Joe Reboot

[nacho]

Well, this sounds... different. I'm not going to criticize until I see it, but it certainly smells like we are far from their target audience at this point.

They lost me with "millennial".

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/0...ill-doesnt-understand-franchises-core-appeal/

The IDW ARAH comic by Hama is fun in a nostalgic kind of way.... but very clearly sub-par in any objective measure of comic book goodness. However, the main IDW Joe book full of Transformers and Dire Wraiths is a complete shit-show that should be taken out back and put out of it's misery.

Something had to be done... just not sure millennializing it is the right direction. At the very least, maybe this reboot will result in some interesting toys.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

The headline says it all...

Hasbro Planning GI Joe Reboot With “Millennial Approach,â€￾ Still Doesn’t Understand Franchise’s Core Appeal

I love this guys idea...

Personally, while I loved the cartoon as much as any 80s kid, I ADORED the Larry Hama comics. But… I think a really fun route for G.I.Joe would be to go the Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, etc. route by making the films action comedies.

Even the new Chips film is embracing the camp of the old stuff.

 

[NSA]

The company also has big plans to team up with Paramount again on movies featuring a rebooted G.I. Joe with a revamped look intended to appeal to younger audiences.

The action-figure line was turned into a movie in 2009, with a sequel four years later. Both "G.I. Joe" movies were modest box-office successes and didn't generate the level of global appeal as the "Transformers" movies.

Simon Waters, who oversees consumer products at Hasbro Studios, said the company wants to take “a more millennial approach.â€￾

“The world has changed, and I think you’re going to see G.I. Joe changing with it,â€￾ he said. “There’s going to be a much more contemporary approach to the whole franchise, and that will allow us to develop different characters.â€￾

Davis added: “We hope to create a head snap. It’s a different kind of ‘Joe’ — one that still resonates with ‘Joe’ fans but brings in an uninitiated audience and expands the audience internationally and domestically.â€￾

If all goes as planned, the cinematic universe will eventually incorporate characters from other popular Hasbro properties including ROM, Micronauts, Visionaries and M.A.S.K.

Meh...

 

[nacho]

Even the new Chips film is embracing the camp of the old stuff.

And it's also going to be a box office flop. Hasbro wants Transformers-type movie numbers, not Ernest Goes to Camp-type revenue.

I'm not saying you're wrong from the standpoint of middle-age man-children who want to be amused, but I don't think that's a sound business strategy for one of their core properties.

 

[NSA]

That website..

What Waters and Hasbro fail to realize is that attempts to modernize GI Joe are what made the first two movies suck in the first place. Nobody wants a contemporary GI Joe that reflects the intricacies of the modern political landscape. We want sailors that talk like Jack Nicholson with emasculating pet parrots talking trash to them, soldiers in garishly colorful costumes who end up just having to punch people in the god damn face because their specializations are so ridiculously specific they have no practical use in 99% of combat situations, hilariously inept, over-the-top villains scheming to take over the world with elaborate plots to control the weather or create giant mutant vegetables, Australian bikers with chainsaws who get high on grape soda and donuts, espionage that involves putting on a plain rubber mask that makes someone look exactly like another character, computers that take up entire rooms with 80 foot screens and the graphics of a Commodore 64, and lots of sweet ninja action and laser gun fights where nobody ever gets injured and everyone parachutes out of their planes, helicopters, and tanks before they explode spectacularly. Embrace the camp, man. It’s not that freaking hard.

Well.. I don't want that either. I have the cartoon. I don't need more of what I have.

I agree, an action comedy would probably be best. Hell, you could even keep the Rock in it

 

[nacho]

Meh...

The last line is the scariest:

"If all goes as planned, the cinematic universe will eventually incorporate characters from other popular Hasbro properties including ROM, Micronauts, Visionaries and M.A.S.K."

They want their own Marvel Cinematic Universe, but if the comics are any indication, they have zero fucking clue how to integrate all these seemingly independent properties. IDW's main "Revolution-verse" Joe title is a train wreck. It's unreadable.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

And it's also going to be a box office flop. Hasbro wants Transformers-type movie numbers, not Ernest Goes to Camp-type revenue.

I'm not saying you're wrong from the standpoint of middle-age man-children who want to be amused, but I don't think that's a sound business strategy for one of their core properties.

Oh I know what they want. They want what they already tried to do. Keep the name but reinvent. They want to grab older viewers with the name but attract "kids" with some hip, CGI-fest, summer blockbuster reinvention. They can't please both. I mean, they can, but not with their plan and not to the extent that they'd like. They're going to get another flop either way.

The ONLY thing they can do with that name is bring in older viewers. The GIJOE name means absolutely nothing to "millennials". They can make it campy and fun and a comedy, or go really dark retro 80's war movie but in both instances keep the original characters in place. That would attract at least our generation and even the generation before us. The halo reinvention for millennials is pretty generic at this point.

Eh, who cares anymore. We'll never see anything close to actual GIJOE.

 

[nacho]

Eh, who cares anymore. We'll never see anything close to actual GIJOE.

I think this is the point. Besides, I have all the old cartoons and comics, and we've gotten modern "retro" figures for pretty much every significant character.

