[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grippen

Not entirely true. Yes SS and SE have several versions but there are lot of characters missing in modern design, something that the club is trying to fill up but their resources are limited and prices are high. Limited because they do not make new molds, they try to reuse parts and create at most new heads and accessories.

For example, Bombstrike had a new headsculpt but the rest is just a reused of existing molds which made her not entirely accurate when we look a the original figure from 2004. Similar approach for Spearhead & Max, actually here they reused the parts of the convention NF variant exclusive figure. It was nice to see a new and improved Max but the figure was just a reuse of parts.

So what I'm trying to say is that there are still many figures that did not receive an update, some iconic and when say iconic I mean you saw them in the cartoons. For example Captain Grid-Iron had so many appearance in the cartoons and the only version of him is a vintage one.

The reason here is the movies, Marvel is getting lots of attention due to the movies that overall have been a success. This means toys will sell better. I think 2.5'' its for kids and in general pay up for the more collector oriented scales.

GI Joe up until now didn't have movie and to be honest both movies were not as big as the Marvel ones. Plus GI Joe has always been 4'' so they tried to make a mix of collector and kid toys. The first movie toys for example were bad, for the second they mixed, first waves were movie/kis oriented but later waves were mostly collector oriented.

We even saw some figures with minor articulation (pilots) which was something we never seen up until then. I'm not an expert but I read that 4'' highly articulated figures are expensive to produce and the price point is not worth it reason why hasbro started releasing the 2.5'' scale instead starting with GoG, and continuing with Age of Ultron and now Civil War.

They cannot do this for GI Joe because they will loose the collectors market and kids lets face it do not know GI Joe as they know Marvel (again tanks to the movies). So what I think Hasbro decided is to stop GI Joe for now (they did it in the past early 90s until eraly 2000s) and they will probably start releasing things based on movies as well. I'm sure they will continue with 4'' but we may see some articulation reduction and also we will see only a few figures and vehicles.

Fair enough on GI Joe. Though on character over-saturation I was referring to the likes of Cobra Commander, Duke, and Scarlett too. That also falls to retailers though on wanting high profile characters and name recognition. Collectors are trying to get them all, but consumers are more varied and sometimes need name recognition to push the merchandise. And yeah, the movies are mainly what pushes merchandise for GI Joe now without a toon backing it to create name recognition. Though with Scifi & Zombie vipers we did see sales spikes, so it is possible with the TRU exclusives, we might see a resurgence of GI Joe sales in 4'' scale enough that they work to bringing the line back in from better sales numbers. Especially if there's some crossover sales from others using the solid black spec-ops outfits for SHIELD troop building from Marvel 4'' fans.

My main complaint towards the remark was Spider-man. That Spider-man was the reason Hasbro was fail. The one character that's going to have 2 movies, and pegs so full of merchandise for them we're going to be sick of it before it's over and people are going to whine about it peg warming like they did the previous spider-man lines. That's the one character Hasbro didn't make in 4'' for Civil War that they get called fail for. Nevermind Scarlet Witch, who, ya know, was the catalyst for the entire plot of the movie besides Winter Soldier. A character who won't even have another movie appearance until Avengers 3. It's spider-man we should call Hasbro fail for not making in 4'' right now.

That's what's ridiculous about that remark.
Black Panther was needed at market, so was Falcon. Agent 13 too. And I wish they had done Scarlet Witch and Vision too, but retailers want those mainstays like Cap and Ironman. Especially since they were the headliners of the movie. And after how retailers treated the SHIELD TECH Avengers Assemble line, can't exactly blame Hasbro for their hesitancy. They are actively trying to get the material to market but have to plan accordingly to do it where they can. Getting Black Panther out now especially was genius, because honestly, he's another one of those we might have to wait for Avengers 3 for, because like Dr. Strange, he may not get his own 4'' line.

So it's fairly complicated on the choices that were made. But the market demand for 4'' is coming back. The mini-verse is great for lines that are playset heavy, and even great for extremely vehicle heavy lines like GOTG was, but the 4'' market is still pretty strong when the right material with media backing is there. And hopefully the new releases of GI Joe will help show that too. As will Marvel Legends 4'' with the comic packs and upcoming waves that have high in demand characters from the Marvel relaunch and even the various animated series.