Author Topic: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!  (Read 101853 times)

Offline Paul

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #105 on: May 24, 2012, 08:02 AM »
Not to be fan boy  chicken little, but.... "death of the line"

Either the figures get held till the movie finlly hits and we have no Joes on the shelves for 10 months (won't be much of a change in some stores) or like you said, they will be on clearance before Labor day....

I don't like 3D per se, it's not something I seek out.  I just see this as a money and Job losing fiasco for somebody in Pawtucket.

I was actually planning my B-Day party around the release.  Oh well.

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #106 on: May 24, 2012, 12:04 PM »
This feels like a kick in the stomach, an uppercut to the shin, then a wet crap in the face.

I was so looking forward to seeing this movie this summer, and my little boy can't wait.  I think this goes to show more than anything, someone wasn't happy with how the film was turning out and it looks like an act of desperation to convert to 3D to try and get kids interested in it.  At least that's what it looks like on the surface.  It looks like the movie is going to suck and they're scrambling for a way to save it.

I can't see any possible way that Hasbro is happy about this, unless they also agree that the movie just isn't all that good... I mean, really... the previews have looked cool, but not to the point where I'm blown away.  I was hoping for some more classic designs - maybe they'll take advantage of this and find a way to squeeze in some classic looking Cobra Troopers into a scene or two, etc.  I don't know.  But I'm pissed off either way.

If there aren't new figures to get, I'll be equally pissed.  And that's mostly because my son is so excited for this stuff.  His birthday is this Sunday, and we've gotten him very little so he could instead get figures at TRU next week.

Offline McMetal

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #107 on: May 24, 2012, 12:33 PM »
Wow, that is a total fail on Hasbro's part. What a disaster for their toy lines too, and not just the JOE ones.

Now, on top of the inevitable AOTC blitz and subsequent pegwarming in early 2013, they will fixate their focus on redeeming this JOE debacle somehow and let the other lines like SW languish in disrepair even further. And God help you if you're a TF fan nowadays...

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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #108 on: May 24, 2012, 01:56 PM »
I swung by three stores on my lunch break today, Wal-Mart and Target didn't have anything out, but TRU had put out two cases of new Joe movie figures, a ton of the little motorcycle things, and some vehicles and battle packs.  I didn't think this stuff was supposed to be out until May 28 but I guess I was wrong.

I bought the following:

- 1 x Cobra Commander (black) - $9.99 each
- 2 x Joe Trooper (blue cloak) - $9.99 each
- 1 x  Roadblock battle pack (Roadblock, Kamakura, Beachhead) - $19.99 each

Almost bought Duke, but the face looked really bad.  I guess we have so many ROC heads, we could just swap one of those... also of note, the Joe Trooper's heads are swappable with their helmet, which is what Hasbro should do with clone troopers!

Those are all for my son's birthday on Sunday... I'm sure he's going to love these, just wish they had some Cobra Troopers... someome had already beat me to those. 

The blue Cobra Hiss looked kind of neat, but he's got several of the older 25th anniversary ones and one of the big maroon one already.

So, I'm in a little better mood now.

Offline Sprry75

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #109 on: May 24, 2012, 02:44 PM »
I saw some of these today...barely noticed them with that ****** packaging.  The figures I saw (Roadblock with the gun-hand and the Snake Eyes and Firefly motorcycles) looked like total crap. Happy Meal toys. I'm a huge Joe nerd, but so far, I'm extremely unimpressed.
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Offline efranks

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #110 on: May 24, 2012, 04:42 PM »
There has been some talk on Twitter that Hasbro sent a memo to TRU, at least, telling them to push the toys now rather than wait for Monday which was the original street date.

Since WM and Target generally lag a little on resetting their aisles, even if they got a memo, I wouldn't count on seeing them empty their back rooms until the weekend or even next week as originally planned.

But, I go back to what I said last night; I have to believe that Hasbro is going to get hammered by the toy buyers for these big chains over this.  Doesn't look like Hasbro stock suffered because of the announcement, at least not yet, but I'm sure this throws their entire summer toy plan for GI Joe out the window.  I can't even beging to guess at what we'll see at retail from them after June.

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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #111 on: May 24, 2012, 05:17 PM »
Yeah, the cycles are a joke.  Those type of toys are always destined for clearance.

As for the packaging, it's not the best but with how the toys are situated at TRU, it stands out.  The whole aisle seems kind of dark, then right in the Joe section, everything is a bright color.  It may not look pretty, but it was impossible for me to miss.  But the aisle space isn't that big at all - less than for ROC.

