G.I. Joe Classified Series: The Chatty Pointless Thread & Performance Art

As much as I have nostalgia for TRU - they deserve to go under. When your WHOLE thing is 'we sell toys' and all of your toys are MARKEDLY more expensive than they are at any other store... what are you even doing? There's zero chance TRU upper management isn't aware of the price difference. They're banking on regular (stupid/poor) people not realizing it. Grandmas and parents that don't actively toy shop and have no idea what a McFarlane DC figure actually goes for.
They're a shit company and I'd close their doors myself if I could.




My job regularly has me driving all over the city for meetings and site visits, so I basically can stop into every Walmart in the city at least once a week or two, if I'm so inclined. I can't even tell you the last time I saw a G.I. Joe figure hanging on the pegs. And in the last month or two I don't think I've seen a single Star Wars Black Series figure or Marvel Legends figure either. It seems Walmarts either in Alberta, or just in the city here, have completely abandoned all 'collector' lines besides WWE. And even that selection is very sparse and probably pretty old at this point since it's been the same figures on the pegs for months.




EB here is pretty great. As I said above; if I had to rely on Walmart (no Targets up here), I'd probably never see another decent action figure ever again. Even with EB, I'd say probably 50-60% of my toys were purchased online. Maybe more.
The whole thing is/was basically a pyramid scheme. TRU is owned by Putnam investments (or some such name). The Putnam family owns a bunch of companies in Canada like HMV and Sunrise records. However most importantly they own Everest Toys, a big distributer of toys in Canada. So basically the majority of stock for TRU came from Everest (nothing shady about supplying yourself and hiking prices right??) Everest toys went into receivership late last year and the board all resigned at the same time. Not surprisingly the board was all members of the Putnam family. Again nothing shady................right......

So when Putnam took over TRU they actually owned a bunch of the land TRU stores were on, but not the majority of them. Now in the past 2 years they have been selling off assets clearly to get cash to offset all the failed ventures that have come up in the past year(+). So basically they prioritized their own property/assets over the rental stores which is why they are being sued for millions in unpaid rent. The last BC store was shut by the landlord because the stock was still in the store when it closed and there was no sale/closeout leading up to the closure. Everest Toys going into receivership late last year should have been the final nail in the coffin. Not to mention they have some BS excuse on the website about how they are working on improving the site and that is why no one can do any transactions online anymore (again...yeah right).

What makes me laugh, bugs me, is I keep getting emails from TRU about sales and clearances going on right now when anyone with a brain and eyes can see they are going under this year.
 
Anyway on topic a bit more.

What are we going to see tomorrow for GI Joe Day?

I agree with The Full Force Podcast that it will probably be a trickle of digital render reveals throughout the day tomorrow. Most likely the next regular retail wave (of which the only name only reveal is Hydro Viper). Then maybe one or two other digital renders of which at least one will be something we have not hear about at all before tomorrow.

As for the next wave I can't even begin to guess who they include. My only guess it that they'll have 3 Cobras and 2 Joes.
 
Yeah, I know it's regional, but I haven't seen damned near anything at my local Target other than McFarlane and Wrestling toys (I'm sure they have them and they just sell out and don't restock) so I just kind of treat all my Hasbro lines I collect as online only since if I only bought locally I'd never buy anything.

Fair amount of Classified series figures at Targets west of Boston. I saw Sci-Fi, Wetsuit, Desert Scorpion, and the diving 2-pack just today.


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Fair amount of Classified series figures at Targets west of Boston. I saw Sci-Fi, Wetsuit, Desert Scorpion, and the diving 2-pack just today.


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North Shore area I haven't seen a solitary Classified in many years. But our Targets are pretty awful and our Walmarts are Fury Road.
 
Stores in my town are surprisingly well stocked right now, maybe not the most exciting selection but it's night and day from even a year ago. I finally caved on Steeler and Short-Fuze tonight, might not have if I hadn't seen them in store. I'm sure by summer I'll be in a Joe desert again.
 
Apropos of nothing but it always takes me by surprise that Akat is a Masshole. I constantly forget that because he's legitimately one of the chillest guys ever to post on Fwoosh/AT. Stay you, buddy.
 
One of my Walmarts is friggin' OVERLOADED with Joes right now. Of course, it's all stuff that's been available for months already that they just put out, so I expect a lot of it will hit clearance soon, but still. Tons of greenshirts, vipers, troopers, RnR, CC, Stalker etc. Frag Vipers, Blowtorch, Dreadnok Torch. Kinda wild seeing all of it after years, really, of very little presence.
 
So I’m hyper-fixating on Overkill’s render right now, and some thoughts:
-This pretty clearly opens the door for v2 Overkill as well since he does look to be kinda Robocop-ish about the face, some organics under there.
-They broke up the weird gun-claw thing from the vintage figure into two pieces, and it looks like the gun part will slide over the connector of the claw or the hotknife attachment before the attachments plug into the wrists, so you can probably do knife/claw with or without the gun. If one were to buy multiples, some cool attachment-swaps could be done.
-Looks like he is gonna be BIG.
-I wonder if that giant weird laser gun will also have a plug for a wrist in addition to the handles? Could that be the beginning of a BAT V2 attachment?
 
Apropos of nothing but it always takes me by surprise that Akat is a Masshole. I constantly forget that because he's legitimately one of the chillest guys ever to post on Fwoosh/AT. Stay you, buddy.

Born and raised in L.A. I came here for college. My wife is the true Bostonian. But I do like it here in New England!


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So I’m hyper-fixating on Overkill’s render right now, and some thoughts:
-This pretty clearly opens the door for v2 Overkill as well since he does look to be kinda Robocop-ish about the face, some organics under there.
-They broke up the weird gun-claw thing from the vintage figure into two pieces, and it looks like the gun part will slide over the connector of the claw or the hotknife attachment before the attachments plug into the wrists, so you can probably do knife/claw with or without the gun. If one were to buy multiples, some cool attachment-swaps could be done.
-Looks like he is gonna be BIG.
-I wonder if that giant weird laser gun will also have a plug for a wrist in addition to the handles? Could that be the beginning of a BAT V2 attachment?

What?! First I heard of this. Overkill looks amazing. My most wanted. I do miss the chest mounted double .50 cal machine gun. But he still looks fantastic.

028af6e7e4485b1b72332b7b6ac584fa.jpg


Edit:
Actually does the chest open? Looks like it might?


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I REALLY liked the reveals today. I'm not sure who was my favorite. Airtight is one I've really been wanting, but Ninja Force Zartan looks awesome as always (I do wish his pants were even brighter and more neongreen), and Overkill excites me becasue 1.) It's Overkill, and 2.) This means they're getting into the Talking Battle Commanders!

I love the sub/side line figures from ARAH. Give me all the Talking Battle Commanders, Sonic Fighters, Super Sonic Fighters, Ninja Force, ECO Warriors and DEF. ALL. OF. THEM.

Zanya is the only one I don't really want or need, because I really just get the characters who were in the vintage 80's/90's A Real American Hero line. Sometimes I break that rule though, and I may for her because of her vehicle.
 
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