What do you consider to be real G.I. Joe? I omitted the 12 inch figures from the title. They are what started it all, and for all I know may be 'realest' Joes ever produced. But I've never owned one; their history is beyond my ken; and therefore beyond the scope of my blog.
I'm trying to sift through it all in my head. My room is swimming in ARAH and modern era Joes. I try and make the nu-skool guys work with the old-skool vehicles and it is unfulfilling. I can't deny that the modern era Joes have become the epitome of the Joe line, taking a figure design that remained largely unchanged for 25 years and improving on it. It's not without a few major and minor gripes though.
The major gripe I have is sadly not something that will be improved as it is totally dependent on the financial climate. New parts and sculpts are emerging all the time, but sadly they are intended for a handful of popular characters. While we are getting our fan-requested figures, nichey figures made, sadly they often get total franken-Joe treatment. My favourite example of parts reuse must be Hit & Run from the Assault on Cobra Island 7 Pack. Nothing new on that figure. Not even the head.
When we consider that vintage ARAH Joes were each uniquely sculpted (notwithstanding subsequent re-releases) it's clear that Hasbro had a great deal more $ to splash around.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is this - Joes who became fan favourites by virtue of having a sweet original sculpt and not because of their media exposure are relegated to the franken-Joe treatment. Characters who pop up in every rendition of Joe (Cobra Commander, Duke, Snake-Eyes) get all the new parts. While this makes economic sense, sadly those nichy characters who we loved because the were sweet figures now aren't even that. I'm referring to guys like Shockwave, Hit & Run, Tunnel Rat. My favourite vintage sculpt, Falcon has become a Frankenjoe so hideous I don't want to hit yojoe.com to take a quick reference squizz at the 25th Anniversary fig. What a shame. Even having Don Johnson do your voice can't save a 2nd tier, Flint look-alike.
It is with enormous pleasure that I announce three upcoming exceptions. The 30th anniversary figures of Airtight, Lifeline and Sci-Fi look incredible. New parts allowing design accuracy instead of approximation, even when the characters themselves are pretty obscure and largely left alone by current Joe media.
I just looked at Falcon. Looks like a Joe from the post-ARAH, new-sculpt era. Bad.
Getting back to the topic at hand. The road to the 25th Anniversary Joes was not always a clear one. When ARAH disappeared and reappeared and then disappeared, all Hasbro was doing was re-releasing old toys. Enter the New Sculpt. With a new comic title from Devil's Due Publishing, new Joe figures started hitting shelves. At first they were without elastic 'O' rings - the rubber band that holds a vintage Joe together and allows the figure to move at the waist along multiple planes instead of simply side to side. These figures also had the dreaded 'T' crotches that only allowed the legs to rotate forward along the same plane. The figures were also made of a softer, more durable plastic. This saved the new figs from the typical breakages that plagued ARAH like broken thumbs, crotches and elbow cracks. The 'T' crotch joint was a step backwards though, and made the new sculpt Joes slide into Star Wars figurine territory. Bad move. Mercifully they then moved into a hybrid design, reincorporating the 'O' ring, but retaining the soft plastic. After the initial excitement of new toys had died down, it became apparent these figures were horrible. Bad proportions, boring and sloppy paint applications, and, for a few, dreaded action features.
Hasbro had tried to better their original products and failed. I'm sure it showed in their sales. I quickly switched from buying New Sculpt toys back to buying the vintage figures on Ebay. Interestingly enough, towards the end of the New Sculpt line, Hasbro acknowledged this failing of their product and began re-releasing vintage figures cast in the flexible plastic and really going in for the kill with hit sets like the Viper six-packs, and comic packs with more comic accurate, new head sculpts.
But their attempt at putting out a new product was a failure. So how do you re-do Joe without being judged by the insurmountable standard of everything you have done before? Well, you switch scales!
And Sigma Six was born.
mu sigma six se and i read your post and enjoyed it ;D
ReplyDeleteNice one Bro