Navaan

2 hours ago, Strider said:

Just saw that Hasbro is advertising the D&D minimates on their website and in their email. I wonder if they would do it for G.I. Joe. That might give the minimates a lot of exposure to people that may not be aware of them but are prone to buying G.I. Joe product, especially the retro packaged ones.

Completely this.

3 hours ago, Strider said:

Neat I just went back and looked at it. That would definitely push me over the edge. I still might grab this set even though the only one I have heard of before is Jericho. You would have to go back to the early Rock days to when I actually halfway paid attention to professional wrestling.

For AEW, check out 'The Good, The Bad, The Elite,' a fan made retrospective of their 'main story' for the first couple of years.

46 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

Funny, they didn't let us...

https://joebattlelines.com/2016/10/11/new-g-i-joe-vs-transformers-set-pre-order/

Go get'em!

8 hours ago, Mattallica said:

?

The GI Joe fan club had a very similar set, which had Ninja Force Scarlett, Dr. Biggles-Jones, hologram Megatron, Ratbat and, IIRC, the 'not Ravage' Ravage repaint and Cobra Commander. 

3 hours ago, DSTZach said:

I meant from when we offered a set to release would not be faster. It's currently six months or so. The 84 reveal obviously happened too early, but once we offer it it will be six months. Announcing the X-Men series was WAY premature, since Walgreens dropped out after I announced it. I get too excited for this stuff, and tend to spill the beans too early.

That said, the X-Men set is one of the ones we had talked about offering online, in whatever format, but it is not yet on the schedule for a specific date.

Darn you, Walgreens!

Anything new on that new vendor?

2 hours ago, DSTZach said:

Should have been Megatron!

 

It was in a Fan Club exclusive! They had a Hologram Megatron. I have that thing, somewhere...

2 hours ago, DSTZach said:

The Bucks will have removable jackets. And Orange Cassidy and Mox in Set 2 will also have removable jackets, I believe. 

They are coming!

Good. Goooood.

Y'all are keeping my three favorite guys for set 2, so made my own Hangman, Mox and Cassidy in the meanwhile. Working on Keith Lee, Swerve, Shida, and Claudio. Have some ideas for a Brian Danielson, we'll have to see. *think*

1 hour ago, Smashmaster12 said:

A nice looking set, I appreciate all the tampo work on the tattoos. I do wish there was a bit more in the box, maybe entrance gear (is this something wrestlers still do?) for alternate outfits.

The only person I recognize is Kenny Omega and that’s only because he’s also the guy who cosplays Sans Undertale and Sephiroth on stage. That’s what it takes for me to be interested I guess?

 

They do. Britt and Jericho tho both usually come out with jackets.

Me? I want to know WHERE ARE THE CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS? That one set gas three of the six men's world champions AEW has had, and one of the seven women's champions, and no belts!!!

I need one and the darn Galactus, some point 

While I appreciate a lot of folks have a lot of feelings on this all, I do think it would be best that we focus more on the product/topic of GI Joe minimates, and specifically, what could come next.

Zach, I think the feedback is monumentally more for more ARAH versus the Super Joe stuff. If, at all possible, I would suggest/plead to folks that the reaction to Super Joes has no reflection towards ARAH.

58 minutes ago, luke314pi said:

Yay shot!

 

I am *DEEPLY* bothered at my OCD level that NO ONE is where they should be with that panel. You'd expect their placement to corelate!!!

9 hours ago, DSTZach said:

I personally showed the owner of Ringside Collectibles Series 1 and 2 at SDCC 2022. As far as I know, they did not order it. I do not know the reason. Maybe we can get them to buy some now that it is in stock. 

That... sucks. Did you offer them a Ringside Collectibles exclusive paint scheme or something? THAT gets their eyes, trust me. They have exclusives of -1, Excalibur, Tony Schivone, JR and Aubry Edwards, plus all the team and memorable matches.

Might not hurt to reach out to Toyark, Toynewsi, Wrestlefigs, and if you really want, SquaredCircle on Reddit.

