I mentioned a few evenings ago that it looked as if Hasbro was going to reveal some new G.I. Joe product at their little shindig prior to New York ComicCon next Wednesday, October 10th. While I think most of us were waiting with baited breath for some G.I. Joe: Retaliation or other 2013 G.I. Joe action figure news, Hasbro threw us a little curve ball today with the announcement of G.I. Joe Kre-O building sets!
From the sounds of things they will be Toys “R” Us exclusives and will launch in February, 2013.
There has already been some hot debate on Twitter and in the forums about what potential success of this and whether the G.I. Joe brand can survive an evolution like this, and as most people would expect, I’m remaining cautiously optimistic. I will say this up front… the Kre-O concept does not do a lot for me, and I’m not sure I’ll be partaking of this particular branch of the Joe brand, but I know there are a lot of folks out there who love the mini-figure concept, and this might just capture their attention, which is good.
Considering Transformers Kre-O sets have started sprinkling into clearance aisles, I was a bit concerned, but Twitter follower Kevin Hurd reminded me that the Transformers Kre-O sets sort of violate the basic tenet of Transformers, which is to…well.. transform. G.I. Joe doesn’t have that same base concept, so it was his thought that this evolution might work better for a Real American Hero than it did even for Transformers. I can see that perspective.
Regardless, the idea that the G.I. Joe brand is ready for another evolution is a good one, and one that I hope pans out for Hasbro and for Kre-O. And I will say, as much as I’m not really big on the mini-figure idea, and I’ve never been a die hard Lego fan, I gotta admit I had a huge-ass smile on my face when I saw this poster image. Even I had to admit this looked pretty awesome. Check out the mirrored image below, with the paragraph explanation.
Part of me hopes there are still some actual action figure items to be shown next week, but anything that gets G.I. Joe in the public eye and on the lips of consumers is a good thing for all of us. I’ll be watching this one.
“Hello Hasbro fans!
We hope that you remain as excited as we are for Hasbro’s NYCC Preview Night Party next Wednesday. Many of you have asked what new products we will be revealing that evening, so we wanted to give you a little taste of what’s in store for you on that night….
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. We are looking forward to seeing you next Wednesday night!
YoJoe!”
no thanks…
Legos sell well because they’re Legos. I don’t know if Hasbro has the right product, even in Kre-O, to counter that. I do love their homage to Marvel #1.
Neat! Looking forward to seeing the models. So far the Kre-O sets aren’t quite as fun to build as Legos, but it seems like they already learned a bit between the first and second waves of Kre-O Transformers, so lets hope they continue that upward movement. I think these have a stronger chance than any of the other Kre-O items so far, ’cause we’ll get standard awesome stuff like tanks, jeeps, and hopefully unique items like the HISS and Trouble Bubble. Who knows, maybe this will be a great chance to bring back some old vehicles we haven’t seen in awhile, but in buildable form!
One way or another I’m looking forward to it, though I see it as less of an “evolution” and more of a side project. If they do it right, I think it could work!
The little people here seemed to have more issues with building the Transformers Kre-O stuff compared to the Legos.
I wasn’t too impressed with the Kre-O, either, but Lego-sized mini-Joes are something I would be okay with. (We have a few Star Wars mini-figs.)
Honestly, the vehicle modes for the Transformers stuff aren’t bad. The robots end up a little lanky and not terribly sturdy. The designers sometimes put items in places where they’ll fall off when you grab the toy. The designers need to study Legos a big more and see how Lego designers put things together to make them sturdy.
On top of that, when building a Kre-O set, it just feels like you’re heaping bricks on top of each other. With Lego it feels more like…well, I dunno. They have more interesting building techniques, so you’re building something and wondering: “MAN, how is this going to end up like THAT?” They take you all over the place and the end result almost surprises you! The Kre-O stuff was like building a brick wall; kinda monotonous. The end result is sturdy (at least as a vehicle) but I just do NOT want to take it apart and build it into something else. All my Transformers Kre-O are gona stay in vehicle form.
The second wave of Transformers are looking better though, and I’d like to get one to see if they’ve learned anything. Hopefully they have (it looks like it), ’cause I think the Joe stuff could be much more interesting.
Justin’s repeated use of the word “evolution” makes me nervous… it seems to imply that these would REPLACE the four inch scale figures. I should hope not!
This is somethig where I might pickup a set or two, but certainly wouldn’t go nuts for them.
It is an evolution in a sense that it gets the brand exposure in a
different format but it does read more like he’s just using the word
incorrectly since the core G.I. Joe action figure line isn’t going to be
affected in any way by G.I. Joe being added to the Kre-O line.
And
the Transformers version hits the clearance aisle because the block
mini-figures are the selling point not the buildable “Transformers”
robots. The blind bag figures seem popular. G.I. Joe is theoretically a
better match for a block format since it combines block mini-figures
with buildable vehicles that naturally fit the brand unlike the Transformers
releases which consisted of stuff like a buildable Ratchet robot/vehicle
with a Ratchet mini-figure plus a random human mini-figure, etc.
What happened to Micro Force?
Well said! Most of the Kre-O Transformers that I bought were for the minifigures. I wasn’t sure why (at the time) they decided to make the minifigures classic themed and then NOT sell them alone. I knew they needed to blind-bag dat shit, and blind-bag it they did! Fantastic idea. Also the second wave has much smaller sets with little battles going on, which gives the Kreons more to do than just…be with the set. They jumped back quick from a lackluster opening!
I think this looks pretty cool. Love that they’re starting off with the classic figures instead of something tied to movie figs. Perhaps a chance to get a whole new generation into the brand. I’ll definitely be checking it out.
Interesting. As a Joe Lego builder, it would be cool see what they can do with it. Lego will never adopt the license themselves as they don’t like to do even semi-realistic military sets (the not-Nazis of the Indiana Jones sets were borderline for them). I’m glad they are going for a 100% brick concept rather than a merged line like the BTR stuff. That was like mixing eggs and peanut butter.
I’m actually a wee bit excited for these. I’ve gotten my 5 year old hooked on Legos and he’s also into GI Joes (no accessories yet, as he’d loose them or feed them to his baby brother), I think this is going to be a cool addition to the GI Joe universe.
On the plus side… this may be an easier way for Hasbro to reintroduce the Flagg to store shelves.
I have a son on the way and my wife and I have talked about the wonderful imagination and puzzle building aspects of Lego. I had already planned to encourage my son to play with Legos and G.I.joe, while it will be some time before he can enjoy them I’m very likely to scoop all the sets up and hold them till then.
Not a Kre-O fan but I’d be all over these if they actually gave us classic vehicles and Joes, (as hinted at with that promo image). If it’s Retaliation stuff, (which makes sense considering the timing), I’m not interested.
maybe. dunno.
still hoping there will be some 7-packs revealed.