G.I. Joe Classified Series (1:12)

[Videoviper]

Unfortunately when they announced that they would move to Boston I expected them to lose a few people.

Unfortunately from what I heard they have lost a significant amount of people.

It’s not an industry that does well in economic downturn,

great products but just not being released at an optimal time.

 

[nacho]

I saw a review on the VAMP MkII, so I'll bet that it drops sooner than a month out. I'm guess 2-3 weeks, tops.

I'm concerned about LC b/c on AMZ, it kinda came and went and is now listed as "We don't know when/if we'll ever get more stock". That's a bad sign. I fear we're going to get shafted on that one. I put in a waitlist order for a single on BBTS just in case, but even that feels like a long shot. I would be sad, but at least it's not a core Joe. I would be irritated on missing out, but I wouldn't feel like there was a massive gaping hole in my collection.

Re: the layoffs

Lots of "dEaTh oF tHe LiNe" talk after the Emily layoff. She wasn't even on the Joe team per se anymore, supposedly one level up now. But they've pretty much fired or run off every member of the core group, so it feels like they're planning to start coasting. Lots of talk that Joe doesn't survive past about '28, like they're not planning on much after running through whatever Lenny had in the pipeline. Hope that's just speculation and doomerism.

Sentiment is that the CEO is a douchebag who has stated that he doesn't want them to be in the toy business, but rather in the IP business, just licensing everything out. Which is a weird stance for a toy company that only knows how to make toys, not manage IPs or media.

That entire "transition to IP company" mindset is very 2012. I look forward to things swinging back to the "focus on core competency" school of thought. I just hope Joe survives the intermediate term.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Uh oh. I just got an email about this:

https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/MF12819?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email_campaign&utm_campaign=2026_09_30%20-%20McFarlane%20Tomb%20Raider%20%282026-09-30%29&utm_id=01M3QC7VGM3TRPQEKX7R6Q390M&_kx=xgocaHDIY4WUCbju5KFFXb8Mr9ZOO0l7Q6hCmw80gXI.SFESst

Makes me wonder if I should cancel my order and wait to see if McFarlane can deliver anything close to what the render looks like. It certainly looks "prettier" than the actual pics of the Joe one. Any idea about their level of quality these days?

I also wonder if a lot of straight LC fans might drop the Joe version to wait for this one. Might open up more chances for you to get one without having to go aftermarket.

 

[Videoviper]

The death of the line is going across multiple brands.
Obviously we will need to see some change as generally
1: people are re-prioritizing toys with everything else going on

2: People are not happy about various price increases & the view that it will only go up & then Get less.

3: The whole not completing groups has been driving away people for years.

4: IP owners have been crapping over their properties for year (Looking at SW)

If they want to be an IP company, then they need to prioritize internal IPs because they will lose in the long run based on what has happened with SW. (High prices, less stuff, questionable quality)

I kind of like the idea of Hasbro doing non toys.
The thinking would be to utilize the factory in the off season.
I understand they recently got rid of their last US based factory so that idea might be out the window.

 

[nacho]

Dan, McFarlane figures are normally 7" scale, so she's look like an amazon... and probably come with less gear and less articulation. I would definitely not count on this being a retro LC alternative. But I do hope it makes the hasbro version more plentiful.

VV, I agree with all of that. SW has been a travesty for 5-6 years now. I assume that Disney has a lot to do with ruining the toys, but hasbro has to shoulder some of the blame. The choices they make are often inexplicable.

I assume that the IP focus would have to be on internal properties, as they're not going to sub-license SW or Marvel products. It'll be Transformers, Joe, and MLP that really keep them going (along with kiddie board games). They couldn't pay the light bill with MASK, Visionaries, and ROM revenue. But that "IP focus" plan should have died with the Battleship: The Movie fiasco. How about the toy company focuses on making toys? It's a crazy idea, but it just might work.

I know production in this economic environment is challenging, especially when you've been off-shoring all of it for 50 years, but maybe when we get to the other side of this disruption, companies will have rediscovered how to make great products that people want... rather than just scheming how to milk them to juice the next quarterly report. One can dream...

