Well, it took a couple of days, but Hasbro has chimed in about the status of their G.I. Joe: Retaliation toyline at retail, and as I think most of us expected, the news is not good. Â Hasbro’s official statement reads as follows:
“G.I. Joe is an ongoing consumer franchise and therefore there is merchandise available to consumers. There is a limited amount of G.I. Joe Retaliation product at retail now, but in light of the movie moving out to March 29, 2013, the majority of the movie line will be made available early next year in time for the film’s release.”
And… Â that’s it. Â With one small paragraph, almost 40 action figures that fans were very much looking forward to have now been pushed back to match the movie timing. Â From the sounds of it, other than Wave 1 currently at retail, we’re in for another large scale hiatus until March of next year.
I will continue to keep my fingers crossed that they have some sort of information for us at JoeCon in New Orleans, but I don’t see how they could suddenly produce and distribute unplanned toys within the window of time we are currently looking at.
Obviously I will see if I can dig up any other information, and we’ll get updates to this story as they develop.
My two cents:
1) Will the prices of released figures explode on EBay? I still want my Ghost Hawk…
2) Is this statement about movie figures only, or does it refer to Dollar Store figures too? Nine months without any product will be hard…
The Ghost Hawk is in stock at bbts if you really want it bad enough.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS21793&mode=retail
and 24.99 is the price i paid for mine at TRU, so you would just be paying shipping.
ghost hawk is in stock at my local TRU. however, i wouldnt wait weeks to try and find one.
I would say the scalpers will make a killing on Joe trooper.
Once again, not to get into a rant, but Hasbro keeps letting G.I. Joe lay dormant for far too long. Even while still remaining a fan, its during these periods of time that fans/ collectors/ kids decide to delve into other properties, possibly losing interest when something does come out. I know this time probably isn’t their fault, but they do need to find a way to keep a joe line going all the time, kind of like how Marvel Universe has their flagship line while still having lines for the movies. I know Joe isn’t the gorilla of a property that Marvel is, but surely there is something better that can be done.
I know: Just start cranking out Sigma 6 figures again! All the unreleased ones, repaints, anything. This will save the brand, or at least make me happy…
“… like how Marvel Universe has their flagship line while still having lines for the movies.”
I agree about not letting the Joe brand go dormant for long periods of time, but Marvel Universe isn’t a good counterexample. The MU line has had zero new releases in 2012 so far, and none of the promised waves are even up for pre-order yet.
They’ve had Marvel Legends (different scale, but they’re doing something with the property), they’ve had the Avengers movie figures, they’ve had all of the exclusive packs with a mixture of Avengers characters (lots of repaints, but it is new product), and they’ve had some new comic packs come out.
The pegs haven’t bee dry once this year and they’ve made a smooth transition into the Avenger’s line. Sure, they’ve been saving their thunder for the Avenegrs line and beyond, but they’ve kept the property out there in some way or the other.
For adult collectors a hiatus of a few months really isn’t a big deal, but for a kid its huge. Childhood is short these days. There’s really a pretty small age windows for kids playing with GI Joe or similar action figures. For those kids continuity is everything. A few months without new product means that the kid moves on to something else and probably never comes back.
I just don’t understand why GI Joe keeps getting the shaft. Why are we stuck with such a small set of new stuff? Why is there next to no marketing? Why are the toys and media tie-ins so poorly coordinated?
It almost feels like Hasbro is trying to run GI Joe into the ground just to finish off the franchise and move on to something else.
“I just don’t understand why GI Joe keeps getting the shaft. Why are we stuck with such a small set of new stuff? Why is there next to no marketing? Why are the toys and media tie-ins so poorly coordinated?”
ive been asking myself the same thing for years. its almost as if they just dont really care about the line. transformers has had a constant tv presence since ’96 (a good decade before it got big again), but joe is so spotty with tv shows. theres the original series and DIC, sigma 6 and renegades over a span of 30 years. of course, there were the two direct to video releases, but its still not enough (im not gonna name all the transformers show lol).
i just dont see why its so hard for hasbro to actually make an effort with joe. though they arent the only ones to blame. some fans are so bent on everything being like it was back in the day that any change is met with scorn and that makes it hard for the brand to grow
It’s not Hasbro so much as it is the retailers. We know Hasbro cares about the line just by looking at the awesome product we’ve gotten. However, that means squat if retailers don’t want to stock it. Joe just isn’t as hot a property as Transformers has been. Of course MORE effort is going to be put into that. It also helps that they have a partner in TakaraTomy who helps foot some of the bill too. They don’t have that luxury with Joe which is probably a large part of why there hasn’t been a constant media presence either. They were really counting on this movie to give the brand the shot in the arm it needs to boost momentum. Unfortunately Paramount made the decision they did and it may just hurt the brand more.
I think it would behoove Hasbro to drop the Night-Viper and Crimson Guard from the movie line, package them on 30th-style cards, and release them in a fall wave with Kwinn and perhaps a repainted PoC/30th troop builder. No new tooling required. That would be a great way to reach out to fans.
