Thanks to John Missal, who took those great pictures from the past few days and also filed this extensive report.
I am back home now and I had a blast. I am going to go again next year no matter what. It was so much fun.
I got in to the hotel around 6 am on Friday, and couldn't check in. As soon as they opened up the line area to get to the display, I took pics of the exclusives :-)
When registration started, they were handing out the Paratrooper Dusty figures. 50 people went to the roof and got 10 each to throw off. They also threw off a few dozen 12 inchers. There were 3 waves of figures, so it took quite a while to chuck them all off. Tons of kids left with arms full of them. The only one I got landed with no back pack. There was a 3 year old crying to the side because he wasn't able to get in and get one because all of the bigger kids and the mean adults were in there grabbing them before they reached the smaller kids, so I gave up the one that landed near me to the kid.
Each registrant got a Dusty MIBag to keep as well. estimate total is about 2500-3000 of them. Watch Mastercollector.com to see if the extras go up for sale.
Dusty is just the 2000 figure with a green shirt and some slight detail changes. He has no official name as far as we all know. They made him look like a special forces paratrooper to be generic I suppose. There is no File Card either.
The Exclusive set did come with at Red HISS tank with the HISS III stickers pre-applied. This vehicle rocks!
The loose sets were polybagged with individually polybagged figures in each.
The Fuschia Guard, as Master Collector calls them, were the first 250 sets shipped for the con, but MC rejected them as being the wrong color, and decided to sell them as well. You could only buy the Fuschia set ($125) if you had bought a boxed set. They listed them as Prototypes so as not to confuse them with the correct set. This was confirmed by Becky with Master Collector for me.
I also took pics of all the 3-3/4 customs in the contest (called 3-3/4 Franken-Joe). Matt and Chad (the Customizing Twins) had a lot of entries, and I have pics of those too. They are cool. The winners were a Snake Pliskinn from Escape from NY and two sets of 3-3/4 Adventure Team figures (can you see a Bias ;-) ).
Now on to fun stuff...
In the round table with the 33/4 team, they announced a few things like Army Builders via Mail Order. 1st one, BATv2 with Overkill. It will be either 4 or 5 BATS and a commander. On the color scheme rumor...Don't know where that came from....That wasn't brought up in the panel. Although, several ideas from collectors were being taken seriously....optional decals, so to make them Joe or Cobra BATs (confiscated Cobras in the hands of joes...) and individually numbering the BATS (over kill and bats 1 -4) This was brought up by a guy who only collects variations. So as an army builder set it's usless to him as he'd only want the overkill and one, but if they each were numbered 1 to 4 like the Mega Marines, then he would be inclined to buy the set. They polled this one as well and the response from everyone in the room was good, so they may look to numbering guys in the squads to make them the same, but different for collecting purposes. Derryl [Depriest, Hasbro's head of G.I.Joe] is an Army Builder from the way he talked about Python Patrol, so they know what they are doing with that too.
Future Army Builders will be determined if this does well.
Python Patrol 5-pack will be released after the TRU Tiger Force. Likely to be Major Bludd as leader. They are looking for Laser-Viper (v1) and Rock-Viper (v1) molds to put into it. They will have new, but complimentary deco pattern to old unit. They listed a ton more in the survey to check off if you'd like them or not. I skipped Star Brigade, Eco Warriors and Mega Marines (btw, they mentioned having the Mega Viper, so possible army builder there. If done right, could be cool. Personally, that's a Python Patrol specific unform if I ever saw one...)
They did a price check two years ago on the USS Flagg for re-release. Suggested retail would be $250 if they did it. They would even consider a new figure for that price if they did it. (Email them and say you want it). When they surveyed the room for who would buy it, most people raised their hands...(not too many kids in there :-) ).
Playsets are being thought of, but at this time due to the newness of the Joe Vs. Cobra line, they are going with figures and vehicles mainly. The vehicles are being kid-driven in their design, which is why they have the sound attack feature. It's a series of switches tied to the design of some accessories. 16 different sounds on each vehicle. Each figure that comes with a sound attack accessory will have normal accessories as well to be able to display without the goofy part. They are taking into account both kids and collectors with that in mind.
