Thanks to a Bill Of Lading posted on shipping & logistic website Panjiva, we now have official information on the upcoming Hasbro toyline G.I. Joe: Classified including a Convention Exclusive Set titled as G.I. Joe: Elite.
Official Info:
THE G. I. JOE CLASSIFIED SERIES ARE 6-INCH SCALE, HIGHLY DETAILED FIGURES FEATURING ALL NEW DESIGNS.
Happy 2020, everybody. We have an exciting year ahead. With G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes live action movie heading to theaters in October, we are sure to see new G.I. Joe toys on shelves. We even received a word regarding a G.I. Joe Evergreen toyline, as well.
The franchise is kicking things off on the New Year’s Day with our first look at the official images from the Super Impulse – World’s Smallest G.I. Joe vs. Cobra toyline.
As we mentioned on our initial post, Wave 1 consists of Duke, Roadblock and Snake Eyes.
Each figure is 1.25 inches tall and comes inside a replica of the original action figure blister card.
The figures are packed with miniature versions of their original accessories; unlike most other World’s Smallest toys.
You can check out the official images we received (including the in-package images), after the jump.
HISSTANK has received a word that John Reale will now oversee the future G.I. Joe toyline as Vice President, Global Design and Development at Hasbro.
We couldn’t think of a better person to handle the project as Mr. Reale is currently looking after the hit Power Rangers toyline as well as the upcoming Ghostbusters toyline produced under the Sony-Hasbro agreement.
Unbeknownst to many, John Reale spearheaded the revived Stretch Armstrong toyline based on the Netflix series.
Prior to this, Marvel Universe line including action figures for Ironman, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Spider-man, Ant-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy as well as the Star Wars lines were designed and developed at the LA office under the leadership of Mr. Reale.
Considering the pattern above, it seems as though John Reale is battle-hardened to produce action figures. We believe that he will work for the previously uncovered G.I. Joe Evergreen line; in addition to any other lines based on the G.I. Joe franchise.
Toy Book Magazine has posted some tidbits regarding Super Impulse corporation’s World’s Smallest G.I. Joe Vs. Cobra toyline.
In fact, the magazine is the original source of the images we saw a few days back. Therefore, we now have with us, the un-cropped, un-filtered images of the toys as well.
According to Toy Book, the first wave will consist of Duke, Snake Eyes and Roadblock.
A product listing on Deep Discount also reveals the release date and price, in addition to the actual name of the line; which will be called G.I. Joe vs. Cobra.
Each figure will be priced at $13.00.
The fist wave will be available on July 31st, 2019.
You can check out the new images, attached with this news post.
Thanks to our sister site TFW2005, we have learned that Super Impulse is bringing-forth a new series of officially licensed World’s Smallest G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline.
An image shared on Juegos Juguetes y coleccionables Facebook is giving us a good look at some early packaged samples of ARAH figures including Duke and Snake Eyes.
Despite the small size, the figures are actually articulated to some extent.
We currently do not have an exact release date or the prices for the figures.
In addition to the 80s G.I. Joe line, the company will also bring Transformers and My Little Pony figures from the same era. Other Hasbro properties such as Nerf, Stretch Armstrong and Retro G.I. Joe will also receive this tiny treatment.
You can check out the images, attached with this news post.
Back in late 2015, HISSTANK sister site TFW2005 broke the news of Hasbro expanding their business in India and establishing a toy manufacturing plant in the aforementioned country as a subsequent outcome from new the business venture.
It so happens that Transformers toys marked as Hasbro India LLP have started to pop up in countries such as Sri Lanka (South Asian Region).
The first batch of items, which arrived yesterday, contains several products from the Transformers Franchise.
The distribution of the toys were formerly under Funskool India, a company which distributed Hasbro items since 1982 and even had their own exclusive variants of G. I. Joe toys (famously knows as Funskool Variants among the G. I. Joe Fan Community). Funskool helped to popularize the G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline in the South Asian Region. The new batch of toys no longer carries the familiar Funskool Sticker, which you can see from our comparison images.
This does feel like an end of an era. When the next line of G. I. Joe toys arrive in the future, it would indeed feel strange for this newsie to see a small yet noticeable change in the packaging.
Official Website of Hasbro India LLP can be found here.
