As everyone knows at this point, the first package from Wave 1 of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Figure Subscription Service (FSS) has been shipped, and has been received by more and more collectors throughout the world.
As everyone also knows at this point, the “surprise” of the two figures contained within lasted for all of about two hours before it was front-paged. Thankfully the post was spoiler-warninged, so folks who didn’t want to know knew to avoid it, but I am reassuring you the same thing will happen here.
But first I want to talk a little bit about the concept of surprise and the vilification of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club for continuing to support the idea of surprise with their product. Is it a little silly for them to insist on surprising their fanbase when their fanbase doesn’t seem to want to be surprised? Yeah, it probably is. Does that mean they should stop doing it? I don’t know… I don’t think so.
Try and remember for a second what we’re talking about here. This is toy collecting. Buying action figures. Yes, we are adult collectors and I know its “serious business” but doesn’t any small part of you long to go back in time to when we were kids? I’m not sure about anyone else, but one of the clearest memories I have of buying G.I. Joe figures back in the day was walking into a Rich’s Department Store in New Hampshire and finding the ’85 figures on the pegs. The feeling you get as your eyes focus on the blisters, just trying to see if there’s anything new there, or if it’s just the same old thing you’ve seen several times before. As kids, we walked into those aisles having absolutely no clue what we were going to find…and the feeling when we did find something was fantastic. Scooping that Flint, Snake Eyes, and Quick Kick off those pegs when 10 minutes sooner I had absolutely no idea they even existed was one of the biggest thrills of my young collecting life. Is it so bad to at least relive some of that today?
I know the Internet drives us all to immediate gratification and the feeling that we are owed something. We are owed answers as soon as we demand them, and there is no place left for surprise.
Screw that. Sometimes it’s more fun being a kid, and looking forward to the unknown. Sometimes toy collecting doesn’t have to be “serious business”. Sometimes, it just should be stupid fun. Yeah, I know I’m in the minority there, but I think I can live with that. 😉
For you instant gratification folks, the first two FSS figures are listed after the jump. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, continue on…
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Hopefully that’s enough of a chance to turn away…
So, yeah. The “secret” lasted all of two hours before the first shipment of Figure Subscription Service figures was revealed as Jinx and Dice. Are all of these figures going to be released in “themes”? I don’t know, but these first two figures are terrific examples of what the Collectors’ Club is able to do within the scope of this FSS concept.
Reused parts, to be sure, with the Rise of Cobra Aqua-Viper Officer head for Dice, and other assorted ninja components. Jinx is more new, with a newly tooled head, the body previously allocated to Resolute Scarlett (and also used with the ill-fated City Strike Scarlett) and also including the excellent City Strike Scarlett weapons that we had, as of yet, not gotten into our sweaty grasp. Jinx pulls elements from Sigma 6 and Valor Vs. Venom, and I dare say, I may just prefer this version for a modern G.I. Joe operative over the San Diego ComicCon version.
So, there you go.
Whether or not you like surprises, I believe the Club will continue doing what they do, and there are some of us out there who enjoy it. But if the first shipment is any indication folks who don’t care for the surprise don’t have to worry about it, the secret will be spilled pretty quickly.
To check out the first batch of images from the first FSS Shipment, hit up HissTank.com.
Great topic. It was a huge thrill to see a figure as cool as Flint or SE with Timber in a store. Like you said, you had no idea they were coming and then to be surprised by the figure and have it so cool to boot was just awesome.
Perfectly written! I for one welcome the surprise.
Reviews of the FSS coming anytime soon? I’m really curious to read what others think of them even as I hold mine in my hand.
Yeah, I would expect so. I don’t even have them yet, but hope to very shortly.
I don’t mind the surprises. I agree with the fun of just getting out and seeing what’s new, too, and that covered checking out the entire toy aisles. I still think that’s fun.
The only thing I find serious about the club is the prices, as much as I would like to snap up everything they offer, and I could, but sensible use of the budget has to be first. And when it comes to the unknown surprise part, it comes to that same old problem that happened in store aisles for decades: it is either THIS or THAT, not both. Not knowing what THAT set is going to bring in Indy (or that it was even going to be Indy) is what kept me off THIS figure subscription service. But maybe Retaliation stuff will grab my budget before that?
