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Messages - darth cujo

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1
Message Board News / Re: Site Maintenance
« on: August 19, 2014, 12:20:15 AM »
Yay, welcome back! Just checked in as I have been periodically over the last few weeks and the site is up! Don't see any new posts yet, hopefully folks will make their way back soon. :)

2
I don't know what you guys expect?... There's no toyline due to there being no cartoon or movie to support a line for a major retailer.

Major retailers set the standard for what toys will be bought nowadays. It's obvious. Walk down a toy aisle, and you'll see only currently produced TV/Movie/ etc brands lining the shelves.

In the case of Sideshow - why would they put out a line that most Joe fans don't support, with no tie-in to help promote them?... G.I. Joe isn't Star Wars, and never will be at that iconic level.

If you want to join the lemmings and bitch about how there's no Joe product on the shelves, and dump your collections and say "Screw this line", then why did you even bother to collect it in the first place?... You can enjoy a line of toys, etc without having to buy everything from it. I know people that HAD to have every figure and every variant... never understood the mentality of that. I don't own every Joe figure, or vehicle - and in truth, I trimmed my Joe collection down to what I LIKE from it, and that's it. I own no 25th, no movie figures, and no 12". I enjoy the hell out of G.I. Joe still. I can watch those cartoons and re-read those Marvel comics over and over - and enjoy them.

I don't read the new IDW stuff, and have no urge to do so.

I enjoy the live action movies for what they are - Blow up shit, action flicks. Seriously... Do you REALLY want to see a movie where a sailor is talking to his parrot all the time?

If everyone thinks Joe sucks now, then why not look to yourself to see what made it so enjoyable for you in the first place?


....and if Joe dies?... SO WHAT? Maybe it NEEDS a break.

My Little Pony, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even Star Trek were all "DEAD" properties at one time.... how are they doing now, after taking a break?

Joe "died" before, then it got SUPER hot, and that's most likely when you guys all got back into it... it happens.

I'm tired of reading about people whining about it.

I would hardly call the posts in this thread whining. Nobody in this thread "joined the lemmings" and said they're dumping their collection. In fact each post, while expressing disappointment, talked positively about the Sideshow figures. I know I certainly wasn't whining. Given that this thread was about the sideshow line, I was merely commenting on its demise.

Having said that I do agree with a lot of what you posted Mike, but one thing to note is new product, new media, new anything drives conversation. You said yourself, it also drives sales. So when there's nothing new, it's hard to drum up new discussion. As much as I love the Marvel comics and, like you, continue to re-read them and enjoy them, how many times can I talk about them on message boards? After more than a decade of talking Joe on message boards it tends to be the new stuff that grabs my attention. And since there's not been much new and positive to discuss lately, recent discussions have tended towards the negative. Tis the nature of message boards. They ebb and flow. Some folks will lose interest and some of us will continue to be interested for years to come, and as new media and new product comes back around, interest will rise again.

As to what I expect, I don't have much in the way of expectations. I have opinions on what Hasbro could do differently, but don't claim to have all the answers. But I think they're worthy of discussion. I would say I have more hopes for GI Joe than expectations. I'd be fine if GI Joe disappeared for a few years and came back re-invented and rejuvenated. I still have my comics and toys and I can continue to enjoy those.

Yo Joe!


3
I loved this line for the most part and have a number of them, but did pick and choose. I'm not surprised at its demise. The price increases were enormous. Within a few years they went up 50%. Justified or not, that's hard for a collector to swallow.

Overall the line was very hit and miss. The most frustrating thing for me was how they handled the designs. Some were fantastic; Zartan, Baroness, Major Bludd, Rock'n'Roll. But some were questionable; Firefly and Destro. Firefly remains my biggest disappointment. While a cool looking figure it strayed way too far from the already awesome and character-defining v1 outfit that made the original figure so cool.

Sideshow was at their best when they stuck closer to the source material and they hit a few homeruns to be sure. I was really hopeful the line would continue and was looking forward to more figures. I could handle maybe 2 or 3 a year at the current prices, and would be choosy, but it would have been nice to see more.

4
General Joe Talk / Re: New sets for the 50th anniversary!
« on: May 29, 2014, 10:01:50 PM »
50th stuff is now up for preorder on BBTS as a "shared exclusive".

You are right... what means "shared exclusive"? With who?
Shared exclusive seems like an oxymoron, but it does make sense. So far it seems it's shared between TRU and BBTS. But you never know. Sometimes the sharing is between online stores, sometimes between 2 or 3 retailers. Never know until a bit of time goes by. Also "exclusive" often is only exclusive in a given country. So these could still end up at another store.

