GI Joe's future in doubt.

As Toyfair New York 2016 approaches, once again GI Joe fandom goes through the usual motions predicting what will be seen from Toyfair this year.  Two years ago headed into 2014, while many feared we would see nothing at retail coming off yet another disappointing feature film, the consensus feeling was that the then new 50th Anniversary line of 3.75" figures and vehicles released met or exceeded the general expectations the fandom had.  Anyone who's ever spent a little time on the fan forums would know this was no mean feat given the sky-high expectations and endless "wishlist" threads of a fandom clinging on to a flagging brand that over the last few years has lost virtually all it's appeal to retailers.  I think many at that point had the reasonable expectation that GI Joe would go on 'hiatus' status.  It also didn't help that not long before this GI Joe was publicly downgraded from being one of Hasbro's most strategically important brands in an investor's meeting.

Going into 2015, Hasbro stated that it would not make any new GI Joe announcements or show product at ToyFair and instead stated that it planned to show displays and reveal new GI Joe merchandise at JoeCon.  When revealed, once again the general feeling was that Hasbro met expectations with it's product assortment which I've covered here. However, going into 2016, there has as of now been no official hints given by Hasbro as to what we are to expect.  Once again the forums are replete with calls for the fandom to air their laundry-list of wishful ideas on what Hasbro should produce and what they should do to guarantee the future output of the brand.  The general feeling is that while the 50th Anniversary has been good to us, there should be more coming than the mostly repaints of the last few years.

In other news, the GI Joe Collector's Club, which has for several years now been involved in managing the GI Joe convention as well as creating licensed figures featuring figures that appeal specifically to collectors posted an ominous message to it's website on it's membership renewal page :

Please note that at this time we are only accepting memberships and renewals for the 2016 calendar year.  All memberships will end with the December 2016 issue.  For example:  if your  membership renewal has a February start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring along with 10 monthly issues.   If your membership renewal has a March start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring and 10 monthly issues.

As is usual for the Collector's Club, there has been no official word as to what this means.  It however, may have something to do with details that have been released by Hasbro about the property going forward:

HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, Inc. announced a groundbreaking deal today to collaborate on feature films for five of Hasbro's iconic properties. Under the agreement, Paramount and Allspark Pictures, Hasbro's film label, will establish a cross-property interconnected onscreen universe, featuring the deep stories and great characters from Hasbro brands G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and ROM.
"Paramount and Hasbro have had a longstanding relationship and we're proud of the success we've enjoyed on the 'TRANSFORMERS' and 'G.I. JOE,' franchises," said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. "We're excited to grow our agreement and make even more movies based upon these popular and powerful Hasbro characters and their worlds."
Allspark Pictures, Hasbro's film label, will produce the films and Brian Goldner (Chairman, President and CEO, Hasbro), Stephen Davis (Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Hasbro), and Josh Feldman (Head of Film Development, Hasbro) have worked closely with Paramount in shaping the interconnected universe for the properties. To develop the creative roadmap for G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and ROM, Hasbro and Paramount will assemble a writer's room which will include some of the most notable creative talent in Hollywood
"Hasbro and Allspark Pictures put storytelling at the center of everything that we do. These brands are filled with memorable stories and vivid characters, and this Universe creates a framework for how they will become interconnected," said Brian Goldner, Chairman, President and CEO of Hasbro. "Extending our partnership with Paramount allows us to continue our long-term strategy and overall vision to build dynamic worlds for all of our brands, and we are thrilled to collaborate with them as we develop these properties."

http://investor.hasbro.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=947088


Okay....I suppose this could be taken as GI Joe being part of a giant new rebirth for it and several other brands owned by GI Joe's parent company.  Hoping to build off the successes of the 25th Anniversary of the A Real American Hero (ARAH) line that modernized and revolutionized the property several years ago, the brand eventually fell flat.  While both Rise of Cobra and Retaliation were commercially successful films, they failed to capture the public's embrace in a way that would sustain GI Joe culturally.  Now Hasbro apparently looks to another relaunch by combining GI Joe with several other properties.  While I am fascinated to see what they come up with here by mixing it with far more obscure and untouched lines like Visionaries, Micronauts, and ROM there is I think a lot more reason to have a dimmer view of all this.  By mixing it with a bunch of untried vintage concepts, GI Joe has essentially been demoted.  Not only that, but GI Joe now becomes an accessory brand of some larger initiative.  As such, Joe could lose it's identity and more importantly, its sovereignty as a line. 

As for GI Joe's ongoing identity, the case has been made that regardless, there needs to be a major shakeup of to attract a new generation of younger fans.  A Real American Hero is an icon of fans where the median age is pushing over forty years old and everything since 1983 has been done in effort to hold that Reagan-era demographic.   The 50th Line celebrates the creation of GI Joe as a brand, yet had zero merchandise to appeal to it's original fans of the twelve-inch line of toys.  That line is officially dead at retail and no one besides the Collectors Club caters to those fans with product any longer (Hasbro last produced 12" Joes back in 2009 and even Hot Toys dropped their premium twelve-inch GI Joe product for lack of interest).  If the Club shuts its doors, the original GI Joe 12" format would be dead. 


What I call the brand's 'sovereignty' is a much more significant issue.  In short, if Joe is part of an interconnected 'universe' there is no guarantee that the needs of that universe's merchandising would include three-and three-quarter inch figures, accessories, and vehicles which are the primary want of legacy fans and the center of the brand's merchandising for the past thirty years plus.  The hope has long been that a new direction could perpetuate the GI Joe action figure line even if the story was entirely different.  While I personally didn't care that much for the prematurely cancelled Renegades cartoon of several years back, it was popular and did well enough.  It gave the brand the opportunity to reach new audiences in adolescent age groups in attempt to grow another generation of fans.  It was killed after just one season, despite doing quite well on a small network called The Hub. Renegades severely altered GI Joe's identity from being an anti-terrorism unit into being more of a Scooby Gang of misfits out to shed light on a corrupt corporation.  For the short time it was around it generated toys to accompany the 30th Anniversary product, including such notable contributions such as the Renegades Storm Shadow, Scarlet, Black Dragon VTOL, and the 30th Anniversary Law & Order (which was inspired by his Renegades appearance).  Even if I wasn't that keen on the Renegades concept, I could still integrate it's toys into my collection as I saw fit.

It's failure to perpetuate a successful identity is exactly why GI Joe is presently where it is.  now it's going to be floating around with a number of other unproven properties.  The difference is, GI Joe is moved downwards in relevance.  Visionaries and Micronauts might be the next successfully revitalized 80s property, which may leave GI Joe on the wayside.  So I cannot say that I welcome this new development.  It could be the final nail in GI Joe's coffin for the next generation.