Yeah, he's a weak link to be the presumed "lead" character of the franchise. He's no Optimus Prime, that's for sure. I think that Community episode referred to him as an "Aryan Foosball Player," and... that's about right. He's just a big slab of blonde blandness.
Yeah, to be honest, I also liked the 1990/V3 figure. Very Desert-Storm-ish, but with a lot of red. He can make for a good toy, but character-wise, yeesh. Exactly. Flint is my dude -- great leader and always the Joe I wanted to be the most. The only nice thing I can say about Duke is that Michael Bell is great.
And where has the brand been since? Why wasn't the spy troops era formula viable for future iterations? Has western society become more accepting of human on human warfare for children's entertainment? I don't think you're seeing the big picture when it comes to GI Joe. Just maybe spy troops was luck and not indicative of what works. I am not talking just about the existing fan base wants but what the wants of what should be the target demographic. People in the 12 to adult range want cartoon (fortnite) or semi realistic (call of duty/battlefield) when it comes to military/shooting properties. Under 12 and you can probably only sell cartoony stuff in the current cultural environment. Video games sales charts are doing a lot of the research for Hasbro, they're just not willing to look at it. Hasbro is trying to occupy a middle ground that everyone else realized isn't viable anymore. The most frustrating part is you can see Hasbro understanding this with Transformers but they're still stuck in the 80'/90's with Joe.
Bummer, but did anyone notice that the release date for Snake eyes changed from 4-01 to 7-01? If that's the case, then that stinks! EDIT: The preorder for SE on the main screen says 7-01, I checked my order and it still says 4-01 which is awesome. Maybe it's like a wave 2 release for the later preorders or something? Oh, and I just saw the Duke pic and it's not terrible. I like it better than RB, at least Duke has a realistic looking weapon.
Exactly, where has the brand been? The 25th/ME/POC lines were not as successful as Spy Troops despite its greater faithfulness to the 80’s, so the argument that 80’s nostalgia should once again guide the design choices for Classified is a claim that has empirically not been successful for the brand.
heh, I was talking all that shit about Duke, but I actually think this Duke looks better than both Roadblock and Scarlett: ToyBro on Twitter
Yeah, the source code for the site showed a product inventory of 9000 and orders were subtracted from that number until it eventually hit 0. Now it's reset at 9000 again.
Tomorrow should be interesting. Still haven't seen what Jazwares is working on for Joe's. Hoping to see anything Cobra from the Classified line tomorrow.
Never said 80's pal. I said semi-realistic. I love people that want to argue and refuse to read a post. MY whole point (hopefully you actually read this) is the brand should become more realistic aimed at the teenage to adult crowd. The ways of the 80's and 90's don't work anymore for military properties.
These look great to me. Just like Transformers, I don’t want a G1 toy with more articulation. I want updates. I don’t even mind the differet weapons really. Not with those Japanese weapon model kits existing.
Your original post also didn’t say realistic, it says do right by the fans who have kept it alive for the last 20 years. Unless I’m mistaken, you seem to have been referring to 80’s RAH fans so it is completely reasonable to interpret the assertion that catering to 80’s RAH fans means cater to them with designs more relevant to 80’s RAH which was grounded in realism. or are you claiming 80’s RAH fans don’t want 80’s inspired concepts. You seem to be grasping at straws backtracking against my assertions that there is no merit in the argument that fans that have failed to keep the brand afloat should continue to be the primary target market. There is enough empirical data that shows that’s a losing proposition. That doesn’t mean Classified will be successful but it does mean you have to ignore past results to argue to be successful it needs to adopt a strategy that has been less of a performer than the strategy they have chosen. The ridiculousness of the new sculpt era was a bigger success than the realism of the 25th, ME or 30th Anniversary designs, which were based on the realism of the 80’s designs. Better?
How had is it to make a ARAH Duke, brown shirt, helmet, gun, and backpack. Duke is the leader/the face of G.I.Joe, he should of gotten the Snake Eyes treatment.
Huh. I actually kind of like this version of Duke and that's not something I say often. In fact... I kind of like him more than Roadblock. The only member of Cobra that's supposed to be in wave one is Destro. We'll probably see him at the convention or whenever preorders go up for the wave. Actually, I expect that to be how the waves divide up. 1-2 Cobra characters and 3-4 Joe characters per wave. Yeah, pretty much. I've always preferred Flint to Duke myself.
My order says 7-01. I'm confused though, why do I have to get Snake Eyes through Hasbro Pulse for $50? Isn't there going to be a retail store version?
