16th April 2012

Details revealed about vintage-themed mystery G.I. Joe figures

posted in 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero |

So with big thanks to Gyre Viper and JoeDeClassified, we got a very nice look at some potential upcoming figures to be released this year.  With much of the focus being placed on the G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie line, this figure assortment (which contains some very old school classic deco’s) sort of came out of left field and has many fans scratching their heads.

Well, looking to find some answers, I asked around a little bit to see what I could find.

A reliable source tells me that these figures are themed as a low price-point assortment, mostly targeted for Dollar Stores.  The idea of the assortment was to take some of the well known core characters and get them into retail outlets, but to do it in interesting ways, and ways that existing tooling would allow.

With the idea of paint applications, apparently some decisions had to be made for cost purposes, and even though a figure like Cobra Commander looks to be somewhat bland, he has the same paint apps as anyone else, they’re just applied differently.  As far as paint applications go, too, each paint app adds cost to the overall product, so to keep pricing low, the number of different paint applications also had to be kept low. While the price has yet to be revealed, we can expect to see these priced lower than the mainline items.

Release dates are uncertain, but we should expect to see these hit Dollar Stores this summer.

Obviously at this point, these details could be subject to change, but I consider this information to be extremely reliable.  Again, to see some images of these figures, check out JoeDeClassified.com.

If nothing else this assortment brings a certain enlightenment to me.  Ever since its release, I’ve always hated the Ninja Force Storm Shadow.  I wasn’t entirely sure why, but it’s clear to me now.  I think the design and the limited articulation of the original figure significantly impacted my overall opinion of the uniform itself.  Seeing this similar design on a much better base figure really gives new light to the look of the figure in a way I didn’t appreciate back in the 90′s.  It’s amazing that after 15 or so years, taking old school deco’s and applying them to newer figures can still bring things to light after all this time.

A great looking assortment, and great news about them potentially hitting discount and dollar stores.  Hopefully there’s more still to come!

Related posts:

  1. News Recap July 20th – New Rise of COBRA figures revealed
  2. Nice loose pics of chrome-plated vintage Storm Shadow figures
  3. New Target Exclusive vehicles revealed with some great vintage retools!
  4. Some mystery test shots revealed on TaoBao
  5. Mysterious new arctic themed figures on TaoBao
This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2012 at 7:23 pm and is filed under 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
  • Neon Viper

    Let me be the first to say it: YAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

  • DrSyn

    Sounds good to me (to import)

  • MekkZ

    That they’re going to make an all black colored COBRA trooper so hard to find at retail is just one more sign of Hasbro’s incompetence. Hopefully they’ll also be selling these at drugstores too.

  • MaroonTyphoon

    What in that post makes you think these will be hard to find?

  • alvarobm

    Justin, your source’s theory makes no sense: wasn’t Hasbro blaming articulation assemble for the higher costs, and wasn’t that the excuse to not apply ankle / double knee articulation on Retaliation figures? How could these mysterious figures, with full articulation, being released to low price market???

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  • http://twitter.com/FakeEyes22 David R S

    Wow…tossing out some 25th/30th fan service at a lower price point? That is pretty darn cool. Good thing everything from ROC-early 30th came with a billion extra accessories to share.

  • http://twitter.com/FakeEyes22 David R S

    The lower articulation could be more of a tooling cost issue, I’d guess. These figures all being 100% existing parts with an accessory or 2 each and limited paint apps probably cuts costs enough to price these low enough for “market 6″ stores.

  • Erik

    That would be the logical assumption, yes.

  • poddie

    Perhaps one major aspect to the reduced cost is that they may not need to pay a Paramount licensing fee for these? They don’t use the movie logo, are very clearly and specifically based on pre-existing designs (almost so much so that it’s like they are TRYING to make sure they couldn’t be confused with movie related product), and will apparently be offered to different retail outlets. Seems like they are going out of their way to make sure these lay no claim at all to the upcoming movie.

    I LOVE THEM. 200% as excited for these as I am for the movie figures. I have regretted for a long time that they never got around to making those SE and SS in the 25th line, as I thought they would never do it at this point. I just hope like hell BBTS and Kokomo will be able to order these, as I never have luck finding Joes at discount stores.

    Nearly all the things I can’t stand about the Retaliation figures don’t apply to these:

    - Battle Stands – check!
    - Full articulation – check!
    - No super big weapons – check!
    - More realistic colored accessories – check!
    - File cards – I’ll bet these have them

    So we’re just down to poor packaging and reduced paint apps, but neither of those look any worse than the Retailiation figures.

  • Gyre-Viper

    So they are discount store customs? These are customs right?

