G.I. Joe Toys Thread

[Jesse James]

What Jeff said, concerning the G.I. Joe Q&A... 

I keep up with it as best I can mostly for my brother and nostalgia.  When Paul took over the site though he brought up the notion of us joining the Q&A, and the good times began rolling.  I am really just the go-between and I enjoy the line from afar, and stuff.  It's good though because we've got a fairly healthy group of G.I. Joe collectors here, who are interested in chatting up the line.  Good stuff!

I don't know if the 25th line is dead or not.  Look at SW...  The movies got us by with better support, but the line relied on collectors in those leaner times between.  I imagine 25th figures may come back in some fashion then.  I would hope actually.

I think if you see the Resolute thing become more of a sustained series...  well that could really balloon into a lot more stuff, even perhaps new characters/figures.

[starwarsgeek]

I wasn't complaining, and didn't mean it in a bad or angry way... it's just kind of odd, that's all, seeing as it's a Star Wars site... but that's cool!

[Jesse James]

I think Jeff's right that any publicity is good publicity, so they're happy to have us on.  It's a lot more sporadic though, compared to the SW Q&A.

[iFett]

I'm still waiting for JoeDefender.com   

[efranks]

I'm still waiting for JoeDefender.com   

What he said.

Low Light is one of the characters that Hasbro didn't do that I really wanted in the 25th line.  I want that classic outfit, not a movie style version of him so I hope, at this point, they either hold him for another 25th push or they just skip him. 

With the quotes that have been posted from Byung-hun Lee, it sounds like they're ready to start rolling on another Joe film and if that's the case, I think we'll see the movie line, then the chase of Cobra (or whatever the 2010 line is going to be called), and then another movie line.  No room for a 25th resurgance in there.  Maybe for the 30th? 

Unfortuantely, it doesn't sound like Resolute is going to be an ongoing cartoon so other than the few figures still in the pipeline based on that animation, we're probably going to get more of what we have now with probably more characters brought into the updated style. 

The only figures I've picked up recently are a couple more Pit Commandos.  I'd like to get at least one more, maybe 2.  Other than that I don't think I'll be picking up anything else unless Target offers some deep clearnace prices.  I'd still like to pick up a RHINO.

   E...

[iFett]

Low Light is one of the characters that Hasbro didn't do that I really wanted in the 25th line.  I want that classic outfit, not a movie style version of him so I hope, at this point, they either hold him for another 25th push or they just skip him.

 

There's still tons of figs left to do (and redo) - I just picked up the vinty Low Light the other week thanks to a local.  So many memories coming back with these things.  Scared to actually put their weapons in their hands because I'm afraid of breaking off their thumbs.  Good stuff though!

With the quotes that have been posted from Byung-hun Lee, it sounds like they're ready to start rolling on another Joe film and if that's the case, I think we'll see the movie line, then the chase of Cobra (or whatever the 2010 line is going to be called), and then another movie line.  No room for a 25th resurgance in there.  Maybe for the 30th?

Hasbro managed to work in Universe/Classics in between the Transformer flicks as well as the animated line so I'm sure we'll get a few more bones here and there before the next Joe movie.  How much?  Probably not much, but there's always hope.  I'm not so hot on Resolute as others are, but I'll take what I can get.

[Brian]

Yeah, some of the figures mentioned (Airtight, Low Light) are ones I was hoping for as well.  Like you just said, if they could even slip in a couple waves between "movie lines" like they did with Transformers, that would be ok too.  It may just be the selection of figures out there right now, but if the current state of ROC Joes at retail is any indication, the "We Be Chasing Cobra" or whatever it is called line might not be doing all that great in 2010.  I think collectors probably pick up a little of this stuff, but even judging by our little community here, it is probably only half of us that have bought any - and just a few each at that.  If the kids don't (or didn't) buy into the Joe stuff, I don't see this movie-ish line having much for legs.  Kids just don't care about toys in the numbers that we did as kids, it seems.  A line like this would have been a bigger hit with our generation, at least at that time, I would guess.

[efranks]

I think part of the problem with the movie line is that there's too much of it.  How many new lines did Hasbro put out for the Joe film besides just the 3.75" figures?  I think Hasbro banked on the movie being a bigger hit than it was.  It did some box office and I liked it better than I thought I would, but it wasn't that great.  It didn't make me want to run out and buy all the characters as toys.  I didn't like Transformers 2 as much as I liked the first one either, and that toy line seems to have some sales problems as well.

The downturn in the economy also didn't help either film.

Plus you have to mention the glut of toys.  All the stores bought heavy on those first waves and now they're stuck.  Did it last year with Indiana Jones.  Did it last year with the TLC figure launch.  Did it again this year with Joe and Transformers (but to a lesser extent on TF). 