Wow, how cool is this? BFTB is offering an exclusive, vintage style Bombardier figure (remake) to all of you fans out there! How do you get one? Easy – Visit the BFTB Store Page and for £15 GBP (which translates to just under $20 USD) you can add this awesome figure to your collection!
From BFTB: During the second series of Action Force, Palitoy issued repainted GI Joe characters with some of its vehicles. ‘Bombardier’ was labelled to be scheduled with the Mobile Missile System. The toy was issued to SAS eventually without a figure, but had originally been issued with a figure in the GI Joe toy line. All of these examples pointed towards them being members of a 5th unproduced team; Special Weapons Force.
This piece was created in conjunction with Commander Hood, Vintage Star Wars Collectables and Red Lasers Army, with cover art by Robert Atkins! Please contact BFTB.UK@gmail.com to arrange bulk orders or tracking.
Are you going to add this awesome exclusive offering to your vintage collection? Sound off after the break!
HissTank.com forum member Joefan82 has shared his latest figure review with us, this time tackling the Z-Force Mechanic, Gaucho.
The Joepedia notes the following on Gaucho –
Gaucho is an Action Force character. His real name is Chico Gonzalles and was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He’s the Z-Force mechanic. He’s a former circus strongman and the strongest soldier in Action Force.
The original Gaucho figure was an UK repaint of Gung-Ho who came with the Action Force Command Center alongside with Jammer. He came without accessories. A different Gaucho figure was released for Joecon 2010 as part of the Vacation in the Shadows theme and again in 2017 as part of the G.I.Joe Collectors Club Figure Subscription Service 5.0.
You can share your thoughts on this review of Gaucho after the break!
Art+Science Organization will hold a special 50th Anniversary celebration at this year’s London Toy Fair to commemorate the Action Man toyline by Hasbro.
“To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Action Man, Art + Science International, under licence from Hasbro, is launching a specially developed range of handmade Collector Edition Action Man figures.
The 50th Anniversary collection will be available until autumn 2017, and new additions to the limited edition range will be announced early 2017.
“This unique range has been developed for the gift and collector’s market and we hope that it triggers many fond memories of everyone’s childhood play. Through these product releases we hope to capture the very best of the Action Man brand”, said Peter Rooke, managing director of Art + Science International.”
Those who visit the show can take a look at the 2017 lineup at Stand F36. We’ve attached a scan of a small leaflet with this news post.
Due to multiple Toy Fairs falling close together, Hasbro (along with Mattel) will be skipping this year’s London Toy Fair. Happily however, Hasbro distributor A.B.Gee officially stated that Hasbro’s 2017 toyline will be featured at London Toy Fair by them. The list includes Transformers as well as Nerf. For more information, visit our sister site TFW2005.COM.
Collectors of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic toyline were surprised to findout that their toys now carries “Made In India” instead of the usual “Made In China” or “Made In Vietnam”. Following a tip from fellow staff member Steevy Maximus, we dug into this new development to find out more.
Sure enough in an article published on The Wall Street Journal dating January 6th, Hasbro is indeed moving some of its toy manufacturing to India.
“John Leung, chairman of GFT Group Ltd., a manufacturer of Transformers, “Star Wars” and other toys for Hasbro that is based in China’s Guangdong province, said he plans to start producing soon from a rented factory in Chennai.
Eight years ago, GFT shifted much of its production from China to Vietnam, where today the company’s workers earn around $215 a month, less than Chinese counterparts’ salaries. But Vietnam is quickly becoming saturated with factories, Mr. Leung said.
“In the next eight to 10 years, Vietnam will be finished,” he said. He said Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., had urged him to set up shop in India.”
On our coverage of Hasbro’s Press & Investor Day 2015 Hasbro stated that they will be expanding into the Indian market and it seems as though the expansion is not just market penetration but manufacturing as well.
Since the very beginning of Transformers and G. I. Joe franchises, India exported the toys to the South-East Asian region under the brand name “Funskool” on behalf of Hasbro and even included Funskool Variants (sought after by many Joe collectors for their rarity). This new move may even benefit the collectors of the said region by having low production costs to decrease toy prices.
What would this mean for the G. I. Joe toys? Sound off on the thread associated with this news post.