You know the only thing I don't get about this set? Why it's the "third and final." Why would they stop making these, when both previous sets have sold like hotcakes and rope in two different fandoms (three in this case, if you count Macross fans)? And there are so many potential repaints they could still do... the fact that the line would end without a MOBAT-as-Megatron, or any sort of Duke or Flint, seems crazy. Why kill [what seems to be] a cash cow?

 

There is literally no way I can say: THIS! loudly and strongly enough.


-ZacWilliam, what they should at least have done is put the Snake Eyes head on the Wraith body and color it as Snake-Eyes in Master Partner armor. But, yes, PLEASE more Joe Pretenders!

 

I've got the first two and I'm very interested in this. I'll need to add an Autobot logo to my Ace!

Third year in a row SDCC has the best convention exclusives anywhere.

 

I don't care for the hound, but I really would like the Baroness and Ravage.

 

I only want the Jetfire if anyone is piecing the set out once in hands.... If I can purchase one from HTS (Yeah Right!!) I would gladly piece out the rest of the entire set and only keep Jetfire.

 

I was wondering this also. Why stop such a great combination of the two lines as an exclusive?

 

See....this is what convention toys should look like...

 

I thought this, too, but after talking to some guys from the TF & GI Joe club at April's Joecon, I heard a lot about how they are the opposite of cash cows... Basically, while they sell out, pretty much any sdcc exclusive Hasbro releases will sell out, so they look at cost overhead & return on investment. The vehicles obviously reuse a lot of parts with added stickers, but the redecoing costs, few new parts, and most importantly the overall size of the vehicles makes them expensive to produce relative to, say, a microforce set that would also sell out. they could increase the the retail price, but sdcc actually has some limits about the prices they can charge and they'd have to look at much larger items with a lot of new parts to go over $100, and that would be even more prohibitively expensive. Hasbro simply sees a better profit margin on reissues (TF) and single carded joes, (especially with variants they can charge the same/slightly more for & instantly get more use out of the molds while only costing a fraction of the original as a redeco) than on redecoing & assigning new parts to larger vehicle sets.

The high aftermarket prices these go for attests to their value among fans, and goes with what you said about roping in fans from 2 fandoms, but Hasbro doesn't see any of that secondary market value. If this was an online fan exclusive (like the club) where preorders heavily influenced production runs, that increased audience coming from 2 fandoms would might make more sense (which was what I was originally talking to them about.

As a side note, they said their research says TF/Joe crossovers don't have a simple "2 times" the audience; half the Joe & TF fandom either doesn't collect the other or doesn't like crossovers, so essentially you're only getting 1/2 of each, and those may be the same people, so the market for crossovers is actually more of a niche market than a doubling of the audience... that blew my mind when they put it that way, but I can see how it makes sense.

 

Saw the news, had a little interest. Scrolled thru the pics, sees Ravage. MUST BUY!

I'm heading back to the con this year, so hopefully I will be able to score at least one set.

 

Both the Skystriker/Jetfire and VAMP/Hound look awesome

 

I am failing to see how this fills in gaps in someone's collection

Either way

Pretty disappointing other than the Baroness and Ravage part

 

^ Because I have two Decepticon crossover vehicles that (will) now have two Autobot's to even the odds!

 

Hmm, thanks for the info! That confirms a lot of what I had suspected. My sense has generally been that the con exclusives, SDCC in particular, do a lot to generate hype for the brands, but they don't actually make a lot of money for Hasbro because of the costs that have to go into preparing a limited run release.

Also interesting about the market research for the crossover fans in GI Joe and Transformers. I love both lines, with TF as my number one. Growing up I had a TF only friend, and a Gi Joe only friend. I was probably the only TF/Gi Joe combo fan that I knew of. Most of the people I know that like either GI Joe or TF have at least a passing familiarity and appreciation of the other brand. I would have thought that the crossover audience would be a little larger than what is reflected in the quoted post, but I can see how it's not.

Either way, GI Joe and TF have a long history in comics and other media of crossovers. I think a GI Joe / TF crossover makes more sense than say Star Wars / TF, but that's my own personal preference.

 

I am looking forward to buying one of these I just hope I don't have to pay some crazy ebay markup price.

 

I loathe stalking HTS but it is nice they at least give a limited chance for fans to buy stuff that can't attend the show - and hope they continue to do so!

 

Those are interesting points, thanks! I can see the rationale behind most of that. I can also think of some counter-arguments, but clearly the Hasbro accountants have examined this and determined that, sellouts notwithstanding, the profit margin isn't good on these sets. Maybe the SDCC limitations and/or requirements for things like price and quantity hamstring them. It's a shame.

If price limits are an issue, I'd be happy to see smaller, cheaper sets from this line, utilizing the smaller Joe vehicles (AWE Striker as Beachcomber? Armadillo as Warpath?) and only containing a single Joe figure. Not every one has to be an elaborate multi-part affair. But again, perhaps it just isn't worth it.

 

Though it wouldn't have as much of an appeal since Joe figures wouldn't work as well, I would love to see Hasbro go in the opposite direction with some of these crossover exclusives, do a Jetfire or Hound (or even powerglide like the KO one) deco'd like a GI Joe vehicle. I would stay up waiting for HTS to put them up for that.

 

I completely agree! Although I think there aren't as many iconic Joe vehicle color schemes. A lot of them are just green or black, and their iconic look comes more from their shape and design. The Rattler is definitely a notable exception, and I would love an official Hasbro Powerglide repaint in Rattler colors (I passed on that KO Jizaitoys version, but might still seek it out someday). I guess you could do a grey Jetfire, a black or blue tankbot as a HISS, or release Wreck-Gar in green as a RAM or something. Eh, actually, yeah, there are things that could work. Certainly enough fodder for a dozen figures or so.