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This week was also stellar. I hope we hear of merch for our community sooner rather than later.

Well, I think the messaging with Joes is the problem as the Military hasn’t had a consistent popular sentiment rating since Iraq. The Gen Alpha Honey Badgers being raised by Millienials and Gen X probably won’t connect with these and their mission ever. I am thinking of it as the pívot the brand had to make after Vietnam. That’s how we got the space force etc that May be in the box sets we get this summer. My envy for your trek… it’s palatable. I’m currently learning how to make decals just for this reason as I think the ship sailed, crashed, and the remains went through a worm hole. Robots > Soldiers always. Hopefully the Energon Universe revitalizes the brand. I’ve been loving the comics.

Yeah, I think this is a good read. I think we tend to conflate the two in our minds, but I think Transformers is significantly more popular.

I was too old for Transformers. I watched the show anyway but was definitely too old for the toys. Maybe that's why I'm not bothered with the feature. Also I've always found non-transforming toys look more like the cartoon character which I like. As for Trek, you're pouring my heart out here. LOL Less concerned about Next Gen since I made my crappy customs. They look not too bad in my display case. Would love a factory molded Klingon head though.

I’m betting that the difference for Transformers and Joe is that, as a property, Transformers is more widely liked than GI Joe. Numbers alone, Transformers has had multiple billion dollar films and it’s rare that a Transformers show isn’t running on some network. Joe on the other hand has had two commercial failures and, I believe, one modest success that led nowhere. There hasn’t been a GI Joe cartoon since somewhere around 2011 it seems (and even then that looks like was a miniseries.) People who give a fuck about GI Joe *REALLY* give a fuck about GI Joe. But it’s more of a pure nostalgia property than a living ongoing brand. Maybe that’ll change with the next one, but that’s going to be a Transformers crossover. So Joe just can’t seem to stand on his own. The minimates kick fucking ass though. I don’t give much of a fuck about GI Joe (despite liking Retaliation a lot) but even I think I’m gonna crack and buy the damn minimates soon.

I love the Transformers mates but part of the magic is they transform… our mates do not and have slightly limited movement. They are beautiful but as a kid could I play with them or would I rather buy something that transforms? This is a nostalgic buy for me. Whereas Joes fit the play pattern and in some ways are superior to the other toys offered like Super7. On principle, Super 7 and Minimates share a similar structure of same mold slight variations on the characters (not sure I’m articulating that correctly). Where Minimates wins is the articulation and the interchangeable parts. They have managed to have perceived success because of the amount of skus and the variation in characters imho. My OG Star Trek disdain grows by the moment. I am so frustrated we can’t get to TNG which I consider “my” trek because we keep recycling the OG. Even then just give me three boxsets following Mmpr wave 2. One red shirt, one yellow shirt, one blue shirt and an alien with heads for variations and call it a bloody day. Even if you can’t do all the heads in one Boxset then just follow the formula and give us a Klingon, A Borg, a Romulan.

Why doesn't someone tell me that I am repeating myself ? Why doesn't someone tell me.............. Much of what is being said about GIJoe retreads could be applied to several other Minimate licences. The classic example would be Star Trek Minimates . I know for sure that I am repeating myself but the first two waves incorporated 13 'mates which were identical from the waist whilst several were duplicated from the waist up ! The line eventually 'opened out' & maybe the Joe line will?

I have a feeling that if this forum had reactions, you'd be getting a lot of thumbs up on this post. Completely agree with your Joe analysis. Disagree slightly on Transformers. I'm surprised they're not more popular. Not that I know anything about the toy biz other than buying. LOL

I’m used to my role as playing the voice of dissent here. I respectfully don’t think it’s over saturated I just don’t think it connected for a few reasons. 1. Clarity that there would be an exclusive cartoon set that would be followed up with two waves with a higher price point and odd box. 2. The two waves had half the characters from the first box set. The con exclusive was also retreads of 3 figures and a lesser known comic entity. 3. The extended (but justified) rollout. 4. Distribution/access. Less we forget the original box set sold out same day. Having only 16 slots, and 11 of them being the same 4 figures, was a choice. It just makes the play pattern harder and makes it harder to justify the price point. It’s easy for me to arm chair quarter back but the footlockers should have been com exclusives and the vhs boxes should have been the mainstream buy. I am thrown that we got more Transformers done then GiJoe. I love them but the transformers mates aren’t even in the same league as the Joes. It’s odd there are more.

AIMDS?

Claptain America. Chlamidyagard Serpent. Uncle Benital Worts. En Sabah Nurpes. (I'll be here all week)

I bet he’s patient zero!

Whatever it is I bet Deadpool has it.

I am going to keep on hoping the line continues but I am not a good judge since I still hope that somehow LOTR resurrects and I finally get that canceled wave of figures. I just feel dumbfounded that the line has stalled so quickly. Out of all the IPs out there not named Marvel or DC I would have thought this would have been the best fit. Crazy to think how many waves of Ghostbusters we got compared to GI Joe. Only thing I can think of is over saturation of the market killed the demand. I mean there’s Classified, Reaction, Ultimates, Mezco One:12 and Hiya. There may be even more that I am not aware of.

I get what you guys are saying. I think there are plenty of preexisting figures with static parts to fit (aside from her mask sash) for a "neutral" pose. I've been kind of hoping from some dynamic designs for a while. Like, even the slight flair in the newer capes offers a sense of movement or "power" that the old flat capes didn't give. IMHO, at least.

Everybody .....clap .

There’s minimate STDs going around? Is it Gamorarrhea? Syphilester Stallone as Barney Ross?

Thank you Zach , I wasn't absolutely sure . So ,now I'm sure , it would be nice to have a couple of 'neutrals' when the std. Minimate is dynamic.

5 plus parts to change Ben Reilly to Spider-Carnage.

Are we actually getting 5 or 6 (complete) Minimates ?

Well, I think that’s the issue. If fans of a license and fans of a toyline aren’t willing to buy the figures at full price that sends a message that there isn’t interest. Hopefully something shifts for this line. I firmly believe that an army builder pack would sell out and drive interest in this line. Even a box set like turtles where it’s 5 figures. Off the top of my head. a BAT a Crimson Guard a twin with parts for the other. a Joe like clutch/rock n roll that can easily convert into another character Zartan with multiple heads and or shape changer parts.

Amen.

Thank you, Prowlar.

Red Tornado is really good.

So have decided already to adjust some of my New Reichsmen from Earth 10 customs. I remade Green Lantern, as I made him using my interpretation since the images to find are limited. I remade the Martian Manhunter to look more like some of images I found, but his head and torso are still up to my interpretation of the character. And I also revised my New Reichsman Red Tornado. I finally found the parts of a Regular Red Tornado that used the rest the original for a Red Vision custom in my Spider-Bat line. So I hope these are better as I am going to keep them in my collection and retire the original three I made. I also tweaked Underwaterman and added a piece to him to make him look more the part.