I'm angry. I'm irritated. I'm frustrated. I'm just pissed off.
Yeah, I still can't find the newest Pursuit of Cobra SnakeEyes, but that's not it.
Walmart appears to be dropping the G.I. Joe line from their action figure section. Sixty feet of action figures and they can't fit one column, one facing of G.I. Joe. Dammit.
Two of the four closest Walmart stores nearest me don't have Joes (doubtful on the other stores, bust need to visit). They have Thor, Transformers, Star Wars, Iron Man, Marvel Heroes, DC, Wrestlers, HALO, Bakugan, Beyblades, new Pirates movie figures, something bizarre called Generator Rex and other assorted figures. No Joes. I want G.I. Joe.
So tomorrow I will send an e-mail to the Walmart home office voicing my displeasure and disappointment. Will it help? I don't know, but I want my irritation to be known. I want to irritate them and their buyers and their local store managers. Why not?
As I consider this, the problem probably does not need to be all Walmart's burden.
Let's look at Hasbro and their treatment of what should be their most proud, iconic toy line. The toy line launched in 1964, just two years after my launch into this world. Easy to say that I have been a G.I. Joe fan for over 40 years. G.I. Joe has been an influence on the toy aisle for decades. This should be a brand that Hasbro should kick and claw and scrape and scratch to keep alive. And they do, mostly, sometimes, not always.
Hasbro has moth-balled G.I. Joe several times over the line's history and most have been warranted. The big dudes faded out due to a declining market share and an increase in oil prices used in plastic production. Yeah, okay.
Super Joe was next and, we'll just keep moving along.
The 3 3/4" Real American Hero line showed up in 1982 and nearly dominated the boy's toy aisle for almost 12 years. Interest waned and the line was shut down - for a while. Since the RAH demise in 1994, G.I Joe returned in various formats, G.I. Joe: Extreme being the most embarrassing. Big Joes and little Joes were back in the market, even a brief stop in the 6" Sigma 6 line - a vastly under-appreciated amazing line.
The RAH dudes get new life in a brand new body construction and G.I. Joe rocks the toy aisle again. For an all too brief moment. The movie arrives.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra arrives, bringing iconic RAH characters to the big screen. Hasbro pushes massive amounts of toys out to their clients. No problem, right? Yeah, just one.
In general, the movie stinks. Barely profitable, and the irritation of G.I. Joe fans roars across the internet. And toy departments are clogged with over-priced movie figures. Clogged for a long time - especially in the retail time frame. The movie toy line is such a poor seller that items that were supposed to be "exclusive" retailer products only show up at discounted retailers like Ross.
Once the retailers finally clear out the ton of movie toys, I'm sure that they are now a little nervous about embracing new G.I. Joe product.
Hasbro does a great thing - they revitalize the brand with amazing new sculpting, detailing and character development. The Pursuit of Cobra line has been nothing short of incredible work. But... retailers are probably nervous and don't want to get stuck again. They barely make a commitment for the 2010 Christmas season, with minimal shelf space allowed for vehicles.
G.I. Joe appears to successfully survive the Christmas season and Hasbro begins moving toward the new G.I. Joe: Renegades concept. A new animated show overcomes fan-boy bashing and is actually pretty cool with some really slick concepts.
And now the latest news. Hasbro is putting the show on hiatus. G.I. Joe is out of the largest frikkin' retailer in the frikkin' world. Their reasoning? They don't want to run into conflict with the newly developing second film. Genius. Just brilliant.
Wait, the Transformers line has a new animated show and a 3rd movie coming out very soon? And Hasbro can't deal with two aspects of what should be their cornerstone, bedrock line? Give me a damn break.
And let's look at Hasbro's chunk of the 60' action figure counter in Walmart super centers. Hmmm...
Nearly 8 feet of Star Wars, another big chunk dedicated to the various Marvel lines including the superhero line, Spiderman, Iron Man movie overstock, and now 4 feet dedicated to the new Thor line, with Captain America figures probably soon to follow. And whatever else Hasbro produces.
They can't give up a little of their total space and tell Walmart to put in a small section of G.I. Joe? Damn, Hasbro, what's the problem? G.I. Joe put you guys on the frikkin' map!
Maybe this is just a temporary situation. Maybe just seasonal. Maybe G.I. Joe will be back soon in the toy aisle. With the 30th anniversary of the RAH line and a 2nd movie scheduled for 2012, G.I. Joe will be back.
But will I be there waiting? I don't know.
Dammit.
Update: 1 of 4 local Walmart stores has Joes. Hasbro has around 34' of merchandise in this 80' action figure section, 42.5% of space belongs to the big H. Go, Hasbro! One lonely strip of Joes. Well, that's something. I'm not as angry as before, but still frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. Haven't seen joes at Walmart in a while. Ross has more than freakin Walmart.. Renegades is awesome, but no Joe presence at Walmart. I saw the display case at Joe Conn. Everything looked cool, and then i had the sad realization... I'll have to pick these up online, or pray i can find them at toysrus or maybe target.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Nick.
ReplyDeleteVerified that 2 of 4 local WM's stock Joes, but who wants more frozen Destros? The nearest Target still carries Joes, but again - more frozen Destros.
New stock is insufficient and flies out of the stores. Not enough arriving - or I'm just too slow.
I've seen this coming for a while.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Wyoming and I used to frequent 4 Wal-marts in several towns here (while traveling back and forth to University a couple times a month) and an additional 6 or 7 Wal-marts during frequent trips to Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado and bi-monthly trips to Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was almost universal that the pegs eventually filled up with the crap figures (Destro, Zartan in blue camo, Desert Duke, generic Viper, etc) and then no effort was made to make room for fresh figures from new waves or even new lines. When the City Strike Snake Eyes line came out the pegs were still stuffed with the old movie Vipers and Destros. The new stuff trickled in one and two items at a time. I told department managers at several stores that they were tying their own hands behind their backs while, at the same time, cutting their own wrists as far as GI Joe and Star Wars were concerned. Naturally, they nodded like they understood what I was saying, but nothing was ever done.
For a number of years before that I routinely cleared the racks myself. I would by ALL of the crap figures that were clogging the shelves and take them on a road trip with me and return them ALL at an out-of-the-way Wal-mart that had always had a crap selection thus freeing up peg space for the new Star Wars and GI Joe waves at the good Wal-marts. The new cases would flow, people bought the heck out of the desirable figures and there was good turn-over again. I did that several times a year while I was in college. It ended when I graduated and stopped making those roadtrips and the stores I was "cleaning" have been clogged up ever since. My favorite local Walmart does not have a spot on the new shelf mod for GI Joe but some of those movie Destros and Vipers can still be found haunting random gaps on the shelves in Toys and on the Clearance isle.
You can't expect too much from Wal-mart toy managers who don't know a GI Joe from a My Little Pony, but why Hasbro doesn't have any reps that travel to the stores to notice and correct those issues is beyond me. It seems like a no-brainer to me.