Everytime I read the title of this thread I want to say, "Combat Gynocologist", but you're not asking for anything new.

The worst ideas are the ones that fall into two categories:

1-Awesome idea, bad end product

2-Bad idea, awesome product

Example #1: Ninja Force, Sneak Peek, Eco-Warriors, etc. Basically these are the things you think would be awesome on the drawing board, but when they are opened up they fail to meet the standard. This includes any of the gimmick features that take away from the playability, unrealistic paint apps, or the things that just don't make sense. Ninja Force Scarlett would have been awesome if the figure wasn't made the way it was. Sneak Peek just looked off to me.

Example #2: I'm gonna go with the 25th on this. I am a die hard ARAH kinda guy, so this is a big statement on my part. The bad idea part is the entire redesign. The good part is there on figures that are 100% improvements over their ARAH counterparts (Snow Job, Torpedo, HISS Driver, etc). The female figures look more feminine, and there is a difference in height. There are a number of accessories that are just incredible. Right now I see what is available and start thinking ahead to other characters. I find myself wondering about Rip-Cord, Fast Draw, Stretcher, Metal-Head, Night-Viper, Big Ben, Hit & Run, Daina, Zarana, and others.

While my opinion of the 25th line is changing, the one thing that would make me readily accept, er...uh, wouldn't mind them so much would be if Hasbro could design the figures so the waist and stomach area was two separate parts. I like waist articulation. I have a few ideas how it could be down, but I can understand it could be a fragile part.

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Doesn't seem like it would be too hard. Just add another ball joint to the T-bar. That's basically how SHS and MM figures were constructed. Of course, it would probably add to the already increasing price of the figures, so I'm okay with just the mid-torso joint.

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Snake Eyes--- Not what Snake Eyes originally was, just what he became because of a unholy alliance between Hama and the GIJoe marketing department. Not much of a character, just the bizarre centerpiece for which most of the comic mythos surrounds. I just don't get the appeal, don't see a character in there, don't get it at all.

Nah, just cut the t-bar into a straight bar. The upwards bar piece doesn't do a damned thing engineering-wise that I can see, and stability of the straight bar can be accomplished by simply re-inforcing the way the plastic abdomen halves grab onto it. Frankly, I've got a few 25As that have loose t-bars anyway; but since they wiggle the hips forwards and back the upright bar wouldn't prevent that movement in any case.

Once you've gotten rid of that, you simply slide the moob-joint down to the abdomen. It'd be kinda weird to have a waist joint that bulges upwards into the belly, but it'd be tolerable and an absolute 100% improvement.

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It just seems that if Hasbro were to spend some money to have the waist and belly sections as two different things, there might be more opportunities down the line to actually save on production costs because some items could be re-used.

Have one belly section that is bare. This one could be used for other Dreadnoks or painted to reflect a more in shape character.

Even if there was a couple generic belly sections produced, then only the upper torso need made for any new releases.

Currently I think the actual waist mold itself could be modded to only make the waist section itself. Instead of sinking money into making a one piece waist AND belly section that has to be redone for each new character, a huge run of the bellies could be done and stockpiled to be used on whatever future figures.

Would it be an issue to have a few generic waists?

Any detail for character specific gear could be done as removable belts/webbing. I would think that would cost less than a new character specific mold.

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It was HOT pink though so it was okay.

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Cobra-La, hands down. The single event that drove many of my Joe friends out of Joe, back in the day. All of the other dumb things that have already been mentioned (Super Trooper, neon colors, water-squirting jets, spring-loaded everything, etc.) pale in comparison to the utter crud that Cobra-La is/was. Well, Venom vs. Valor (especially Venomous Maximus) does come pretty close to reaching that level.

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I know I'm going to get kicked in the junk a LOT for saying this but I have to say Sgt. Slaughter in the cartoon and figure line. I can understand the reasoning for it and this is NOT a dig against the man himself but it just felt forced to me. Unlike the Fridge who just had his one tribute figure and that was it, Sarge got his own subteam and a couple different versions of his figure AND was prominent on the cartoon. It almost seems like Hasbro didn't have enough faith in the Joe brand to stand on its own that they felt they needed to bring in some star power to help boost ratings/sales. And I get that he became so prominent because kids dug the guy back in the day but I think it took away from what Joe was supposed to be. It was, in my humble opinion, the same as if Lucas had put Bo Jackson (another 80's & 90's popular sports figure) in Star Wars and gave him his own storyline and the adventures of Bo Jackson and his Bo-Knows Rebels. Using an existing personality, no matter how cool that person is, to sell your property, (and make no mistakes kids, that's what those cartoons were doing, selling toys) just doesn't seem fair to the property itself in my opinion. They could have easily had a guy dressed as Duke or Flint or Roadblock introduce the episodes and "now you know" PSAs and CREATE their own star power rather than bank on someone elses. Just seems like a lack of faith in the brand to me.

