Author Topic: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!  (Read 101851 times)

Offline efranks

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #30 on: February 7, 2012, 01:52 AM »
If I were to theorize, I'd wager it's because they've taken hits on thier past movie lines, putting a bunch of money into fully articulated figures only for most of them to wind up on clearance.


That's their own damn fault. They released an huge Iron Man 2 onslaught of NOTHING BUT IRON MAN!  Where the **** were the villains?  Thor?  Same thing.  Captain America?  They at least had Red Skull out early, but he was so incredibly short packed that they may as well never have released him. 

If Hasbro would put more thought into a balanced launch for these films they'd only help themselves in drawing in buyers.  If I could walk into a store on release day for a movie line like Avengers and walk out with the whole Avengers team and a Loki figure I'd be more inclined to buy in.  But going in and finding pegs full of Thor, Captain America and Iron Man after having just seen nearly an entire aisle (at Target) full of the same figures for the last 11 months, I'm not going to be interested. 

Even parents that don't know who all the characters are aren't stupid enough that they don't recognize that they've seen basically the same three characters (Cap, Thor, IM) in stores when they did their Christmas shopping, last year's birthdays and other random toy aisle shopping.  Why would they suddenly want those characters when they've been turning Junior down for 2 years on some of them?  As a collector I'm less inclined to buy in because I know that even if I invest in the big three, history tells me I’m unlikely to be able to complete my Avengers main team.  So why bother?

I don't know what market research Hasbro is looking at when they pick their wave mixes, but I can pick the ****** case of Star Wars releases as soon as they're posted on EE.com.  And I'm usually right.  I looked at the CA and Thor releases last year and knew on day one that I'd never see anything but those initial releases locally.  And I was right.  I barely saw anything beyond wave 1 CA and only out of town.  I saw exactly 1 Thor figure that wasn't from wave 1, only once, and at a Target I rarely get to.  The only figure from either line I bought was a Thor, at KMart, on store closing clearance.  I paid under $1 for him and that was a stretch, I almost left it out of pure spite.

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Offline Scockery

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #31 on: February 7, 2012, 01:23 PM »
When you can't find the main movie villain in stores = failure.

But hey, lots of Iron Man, Thors, Winter Soldiers and USAgents out there.

Hasbro controls too much of the action figure market and they've gotten to the point of half-assing it because they can get away with it.

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #32 on: February 8, 2012, 12:21 AM »
Couldn't agree more with the sentiment that Hasbro has jackasses running the show half the time when it comes to the selection of figures to put in cases.  They do their retail partners a huge disservice when they pull that ****.

Offline warinthefloor

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #33 on: February 8, 2012, 10:14 AM »
we have been sayimng just this for years and for soem reason they are tone deaf to it

Offline iFett

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #34 on: February 8, 2012, 12:47 PM »
I guess I haven't been paying too much attention to this thread, but 5 points of articulation on some figs?  Wow...looks like those will be tossed if I do decide to buy any vehicles.  Major step backwards.  Look at the toys from the 80's.  Seriously?  I always enjoyed the vehicle drivers since they were unique, but I'd rather they just ditch the figure and put more money into the vehicles if they're going this route from now on.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #35 on: February 9, 2012, 05:58 PM »
Clutch looks pretty sweet for a low articulated figure. 

Offline Paul

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #36 on: February 12, 2012, 01:28 PM »
Ok seeing some of the pictures of the packaging....

Why does Roadblock have Samurai Swords and Ninja "Ink"?

Not hatin, just sayin.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #37 on: February 12, 2012, 01:47 PM »
Because Ninjas are all GI Joe has ever been about!  They're the Clones of that franchise ya know!?  Come on Paul.  ::)
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Offline P-Siddy

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #38 on: February 12, 2012, 02:01 PM »
Why does Roadblock have Samurai Swords and Ninja "Ink"?

They said that Snakes trained Roadblock with some moves.

Offline Scockery

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #39 on: February 12, 2012, 06:12 PM »
I think it's hysterical that GI JOE can make Roadblock a "ninja commando" and leader of the team (or what's left of it).

The word is that the articulation reduction is necessary for costs and it is cheaper to make a new five point articulated figure than to pay extra cost assembly for a reissue or some corporate spew...maybe...why included drivers? They must be necessary for value perception...but then most Star Wars vehicles are figureless. And the new Retaliation packages don't even display the figure in a little window, either.

Word is the heads of the drivers can probably fit on good figures.


Offline efranks

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #40 on: February 13, 2012, 04:50 AM »
Yep, they used the costing line when speaking about the pack-in figures.  On the plus side, the detail on them is still pretty good, just no articulation.  They'll probably look fine in the actual vehicles or standing on the shelf, but may not have much playability to them.

I'd rather not have a figure, personally, than get these.  But, I can see why they want them in the package to help sell them.  And if going with 5 PoA to keep the price down, that's fine with me.  They even admitted that they maybe didn't price the RoC line well and this line is less aggressive and should be better priced.

And, yeah, they're way off the reservation on the ninja content of this line.  If kids need that and it sells figures, I'll live with it, especially if it gets me my Blind Master and Kim Arashikage in wave 4...and Joe Colton in W3.

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Offline iFett

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #41 on: March 17, 2012, 11:01 AM »
Learn new skills at home that some consider to be.....unnatural.  Easy repayment terms.  555-PLPTN

Offline Ben

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #42 on: March 17, 2012, 01:07 PM »
I still can't believe they're actually using this packaging, but since I open my stuff and recycle the plastic and cardboard, it's whatever. Surprising they found a design worse than the ROC cards.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #43 on: March 18, 2012, 12:49 AM »
That's one impractical weapon there.  I picture the backblast forcing the snake head down quickly and smacking the user unconscious.
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Offline efranks

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #44 on: March 18, 2012, 04:10 AM »
Yeah, that packaging is terrible and I'm not one that really ever cares about that sort of thing.  But even the RoC packaging was slightly better.  The recent packaging for the PoC/30th/Renegades was awesome and I expected something more like that.  I can see them going to a bigger bubble for accessories, but they were able to pack a lot in with the current card so, I don't know what they were thinking.

But that looks like something designed by a fan that got their hands on the first two promo photos released on the Internet.  The guy that got paid for that design should be ashamed of himself.

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