Q & A Final Round 2009 answers! Options

[Airborne Rigger]

1.) Breaker might not have scored well with your kids’ focus groups, but as you’ve seen in the last few Q&As, a Reactive Armor Breaker is wanted by adult collectors. If you won’t reconsider making him, would you at least make his unique computer chest plate/webgear, headset, and equipment belt and give it to a different upcoming character so those of us who want a Reactive Armor Breaker can swap out the gear for him, and then use his head on a Reactive Armor Duke body? It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.

We will try to incorporate this request into a future figure but the accessories need to remain relevant to the character they are released with.


2.) Any chance you'll be thinking outside of the box with character selections and giving us something other than DukeRipcordSnakeEyesCobraCommanderDestroStormShadowSnowJobWildBill this year? For example, since the 25th began, we’ve gotten 19 Dukes. There are currently 39! All the upcoming Past and Present sets feature the same old characters we’ve gotten over and over again without anyone new. This is clearly overkill! G.I. Joe was never about a handful of select people, it was an ensemble group with hundreds of specialists and near infinite variety of skills. But since the relaunch, it seems there is circular thought that keeps revolving around the same ten characters endlessly. And as we’ve seen several times before, when we get too many of these characters done over and over again at the expense of other fresh faces, the line ends or goes on hiatus due to lack of interest from the community. Then the wheel is reinvented once again with the same core characters but with a new team, and the cycle continues. Now that the movie is done, it’s really time to reinvigorate the fanbase with brand new characters that will blow us away, not more rehashes that end up peg warming. How about updating and modernizing characters from 1986 and upward? Pursuit of Cobra Jungle Duke could be changed to Pathfinder, or Pursuit of Cobra Arctic Duke could be changed to Blizzard. That way the molds aren’t wasted, but we get some new faces instead of more of the same.

All brands have iconic characters that fans relate to. As we introduce GI Joe to the next generation we need to maintain and refresh the core characters like Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. But we also aim to keep the line exciting for collectors so we do plan to release some fresh characters, like a new Alley Viper and Dusty. We also have some all new characters like Jungle Viper.

3.) Thank you very much for the fantastic Walmart exclusive battle station playsets! Is there any chance of seeing more of those; as well as the unreleased Resolute comic pack figures (Iron Klaw, Polar Scarlett, etc.) that popped up on auction sites a few months ago, either as a Walmart or other store exclusive?

These are not currently in the plan.

4.) Can you please elaborate on the Pursuit of Cobra line not hitting until the second half of 2010? Does this mean there will only be store exclusives and nothing mass retail until then, or is the PoC line being repackaged as Rise of Cobra so it can get out earlier? We can understand wanting more time for movie line product to move off the shelves, but this seems a little too long having to wait until next Summer/Fall before we get the Jungle Viper, Zartan, Beach-Head, Ashiko, and the rest of the new characters/vehicles.

Pursuit of Cobra (POC) themed items will be released in fall 2010 and will replace Rise of Cobra. Most of the product shown at JoeCon in 2009 is being adapted to the POC theme and will launch in fall 2010 with a never before seen packaging line look. This new look will be revealed over the next few months.

[LockOn]

A little disappointed to hear that they don't currently have plans for any more battle station playsets.

[Goldbug]

A little disappointed to hear that they don't currently have plans for any more battle station playsets.

Very disappointed.
Yet...
http://kastorskorner.com/index.php?option=...9&Itemid=62

Bill: Aside from the Resolute multi-pack, will we see any non-movie Joe toys, such as the prototype Iron Klaw figure revealed several months ago, at some point this year?
Joe Team: More information will be released at Toy Fair.

#1. Why not Dial-Tone?

This post has been edited by Goldbug: Jan 16 2010, 01:45 AM

[TigerSlash]

I'd like to see more new characters & older figures in the P.O.C. line plus more exciting of those exciting vehicles due soon with new or exclusive figures Having too many Dukes,Snakes etc is ruining what should be an exciting direction for GIJoe.

[C-Hawk73]

Coming out with a new Snake Eyes for every movie would be going back to what came before. Coming out with five new Snake Eyes for every movie......

[I Hate My Job]

Will the TRU Exclusive Doc and Shipwreck still hit stores by Spring?

[Goldbug]

Will the TRU Exclusive Doc and Shipwreck still hit stores by Spring?

According to Hasbro, yes.

