Disappointed there are no Joe toy exclusives at SDCC. (I believe there are prints/posters)

But relieved I don't have to F9 at HTS for an exclusive I would have wanted....

There's no Hascon this year right?

 

Gi Joe was an unkillable brand at retail that managed to outlast the original Kenner Star Wars lines. Since it came back to mass retail in 2002, there's been many missteps along the way.

I've been feeling nostalgic as hell looking at all the old o-ring figures and also some of the modern Hasbro line. Modern Joe's didn't really "feel right" until wave 5(with Iron Grenadier Destro) of the 25th anniversary line. Up until then they felt kind of cheap. The zenith was the POC line transitioning to the 30th anniversary line.

You'll be very hard pressed to find ANY action figure vehicle at retail for $40-50
these days that is even close to being on par with the 2011 Skystriker and the Eaglehawk. Hell sometimes I'm in disbelief that the Rattler and Conquest used to be $25 at Target. Then the silent Skystriker/Orange HISS + 4 figures was only what, $65 at TRU? That was like getting 4 Joe's for free!

One of these days I'll figure out a better way to convert the 2011 Skystriker to a 2 seater. I've modded one of mine to do so but it's not my ideal approach.

Any of you have suggestions on how to bend ABS and/or hard plastic without cracking/breaking it?

 

In theory a crap ton of heat, but I've never tried it myself

This is why I think people should try repainting or reusing Corps vehicles, given how cheap they are. The plastic isn't that bad, and the molds actually look pretty cool when given proper colors.

 

Well the thing about the Corps! is that they are the only 3.75 toys that have close to 80's style prices and GI Joe is once again out of their way plus Walmart loves cheap so they love Corps. It does help that within the past year, Corps! Started going back to full ball jointed hips and got the 4H to sculpt some figures.

Power Team Elite is a GREAT line. I just wish they made more stuff. The F/A-18 they made is very fun to play with. I love the rail pylons for the weapons. Looks less toyetic. Just wish the canopy connections were more snug as well as the folding wings.

 

ARAH Wolverine with FSS Cover Girl (with custom head).



Great vehicle! Shame that the original plastic tow cable is a mm or two too short to fit the tabs, at least not without stretching it and risking something snapping. Broken tow cables seem to be a problem with the Wolverine.

I think the Mauler has the same tow cable but molded in a slightly darker gray plastic. Speaking of which, I just got the Mauler in the mail and will be messing with it soon! Looks beast!

 

Man those ARAH vehicles are something else. The 80's was such a creative time for toys and very exciting. It says a LOT when joe vehicles from the 80's remain better than many toys 3 decades later.

You don't see anything like the Defiant Shuttle Complex nor Flagg at retail these days.

Hell Hasbro ought to just get DICE to make a Battlefield Frostbite engine-based GI Joe game based on the Sunbow toon where no one dies and uses red/blue lasers instead of bullets. That engine lends itself well to vehicles too. Include DLC codes with figures to unlock stuff in the game. Like buy the HISS Tank and the DLC code with it unlocks reactive armor for your HISS or a rail gun(like on the 2015 HISS). Or a code with the Skystriker unlocks uprated engines or longer range missles.

Surprised Hasbro hasn't done that nor just make the enemy Cobra cyborgs or something in space like space BATs.

I freaking miss the ARAH line.

 

Yeah, the ARAH vehicles are truly something special. The Killer Whale is next on my list of wants for sure. My 25th Anniversary Cutter (despite him being a Boston fan  ) needs his transport. Meanwhile, my modern era Heavy Metal will have his wheels, er, treads.

Shame FSS Keel Haul won't have the USS Flagg to command, and neither will FSS Hardtop and Payload have their Defiant. Budget and display space have limits, sadly.

 

I at least want the shuttle. Shocked Hasbro never brought it back after 89. I loved that thing, so fun! It was a playset and vehicle. Wish I took better care of mine. My dad got it for me for Christmas.

