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07-11-2014, 06:20 PM | #51 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 116
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Who cares we have Boss Fight figures and marauder figures now. Finally the retailers and toy execs get out of the way and toy designers can directly offer is what we really want.
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07-11-2014, 06:36 PM | #52 |
Illegal go-cart racer
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Cobra's prison of happiness.
Posts: 1,290
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Enough with saying cartoons work, they DON'T
Thundercats is an excellent example of how cartoons don't work! Hell, Renegades was another example. |
07-11-2014, 06:56 PM | #53 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: The Racist Desert Wasteland
Posts: 388
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Love to see Boss Fight meet with the SKOmega guys, that could be an interesting line with Boss Fight Sculpts and SKOs ideas.
__________________
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. |
07-11-2014, 09:09 PM | #54 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 916
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I think a lot of factors are converging.
The golden age of 4" action figures is almost over. Go to almost any store that sells toys and just look at how there really isn't much left to action figures. There was a time when 4" action figures could control lots of shelf space but those days have past as taste in toys have changed. Even the superhero films are only getting a few 4" figures per film release. The wave system has failed but retailers cling to it with brands like GI Joe. Sure other military brands sell but they also don't need new waves every so many months so the same trooper can stay on the shelf longer. GI Joe is stuck in the 80's. Look I love A Real American Hero as much as anyone else but where GI Joe used to be about cool stuff that wouldn't see a battlefield for 10 or 20 years now everything is feeling dated and kids aren't going to think 80's cool is still cool today. Hasbro does have some marketing problems. Building blocks and mini-figures are a hot product and Transformers is popular but Hasbro still can't hardly find retailers who will stock Kreo. Kind of hard for Kreo Joe to be a hit with kids that don't live close to a Toys-R-Us while those same kids can walk into a Wal-Mart or Target and find lots of Lego sets. I think it was also a mistake to put all the eggs into the movie basket. Transformers does well even when the live action movies and cartoon series are different. So everything doesn't have to fit together nicely. No cartoon, no video games, really nothing out there to promote GI Joe other than a nod on Robot Chicken or Netflix putting it on the suggestions for you if you watch a lot of cartoons. Honestly I don't know what the exact solution is but doing the same thing over and over doesn't seem to be it. Not doing anything but hoping the movie get huge isn't a solution either if they can't bring in a mega director that can pack theater seats. |
07-11-2014, 09:11 PM | #55 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Altoona, PA
Posts: 710
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I have to put the failure of the brand at Hasbro's feet. They flat out own the GI Joe Property and they put very little effort into it. I have read everyone else's thoughts and I really agree with a lot of it.
The lack of a good animated show on a mainstream widely seen channel or in syndication is definitely a big miss. I think the idea of a Clone Wars type series would be great, and I agree it should focus on lots of characters, not just the same 5 or 6 core characters that Wal-Mart pushes for. If they are not up to making an ongoing series, then I think that perhaps the direct to video route would be a good option. Releasing two new 2 hour animated movies per year would be a good way of telling new stories and could appeal to both adults and kids. I think the live-action movies are fine and enjoyable for what they are, but they will never be the starting point for a large scale resurgence of the brand. Their kid appeal is limited and they are not nostalgic enough for the adult collectors. Although I have not played a video game since the days of Atari 2600, I also agree that a solid video game is needed. That market is huge, with people of all ages. Perhaps a Kreo based game for kids and and a Call of Duty style game for the teens and adults. I also agree that Hasbro drops the ball by not cross marketing the Joe Brand in the way it does with Transformers, Star Wars and other properties. They do very little with the Joe brad compared to the others and that lack of visibility is certainly not doing any good. I think the handling of the toys since the launch of the modern era is perhaps the biggest blunder they have made. When the 25th line launched, they were able to continually produce new items for about 2 years, and there was constantly product in stores. Granted distribution was not perfect, but there was continual new waves of figures and vehicles coming out. Then at the start of 2009, the toys vanished for 6 months until the launch of the ROC line. We all know that line flooded stores and clogged