 

[ThunderDan19]

Dan, McFarlane figures are normally 7" scale, so she's look like an amazon... and probably come with less gear and less articulation. I would definitely not count on this being a retro LC alternative. But I do hope it makes the hasbro version more plentiful.

Hmm. I'm not super worried about the scale or even that much about articulation as she's probably going to be more of a one off display on my work desk rather than alongside my Joes at home. That said, she might dwarf Han, Vader, CoCo, Mando, Spidey and Cap, but not Chewy, by golly!

Worst part is that it is impossible to judge a fancy render against the in hand pics that we have of Joe LC. I really just want the coolest, prettiest, best detailed version, especially since the price on these is so close.

I guess the best thing to do is to stick with the Joe one and at least let it get delivered (whenever that will be) and watch for more info on the McF one as it trickles out. I leave the Joe one on the card and maybe end up with both (assuming the McF still looks good in the future drops), then decide which one to keep, or both.

First world problems.

 

[nacho]

AMZ must be preparing for their semi-annual garbage garage sale... no Lara Croft, no retro Flash, no Dusty v3... all went from delivery expected yesterday to "we'll let you know when we have a ship date". WTH.

Retro Falcon is in the wind supposedly coming today, and I did get the gurl blueshirt. You'd think retro Flash was packed with those two and wouldn't be indefinitely delayed.

I even got a delay approval notification for a roll of vinyl I ordered that was supposed to arrive today. It's like they're having big problems over there either due to weather (noreaster?) or labor issues... or something. No chance all these products just suddenly didn't arrive. I went nearly a year without having to approve a delay, and now I've had a half-dozen in a week's time.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Not sure if this is common with AMZ or not. Everything recent I had ordered from the was stuff that was already in stock. The last few that I PO'ed prior to this last round were through EE if I recall. Maybe it comes down to higher than typical volume of PO offerings, or coordination with Hasbro, but you'd think AMZ would have their act more together.

 

[nacho]

Got retro Falcon today... he's a mixed bag. His head is probably better than the other two releases, but it's still not quite right. Not sure what it is about this character that gives them fits, but I don't suspect we'll be getting another Falcon anytime soon, if ever, so I guess this will have to do.

I know the deco is sunbow inspired, but it's weird that a dude in green fatigues with black camo gets colored "mostly brown" in the toon. I'm not sure if I like it. I may well end up frankensteining some better version from parts of all three releases.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the card art. While not as bad as Flint's, this is pretty damn bad. I hadn't noticed from random glances of the card online, but the art is a really bad remake of the original, especially the face. Falcon looks like he has giant horse dentures.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, I've been debating whether or not to include him in consideration for wallpaper duty, assuming his price drops out at some point. As of now, I am leaning away from it unless it goes well into $1X.XX territory.

While some of it remains tolerable, I'm still baffled at all the substandard artwork for the retro packaging. Hasbro has to own all that original (superior) artwork. Save for weapon and loadout changes, why would they ever (apart from my nepo argument from a while back) go with inferior AI/knockoff over the original masterpieces?

And then there is the inexplicable botching of Beach Head's non-3D logo and digital explosion.

 

[nacho]

Not sure if it's true, but I read somewhere that back in the analog days, they actually painted over the originals for the characters that got Night Force and Tiger Force decos. So they might not have the proper original artwork...

But S7 has proven time and again that it doesn't take a massive overpriced art department to get a very good approximation. The AI that Hasbro uses isn't even good AI. It looks like 2021 AI. I could do better in five minutes with NanoBanana.

Falcon's card looks tolerable from a galloping horse. But you just can't stop and look at it, or the bad art starts to become apparent. The figure isn't bad at all, I'm just not super keen on the brown base from the toon deco.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, I read about the TF/NF paintovers in the Art of GI Joe Omnibus. That very publication has large format, high quality prints of most/all the original artwork right there. A mildly talented novice like me could have scanned that and simply tasked AI to sharpen/brighten it up enough to use for new package art. I'm pretty confident that would have been better than the elementary school art class-like reproductions we've gotten on some of these.

