Well, crap.

I didn’t much care for Renegades, but even if it was more awesome than anything ever made before it… The animation was stylistic it was going to turn a ton of people off right from the start. It still seems like a no brainer to me to actually make a cartoon that looks like the toys or the property that people care about, but Hasbro seems stuck in this constant need to reinvent and redesign GI Joe to be new and fresh… While still using the same characters.

If Renegades had looked anything like GI Joe, everyone would have hoped right on board with it. Instead it looked horrible and people had to be convinced to get on board. And kids see right through that crap too. So even the kids weren’t likely to jump on board… But if they did, they had no toys anyway.

It’s a confused line of thinking. Sure, it works for Transformers, but the property is more conducive to all sorts of design changes by nature. GI Joe simply isn’t.

This is proof positive that Hasbro has no clear, unified idea for G.I.Joe at the moment. They been casting their line looking for the big one, and are once again narrowing their options. There’s obviously too many “directions” for the brand: movie continuity, Renegades, 30th Anniversary… haven’t we all been here before? I’m getting a strong whiff of deja vu.

Hasbro is, first and foremost, a toy company, and who are toys (contrary to popular geek opinion) made for? Kids, of course, so there’s no sense in them creating a movie or a cartoon toy commercial without toys. In a perfect world there would be money enough to chase all the directions, but we all know how that goes.

I’m no expert, but I see two possible directions happening, and a third not occurring, simultaneously: the 30th anniversary toy line (Hasbro would like to replicate some of the relative success of the 25th and it will also placate adult fans) begins later this year and continues into 2012. If the movie is slated for a summer 2012 release, I don’t doubt that a movie toy-line will start to take over the 30th anniversary’s place by mid-year. I could even see a hybrid line of both in 2012; it never hurts to remind now grown up former fans of what G.I.Joe once meant, especially with a big-budget movie coming. If the movie releases in 2013 (can’t remember when I last read the release was slated for) than we get a year of 30th anniversary, maybe with some more token Renegades sprinkled about, and then the movie line. Neither of those scenarios leaves much room on the shelves for a sustained Renegades line, and that raises the WTF flag when it comes to spending money on an expensive on-going toy commercial for toys that don’t-to-barely exist. That tells me that Hasbro has info indicating that Renegades is NOT connecting with the kids, which was the whole reason for it in the first place. Hasbro probably sees their best opportunity for connecting with the chilluns lies with the movie, and rightfully so, based upon past experience.

Like I said, deja vu, just replace 30 with 25 and Renegades with Resolute.

None of this will matter after December 2012, of course, thanks to the pending End of Days and what-not, but it’s still fun to discuss.

get ready………..

2 Renegades figure 5pks sold as online exclusives.

(or at ROSS a year after theyve hit online if youd like to wait.)

G.I. Joe Renegades does not have that “X” factor. It just falls short of being a movie of the week or worse an A-Team rehash. The charters are flat and washed out like much of the backgrounds. I can see they are trying to stretch this story line out, but wow enough already. The story plots are not pushing any boundaries and very little character development has the show moving in circles. Without an exciting look and feel to have viewers want to tune in week after week you don’t have a show. This is escapism not realism, it has to be colorful and fun with a touch of edginess. Even the A-Team saved the world once in awhile. Thanks for trying.

Between a lack of product available recently at retail (aside from ROSS stores several hours away from where I live), Renegades going on hiatus limbo, and what sounds like a “Deth of teh line!1! (it ain’t quite ded yet)” movie sequel, unless something remarkable is revealed (on any front – toys, media, etc) at this year’s JoeCon, I might be ready to throw in the towel and find a new hobby. This just ain’t no fun anymore. >:-(

Blitzkrieg

Though I never got why everyone had such love for Renegades, I’m saddened to see Hasbro let another G.I. Joe property die off before it had a chance to find it’s legs. Although I’m far from done collecting Joe toys, I’m pretty discouraged that we’ll probably never get a worthwhile Joe product in any other medium.

This is terrible. Renegades is a whole lot better than the movies.

This is sad but give me a Joe Cartoon with Sunbow art and original Marvel comic story and I will be happy.

While I still liked it better than Transformers Prime, I am not sad to see this show go. Their ‘guest hero’ formula to get familiar faces into the series became to tired and formulaic. And the A-Team setting seem to deprive the heroes from being heroic. Still it seems odd that a flagship show of a new network gets such a quick hook. It reinforces my belief that Hasbro has lacked direction for GIJoe for years now.

Maybe if the show was on Cartoon Network? They seem to be getting a lot of success with their shows, even the clone wars, a show with some pretty bland episodes- anything ealing with padme or the episode with the george lucas and family characters.

