Clear MOTU ReAction Figures
 

Masters of the Universe Clear ReAction Figures

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Scareglow is the only one that looks even moderately decent... Makes me sad though that MOTU can keep chugging along like this and GI Joe died alone out back behind the watercloset 5 years ago!

The new Reaction figures they are doing are way better. More detail

Magical Fantasy sells year round for decades... jingoistic nationalism, in particular American military, was really popular in the 80's with the fall of the USSR, reunification of Germany, and the first Gulf War operations.

Since then, support for the military has dropped tremendously. The conflicts in Afghanistan and the middle east has dragged on and even many ardent supporters are even tired of it. Parents aren't buying their kids soldiers because the parents aren't pro-military. Super heroes (many being equally or more violent than soldiers) are popular because they are seen as saving people or the planet, as opposed to soldiers fighting wars to get politicians soundbytes to get re-elected. Super Heroes can be sold world wide. Kids in the USA, Japan, and Ethiopia know who Superman is. GI Joe's main audience was the USA. In the rest of the world, GI Joe's mission of policing the world and "fixing the world's problems" hits a little too close to home.

That's just my guess, without going too political.

IMO, odd decision to do make a translucent Skeletor but no Sorceress.

Hey! Hey! Get outta here with your logic and valid arguments!!! :D

Lines like this are about nostalgia aimed at Gen Xers. Regular fantasy genre lovers aren't going to plunk $18 each for figures that look worse than Happy Meal toys. Those people are probably buying Four Horseman's series or something.

So in that regard, there could be a GI JOE line like this (as in retro 80's character designs), but Hasbro isn't willing to let that happen in such a format. Brian Flynn said he had many ideas for GI JOE, but it seems Hasbro isn't willing. But supposedly Hasbro's GI JOE will come back in some form in 2020.

I think he was commenting on He-Man in general, not just ReAction figures. He-Man's reinventions have been far more successful (toyline wise) than the GI Joe Sigma and movie lines, plus factor in the various nostalgia lines of MOTU. Honestly, GI Joe could be decently successful again if they went with a "Star Wars Vintage"-like line aimed at online collectors and Gamestop/EE/bbts/etc. I just don't see it appealing to today's kids and getting full massretail support.

What He-Man/MOTU lines have been popular with kids? The last really kid-aimed line was in 2002 or so, fizzled out after a couple of years, faring worse than Hasbro 2000 GI JOE relaunches (movie tie-ins aside). All these vinyls and stuff aren't kid aimed, the closest thing is the Mega-Brands stuff. Next year we'll see if MOTU figures can make it in mass retail.

MOTU has supported more fan aimed lines in the last 10 years, and yes, there's a lot of MOTU international fans, but that's also in part due to Hasbro's we-don't-give-crap attitude toward GI JOE, letting it fizzle out after a few so-so Toys R Us exclusives, and letting some incompetent fan club make overpriced 4" figures until their license ended.

Scale is important to ARAH fans, which is why jumbo 12" 80's GI JOE figures weren't a success. At that size they immediately lost interest of an already limited number of die hard 80's Joe fans. There's a basic joke in the GI JOE collecting community, "they'll make anything but what we actually want."

I'm probably arguing minutiae...but I don't see MOTU as any more viable than GI JOE, as in a retro GI JOE line. A modern realistic line probably wouldn't go anywhere. If there were a market for that, then BBI's Elite Force stuff would get more mass releases.

Was the modern incarnation of GI Joe really so unsuccessful? It ran at retail for almost 10 years (almost as long as the 80s ARAH line) starting in 2007 with the 25th anniversary line and ending with the final TRU wave in 2016. If anything killed the line it was Hasbro dropping the 25th/POC/30th lines in support of those terrible movies.

The 2002-3 MOTU line lasted a few years, and was FULL of figures, and was quite popular. Kids were asking for it years after it "fizzled out". He-Man went on Qubo and the characters saw renewed interest. I know lots of people who bought the Classics figures for their 8 year olds. That series lasted years. At stores that sold "vintage toys" the He-Man stuff cycled much faster than shelfwarming GI joe stuff. Local stores that sell the Super7 Vintage-style He-Man stuff sell through pretty well, too.

The movie GI Joe stuff didn't do well. The first movie did mediocre. The retro exclusives box sets did well, but distribution to TRU stores was crap (similar to Masterpiece & G1 reissue transformers). The second film merchandise came and went clearance within a week. I'm not exaggerating. The movie was a summer release, but the toys came out in like March/April and were off shelves before the film even released.

MOTU has maintained an appearance in pop culture circles non-stop. GI Joe has all but disappeared. MOTU is better positioned for a resurgence. You go to Hot Topic and there are several MOTU shirts. There are tons of the vinyl figures, and little collectibles, the Mega Construx line, and other "hint hint nudge nudge" stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I would love a resurgence of GI Joe, but I just think it's a harder sell to the American Parent (the #1 toy buyer) than anything else.