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[STARDUSTER]

Its in Vaudreuil, wave 1 from the movie 3$ a figure !

[canprime]

Here's hoping Toy Fair can resurrect our hope!

I wouldn't expect much or ANYTHING GIJOE at Toyfair. Or at the NYCC a month later.

There MIGHT be something solid announced at Joe con.

This is what the toy industry insiders I know have relayed to me:

No-one is interested in GIJOE.

That has to sink in for a minute.
Apparently, Hasbro has laid out all kinds of plans and exclusives for the 50th, and all the major retailers have sniffed at them.  Rejected them cold.
There might be ONE retailer interested in A exclusive......singular, in both respects.
You can blame Paramount, for delaying the movie.......which really screwed things up. Retailers were left with all kinds of stock leftover, and little of it was moving, and because of that, they are not interested in anything new beyond their last orders for Retaliation stuff. The sell-through period for merch attached to the movie and DVD is still in effect for most of 2014, so retailers are not interested in supporting a separate promotion that is not movie-related.

That it's the brand's 50th anniversary means NOTHING to them.
It sells so little, holds so little shelf space that if GIJOE went away, no-one would notice. Or care.

Except GIJOE collectors and fans, and we amount to the fly on the elephant's ass---to famously quote a former GIJOE brand manager.
Action figure brands in the industry are all in disarray. Marvel toys are NOT selling and Iron Man 2 toys were massively over-produced and ordered. Many retailers still have huge amounts in their systems when the third Iron Man movie came out......and Hasbro had promised them that all the IM, Captain America and Thor toys they were choking on would sell when Avengers came out.

That didn't happen.
And the retailers called Hasbro on it.

Consequently, anything else that ANYONE else is offering the stores gets a wary eyeball looking at it. It's affected the entire industry. Movie tie-ins mean nothing any more......the consumer-base just isn't interested in them, and retailers have been burned too many times. The days of old with a massive toy brand launch for a movie.......are dead and gone now.

Okay, so with all that in mind.......I am the lone voice, probably the only voice you have heard anything from yet on this matter.
Don't take my word for it.
I am not an insider, I am just a messenger.
My source is a long-time on-line acquaintance who is an insider, and his comments ( which I have relayed) cane be found on a Facebook group set up by fans to discuss Hasbro toys). I can direct the curious to the actual group if anyone wishes. You can then contact the fellow personally to verify or satisfy his bonafides.

Otherwise, what to do??

Wait a month for Toy Fair in February--it happens around Valentine's day.  Actually previews should slip the week just prior. If ANYTHING is coming, it'll appear then. Hasbro may be playing this very close to the vest......( we hope), and MAY have something to roll out then. There may be a retailer, or retailers interested in carrying stuff. Might still happen.

If it does NOT happen at Toy Fair, then don't expect anything at NYCC.  And Joe Con will be the last swing at bat for a while.
 
After that, GIJOE movies 3&4 WILL be made.....unless 3 tanks horribly. SOME toys will roll out in concert with the movies, but if there's no reveal at Toy Fair then GIJOE is done as a perennial line for the foreseeable future. It'll be an event line, coinciding with movies ( or TV shows) only.

The only other hope here is for the Collector club to continue with its semi-kitbashed product.
 That is all there is.

While your post is probably a bit too negative, there is truth to it of course.  Look at recent movie lines:  Thor has barely had anything released, Superman had a ton of stuff and it all sat, because it was garbage in my opinion.  IM3, again lots of stock that doesn't seem to move because they over order, and limited articulation (the latest craze) kills it for a lot of people.  Even the great and powerful SW is in decline. 

The only shining light appears to be the new Marvel movies.  Captain America and Spiderman seem to be getting pretty big pushes, and hopefully the toys will do well enough, but I guess it is wait  and see for fans.

As for GI Joe, the heyday is over and the trend has been downward for the better part of 2 years now.  Retaliation was a chance to turn that around, but as was stated the delay of the movie really was a killing blow.  I don't think the brand will be completely gone this year, but it does seem like the 50th anniversary should have some momentum to it and it frankly doesn't right now.

