JoeCon 2011 Claymore Review

[G.I.*EDDIE]

i checked a couple hrs ago and there was one for $59 "free" shipping...thats pretty rough if you only plan to use the head and gear...

as for the club, yeah, they suck as much as Hasbro...hmmmm, are they run by the same people?

anyway, sometime in Febuary, i tried joining up...i tried "upgrading" my membership online...a week later i realized it didn't take....no notice, no charge, when i logged in it said "trooper"...tried again, same thing...so i called and the woman said it was taken care of....nope, it wasn't...again no charge...so i tried one last time online and nothing, so i gave up...

really, i was more concerned about having a better chance of getting a Zarana if she became a SDCC exclusive (which did end up happening)...but after this D-T and other exclusive debacle, it looks like i wouldn't have any better chance at all...

 

[nacho]

I think they try hard, but they're a shoe-string operation. I got into the club in '07 for the "Tanks for the Memories" set, specifically to get the tanks... doh. At the last minute the molds broke, no more Maulers. Not really the club's fault directly, but they still couldn't deliver. Then my yearly figure always gets messed up somehow.

I will say that they do have some good specials throughout the year, some good clearance sales now and then. And I've never had a problem that they didn't try hard to solve. At one point, I let my membership lapse, but then renewed to get the Dr Venom sets. Then I let it lapse again but renewed to get dialtone. I suspect I'll simply continue to renew as the mood strikes me depending on what figures they are offering.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

I'm sure they have a harder time than I realize, but the DT thing was a mess if you ask me. Don't start selling "extras" until you're damn sure that there are extras. They should have put the extra figs up for sale after the March 16 registration deadline. Also, they should have made the carded ones available online well after the loose ones shipped, not selling them at the Con to just drive up costs. Or, plan ahead and let folks know with plenty of time that they will be at the Convention.

What happened this year was that DT ended up being just another item for folks who didn't want him to turn around and scalp him at 10x the cost. There's creating buzz, then there's adding to a problem that already plagues modern collecting. I hate how folks who go to Conventions somehow justify buying extra sets to sell off to "recoup costs". Sell off the ones you don't want, but you should go to enjoy the convention, not hock souevenirs to pay for your entire trip.

The figures they produced this year were pretty solid, but if you're going to hold conventions and mass-produce collector items, you need to anticipate things a little smarter, or at least operate with a little more business savvy.

 

[nacho]

I completely missed any drama over DT at the con. I must have been busy and away from the 'net that weekend...

I can't defend the club other than I think they do try hard. Success is a different story. Their inability to accurately produce the right number of con figures (as evidenced by the fact they they still have 4 year old sets in the club store but didn't make enough this year) is right up there with Hasbro (SDCC Slaughter anyone?!). I don't know if it's a lack of business sense or if it's just THAT hard to do. Mattel (Gleek anyone?!) doesn't do any better with their exclusives, so it's certainly not an isolated Joe club problem.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

It may be harder than it is when you're actually investing money into it. For some odd reason though, I can almost perfectly gauge the figures that I expect to (and ultimately end up) "peg-warm" at retail simply by having been a collector over the years. Maybe once money and investments are involved, you somehow loose the ability to "guess" right the first time because you second-guess yourself or something. I dunno. Once money was involved, I'd probably start doing poorly too.

In fact, the only Joe that ended up peg-warming that I didn't expect was the Jungle-Viper. So even my genius guessing system isn't perfect.

Of course TTT Sarge was going to be a huge sell-out, simply from the demand. I assume there was licensing and wrestler fans that complicated that one and why the TTT Sarge was the "variant", but at least Hasbro gauged Zarana better this year by making the more sought-after vintage deco as the regular release and not the variant. Had they made the "iconic" one the variant this year, I would pretty much chalk up Hasbro as being partially evil, or partially retarded.

I feel like the Club probably produced enough DTs for everyone to get one (although they could have produced twice as many and still probably have sold out by now) but they just handled the distribution wrong with it.

