I think the title implies where I am heading. With the recent success of Marauder and Boss Fight KSs, both of which have to be fairly called derivative of G.I. Joe, when does Hasbro decide to follow suit?

We always hear about the death of teh line, and we see with our own eyes the failure of the current retail distribution system (both from the customer's perspective on the front end, of not getting access to what we want, but also on the production/retail end of things, with so much overflow product ending up at discount stores, sometimes for their first appearance at retail.

Ignore for a moment that Hasbro has the capital to produce what they want without crowdsourcing, and ask yourself this:

-If they ran a kickstarter, with more of the figures you want, would you support it?
-And at what kind of cost per figure?
-Would you pay Club pricing?
-Would you only pay what you expect to pay at retail?

You can assume Retaliation level quality and articulation (though hopefully back to normal ankles), and figures not already directly produced in the modern lines.

I'm curious on this topic mostly for the what-if value of it, but also because it's something I'm thinking about as I consider what I'm willing to invest towards the future of various action figure lines.

Also consider - is this a completely irrelevant mental exercise, or is this a model that established manufacturers such as Hasbro might begin to employ?

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I would contribute heavily for $20 per figure if that was what needed to be done to get GI Joe figures out of Hasbro.

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Would that be conditioned on anything? Certain figures? Certain styles or specific requirements of design? Accessories matter for that evaluation?

Also, $20 per - as collectibles, or custom fodder?

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If Hasbro had to market their toys using a Kickstarter then they have severely failed as a business. They have their own online retailer. Their own tv station. And they have investors already with a stake in the company. I'd rather see them rebrand GI Joe into something more marketable to retailers than try to make a kickstarter out of it.

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I don't necessarily need certain figures, as long as they are well done, I'm in. I would expect accessories on par with the Ultimate Retaliation wave. Articulation and build should be like POC or the 30th line as I hate rocker ankles. And it would be for fodder/collecting. I collect, but I also use everything at my disposal. I recently used Nocturnal Fire Spearhead parts on 2 different customs that have not been put on the site yet, and I have been eying up a couple of FSS figures. Nothing is safe in my collection.

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Also, in my opinion, the FSS figures are too expensive. They are nice and I get why they need to cost that much on such a small run, but I can only afford to buy some of them at that price level. Just not enough value for a guy like me who is mainly a customizer rather than a collector.

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I agree with Pluv. Kickstarter is to kickstart a business. If it were being done by hasbro we'd have to called it Nail in the Coffin

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I get that, which is also why I said...



However, I also don't think it's beyond question that established manufacturers might start looking to crowdsourcing to fund projects. We're seeing this already with various movie projects - still being pushed by the celebs who in the past might have produced them directly - going the crowdsource route.

That said, I'm looking less at the commercial side (though I touched on that too), and more on the consumer side.

I guess I'm getting at this. Is Hasbro original product > The Club? How does it compare to what BFS will be making?

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What are we calling the different ankle types? Are regular ankles what most of the 25th anniversary figures had where the hinge was in the foot? Do people not like the newer type where the ankle hinge connects to the foot?

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It also makes sense for a big company to put up designs on a kickstarter type of website to see what really sticks. They could potentially eliminate some market research and see if collectors are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Imagine if Hasbro had put up the non-o-ring 2002 first wave on a kickstarter before they manufactured them... they could have avoided that fiasco and became aware that Joe collectors cared more about articulation than other fanbases and saved themselves a lot of peg-warming duds.

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I have been calling the new feet which have the peg attached to the leg "rocker" ankles and the 25th style with the peg on the foot the "regular".

In my opinion, again as a customizer, rocker ankles suck. Its much harder to paint those and retain movement and much harder to change things around. They do make for better range of motion if you just want to collect, pose, or play though. So, pros and cons just like anything else, unfortunately for me, the cons outweigh the pros.

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Dusty beat me to the punch, but this is what I was writing:

I think the newest type is called "Rocker Ankles" by most. In theory it is an improvement, but most would agree they only stand a chance of working if there is a knee or thigh swivel included with the figure. Without it, there is no way to turn the feet inward or outward and keep them flat. Every Joe with the Rocker Ankles has severe issue standing in a natural fashion (IMHO). They work ok on Marvel figures which usually also have the thigh swivel though.

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For Hasbro, all they would have to do is setup a deal with HasbroToyShop and go with a pre-order system. Which they did actually with DTC. They could try it again with the modern figures though. Forget all the "separate entity" and all that. It can be done that way. It's the same as Mattel running with the He-Man stuff and setting up the subscription service.

But assuming Hasbro were to go with a Kickstarter, just to say it would happen, I would support it for sure. It would be a sure way to see stuff happen and they could feel secure in their offering. I think they wouldn't do it though more than anything based that they never really like to show their bottom line of revenue in the way Kickstarter lays it out. Now I bet if there was a way to take the Kickstarter idea and apply it to corporation use, it could be extremely successful.

Main thing, I'm just glad that the 50th Anniversary items are being offered through pre-orders. I hate going to Toys R Us over and over and never finding anything.

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I see... I never realized it, but you're right. I have the Renegades Scarlett and Retalliation Lady Jaye figures and immediately cut off their ankles and attached them to a BBI foot which has a swivel at the top of the boot. I actually thought this "rocker" style was a large improvement over the old ankle, but if a Joe can't even stand in a neutral pose, it's no good.

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Since the toys are getting harder and harder to find in store because of bad distribution, scalpers and whatever, I think that big name companies could use Kickstarter or something similar to gauge the interest of their products instead of being a way to finance the line and produce according to the quantity ordered.
I'm not talking about the typical online pre-order where people can cancel their order if/when they get the item in store, I'm talking about an actual commitment since the products wouldn't be available elsewhere anymore.

I'd be interested if they produce something outside the movieverse and I'd be all over a proper Adventure Team line. The Club tried, but their offerings weren't that cool and the head sculpt wasn't that great.

Price wise, I understand that such a line would cost more that what a regular figure costs in store these days. For an AT line, I'd be ready to pay $20 per figure.
They could make army builder packs of evil minions for 15$ per figure.

As for customizing, it would be cool if they could sell basic figure kits. Several kinds of bodies with interchangeable parts kinda like the Mashers without the big cartoony proportions.

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