psychoviper wrote:
I don't quite understand some of the contradictory info from that interview?
-we've seen all the Joes for the 30th line
-no more variants
-renegades is over
-but there are 3 additional unannounced waves? what are they going to consist of, if all the above is ruled out?
Anyway, very little good news here. But as usual, what Hasbro says and what they actually end up doing is often quite different, so whatever.
And I totally agree with what others have said about the schizophrenic approach to marketing (or lack thereof) to kids vs. collectors. Management simply does not know what to do, or how to do it with Joe. It could be such a cash cow in competent hands! Consider:
This is one of the few unlicensed, in-house properties they have (no licensing fees to pay)
A good chunk of the design work is already done (names, concepts, color and design schemes from 30 years ago)
Its a military toy for goodness sake! It should be selling itself!
Thanks to the internet, companies know more than ever who is buying their products and what those customers demand.
Hollywood is involved. And while that was disastrous last time around (like many of predicted it would be) in the right hands and with the right approach, it could be the most powerful add ever!
tl;dr Hasbro management hasn't got a clue when it comes to Joe, and sadly the line suffers due to thir utter incompetence.
Do you ever wonder if the reason why Hasbro does not put forth the same effort as the other brands is due to the fact that GI Joe is a brand that they own. If you were in management, would you want GI Joe to cannibalize sales from say Star Wars or Marvel Universe when you had to pay huge licensing fees? It's a tough balancing act, since you want to get the Star Wars rights to keep it away from Mattel or Playmates and at the same time, it might unintentionally take away resources from your own in-house product. Also, doesn't anyone find it odd that Hasbro has been willing to co-brand Tranformers with Star Wars and Marvel products, but aside from the SDCC Starscream Skystriker, GI Joe and TF never really cross paths outside of a few robots with passing resemblance to a dune buggy or Snowcat?
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