Rumors have been floating around the internet since late October 2014 that Hasbro plans to bring the G.I. Joe brand to 6″ action figure form just like their Star Wars: The Black Series 6″ line. There are also rumors that Scott Neitlich will be the brand manager of that line and Hasbro might even start their own collector website similar to Mattel’s Mattycollector.com (which Scott played a huge role in starting). It is also rumored that Snake Eyes will be the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive with Timber packed in next summer, and that Snake Eyes will be released at retail without Timber.
For those that do not know, Scott Neitlich is known in the community as Toyguru, the former Mattel employee that gets most of the credit for the Masters of the Universe Classics line. He is also mostly responsible for the continuation of the Justice League Unlimited, DC Universe Classics, and other lines and products sold on Mattycollector since 2008. Now that he has left the company, information on products, including getting an answer from anyone from Mattel, has proven to be difficult. From what we’ve gathered, Mattel has not made an announcement for Scott’s replacement.
We have been attempting to contact Hasbro over these past couple of months to get either an official or unofficial answer regarding a 6″ G.I. Joe line, or what the company plans to do with the brand in 2015. Hasbro’s actions for 2014 have been rather interesting ever since they cancelled their trip to G.I. JoeCon 2014, which celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the brand the brand that made their name known. Hasbro appears to be pulling away from G.I. Joe as this years offerings apparently are not selling like they used to.
During New York Comic-Con 2014 at the Hasbro Press VIP Event, we were told that more products in the 3 3/4″ line are planned for the next movie, and G.I. Joe Kre-O figures and sets are planned, but are subject to cancellation.
Assuming that the rumors are true and that Scott Neitlich will be man behind the G.I. Joe brand for Hasbro, then they are doing the right thing and choosing the perfect man for the position. Scott understands what collectors want to see and has proven himself to collectors that want top quality products. What we want to see from Hasbro is a re-creation of the ARAH 1980’s and 1990’s lines brought in the 6″ acton figure style with Marvel Legends/ DC Universe Classics articulation. We’re confident that Hasbro will choose the characters that fans want to see, and we want them to make these exclusives on a collector based website with a subscription and a subscriber exclusive figure. The website can also offer their San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, as we all know that waiting 6 business days waiting for them to do inventory and put them on the website isn’t good for anybody, as opposed to Mattel that tells you ahead of time the date and time of when to expect the sale to go live.
This week, we are asking Hasbro to make a G.I. Joe 6″ action figure line, run by Scott Neitlich, and launch a collector-friendly website like Mattycollector and offer a subscription just for this line.