12 minutes ago, Nessex said:

This feels like the best option to me. Kingpin uses the most plastic... and if memory serves, the TRU Bullseye wasn't as easy to find for a lot of folks (and he came out like 15 years ago). I'm glad it's not one of the new characters.

This, this, this. We don't need a black suit Kingpin- it is cool, but honestly, Echo, Mary, and a more militant Bullseye are the killers of the wave.

4 hours ago, DSTZach said:

I honestly don't know how their success will be viewed, or what will be the result. I think the performance of our SDCC TF exclusive will have just as much of an impact, if it does well. 

BUT the Adventure Team will be, AFAIK, the next Joe release. And it will be carded, AFAIK. 

FYI, the Adventure Team Commander, according to his bio, is Joseph Colton, founder of the GI Joe team, and the Adventurer is Lonzo Wilkinson, a.k.a. Stalker, so do with that information what you will. 

Colton was the inspiration for the GI Joe codename; the unit's actual name, if I recall, is Special Counter-Terrorist Group Delta.

Stalker, aka Lonzo, was the first soldier chosen by Hawk, the unit's commander under General Flagg. (Snake-Eyes was actually the second!)

This is 'classic lore,' so your mileage and preferred versiom may vary.

6 hours ago, DSTZach said:

I don't remember us marketing the FCBD set as being the only place to get those characters. If that was ever presented as a fact, I apologize. I don't know that I knew full details about the carded sets at the time, but I certainly thought future variants of those MAJOR characters were possible. 

And again, this is not a "course correction." We didn't develop these as an alternative to ARAH, but as an interesting exclusive at some point in the line. But with ARAH not selling well, we are TRYING these instead, to see if it is Joe in general, or just ARAH fatigue. Between Hasbro, Ultimates and ReAction, there is a lot of ARAH out there. If they do well, great, maybe we can revisit ARAH at a future date. I certainly hope so. 

BTW, I have corrected an oversight on my part and requested Joe MM for HIssTank. I honestly thought I had sent him Series 1, but now he will have everything. Thanks for the heads up.

 I honestly God think the biggest issue is just who saw that it was coming out. While I know that it was eventually labeled as news at one point, Hisstank did not exactly have a lot of coverage on this. I'm on that website daily and I am a huge fan of your product, but I found out about this through some other 3rd party website that has nothing to do with either brand, specifically.

I really don't thin Super Joes/Adventure Team will be a big hit. I'll be  Absolutely astounded if it is. Hopefully, we can still get series 3 and 4 and a troop builder but if I had to guess it's simply the matter of getting word out and getting these in stores. I would also suggest maybe something to do with the distribution model; I don't know if you guys can do a single issue Minimate for 10 bucks a piece, but I think that might help or something like GI Joe.

Hey @DSTZach

Any chance we can get confirmation of who is still in the pack? Hoping Echo is still safe with her show coming out? I know you said Mary should be clear and good!

1 hour ago, DSTZach said:

It's not Mary. And we're trying to make sets more affordable, so unless we cut paint apps or new parts, fewer characters per set is the game plan. The price is going to go down, is my understanding. 

I showed a sneak peek of 84 artwork at NYCC because 82 was out and 83 was on pre-order, and that's traditionally when we reveal the next series. I honestly thought they would have been solicited by now, I'm trying to get them moved up, but I guess sneak peeks need to be spread out more or eliminated.

Not sure how Kickstarter would change anything, aside from making them available to fewer retailers and killing the line entirely. Amazon, BBTS, EE and Luke currently support the line, I don't know how that would change if we went direct to consumer as our primary venue. Also not sure it's faster. 

Please tell me it's not Echo. She looks perfect and we've never had her, before.

Mary and Echo make the set, to me.

2 hours ago, Mattallica said:

I'll HAPPILY take a Commando Snake Eyes.

If I remember correctly, and please understand I very well may not, but Yo Joe is effectively dead.

 I believe the story was that it was sold off to a group in effort or hope to get it grow or when the owner had financial troubles or something, but that group stopped working on it and there was a bunch of drama behind the scenespirit it is no longer owned by the founder, again if I recall correctly. But that's why you don't see any real updates on it. Something about an internal power struggle between the founder and the owner or something.

