Just a few minutes ago I posted about how Joe fans could do themselves a good service by checking out some of the lesser known aspects of G.I. Joe history… and here’s another great way to do it.
Over at HissTank.com, notorious forum member Gyre-Viper has posted some of his holy grail items in his collection. Sure, I think we all knew he was all over the Asian scene, but turns out, he’s got plenty of domestic connections as well! Some very nice pieces in his collection, including an original sculpt for the unproduced Rocky Balboa action figure, a couple of Sigma 6 pieces, and my personal source of jealous rage, the unproduced Iron Klaw test shot.
Do yourself a favor and check it out! I’ve also mirrored the pics below.
no images were found
that’s nothin. you should see what dansjoes.com posted in the thread. manimals like you wouldn’t believe and some 90’s protos.
ugh. soooo sexy.
Please, don’t say “unproduced Iron Klaw” i’m still crossing my fingers for a chance of getting this one on the shelves!
Neon Viper, there are no plans for the Iron Klaw you can count on it. But fret not, there are some very interesting conceptions of Duke and Snake Eyes headed your way!
Wow! that’s great! i,ve always wanted to troop-build snake eyes & duke! waitaminit….
ya I sooooo want that IRON KLAW ,man why hasbro why!!!!!
god I want that one bad
the club needs to do the IRON KLAW for next years con, have SKAR vs GI JOE as the theme next year
then if we can get a General Blitz and Iron Army the following year we could have a nice COUNCIL of DOOM type story line LOL!
If we want Iron Klaw made. We need to make it known to Hasbro like we did with the Resolute toys. Every now and again, they throw us collectors a bone. Heck, if the desire is there, we might even be able to get the Club to do this as a subscription incentive figure.
anyway I can get it Ill take it! I been campaigning for this guys to be made for years!
Hows about a General Duke or an Iron Snake Eyes? Or maybe, I just got up and need a shower Duke and a Super Bowl Pizza eating Snake Eyes?
No? Hows about a running to Walmart @2 am in my sweats looking for Joes and ice cream Duke and a dress for success job interview Snake Eyes?
No? Well, don’t worry I’m sure we can come to some sort of an agreement.
Guys–get used to it! If the name isn’t:
1. Duke
2. Snake Eyes
3. Heavy Duty
4. Snow Job
5. Wild Bill
6. Cobra Commander
7. Storm Shadow
8. Destro
Hasbro isn’t interested in making it. These are what is relevant and eventually Hasbro is finally going to succeed in brainwashing kids to like these no matter how many times it takes to reinvent them or repaint them.
You will like G I JOE…You will like G I JOE…You will like G I JOE…
Life is so much easier when only 8 of about 200 characters are what’s relevant today. I mean our dads who worked at Hasbro in the 80’s must have really been on something, they never reinvented anything or repainted Duke x50 and the line only went 12 years as the hottest boy toy….wait, uhmmm…nevermind.
You missed the Cobra Vipers in 9th place
It doesn’t matter Neon. We’re wasting our breath. The people on JB, TD, and here are all madly in love with praising Hasbro, Sigma 6 and ROC. The events of the last year should have changed people and it actually did some at those places, for the others, there is no hope. It’s an insistence on continuing as before. Ignore the fans, create new stuff, make it more ludicrious an scifi and we’d rather just say thanks and give a round of pats on the rear instead of saying, yes we like this but there’s plenty of others who don’t and our opinions and likes/dislike do not represent the entire fandom.
Yeah, i hear ya Alpine, last year i think i was the most bitter of all joe fans, i was so pissed at almost anybody who said that the movie was good & the toys were even better, i, for instance, haven’t bought a single RoC figure, ’cause i really didn’t liked them, and the movie was awful, for christ’s sake. But if you take a look at the stuff from toy fair, things are are slowly moving on in the right direction (i think) because Hasbro did remove the actor’s ugly muggs from the new figures; that’s great for me, ’cause that means Hasbro in all it’s wisdom finally realized that a lot of folks didn’t liked the RoC approach, so maybe we’ll get some good stuff after all, even with 4 or 5 dukes & snake-eyes thrown in every wave; for the first time in months i’m positive about it. And who knows? if Doctor Venom is FINALLY getting the action figure treatment, maybe Iron KLaw does some day.
So, I guess
9. Zartan
10. Jungle Viper
11. Dusty
12. Beach Head
13. Alley Viper
14. Firefly
15. Recondo
Don’t count? (Though I’ll give you the overuse of Firefly for sure.)
But I agree, I’d LOVE to see that Iron Klaw made. Very cool looking proto. I am feeling a little more positive about the introduction of new characters with some of the vehicles as well.
