Blood for the Baron!

... Well, it seems that Devil's Due owns all the rights to G.I. Joe. This would be okay, except that Action Force is considered a different licensing property, and legally, it can only be produced in the United Kingdom, and not in America. This means that someone in England would have to be savvy enough to get the rights off of Hasbro (or Palitoy?) to start up Action Force again, like G.I. Joe is in America (which is doing quite well!).

I think this blows, because this means that Action Force products have to come to America via some obscure route (like the internet). Ugh! There has to be some way to change this so that we can get some fresh A.C. stuff here in the U.S.!

So, I'm begging all of you Brits to pool your money together and to start publishing new adventures and toys of Action Force somewhere! And I mean Now!

seaneley wrote:like G.I. Joe is in America (which is doing quite well!).

America is not the same as Europe and both have totally different markets. As a matter of fact, when looking at target audiences (kids), GI Joe is doing rather bad in Europe. In most toys stores you will find large amounts of old waves being dumped at rather ridiculous prices and still they are not sold. Hasbro Europe is very carefull in releasing new waves.

Main reason to the impopularity is that the American lifestyle is not that popular anymore. Most American brands that were big in the 80-ies, like Levi's, are in it's decline. The loud screaming patriotism (GI Joe is a top example of USA shouting to be #1) is causing more damage than goodwill in Europe.

GI Joe is not on television to promote toys. Due to impopularity of GI Joe, not a lot of bootleggers are present in toy shops. General rule in marketing is: the more copycats or competition your product has, the more popular it is. The more 3 3/4 are in a shop, the more likely a kid will choose one. In general the market for 3 3/4 is not all that great in Europe. Only 3 3/4 toyline seen a lot is Freedom Fighters, a very cheap toyline.

seaneley wrote:So, I'm begging all of you Brits to pool your money together and to start publishing new adventures and toys of Action Force somewhere!

Why would a toy company start re-issuing items only a few collectors are interested in? It is all about the Benjamin in this game. Like most Americans I guess you are only interested in the latest wave: the figures with swivel-arms. That leaves us with a handfull of figures and a few vehicles. There is no person insane enough to take this chance.

seaneley wrote:And I mean Now!

It seems you are rather frustrated not being able to get the things you want. Hey that's life! If you want it so bad, then why not emigrate to UK and you start up the line again!

IMHO: the past is the past. Useless to re-create the past: new releases will always be new, you can never relive the past with a new item. Vintage Porsche 911s are also very popular. Porsche can make a lot of money, but are they being re-issued?

seaneley wrote:... Well, it seems that Devil's Due owns all the rights to G.I. Joe. This would be okay, except that Action Force is considered a different licensing property, and legally, it can only be produced in the United Kingdom, and not in America. This means that someone in England would have to be savvy enough to get the rights off of Hasbro (or Palitoy?) to start up Action Force again, like G.I. Joe is in America (which is doing quite well!).

I think this blows, because this means that Action Force products have to come to America via some obscure route (like the internet). Ugh! There has to be some way to change this so that we can get some fresh A.C. stuff here in the U.S.!

So, I'm begging all of you Brits to pool your money together and to start publishing new adventures and toys of Action Force somewhere! And I mean Now!

How do you think Europeans get a hold of the TRU exclusive 6-packs? Online retail is the only way to get them. And there's a lot of stuff that isn't available here and is in The States!

My post was all in fun, so don't get too annoyed with me!

I'm disappointed that Action Force doesn't generate as much joy and nostalgia as it does here in the States. We do get passionate about our old toys, and there is a real boom of '80s lines of toys being regenerated here! It's actually quite enjoyable (but some collectors take it a wee bit too serious). I hope that at some point the love of old toys can infect the U.K. (wheter war toys or not) and we can see a return of Action Force with new stories!

I think old stuff in general generates a lot of interest in the UK, they're the nr 1 antiques collectors

The original action force figures were a bit before my time but I started to take a like in them when I got back into joes too. I try to get them but at a slow pace. It's not easy to trade for AF stuff...

Action Force is just so cool, even without G.I. Joe being connected with it, that I hate to see it die off. I really think that a smart writer / artist team from the U.K. could revive it! (Like I said, Americans aren't allowed near it from a legal perspective.)

I would love to see stories especially focus on the original teams!
And of course:

seaneley wrote:My post was all in fun, so don't get too annoyed with me!

Not annoyed at all dude, that's why my reply was pretty extensive!

GI Joe is doing badly in Ireland also. There was only one wave issued (in american packaging) with figure 2-packs selling for 7.99 each. Six months later the same wave was re-issued in new European packaging and it was buy one get one free. Now a year later the same 2-packs are going for 2.99 each and are still not selling.

The toy shops are chock full of larger figures like the Turtles, Hulk and Spiderman.

If GI Joe can't make an impact on todays kids than I'm pretty sure the poor old stiff jointed action force figures are gone forever.

Antybots wrote:I'm pretty sure the poor old stiff jointed action force figures are gone forever.

Gonnae no sae that! This laddy is getting stiff jointed the natural way!

It's a shame that the "legal eagles" won't budge on the Action Force property coming to the U.S. I bet that it would due well at this time. (At least every American that I know who knows about it likes it!) The collectors over here keep clamoring for more and more!