by generalsjoes | May 31, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys
So, Joe fans got the words they were fearing via online retailers yesterday as reports emerged from all over the ‘net that G.I. Joe: Retaliation orders from Wave 2 and forward would not be fulfilled this year. According to reports from online retailers, the same product will be made available in early 2013.
CRAP.
Now before everyone rushes in and says “Oh, cool, now they can push out some more 30th Anniversary stuff! Oh, cool, now they can fix all the crappy articulation!”
Ummmm… no. I would not expect anything like that. Any toys, even ones where tooling already exists, takes far too long to produce to just be “thrown out there” within the next few months. There is way more planning, coordination, and production required than we probably think. They can’t just toss one of those Kwinn test shots in a magic machine and suddenly have 20,000 available to ship to retailers.
Same goes for articulation. “Fixing” articulation would require significant retooling, and would essentially be creating the line again from scratch. Hasbro has already invested too much money in the current figures, and already has way too short a time frame in order to make any wholesale changes to the figures as they stand.
On the good side, JoeCon is just four short weeks away, so hopefully we can all get our questions answered there. And there will be a LOT of questions, I’m sure.
by generalsjoes | May 31, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club
This actually happened last night, but I was a bit wiped after my all day work travels, and frankly a little browbeat over the rampant assaulting of the Collectors’ Club. But it’s news, so here goes!
The G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club has officially announced that all attendee and non-attendee 3 3/4″ Oktober Guard Convention Packages are sold out. This has, of course, caused somewhat of a frenzy from collectors who are disappointed that they didn’t get a chance to get their hands on these sets. While that disappointment is certainly justified, I will say that it can be difficult to judge numbers and just because everyone thinks a set is a sure fire home run, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee a quick sell out. It’s easy to play armchair Toy Collector Quarterback with someone else’s checkbook, but it can be something totally different to take a risk, ramp up production, and increase the possibility of taking a bath on the sets.
I know it’s popular to say that Pre-Orders are the way to go, but I think there are simply too many moving pieces and the Club is too small an operation to be able to handle that responsibly.
Of course, if you really want to attend the Convention, you can still order the 12″ Adventure Team Heavy Weapons set, which actually looks pretty awesome as well, and that will get you admittance to the Convention and allow you to do everything you want to do.
Congratulations to you folks who got them, a bummer for folks who missed out, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else is in the works down in New Orleans!
For all the latest information on the G.I. Joe Convention, keep your browser pointed to GIJoeCon.com!
