JoeCanuck

The reason this kind of thing isn't realized, are a related two-fold reasons:

One-- retailers don't want it.
Two--retailers don't think GIJOE, as a brand, has the clout (or public interest) to warrant such a large toy taking up space on their shelves. This when there are other brands that are far more popular and sell far better that DO warrant more self-space.
GIJOE takes up so little space in the pegs and shelves that offering a $400 ( or even a $200 or $100) toy that is about 3 feet long ( broken down in the box) would be ludicrous. It exceeds the "footprint" the retailers grant the brand on their shelves.
Also, large GIJOE sets have routinely undersold and mostly gone to clearance over the past 10 years. That is a trend that retailers do not ignore. The last time was the PITT set, which was not that popular.



That and the chronic observation that GIJOE is NOT a perennial line, but a seasonal one. It sells best as Christmas time, when parents and grand parents recognize the brand name when shopping for children. The rest of the year that consumer demographic just doesn't shop in the toy aisles. Collector demographics are not a consideration because there's not enough of us.

There's nothing that we as fans can do about this.
It's market forces at play, and retailer experience and intuition calling the shots.. Hasbro and retailers are also risk-adverse.
Sure, they'll do large sets for Star Wars--because Star Wars has a consumer audience easily 100 times that of GIJOE, on GIJOE's best day. GIJOE has multiple stigmas working against it--political slights, prior brand failures, weak movie promotion/performance, weak media tie-ins ( no animated cartoons). That and action figure brands all across the board are softening in sales.

It remains a enjoyed brand, but its not enjoyed anywhere near enough for sets like the Defiant, Flagg, or Terrordrome of old to be produced today. The largest we'll see from this point on is something like the Eaglehawk or the Skystriker.  That's it.

The prototype you likely saw was likely itself to just have been a concept piece. Toy makers, like Hasbro, throw a lot of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. They'll make a mock-up, show it to the retailers to see if they are interested in carrying it, and IF they get interest, it'll go into production.  Otherwise......the prototype is put away on a shelf and forgotten about.
The consumers DO NOT dictate production green-lights in something like this--it's the retailers that make that call.
Hasbro does not sell to consumers, they sell to retailers.  Retailers then sell to consumers. We do not factor into the equation at all.

Also, consider the "footprint" again; for a 3 foot long USS Flagg toy, means the shelf space can only fit maybe  one or two on the shelf space (endcap or any part of the aisle) at one time. They can stock.......what...........50 figures in 2-3 rows of peg space, and about a dozen smaller vehicles. in about half that footprint size.  At $10 a figure, and $20 a vehicle you'd be looking at 5 times the income with more visible product for sale in less space than a single showy toy takes up. And Hasbro PAYS the retailers for that space ( Walmart, TRU etc.) so they want the bag for their buck.

So, in a long-winded nutshell....that's why you'll NEVER see a USS Flagg at retail again.

Takara ( Japan) did a small series of Batman Microman figures that have incredible poseability and yet are GIJOE scale. They comes with accessories, like bat-cuff, batarangs and grappling hook launchers, and/or about 3 extra sets of hands. Several different themes too--and there's also a two figure Superman series as well.

What is this figure...? is it a custo...? Vintage...? Sdcc...?

Its a GIJOE club exclusive. It was made along with 4" figures from the classic Adventure team, and accompanying vehicles. They are in the 25th anniversary style.

Back in the day..............you just know you're going to hate a tale that begins with "back in the day"......


When I was first starting to collect, I had a shot at both the FLAGG and the defiant complex, in the box.  This was around......1987, so they were still haunting some retailers, and in the Vancouver BC area too.

The Defiant was interesting because there were several available at the store--a toy liquidator ( whose name I forget) located in a old "Supervalu" or IGA store on east, east Hastings street. in Burnaby, right across from the refinery before Burnaby mountain. They had about a half dozen of these sitting at the back of the show floor..........for $75, each.
Oh, I was tempted.........very tempted, as I was still a couple of years into collecting RAH by that time.  But.......I had no way to get the thing home. A buddy of mine had a car, a Ford Escort, iirc......and, well...........the thing was too small. The BOX for the Defiant was TOO BIG to fit in his car.
I know, we measured both.