 

[ThunderDan19]

It's funny that we are talking about retro Falcon from AMZ right now. I have noticed a trend lately and I just saw it again today with Falcon on AMZ. They are currently (at least for my search criteria) showing two listings for rFalcon - one for the normal retail price and one for about $8-10 more. It's the same for rGrunt. His has been there for a while now. To be clear, I have my sorting set to (supposedly) only see amz and amz resale (open box/returns/damaged/etc.), so this should not be any of their third party sellers.

I've heard a lot about WM and AMZ's pricing shenanigans lately and wonder if this is just some kind of "fishing for lazy/careless buyers" thing where they just hope for a certain number of those types to hurriedly buy these so they can net that much more profit on a share of their stock. Either way, it stinks and I don't like it!

 

[ThunderDan19]

Bradley Cooper Set To Play Duke In New G.I. Joe Movie

According to Deadline, actor Bradley Cooper (A-Team, The Hangover, American Sniper) has been cast as Conrad Hauser Duke in the new Danny McBride directed G.

toynewsi.com

Ten years ago I would have loved this. Post plastic surgery I'm not as sure...

 

[nacho]

In general I agree, but I do like Cooper quite a bit... and he's 1000% better than Tatum.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Absolutely! Plus, the new Duke is "rugged" so maybe a good beard (assuming he can still grow one of those) will help cover up his Hollywork a little. Will I still hear Rocket Raccoon a little when he talks on screen? Yeah, I probably will.

It will be interesting to see how they cast the rest of the team: younger or seasoned, dead ringers or more recognizable actors, how many? I hope they at least have a lot of dead ringer extras if they keep the focus to a smaller primary team.

 

[nacho]

Progress, progress... front hull finished this morning as well. Gonna run the big chunk over the weekend. Should be good to assemble by monday. Fingers crossed.

Biggest gotcha in assembly is getting the main gun base mounted to the turret (it's really tight...), and I did that successfully without fubar-ing anything. I *completely* botched the woodlands one and had to triage that assembly, but I definitely learned what not to do. Really glad this one went smoothly. I'll sleep better tonight.

Not gonna lie, the clickety-clack of the treads is one of the more satisfying sounds I can recall. Just rolling it six inches gives me warm fuzzies every time.

 

[ThunderDan19]

 

[nacho]

Sad panda... big hull had a nozzle clog 80% of the way through a 42hr print. After a couple of hours, I got it to resume, but there was a missing layer or two that compromised the appearance and likely the structure. So I had to abort, and I'll have to order a new spool of material. If it had failed slightly sooner, I'd still have enough left to give it another try, but the stash is right on the hairy edge, and I don't want to get 97% done with the second one and run out, effectively causing the same problem. That would be far worse.

So it'll be a few days to get another spool and give it another go.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Oh no! I guess Murphy noticed how smoothly things were going… Make sure you include that in the price.

 

[nacho]

Nah, it's the price of doing business. If it didn't fail on that part, it would have been on another one.

Filament spool issues are like getting a flat tire... it's not anything you can control, you can't predict it, and it's guaranteed to happen at the least opportune time.

The struggle is real, but they just make successful prints that much more gratifying.

 

[nacho]

I've got all the other parts printed, cleaned up, and anything that isn't attached to the back 2/3 of the hull is assembled and ready to go... and I got the new spool in from AMZ (that was fast...). So it should be a quick build when the final piece comes out of the oven. I'll get attempt #2 started before I leave the office, and it should finish mid-morning on Wed if all goes according to plan.

AMZ also came through with Dusty v3 and Lara Croft today. Plus Action Man is out for delivery when the mailman comes. I kinda regret canceling my Flash order in favor of Pulse... who had them "in stock" but still hasn't shipped yet. Shot myself in the foot there. I'd probably have Flash by now if I hadn't gotten twitchy. But AMZ delays that turn into "we'll get back to you" make me very uneasy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ThunderDan19]

That's awesome! Our AMZ has been all over the place on delivery times recently, at least over this way. It's not uncommon lately to tack something onto an order and get it the next day, but I still have Duke and LC perpetually stuck back on "Order Received" after their having been estimated for the first of October just a week or two ago.

