Today I heard a rumor from Preeternia on Twitter and In Demand Toys on Facebook that going forward all future G.I. Joe Classified figures will only be available on Hasbro Pulse UK and I should iterate that this doesn’t affect US fans at all. Here in the UK, we cannot get G.I. Joe Classified figures in many places of course you can buy them from online stores such as In Demand Toys, Star Action Figures, Toyarama, Amazon & other places including Hasbro Pulse. There are not many retail stores you can buy them from The Toy Store (Entertainer) has very few slim offerings, Smyth’s doesn’t stock them at all which only really leaves you with the independent comic/figure stores and Forbidden Planet.
If this rumor is true I find it truly baffling why Hasbro would do this. It’s not like the figures aren’t selling well they really are! If you look online the army builders and sought-after figures like Outback and Stalker are pricier from certain outlets (i.e. eBay) or sold out. There’s a lot of demand for the Classified line as the figures are absolutely fantastic and are one of the best, if not the best collecter’s line they have. Most of the figures they have released so far this year are some of my favorite figures that I have gotten this year.
I can understand them having certain figures available as exclusives which are fair enough, but the whole line being exclusive seems very odd. How are you meant to attract new customers/fans without any retail presence? If this is the case I hope Hasbro would have enough supply for the demand otherwise it would backfire terribly. I should iterate I am against making the line a Hasbro Pulse exclusive in the UK. I absolutely adore the line but this is not a very good move. A lot of collectors got into the line because of their availability at other retailers/e-retailers and they are massive sellers with those stores.
This has nothing to do with the design teams this is the decision made by the board members/shareholders. I know this isn’t going to go down well with fans in the UK and hopefully, after a while Hasbro would rethink this idea. Many companies and I’m not just talking about toy companies have made decisions like this in the past and backpedaled when it hadn’t been well received.
