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11-25-2022, 08:23 AM | #1 |
Zarana & Zandar
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The future of GI Joe
Posts: 3,261
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What makes a character popular? What influences Hasbro?s choices when deciding which characters to produce for Classified?
?There is no lore.? This is what is oft repeated about the Classified line?s lack of anything character- or story-related. Or is there? Are Hasbro?s decisions based on the popularity of what?s come before? Popularity based on media exposure, and lore? Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow are flagship characters. They keep getting made again and again. Why? Their heavy media exposure, and thus, their lore, in the past. Mindbender is goofy looking but also received heavy use. Zarana? A twin without a twin deemed too unpopular to release with her for lack of lore. There IS lore that defines Classified, otherwise all characters would carry equal weight. I also suspect there will be a new Classified comic with the new publisher after IDW.
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This is amazing! We're getting a ZANDAR figure! ZANDAR featured prominently in the Cobra Commander series! Character development! It's a great time to be a Zandar fan! Thank you, Hasbro!!! |
11-25-2022, 09:03 AM | #2 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Springfield
Posts: 288
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Typically the most popular characters are the ones that got the most exposure in the cartoon or comic. Of course there are always outliers to that, but in general that's how a character gets known and gains a following. That's why Zandar will never be as popular as many other characters that were used significantly more in the cartoon or comic. When your power/ability is not being noticed, its hard to become popular.
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11-25-2022, 09:06 AM | #3 |
Zarana & Zandar
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The future of GI Joe
Posts: 3,261
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Quote:
Typically the most popular characters are the ones that got the most exposure in the cartoon or comic. Of course there are always outliers to that, but in general that's how a character gets known and gains a following. That's why Zandar will never be as popular as many other characters that were used significantly more in the cartoon or comic. When your power/ability is not being noticed, it's hard to become popular.
Any character, not just Zandar, with a less than workable concept, can always be tweaked and reimagined and given life, and then becomes popular. Look at Mr. Hawaaian Shirt Guy!
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This is amazing! We're getting a ZANDAR figure! ZANDAR featured prominently in the Cobra Commander series! Character development! It's a great time to be a Zandar fan! Thank you, Hasbro!!! Last edited by Dreadnok Twins; 11-25-2022 at 09:21 AM.. |
11-25-2022, 09:26 AM | #4 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Springfield
Posts: 288
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Chuckles was featured quite a bit in the animated movie, probably the most popular piece of media in the entirety of the Gi Joe brand. I know you want Zander to be a thing, obviously since every post you make is about him somehow...but unless there's an entirely new creative team writing the comics, he'll always be just a background character in the shadows of his much more popular siblings.
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11-25-2022, 09:49 AM | #5 |
Zarana & Zandar
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The future of GI Joe
Posts: 3,261
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All it takes is a willing and open-minded creative team to build up a character. Never say never.
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This is amazing! We're getting a ZANDAR figure! ZANDAR featured prominently in the Cobra Commander series! Character development! It's a great time to be a Zandar fan! Thank you, Hasbro!!! |
11-25-2022, 10:03 AM | #6 |
Fartbutt McGillicuddy
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: EARF
Posts: 4,579
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chuckles wasnt even close to being a "popular character". he's gotten so much grief over his hawaiian shirt and his name from gijoe fans.
but he was the only gijoe that had the stones to kill cobra commander. he was a terciary character until someone got the idea to give him his own miniseries with other gijoe espionage like members; which he died at the end of. after killing cobra commander. it's in the lore. why doesnt hasbro care? |
11-25-2022, 10:09 AM | #7 |
Ne Plus Ulta
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 4,779
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From what I understand, (being that I haven't seen the movie in a while,) Chuckles didn't have any lines in the movie.
Quote:
Quote:
Chuckles was never popular either, until someone took the time to develop him. And Zandar should be reimagined instead of stuck with a concept that hamstrung the character from the get-go.
Any character, not just Zandar, with a less than workable concept, can always be tweaked and reimagined and given life, and then becomes popular. Look at Mr. Hawaaian Shirt Guy!
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11-25-2022, 10:15 AM | #8 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,449
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A cool mask or helmet (most Cobra troops, Snake Eyes, Beach Head, etc), great colors (Crimson Guard, Viper, Alley Viper) and unusual or memorable weapons. Also, ninjas and robots and hot chicks have always been favorites. Most people have fonder childhood memories of, say, the BAT or Sci-Fi than, say, Footloose or Recondo or the more realistic "guys in cammies".
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11-25-2022, 10:28 AM | #9 |
Dark Lord of the Mods
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7,389
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I don't know that there's any ONE thing that makes a character popular, but I do know that Hasbro can tell which characters are popular by which figures are most purchased, that's why we have so many Snake Eyes and Storm Shadows.
Larry Hama, a man of Asian heritage, wrote the G.I. Joe Marvel comic series, which is why it heavily focused on Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, whereas the cartoon did not, so it was Hama's personal preferences that drove the popularity of characters in his comic run. Troops tend to be popular figures, because people like to purchase multiples. I think Mindbender's popularity had a lot to do with his exclusivity. A standard release Mindbender would probably have peg-warmed. Zarana was far more heavily utilized in the cartoon and Marvel comic than Zandar. On top of that, she's one of only a handful of female characters in the initial ARAH run (82-94), so most collectors of that era only ever had Baroness and Zarana as female Cobra figures. That would partially explain her popularity, compared to Zandar. Zarana was also well-written by Larry Hama in the Marvel comics and was a key character in several issues, while Zandar was barely in the comics (maybe 5 issues total, and that's being generous). Zandar didn't get a bigger part until DDP and the non-Hama IDW comic, which not as many people read as had read the Marvel series. Zandar also has only TWO figures made over a 40 year period. And one of those was released in a multipack. Yes, you love Zandar and want to see him made, but not everyone shares the belief that he needs to be made immediately or even that he needs to be released with Zarana or any of the lore associated with them. A lot of us are more than happy either to go with the cartoon, comics, or our own personal canon, with regards to these figures. We'll get him when we get him.
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"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5i...9tb4Exi6R8cnvA Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/lordmordred/?hl=en |
11-25-2022, 10:31 AM | #10 |
Zarana & Zandar
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The future of GI Joe
Posts: 3,261
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Then give Zandar more to work with. It's an easy fix.
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This is amazing! We're getting a ZANDAR figure! ZANDAR featured prominently in the Cobra Commander series! Character development! It's a great time to be a Zandar fan! Thank you, Hasbro!!! |
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