TransformHeadOn

Well if the Blurr mold's around, they should have used his head on Kup's body for Orion Pax. Wouldn't be perfect, but a lot closer. Cool idea, not the greatest execution, but then I guess there's a reason it's a limited exclusive, right?

Good points, VH. And hey, if the stuff gets better that's awesome!! Maybe I'll jump back onboard. But I can't be as optimistic as you. I don't believe sales will be spectacular enough to move away from the parts/weapons reuse and low detail paint apps that I think is necessary for it to exist in the first place.

You know, I definitely applaud the EFFORT of whoever it is who's behind this. If it were up to Hasbro, the 3 3/4" would probably have disappeared years ago. So whoever is championing this line deserves major kudos, even if they seem to not have the greatest taste IMO. But you guys are lucky to have a fan in there. I guess for me it boils down to this: apparently I've just become way too far out of step to the point where I can no longer really consider myself part of the 3 3/4" Joe collector community. And that's not really trying to talk crap on any of you guys at all. It's just that what I want to see and what you guys are happy with seem to be two almost TOTALLY different things. And to be honest, I kind of feel like a hypocrite when I look at those pics and I don't like what I see. All these years, I've wanted the return to single packs, and now we get 'em. I've wanted cool card art, and now we get that too. RAH-style file cards? Yep. Army builders? That too. So what's the problem, right???!!! I'll spare everyone the boredom-inducing point-by-point breakdown of what I specifically do and do not like. But I can't help it; I just don't like the figs. As I implied before, to me most fan customs look better than 90% of those. Just whoever's in charge of sculpting and designing these figures is not cutting it, and never has. And after spending hundreds of dollars on JvsC figures only to burn hours unscrewing, mutilating, and repainting almost all of them, I guess it just finally hit me.

Just looked at the pics. Those are decent-looking customs. Whoever did 'em should show us what else they've come up with. Not bad at all for a beginner! Huh?? What?? Those are new Hasbro products???!!! WAAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAH!!! PASS!!

And that figure stinks, and so does the whole set. What a poor tribute to V2 Destro. Not only the best Destro figure ever, but one of the coolest Joe figures ever. Wait for deep eBay discounts on these, folks.

I, too, fail to see how those are anything REMOTELY similar to Marvel Legends. If they HAD gone totally Marvel Legends style and stayed somewhat true to the classic RAH characters and styles (a la SOTA's Street Fighter or maybe even Mezco's Movie Hellboy) then there would be a decent chunk of the fanbase that would eventually accept it as a kind of compromise. As it stands, they're taking about .2 percent of adult collectors with them on this endeavor, and adding NO new collectors. There are SCADS of adult collectors out there who would EAT UP RAH styled articulated Marvel Legends scale Joe figures who have had NOTHING to do with buying any GI Joe products for years. But with these kiddy-rific Bratz knock-offs, good luck bringing anyone over age 10 to the table. In all honesty, though, I can't shed TOO many tears for the 3 3/4" line's demise. There was nothing there to indicate to me that Hasbro was going to do anything but continue to drive it into the ground, and so in a sense I'm glad to see it put out of its misery.

Nice to see someone remembers me, VH. Good to "see" you. Edited - Outsiders -2.19.05 As much as people are complaining about the line being shut down... Can we keep it from starting more flame wars... Thanx you...

Not to be insensitive, but I can't help but laugh a little when I read that press release. And you know? It kind of makes me feel reinforced in a way, because for Hasbro to be pulling the plug means sales had to be ABYSMAL, and that obviously means that I was NOT alone in thinking that the past few years' worth of Joe offerings were pure crap. Don't get me wrong, the Infantry set and a few of the comic 3-packs, and the RANDOM new fig were decent to kind of cool, but overall . . . I'm just glad I wasn't fan-blinded enough to have burned a bunch of cash on it. But for a company like Hasbro, they're not going to let their flagship toy line go down that easily. I mean how would it look for one of the biggest toy makers to let the ORIGINAL action figures burn? Not good at all, which means that Hasbro has had to have been biting the bullet on sales figures, and letting it go as long as possible. And be thankful for the comic packs, because that means that those within the company KNEW the plug was getting pulled, and they wanted to get the fans as much cool FAN stuff as possible before the end. That's kind of noble, I guess, although granted this is only my take on it. On a side-note, those Diamond bookends of SE and SS look kinda cool. Would be nice around my Marvel TPBs, for example! And heh . . . nice to see ARROW is still an @$$, as ever.

WOW. That's all I can say! Thanks for the phenomenal photos, Jay!!! MOTU LIVES!!!!!!

Ummm . . . Snow Serpents running around like wolves???!!! That's about the WORST possible idea I've ever seen. I couldn't think of anything worse if I tried. Aside from that, it doesn't look too bad. Definitely an improvement over Spy Troops. I'm just kind of p!$$ed that the CGI versions look way better than the action figures they sell us (like Stormy's costume, for example).