Let the stoning begin...

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They were trying to break the stereotype!

[sarcasm]
Right from the get go the male babies have blue and the girls have pink.

They grow up and boys get the violent war toys and chunky/blocky construction stuff.

Girls are given the dolls that allow them to accessorize and realistic babies that focus them to develop their maternal natures.

Why can't the girls be dressed in blue and play with the Tonka trucks? Why can't the boys have 'tea time'?

We must stop this wanton stereotyping! Anytime you see a baby with a blue cap, run up to it, tear that hat off their head, and stomp on it!

(the cap, not the baby!)



Give a girl an action figure! Shove her into a soapbox derby car and let her go! Buy her Hulk Smash hands!
[/sarcasm]

I need sleep...

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No stoning! You're pretty much right, although I submit it's still nowhere near as bad as Cobra-La!
I think the Fridge was pretty weak too, but your reasoning on it is pretty sound-1 figure and done. And I think Slaughter could've been the same way. But they overdid it, and that hurt it more than helped it. I mean, you have this guy coming in, and suddenly he's the superhero of the team, like the way Snake-Eyes got way overblown in the comics.



Oh yeah, and I say all this despite that Slaughter was my favorite wrestler back in the day, even though everyone else liked Hulk Hogan!

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I can't really pin anything down, but I would have to say most of everything after '85 in the toy line, with a few exceptions that are just bad. There are items I still like from '86-'89, but really anything after that was not worth getting or at least the way Hasbro made them (ei: color, accessories, etc).

Here are a few that haven't been stated, that I would include:

Cobra Missile Command Headquarters - I think in most part Cobra gets shafted on everything cool and this one is the figure head. Would have been cooler if it was plastic for one and why offer same figures you could get already. I don't know, but I would have added something new, but that could just be me.

SHARC - By far the odd ball of all the '82-'85 line and in the cartoon, with the Sky Hawk coming in close second. I just could not believe that it could come out of the water and fly. I thought this was a special military unit and not a magic act. Plus it had a diver for a pilot, which makes sense for part, but not the other. The worst figure made comes to mind here too, with Deep Six. Would have been cooler if they would have changed the function of it, and a better figure couldn't hurt ether.

Sky Hawk - Never like this thing. I don't see how it could have taken to the skies. There was no wings for lift to keep it up once it lifted off. I don't even have a fix for it, as I don't think it could have been.

There are others that could have been changed to be better in the '82-'85 line, but I can live with them more than the one above.

I think the file card thing wasn't that great of an idea too. I would have got into them more if they were more like trading cards. I'm not talking about size or shape, but how they had to be cut out for starters. I know most kids weren't as anal as I was about that type of thing, so most looked like they chewed the file card off. Second, it would have been really cool to have the card art on the file card, and I'm not talking about the little picture they include, but a full size picture on the other side. Then they could have added more and better information on the other side without that little picture too. I would have like to have cards on the vehicles too, as it looks like they are doing for the 25th Rattler and Conquest. I guess better late than never, but it still isn't perfect.

momaw nadon

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Worst idea for JOE:


Matt Trakker.

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Going to add flip flop Stormshadow to the list.

It's cool to make Stormshadow a bad guy, it's cool to make him a good guy, it's not cool to have him change sides so often that you wonder if he flips a coin in the morning to decide if he's going to wear Cobra or Joe today.

Oh and the really horrible idea of lets put two uber ninjas on the Joe team but don't put up any thing for Cobra to counter the uber ninjas. At least with bad guy Stormshadow you felt like something could keep uber ninja Snake Eyes in check.

Deep Six. The character is cool, but he should have more articulation than just arms. I'm not sure if he's an action figure or a fancy brick. Now then, I am off to build a Deep Six house.

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That's illegal over here...

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