 

[nacho]

Interesting. I assumed that had they been produced in equal amounts, the USA Sarge would have been the most popular since it was the first and most common. It's the one I had as a kid, so if I had to pick one to be a variant, I would have chosen just like hasbro did.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Oh no, the TTT was made like 1:4 or 1:3 or something per case. They were much rarer. I wouldn't have based it off most common, I would have based it off "more demanded". Maybe that's the logic that Hasbro went from, like you said.

I also assumed that since there would be wrestling fans getting him, that perhaps that's why they did the USA as the regular release, because more than just Joe fans would be wanting him. That's a theory I've heard others have too, but regardless, Sarge's production numbers may have been limited due to royalties and image usage rights by Remus. Nobody has confirmation on that though, it's all nerd speculation due to us having too much free time.

Anyways, everyone I know wanted the camo Sarge, and since that's how he was portrayed in Sunbow, I always imagined that would be the most popular. Had they reversed their numbers, the TTT Sarge probably would have demanded higher secondary market prices than the USA one did as the regular release, and I imagine that the USA Sarge would have demanded decently higher prices if it had been the variant, due to folks' fetish with the whole variant thing. Zarana's demand should be interesting, but I imagine that my "projected" estimate of Sarge will be pretty parallel to how Zarana's regular/variant figures perform this summer at SDCC and afterwards on eBay.

And that, is why I think that figures like Claymore, are much better choices for exclusives. Granted, if it's "Exclusive or not at all", I obviously pick getting the figure as an exclusive (i.e. Zarana and Sarge) but it don't mean I like it!

 

[nacho]

I know that the TTT was actually the rare one... but I also agree with hasbro that it should have been. I would have expected the USA version to be more popular/desireable if they were both made in equal/large quantities and neither had been more "collectable" than the other. IMO, the USA deco is the one I think most Joe fans think of as the iconic version. I know I only got the TTT version because of it's rareness, not because I wanted that deco. Had it been the regular version, I'd likely have skipped it. I imagine the whole SDCC Sarge drama last year would have been even worse if the USA version had been the rare one. So in that regard, I think hasbro chose correctly. Now, their quantities and how they handled the sale... that's another issue, but in terms of the variant deco choice, I think they got Sarge correct as well as the upcoming Zarana.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Ah, I read it wrong. Clearly, yeah, you knew that. I missed a word in your sentence.

Anyways, we're going to have to just disagree on the TTT/USA thing, because it blew my mind when they announced that the USA one was the regular one. I know I personally have seen way more TTT Sarge customs made, so that could be a testament to his popularity. Regardless, I think they did do the Zarana variant right this year. While I did get both Sarges (1 carded, 1 to open of each) I will not get both Zaranas unless I can get the variant for a good price. I'll definitely get 2 of the pink ones, but if I manage to get a variant at all, she won't be opened. I totally skipped the PDD altogether, and only got the "regular" release of the podium CC, as the variant didn't interest me enough to get it. At least by making "named" characters like Zarana and Sarge, they're guaranteeing that I'm buying them not just for the novelty.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

i'm with MR on the TTT thing...i always assumed most guys prefered that version simply because he looked cooler and was less goofy AND was the prominant version in the toon AND the one that came with the TTT AND the one that was at retail...

do i care which was the variant?...nope...i just think Hasbro shoulda made more and/or limited one per person, period...not every fan can make it to SD for the yearly debacle...

and i've never been one to think that wraslin fans cared about the USA Sarge figure...why would they?...he'd be the only wrestling figure they'd have in the build style...they have so many other versions in all the other wrestling lines that take up full aisles at Walmarts

 

[Starfighter]

The 'TTT' black shirt deco Sarge is by far the more popular in the G.I. Joe circle. The 'USA' deco was rarely ever seen. It was only in the Wrestling circles and in that first release of figures that included him. The 'TTT' black has by far outnumbered his 'USA' appearence in bth the comics and in the cartoon. Customs too. The 'TTT' should have been the more common version and was initially thought of that way until the day of the 2010 SDCC.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

i can't believe how high the prices are on the USA sarge almost a year later...(cheapest was $44 BIN)...

i still need to get a second one to open...

