Our first highlighted Founding Father is YT1. He does great vehicle customs to put it mildly. He turns a simple automobile into a work of art. The detail put into his stuff is no different than what a modeler would put into it and looks just as impressive. Here are a few of his works:

Army Staff Car

Army Truck

Dragon Wagon

Now, lets’ get to know him a little better.

Name/Location (optional): Marc, Central IL

Is 1:18^th scale all you concentrate on?

I wish, I have way too many hobbies. GI Joe, movie props, models, watches and guns. Lately I have been getting into 1/6 scale figures, mainly Sideshow GI Joe.

What toy lines do you use?

I use whatever I can find. Obviously the dedicated military companies have the best stuff. However your imagination is the limit, I used one of the True Heroes scud trucks for my “Dragon Wagon” custom and I think it came out fine.

What is your favorite war era?

WW2, I have been fascinated since I was a kid, maybe it was all those old movies my dad and I watched when I was a kid.

What do you use for inspiration on vehicle customs?

I look at something as a base and try to envision what I can do with it. I am cheap, so stuff often starts out as a bargain and then I try to figure out what I can do with it. That’s how I started on my post WW2 truck and staff car. I found them on clearance and thought, “what can I do with these?”.

What paints do you use on your customs?

Mainly Testor’s Model master through my airbrush. I have been using a lot of Duplicolor Self-Etching Primer lately for metal and resin, it really bites in. I have also been using Tamiya acrylic on figures because it won’t break down the rubbery plastic.

To start off my trip I had to meet up with a friend to get a ride there. I was lucky in that regard because the drive was quite a haul. We left Napa, CA at 7AM to start our trek. We made one stop for lunch in the middle of nowhere and then hit L.A. traffic right at rush hour. That was quite an experience for about 2 hours. After that, we got to San Diego around 6PM.

Once we were in town I contacted NSA and we met up at the convention so I could get my badge. I just made it under the deadline for the day and got to walk around for a little bit and get a lay of the exhibition floor.

On Thursday I left the hotel at 4:45AM to get to the convention. I was told people line up early and did not want to take any chances. Well, they did all right. There were individuals that were camped out there. I was about 150 people back at that hour of the day. I called NSA around 5AM to let him know I was on my way and he met me there around 5:30AM give or take. From there was the waiting game for the doors to open at 7AM to go to another line. Once they opened we went straight to the sales floor to wait in the next line for Hasbro toy shop. They would not let it move until 9AM. Now this line was just to get a ticket to wait in the exclusives line. We were not even at the exhibition floor yet. Once we got our ticket we went through the cattle gates and joined the herd. Well, kind of. As we were checking the line it started moving and we managed to slip in with the masses about 2,000 people ahead of where we would have been.

Now, since all that was done it’s time to get to the floor. We went straight to the Hasbro toy shop booth and started to wait. There were already exhibitors there getting stuff before the masses. No biggie since we were there super early. We knew we were gold for what we wanted. So after about 2 hours in that line we finally got our stuff and checked out displays. About time after about 5 hours in lines!

First place we went was to see all the Hasbro items. They had a display with a vintage G.I. JOE USS FLAGG with a bunch of new product on it. There was really nothing new to show off so we started to see who we could ask questions to. We ran into the designer of the figures and talked with him for a while. It was an interesting conversation and was nice to hear how they came up with some of the ideas for the Pursuit of Cobra line.

After that booth we went to Merit to see what was new. Not really any new information from them but they did offer some great insight into how the 1:18th world is going. Not really to bright unfortunately. They did have some nice display cases for models or whatever you would want to use them for that folded down and the price was very reasonable I felt. Merit did have the “Black Knights” F-14A on display in their booth.

From there we went to take our haul back to where NSA was staying. This was a well deserved break.  We lounged for a little bit while looking over San Diego.  From there we took a few pictures of the haul and started planning for the afternoon.  Well, not really.  We just left and started walking.  There is so much going on outside the convention that you can’t just allow yourself to stay on the exhibition floor.  As we were walking around there were plenty of free drink giveaways.  Maybe not the best idea for some.

After the outdoor tour it was back to the floor to check more stuff.  You really can’t take it all in at one time.  It’s best to get the exclusive wait out of the way and then you can enjoy the show a lot more.  We scoped out the Hasbro booth again to try and extort a little more information out of who we could.  Then we just trolled around and checked out other booths and fought crowds.  After that it was back to the hotel to meet up with some friends and check out the town.

