Ever since San Diego ComicCon last year it seems as if everyone has been casting their eyes forward towards New York City, just waiting for Toy Fair. During ComicCon last year it was mentioned that there were possible “surprises” in store for G.I. Joe fans come Toy Fair, but now as we stand a little more than a week away, what those surprises may be remains a very foggy and murky topic.
While we’ve seen some press releases and articles for many different new Hasbro toy lines that are destined to be debuted at Toy Fair, the word on G.I. Joe has been surprisingly mum, only being referenced as having a “Spotlight” for it during the Toy Fair event, and not necessarily any new product to be shown.
This morning an AP article has started making the rounds, and within the context of that article, apparently Hasbro has said they will announce their plans for the 50th Anniversary of G.I. Joe at Toy Fair next weekend. This has, understandably, gotten many fans all ramped up to see what we might have waiting for us on Saturday, February 15th (which is when the Hasbro event is slated to begin).
While I remain as excited as anyone else, I just ask that we temper our excitement a bit, and understand where G.I. Joe’s place in the current market is. More and more action figure lines specifically (and toy lines in general) are shifting to a more licensed model, where you must have a major motion picture or animated series in order to catapult something into the market place. I think we all know, G.I. Joe currently has none of that.
That being said, it’s evident from the Press Release that Hasbro will have something to say next weekend, but I would just ask that everyone key their expectations towards perhaps being more of a “say” and less of a “show”. Regardless of what happens next Saturday, I’ll admit to being pleased with a flurry of G.I. Joe related news and information flying around the Internet this morning, and hopefully Hasbro is seeing that the brand still has some pop culture interest and enthusiasm. At this point I’m not certain if I’m actually making the trip down to New York next weekend or not, but whatever happens, I’ll be following the news very closely and hope to hear something interesting.
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion among collectors about what they have read today, so here’s some clarification:
1)There are no quotes from any current Hasbro representatives in this piece. “Hasbro said it intends to announce details of its 50th anniversary plans during this year’s fair in New York on Feb. 16-19,” could have easily been culled from a Google search which led to SDCC 2013 coverage. There is zero launguage here that would suggest any contact with Hasbro or Hunter PR was made.
2) This is not, as some people seem to be imagining, a Hasbro press release. Like, at all. I mean, I don’t know why anyone would possibly think a Hasbro press release would include someone saying, “The stuff they put out now is garbage.” This is a regional AP story written by an Albany-based contributor promoting an event at the New York State Military Museum this Saturday. The 50th anniversary of G.I. JOE is how the story is framed, but readers should pay attention to the location (it would be Pawtucket, not Saratoga Springs, NY if this were a Hasbro press release), who is quoted, and what is actually being plugged here.
3) Retailers are not the intended audience for Hasbro’s “Entertainment Brand Preview Event” Saturday. That is for press interested in covering their products. Putting a “spotlight” on G.I. JOE at that event, even with no 2014 product to show retailers, is irrelevant to the rest of their purpose in participating in Toy Fair.
Honestly, I’m not expecting anything as GI Joe has had almost no retail presence where I live (Central Florida), and if anything is specifically made for the 50th Anniversary, even 1/6 scale repros, I would expect to have to find them online as even exclusives don’t seem to show up here.
I also expect a lot of talk about plans with no product to show because that is how they have been doing it so far for the 50th Anniversary and that would be less disappointing than seeing a lot of nice things only for them to end up in a “vault” to be broken out every year at a convention to keep collectors strung along.