Sorry, further thinking of it, I would rank the important Joes in Tiers as such-

Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Duke, Roadblock
Flint, Lady Jaye
Gung-Ho, Spirt, Beachhead, Tunnel Rat, Shipwreck
Hawk, Cover Girl, Stalker, Barbecue, Dusty, Torpedo, Mainframe, Heavy Duty, Sgt. Slaughter (yes, yes, I know), Ripcord, Quick Kick
Wet Suit, Falcon, Jinx, Doc, Clutch, Breaker, Bazooka, Chuckles, Ace, Helix

Clearly, there are the main Joes in all media (top four) with Flint and Lady Jaye the easy 'next tier' with the rest as following, based on multiple appearances, or how dominating their primary (maybe only) real presence.

And, like before, there are certainly ancillary Joes or ones that have decent roles in Canon A or Canon B, etc, such as Dialtone, Dialtone II, Doc II, Grunt, Steeler, Barrel Roll, Bombstrike (who is now getting added to things more, so this may change, some point), Marissa Fairborne (one could argue her an Autobot), Varona, Alpine, Outback, Lowlight, so on.

2 hours ago, NerdyTrev said:

I would elect Serpentor and Doctor Mindbender to take priority just because of how cool and interesting they look compared to some of the other Cobra cronies. Zartan would look great, too. Admittedly, I don't know too much about G.I. Joe so I'm not sure how prominent they are in the show compared to the other suggested characters. I only know what I think looks neat!

If you are not a big GI Joe fan, Serpentor is kind of difficult to explain briefly, but I will try. Keep in mind, GI Joe is military sci-fi fantasy, so some elements are goofy.

Dr. Mindbender (or others, depending on lore) grew distrustful of Cobra Commander (again, lore reasons from his ego, to his treachery, or his competence in the cartoon, etc) and created a 'general' via dark science that he instead meant to push as the new Cobra Emperor. Designed with DNA taken, copied, mimicked from Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun, so on, Serpentor was meant to be a regal, charismatic, commanding battlefield presence. The cartoon... went in a much wilder direction.

For his overall importance in the story, think of him as a more honorable ;usurper' to Cobra Commander and the other side of certain Cobra 'civil wars.'

Dr. Mindbender, on his end, is Cobra's 'main scientist,' and certainly has a unique look in his OG depictions. He was actually, originally, a kind man, who was trying to find ways to alter brain activity to help with pain management (often in dentistry, in the different lore) until an experiment went wrong, warping his personality. He's outlandish, but some people really like him.

If you were to list Cobra's 'important' characters in tiers, it would probably be-

Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, Storm Shadow, Zartan
Firefly, Major Bludd, Tomax, Xamot
Serpentor, Dr. Mindbender, Zarana,
Buzzer, Ripper, Torch, Wild Weasel, Copperhead
Dr. Venom, Zandar, Road Pig, Overkill

There are then ancillary characters that, dependent on the version or telling, have more importance; Blackout, Dr. Knox, Scarface, Fred VII, Kwinn, Venomous Maximous (think Serpentor, but more animal), Skull Buster, Pythona, Golobulus, Big Boa, Interrogator, Wraith, Raptor, Ghost Bear, Cadet Deming, Lt. Clay Moore, and dozens and dozens of others who have had major stories in comics, or cartoons, or toys, etc, but rarely became 'mainstays,' whereas the ones above have at least more than a few appearances or places in numerous iterations.

You know, with all that said?

I would almost say the next Cobra one should be Zartan, Firefly, Major Bludd and then either Tomax or Xamot, with parts to make the other. *Yes,* this forces a collector to buy two, but hey, whatever increases orders... >.>;

32 minutes ago, jettstorm said:

I love the carded nostalgia of the GI Joe figures...it's one of the reasons I buy multiples so I could display a set still on card but open others. That being said, I will GLADLY lose the cards and buy them on simple blister card for cheaper if it allows the line to continue on. 

