Its time to g.i. joe in to the Transformers cartoons & movies.

 

And it\'s the evergreen looks...

 

Seems Hasbro can't take the hint that GI Joe is dead and no amount of trying to shove it into Transformers will save it.

 

Im just a little annoyed this seems to obly work for the GI Joe game and not the TF game. Hopefully there'd a TF expansion coming that adds some GI joe stuff to that game

 

That's a pretty bold statement considering the amount of drama and frustrations Classified Series has spawned.

 

So does the Transformers Deck-Building Game. They also use the evergreen designs. It's for the sake of consistency.

I cannot attest to that but the Joe fandom is just as large as Transformers despite not getting as much love in terms of cartoons and movies.

That was my first thought. I thought this expansion would allow for cross-play between the Gi Joe and Transformers games but it seems no. Honestly I think Renegade is leaving money on the table whereas their Essense20 System is built to allow crossplay between Power Rangers, GI Joe, and Transformers.

 

If GI Joe was anywhere still profitable, why would Hasbro keep insisting on trying to, as I said, shove it into Transformers? Surely it would be able to stand on its own, and not be reliant on constant crossovers, trying to piggyback off of another franchise's success.

 

Classified seems to be doing fine, though? Just because it's not as bloated as TF is at the moment doesn't mean it's dead.

Plus Transformers and G.I. Joe practically go together like bread and butter, so I see no issue with them crossing over.

 

Honestly I'm shocked it took them THIS long to do a Transformers-themed crossover with the Joes and yeah they go together like peanut butter and jelly cause they've been crossing paths since the days of the Marvel comics and that Season 3 episode "Only Human" even if it was just Cobra Comma-I mean Old Snake.

 

Ah yes. GI Joe is dead. That’s why the H.I.S.S. Tank Haslab failed and totally didn’t become fully backed within 24 hours unlike the past three TF Haslabs that took several weeks just to get backed. Yep, totally dead. 100% dead.

 

This actually isn't a Hasbro product, it's a Renegade Studios game, it's a licensed product. If anyone was shoving it in, wouldn't it be them?

Also this is a GI Joe card game expansion, not Transformers. If anything, doesn't that make Transformers the one "shoved in" and attempting to piggyback on GI Joe based on your statements?

 

Anyone else geeking out that "Old Snake" is on the cover?

(btw; where do I go to discuss Renegade games RPG?)

 

Classified is doing very well. And this game is doing better than the Transformers one, last I heard. The Joe fanbase is there, they just don't bite unless something's worth their time. Arguably unlike us.

 

Wait a second. That robot all the way in the back and next to the G of the title. It almost looks like a robotic version of Sgt. Slaughter. is this our first look at that new collab that a listing popped up for?

 

That looks more like Devastator to me

 

I would love to know thoughts on this one. I've been eyeballing it but not sure I'm ready to pull that trigger yet.

 

This is a hilarious statement from someone who clearly hasn't been observing the performance of the GIJoe Classified brand...

That poor, poor HasLab HISS...tsk tsk...same fate as Ranc-...what? It exceeded expectations?! Fie one you, I say! Balderdash!

Well, the product line NEVER sells out on Puls-...what that? Serpentor, Dr Mindbender, all characters with vehicles, and more sold out multiple times at pre-order and restock?

But it must be the Retro O-ring products! Maybe that's what the quoted curmudgeon meant. Retro Stinger sold out at pre-order? Fans clamoring for a new run of O-ring remolds and vehicles?

I guess I'm lost. How is GIJoe dead???

 

DRASTIC shift in target audience as well. If you sample the TF subreddit, the bulk of active submissions are from users/fans under 18 (and quite a bit under in many cases.)

The GIJoe subreddit is MUCH LESS active but is also largely adult collectors.

Then you have the conundrum of Hasbro somewhat failing to properly comprehend what made GIJoe so compelling to its 80s core demo: THE VEHICLES. The figures were largely just inexpensive accessories to adorn the vehicles and form a story. Classified CANNOT produce the size and scale necessary with vehicles to churn them out like the 80s. Look at the sacrifices were suffering with Transformers: lower density plastic, rampant hollow panels, and prolific mold re-use - and that's just to achieve a market-threshold pricepoint.

They had to shunt the first relevant vehicle release to HasLab due to the necessary pricepoint and costs. It also meant that they had no faith that retailers would stock it due to the necessary pricepoint. Even Hasbro didn't have faith in it as a Pulse exclusive. That means that their market research likely suggests that vehicles are high cost, high risk, low profit products that will be few and far between, or HasLab exclusives. With HasLab, they can price it such that they would require X units sold minimum for a production greenlight.

Finally, we just recently started seeing the coordinated proliferation of ANY 3rd Party involvement, and even that's just 3.75" O-Ring originals. Most of the Classified scale 3P stuff is 3D printed upscales or scans of 3.75 scale vehicles being sold on ebay OR accessories for heavy weapons loadouts for the 6" figures.

I sat out for too long on reviving my GIJoe fandom in tandem with my TF fandom. But with Hasbro veering so far afield with BW and Legacy compared to the Prime Wars and Siege trilogy product lines, I'm now picking and choosing individual products as opposed to blanket collecting. That and more focus on MP and 3P since the Generations line has waned in appeal for me in recent months.

It's like a rerun of the mid 80s...