If I never buy another Joe again, I'm good. In a year or so, I'll be in the same boat with MP Transformers. Maybe then I can focus my time and money on *gasp* something not-toy-related. Maybe I'll finally buy that Challenger...

No matter what they do with Joe, they're never going to reinvent the Marvel wheel. DC can't do it, so I'm not sure why Hasbro is all wet in the panties to give it a go. I get the feeling they think they are much much smarter than they really are. The company that makes "Cootie" and "Pieface" thinks they are a media/IP giant.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

They ALL just need to give ALL of their properties to Marvel. THEY know what they are doing.

As for the Challenger, that too is my modern (affordable) dream car. Flat black. Maybe gloss black stripes. Black wheels with maybe the outer ring being red. Mmm MM!

 

[nacho]

Haha, I want a gloss black with flat black stripes! R/T Scat Pack, six-speed. Although I can't really justify it b/c my Camaro SS has nothing wrong with it, still runs like a scalded cat. It's hard to kill an LS1. But when something goes wrong though, I won't hesitate...

Won't you get fired for driving a non-Ford? Or do you just have to park in the off-brand lot that's three-and-a-half miles from your office?

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

The Not-Ford section in our lot really isn't that far away at all.

My wife actually said she's fine getting one. But I'm loving all too much not having car payments. Saving money has become so much more enjoyable at my old age than having a new car. She's not necessarily the opposite, but she is much more materialistic than I am.









.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, haven't had a car payment in over a decade, and that's probably the biggest thing holding me back. I'm just going to drive the Camaro until the wheels fall off. Hell, it's only a few years from being a "classic". It's an '01 I bought new in 2000. I was f#$%ing 25 years old when I bought that car, and I'm still driving it at 42!

I like to think I'm smart with my money and not materialistic, but then I look at the tens of thousands of dollars of plastic crack that surround me, and I'm not so sure... Either way, I just assume that in less than five years, something will force me into some new wheels. 4th Gen Camaro's were not built to last two full decades. I might end up buying a late-model used Challenger with like 15-20k miles, let someone else absorb the huge depreciation. Only problem is, on a car like that, you wonder how much they hooned it. Those could be hard miles.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

The last new we bought was in 2009. My wife's Focus. I told her after we pay that off, I'll take it over (my 91 notch Mustang was on it's way out) and we'll get her a new car. My buddy sold me his mom's Explorer for half blue book so we really didn't need to get her a new car. And I still have my 96 Mustang that I bought when I was 18...18!! I can't freaking believe I've had that car for 22 years!!

But yeah, no way you buy a muscle car that hasn't been dogged to hell. Those things live their entire life on the rev limiter. Check out the bald back tires of every one you see.

 

[K-Tiger]

Can't be any worse than IDW's overweight, splittail Salvo.

 

[nacho]

That IDW book is a hot mess. I've dropped it... and that is coming from someone who has read and purchased every Joe comic since '82 (not counting that Dark Horse nonsense). And it sounds like Hasbro is all-in on rebooting the toy franchise, the whole shared universe thing. It's sad how badly they have a MCU boner.

I have zero desire to experience Transformers/MASK/ROM/Micronaughts in my Joe comics, cartoons, and movies. What good is a jungle trooper when you're fighting robots that can see in the dark, turn invisible, teleport, fly into space, and torch the jungle without a second thought? It's absurd. No matter how badly Hasbro wants to put their chocolate in the peanutbutter, it's not going to work.

As corny as the Hama-verse book is these days, it's leagues better than the Revolution-spawned Joe book. That thing needs to die a fiery death.

 

[NSA]

I don't think I read many of the new ones, MAJOR BLOOD got me some.. files.. of some of the comics at some point, and they seemed kind of interesting, but I never followed up on that.

I assume they want GI JOE to be the army guys in the transformer universe now? I don't even remember what those guys were called in the Transformers movies, but I assume they'll fill the same role?

 

[nacho]

The Joe book consists of about a half dozen characters, including new girl-Doc, girl-Salvo, crippled Grand Slam, RnR, Roadblock, Quickkick, Shipwreck... and Skywarp, led by Scarlett. It's a complete mess.

Then you read a TF book, and the team hanging with Optimus Prime is Flint, Marissa Fairborne, Spike Whitwicky,.... and a random guy from the Chinese military is in charge. The whole franchise is unrecognizable. Ugh.

 

[NSA]

Yeah, well, I mean it's their thing I guess. It sucks they don't want our business anymore.. but.. bleh. It was enough for me to quit cold turkey.

Kind of nice not having my nostalgia nuts in a vice anymore.

The previous two movies were JUST close enough to what I wanted that I remained interested and felt compelled to buy shit. Hopefully the new stuff changes to 5-POA 5 2/3" figures because fuck it.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, i'd be really pissed if there was still a bunch of vintage stuff that needed modern updates, but at this point, I have a warehouse full of actual vintage and neo-vintage Joes. If they want to turn them into space cyborgs or some nonsense, at least I have what I have. To use your analogy, I no longer have nostaliga blue-balls.