & oil crisis era problems for many. Even Kirk Bozigian cites the growing/dying thing constantly.

Sadly, this thinking is still dominant in corporate circles of just about every sphere today. Either you're growing or you're dead. Maintaining a consistent, sustainable business is of no interest to CEOs who only care about watching their stock options boom, and are ready to cash out at a moment's notice and strip their entire company for parts.

[Snakeeyesisposh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Z

Sadly, this thinking is still dominant in corporate circles of just about every sphere today. Either you're growing or you're dead. Maintaining a consistent, sustainable business is of no interest to CEOs who only care about watching their stock options boom, and are ready to cash out at a moment's notice and strip their entire company for parts.

It's a product of how Promotions work.
If you only get promoted when things grow, that's how
your corpo suits will treat the job.
That and they're frequently mercenary outsiders
brought in temporarily.


You can get the opposite problem like Japan used
to have. Since promotions there used to be by seniority
within the company, promoting change was not incentivized
very much.

[Deleted_User_85265]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakeeyesisposh

It's a product of how Promotions work.
If you only get promoted when things grow, that's how
your corpo suits will treat the job.
That and they're frequently mercenary outsiders
brought in temporarily.


You can get the opposite problem like Japan used
to have. Since promotions there used to be by seniority
within the company, promoting change was not incentivized
very much.

Being an executive sounds rough.