[bandonov]

I had to see it for myself.  I don't whether I should be happy or sad....

[morgardee]

It was actually me seeing Joes at Dollorama that made me log on today. I wasn't sure if words was out yet or not so I thought I'd mention it but you guys already know.

What does this mean for G.I. Joe? My opinion is the line needs to take a break.

There is a few things to consider. Last years Transformers / GI Joe cross over was the final chapter of the cross overs. Does that mean we'll see G.I.Joe at SDCC this year? It's possible but at this point I wouldn't bank on it. If there is anything I don't expect it to be on a large scale. A 50th anniversary 12 inch Joe would be nice.

Then there is this years convention set. Zombies. To me that's one way to stretch out the current inventory or parts they have to work with. Throw out a wave of Zombies after what I believe was the best selling convention set last year (Night Force). It's a safe bet. If it fails then they go back to the established teams and wait for G.I. Joe 3 and hope there is new parts to work with. It's a smart approach to keeping the line going as long as possible for a line that is dwindling.

There hasn't been a lot of news on the web sites in general. More and more posts were about people selling their collections. Even places like Hiss Tank have been a bit light on new news.

I myself am loosing interest in G.I. Joe. I look at my collection and think about selling 90% of it. I'd probably start with some of those chrome vehicles. They were nice but now I find it hard to get excited about this stuff.

I will say this. Those Dollorama Joe offer a few good pieces to work with. The Cobra Commander figure would fit in very well with the Joe Canuck figures. It's already black and that body is a decent foundation. You'd just need to slap on a Viper head and you've got yourself a new troop builder. I experimented with a few heads on that body. I liked Scrap Irons head on it since the body looks like it sort of has a vest on it.
 
However, the plastic on these figure don't take well to Rit dye. I tried a while back with one of the Cobra parachute guys. I tried to dye him black to match the GIJCC parachute drop figure and it didn't work.

Dollorama has been getting in some better inventory as of late. Before Christmas they had Beyblades for $3.00 each. They usually retail for around $12. I bought my son 6 and he was thrilled. Dollorama is a store to watch now.

[Jon S.]

Wave 1 was so terrible, I won't even pay $3 for those figs.

[morgardee]

Wave 1 was so terrible, I won't even pay $3 for those figs.

Red Ninja was the star of that wave IMO.

Joe Trooper looked much better after I gave it a few passes with the dry brush technique.

[ARROW]

For $3 each, there's some decent army builders in Wave 1, and decent-enough kitbashing material.

Steering this away from the doom&gloom I posted earlier, I think there's enough to speak of with these figures for the price.
I'm using the Marauder John weapons to give whatever I find some variety, and I might take up Morgardee's example of some paint tweeks too--as what he did looks really nice.
But I've got to take a looksee and discover what they have on hand at my local store, first.

[silentdusty]

I am a big fan of the Joe Troopers, but we didn't see alot of them where I live, so I would definitely drop $3 a piece to get more of them.

[Jon S.]

Wave 1 was so terrible, I won't even pay $3 for those figs.

Red Ninja was the star of that wave IMO.

Joe Trooper looked much better after I gave it a few passes with the dry brush technique.

Yah. But while you make your figures *better* when you paint them, I only make them worse!!!

[morgardee]

Wave 1 was so terrible, I won't even pay $3 for those figs.

Red Ninja was the star of that wave IMO.

Joe Trooper looked much better after I gave it a few passes with the dry brush technique.

Yah. But while you make your figures *better* when you paint them, I only make them worse!!!

Time and practice my friend and at $3.00 a pop now would be a good time to practice. Just don't try to rit dye these guys. 

[ARROW]

I found these figures at one of two Dollarama stores today.
The one without was on a main drag and the one with was "out of the way" a bit, so if you have trouble finding these, hit the stores that look to be less easy to get to.