Agh…guh…WHY?! Not necessarily “why are they canceling it” but WHY did they make this toon if they wanted to see how the new movie did? I don’t understand. Make something, see if it sells, get some fans, but REALLY (on the sidelines) wait to see if that new movie is gona be greenlit and let that float the franchise and screw anyone who caught on to the interim show they slapped together? I’ll say it again: I don’t get it. Why bother to find someone to do unique, eyecatching designs (whether or not you liked them; they caught the eye), then get together a different kind of story for G.I. Joe and try to redo some age old character only to throw it all away? I mean, did NO ONE at the office mention that perhaps the movie was gona be the main franchise boat?

If they wanted G.I. Joe to be fresh in people’s minds until the movie came out, then why not make a short mini series like Resolute (in terms of legnth). Hell, Renegades could have been planned as a short series! Could have made one complete story in one season! Who knows, maybe they still will. Would be nice to actually end this on a final note, rather than a cliffhanger or just smack dab in the middle like some shows. I just can not see how they didn’t plan this out first. SAY something about it being an interim show until the new movie comes out. SOMETHING.

Like I have always said… They shoulda’ let LEGO take on the G.I. Joe vs COBRA toyline. LEGO is expanding their Ninjago into a TV series :P

Seriously, many points have been made above, but for the most part Hasbro is a toy company bottom line.

Only thing is… they seem not to be able to get the toys… out to the store…

Hiatus seems like the word you’d choose when your TV series doesn’t exist on TV, and your toys don’t exist in 80% of America’s toy shops.

This is some real crap. While I never was a HUGE fan of Renegades, I was catching episodes online regularly. More than anything, this just seems to be another shot at killing off GI Joe or something.

I’m still mad that I’m having such a hard time finding figures at retail, and this doesn’t give me much hope that things will get easier or better.

I knew there was something up when the toys didn’t come out. Furthermore, unlike The Batman, which made a course correction by the second season, G.I. Joe Renegades was too much like the A-Team, and too little like G.I. JOE.

I’m kind of okay with a one and done season provided it wraps up somehow (i.e. The Joes reveal Cobra’s true nature and clear their names but Cobra Commander escapes to leave the door open for another season). Ideally for me they’d continue the Renegades universe’s story with art designs that can translate to plastic effectively.

I’m really surprised that Hasbro isn’t solidly committing to a second season though. They’ve only really got two active boys’ IPs that they can exploit into a television series. I saw that Transformers is getting another show for the really young kids (I’m seriously looking forward to that more than more ‘Prime’) and Duel Masters is back (they still make Duel Masters toys?).

Yeah, I hope they release the whole show on DVD. I’ve fallen way behind, and the eps I missed aren’t on line anymore. I kinda just figured it was s sure thing they’d release ‘em, but now I hear that TF Animated series 3 wasn’t released…?! Amazing. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, as Sigam 6 never got released either, right?

I am quite saddened by this news. Unlike other Joe fans, I found the art direction and pacing to be wonderful. I really enjoyed seeing how the Joe’s actions were helping to build Cobra as much as they were laying down the roots for the GI Joe team. The many relationships in Renegades completely bury the old cartoon as well as Resolute.

Here’s hoping the Renegades figures are produced and we get a great translation of the Baroness from Renegades and a Blu Ray release.

Well this just sucks. My 5 year old son loves this show. When the movie comes out, if they go for the PG-13 rating again he’ll still be too young to see the movie. And by the time they bring a cartoon back, he’ll probably have moved on from GI Joe.

Personally I’ve stopped buying GI Joe for myself. I’m just sick of all the crap from Hasbro (like, “Don’t worry fans, we’ll give you Sgt. Slaughter!” “Just Kidding!”). The breaking point for me was having to pay $40+ to get Dial Tone… I’m sorry, but that was just too much to get one of my favorite characters. I couldn’t justify it. And with that my interest in buying more figures ended. Low Light was the culmination of my collection. If I could even find figures, I just don’t feel the thrill any more in paying all that money for them.

Plus the comics… I’ve been buying every IDW comic, but I’ve lost interest in them and no longer rush out to get the new ones. That’s money I could use for something else.

The only thing GI Joe that still held my interest was the cartoon, and that’s mostly because it was the one thing GI Joe that I could share with my son. And now Hasbro is going to take that away. I give up… I wanted my son to love the toy I loved the most as a child, but Hasbro makes it too hard.

As Count Blacktron pointed out, I think I’ll stick to LEGO… at least they can grow a product line instead of trying everything possible to kill it.

Heck… the reason I’m just now commenting on this is because GI Joe just doesn’t hold my interest any longer… this isn’t a death of the line reply… just a death of my interest. Congrats Hasbro, you’ve officially killed my interest. There’s nothing left you can do that I could care about, except bringing this show back.

Unfortunately, nowadays people don’t do an animation, respecting the fans or thinking about the show, they only think about money or about the general audience, who knows the show superficially!