The next day was pretty much a laid back day for us.  We got what we wanted the day before so it was time to really see everything we could.  This was my last day there so I had to scour the entire floor.  There is so much that is happening you almost can’t pack it into the two days I had.  Once we got tired of the exhibition floor we went back to the outdoor events.  The weather was a perfect mid 70′s the whole time with a nice ocean breeze.  It’s really a great place for them to hold this event.

In closing, I had an awesome time!  It was great to meet a few people I’ve been dealing with on the sites and to see how this whole event happens.  Despite the horror stories I’ve heard there was really no issue I ran into but I did prepare for the worst.  I am looking forward to doing this again next year.

Member Highlight

Here is something new that the Fighting 1:18th would like to do to say thanks to it’s members because, without any of you there is no site. It may be a small community but the contributions and talent far outweigh any post count.  We would like to highlight people occasionally to get some info about them and see what makes them tick in the toy world.

Our first person to get this is Rick.  He has stepped up and really brought some works of art to the diorama section.  He has also made a few staple figures that we like to see make an appearance on occasion.  The picture attached at the beginning is his winning shot for the banner contest in July.  The detail he puts into his set ups is only rivaled by a Hollywood prop.

Enough talking, let’s get to the details.

Name/Location (optional):

Rick Wheeler, Winthrop MA

What got you into 1:18^th scale?

Christmas 2009 I was shopping for the son of a friend of mine and walked down the action figure isle. It had been years well decades since I’ve done that and was blown away at the detail. I ended up buying the Cobra Gunship for him and then after he opened it and I had a chance to check it out I soon bought myself one and then the addiction started. From there after searching for other types of 1:18 figures I came across fov, bbi and 21st century which were more appealing to me as they were more realistic looking.

Rick's first diorama: "Seeing old friends"

What toy lines do you use?

GI Joe, FOV, BBI, PTE and 21st.

What started you on dioramas?

As a kid my Dad bought me a model Hellcat that we built together and I fell in love with the hobby and then realized that 1:72 scale, matchbox cars and HO scale trains were close enough in scale to use together. My Dad gave me his old train table where I would build a town and then created battles with the boxes of 1:72 scale figures, armor model buildings and planes. My dioramas today are done on that same 4 x 8 table that dates back to the mid 1940’s

What do you use for inspiration?

Photos of other customs and dios of all the great talented people within our forum. I’ve only been doing this for about 18 months belonging to only two forums and this was my first for the first 6 months. It seems from what others say and what I’ve experienced here is that the members give honest constructive feedback on stuff, but never crap on someone’s work as we know everyone has different levels of talent, but are just having fun for the most part.

How did you come up with the idea for your Alt. Uni. stories?

I guess it’s just my way of being my own movie director or author. I know I’ll never be either but I have always wanted to create a sort of post apocalyptic storyline. Going to movies is great but there’s often that disappointment at the end where you say if it were me I’d…… With this scale and the ability to customize and articulate the figures, armor and aircraft, you can create just about any scene or event you can dream up. As for the story itself I look at current events and think about how the not too distant future could end up if things go the wrong way whilst adding a little imagination.

What brought you to the Fighting 1:18^th?

While I was doing searches for different items this site would always pop up. I felt intimidated though and it took a little while before I decided to join.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, where’s my damn A-10

The 25th anniversary was a great way to draw more attention to the brand of GI Joe.  It got people such as myself who have not been in the loop for a long time to recognize the label again.  By making the cards similar to those in the 1980′s was a great nostalgia and made it hard to say no.  When I was a kid I had to really try to get what I wanted with toys.  I couldn’t just get 10 troop builders and call it a day.  Now that I had my own income the possibilities were endless.  Well, kind of.  There was still the reality of responsibility but at least there was a nice outlet once everything was taken care of.  It was like going through a childhood all over again.  The main characters were there to set up battles.  Who wouldn’t want that?  Well, by wave 7 that was about everybody.  Unfortunately there were many repaints and if kind of dulled the desire for the line.  The vehicles were good to see also but they too got the repaint bug.  By the time the good stuff like a Stinger was supposed to show up it was canceled and only sold online.  It was a good run but needed something fresh.  So then they made a movie.

