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Hasbro Revamps G.I.JOE Again.


Roy Focker

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Beside Macross I collect G.I.JOE (mainly from 1982 to 1984). Hasbro has been making these new 3 and 3/4 sculpt figures for the last few years. I didn't care for them that much but they did have a following.

Hasbro has recently announced that they are putting the 3 and 3/4 and 12 inches aside for G.I.JOE Stigma, 8 inch figures with cloth pants that will retail for $14.99.

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I'm very fond of the old '82~84 3 3/4 line too, though I don't have much of anything left. They were cool and innovative, no other toys quite like them. I love the old cartoon and comics too.

I just don't like the look of the newer stuff, everyone looks like they eat bowls of steroids for breakfast every morning, and the female characters always have the silicon enhancement look.

No wonder MLB has this steroids scandal, it's action figure's fault! :D Or is it the other way around? :huh:

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I'm not really surprised that Hasbro is starting fresh with a new line of 8" figures and supporting animated series. The only 3 3/4" figures I collect are the vintage ARAH figures and the comic book 3-pack figures. I was really hoping that they would keep the new figures in scale with the popular Marvel Legends and SOTA Street Fighter figures, but I'll reserve my final judgment when I see them for myself.

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Sounds about right to me. GI Joe has always been a trend whore from day one. Just because they got "cool" in the early '80s for a few years does not mean they would stay that way. Keep in mind, I grew up in the '70s, not the '80s like most of you guys... the GI Joe I remember are the 12" dolls with lame action packs like "jungle rescue" and "life-like hair" with "speaking action"! I was about 12 when they shrunk Joe down to compete with Star Wars. I do admit that the early tiny Joes had me as a fan but they started to really put the suck on about the third or fourth release of the toys... it was obvious they where running out of ideas at that point. Then don't forget the whole sell out to Sgt. Slaughter and the Cobra-la crap... Tigerforce... "Space" joes... ugh. I only got re-interested in Joes when they re-made the 12" line. The first few lines sucked and it was only after 21st Century, BBI, Dragon and others got into it and "showed them how it was done" that once again Hasbro admitted defeat and moved back to the fruity marshmallow Joes. Now it appears they are redoing them again in an attempt to "liven up" the line for a new generation... once more.

I considder my Childhood unraped this time as this is SOP for Hasbro.

Now if you tell me Dragon or BBI has decided to make 8" Action X-treme Uber Alien hunter men with ninja turtle weapons then sure, I'd be a tad miffed.

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Ahh, GI Joes from back in the day. That and Transformers.

Anyways, I loved the ones from the first couple of years. It seemed that they got "colorful" later on and had forsaken the military look they all had.

Man thos were bad! Candy-cane camo? what were they gonna do? jump in a

pudding to set an ambush or something?

"G.I. Joe the international Toxic-Warfare hero" <-like they had been swimming in it!

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Ye Gods those things look terrible. I mean they are so cheesy and cartoony looking with hard edged muscles and features, I mean come on. If you go to a larger format why not make them more detailed and realistic, take GI Joe back to what it should be, not bring back that uber-carpy GI Joe Extreme,

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Ye Gods those things look terrible. I mean they are so cheesy and cartoony looking with hard edged muscles and features, I mean come on. If you go to a larger format why not make them more detailed and realistic, take GI Joe back to what it should be, not bring back that uber-carpy GI Joe Extreme,

Hasbro's probably goin this direction because BBI has them beat in realism at 1/18 scale & now that McFarlane is doing a realistic soldiers line

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I've been wondering this for years. Way back when, I remember a commercial for a Destro figure with removable mask (allowing you to see his actual face), it was limited edition, etc, and there was at least a small hub-bub about it. Now since I didn't collect G.I. joe figures, and didn't know anyone who had that particular one, I'm just curious if anyone here did.

And if so....was he indeed black? Becaue I always found it somewhat tweaked that the second in charge of Cobra had to be covered up in silver just because hw was a black man!

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The only Destro I remember with a removable mask was the 12" Hall of Fame one...and he was pretty much caucasian. Then again, there may have been an earlier smaller figure, as I grew disinterested in the line as they went crazy with their gimmicks.

Larry Hama, who both scribed the Marvel comic and did most of the original G1 File Card info, had at some point decided Destro was Scottish (and apparently from a long line of Scottish aristocrats who were in the arms dealing business for generations). I believe this not only was part of the comics and cards, but also the cartoon (I think the cartoon had Lady Jaye as a relative or something...could be mixing things up at this point). So while I suppose an official figure could've featured African heritage features and still work with the 'history' of the characters, it's highly doubtful.

The Destro featured early on in the recent comics was Destro's son and had darker features due to his mother (who wasn't the Baroness), if I remember correctly.

The new figures look too cartoony and 'cool' for my tastes (to stay on topic).

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Those pictures have to be the result of someone's sick sense of humor. Jesus-give me G.I. Joe Extreme over this 8" stuff any day...

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Not to stray off topic too much into the history of Destro, but below is a file card from his second incarnation (when they decided he'd break off from Cobra and lead his Iron Grenadiers) that gives a bit of background (courtesy of yojoe.com).

What I want to know is, would it have been so hard to imitate all the nice looking Marvel Legends-based GI Joe customs out there? If you're using all the old names (and, more importantly, pretty much using the same characters as far as basic base look and traits), wouldn't it be prudent to go with a toy design that will both attract new kids (unless they've changed over the years, realism does sell to kids too) and also attract the money spending 30 year old fans (something akin to what they did with the Transformers Alternator/Binaltech line)? This series almost looks like an offshoot of those really goofy, larger-sized, super-deformed Star Wars children figures that recently have come out.

post-26-1108926248_thumb.jpg

Edited by Southpaw Samurai
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The only Destro I remember with a removable mask was the 12" Hall of Fame one...and he was pretty much caucasian. Then again, there may have been an earlier smaller figure, as I grew disinterested in the line as they went crazy with their gimmicks.

Larry Hama, who both scribed the Marvel comic and did most of the original G1 File Card info, had at some point decided Destro was Scottish (and apparently from a long line of Scottish aristocrats who were in the arms dealing business for generations). I believe this not only was part of the comics and cards, but also the cartoon (I think the cartoon had Lady Jaye as a relative or something...could be mixing things up at this point). So while I suppose an official figure could've featured African heritage features and still work with the 'history' of the characters, it's highly doubtful.

In one episode of the comic, Destro indeed storms his own Scottish castle (to save it from an imposter) in a "borrowed" World War II glider with Flint and Lady Jaye in tow. Its guarded by his own regiment of Scottish Highlanders.

I'm sure it made sense at the time... :D

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Damnit, these toys are obviously based on the "modern style of American cartoon animation" which in my opinion, totally sucks and has ruined everything in the cartoon and toy industry...well except Batman because the stories there were awesome.

These Joes look like Rescue Heroes with a little more attitude.

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