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Derryl Depriest Is Moving To The Star Wars Line


Tazzzman

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Via Mastercollector:

 

We want to let you know that Derryl DePriest has decided to further his

brand/marketing experience, by accepting a new position within Hasbro. He

is now a part of the Star Wars marketing team, taking over for Jeff Popper,

who has joined the Nerf team.

 

Good luck in your new position Derryl!

 

Billy Lagor, who's passion for the brand truly equals Derryl's, will become

the marketing lead for G.I. Joe. Billy, currently Senior Brand Manager, has

been in charge of our 3 3/4" business for over a year. We welcome Billy's

enthusiasm to one of Hasbro's favorite brands and feel very comfortable that

he will continue to excel on G.I. Joe.

 

Derryl brings his passion for action figures and love of the Star Wars

fantasy to his new position. As we finalize our plans for Episode III and

look to the future, Derryl will be a valuable addition to the team.

And to Jeff, we say thanks for the years of dedication and enthusiasm that

you brought to Hasbro's Star Wars line.

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By all accounts, Andrew Frankel (the guy who ran GIJoe when VvV Waves 1-3 were designed and finalized) was a rogue thinker in the Joe department.

 

He advocated loud colors, conceeded to the Action Attack demand (notice how, althought it's still around, it's not as pronounced?), and may have even been the reason GIJoe went into Monster hunting at a crucial point in establishing it's integrity.

 

Since he's been gone, even the hopeless VvV line has catapulted back with realistic colors, and the next line, Robot Rebellion is the rumored title, is more future-military than Saturday Matinee horror. Add to that the return of extra articulation (outlawed in Frankel's VvV line), the revised shoulder joints, and a promise of character-correct proportions instead of standard buck blandness... Billy Lagor has been on the team the whole way.

 

As long as he keeps the progression he's been helping achieve since Frankel departed last December, we don't have much to worry about.

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So what you think is that a good or bad thing? Is that why we haven't seen too many new protypes or new release for 2005. Mayb will see some new rescuplts of older characters..who knows.

I am not sure what will happen now (wether good or bad), I am pretty sure that Derryl's replacement Billy will be great since he has worked under him and I am sure that he is aware (being at the cons I think) that collectors do not like o rings as well as AA. I guess we will have to see at the convention next year.

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i hung out with billy in orlando (we actually were watching the fireworks display with nomad lol)

 

hes a cool guy with a driving passion for gijoe.

 

im encouraged by this news!

Was he the one that played Duke at the dinner?

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Well this all depends on the wording... It says that DDP is now part of the Star Wars line... It doesn't say that DDP is taking over the star wars line all together so he might be doing half Joes... Half Star Wars...

 

I'm sure DDP will continue to add his input into the Joe line...

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By all accounts, Andrew Frankel (the guy who ran GIJoe when VvV Waves 1-3 were designed and finalized) was a rogue thinker in the Joe department.

 

He advocated loud colors, conceeded to the Action Attack demand (notice how, althought it's still around, it's not as pronounced?), and may have even been the reason GIJoe went into Monster hunting at a crucial point in establishing it's integrity.

 

Since he's been gone, even the hopeless VvV line has catapulted back with realistic colors, and the next line, Robot Rebellion is the rumored title, is more future-military than Saturday Matinee horror. Add to that the return of extra articulation (outlawed in Frankel's VvV line), the revised shoulder joints, and a promise of character-correct proportions instead of standard buck blandness... Billy Lagor has been on the team the whole way.

 

As long as he keeps the progression he's been helping achieve since Frankel departed last December, we don't have much to worry about.

Sounds promising to me! :)

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OH CRAP!

 

Just when StarWars was getting good again after overcoming those horrible Episode 2 action-feature crappy figures!

 

DDP is going to try to sink that line too

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You guys are missing the whole point to this thread!

 

 

Jeff Popper is gonna be hooking us up in the Nerf division!!! @smilepunch@

Oh Wow!! I love nerf. Whenever I go to Corellia I get a nice big nerf steak.

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I'm going to step out on a very flimsy limb here and speculate:

 

 

I think the reason why Derryl's moving on is because one of his babies tanked at retail.