Personally, I never saw Rise of Cobra the movie.  It had no appeal to myself and the casting just did nothing for me.  The toys on the other hand were hit or miss.  The first two waves were fairly weak in my opinion but this caused an issue with distribution since retailers ordered a bunch of them.  There were a few gems in the pile but it was far and few between.  One thing it did show us was that Hasbro was willing to give us more accessories with the figures.  Now that’s a win for myself.  I rarely keep stuff together so more weapons means more figures to have better arms.  The figures did at least offer some good customizing fodder.  They had a more modern look to them so it was nice to update your favorite figures in a more “real world” look.    The vehicles were something to be desired though.  Very outlandish designs and too high of a price point for their size.  There were a few battle stations but it was too late in the game.  I think most people may have bought figures when they were on sale.  I know I did.  Then when the better stuff was supposed to show up, canceled once again.  These sets were going for a high price on the secondary market once the over seas sellers put them up.  Who would have known what was to come about a year later.

Then Hasbro announces they are doing a Pursuit of Cobra line.  This is something completely different from what we all knew as GI Joe.  The characters we grew up with were getting a face lift and a modernized look to them.  On top of that, accessories!  They loaded up the figures with all sorts of guns and knives.  The vehicles we were shown were a bit more realistic with a touch of future looking in a few of them.  The figures were great for those that wanted something they could actually use in an environment.  They made desert, jungle and winter specific figures.  One problem, they started to show us the only making Duke, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Destro again.  This could not happen to such a good line.  Finally, some major players were announced and a sigh of relief was let out in the collective community.  Still, distribution was a problem again.  Many stores were still gun shy from the Rise of Cobra ordeal so they most likely did not order as much as before.  Now, some places would see stuff while others got snubbed.  This could not be great for the health of the line.
Then the discount store ordeal.  All of a sudden ROSS stores and other discount stores starting seeing droves of GI Joe product.  Not only over produced 25th anniversary items but now canceled product too.  This had caused a huge ripple in the collector community.  Now, people that had paid hundreds for a toy could get it for $5.99 at a discount store.  This caused quite a panic, especially since vehicles from the Pursuit of Cobra line had shown up.  It seemed to be items that stores may have been wary to order considering they were still sitting on product.  Either way, this caused a bit of concern for collectors.  Not only was what most had confirmed as a failure of a movie line started showing up at discount stores, current product was.  Most chalked this up to “the death of the line”.  It’s hard to not think that when you are seeing stuff like that show up.   Still, Hasbro says things are fine and is moving forward.

They did throw the adults the Resolute cartoon which was nice.  We finally got to see the characters we grew up with get in real fights with deaths.  How many shots were fired in the ARAH cartoon an not one injury?  This was great for us but was only about an hour long.  What a tease!  Then the Renegades cartoon came about and kind of divided the community.  It had some decent story building but not much action and the animation was something to be desired.  Still, a good bone to throw the adults while trying to get kids into it.  It’s was a good effort but between the time slot and being on a Hasbro specific channel it made it tough to catch.

So in conclusion, I have hopes that the line will be able to handle the future.  It seems that Hasbro has been changing up the line too much to keep the attention of anyone for more than a year.  With luck, they can keep a somewhat modernized look to GI Joe coming while throwing in a few bones for the ARAH people that are in it mainly for the nostalgia.  I think we can all win down the road but is Hasbro committed to trying to keep multiple people happy?  I hope so because if they keep the look of Pursuit of Cobra and give us some ARAH love it could be a major win for GI Joe and possibly a bit of a renewal of the line.

Anthony Spatucci AKA MAJOR BLOOD from The Fighting 118th

]]> http://www.fighting118th.com/2011/05/02/the-state-of-gijoe-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.fighting118th.com/2011/02/22/the-joys-of-toys/ http://www.fighting118th.com/2011/02/22/the-joys-of-toys/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:47:01 +0000 Paul Ernst http://www.fighting118th.com/?p=3197 Wow, what a terrible terrible title.

With that however, I have an interesting topic. (I hope)

I am 30 (almost 31), I played with G.I. Joes as a kid, and well, really any military themed toy I could get my hands on (Micro machines, Flying Fighters, Transformers, LEGO’s etc), I also really enjoyed Emergency Equipment  based things (Fire trucks etc), since my Dad was a firefighter.

I LOVED playing with toys! What kid didn’t in the 1980′s?

I grew up on a street where the only other kid my age was a girl 1 year older than I was and after about age 9 we stopped really seeing ‘eye to eye’ (physically.. she got TALL, and mentally-boy vs girl mentality). So without a lot (read: any) friends to play with on a regular basis, I had toys, pets and cartoons (and occasionally watching Dallas with Mom) to entertain myself with.