Never had the Hurricane VTOL nor Condor Z95 and those are some of my regrets as I wish I had them.

 

I wish I had any Joe vehicles larger than the ASP as a kid. I had the figures, sure, but vehicles were not something my parents could easily afford back then. A lot of their money went into LEGO and Nintendo instead.

So I'm making up for lost time from my childhood now as an adult.   The Defiant is definitely something I would've loved as an 80's kid growing up in the days of NASA space flights.

Nuts. I mean, I'm not surprised that there's no Joe love at SDCC this year but it still sucks.

EDIT: At ANY rate, GIJCC announced that despite the latest FSS 7.0 figures shipment getting held up at customs, they should be shipped and arriving at people's mailboxes and doorsteps very soon if not now. The first batch are

Spoiler

G.I. Joe Treadmark (Cyril... pffft  ) and Cobra Ice Viper Officer (a named character).

 

What a great vehicle. All things considered having an open cockpit on a missile tank with the rockets two feet behind the operator’s head might be a questionable choice but that’s a lot of fond memories all the same.

 

Haha, yeah. But that's the charm with ARAH vehicles back in the day. They were just so brazenly outlandish yet grounded with just the right amount of reality that it could appeal to both kids and adults with even the slightest appreciation for military hardware.

We are talking about a show where rifles shoot red and blue laser beams and no one ever really dies from combat (guys jump out of vehicles right before they explode or crash/burn, no one is ever seen actually getting hit by said lasers; aim is worse than Star Wars Stormtroopers).  

 

You’re going to love the Killer Whale. It is my favorite play vehicle of all time. Mine spent a lot of time in tubs, pools and everywhere in between and still survives in good condition today.

I gotta correct some of your last statements though. During the movie, of those guys were jumping out of vehicles before they exploded, their timing was a bit off because they were looking pretty crispy.   Also, I gotta say the aim was amazing if they could shoot full auto lasers at each other and blast the guns out of each other’s hands without hurting anyone. But yeah, I totally get what you mean. The Wolverine was another on of my favorites for the design. Not as good a toy as the Joe MBTs but it looked good and I always love missile launchers.

 

Oh yeah, I remember the The Toys That Made Us episode about G.I. Joe where they would test vehicle prototypes in the Hasbro office bathroom sink to see if they would float.  

 

The WHALE is the best bang-for-your-buck Joe toy money could buy in the 80's. It probably got more playtime than any vehicle or playset I owned in any line, shy of castle greyskull... because greyskull was awesome and served as the evil HQ for practically every toy line I played with. The WHALE was an attack vehicle, a troop carrier, and was big enough to serve as a makeshift field HQ. Plus it's a hovercraft, making it far cooler than any old tank. I still have my original in loved but heavily played-with condition. The only thing I damaged was a hinge on one side of the ramp. But I've since bought a couple others to scavenge for parts and build a pristine example, maybe a custom matte finish paintjob (someday... in my spare time).

 

I haven’t seen that yet but I love how the WHALE is the only one I can think of that has “overboard discharge” ports on the bottom and it can float for a hell of a lot longer than most other toys.

 

Speaking of outlandish, I had the Mamba as a child and don't know what became of it. That was an AWESOME toy, one I did not appreciate until I was older. I also wish my neighbor didn't break my Phantom X19. Talk about an awesome jet.

I was glad the POC line brought back the Fury. That thing is fun. Also the Renegades Black Dragon VTOL is neat, I look at it more like a modern FANG. The cartoon one was like a much bigger transport but the toy is accurate to the initial design from Massive Black(concept art that may have been for Retaliation or prior to Renegades).

Wish the Night Raven would've returned.

 

I don't want any of the old vehicules to return in their origional form. Most don't fit todays 25th ani figures or todays standards. Rare are the exceptions that do. Most vehicules are too small anyways even in there 25th anni update, i stil hate how cramped a figure is in the ghosthawk or the rattler.