FYI, there’s no “jump” if you read this story on your mobile device based on your Twitter post. I already knew which figures they were, but wanted to give you a heads up for future FSS posts.
I hope Sure Fire and Nano BAT are next month’s shipment.
I’m very please with how the fandom has responded even without the the as many Joes on the shelf this holiday season. Lots of great kickstarters out there (Mauraders, Shooter) and great Con items (NJCC, Coil Con). Hope it continues through 2013
Very true. The Internet has removed a lot of the joy of discovery from toy releases. The Sears and Consumers Distrubuting (in Canada) catalogue arrivals were days of joy as a kid, as was the idea that the single photo on those pages was all you got. Less detail bred greater anticipation in a young mind. Even as a teen and into my 20s I would buy the occassional small Lego set, just to go through the fold-out mini product sheet. Blind packaging does recreate this to an extent, but it still irks me a bit as looking at the catalogue or walking down the toy aisle was free – blind packaging requires a commitment to purchase. Still, these are toys, not Ferarris – I should probably just unclench.
Loved the Sears and JCPenney catalogs here.
I’m a big fan of Comic Con white version Jinx, but yeah I like this one a lot too. I almost have my Arashikage family portrait ready. If I could find a way to custom a soft master and Onihashi I’d be complete. I’ll have a different blind master when the movie version comes out. I customized a Billy with a 25th annivesary Storm Shadow with a Fred head and painted a patch and covered up the cobra sigil.
I’m right there with you. I have no problem with them wanting to surprise us and that people would actually get ANGRY that they’re doing that is just stupid. It really shows how spoiled rotten this fandom has gotten.
I whole heartedly agree that not knowing what you would find on the pegs as a kid was great fun! I used to walk into my local Dominoes Toy Shop, before TRU landed in the UK, and finding a whole host of awesome new Joes (or Action Force as it was for a while over here!)!
So here’s to the surprise!!!
Well put Justin, bravo!!
Your analogy to being a kid fails on account of the fact that as a kid you could pick Flint over, say, Alpine, if you found it. Whereas this “surprise” would be akin to sending away for a Mail-Away Joe figure without even knowing what the King Kong Bundy you’d end up getting.
Or to put it more bluntly: the surprise already came from the initial reveals by the Club. Going for the same “surprise” you’re trying to draw an analogy from would be to have subscribed to the FSS without knowing what ANY of the figures would be.
Well, you kind of made my point for me. You say up above you want to know what you’re getting and don’t want to get stuck with bad toys. Well, we DO know what we’re getting, we just don’t know which shipments they will arrive in. I agree, if I’m spending a couple hundred dollars, I want to know what I’m buying (unlike the way Matty does their subscriptions) and we did. I see no issues trying to maintain some level of anticipation by us not knowing when a particular figure is going to arrive.
Call me crazy, but there are obviously some choices in the FSS I prefer over others. The excitement of opening the shipping box, not knowing if it might be Grunt (a figure I’m not all that wild about) or Big Boa (a figure I’m really looking forward to) is a nice twist to this whole adult collector mentality of “gotta know it all”.
But as I said, perhaps I’m in the minority.
Call me crazy, but I am of the mindset that as an adult collector that does not work for Fun Publications, I do not think it is fun; nor do I abide by any childish notions of playing a “keep it a secret” game from other paying members/customers who want to know what their money bought them in real time. In fact, I find that request offensive and patronizing. What’s next, the Club asking members to play Duck-Duck-Goose with FSS Wave 2?
Of course not, because we DO know what we’re getting, we just don’t know in what order the shipment is going to be received. How is that patronizing? Call me crazy, but even as an adult collector, part of me collects these toys because I enjoyed interacting with them as part of my childhood, and I see absolutely no issues holding on to whatever small fraction of the “childish” notion that these toys provide.
I think collectors are keeping the identities of the FSS figures just as much of a secret as the club kept the identities and credit card numbers of their members.