So I left those sets there. The price was easily the best I'd ever get on that set, but the circumstances.........just would not allow it.

The Flagg, was not too longer after. I was shopping at a hobby shop on west 10th Avenue, near UBC ( the much-missed Crash Crippletons), and I stopped by a Rexall Drugs pharmacy closing down, its final liquidation sales were that day. Since those stores commonly stock some toys i thought I'd take a peek inside.
And inside was a handful of carded joes for 25 cents each---bought about 5 figures I did not have.  But up on a shelf was the USS Flagg, MIB........unspoken for. I took a long look at that thing........I was riding transit so I had no way to get it home. But here's the killer:  the thing was marked
 with a sheet of paper saying " discount", but there was no price.
I asked a harried staff member, who looked over his shoulder at the thing and didn't even waste a moment, and then told me it wasn't spoken for yet.  The price:


$25.

And again, I had to leave the set there, as the store was closing forever just a couple of hours from then. I can only assume someone else walked out with it.
<sigh>

Oh yeah, these two haunt me..........so close...........soooo close.

I'm a 25th ann. and newer guy, but with throwbacks to older/newer 12" figures. Yeah, I'm one of THOSE kinds of collectors.

I dropped all the O-rings joes I had........got rid of them, the few Vintage I had, all the new-sculpt, kept some vehicles because they still work just dandy.
I like the proportions, details ( figures now have actual ears!!) and intricacy of the post-25th figures.
 POC, for me, was a great line, loved it, bought into it quite well. Loved the aesthetic, the theme, all of it. Hasbro could do no wrong with POC.
The only glitch has been the "happy-meal figures" with the Retaliation vehicles. <gag reflex>

I'm still into the true vintage 12" Joes, early military and Adventure team--but I stick with the reproductions because they tend to be more affordable. I have a huge 500-ish 12" figure collection of Hasbro, 21C, Bbi, Medicom, Dragon etc.....loads of Classic Collection, modern 21C military accesory sets etc. Recently jumped into some of the Sideshow Joes, but only when I could find them below retail. Too pricey otherwise.
1/2 my collection remains in storage, awaiting a day when I can display it all again ( or sell off the stuff).

And that's just one part of my action figure collection......the rest are superheroes and other kinds of figures. Oy!

Back when I was collecting the O-ring Joes, I had most of them from my start of collecting in around 1985, up to about 1999. Lost interest in them then, and sold the whole lot to a friend for about $150 or so. He had then for about 6 months and then gave the whole lot to a nephew of his.

The kid celebrated his new acquisition by grabbing each of the Joes and testing his own strength......pulling the figures apart.

Pulling ALL of them apart. 

See, a couple of the older figures had weak O-rings when he received them, those fell apart as soon as he played with them and the kid was oblivious to the fact that O-rings could be bought and replaced, restoring the figures.  He figured the whole collection was ruined because some of them were then "broken", so in a fit of pique he destroyed the rest.
And then stomped on all the vehicles. 
The kid was given the stuff by his "generous" uncle, because the kid had "issues".  Yeah, issues.

I calculated the value of what I gave away at over $2500 ( 1998-ish). I had hundreds of like-new figures, and about 30-40 like-new vehicles with meticulously placed stickers and some careful paint touch-ups and corrections, and I was the original buyer for 95% of the stuff, all bought from the mid-80's to the mid-90's. Complete waves of figures from 1986-on. It was the result of years of collecting, scouring the city and region for parts to complete stuff.

I gave it away because I just wasn't interested in it at that time, and figured it would give someone else some joy.

I know the fate of the stuff because about 5 years later, I asked my friend if he still had the stuff and that I was willing to buy it back at 5 times what I paid him for it.