  • ARROW

    All of what you say here makes complete sense to me. I hope these are easy to find, and end up being inexpensive.

  • Snake_Eyes1975

    Great find, guys! Im more excited about these, than anything ive seen in the movie line. KICK ASS

  • Goldbug

    I have to agree with alvarobm.
    Have you seen the dollar store Marvel Universe figures? Those seem to be repacks of the Marvel movie vehicle figures. They have vintage Star Wars 5 POA. They cost $5.50.
    Not to mention my Dollar General still has TONS of those DTC singles without weapons for $3.50.
    These have the best articulation of the latest figures AND even accessories! I’m just having trouble believing they could offer them at dollar stores for $5 etc.

  • Marc

    poddie…go visit Kokomo Toys…they have a dollar general right beside them…two birds…one stone :D

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  • Dusty Ayers

    I’m right there with everybody on these. In my mind these guys are superior to many of the Retaliation figs shown so far. How does more POA equal a lower price point when we were told the opposite?

  • Angelospadowski

    OK…..these seem waaaaay too good to be true…..is this is a late April Fool’s joke? Cause it’s not funny to mess with people like that!!

  • Dusty Ayers

    I think a lot of people could end up in that boat.

  • http://twitter.com/geoffdes78 Geoff DeSouza

    Nice figures, but I’m 99% sure I’ll never see these at any Canadian dollar stores. The toy aisle there’s been barren ever since they clearanced out the Tron figures a year ago.

    Hopefully these are still available via online retailers.

  • Skywarppro

    And with what appears to be a 11 dollar price tag for the normal movie figures (Target just raised their prices on the single figures in my area to 10.99), these cheapo ones might be the only ones I am going to buy.

  • FeloniousMonk

    Probably a good idea not to speculate too heavily. It’s early, after all. If they arrive with higher pricepoints, or don’t show at retail at all, you have your answer. If they do appear at a decent price, best not to look that particular horse to closely in the mouth.

  • http://www.compulsivecollector.com/ Compulsive Collector

    The all-black Cobra Trooper is okay, and more greenshirts are always welcome. That DDP-style Shipwreck is great, though.

  • Scramble

    I know Hasbro was asked a lot of questions about articulation when those driver pics were revealed including, I believe, why make new tooling with limited articulation for drivers instead of old tooling with wonderful articulation. There response to every articulation question was “less is cheaper”.

  • Scramble

    I haven’t bought any figures of this generation in a while and am looking to unload the ones I have. And yet I am mesmerized by these figures. I think they stir memories of an era of GI Joe’s history I don’t get to revisit much.

    Bonus: They tie in with the seasons of DiC’s GI Joe DVDs that are coming out.

  • http://twitter.com/geoffdes78 Geoff DeSouza

    I’m just hoping they use that connection to order a bunch of these.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gqwonderful Adam Webster

    I may be far too excited about this, but I’m pretty geeked for it. I just wish they had chosen an upper body for SE that didn’t include a gaping chest wound.

  • Neon Viper

    Hasbro isn’t investing too much in the articulations of the movie line because they already know what we know: They aren’t gonna sell. 80% of those figures will be peg warmers; but if they do release these more cheap-collector-focused figures, makes sense to me, because they could be a like a back up plan to get back a little more cash back in exchange of the inversion losses they’ll have with the movie line

  • Neapolitan Joe

    Great figures!
    Awesome details and paints: I hope they are not a fake.

  • Ltfalcon

    I think David RS is correct in stating that the mold investment is much less with the new movie figures with less articulation.
    The Dollar Store figures will run from molds that are already paid for so no tooling cost is amortized into the piece price. Thus cheaper Joes.

  • poddie

    Would love to, but it’s hard to make it worth the trip. Even though I’m near Chicago, IL… still much cheaper just to ship things.

    I’m pretty sure BBTS had the cheap DTC dollar store Joes didn’t they? Hopefully they will be able to order these too.

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  • GI Joe I was there

    now those are vintage inspired joes. is that grunt with a simple m16? My gram would get me that for 2.99 at Zayres

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  • Scramble

    According to the card back it’s Duke. :

  • Clutch

    I felt the same way towards Stormy’s Ninja Force duds due to the lack of articulation. But after reading the newest IDW trades reprinting the 90′s stories, this figure looks sweet enough to get and the costume suddenly appeals to me.

  • Spencer Lane

    Sadly, just because it’s sold at a dollar store for a cheap price doesn’t mean it’ll be easier to find these joes. Im gonna place my bet that the minute these show up at a dollar store, someones gonna buy up the whole stock quickly just like those walmart stocked Joes.

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  • E The Real

    Scramble, where are you seeing the cardbacks?

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  • Anonymous

    I have to get these!

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