Or just throw them on the red & white Dollar General cards. No filecards needed.
With reduced paint apps and accessories? No thanks. I’d rather wait.
Throw in some repainted Zombie Vipers, the elusive Renegades Storm Shadow, and a Stinger driver using the 30th mold and you’ve got yourself a decent filler wave.
Yeah, this would be a perfect time to send out all the hard to find figs like Renegades SS, Low Light, Shadow Tracker etc.
BAHHHH….they should just take those dollar store figures and release them in Targets and Wal-Marts ‘n such in the interim. That way they can have some other product out there than the bit of wave 1 we might see.
if they expanded the ”DG” joes to ”regular” retail…….probably have to pay $10.99.
(which, granted is better than what ebay has them for, but, its the idea.)
Its funny I thought I would be really mad( still bumed out ) about that but when I look at it with a clear head I’m ok with going on a bit of a hiatus. It just means I’ll have more funds for when the line is fully released. In the mean time I’ll try for a few vintage items.
In other news Dollar General stock jumps sharply…
I’d love them to send out more cases of Renegades Storm Shadow…
Didnt like the movie toys very much anyway, so no big deal for me. BUT, would love to see that Storm Shadow Renegades wave released again. I need Storm Shadow, Zombie Viper, and Law figures!!!!!!!! Please….
hasbro couldve been a bit more specific…….like will we see wv.2 figs–or the VAMP thats not a VAMP.
some idea of cutoff would be nice.
you have to wonder too……will there be some kind of mad rush on retaliation toys this weekend? you know, by…toy speculators.
I’d say not. All that is out/due is wave 1. Wave two is not yet shipped and will be on hold. Too bad for us, but perhaps patience will win out.
This is what I figured they’d do.
The Collector Club subscription figure service might be just the right thing at the right timing now. I really didn’t want that to be the case (profit from Hasbro’s “loss”), but that is actually good timing for them to get it rolling.
Interesting thing- I had seen Retaliation toys at several local stores and after the anouncement was made I went back to one of those and EVERYTHING was gone. Don’t know if they sold out or what but they were gone. On the plus side they actually restocked Sci Fi, Law and Order, Zombie, Lifeline, etc. Perhaps that’s their plan right now.
Someone on staff probably didn’t read the shelf date of 5/28, and then someone else probably knew the shelf date of 5/28 and pulled them off the shelf. Right now don’t assume the collector market is getting them before you, but the animal is ratcheting up to react that way as this news leaks around. We are a bit of a knee-jerk bunch of hobbyists.
Without the obvious media tie-ins there’s nothing to drive kids to the buy these toys, but lets be real. Movie based toy lines are usually on the clearance racks within 6 to 8 weeks after the movie’s release anyway. Hasbro will simply sit on the movie toys until March. The fact that a few hundred nerds will have to wait longer to get their toys is inconsequential in the big picture.
Hasbro tries to appease the nerd population, but keeping the franchise alive requires that Hasbro find a way to get kids to buy these figures, or is somehow able to tap into the nostalgia vein enough to get non-collector/nerd parents to buy for their kids. Truly sustaining the line will require Hasbro to market to kids through commercials or a daily cartoon or a video game. Until Hasbro can find a way to get kids interested the line will just limp along. And I can’t get over the price point of these figures. Does Hasbro really expect kids to buy figures at $10+ dollars a pop? In this economy, really?
The movie figures bear no resemblance to the classic figures. I can’t help but shake my head at what a huge missed opportunity that is grab the attention of 30-something dads. The original cartoon series was made available on netflix recently. I’ve been watching the shows with my six year son. He can’t get enough of it. Renegades didn’t hold his attention but the old stuff is. If there were figures that looked like the classic characters available right now, like the 25th anniversary stuff, I would be buying him one of everything right now.
I hate to say it, but at this point the toy line has been on hiatus so long that a few more months doesn’t really make any difference. Especially with no media vehicle to advertise the toys.
If Hasbro was really smart maybe they would find a way to get a cartoon series, or a couple straight to dvd animated movies released by Christmas, and also get some reasonably priced figures on the shelf for the holiday season. It might help soften the ground a bit for the movie in the springtime.
This is really bad. I hope they’re able to throw something together to get out there that retailers will be willing to stock.
Wow. All that good will and excitement just went down the toilet. Does this mean all the retailers have to waste space on storing product they won’t sell for 9 months? How about it all goes back to Hasbro so the figs can get their articulation back? Yeah, not likely.
Deth of teh line…………..Someone had to say it!!!!!!
Son of a gun!
Not good news for the brand. Trying to mine positives out of the situation… so far all I can come up with: At least we don’t have to see that horrible movie packaging quite so soon. That has to be top 3 WORST packaging I’ve ever seen on a toy line. That’s all I got.
The packaging that Hasbro chose for both Joe movie’s was terrible. Dark non eye appealing colors. All of the studies that I’ve seen say that people are attracted to bright colors when they are shopping.
Good news, Hasbro. Now you have time to write some filecards…