The vehicles on display were the rerelease vehicles were Rattler w/ Wild Weasel (Neo Viper Body with new head...this is likely what that proto on ebay with the FANG III protos was, as the fang III pilot is a different sculpt than the Neo Viper), Conquest w/ Ace has new style body, reused from another figure, with new head...figure was not displayed, as in, it wasn't even in the vehicle from what I saw, and Snow Cat with Frostbite (Picture on box and figure were Snow Job/White Out mold). They pulled the Wild Weasel out for some pics from fans. The Cobra Venom Cycle had a Viper in it, in blue, but was not stated as having a driver come with it, but based on the trend that every vehicle has a driver or pilot, I would suspect that it will come with one, but not knowing who exactly, I don't want to guess. Wildfire name was changed to Night Attack Helicopter. I think the older vehicles being release are exclusives, for TRU. This being the Snowcat, Rattler and Conquest. There was no Conquest box, but there were boxes for the other two. The art is great.
Hasbro said they don't have a lot of the tools (meaning molds) for earlier figures as they are in India and Brazil in various states of disrepair, but they are working their best to get them (GO HASBRO!!!). In the mean time, they are looking at using a lot of the Battle Corps molds over again. They asked if the Viper and Alley Viper were getting stale, and mostly people said yes, unless they were Army Builder sets. A question on the survey they had was which of these cobras would you like to see as army builders if made (I checked almost all of them).
They are looking to put out both old style (pre Joe Vs. Cobra molds) and new designs to keep up. The older style will be the store exclusives and mail orders, and the new stuff will be everywhere.
HASBRO IS LOOKING TO ALLOW ONLINE RETAILERS TO SELL EXCLUSIVES, like the BJs 8pack. This would allow the Retail locations to have their "store exclusivity" and allow collectors around the country to get them without going against the exclusive retail deal.
KMart Exclusives no longer with Kmart. They are repositioning for other distribution. Kmart is going with a 12 inch Search and Rescue.
Almost all of the announced exclusives will be later this year. Most sets up through wave 3 will be this year.
Greenshirts are a comic thing. They do not fit into the plans for JVC in the toy world. Character Joes are integral to the product line for kids. Faceless enemies are OK though.
Insert comics. Larry Hama is going to be writing comics to be put into the figure 2-packs detailing the JVC story for kids to get a better understanding of the new figures and characters in their old guises. There are 8 currently story arc-ed and they will be refreshed every 90 days. The first is due later this year in wave 2, issue 2 starts in wave 4
Cartoon -- No Comment
Video Games -- No Comment
They want Cartoon Network to pick up GIJoe for the long haul so write letters. They want to make new 3-3/4 stuff so buy more and give to kids at xmas (Derryl told us so...so we should :-) ).
At the core of the JVC line are kids. They want the toy to be appealing to their driving market, and have an appeal to collectors. The exclusives and mail orders will be their attempt to work with the collectors more.
Flag Points are no more...but Battle Points are coming in the current waves shipping. Start saving. Hold onto receipts just in case too, but they think they won't require them...they put the UPC in the bubble to avoid the Joe Colton fiasco...
Hasbro was giving away new wave 2 packs for filling out a survey on 3-3/4 joes. I gots me an Alley Viper/Big Ben.... If you have a way to get this survey from them online, take it. It was targeted at us, and meant to get the interests of the collectors. They really know their stuff and they want more feedback on how they are doing and what we might see they are doing wrong. The final question asked, if Hasbro were to create a online forum of 3-3/4 collectors to help guide and shape the new line, would you be interested...then it asked for name address etc....(oh please oh please oh please
Speaking of Big Ben will likely be retired soon due to the many uses he's seen lately. They like him, but he's not a fav and he's gone through some cool incarnations, but they feel its time for him to move on. There is a repaint of him and the alley viper coming, and he's again in another color with the Road Rebel vehicle (looks like the mini vehicle from the Rolling Thunder).