My own personal opinion is like many others that if this line is struggling for sales I have to believe one of the biggest reasons are the cost due to packaging but even more so the selection. Now I love Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow but having 3 of them each released in the first few sets is a bit much and likely discouraged some from spending the money to get any new characters. If 3 & 4 perhaps have the likes of say Flint, Lady Jaye, Gung Ho and Spirit in one pack and Firefly, Major Bludd, Scrap Iron and Zartan in the other. I REALLY believe these will sell...especially if you reduce the packaging cost and bring the price down even some. Maybe im biased (I am) but I still really believe this line could succeed and succeed big if it hits it's stride. 

Oh and army builders, we keep harping on it I know but these things will be like printing money. You give me a Cobra Trooper, Viper, Eel, Crimson Guard, BAT or Snow Serpent and Im buying minimum 10 and probably 20 of these packs. Pinky promise!

For the Joes, Flint, Lady Jaye, Stalker and Spirit would be my top recs, but I can see Gung Ho sliding in there. Flint and Lady Jaye are *the* top two for the Joes.

Cobra is easier with a top three; Zartan, Firefly, Major Bludd. You can then argue Zarana, Dr. Mindbender, or Serpentor.

Troop builder isnthe easiest. Cobra trooper with male/female head/torso, Crimson Guard with male/female head/torso, Viper (vest and helmet make gender obscured on Mininates), and BAT. That right there will sell, sell, sell.

1 hour ago, DSTZach said:

There will be a Transformers MM SDCC exclusive. No Joe at this time. 

DC line was a work-for-hire joint. I don't think we chose the characters. 

Taste the Fwoosh!  

Not sure it was available before, but I have actually been talking to them today about pushing the product. I just sent them info on Joe Series 1 and hopefully it will lead to some online promo. 

I believe they are individually carded, it was mentioned in the voiceover and I have seen the art. 

I believe so, yes, they mention it in the audio description. I'm not 100% familiar with the toy. I'm only 45.

Decisions are based on sales. At one time, I believe shortly after Kmart and Hot Topic requested blind-bagged TMNT and NBX 'Mates, we tried blind bags as a way to appeal to different retailers. I don't think the Marvel Now set did very well, but I think the Predator wave did okay. Notice we don't do it anymore. 

I don't think we said, "80s Joes aren't selling, let's do 1970s Joes", I think these were developed in parallel as a potential exclusive, but now we are trying them at retail because Series 2 was a disappointment. We're just trying to change things up a little. 

Series 3 in a simplified format is still possible. An army-builder set is still possible, but not before 3 and 4 come out. I'll keep fighting.

I appreciate you, both in response and in fighting for the Joe fans.

I know it may seem abnormal, but I would almost really recommend asking here and even on Hisstank what characters would get people the most interested. Joe fans can be temperamental and fickle.

30 minutes ago, jettstorm said:

I'll buy them, because I support Minimates and because I might be able to use some stuff for customs but...man...

That's not what I was hoping for at all, like, I'm extremely disappointed and now upset that my feelings on this line underperforming were true. I've bought 4 of each set so far released to keep 1 set on card and open the others with duplicates for customs and tweaks. I've convinced a couple of my friends to buy some and even my brother.

Here's hoping that this major retailer comes through because I'm gonna be stuck customizing a hell of a lot of figures if this is how it ends. Just like I did with DC and Star Trek.

I bought six of the first con set, three of the second, three of set one, two of set two. 

I'm with you. I'm trying.

But I don't even know what I would do, with these. I can't even think what custom I would do with any of them.

13 minutes ago, DSTZach said:

Nobody is buying the '80s Joe line. Blame character repeats if you like, but it doesn't change the situation. I am still pulling for Series 3/4, hopefully we can figure something out. Con exclusive, VHS set, what have you. 

I think the biggest pain is availability. These need to be in stores. I have three comic chains in my area, with six locations, and none of them knew about these until I requested them, directly, which got set 1 ordered.

The loss of Toys R Us has been such, such a blow to Minimates. I really, really hope that this new vendor pulls through, it can only help.