[Zartans Banker]

Why are they pushing POC back to the fall? Its really frustrating as it feels like such a long time. Thats practically a year away from the ROC figures original release. The ROC figures did so so but overall well. We need something to feed the desire for Joe's and adding figures. From 2007 - early 2009 I could hardly keep up but it was great. I think if you supply great stuff then it really drives the sales. I am looking forward to POC but thats a long time to wait. Does anyone think they are not releasing before the fall based on the Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia, and The Last Airbender all hitting this spring and summer with major toy lines? I am just guessing. I am just curious and cant wait for new Joe's.

[Werecat]

Why are they pushing POC back to the fall? Its really frustrating as it feels like such a long time. Thats practically a year away from the ROC figures original release. The ROC figures did so so but overall well. We need something to feed the desire for Joe's and adding figures. From 2007 - early 2009 I could hardly keep up but it was great. I think if you supply great stuff then it really drives the sales. I am looking forward to POC but thats a long time to wait. Does anyone think they are not releasing before the fall based on the Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia, and The Last Airbender all hitting this spring and summer with major toy lines? I am just guessing. I am just curious and cant wait for new Joe's.

Two reasons:

1.) Sales were decent, but not as expected. They want to move more product before stores commit to more merch that may potentially peg warm as well. By extending the RoC line, they give it six more months to move.

2.) Despite the corporate spin on the Q&As, Hasbro knows they need to fix some things, so several tweaks are being made to the line to make it more viable at retail. Behind closed doors they know movie Duke, Snake Eyes, and Ripcord can't cut it for much longer.

[HawkSp]

I agree wih you Werecat and I think that Hasbro has put too much figures in the market in a short time, so instead of putting one wave eah 1 or 2 months, they have put 4 in 1 month.

If you put too much one time, you have them to hold the line for making time for selling it.

I think that we are not going to see too much stuff (perchaps 1 or 2 waves more) until october. So, it's time for saving money.

By the way, the prize of the RoC figures in Spain is 10Eur (aka $14)

[cobra22nd]

I think that we are not going to see too much stuff (perchaps 1 or 2 waves more) until october. So, it's time for saving money.

I'm appreciative of the time off because with my real job, ebay store, sportsbuy store, and picking up my pregnant wife's slack around the house, I don't have time to hunt and when I do have time off I am burned out. I really hope they are done with 5 waves + tons of exclusives for a while.

That said, I bet all the crap we are seeing on ebay as "POC" is actually 2010 ROC stuff, so the hunt will resume after this brief intermission. there is no way we are seeing stuff on ebay that is ready to go 8 months out. No freaking way.

enjoy your time off while it lasts. then get ready to hunt JP stuff, because they are injecting some joe goodness into that line.

[Airborne Rigger]

I'm appreciative of the time off because with my real job, ebay store, sportsbuy store, and picking up my pregnant wife's slack around the house, I don't have time to hunt and when I do have time off I am burned out. I really hope they are done with 5 waves + tons of exclusives for a while.

That said, I bet all the crap we are seeing on ebay as "POC" is actually 2010 ROC stuff, so the hunt will resume after this brief intermission. there is no way we are seeing stuff on ebay that is ready to go 8 months out. No freaking way.

enjoy your time off while it lasts. then get ready to hunt JP stuff, because they are injecting some joe goodness into that line.

The stuff showing up on Ebay(Desert Zartan, Arctic Duke, etc.) were supposed to be coming out 1st Quarter 2010 but it has been pushed to Fall PoC line too, according to my source. This doesn't always mean that Hasbro won't move the release dates up though. They've done it plenty of times before. Hasbro is changing the card art and everything for PoC now and will probably look more like 25th style card art instead of RoC card art. There have been leaks of possible card art for a PoC Firefly if you're curious.

I am glad to have a break and maybe catch up on what I'm missing though. I still need Kamakura and a Nano-viper and some of the vehicles and exclusives. Hope to be finished with school and have a job before anything major starts hitting retail again.

[Goldbug]

Two reasons:

1.) Sales were decent, but not as expected. They want to move more product before stores commit to more merch that may potentially peg warm as well. By extending the RoC line, they give it six more months to move.

That won't help them at all if they hike the prices back up. My Target like others has assortment B still $5.99 & assortment A is now $7.89
Assortment A consists of Baroness, Destro, & Neo-Vipers.