Right, Alpine… because it’s not like the most top-selling toylines of the past decade regurgitate the same characters over again… Star Wars, Transformers, Power Rangers, TMNT, Marvel, none of them do that. It’s all the Hasbro G.I. Joe marketing team’s fault!
Oh, wait… on second thought ALL of them do that. Mattel does it. Playmates does it. Hasbro does it with Star Wars and Transformers. In fact, one might even say it’s industry standard practice to do that (for better or worse).
Bah, we’ll just blame it on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe marketing team…it’s more fun to rant about that than pay attention to the facts, anyway!
re-introducing or regurgitating iconic characters…
see what i did there… I addressed the issue without having to finish the sentence.
ICONIC.
is it the best thing a company can do? no. but there are people out there… both child and collector -alike
who wholly identify the franchise with the repeated ICONIC characters.
GI JOE obviously isn’t Hasbro’s top gun.
that’s why they do the online exclusives for the fans.
cuz right now it’s pretty much the best they can do.
they have a lot at stake in general let alone with a military themed line
that hardly stands out amongst the morphing robots and the aliens of SW and
the mutant turtles.
like Justin said ‘for better or worse’ that’s just corporate practice.
So, I guess
9. Zartan
10. Jungle Viper
11. Dusty
12. Beach Head
13. Alley Viper
14. Firefly
15. Recondo
Don’t count? (Though I’ll give you the overuse of Firefly for sure.)
You’ll give me Firefly and you also give me more. Since the 25th line, how many Beachhead’s have we had? 2 in the 25th, 1 in RoC, and one coming for Resolute. Now we have one in the first line-up of PoC. That’s 3 in a year.
Now lets. Oh yes, how about Zartan? How many did we have in the 25th line? 2. How many in RoC? 2. 1 more for Resolute and here we have one in the first line-up for PoC. 4 Within a year.
That’s also 3 Alley Viper’s within a year (25th, Resolute, PoC) but I’ll be leanient and let you have that one since it’s something the fans actually want.
So out of the list of stuff coming for PoC, all you have that feels new and fresh to the fans are Recondo, Dusty and Jungle Viper.
And guess what? Read people’s comments on the forums. That’s about all most want. They are finished with buying Duke, Cobra Commander, SE, SS, Snow Job, Zartan, Wild Bill and Beachhead, no matter WHAT they look like.
And the apologists can talk about weapons and accessories all they want. But before long, people will stop paying $6 dollars for a toy just for some guns or accessories.
Right, Alpine… because it’s not like the most top-selling toylines of the past decade regurgitate the same characters over again… Star Wars, Transformers, Power Rangers, TMNT, Marvel, none of them do that. It’s all the Hasbro G.I. Joe marketing team’s fault!
“Oh, wait… on second thought ALL of them do that. Mattel does it. Playmates does it. Hasbro does it with Star Wars and Transformers. In fact, one might even say it’s industry standard practice to do that (for better or worse).
Bah, we’ll just blame it on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe marketing team…it’s more fun to rant about that than pay attention to the facts, anyway!”
Except the problem with your theory, Einstein, is that those brands have more variety. And no one who buys them are complaining about the ridiculous amount of re-paints or re-imaginings of the same characters over and over again to the same degree.
Mattel DID do that with the He-Man 200x line and looked what happened.
Is it any surprise it’s all happening now with G I JOE?
And now your next apologist argument will be “Oh they get more stuff because they are bigger, more popular lines.”
Exactly!
Kid’s couldn’t care any less for Joe and the fans are tired of the same tired old people!
Get a clue Justin!
“like Justin said ‘for better or worse’ that’s just corporate practice.”
Like Hasbro says, like Justin said, and like you said, it’s apologetic statements.
Now, don’t believe me. That’s fine. Let’s just wait it out and see. Assuming PoC actually comes and sees retail, let’s see what sells and what doesn’t, K?
I’ll be here waiting for your apologies.
“GI JOE obviously isn’t Hasbro’s top gun.”
Gee, I wonder why..
Oh and Gyre, I appreciate you being the cool guy on Hisstank and all, like the goggles, nice touch and all that, but you ask yourself who’s more iconic?
Duke? Or Luke Skywalker?
Now, who has 50 versions of action figures within the last 2 years?
Even Skywalker, as ICONIC as he his, who defines ICONIC, isn’t poured out to the same degree as Duke is. And there’s actually kids who buy that line. ZIPEE!
What it boils down to is this: Hasbro wants it be a hot toy line. They do something for the kids, it fails. They get determined and re-do it, and it fails. They get a little more determined and a little mad, and it fails. They get more mad and more determined, and it fails. They get really mad and shove it down our throats, and it fails. They get pissed off, take it out on the fans and shut everything out for 6 months. AND IT WILL FAIL.
THAT is why we have so many Duke’s and Snake Eyes’. It’s because the incarnation before it, failed to do what it was meant to do.
