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I don't think it matters unless Hasbro can pull on all of their reigns and get everything (Movie, Comic, toon, Toy) heading in the same direction.

80s, the toy led the way... new toys were featured in the Comic or cartoon...and then they were on the shelves. It's currently flip flopped and the Media is leading and toys are trying to catch up but never can...because the development cycles are different.

The last cartoon that struck a chord with me was Resolute...I'd be happy to see it revisited....and I'm fine if they want to kill off Joes and bring in new Resolute characters there. The Resolute world is the only place I can see a enemy being believably more ruthless than cobra...they can do it in dramatic fashion.

I was excited for Retaliation...though my hopes have dropped significantly since it was punted till next spring... a delay like this could have been great for the toys and the rest of the brand if it was planned for...as we all plainly see it wasn't... so only time will tell.

Honestly, both questions depend on what the story and designs are. I think a lot of people may jump to the idea of Sargent Savage or GI Joe Extreme when faced with this question (I did) but the more I thought about it, I realized Devils Due and Spy Troops did this a little already (at least in the case of a new GI Joe team) They didn't retire the old team, but they did bring in a lot of new characters (some of which are now supposed fan favorites like the Stall family)

I think I'd still want Cobra, but a whole new group of GI Joes with the core group retired could play out just fine. Like others have said, maybe have one or two of the originals show up in administrative roles once in a while and you would have to have the media blitz (Comic, Cartoon, etc...) to go with the toys or you'll just wind up with people going "Who are these guys? This isn't my GI Joe" Watching and reading the new characters' stories can make them your GI Joe.

They are really interesting questions. As I really began to absorb Joe for the first book, I came to the conclusion a couple years ago that the form Joe would need to really catapult into 21st Century would not be a form we would embrace. I can only imagine what die hard 12" collectors thought in 1982.

I don't know what I think about creating another full-on enemy for Joe. Certainly, I'm not opposed to it. My immediate thoughts are of "The Evil Horde" faction that was created in 1985 to add a twist to the Masters of the Universe line. For those not aware, they were the evolution of bad guys from Skeletor and his crew (Hordak, the leader even helped make Skeletor the evil he became showing just how bad he is) and kids really took to The Evil Horde. They took it a step further and introduced the Snake Men that were also well received. I bring this line up as a success to the premise but also to say that the story came full circle and Skeletor came out on top so it makes me wonder if bringing a new faction will only help support Cobra in the end. I'm also weary because it was successful in the 80's does not mean it would be successful today.

I don't think bringing in the "new recruits" is good enough or and acceptable answer. In a way, our Joe did that throughout the 82-94 line. I've been mulling over the theory of "chapters" of vintage RAH because you can see they wanted to reintroduce a core team of Joes without actively acknowledging the retirement of the previous team. We can debate exactly when a chapter starts and finish (I'm using the significant package changes as an underlying factor of a break) but it's pretty clear they would reintroduce a laser trooper, mortar trooper, heavy machine gunner etc. But these new recruits all fell under the same mantra and the same underlying goal. I don't think replacing Rock n Roll with Roadblock with Repeater is the answer; I think Joe needs to go on a new mission as a whole. I also think it needs to move away from war like the Adventure Team did. I don't think a larger scale is a good idea due to modern costs etc, but I do think a new look and a new motive would benefit the brand. I also agree with his main driving point that they are toys and need to be produced as toys (not sculptures as he calls what we have now).

Finally, I do agree with him in that whatever they get behind they need to do a full push. He makes the comment that it's odd that an Avenger toy costs $1 less on shelves than G.I. Joe and Joe's a property Hasbro has full ownership of (as opposed to paying a licensing fee to Marvel) but I can also see that Hasbro significantly reduced the production numbers of their movie line due to the burn from the 2009 movie. Regardless, I think the media outlets utilized (comics, TV, movies) all need to be on the same page and need to have a solid push. I think everyone needs to be on the same page and pursue a genre more streamlined as opposed to creating a lukewarm property that tries to satisfy everyone and thereby satisfying no one.

I actually think the spirit of being open to new ideas is more the important point of Kirk's question than the details itself. My answers:

1. The Iron Army. I realize that this would again be revisiting the past. But it would be revisiting the past that was not given much of a chance. I have been collecting Gen. Blitz stuff pretty much as hard as I can because I like the design of the team. IMO, the Iron Army has a flair to it that reminds me of Cobra in 1982, but drawing heavily from WWII Germany for their outfits. They infuse that odd blend of real world and sci-fi with the use of a cyborg army. I did Blitz a little fast in bad lighting, so I missed some spots. But here are two of my customs to give an idea of how I think these characters could look in a current toyline:



2. I am going to agree and disagree. I think new Joes are needed, but retiring the old ones is not a great idea. Over the last decade, when a new character has appeared it is always scrutinized as being a clone of a character that already exists. Hard Drive and Hacker...why not Mainframe? Switch Gears...why not Heavy Metal? Depthcharge...why not Wet-Suit? The truth is, when we were younger we could have been asking these same questions. Sci-Fi...why not Flash? Lifeline...why not Doc? Wet-Suit...why not Torpedo? Heavy Metal...why not Steeler? But the community as a whole was a lot more open to it at the time.
But on the other hand, I have been spouting off about my comparison to Spider-Man for a while now. Snake-Eyes and the Joes we know started being introduced in 1982. Spider-Man debuted in 1962, exactly 20 years earlier. I can remember the feeling of the 82 Joes being introduced. I can also remember at the time how Spider-Man already felt like a staple of our culture in 82. I remember that every kid knew who Spider-Man was. It wasn't that every kid was super excited about the character, but through his ups and downs of popularity he always retained a presence. Spider-Man had attained a cultural saturation that has endured. So ask yourself this....2002 marked 20 years for Snake Eyes. Did that character attain and hold the same kind of cultural saturation that Spider-Man attained? I would say no. Has the G.I.Joe brand as a whole done that?

Despite the combat heroes that were thrust upon him, my 6-year old nephew still didn't know or care what G.I.Joe was the last time I asked him. But he knows Spider-Man. Is it really a safe idea to toss out the work the brand has done in 30 years and start again? I would say no. It is time to take those characters and see to it that they press on and last for the next generation. We won't always be around to cheerlead our childhood heroes on. If we don't pass them on, this really could be the end of the road. And the end of the road for our Joes could also mean the end of all G.I.Joe.

But at the same time, I think we need to grab that open-mindedness message that Kirk was talking about. there really is no reason why Sgt. Savage could not have sat on the shelf next to 3 3/4" Joes and done well. G.I.Joe can be more than just Snake Eyes, Duke, and a supporting cast of familiar faces.

1. Yes, ok!

2. I will still have my "core characters" no matter what, I would be very interested in seeing a team of new characters.

If the scale had remained the same, I would have had Sgt.Savage joining my collection very easily at that time. It was right there on the shelf, I tried out the one with the VHS tape. Vehicle compatibility was a big issue for me at that time. (At the same time, I was getting a certain fan news letter that spent a lot of content bashing Sgt. Savage, too.)

"Scattered to the winds" made me think of a fragmented force. My imagination has me thinking GIJoe dealt a big blow to the "meteor" threat of Cobra, but now that "meteor" has "fragmented" bad guys across the globe; now all free agents with no Cobra to control or obey.

I agree with a lot of what has been said. When I heard Kirk’s suggestion on FlagPoints, I agreed that would reinvigorate GIJoe for the future. I imagine that kids today don’t connect much with Joe, just as I couldn’t fathom that all 12” figures were “Joe”. As collectors, we have to distance ourselves from the equation, as it’s often pointed out we can’t keep the toyline afloat.

1) Cobra should be defeated. How refreshing would it be for Joe to finally WIN? Consider the size of the Iron Grenadiers now and reduce Cobra to that. We could still get a Jailbird Cobra Commander, a few Vipers, and a Major Bludd, Zartan, and Firefly to spring CC out. But the focus would be put on the new enemy. I thought “Renegades” had a good take (on Cobra) as a multi-national corporation inherent in everything you see but that cannot be trusted. Kids already don’t trust adults.

2) Retiring old Joes is the way to go. Who is Duke to kids today? Roadblock? Wipe the slate clean and use the next “wave” of characters to reinvent Joe. Sure I liked Doc more than Lifeline, but there were plenty of kids for whom Lifeline was the go-to medic. Maybe a spy-action angle would be more tangible as a special ops team targeted at 8-10 year olds. They could still toss in a desk-jockey General Hawk and armory clerk Rock & Roll for us adults.

While neither of these options would retain much of my interest in the GIJoe line, something has to change for Joe to be the "Big Thing" on toyshelves again.

Since '82 hasn't this already happened oh . . . 3 times more or less. Savage, Extreme, and Sigma 6. Sigma 6 didn't give us a "new" bad guy, but it did in many ways give us a new "Cobra." A little cartoony for my taste, but I think if Sigma 6 had been given 1 more year, we'd still be buying it today.

Extreme and Savage are, when it get's right down to it, still in the same world as RAH. At this point they are a bit outdated since Extreme was set in what 2005 or so. Is that really an issue in a fictional universe though?

That being said, I always thought it needed to happen. Heck it was even kind of the mandate of the original run with people like Sci-Fi, Bazooka, and Leatherneck filling the rolls of previous characters. In fact my own personal view has long been that all of it, RAH, Savage, Adventure Team, Action Force, Extreme, Action Man, all of it can happen in the same world. Maybe not at the same time, but the same world none-the-less. Why can't Doctor Mindbender, Doctor X, and Baron Ironblood work together to make an ultimate weapon. Sure they might hate each other, but their goals could be largely the same. Ultimately they would all backstab each other and fail, but it would be a fun ride.

Why not unify everything, but market it differently around the world. Action Man can stay in Britain as a toy line, but that doesn't mean he can't show up in the US to track down Gangrene, who just happens to be working with Ironklaw to create a deadly contagion. On the flip side of the coin Snake Eyes could Travel to England to enter a martial arts competition, and ends up teaming up with Action Man to take out some X-Robots that are there to kidnap the queen.

There's just no reason they can't cross over, expand, and move forward.

Roger