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under G.I. Joe International

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.

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under G.I. Joe International, G.I. Joe Vintage

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!

under G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe International

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!

under G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe International, Toy Fair

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.

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under G.I. Joe International, Other, Site Updates

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.

News Post Photo: Courtesy of WSJ. Indian workers assembling Elmo dolls on behalf of Hasbro.

under G.I. Joe Customs, G.I. Joe International, HissTank Community

HissTank member OreoBuilder concludes his series of custom Funskool figures with part 5 – Action Commandos! Click the link to see more!

Part 5 – Action Commandos!

under G.I. Joe Customs, G.I. Joe International, HissTank Community

HissTank member OreoBuilder is back with another Funskool Friday. This round we get to see some of the great original characters Funskool made for their GI Joe line. Click the link below to see the rest of his great customs.

Funskool Friday – Part 4

under G.I. Joe Customs, G.I. Joe International, HissTank Community

Another Friday, another look at the awesome customs by OreoBuilder for Funskool Friday. This time it’s the Joe’s turn at the wacky colors. Tripwire, Barbecue, Torpedo and a few others! Click the link below to check them out in all their funky colors!

Funskool Fridays – GI Joe Interesting Colors

under G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe International

Back in July, HISSTANK sister site ToyArk reported that Hasbro is working on reviving several major franchises from the past. One of them being Action Man. Of course that franchise is arguably considered as the European equivalent of  G. I. Joe of U.S, Asian Countries got to experience both shows and toys during the late 80s and 90s.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, Hasbro has confirmed their plans yesterday at the Brand Licensing Expo 2015 regarding the celebration of the Action Man brand; which is now 50 years old.

Licensing Mag has the info:

Hasbro is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Action Man brand with a new line of collector’s edition figurines created in partnership with Art + Science International.

Art + Science International in developing five retro figures that will be released in June 2016 to coincide with Father’s Day and Armed Forces Day.

The range will feature the classic British infantrymen–the skier, the parachutist, the scuba diver–and to specially remember 1966, the footballer. Each special edition figure will include accessories, gripping hands, the realistic “flock” hair and the character’s famous scar. Other famous features like Eagle Eye and Muscle Torso will appear in later releases.

Each new Action Man figure will be presented in a diorama scene with a 50th anniversary edition dog tag and illustratedAction Man manual with illustrations from the brand’s original artist, Douglas Hart.

“This unique range is being developed exclusively for the gift and collector’s market, and we hope that it triggers many fond memories of everyone’s childhood play, including my own,” says Peter Rooke, managing director, Art + Science International. “Through a series of themed releases starting in 2016, we hope to capture the very best of the Action Man brand.”

 

 

under G.I. Joe Customs, G.I. Joe International, HissTank Community

Friday is here once again and what better way to send off the work week than these fantastic Funskool customs by HissTank member OreoBuilder. This part covers the wacky colors of everyone’s favorite Dreadnoks, Rattler pilot and poem spouting Mercenary. Click on the link below for more pictures.

Funskool Fridays – Part 2