The 40th Anniversary line was something that Derryl, and old-school 12" collectors like myself, wanted to see become the "next big thing". Well, we got a few waves of EXCELLENT 1960's reproduction sets, but a LOT of fans were waiting for a complete re-issue of all the sets and the Adventure team as well.

 

That's not happening.

 

Retailer interest was modest, consumer interest was luekwarm and the product did not sell. It was incredible product, but the costs of making it were high, the returns obviously low........and I'm sure that likely bothered Derryl.

I know he's still a uber-Joehead--but putting his heart and soul into the revival MIGHT have cost him.

I'm speculating, I do not know the true story. I know that I would feel like I've just described if I'd been in similar circumstances.

 

Going from toy collector to toy maker cannot be easy.

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By all accounts, Andrew Frankel (the guy who ran As long as he (Lagor) keeps the progression he's been helping achieve since Frankel departed last December, we don't have much to worry about.

If Frankel left a year ago, then his input is still being seen now.

The toy-lines work about a year in advance of release.

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I'm going to step out on a very flimsy limb here and speculate:

 

 

I think the reason why Derryl's moving on is because one of his babies tanked at retail.

The 40th Anniversary line was something that Derryl, and old-school 12" collectors like myself, wanted to see become the "next big thing". Well, we got a few waves of EXCELLENT 1960's reproduction sets, but a LOT of fans were waiting for a complete re-issue of all the sets and the Adventure team as well.

 

That's not happening.

 

Retailer interest was modest, consumer interest was luekwarm and the product did not sell. It was incredible product, but the costs of making it were high, the returns obviously low........and I'm sure that likely bothered Derryl.

I know he's still a uber-Joehead--but putting his heart and soul into the revival MIGHT have cost him.

I'm speculating, I do not know the true story. I know that I would feel like I've just described if I'd been in similar circumstances.

 

Going from toy collector to toy maker cannot be easy.

I think I follow your idea, but I disagree. I'll also speculate. This is a step-up for Derryl.

 

As much as we love Joe, SW is the premier Hasbro line. It gets a lion's share of resources. The success Derryl had with Joe was seen as positive, while SW was starting to slip and he was brought in to hopefully keep the line strong.

 

Moving from SW to NERF was a demotion.

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I don't really know but I see it as one of 3 things. Either it's simply a promotion, more pay, more exposure ect ect. Hasbro felt he simply could do more good for Star Wars than Joe or the Joe ship is sinking and he got out while he still could.

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>>If Frankel left a year ago, then his input is still being seen now.

The toy-lines work about a year in advance of release.>>

 

Correct, to a point.

 

From what I understand, Andrew "quit" much the way most of Bush's Cabinet has "steped down". IE, he was basically forced out, but Hasbro won't sully or ruin his career, so they say it was his personal choice.

 

When he left, and when they pulled him off the line may be two different dates. And knowing he'd taken the wrong fork in the development roadway, changes were implemented *immediately (if not sooner)* to fix what could be fixed, as soon as possible.

 

Andrews biggest affront to GIJoe collectors, in my mind, was his insistence on bright colors. Thankfully, that's something that can be changed almost on a day's notice, even tho, like I said, you're correct that most toy development takes a year.

 

Figures like Torch are where we're seeing the new influence. And I'm willing to bet good money that Rollbar (or Rollout, the dude that comes with the Hummer) was pushed through a developing express lane, or else was mandated by DePriest during Frnakel's reign. It's so different from literally everything else we've seen this year, it couldn't have come from the same line of thinking.

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Figures like Torch are where we're seeing the new influence. And I'm willing to bet good money that Rollbar (or Rollout, the dude that comes with the Hummer) was pushed through a developing express lane, or else was mandated by DePriest during Frnakel's reign. It's so different from literally everything else we've seen this year, it couldn't have come from the same line of thinking.

Derryl told me himself that the more real-life military look for the 3 3/4" line was a fond wish of his, and I'm delighted to see it playing out.

Rollbar is an excellent figure with great army builder potential.

 

I agree, Hasbro looks to be headed in the right direction.

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Has it maybe popped into anyone's head besides mine that DDP maybe wanted to go over to start doing Star Wars since the new movie is coming out next year and this means probably a whole ton of new Star Wars toys are going to be rolling out?

 

Why not be the head of something like that... I know I would like to be...

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