5
General Joe Talk / Re: New sets for the 50th anniversary!
« on: May 29, 2014, 08:33:16 AM »
50th stuff is now up for preorder on BBTS as a "shared exclusive". Not much I'm interested in, but would like the pack with Leatherneck and Destro, and an Ice Viper (though not all the other stuff he comes with). Anyone have any idea if these will be coming to TRU in Canada?

Or any update on Kreo? I've all but lost interest due to the lack of stuff coming to Canada. Still seeing a fair bit of wave one sets rotting on the shelves at my local TRU, even after several 40% and 50% off sales. Not looking good for the future of Kreo in Canada.

6
Yearly CanJoeCon Discussion / Re: Official 2014 Canadian Joe Con News
« on: February 05, 2014, 08:52:37 PM »
Quote
As for the brand overall, well, this has been an ongoing discussion throughout the Joe community. Seems Hasbro has no faith in it, which is a real shame. You'd think that with two recent relatively successful big budget movies and the 50th anniversary Joe would be on a high, but it feels like it is in one of its all-time lows. But the past 5 years or so have been so schizoid with the brand. I think they really need to find a new direction and focus everything on it rather than going to multiple directions and constantly pulling the plug after they just get started.

Blame the retailers, not Hasbro. And blame Paramount for the movie delay which killed the retailer interest in the Retaliation product and the brand.
Hasbro has apparently proposed all kinds of stuff for the 50th, and apparently none of it has interested any retailers.
Let's repeat that: Hasbro WANTS to unroll 50th anniversary stuff, but retailers have NO interest in carrying ANY of it.

 Correction: Amazon Kindle has just today announced that GIJOE is one of the properties opened for their published fan-fiction thing.  Big whoop.  That MIGHT be the opening salvo in some kind of 50th Ann. Joe blitz leading up to Toy fair next week.....but don't hold your breath.
The interest otherwise from retailers just isn't there, and if retailers don't want to order product....Hasbro has no need to make any.

Everything that Hasbro has done over the past decade or so for GIJOE has languished on the shelves. While we think that something like POC was a hit.......it wasn't. Large amounts of it stayed on the pegs. Retailers both did not stock a lot of it (coming off the glut of ROC stuff) and it did not sell fast enough. Just like all the other GIJOE stuff. 

Like it or not, the deck is stacked against the brand and the retailers have no interest in playing fair with or having consideration for such a tiny amount of product.
GIJOE could vanish, it's trademarks could lapse and it wouldn't make a single bit of difference to Hasbro's bottom line.  It's a sentimental brand that is........quite frankly.......tired out and stale.
While I don't disagree that the retailers are partly to blame, (and the movie delay) I don't think Hasbro is entirely innocent in the way they've handled the brand. I think a lot of the languishing over the past decade has to do with Hasbro's lack of direction and their constant starting and stopping of lines. 25th Anniversary, Sigma 6, PoC, Resolute, Renegades, the movies. They've been all over the place. Constantly pulling the plug on things shows little faith in the brand. PoC had some of the best figures ever produced in the line, but there was no harmonious support attached to it. So can you blame retailers for not wanting to jump in at this point? It's like a vicious cycle where they can all blame each other. Bottom line, the brand is a mess right now. I said this on another board, I think they need to step away, regroup and do a full on re-launch with full coordinated multi-media backing. Ala 1982. Something that shows real faith in the brand again that the retailers can get behind. Probably behind a video game ala skylanders or angry birds that ties the toys in directly with the game. Something relevant to todays kids. It may not be what we want but it could revitalize the line.

Anyway, this is getting off topic, my apologies. But I do think it's interesting to discuss and isn't entirely unrelated. Perhaps if the brand is revitalized, one day the con will come back.

7
Yearly CanJoeCon Discussion / Re: Official 2014 Canadian Joe Con News
« on: February 05, 2014, 09:31:40 AM »
Wow, such a bummer. Can't say I'm too surprised with the lack of info that has been coming out. I had a bad feeling that in this case no news was bad news.  :'(

Really disappointed to hear of the lack of support from Hasbro. A few years ago it was fantastic. Not only did they attend the con, they unveiled a new wave of figures there. I got to have really good conversations with the Hasbro rep who was great. Their participation seems to have really deteriorated over the past couple years. Makes you wonder what happened with that other con to put Hasbro off.

Also, hearing that Hasbro had nothing available for the con set makes one wonder about those Joes showing up at Dollarama. I don't know all the ins and outs of the arrangements CanJoeCon had with Hasbro, but perhaps some of those figures could have went towards supporting the con rather than blowing them out at a measly $3. That wave was pretty weak, but there were a couple gems in there and the CanJoeCon guys have shown to be very creative.