Why live always in the past? I want POC type vehicules. Most were awsome .

 

I really feel that GI Joe needs a cartoon to maintain an interest with kids - and I'm not sure why Hasbro hasn't decided to go back to the type of stories that the original cartoon had a lot of - high adventure sci fi fantasy stuff that doesn't quite promote war or "American Propaganda" that some countries are wary of.

 

Yeah, I always dug the look and design of the Mamba, especially considering that helicopters with dual rotors (apparently developed by the Germans back in the day so it's actually really old tech) are in real life actually much more stable than regular helicopters with a main rotor and smaller tail rotor. Found that neat. But the dual cockpits that separate on top of the flamboyant color scheme are pure fantasy but, again, grounded with a touch of reality that makes ARAH vehicles so cool.  

I feel that Joe these days is hanging by the skin of its teeth due to old timey fans looking to capture their 80's childhoods, so I wouldn't mind Hasbro or another club (since GIJCC lost the license and will end its run of exclusive Joes come December) putting out vintage ARAH vehicles (with updated foot pegs and engineering tweaks) even if they're a bit of the small side nowadays.

The live action movies tried but ultimately failed to capture the hearts and minds of newer generations of Joe fans, I think, even if their toy lines had some awesome gems like the Steel Crusher (I believe that was a new vehicle mold? could be wrong). The Cobra Rage (another one I want to pick up) being reissued was a case of a vintage vehicle being released with some updated tweaks. The RHINO (in grayish blue instead of black) was another one. But for every hit you had some misses like the ROC Night and Sand Ravens (at least compared to the vintage ARAH Night Raven).

The point is, not having concurrent media running alongside to help promote the toy merchandise isn't helping the Joe franchise so it's hard for them to decide to spend money to greenlight new vehicle molds.

Were there vehicle sets for the Joe cartoons Resolute and Renegades? I honestly can't remember. But it's not like they didn't try with new modern cartoons. Maybe the hyper realistic "mature" military theme of Resolute and the Mission Impossible fugitives on the run theme of Renegades didn't quite click with new or older fans alike?

I do agree with you that perhaps divorcing the "American Propaganda" vibes of Joe might be the wisest choice (and I say this even as an active duty military member myself) but the ARAH era (I mean, it's even in the darned name - "A Real American Hero"  ) really did cement that core of American exceptionalism into the hearts and minds of many already, so it's difficult to pull off (the first live action movie went for a sort of United Nations vibe to try to make it more international but it didn't quite work as it ended up diluting the formula before they called upon the Rock's star power to try and salvage Retaliation).

Sure, the cartoon tried to incorporate some diversity into the cast with the likes of Spirit and Quick Kick and even foreign sub groups like the Oktober Guard working alongside Joe (in the height of the Cold War to boot) but it did come out more than a bit hokey (in the best and worst ways possible that only the 80's knows how in the corny spirit of the Iron Eagle movies  ).

You either embrace the sci-fi/fantasy cornball cheesiness of the 80's like ARAH did, churn out generic forgettable trash like the live action films, or switch up some formulas with the recent cartoon shows (Resolute probably being too gritty and violent for kids, and Renegades played it safer but had the heroes on the run instead as the underdog which got kinda old and ran out of steam). The only other real options are an Action Man type spin-off, or an Adventure Team show that takes out the military themes or at least downplays it to an acceptable degree where it doesn't scream, "Murica, f**k yeah!"

I really don't envy Hasbro's job in trying to resurrect the franchise at this point.

 

I almost wonder if a way to cut off the heavy propaganda/super pro-American element of Joe that might turn some people off would be to ditch the American part of it entirely. Joe's general thing has pretty much just been special ops group vs fictional terrorist group named Cobra, so I think they might be able to get away with Joe being a group across more than just one country.

Edit: I just reread your post and noticed you already brought up the UN part from the movies, my bad