Hey Look...your favorite Star Wars site got to ask GI Joe questions cuz the new ownership is a Joe-head (and they let anybody ask questions). We are in the Rotation for these so send me questions in a PM if you want to send in a question.
1.) What are the criteria used to decide where to spend new tooling
dollars on figures (like the new COBRA Island 7 packs) as opposed to
simply bashing together a figure completely from pre-existing tooling
(like the upcoming WalMart 2 packs), and what percentage (roughly) can we
as fans expect to see in new tooling going forward?
In general, new tooling is reserved for mainline items. These items are
sold to more people and work on longer lead times. Exclusives are put
together after the mainline and because of the tight schedule do not get
new tooling. In the case of the 7-packs, the figures were designed to be
in the mainline and were later moved to the 7-packs...hence the tons of
new tooling.
2.) When designing new figures, what determines whether the head will be
cast in flesh-tone plastic or cast in another color and then painted
flesh-tone? Is it cost, asthetics or something else that determines which
path you choose?
This decision is made on a case by case basis based on each figure. It
has to do with the primary colors use on a figure. For someone like
Quick-Kick who is mostly fleshtone we would mold him in that color. For a
character like Firefly, we would mold in the color of his suit and then
paint the eyes or a flash color.
3.) With the current and upcoming focus of GI Joe at market on the movie
line, and all it's iterations, has the design team already started work on
the next marketable version of Joe? This given that it usually takes
about 2 years or so to bring a product to market from design to shelf.
Any hints?
Yes, the design team is currently working on 2010 and 2011 lines, but we
are not ready to reveal any hints yet. The plan is to start talking about
2010 at JoeCon.