...this whole thing really is freaking weird though.  I can't imagine what their marketing plan is for this moving forward.  It seems like there isn't a huge onslaught of new product for the movie line launch, which has to be a good thing, especially now.  Unless of course, Wave 1 is massively overproduced.

I wonder what they are going to do, will they continue to ship things all year for the movie?  Will they halt things after this initial shipment?  Will there be a rush to get more of the 30th anniversary stuff out instead (Zombie Vipers, Airtight, Storm Shadow, etc.)?  Will the Hub push the cartoons more?

Offline speedermike

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #112 on: May 24, 2012, 09:33 PM »
I think these toys are out already.  I could swear I saw an adult with a case of them standing in line at Target.  He was digging through the box and inspecting each one...

Maybe we'll find some SW stuff now.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #113 on: May 25, 2012, 12:19 AM »
I think these toys are out already.  I could swear I saw an adult with a case of them standing in line at Target.  He was digging through the box and inspecting each one...

Maybe we'll find some SW stuff now.

They are, I got quite a few of them today at TRU.

Offline Paul

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #114 on: May 25, 2012, 12:22 PM »
Ok snag what you can at retail.  Rumor has it that they are holding all retaliation stuff that is not currently in Retailer's hands until Next Year.

So it is currently in my mind a worst case scenario.  We the collectors (and the speculators) will snag it all up pretty quick, then there will be empty pegs(or no pegs) until January.   Surely they could re-release some stuff, but they are/were geared for Movie stuff, I doubt they can un-tool fast enough to hit anything before 4th Q and then they would need to re-un-re-tool to support the movie line again. 

Makes the Club Convention figures and their Subscription figures look better by default of not having any other Joes available.

Who would have thought that for the 2nd half of 2012 the highlight of Joeverse toys would be the Dollar Store waves and subsequent repaints. 

Imagine the nerd-rage in NOLA in June, if I was a Hasbro rep, I'd ask for a temporary transfer to Star Wars for the summer.   

Offline Ben

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #115 on: May 25, 2012, 12:37 PM »
I better grab the HISS and Zartan as soon as I see them, since they're the only things I really want. I can see red Ninjas going for big bucks now.
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Offline iFett

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #116 on: May 25, 2012, 12:40 PM »
I kinda figured something like that was going to happen.  I hit a TRU yesterday, but they had nothing (from the movie), but ya - I want at least that HISS so will make a round this weekend and see what I can find.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #117 on: May 25, 2012, 12:55 PM »
I saw both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow at a store earlier this week.  Their aisle placement made it seem like the line is a total afterthought.  But considering how bad the first movie was (ugh, do I regret seeing it!), there could be good reason for that.  Frankly, I think The Avengers has upended A LOT of the summer movie landscape, and along with it the licensed merchandising.
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Offline Greg

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #118 on: May 25, 2012, 01:09 PM »
So it is currently in my mind a worst case scenario.  We the collectors (and the speculators) will snag it all up pretty quick, then there will be empty pegs(or no pegs) until January.   Surely they could re-release some stuff, but they are/were geared for Movie stuff, I doubt they can un-tool fast enough to hit anything before 4th Q and then they would need to re-un-re-tool to support the movie line again. 

I think the best case for this year is some sort of repaint or retool assortment in the fall, but I'm not holding my breath. Based on POC waves 5 and 6 (which were speculated to be "rush jobs") any new items won't be seen for 4-6 months. In a perfect world, a non-movie wave with Night Viper, Black Dragon Ninja, Crimson Guard, Kwinn, and the scrapped 30th Flint figure would be available by the end of the summer. Hell, even cancelled items like POC Mindbender, Zap, and Budo would be welcome at this point. As I said before though, I'm not holding my breath.

Imagine the nerd-rage in NOLA in June, if I was a Hasbro rep, I'd ask for a temporary transfer to Star Wars for the summer.

Joecon will be very, very interesting to say the least. I do feel bad for the Hasbro guys that will be attending, since despite having zero say on the movie release change they will have to deal with a ****load of bitching from fans.


Offline CHEWIE

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Re: GI Joe Retaliation - The Toys!
« Reply #119 on: May 25, 2012, 01:38 PM »
Picked up Zartan today... now I wish I had bought a HISS tank yesterday.  Ah, oh well.

I'm guessing we'll see a sprinkle of figures at Wal-Mart and Target next week, but a month from now, all that will be left will be the motorcycles at most places and maybe some of the $14.99 vehicle repaints.

Bummer.