I played the HECK out of my toys, I can not remember a better morning/afternoon than sitting on our little window hutch with a big ol’ box of LEGO’s and building a totally unique, yet kick-ass, castle for my little Knights. Then leaving it up for a week or so and then rebuild it anew next weekend. I always tried to match the pictures on the pamphlets, since we could never afford the huge castle sets, but I never could make it JUST right! The ability to take all-sorts of different sets and combine them was such a great feeling, it let you customize things to your hearts content.

Playing with G.I. Joes was the same way, I’d go to my room and pull them all out, get them geared up and in vehicles and have huge, world-altering battles.. and then have it all wrapped up by dinnertime (maybe bedtime..). I never got a lot of everything, but I always appreciated what I got. Without the Internet I had no idea of what toys were out there (going to the Toy Store was a rare trip!), I got most of my information from the little advertisements they packed inside the boxes. I remember going to a friends house and saw that he had the G.I. Joe APC and I thought that was the COOLEST thing I had ever seen!

Now that some background is out of the way, here is the meat of my topic (still there?)…

In the early 90′s I got a Sega Genesis and, man, Sonic the Hedgehog was the best thing since sliced crack. I played the HECK out of that game, and in the process my love of toys started to erode. I still played with them, but I always wanted to play on the Genesis more.

Flash forward 20 years, many video game machines and a quality re-release of G.I. Joe later and, for me, things have really come full circle.

I’ve been a HUGE video-gamer ever since Sonic, I have owned pretty much every gaming system from the early 90′s till now. I was a big PC gamer for a while (still am, kinda) and even played some MMORPG’s (Damn you World of Warcraft!). I love me the games, offline-online-anyline! I think I spent the better part of my 20′s attached to a monitor or TV or something. LAN parties were the best.. you could be social AND play games.. what a concept (Yep, I’m a nerd).

So the other day, my buddies were asking why I hadn’t been on Xbox LIVE for a month or so.. It hadn’t occurred to me that I never sign on anymore, I never even turn the damn thing on! I’ve been using all my free time to work on some G.I. Joe/1:18th scale customs I’ve had in the works for what seems like years now. I’ve played a few games here and there, but nothing like I used to (I’d be on Xbox LIVE every night till 1 AM!.. Call of Duty BABY!).

I was driving somewhere thinking about this and I had a sudden epiphany.. “playing with toys” is actually more fun than playing video games.

WHOA! Stop right there! I must be going crazy. EVERYONE knows that kids these days love the video games, and toys are on their way out. BABIES play with toys, right? RIGHT!

But I realized, toys bring joys, while video games often lead to frustration and anger.

This is not an anti-video-game or anti-violence rant by any means, I still do (and will) play video games, but I couldn’t help but realize that in the course of playing pretty much any video game, you will die.. or miss something, or do something wrong, and you will suffer various levels of frustration or anger. I know in Call of Duty when I keep getting ‘noob ‘toob’d I sure get angry. The payoff for video games is when you are doing good, you feel good, and you can marvel at your stats till the cows come home. The competitive nature of online gaming is certainly attractive, but I felt that was all it became, making sure I was better than everyone else. When I did poorly, it was stressful, and I ceased having a good time.

I feel that toys are a more simple joy, you use your imagination and it makes you happy. Sure, if a custom doesn’t turn out the way you want it’s disappointing, but that’s not a design flaw in the toy, it’s your sorry excuse for talent. You always have the ability to keep working on things, making them better, learning new things. All of this applies to video games as well, but it seems like at the end of the day all you have left is some stats, whereas if you setup a diorama or create a custom.. that can last forever.

Anyways.. if you read all of this, thank you.. and let me know what you think about the Joys of Toys.

When I last checked in on the state of our hobby, the state was pretty good! The JSI F-14 was coming out, All-Go toys was planning releases, and even BBI was supposed to be coming back to life.

What a difference a few months makes I suppose.

I completely missed out on the F-14 release, and the subsequent fiasco. From what I gather, this was called “Spotgate”, among other things, and revolved around the fact that the final paint job on the F-14 was more akin to a leopard than an actual Grumman? I never really got the whole story, but I know a great many people were disappointed with their expensive airplane. I’ll reserve my judgment till I actually see the thing up close. I know it was a dream-come-true for many 1:18 fans that the F-14 was going to be a reality at all, and it’s a little sad that things didn’t turn out to be all butterflies and rainbows.

The news that All-go is going ahead (sorry) with another P-51 repaint (boobies!) was also a bit of a disappointment to many people in our hobby. Sure, the P-51 is great, and was very popular and stuff, but really? Everyone, on every side of the hobby is asking, nay, clamoring, for some fresh blood in the 1:18 scale. We want something NEW! Repaints, rehashes etc have become the  law of the land, and people are getting tired of it.

