Forgoing that I still think Hasbro should be making the 12" Joe line and not licensing out... I do feel a lot of their stuff isn't very true to the original character art. Faces seem weird to me(Flint just looks OFF). I can understand things like long sleeves or Zartan's shirt just because the articulation on these bodies is a bit ugly but they do seem to really stray a lot. It also feels like part of the cost is paying for their name... I don't know the quality of the current stuff but my CC already has a crack in the belt clasp thanks to it being a poor design and the clasp loop using cheap plastics. I am also not a 100% fan of his mask head. It's grown on me a bit but I think it looks more like how an artist would draw a hanging hood mask rather than a real mask. I still believe Hasbro's old 1992 hood at this scale looks better, and not including a spare helmet head was just unforgivable considering these heads easily come off.

As for the prices, well for $350 I don't think I'd get my money's worth for what amounts to eye candy. Immobile eye candy. At least a toy can be posed(though I still don't believe toys should be regarded as "high end" items with large price tags "just because"). And for the price I'd rather get an Open Pandora for a bit more, a device which has numerous uses. And to be honest I think the only "expensive" toy I may ever go for in the future would be an Omega Supreme though the current $150 prices do annoy me.

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That's one of the things I've often wondered myself. It seems like Hasbro should actually operate their own collector club. Within that club they could offer their own subscription serviced. They could have a 12" format and have high end well done figure. They could even part it out 2 being 2 subs like "RAH" and "Classic". THEY could be the one doing the 3 3/4" line and even have offered a "Classic" line too.

I don't know, I've just never understood the idea of them not doing it. I can understand letting other people license out like Sideshow. That's just good business, but still it seems like a good idea would be to allow them the statues and Hasbro handle the figure format.

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Given how Joe's been handled at the retail level for years now I think Hasbro really isn't focused on the line. They're focusing on Transformers because the films made money while sort of brushing the line that the company started with to the wayside. I still have not seen anything beyond the non-RAH 12" line in local area stores and those are a bit overpriced for what amounts to a base body that's been used since the late 90s, perhaps a reused head and some random accessories, most of which are probably existing molds(I know the soldier gets the same rifle that SDCC Baroness had).

Though in all honesty, if Hasbro handled a modern 12" line the way they handled the 25th and ROC lines(which were mostly cheap quality toys) I'd almost rather Sideshow do these. I think the only figure that was really noteworthy was ROC Destro, the rest suffered from bad mold choices and design decisions(I really don't know what was going on with that Cobra Commander. Bare hands? A hat?). ROC CC was Action Man's "No Face" villain with a coat, chest piece held on by elastic and a mask that was too loose to fit.

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