What in the HELL is this about Hasbro discontinuing GI Joe?!

[ParatrooperCarbine]

Both 12" AND 3 3/4".

Say it ain't so!

[digger]

It'll be back eventually....there was no 12 inch for years but it came back....

[tmanthegreat]

I kind of knew this would eventually happen. There always seemed to be just too much GI Joe sitting on the shelves at TRU and other places. I share the opinion that it will eventually return in a few years anyways!

Alot of the new 3 3/4" GI Joe figures and themes were getting to the point of the absurd and greatly lacked in realism. Given all the unavoidable media coverage of Iraq, etc., most young kids should have at least an inkling of what real soldiers look like and what they do, and for the most part, the 3 3/4" GI Joe figures were not that! On the flip side, theres the whole influence of computer and video games and related products among the young. Either toy lines start mirroring the characters and stories in those media or back out of the line for something else (think, if you will, of the LEGO Bionicle series).

The 12" figures, although nice, carry nothing of the detail that 21c, Dragon, and even BBI 12" figures come with. They were great about 6-8 years ago in the late '90s when there wasn't much else around and the effort was taken to make a quality product. Come the more detailed products of the competitors and a "cheapening" of the quality of the Hasbro GI Joe figures and they loose the interest of the collectors (think of the painted shirts & gloves, the solid plastic packs as opposed to the realistic cloth ones). The realistic 12" line saw its greatest support from the collectors, and not the parent wanting to buy their son a toy soldier. Losse their interest and loose the line... and Hasbro never really did a great job at cultivating the collector base anyways!

[SuRrEaLNJ]

both lines are going on a "hiatus" so they can focus their efforts on their new line: Sigma Six. These are 8" animae styled figures that were revealed at toy fair.

~Jay

[Morian Miner]

It's too bad the 3-3/4" is going on hiatus because of some of the great things being done in that line. Now, I personally think Vvs.V is one of the silliest story lines they could have taken, but the products they are putting out are great. I love the idea of the 6-pack of army builders, the comic books are cool for, if nothing else, we finally got some russians, the new Humvee is a great vehicle, and the new articulation is outstanding (if you haven't had a chance to pick up the new Torch figure, check him out - provided you can find him on the shelf). It would be nice to see the line come back with a slightly more realistic story line, so the figures don't have such bizarre paint schemes and uniforms.

As for Sigma Six, it will be interesting to see if kids pick up on it, since the collectors seem to despise it from what you hear in some of the forums.

[fredricchio]

yeah, it was the comic 3-packs and TRU army builder sets that got me back into GI Joe for the first time in 10 years; and now they go and cancel it

Well on the bright side maybe disenfanchised Joe collectors will spend more on 21st Century and BBI's 1:18 lines while they wait out this Sigma 6 stuff

[digger]

fredricchio, I was just thinking....do you think this will have people who collect 3 3/4" looking for an outlet?
Any Joe collectors care to comment on if you think you will be more inclined to buy some other 1:18 guys with no new Joes? I would just love if bbi & 21st had even more motivation to make new figures (& armor and an A-10 ).

[fredricchio]

I certainly hope so! I mean Elite Force is right next to the Joes on TRU shelves, shouldn't be too much of a stretch. My only concern would be that right now at least, BBI's presence is minimal after most of their stuff got clearanced out.

[momaw nadon]

The only way I could see bbi taking up the lack of GI Joes, would be to make their figures as articulate.

I ran into a father and son (about 7 years old) looking at the action figure in TRU and he wanted some. When they looked at the bbi 1/18 stuff, he told his dad that those figures don't have the motion that GI Joes had. He got some GI Joes over the bbi stuff. I even find myself not getting as many because of that fact.

momaw nadon

[Jesse James]

GI Joe is one of Hasbro's most profitable toy lines actually, though this past year it slipped. I've been hearing the slip was mostly because the 3.75" line wasn't pushed TOO hard and the 12" line has always been the Joe's weakest point in sales... How true that is, I dunno, but I believe who told me this.

3.75" has always done well for Hasbro though, whether or not they're realistic. They've outsold our toy lines pretty well. They've outsold Star Wars pretty well, picking up slack that line has left for years. It's a good toy line.

The reason I hear for the cancellation is just a decision to take the line a new direction because of the new Sigma Six cartoon thing. An attempt at running against lines like Marvel legends and in that general scale while taking a step back from their traditional scales. I wholely expect a return to (at least) 3.75". I don't see the new scale taking off myself, but we'll wait and see.

Star Wars is also Hasbro's big push this year... G.I. Joe loses resources to it... Lots of lines under their umbrella will lose to it really. I think it's another issue of "now is the time to cut things back, try something different" because this is a SW year to push.

[spaceCADETzoom]

I won't shed any tears about this discontinuation. Valor vs. Venom, et al, have none of the imagination or fun that the 3 1/2" from the 80s-early 90s did. And the 12" just flat suck compared to the competitor's.

[kenhil2]

very dissapointed by this news, but there are lots of other companies that will pick up the slack, do i see one individual company taking over, no, but i bet sales will boost for PTE and others.