That being said, I can see the business sense of releasing a tried-and-true model to garner extra cash to release something new. Normally this would make sense, but the 1:18 scale market is not anything close to normal anymore. It has become very divided and.. for a lack of a better word, snippy. Everyone has an opinion these days (including this editorial, how about that!), and it seems like we are losing more people to other hobbies than we are gaining. This ever dwindling group of collectors are turning on each other as they grow frustrated with the lack of anything NEW coming out.

If I have to read one more thread anywhere about “we need to buy this or XX wont produce YY!” I’m going to be sick. This happens from All-go to Hasbro, and everywhere in-between. I’ve been told numerous times to buy shoddy products just so there is an inkling of a chance I might get what I actually want. Back in the heyday of the 00′s that may have been a feasible marketing move, but in the doldrums of the 10′s, we are all watching our pocketbooks much more carefully.

]]> http://www.fighting118th.com/2010/05/01/the-state-of-our-hobby/feed/ 1 http://www.fighting118th.com/2010/02/08/hasbro-enemy-of-g-i-joe/ http://www.fighting118th.com/2010/02/08/hasbro-enemy-of-g-i-joe/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:35:27 +0000 Paul Pratt http://www.fighting118th.com/?p=1828 In our forum a new member, Fred Broca, asked a question about whether or not Hasbro listened to, or acknowledged the wants and desires of the greater collecting community. Here is the original post, unedited and pasted directly from The Fighting 1:18th forums.

“I originally posted this on the Tank. I thought y’all might appreciate it.

I don’t have a computer, but I’m able to surf the site via the web browser on my phone. Through the various reading I’ve done on this site, I’ve come the startling and unfortunate realization, that we the loyal, faithful, fanboys of G.I. JOE really don’t matter to the executives at Hasbro.

Hasbro, (in my honest opinion,) they completely and totally take us for granted. The brass at Hasbro probably says, “It’s cool that we have a percentage of the collectors. We like and appreciate their support. But the reality of situation is we’re a toy company that carters to children. The target demographic of the G.I. JOE line is boys between the ages of 5-11, maybe even 12. Besides, when it comes to 3 3/4″ military based action figures and accessories, where are they going to go?”

When you think it, all of Hasbro’s decisions concerning Joe makes sense. Especially when you think about the design of certain characters and figures. This train of thought especially makes sense when you think about the direction the movie took.

Sure Hasbro will throw us a bone every now and then, but we’re not the focus. But like somebody so eloquently put in the Joes not selling well thread, http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-jo…ling-well.html, “Hasbro needs to realize that as with Joes are concerned that the target demo shouldn’t be 9 yr olds, but guys who started buying the line when they were 9.”

In my day job, I’m a writer, so I can only explain this from my perspective, which, I admit, is a very limited perspective. But, to summarize my feelings, Hasbro is its own enemy.

Let me explain.

The collector’s think they aren’t getting listened to enough or are being ignored altogether, when, in essence, it doesn’t matter either way. Hasbro does listen to collector’s. Look at the entire 25th Anniversary series of GI Joes. Hasbro can’t get any more connected to its collector base demographic than directly re-releasing virtually everything we loved about the line in a greatly improved format. Unfortunately for collector’s, Hasbro needs to branch out beyond middle aged men for long term financial stability got the better of them. Collector’s are a limited demographic even today. Most of the guys that loved GI Joe as kids are grown up living productive, toy free lives. Hasbro needs children to buy toys.

It’s not that Hasbro doesn’t want to listen to you, or even that they ignore you outright, it’s just that what you want isn’t the secret sauce of success in today’s day and age. Most collector’s want what they had as children. Today’s children aren’t yesterday’s children. This is why past generations thought we acted oddly as children, and why we believe that newer generations of children act oddly. It’s called getting old. GI Joe was popular during the 80s. This was a reflection of the times we lived in. Not just the political landscape, but the entire landscape of child entertainment was fundamentally different than it is today. Children occupied their time more so with toys and cartoons than they do today. Video games and computers weren’t the dominate forms of entertainment back then.

GI Joe left a mark on us because it was there, it was a constant in our lives. Collector’s are simply stuck in the 80s. We grew up with it, but outside of that, there is actually very little we can do to help GI Joe enter a new age. Hasbro helps us where they can, but we can’t sustain GI Joe in this century. Our love of this golden era, the Real American Hero era has completely hypnotized us in everything we perceive about the brand, so we fight for all the wrong things and are, therefore, the wrong demographic to be sought for advice.