As for the brand overall, well, this has been an ongoing discussion throughout the Joe community. Seems Hasbro has no faith in it, which is a real shame. You'd think that with two recent relatively successful big budget movies and the 50th anniversary Joe would be on a high, but it feels like it is in one of its all-time lows. But the past 5 years or so have been so schizoid with the brand. I think they really need to find a new direction and focus everything on it rather than going to multiple directions and constantly pulling the plug after they just get started.

Anyway, thanks to Mike et al. for organizing and running a con for the years it was around. I'm sure it was a lot of work, and involved a lot of logistical headaches, so it was appreciated. I'll hold out hope that perhaps it will have a revival one day...


8
Customs / Re: GI Joe 50th Anniversary Tribute by OB
« on: February 04, 2014, 08:51:24 AM »
Wow, nicely done!! Like morgardee it kept me coming back on a daily basis. Already missing the updates. :)

I've never really been motivated to look into the 12" guys, so 99% of the stuff here was new to me. Some pretty awesome stuff in these old sets. And you translated them into 3 3/4" so amazingly well. It's interesting, I was always all about Joe as a military team fighting a "bad guy", but these customs have made me think of the "adventure" aspect as a pretty cool approach to Joe. A new perspective you might say. It also shows that the evolution from the 12" to the 3 3/4" was a pretty natural one. Two big similarities that stick out to me:
The climate related themes remind me of the military specialties of the 80s Joes, and
All the gear which is one thing that made Joe so much fun in the 80s as well.

At some point I'd like to get more into the customizing aspect of the hobby (rather than just the accumulation of stuff, I'm in total purge mode right now), at which time I may contact you, Oreobuilder, for some tips and recipes! :)

Really great stuff!

9
Customs / Re: GI Joe 50th Anniversary Tribute by OB
« on: January 24, 2014, 11:14:09 PM »
not sure if serious or not...

yes, yes, i am.

no i don't have bad teeth, yes, i do drink tea, but only at breakfast, no, i've never worn a bowler hat, no i don't like cricket, yes, i do know what a crumpet is.

Ha, :) I was genuinely curious. I just noticed your comments that seemed to show a trend towards an interest in things British. :)

is that a repainted Chewie with a modified head?
Looks like a modified repaint of this guy:

http://www.rebelscum.com/ROTS0568wookiee.asp

I love Wookiees! :) And he makes a great bumble!

10
Customs / Re: GI Joe 50th Anniversary Tribute by OB
« on: January 15, 2014, 11:05:15 AM »
no British Commando? DENIED!!
that dude in the pith helmet looks like he should be leading an expedition into the heart of Africa for the British Empire in 1867 or something.
Sundance, are you British, perchance? (said in my fake British accent)

Again, great job Oreobuilder. Do you have recipes for these somewhere that we could see. I'd love to take a stab at a few of these one day!

11
General Joe Talk / Re: GI JOE AT DOLLORAMA
« on: January 09, 2014, 11:55:24 PM »
From what I hear it's Retaliation Wave 1 stock.
Hmm, sounds pretty weak. Can't remember whats in that. Red Ninjas, Joe troopers? Might be some nice custom fodder at $3 each.

There is also a chance they are the Dollar General Joes, in which case Dollarama is where they should be.

Except despite the Dollar General name, I think they're a little more "high end" (heh) than dollarama. And a big difference between carrying $6 Joes for $6 as a lower end line, vs dumping $11 figures for $3. Sad. It probably means even Winners and Marshalls passed on them!

Hey Arrow, interesting post. Whether it's all true or not I'm not surprised by what you're saying. Action figures in general seem to be a shrinking market these days. My hopes for GI Joe are minimal, and to be honest if it all stopped today, I'd be fine with that. More stuff has come out than I'll ever need. I just pick and choose now anyway, so I always just hope for some nice figures here and there. Sadly, the collectors club may be the best avenue for what I want. I just wish their prices were something even close to reasonable.

I would be surprised if absolutely nothing came out of Toy Fair though. I would think that maybe that one retailer you mentioned might step up for that one exclusive you mentioned because of the fact it would be a one-off that no-one else had. I hate exclusives but it would at least beat having to get whatever it is through the club.



12
General Joe Talk / Re: GI JOE AT DOLLORAMA
« on: January 09, 2014, 04:36:58 PM »
Which ones??? Let us know please.
Seconded, please, let us know! Such a tease!

OMG! This is a big hit to Gi joe's dignity...  :-[
I'm surprised by this. When the Star Trek figures hit Dollarama I was not surprised since they were a disaster, but Joes? Man, that is sinking to a new low. Just in time for the 50th Anniversary! :( Here's hoping Toy Fair can resurrect our hope!


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