GI Joe General

[Onslaught Six]

Do we actually have a GI Joe General? I looked briefly but couldn't find it. If so, feel free to merge the two.

The latest thing rocking the Joe world is these babies:
http://generalsjoes.com/2012/04/16/some ... l-to-come/

They were first revealed without really knowing what they were but it's since come out that they're intended to be Market Six exclusives, sold in Dollar General and Family Dollar and the like. Their accessories are obviously a little limited and they don't appear to have any entirely new parts. (Snake Eyes' head might be new to use but apparently showed up in an image with a bunch of other prototype heads that have since come out.) But they're all pretty neat repaints! Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander all appear to be homages to early 90s figures. Shipwreck is, I guess, apparently based on the old DD Shipwreck design, but it's cool enough that it pretty much works on its own regardless. (He could use some webgear though.) The Duke is super-cool for being Zap with a new helmet and Dusty head; if I hadn't already bought another Zap to crib his webgear for my Short-Fuze, this guy might be my base figure for that. (Of course, my Short-Fuze is using the three-pack Grunt body and vice versa...The extra Zap ended up the basis for an Action Force Jammer that I still need to take pics of.)

All in all, once these hit I'll definitely be picking up at least a couple. Depending on how expensive they are, I might grab more. Prowl, I know you were looking hardcore for Renegades Storm Shadow; this uses the same mould with a different head and, while he doesn't have the same accessories and his deco is obviously different, if it's just the mould you want then you've got a good chance here to scoop it up cheap. (Of course, there are several other chances to do so as well within the main Retaliation line.)

[BWprowl]

Prowl, I know you were looking hardcore for Renegades Storm Shadow; this uses the same mould with a different head and, while he doesn't have the same accessories and his deco is obviously different, if it's just the mould you want then you've got a good chance here to scoop it up cheap.

Ha ha, what? Where did you get that idea? I remember getting into a conversation with you on Skype over why I would want that figure when there're already a bajillion other Storm Shadows available, and you explaining that 'It's still just a white ninja, but this one has three times as many accessories and slightly-better-sculpted pajamas!', and '86 and I commenting on how those high-def photos in that one review did the paint on his head and hands no favors. If I DID actually find one of those things at retail, I'd probably just scalp it, given how much people are paying for him online.

Anyway, I think I'm pretty much done with Joes for realsies now, though I'll make an exception when those movie RockBlock and Bruce Willis figures come out.

[Onslaught Six]

Huh. Who the hell wanted Storm Shadow, then?

And yeah, a lot of the Retaliation stuff looks like a big fat skip, but some of it looks awesome.

[Onslaught Six]

Aaaaand Retaliation got delayed to MARCH 2013:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-n ... 013-a.html

I don't even know what to say, there's so much crap about this it's not funny. What about the toyline? Are they just going to continue releasing the toys like nothing happened? What'll happen when March comes and the movie actually hits? Will we just get the same toys over again, same packaging and all? Will we get repaints? New, more-accurate movie toys? Entirely unrelated toys? Who the hell knows.

There's lots of rumours circulating, too--that the movie didn't test well, that the movie's a crapfest (despite all the goodwill towards it from EVERYBODY), and worse: Channing Tater has suddenly broke out far more than he did while Retaliation was filming, and is now considered "A-list" talent, so they wouldn't want to kill him off in this movie, and they're reshooting bits to give him a larger role.

Now, I'm not really opposed to Tater; he's an alright enough actor I guess and hey, he's playing Duke, who is about as whitebread and boring as GI Joe characters get. But changing the movie plot because of him (and his character) is bad. Now, when the movie does eventually come out (IN MARCH OF 2013) I'm going to constantly be second-guessing it. My confidence in the entire film has been shaken! I mean, before, I was going into it with confidence that it was going to be pretty good--and even if it wasn't, at least it was trying more than the last one did. Now, I'm going to go in and second-guess 'every shot' and wonder if that was there before. Hey, that's a plothole, was that there before? Did they cut out the followup to that? What's the deal with this shot that doesn't make sense? And so on.

I'm really frustrated and disappointed. I was going to see it with my brother, who I don't get to do a lot with. It sucks.

[BWprowl]

I probably shouldn't find this as funny as I do, but it's kinda funny. I seem to recall a similar situation happening with the toyline for some other movie some time back, but I'll be damned if I can tell you which one it was.

Anyway, I expect Hasbro still wants to have GI Joe product on shelves for this year, so they've really got no choice but to release the line they've got. At least, I kind of hope they do, since I still want some The Rock and Bruce Willis action figures. Re-prepping an iteration of the line for next year might give Hasbro the chance to tweak things, like de-gimmicking previous versions of toys (I know they do that sometimes with GI Joe) and coming up with new, not-horrible packaging (seriously, how bad is the packaging? SO BAD!).

I gotta wonder how much warning Paramount or whoever gave Hasbro regarding this, and what their reaction was. Surely the two companies were working closely enough that Hasbro would be in on this and would be given enough of a head-start and input to come up with a backup plan. Surely.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, it's very very strange.

The irony of this is the March 2013 date was pretty close to the original release date. They moved Joe up because Star Trek 2 got delayed and Paramount needed a tentpole for June. (Why Avengers didn't just get put there, I'll never know, it and Batman could have slung it out for months.)

[Dominic]

This is a disaster for a brand that really cannot afford a disaster. Lewis joked yesterday that "this will not impact sales of the toys at all". (Actually, it was only so much of a joke....)

No question, this damages "GI Joe". The irony is that despite all of Hasbro's poor decisions regarding brand management for the last 2 or 3 years, it was poor mid-range panning by Paramount that really damaged one of Hasbro's most recognizable brands.

I honestly cannot think of any real suprises from this summer's movie season. "Avengers" did a little better than expected. But, did anybody expect "Avengers" to do badly? The third (and final?) Nolan "Batman" movie is due out soonishly. Bottom line, there are no real suprises this summer. But, Paramount waited until a month or so from the movie's release to blink.

Paramount delayed the movie after merchandise had already started shipping, all but guaranteeing that the first substantial release of "GI Joe" toys in about 1 year and a half (if not more) goes straight to discount pegs at stores. I have not seen new Joes at Target in longer than I can recall. And, even then, only sparingly. I have seen more Joes at Walgreens and in the toy aisle of the local supermarket.

And, despite this brand damaging fiasco being entirely the result of Paramount's lack of planning, Hasbro is going to take the financial and image damage.

Hasbro might even want to consider retiring the brand outright, at least for a few years.

The 30th anniversary of "GI Joe" is making the 20th anniversary of "Transformers" (in 2004: year of licensor apocalypse) look like a banner year.


Dom
-any other brand would be retired as a result.

[Onslaught Six]

Right in every way.

[Mako Crab]

I wonder if this has anything to do with Battleship tanking domestically. Same thing happened back in '86 when the theatrical failure of TFTM led to the straight to video release of the Joe movie.

[BWprowl]

Y'know, I've been thinking about it, and maybe Hasbro isn't too riled up after all about the GI Joe thing. I mean, between Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man, they've pretty much got the toy aisle locked down via Summer Blockbuster season. What've they got against them? Dark Knight Rising? Yeah, that toyline'll probably be as much competition as Green Lantern was.