My Flash was stuck there too, but (coincidentally or not) I called them on that one this morning. In my typical Joe search, he showed (and still does) as available for delivery tomorrow (from Amazon, not a third party seller) for the low low price of $49 so I asked Alexa from their website why, if they had Flash in stock, mine still had no delivery date.

It replied that, while it understood that was a frustrating question, it could not give me an answer and asked if I wanted to chat with a customer service rep. I declined, but left a thumbs down anyway for "answer was not helpful." Then, this afternoon I magically get an update that Flash (and only Flash so far) is now expected on Saturday.

I guess I would have to pay the premium to get him tomorrow... Still highly annoying, and smells like demand-based pricing. In case we hadn't pissed off the latest generation against capitalism enough already, WM and now AMZ are dabbling in capitalistic exploitation. And we wonder why these kids are warm to communism. /end rant

I'm sure it is all actually based on regional arrivals of product, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when other stores already have product available, and even on the shelves locally in some cases, and AMZ is still apparently waiting for theirs to get to the east coast. I'd have cancelled the AMZ order and gone to WM by now had I not used AMZ gift card balance to buy them.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some - especially when trying not to go out of pocket more than necessary for my toys.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, some states are trying to outlaw the dynamic pricing... because it feels gouge-y.

Plus, as everything goes digital and all of these platforms build highly comprehensive profiles on every living person in the country, supposedly they very much want to migrate to algorithm-based pricing that knows what you want and can accurately guess the maximum you're willing and able to pay for it... and charge you that amount. So without intervention, no one will see the same price online, just what they think you can afford and will pony up.

Of course, we'll all have to create multiple profiles for every platform using fake names, our kids/pets names or whatever, and they'll get wise to that and require some kind of identity verification to have an account (but not to vote, That's RAYSIS!). It'll be a digital arms race between online giants and consumers and consumer protection laws.

While I'm confident we can navigate that kind of system better than most, I do not look forward to having to jump through ever-changing hoops to keep from getting screwed just so Bezos can buy another boat the size of Puerto Rico.

 

[nacho]

Well, Joe must be doing well, as the only item in the AMZ garage sale is the slaughter/mercer 2-pack.

I reluctantly pulled the trigger. After the "used" deal on reddog and taurus, that completes the renegades for about $70 and gives me yet another slaughter for fodder. Not too bad, despite my initial plans to skip them entirely.

In today's bummer news, heavy rumors on the ML boards that Legends are moving to a $30 msrp to be announced soon at NYCC. Of course, history says it'll be across all of their 6" lines, so welcome to another price hike. Makes me glad we're reaching the end of my must-have list.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, I do think that, because the line is now fully grown in overall popularity, it keeps us paying at or near retail a little more than in the past. I think it's also the fact that Joe is almost exclusively an adult collector line (that sounds weird when I write it out). Hasbro knows who buys the product and that we have the cash - if we are willing to spend it on their product.

It seems like the retailers know as well. We got the Target toys mini-wishbook in the mail recently. You know what never shows up in those, or in WM's equivalent - Joes. Actually, I don't recall seeing the SWBS or ML either this year, at least in the Target one. I'll have to get the WM one and check it as well. Maybe 6" have been completely abandoned for the keeds by now as too mature, too violent, whatever.

Anyway, I'm glad the Sarge/Mercer thing worked out. They really aren't complete without the full trio. I'd been watching it to see if it would get down around what I paid a while back for you. I think you actually beat me by a few bucks!

As for the price hike, no surprise yet again, due to above as well as never ending inflation. I'm starting to think maybe AMZ is getting ahead of it with their double listing with up pricing. I couldn't fully run it to ground, but I wonder if, at least for the CS, if the second listings as well as the hiked prices are for the figs produced at the new factories in Vietnam vs the last ones out of China. While Alexa couldn't confirm the SKUs were different, at least for Falcon, the ASINs (AMZ's identifiers) are different. Maybe the price hikes are Hasbro's way of trying to quickly recoup their investment in VN over China due to tariff concerns by hiking the stuff coming out of the new factories.

