David Willis can get bent, he's easily one of the most irritating people in all of Transfandom. He considers himself a celebrity thanks to his dumb comic, and actually has fans over on Allspark.

Chuck Dixon's a pretty good writer. I'm giving the new books a chance.

The problem with these new Joe comics is that they are now being written for adults. Children (to my knowledge) don't read comics anymore, and have no access to or knowledge of this new material. The creators know who their readers are and are doing what makes business sense. Change can work on a large scale, but to a niche market like comics made for original fans, you basically are forced into a rut. Like another poster said, they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

As for the Transformer vs. Joe fan debate, both groups have more than their fair share of wackos and whiners. I am also a huge TF fan but no longer participate in any of their major discussion boards thanks to the nuts and the snots (not to mention Willis and his cult of personality). This is one of the only boards to have civilized people who know how to speak to one another. There are plenty of Joe boards I can't stand, and this fandom was particularly rough back during the new sculpt era.

You've got some good points there FB, but as a guy who makes his entire living from doing these comics, that to me earns some measure of respect.

But you make a great point - what made us love the old Joe comics was they came out when we were kids.

It now appeals to me why I hate all modern joe comics - they're written for adults. I want comics kids can enjoy. I have an inner 8 year old, not an inner 30 year old.

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Okay we are far from perfect ourselves, and it's not like a nut job or two hasn't been shown the door because they don't know how to be civil with their fellow fans. But still I think we do a better job of fostering a civil environment where we can strongly disagree without it becoming something personal.

I know it's a little of me but this place is where I go to calm back down after having to deal with the fans of other things. A nice little island of sanity in the sometimes insane world of finding out things about toys and shows on the internet.

Flashback pretty much summed up the entire comic industry.

It's written by fans for fans. In jokes, and fan wank set ups are replacing story content and character development.
like with most everything else fun is being replaced by gritty. No one wears anything that wasn't purchased at the special ops version of hot topic. Until all of the fans are out raged. then instead of coming up with a suitable update of old school design coupled with modern military gear, you get straight up copies of the original design.

I know people like to boil the Ripcord argument down to Marlon Wayans!1!!! but that's not the issue. The problem is we are going to get black funny guy to offset Duke tough guy not for the sake of character, but for the sake of "demographics". As much as everyone [LASER BLAST] about it it's our own fault. Remember all those times Hasbro did something that pissed you off, or marvel made Spiderman make a deal with Satan?(opps comic code we mean Mephistio) As outraged as fan boys are they still rush out to buy their copy of the mag next month, they still buy one each of all the joes produced, cause heaven forbid you don't catch them all.

fanboys, alienate future fans, even other future adult fans, kids don't stand a chance. could you imagine being ten years old, finding an awesome as all get out sigma six figure, watching the action packed adventures of sigma six on Saturday morning then coming onto a Joe fan forum just to get berated with "sigma sux". I am certian your feeling about joe would have been drastically different if back in 84 as you cruised the Joe isle at tru and 12 inch fan walked by smacked that Duke out of your hands and said "look at that grinning idiot, real GI Joes, are way better, you must be some sort of moron for even liking these."

but whatever the Big H seems to be running low on "fresh" ideas, just like Hollywood, network tv and the big two of comic industry. they'll bleed us on nostalgia until that dries up and all the childhood memories are replaced with the memory of that scalper swiping your yellow stalker as your back was turned to look for that sweet walmart exclusive marvel legend whoever(probably wolverine).

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Well said. That has needed saying for years.

And for that I give you,

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I'd have to disagree. Willis makes most of his living off of calculating fan wank merch. Willis is a ridiculous hypocrite that thinks being a self-aware hypocrite makes it okay.

his stuff isn't even as good as the guy who draws mows.com

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I guess the problem is not much GI Joe or Transformers doing the same things they have done before as much as it's a part of human nature.

Take something way older like say Robin Hood. No matter who does it there are elements that are always going to be there. Robin the dashing hero, the evil prince, merry men, the shooting of arrows and all that. Errol Flynn, Mel Brooks, or the latest BBC Robin Hood show at their heart they are all pretty much the same.

Once something works people tend to go with what works even if some things get reworked. Duke is the all American hero in a Real American Hero, Valor vs Venom, Sigma Six, and most likely in the new live action film. Snake Eyes is the silent ninja commando that kicks butt. Cobra Commander is the bad guy that must be stopped just like Robin Hood and Prince John they have their rolls that will be played out again and again as long as someone is interested in the story one more time.

Maybe the movie is going to be a good jumping on point for lots of new people, but I've got the feeling that parts of the stuff will always follow GI Joe around because for some reason it just works for enough people to keep things going.

LOL

Yeah, you got me. . .yawn.

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Gotta agree there. really all fandoms have thier nuts, Star Wars, Superheroes, TF and Joe have thier nutcases who just drive the fandom down the toliet.



I gotta disagree, Sigma was a huge step backwards and the fact that Duke is still sitting in some stores on clearence shows it. Plus I don't ever recall anyone smacking a sigma six figure out of a kids hand (that implys a kid actually picked them up ).



But I do have to add to the Big H not having any new ideas. Every "reboot" we get the same 10 figures to start off with and it builds from there with rehashes and repaints, its boreing the fanbase to tears. Something fresh needs to happen (and this movie line isn't cutting it with so many 25th figure and VvV vehicle repaints) or I think Joe may have run its course.

I agree with you on the lack of ideas overall. To play devil's advocate, there is a vocal portion of the fanbase who rejects new characters, saying they're simply replacing an earlier character with the same specialty. This was one of my gripes with this fandom during the new sculpt era, when several decent new figures were released and were immediately slammed for not being an update of [insert RAH favorite here]. That, and every update with new characters has failed (see Sgt Savage and Extreme). Hence we keep getting Duke, SE, CC, and SS.

I'd love to see more new blood, and see a new series led by new leaders with new troopers, but it won't happen.

It seems to be something they do with all their toy lines though. Transformers always has Prime, Megatron, Starscream and either Bumblebee or another yellow bot that's a heck of a lot like Bumblebee. Star Wars makes you wonder just how many Vader or Skywalker toys does one fandom needs. Marvel went to 4" inch figures and instead of the more obscure stuff early on we get a flood of Wolverine toys to bank off the movie.

It's not just a problem they have with GI Joe it's a problem they seem to have across the board where a handful of characters are done to death and new stuff has a hard time getting out there to have a chance.

beautifully stated.

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Look at the insane ( ) overreaction to Matt Trakker.

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I forgot about this mess. Probably because I can't find one in stores, which should speak to his popularity.