Agreed. I think many of us know few others who collect the same things, and places like this give us the opportunity to talk to people who won't just stare back, blinking and bewildered. And yeah, T.A.P., that stuff wasn't aimed at you . . . my posting style is kind of disjointed and hard to follow at times, and it's also hard to tell sometimes when I'm joking or exaggerrating for comic effect, etc. I guess most people are probably used to me by now! @smilepunch@

Well, T.A.P. already addressed this, since it was addressed to him, but I always find this kind of thing highly amusing. I just don't get it at all. For example: How many of us would you wager actually take the time to call, write, or e-mail Hasbro about their criticisms of their toys? Probably hardly any! If we do it HERE, it's primarily to bat opinions and discussion back and forth with our fellow collector peers, and NOT to rally some sort of grass roots effort to lobby Hasbro to ditch AA . . . So if anyone from Hasbro lurks these boards, it's THEIR CHOICE!!! And guess what? It's called "Free Consumer Feedback". They can come here and get a pulse on where we (the adult collectors) at least stand regarding their new products. If they come here and read nothing but whining and complaining . . . well, too bad! It was their decision to come here and get the feedback in the first place. Hasbro is not one of our friends, who we have to watch what we say around to not offend them. Hasbro is a toy company, out to make a profit. There is no "patience" to be HAD or LOST with us, because that is totally irrelevant. Here's how it boils down: Apparently, there are enough kids buying the new figs to make it profitable, enough adults buying the RAH reissues to make that profitable, and enough DIE-HARDS out there to make the Con exclusives worth Hasbro's while, too. But that's IT. Bottom dollar. If they went back to O-rings after JvC Wave 1, it isn't because Hasbro likes us, respects our opinion, and wanted to do something nice for us because their shrink said so. It's because if by making a relatively small change they can add 1,000's in sales, then they'll do it! Hasbro is not running a charity, people! And you know why they won't change AA? First off--because retailers and kids like it. Secondly, the other figure in the 2-packs are "normal," so most adult collectors will buy them anyway!! So what opportunities for increased sales do they have there? NONE! You guys are happily buying up all the AA figures, whether you actually "like" them or not, so why would Hasbro care? And my favorite part about people complaining about complainers (besides that in itself) is that those who defend and like the new line assume that they can somehow magically separate themselves from the old line and view everything completely objectively, while those who have any criticism at all MUST be biased, and can't possibly dislike the figure because they just don't like it. Must be some sort of weird hang-up you have if you don't like the new figures, right? Well, for the record, in MY honest, objective opinion, I do NOT like the new Joe figures. I think they are bad figures. Poor quality. Unoriginal. Uninspired. Poor aesthetic quality. These are bad figures ON THEIR OWN. There is not even a need to compare them to what RAH was back in the day to find out that they suck. They suck just fine on their own. Most of you won't believe me, but that's too bad. I mean, you'll just have to take my word for it. Upon what serious grounds could you really, honestly think I'm making it up? I liked MANY of the JvC figures which were nothing like RAH. But IMO, these new ones are bad figures. At first, I was quite in shock when many of you said that you liked them, and I know I really p!$$ed a lot of you off. But, since then I have come to accept that many people DO like them. So just accept that many do NOT.

Yikes!!! Just got through reading the newsletter. Not impressed at all. A few of the vehicles are cool, and several of the figures not bad, but this line is more and more spinning off into a tangent. Pass, pass, and pass.

HA! Cool . . . didn't catch that thread. Anyway, yeah . . . if any of you guys have been holding back, as a big fan of the line I would urge you to buy a couple of these. I guarantee you that once you have 1 or 2, you will fall in love with the line. Aside from some totally bad@$$ army builder collections, they are pretty much the coolest GI Joe displays I have ever seen. If you look around, lots of places have great prices on many of the pieces from the line (like in the $25-$30 range) so this is probably the best time to start your collection. And it's been announced that the most recently announced pieces (Serpentor mini-bust, Snake Eyes v1 mini-statue, v2 Iron Grenadiers Destro mini-statue) could very well be the final pieces. If you want any chance of seeing one of your favorite characters made that hasn't been made yet, the best way is to buy any or all of these last ones that are coming out. The better the sales on these, the better our chances of seeing this going. And please don't read this as a "threat" type of thing like Mattel has said with regard to the MotU line. This is the reality of the situation. Where the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow mini-bust had runs of 4,500 units a piece, the recent Flint mini-bust only had a run of 1,200!!! C'mon, people!! We can't let the resin world be dominated by companies that release every last obscure Marvel character whose creators don't even recognize!! @loll@ Show the Joe love!! #US1#

I don't they would at all, and I think Hasbro knows it, too. Kind of like George Lucas being too afraid to release the SW movies in two DVD sets: 1 box set of the original versions, un-effed-with, and another box set with his "finished" versions. He won't do it, 'cause he knows the original versions' sales will p!$$ all over the special editions' sales. But he knows that if he only releases ONE, that everyone will buy it. Not me. I've got the laserdisc box set.