shelves for quite a while, although I personally really liked it. It did not sell in the way it was expected to and it made retailers cautious of the brand. However, by fall of 09, all the items for ROC had been released and no new product was announced. In early 2010 we learned about the POC line, but it took until August for that stuff to start showing up. Nearly a year since the final waves of ROC items were released. POC sold very well, but was again plagued by distribution issues. POC was done though, by early 2011 and then it as another 6 month wait until the 30th product was released. Six months with basically nothing on shelves but leftovers. Then we got a small window of release for the 30th product. It would have been followed by the RET toys, but they came and went due to the films postponement. So that left shelves empty for about a year, until the films release. Now all the RET product has been gone from most retailers since last fall, and it is taking until this fall for the 50th. All of this starting and stopping and long gaps between releases has been terrible for the toyline. How can kids maintain interest when the toys keep disappearing from shelves for nearly a year at a time? Why would parents invest in buying toys from a line that keeps going away? It makes me thing of the old saying "out of sight, out of mind". Hasbro has really done a bad job of maintaining the Joe brand in stores, even when it was selling well. I don't think it will ever go back to the level of success we saw 30 years ago. The world is different now and that kind of lightning in a bottle is unlikely to happen again. But, I do believe that Hasbro has done a horrible job of making the brand seem relevant and when they treat the property as the bastard, red-headed step child, is it any wonder that it performs the way it does now? |
07-11-2014, 09:13 PM | #56 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Secret underground complex
Posts: 7,027
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Quote:
I agree. Thundercats had a huge push and failed despite all they did. It really comes down to naking what kids want. Right now that is Ninja's, Robots, Electronics, and games. an Hasbro make those things? They could but there is still no guarantee that kids will latch on. Who would have thought Monster themed dolls and a movie called Frozen would be a hit?
What Hasbro really needs to do is hire a few people who really love toys and put them to task finding out what kids want. Not just a questionnaire but an in-depth review of what drives the kids of today. Until they do this, nothing good will happen. |
07-11-2014, 09:21 PM | #57 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Secret underground complex
Posts: 7,027
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07-12-2014, 09:02 AM | #58 |
Crimson lady of the Guard
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Somewhere out there
Posts: 13,754
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But the toyline hit on a few of the kid interests. Ninja's and fun characters. GI Joe did the Ninja revamp with Retaliation but did not hit on a more vibrant character line that would bring kids on board. I really want a GI Joe revival but the Renegades cartoon proved that a show can not carry a line. Yet you are so correct, nothing is guaranteed. Bandia tried to revamp Thundercats and it did not work. I wish I knew what a fix could be but I am all out of ideals. Kids are so fickle these days.
__________________
My feedback Thread http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-jo...tml#post642922 (PLEASE READ MY WANTS LIST, any help finding these items would be wonderful) My wants list http://www.hisstank.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36991 |
07-12-2014, 10:43 AM | #59 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Secret underground complex
Posts: 7,027
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Quote:
But the toyline hit on a few of the kid interests. Ninja's and fun characters. GI Joe did the Ninja revamp with Retaliation but did not hit on a more vibrant character line that would bring kids on board. I really want a GI Joe revival but the Renegades cartoon proved that a show can not carry a line. Yet you are so correct, nothing is guaranteed. Bandia tried to revamp Thundercats and it did not work. I wish I knew what a fix could be but I am all out of ideals. Kids are so fickle these days.
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07-12-2014, 11:03 AM | #60 |
Crimson lady of the Guard
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Somewhere out there
Posts: 13,754
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Quote:
I think for a line to have legs these days you need both a cool line and a media tie-in. In the 80s a line could do okay without a toon, but not now. The Thundercats reboot toon was really great but the toys were just okay. The Renegades toys are awesome but they didn't hit with the toon.
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My feedback Thread http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-jo...tml#post642922 (PLEASE READ MY WANTS LIST, any help finding these items would be wonderful) My wants list http://www.hisstank.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36991 |
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