In the 12 inch JVC line, they had a Moray (Someone left with one as a door prize woo hoo...), Cobra Commander in black, Duke in Gray (repaint of current), new duke in green, Gung Ho with Kayak, Nunchuck in green, Snake Eyes in black and camo (his head looked hand painted and sculpted, while the others looked more production level), beach head (who rocked!) and Recondo (totally new look for the R-man). There was also a JVC mountain and a Helicopter accessory set.
The Micro Machine sets looked neat. I'm sorry, but I didn't pay too much attention to them...as I'm not a micro person...but they look good. Typical MM quality though, so nothing to write to the Pit about ;-) KB exclusives, MSRP is $4.99 for some (i think smaller ones).
Hasbro will be moving to a universal Logo for the GIJoe line. It's the classic word "GIJoe" with the head from classic joe, and the three stripes with the stars that we've been seeing on the packs lately. This is to unify the lines, so that there is no confusion as to the product compatibility in the minds of the main market (Kids again). This was met with mixed reactions from both camps, and apparently some Adventure Team fans feel left out.
Blaylock said that they are taking figures and using them and the comics and the comic is influencing some figures...(shipwreck). Both Josh and Derryl said at different times, that the toy and comic, while maintaining independence, will have more unity in story and characters. Hama is working with both Hasbro and Devil's Due to create stuff. Larry will be writing a mini series story arc for DD that will be the joe's "last" mission set that shows why Cobra went away for those years. Bringing all the loose ends together finally.
I've been waiting to see the new figures to pass judgement on them. I would use an explicative here, but there are kids on the list.... I LOVE THE NEW STUFF. I'm even kinda diggin the Sound Attack features a bit. The design team all is really interested in making the best product for all involved.
Kids of 12ers were getting 12er stuff, kids of 3-3/4ers were...oh wait...most of us don't have kids.
12 inch collectors do, however, like the JVC 12 inch collectors as the ones I talked with said they were great for new head sculpts for customizing (oh the joe-humanity of it all).
Overall, I have to give the Hasbro team; Derry, Angie (I think), David, John B. and the rest of the guys and gals, mondo props for the great stuff they have coming out for us this next year. One year alone (2002) it appears there will be too much stuff for even me to handle.
Blaylock and Devil's Due guys and gals...While I didn't talk with them, were very open with stuff and very positive about things.
Master Collector was great. They were definitely in both camps when it came to having everyone at the con.
David Lane and Brian M from Steel Brigade...These two were really great guys. David gave a great seminar on the history of RAH and even had the pic of the Zarana back side shot that was cut from the film (I put this in for you fan boys out there...). It was never animated, so don't go looking. The new Big Brawler has the body of Salvo and the head of Low Light v3, and looks a lot more like Brian M. now than the first one did. Very cool....Maybe one day we too can have our own file cards....
SONG TIME>>>>think 12 days of christmas...
At this year's gijoe con, Hasbro gave to me...
1 paratrooper dusty stuck in a tree...
At this year's gijoe con, hasbro gave to me...
2 pairs of crimson twins and a paratrooper dusty stuck in a tree...
At this year's gijoe con, hasbro gave to me...
3 squads of Crimson Vipers, 2 pairs of crimson twins and a paratrooper dusty stuck in a tree...
At this year's gijoe con, hasbro gave to me...
4 fuscia twins, 3 squads of Crimson Vipers, 2 pairs of crimson twins and a paratrooper dusty stuck in a tree...
At this year's gijoe con, hasbro gave to me...
FIVE STRIKE TEAM SETS.....4 fuscia twins, 3 squads of Crimson Vipers, 2 Crimson HISS Tanks and a paratrooper dusty stuck in a tree...
I could keep going but you get the idea....let's just say the song ends with 35 loose Blizzard figures....
Oh, and let me tell you about Lefty...the two right-handed Crimson Strike Team Viper....I got a Viper in one of the boxed sets with 2 right arms...Master Collector swapped him for me with one of the display ones. He's not in my pictures, but I've got a close up shot of him...That means one less Viper out there. So two errors so far...one double armed Viper and one set missing the commanders gear...
That's all for now...
John M.
7/1/02
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