 

[nacho]

I appreciate you looking out for me. I'd had the sarge-mercer set flagged on camelcamelcamel if the price ever got below $30, but the Prime Day price seemed like it was good enough that I'd probably regret passing, so I pulled the trigger. It's the same price most people are asking for a loose Mercer on ebay and mercari, so yeah... free sarge? Yipppee!

I think the MSRP hike is hasbro just trying to future-proof against more inflation, oil prices, and potential disruptions. It's a money loser to constantly be chasing those increases instead of building them into the price in advance.... so from a strategery perspective, I don't like it, but I get it.... Or you're spot on.... they're trying to pay for the factory in 'Nam and the HQ move to Boston by gouging middle-aged man-children. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's funny, I bristle at the idea of $30 joes... but at this point, I don't really blink at $30 valaverse or $35-$40 figures from Skeletron or BigBadWorkshop. However, with all of those, I'm in full-blown cherry picking mode. I have zero compulsion to go all-in with any ancillary line that I only buy to augment my classified collection. So I suppose that if something from those lines gets my interest enough, then I typically am willing to pay the boutique price. But hasbro stuff that I frequently buy in triplicate or army-build, that's another story.

 

[ThunderDan19]

So I finally ran out of patience for AMZ and swapped over my orders for Duke, Flash and Deep Six to WM, who promises to deliver each of them over the next three days. While I wanted to use my AMZ gift cards straight up for them, the credit remains and we'll surely use it to offset other purchases, probably within a few days or weeks anyway.

I likely would have stuck with AMZ had they managed to give me reasonable/competitive expected delivery dates on everything. They couldn't give any for Duke or LC (who I had to leave over there since she's OOS there and at WM). Flash was set for Saturday and DS for the 16th.

So it looks like WM wins 3-1 this round, assuming they can deliver. In fairness, I have never had an issue with them to speak of, aside from their lack of respect for the retro cards early on. They seem to have resolved that, at least for the last few I have gotten from them, not that I was planning to leave Flash on his card anyway.

New toys are finally on the way! Huzzah! Maybe now I can finally stop hitting up AMZ hoping for delivery dates 10 times a day too!

 

[nacho]

Pulse finally shipped Flash, so I should have him by... halloween? I don't know if they're really slow or I'm just spoiled by amazon, but it "seems" like HP shipping takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I don't trust WM in the least after all the PO cancellations, simply not fulfilling orders while items are supposedly instock, shady/unregulated 3P sellers, and their local drivers leaving stuff on the sidewalk in front of my office anytime, day or night. I did switch anything I order from them to get delivered to my house, so it can sit on my porch in the boonies rather than along the sidewalk of a busy street...

I'll gladly buy stuff from a MW store, but I only order from them if it's a last resort, exclusive, or a deal too good to pass up. But regular priced mainline stuff... I'll try practically anywhere else first.

 

[nacho]

But you're right, Amazon credits won't sit around long. The Prime Day garage sale sucks, but I got good deals on 25 kilos of filament, so that should last a while, at least for those colors.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Got your colors for all those Eco Force vehicles?

 

[nacho]

hahaha, fat chance.... a lot of black, white, and greens

 

[nacho]

Word is that the upcoming Wal-Mart Cancel-Con joe figure will be Night Force Sneek Peek. I'm about as excited about that as I was Psyche-Out.

I would only want one to complete the '87 roster, and the NF colors are slightly less offensive than the classic deco. While I haven't seen a render or anything, he couldn't look as goofy as his Spaceballs-wannabe ARAH figure, so maybe they'll improve him somehow. Hope springs eternal!

It amazes me that WM somehow ended up with our only Classified versions of Crystal Ball, Psyche-Out, and Sneek-Peek... the holy trifecta of '87 pegwarmers that plagued stores for *years*. In all of my toy collecting as a kid, few things were more depressing than talking a parent or grandparent to take you to TRU or the mall, only to see nothing but pegs full of those three losers. My TRU was absolutely swimming in them for an interminable amount of time. If they had a 4th figure, it was dress-blues GH, which was not a great seller b/c no kid has use for a soldier in formal attire. WTH.

