I must say I was pretty surprised when I saw this article emerge on Variety.com. Variety typically covers the film industry, but upon news of the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the site decided to explore a little bit about the retail side of things.
And the retail side of things sounds like a mess for Hasbro as we suspected. According to Variety, retailers are being asked to ship G.I. Joe: Retaliation product back…although whether this is merely a request or a directive is not yet clear. Variety also reached out to retail management, and was told point blank that they likely would not order the G.I. Joe product line in as large a number next March, simply because summer films do better business.
It’s an interesting article, and it’s rare that a mainstream Hollywood site goes into this type of detail when it comes to the toys. Heck, they even mention how torqued off the hardcore fans are, and they mention JoeCon.
Definitely worth a read. Check it out right here.
Too conflicted right now for a logical response. Am I too pissed right now or do I no longer give a damn? I know one thing – eBay scalpers can suck it.
What an absolute mess. The retailers are going to be so scared off these toys will go directly to dollar stores. I’m still hoping to find a joe trooper but I can definitely wait on the rest. Those dollar store figs are going to fly off of the shelves even if they are two SE’s and Duke.
Apparently Dollar General figures are also included in this “recall” according to Rescuer on Joecustoms. His DG was told to return a set that he was going to purchase.
On the other hand those Chinese eBayers may get some. Hopefully the price on those won’t be too much.
I wonder who the lucky Hasbro reps will be that get to go to the Con? I hope they pack plenty of booze… they’ll need it.
This was shaping up to be quite a year for Gi Joe. We had the con, a new movie that opened with the con, and new toys that had problems but also had some real gems. I would say that excitement was running high. And now it is over. I doubt very much if Hasbro had any advanced warning of this. If they had they never would have shipped the toys. I’m not going to say “death of the line” but this most definitely will not benefit the brand. The time where kids play with toys has shrunk so this has lead to a hyper competitive toy market which leaves room at the top for very few lines. Joe already couldn’t go head to head with TF or SW and now I wonder if Joe will be shelved after the movie. I think Paramount and H will hype it as much as possible to try and hold their money together. At a certain point though I think they will cut their losses and evaluate whether it makes sense to keep Joe going. The appetite for the 25th line lead to the 30th and Renegades but I wonder if we would have gotten that if it didn’t happen to coincide with being between movies. We’ve seen no after Retaliation plans or talk of a new toon so this might be it for awhile.
Coincidentally (?), mc chris wrote a song called “Variety” (the chorus: “I read Variety / Your box office receipts / Are mutha fuckin’ weak / Ya got nothin’ to say, ya shouldn’t fuckin’ speak”), and it mentions a Joe character:
“I got my mind on my money and the rest in escrow
Missiles on my wrist like my name is Destro”
…mc chris knew! In 2005!
man…i figured that getting retailers to send it all back would be too much of a logistical nightmare.
heres how i feel it should be handled…let whats out there hit shelves…give retailers a window to sell what they can, and then send whats left, back to hasbro. (swords and masks)
glad i hit tru this past weds and got a SS and Zartan….wish i hadnt passed on the CC and red ninja.