Locally TRU seems to have done better on Joe sales than Target while my Walmart (which isn't a Supercenter) didn't stock Joe till after the film was out and only really has the basic figures.  My question is, whose fault is it for this glut?  Hasbro's for pushing it out and hyping the movie?  In other words, good salesmen?  Or is it the store's fault for jumping the gun on ordering way too much of the early stuff? 

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[CHEWIE]

I blame Hasbro - their own market research should show what is going to oversaturate the market.  They deal with all the retailers on this and need to do a better job of managing what they produce.  Hasbro needs to get a better understanding of supply and demand.  That's why I rarely blame this stuff on the retailers themselves.  This is Hasbro's baby, and they're supposed to be the experts on it.  Not a retailer that carries 100,000 other products in their store.

[Sprry75]

I liked the movie a lot, it did okay numbers at the box office (nowhere near the studio's hopes, I'm sure, but it didnt' bomb), and the figures are, for the most part, top notch and come with craploads of accessories, so it's not a quality issue.

If I had to guess, I'd say the $8 price point has been the choker.  The stuff flew off the pegs at $5 when the 25th line first launched, and TRU had no problem moving ROC product at its 2 for $10 and even 2 for $11 sales.

I think $7 is a pretty high ceiling for 3 3/4" figures to sell with any kind of volume, but it is a ceiling.  Eight bucks a pop is too much to collect, and probably too much for most parents to splurge for their kids.

[Brian]

Yeah, I think price has a lot to do with it as well.  All the 3 3/4" lines out there (Marvel Universe, Joes, Star Wars, etc.) are either approaching $8 each or are over that (Marvel Universe has been $8.44 at WM here since the beginning).  I used to think that the slight increases didn't matter a whole lot to the collector base.  Sure, we complain about it, but the majority of us still buy them (but maybe less).  I think that breaking point is starting to become more prevalent now as the prices keep going up.  Although a single case of Legacy figures can disappear pretty quickly with one collector, I do notice some other things sit a bit more now - where they would use to be "blink and miss them".  A good example is in the CW line, where I would think a figure like Cad Bane would be a tough find - and although he is a bit rarer than others I imagine, I have seen them sit for awhile too.  A few years back, that wouldn't have happened.  Heck, with most lines, back in the days of $5-6 for 3 3/4" figures, or even $6-7 for the 6" scaled lines, a new wave would disappear nearly the same day it hit pegs (unless there was a ton of it).  These days, it seems to trickle away, and reshipments often times start to sit even (depending on the line).  The price ceiling is definitely starting to be met for a number of people I think.  The overproduction/shipping of initial waves of lines (movie lines in particular) is a big factor too.  It killed Indy, and may do the same to movie Joes.

[GrandMoffNick]

I blame Hasbro - their own market research should show what is going to oversaturate the market.  They deal with all the retailers on this and need to do a better job of managing what they produce.  Hasbro needs to get a better understanding of supply and demand.  That's why I rarely blame this stuff on the retailers themselves.  This is Hasbro's baby, and they're supposed to be the experts on it.  Not a retailer that carries 100,000 other products in their store.

I agree. I think it's humerous (in a it's easier to laugh than cry sort of way) that movie after movie gets these crazy amounts of space and quantity and the same thing happens over and over. You can't have hundreds of figs on the pegs at all times and honestly expect them to sell. You have to have small enough quantities to let stuff sell and then new stuff come in it's place. Price obviously doesn't help, but Hasbro couldn't have really thought all those hundreds of figures at every store were really going to sell.

[spiderpumpkin]

You have to blame the retailers too and not just Hasbro.  Retailers order what they want and Hasbro just fills those orders.  Target didn't have to order tons of Rise of Cobra wave 1 and 2 and Star Trek and Indy. 

[Jesse James]

If I had to guess, I'd say the $8 price point has been the choker.  The stuff flew off the pegs at $5 when the 25th line first launched, and TRU had no problem moving ROC product at its 2 for $10 and even 2 for $11 sales.

I think $7 is a pretty high ceiling for 3 3/4" figures to sell with any kind of volume, but it is a ceiling.  Eight bucks a pop is too much to collect, and probably too much for most parents to splurge for their kids.

I wholeheartedly agree...  I think they're not taking into account that people just don't have the discretionary income they had before, but the price jumps have kept coming like we do.  Be it less product or whatnot, I think lines may see a scale-back to some degree.

Playmates insists the ST line actually did well...  I find that curious.  I'm equally curious what Hasbro's opinion of the JoeROC line has been thus far.

[Ben]

Hasbro's GI Joe a big sissy

Ouch.