But… despite all this obvious knowledge this is not Hasbro’s primary problem. Hasbro needs to radically alter the way it perceives its own properties if they want them to become as engaging as Star Wars.

The only constant in GI Joe is that every time GI Joe resurfaces, it will inevitably disappear.  The main problem Hasbro faces when comparing GI Joe to Star Wars is that GI Joe is not a timeless property like Star Wars is. Every time Hasbro tries to dust off its GI Joe franchise, they discover everything that made it relevant last time are not the same things that are relevant today. Star Wars has remained relevant for over thirty years all the while remaining relatively unchanged, but it has a thriving, expansive mythology that can be drawn upon. A mythology that doesn’t have to reinvent itself every five years. Star Wars has timeless themes, stories that are epic in scope, heroic and recognizable characters, and it seeks to pioneer facets of the medium it chooses to occupy at the time.

GI Joe leaves no mark on our culture, nor does it alter our perception of the way we view the particular medium it is created for, and leaves no lasting after thought about the consequences of the character’s actions within the story. Star Wars was created by a guy wanting to tell a story. Joes were created to sell toys and they were created by a toy company. Selling toys is natural for a toy company, but, people with zero respect for story lines, little patience for character development, and no room in their annual profit reports for emotional arcs are expecting results from toys being driven by cartoons, comics, and films. These are all artistic mediums of expression that need well thought out stories to be truly successful.

The same rings true in all properties Hasbro holds the rights to. Transformers is another example of this reinvention mentality within the company. Neither of these franchises is timeless and the entire company finds themselves outdated very quickly. They spend so much money trying to keep their pulse on what people, particularly children, find trendy, but they ignore what has always been interesting to people of every generation, at any age: A damn good story with conflict and characters.

People seek drama because drama holds our attention. Drama puts us on the edge of our seat, it captivates us. We become invested in our characters because they are interesting, quirky, or likeable. They stand up for the things we may not have the guts to stand up for. The story gives the people we root for danger, which in turn, allows us to become invested in their well being. This is writing 101. Conflict within and around characters makes for good storytelling.

This is why bad movies, or in this case, irrelevant toy lines, fail. Instead of drama, Hasbro gives us easily recognizable, multi colored uniforms placed on mannequins of little, or no personality. These uniforms become the only substance which fans can attach themselves to, they become an anchor. Instead of Duke being a heroic, first sergeant who is constantly living down the mistake of losing his previous men in combat, but leads GI Joe into battle in hopes of atonement, he is the guy in tan shirt and green pants. Instead of Optimus Prime being the courageous leader of the Autobots struggling with the immense responsibility of leading his scattered people, fans get wrapped up in the fact he had blue flames on his truck form in the film. Even as Hasbro desperately tried to rehash Transformers over the years from cars, to animals, to dinosaurs, to women’s hygiene products, Optimus Prime was always the leader, and he was always the stalwart warrior, but fans ignore all of this. Because Hasbro is a toy company, only capable of understanding short term profit gains the emphasis was always placed on the look of the character and never the drama surrounding the character. This, in turn, has transferred to the fan base.

GI Joe: Resolute showed us the possibility of merging the old with the new. The series even demonstrated that Hasbro is capable of putting story first to breathe life into a franchise. Resolute brought the only things that were important from Real American Hero: The names of the characters and the archetypes they play in all mediums of GI Joe. They mixed this with the nods to the original 80s run for fans, some modern military mentality not based on outdated Vietnam era principles, ratcheted up the danger level up by giving our characters a truly threatening situation to deal with, and even giving them just enough difference in look that recognizable toys could be produced. Resolute didn’t have time for character development due to its short length, but this would have been the last building block for creating a great franchise tooled for this century. In short, Resolute created drama, but as an added bonus, it could sell toys (which it actually did).

Unfortunately, Hasbro is already changing GI Joe. The movie gives us another, even more cheesy scenario than the original 80s cartoon, and they are creating another, new animated program on their newly developed children’s network. Again, these are all reinventions of GI Joe. They aren’t even keeping things consistent in the same year, let alone the same generation. There is no opportunity to connect, and no one will care about GI Joe in the long haul, ultimately rendering it irrelevant forever if they don’t begin approaching the franchise as something more important to them.

You can comment on the editorial here, or at: http://forums.fighting118th.com/showthread.php?t=1699