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Post by Swindle on Jun 27, 2020 17:31:10 GMT -8
I'm in the camp that thinks this stuff is lame. From fighting for freedom to do-gooder 90s Captain Planet light.
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Post by Bravo on Jun 27, 2020 21:21:58 GMT -8
So why bring it up? LOL.
Some good molds buried in the neon color change mess. They really weren't worth the extra 2 bucks per figure back in the day.
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Post by Swindle on Jun 27, 2020 22:01:42 GMT -8
Because I like to complain. LOL.
Mid 90s... Eco Warriors/neon/ninjas/glorification of drug dealers/got to get tough
Along way from fighting for freedom wherever there's trouble. Even the comic book fell into the over exposed Wolverine trap with Snake Eyes.
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Post by Bravo on Jun 28, 2020 12:43:18 GMT -8
It's all because of competition from other brands and Hasbro seemed to have a lot of one year flops like Pirates of Dark Water and stuff. So instead of a new toyline or why not compete using a GI JOE subteam? I mean, it was good...more 3 3/4" figures (COPS would've been a great 3 3/4" line) but also not so much because the core GI JOE concept was weakening itself with neon colors, simplified vehicles designed around gimmicks. Instead of the Gulf War giving them reason for a realism boost, they actually feared (according to one Hasbro guy) that a war would hurt the brand like the Vietnam War did.
The DEF stuff was cool, but the light up weapon gimmick hurt its sales. There was only so many "deluxe" figure subsets the line could sell, and other stuff like the talking battle commander figures were super clearanced. It goes back to the idea that they weren't making enough profit on $3 figures, so anything to sell higher price merch.
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Post by Swindle on Jun 28, 2020 18:30:57 GMT -8
In Tranformers, their sub teams could combine giving them a gimmick for kids to want them all. Why would a random kid want all of, say, Ninja force? GIJoe actually had the Battle Force 2000, which their vehicles made a so-so base, but at least they gave them something to market as a reason to have all beyond repaints or poor concepts. I just know as a kid, I really disliked Gijoe/cobra sub teams because the 'teams' were the actual big brands, GIJoe and Cobra, also I really disliked repaints. I'd rather have the Flint I saw in the comic/cartoon than him in a repainted.
I do get they were tossing shit up at the wall and saw was sticked, but I think once we get to the 90s, culture had changed and it was less about things that helped GIJoe as a brand, the DIC toon was not a good commercial for the toys and the comic had peaked. Going back to the Snake Eyes card is like WWF trying to hang onto Hogan once it was clear his time was done.
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Post by Bravo on Jun 28, 2020 18:50:29 GMT -8
When a brand is strong it's creating the trends, then gets to the point where it's past its creative peak and it's just reacting to other trend setters.
That's true of other media and things like THE SIMPSONS.
They didn't know how to make GI JOE a trend setter again. And haven't since. The closest was maybe SIGMA SIX, which didn't catch on. There's nothing about GI JOE Classified that will make a new breakthrough product. But markets have changed, kids seem to grow out of toys before they can even read and every thing is dependent on licenses.
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Post by Swindle on Jun 28, 2020 18:56:27 GMT -8
I think the thing that will help Classified is the collectors market and the strength of the 6 Inch scale and Hasbro owns the license, so they don't have to worry about Dinsey fucking up the IP like they did with Star Wars (look at the product being put out, mostly OT stuff, Disney botched the new gen of characters, no one wants a Rose Tico for example). Hard to say how it will do in stores, but the demand online seems to be there with the exclusive Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander sells.
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Post by Bravo on Jun 28, 2020 21:46:24 GMT -8
25th (modern) had demand at first, then Retaliation's over saturation (and general appearance) at retail killed it. There was still demand afterwards, but mass retail never recovered. It can be argued it ran its natural course after the nostalgia buzz ran out for the non-diehard fans. I can see the same happening with Classfied. It might depend how many 6 inch scale fans crossover to the line and how carefully Hasbro selects releases. There's certain Marvel figures that seem to bomb at retail, but enough winners to overshadow them.
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Post by Felix on Jul 4, 2020 12:06:35 GMT -8
The comic ran its course and IMHO, the Cobra Civil War marks the end of the series. Cobra Commander(albeit Fred) was back to running things and left the door open for future continuation.
I prefer all of the original colors over the sub teams.
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Post by Swindle on Jul 4, 2020 14:22:20 GMT -8
The deal with Tiger Force, the that sub-team got so large, it might as well have just been a deployment of a standard Joe team.
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Post by Bravo on Jul 4, 2020 16:46:17 GMT -8
When you add later additions, which is some 10+ more characters. Yeah.
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