That would be an awesome gimmick.

 

Errr....except GI Joe *DID* try to change. Rise of Cobra, anyone? It was a significant change to the story, the very premise and very set up of GI Joe. An international based commando team, rather than a team made up of hardcore specialists from the branches of the US Military. Rise of Cobra changed up the backstories of many characters and even went as far as to do things like standardize uniform and gear, rather than the RAH styling of making each character very individualized.

The problem is that Rise of Cobra was horrid. Revenge of the Fallen came out that same year, and even though I thought that movie was pretty bad too, it wasn't anywhere as terrible as Rise of Cobra was. It changed too much, and one of the biggest complaints is that it just wasn't recognizable as GI Joe. At least with Transformers it tends to try to keep some classic elements from G1 in. Ironhide is still a gruff soldier. Optimus Prime shares his G1 paint scheme, but loaded with flames. Bumblebee is scruffy and yellow, Ratchet is an ambulance. Even the story is based off of themes that came from, or inspired by G1, and though the movies are their own thing, there's still links to the stuff that fans can connect to. But there was practically no real connection in Rise of Cobra.

There was also the very short lived cartoon when the Hub premiered. GI Joe Renegades re-imagined the Joe team as a gang of vigilantes hunted down by the US Government after getting set up by Cobra for crimes they didn't commit. It was pretty great, but it got axed. It was a great show and I remember people being pretty happy about it, but due to the release of Retaliation and maybe reworking the cartoon to better suit what Retaliation brought about, it never did get a second season.

Are you a Joe fan? I am. Hell, I'd even say I am more of a Joe fan than a Transformers fan. I was collecting GI Joe as a kid, and I started again in 2003 with Spy Troops. I still have my old Spy Troops stuff, 16 years later. I followed the franchise quite heavily until it died in 2016. GI Joe didn't die because of a rehash of RAH. GI Joe's death is much more nuanced than that. GI Joe died because of anti-war sentiments, One horrible movie, one not so bad movie that couldn't escape, and a cartoon that was killed before it could grow into it's potential.

Retaliation was a MUCH better take on GI Joe. Changing things up but keeping things recognizable as GI Joe. But it was just too little, too late, and despite being considerably better than Rise of Cobra, it just couldn't escape that movie's shadow. Next, GI Joe has always been a toy line that is heavily tied to the sociopolitical climate of the time. In the late 60s Hasbro switched over to the Adventure Team theming after growing anti-Vietnam War sentiment. Sears had pulled all military toys, and Hasbro changed up the toy line to avoid any potential boycotts. I'm certain that having being in Afghanistan and Iraq helped to kill military toys once again. How many of them do you really see nowadays? I don't even need to talk about how a good cartoon can help keep a toy line alive. Look at TF Prime and Friendship is Magic.

Basically, GI Joe's death is multi-faceted and can't be blamed on JUST catering to RAH fans. The brand changed 3 times since 25th Anniversary...Rise of Cobra, Retaliation, and Renegades, but it just either didn't take, or was killed before it could make a difference. It just didn't have the legs that Transformers and even My Little Pony did. As sad as it is to me as a lifelong Joe fan perhaps it was just time for the franchise to go back to sleep again.

 

I know I've seen Grimlock's picture before. But Wheeljack and Soundwave are new to me. I hope it means something.

 

Exactly. And while they had some great figures with FOC, none of the changes had the success that the 25th ARAH part of the line did.

 

The figures that really moved were the year 2 Pursuit of Cobra figures. The ones that went off the movie styles, and did the environments theme. They were pretty damn awesome. Oh, and the Resolute 7 packs came out that year too IIRC. I still have all that stuff. The Resolute figures are great as hell.

 

I hope the 35th will bring more than a few more Forged to Fight cards/models.

 

so what are we hoping to expect? the aniversary kits are a little elusive to me, but i recall theyre usually slight retools of already existing figures. Are we expecting new moulds or just retools?

 

In regards to the Beast Wars chat, this is why I think they could/should do a Beast theme for a Generations line. Finish off the Insecticons, Apeface and Snapdragon are noticeable by their absence thus far, Scoroponok as the Titan, Deathsaurus, Victory Leo, some Beast Wars homages etc etc.

Everyone wins.