 

[ThunderDan19]

So true. It's amazing that the top toy seller in the US agreed to receive those as their exclusives. I'd imagine the conversation went something like this: "Ok, we'll take these, but you have to give Target all the Tiger Force and Ninja Force losers..."

And speaking of , now there's this guy: Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Series 6 Dreadnok Flatline Figure Pre-Order Coming 10/13. I'm not even really sure what they were going for... but they missed.

 

[nacho]

Oh yeah, I saw him yesterday, and he was such a zero that I already forgot.

This was my post at TFW:

NGL, I would rather they'd given us Scalpel.

Who is going to let the veterinarian work on them? Even in Cobra, presumably they want to continue living.

Just like Parth Varma, the dino wrangler guy, and Sundown... the Classified team isn't that great with creating the new characters. They're all pretty meh, especially when there are good existing characters that need to be made before the line goes t!t$-up.

------------

The only explanation for WM agreeing to take those figures is that the person in charge was not a male child in the 80s. Only someone possessing 0% familiarity with the characters would agree to those figures as an attempt to draw shoppers to their store or website.

 

[nacho]

Hopes dashed... they did not make him cooler. He's still a derpy chud with an inexplicably spherical noggin'.

Not sure if that's a new vest or a reuse/remold of the tripwire gear. Why does a guy with a drone and a periscope need to wear that much padding?!

 

[ThunderDan19]

Oh yeah, I saw him yesterday, and he was such a zero that I already forgot.

This was my post at TFW:

NGL, I would rather they'd given us Scalpel.

Who is going to let the veterinarian work on them? Even in Cobra, presumably they want to continue living.

Just like Parth Varma, the dino wrangler guy, and Sundown... the Classified team isn't that great with creating the new characters. They're all pretty meh, especially when there are good existing characters that need to be made before the line goes t!t$-up.

------------

The only explanation for WM agreeing to take those figures is that the person in charge was not a male child in the 80s. Only someone possessing 0% familiarity with the characters would agree to those figures as an attempt to draw shoppers to their store or website.

Agreed. They would have done better to make more (mostly from parts already in inventory) troop builders - Joe and Cobra Troopers kitted out for Desert, Arctic, Jungle, RPG, Medic, etc. Instead Lenny let his freak flag fly with these all new, but way out there - dinos, zombies, energon/magic - and entirely unnecessary characters.

Maybe I am too old school, but I think we have plenty of "characters with personalities" to utilize from all those years of developing the IP. Do the work to flesh those out. Improve upon the less awesome ones (like they didn't really do with ol' SP above). It truly does look like they took their eye off the ball here and spent too much time with the "all new" characters instead.

Anything new should be developed as more generic, but with lots of customizable options to build out the different teams with peripheral troopers. I think the 25th did that pretty well and the CS should have followed that pattern instead of developing lame new weirdos to try to compete for shelf supremacy with those all time pegwarmers.

 

[nacho]

What's strange about the whole strategy is that Hasbro (and the toy industry as a whole) has pretty much conceded that action figures, especially detailed 6" figures, are almost strictly the playground of adult collectors, as they've completely priced out kids and casual buyers. Only people with middle-age disposable income and the nostalgic connection to this 80's property are going to spend the kind of money it takes to keep the line alive.

And yet recognizing that, they still fail to understand that those same adult collectors are largely not interested in new kewl concepts and figures, but mostly want better versions of their nostalgic favorites.

We have a cobra dino trainer, an army of ghost-tech troopers, whatever Synapse is supposed to be, Parth Varma, Sundown, a dreadnok failed veterinarian, and an Outhouse Viper... but we still don't have a proper v2 (1985) Snake-Eyes, Ace, Cutter, or Ripcord. How messed up is that?

 

[nacho]

I spy, with my little eye...

 

[ThunderDan19]