And Hasbro is constantly trying to find the niche to make it work.
Good luck guys! When you figure out what the collectors already know let us know!
Re-gurgitated characters are boring and…
See, I don’t have to finish the sentence either. It’s pretty obvious.
I think it’s pretty ironic also that Hasbro, insistent about making the kids like or trying to find ways to make it likeable (and they should) is actually in a catch-22. In today’s world the kids don’t like the Joes. For many reasons. If they did, it would have caught on with RoC with had a multi-million dollar flick, a video game and everything else in between. I mean if SOMETHING was going to work it would have been that.
And in the meantime, while doing what they believe is best, but refusing to ignore the painful truth is actually running off those who ARE loyal to the brand by re-hashes, re-paints, little to no dedication to Q&A’s, cancelations and numerous hiatus’.
By the time they realize that’s it’s probably going to be too late.
ah see but in Star Wars… most characters are at least STAPLES if not icons.
I mean if I say Weequay or Lobot you might know who I’m talking about
even if only had SW toys as a child.
they’re staples of the SW universe and are far more easily recognizable
because of their film appearances. if I show a stranger on the street a picture
of Nikto… they’re more likely to at least recognize it as SW…
but if I show someone a picture of Sci-Fi or Mutt… there’s a good chance they’ll
have no idea at all who those characters are.
even people who don’t collect SW know most of the non-core characters
if not by name… then by site.
so of course Hasbro is comfortable with the varietal outpouring.
even the obscure characters for the most part. There’s no comparison to GI JOE.
GI JOE as a collector’s market… isn’t that far away from cult status.
at least on a purist/completist level.
ah see but in Star Wars… most characters are at least STAPLES if not icons.
I mean if I say Weequay or Lobot you might know who I’m talking about
even if you only had SW toys as a child.
they’re staples of the SW universe and are far more easily recognizable
because of their film appearances. if I show a stranger on the street a picture
of Nikto… they’re more likely to at least recognize it as SW…
but if I show someone a picture of Sci-Fi or Mutt… there’s a good chance they’ll
have no idea at all who those characters are.
even people who don’t collect SW know most of the non-core characters
if not by name… then by site.
so of course Hasbro is comfortable with the varietal outpouring.
even the obscure characters for the most part. There’s no comparison to GI JOE.
GI JOE as a collector’s market… isn’t that far away from cult status.
at least on a purist/completist level.
eeek someone delete #22. i was typing too fast. there’s typos! AAAAH.
i would like to see a more characters done, even if its the same mold of scarlett repainted as Quarrel and GLenda im cool, just sick of seeing the same character released over and over
“I think it’s pretty ironic also that Hasbro, insistent about making the kids like or trying to find ways to make it likeable (and they should) is actually in a catch-22. In today’s world the kids don’t like the Joes. For many reasons. If they did, it would have caught on with RoC with had a multi-million dollar flick, a video game and everything else in between. I mean if SOMETHING was going to work it would have been that.
And in the meantime, while doing what they believe is best, but refusing to ignore the painful truth is actually running off those who ARE loyal to the brand by re-hashes, re-paints, little to no dedication to Q&A’s, cancelations and numerous hiatus’.
By the time they realize that’s it’s probably going to be too late.”
This is a sensible statement, with good insight and a genuinely sound opinion. If the new line didn’t exist and have an impending release in the Fall.
Now, here’s a question. Does none of the new product for the Fall look good to you? Forget, for a minute, that there are a lot of duplicate names…do the new designs hold zero appeal, or are you just upset that they canceled (seemingly) the Iron Klaw figure?
Because when I see that new Jungle Viper, or that Recondo, or even that Jungle Duke and new Desert Storm Shadow, I am impressed and pretty stoked by the tooling and the radical design choices. Firefly looks amazing. Zartan has the best redesign he’s had in YEARS, barring the derivative (but very appealing) Resolute design. The Alley Viper seems like a great troop-builder, and so does the Jungle Viper. And if Hasbro follows through at JoeCon and shows even more figures (They say they have some ‘surprises’) like maybe that Jungle Viper leader we saw last year and/or others, then I think we have a pretty solid lineup of well designed, cool GI Joes that are by far a step up from the movie designs and clearly set apart from the 25th line of remakes.
Do you, Alpine, have zero desire to get these when they hit retail? And if so, apart from the character choices, what about them dissuades you? Is it the designs? The more consumer friendly price-point? An inconsistency with the older lines? What about the new direction of Joe (because this IS a new direction, as opposed to a continuation of the movie line or the 25th line) frustrates you so much that you’d be “waiting here for (our) apologies” instead of rooting for the success of what looks to be a brilliantly artistic, lovingly crafted and fan-friendly lineup?