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Regular Zarana will go for $50 minimum, watch. The variant, I'm expecting higher than $100. Dial-Tone and TTT Sarge really did ruin secondary market prices on these. We've got nobody to blame but our gullible selves (and of course, the asshats buying multiples just to resell to gullible idiots on eBay).

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

it really makes me sick to think about paying that much for ONE figure...ONE hunk of formed plastic that i couldnt trade for a loaf of bread

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Bluh, don't get me started on pricing. I made the comment that "if we get these guys at all, I'll pay for them rather than not have them" but I'm starting to regret that. So far, I've stuck by my guns, hence the reason for Dial-Tone, Claymore, Sarge, the PP TV and Trooper, and even the Wet-Suit.... But to date, I haven't broken $100 for one figure, and I'm not going to. Getting DT carded is probably the closest I'll ever get to maybe spending $100 on one Joe figure, if that ever happens.

Transformers? I'll spend well over $100 for a good Masterpiece figure. But that's a sizable, complicated, transforming robot/vehicle. Not a tiny human figure.

 

[Starfighter]

I personally do not like the either of the modern G.I. Joe Sgt. Slaughter figures as their sculpts are different than all of the other 25th/ME/RoC/Resolute/PoC sculpts in their upper and lower torsos. It looks like they are actually from an entirely different toy line all together. Perhaps, Hasbro lost out on the WWE license to Mattel and we may have gotten a 4-inch line from Hasbro. That would have been cool in my book.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

you know, when i think about getting burglerized, i worry most about my toy collection...how sad is that?...i think of all the money i've spent (though i've never added it up, too scared) and the ebay value of it and my stomach turns at the thought of it disappearing...

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

oh, yeah, for sure that Sarge sculpt sucks, lol...he just looks weird compared to the rest...even his head seems more bland...and hes so stumpy as opposed to his normally huge depicted stature

 

[nacho]

The 'TTT' black shirt deco Sarge is by far the more popular in the G.I. Joe circle. The 'USA' deco was rarely ever seen. It was only in the Wrestling circles and in that first release of figures that included him. The 'TTT' black has by far outnumbered his 'USA' appearence in bth the comics and in the cartoon. Customs too. The 'TTT' should have been the more common version and was initially thought of that way until the day of the 2010 SDCC.

Well, I don't talk to a lot of collectors except for other guys here, so I can't speak for anyone but myself. But for me personally, the only Sarge figure I had back in the day was the mail-in USA version. And I can only assume that was the case for lots of kids back in the day (but again, that's just my assumption). And since it's the first version of the character, I really thought it would be more popular if you took the collector/scarcity issue out of the equation. But maybe that's just me.

While he did wear the ttt deco in the comic, his comic appearances were limited to just a couple of issues with minimal impact, so that's not something that even comes to mind with the character. And the cartoon... well, yeah that's what he wore when he single-handedly took over the cartoon. But his first figure and all the promo material we got bombarded with in all the toys was in the USA deco.

Right or wrong, I didn't find hasbro's choice for the variant to be odd. They made the one I wanted for nostalgic reasons the "common" version, so it made sense at the time... at least to me.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

YOU'RE WRONG NACHO!!! get out of my yard!...yer not my friend anymore...i'm telling!

 

[nacho]

hangs head in shame...

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Well, the TTT deco was the first "retail" release of Sarge, I guess. As a kid, that's the one I had, because I know damn sure that my parents would never do anything like a mail-away. What, send off for a toy? Eff that. So maybe that was why I knew more kids with it as the "regular" release? I didn't even know there was a USA version until the interwebs taught me about it.

 

[nacho]

I sent away for all the mail-in stuff. I was ten when my parents got me a checking account, so I saved my allowance, wrote my little checks for $3.50 (plus $1 s&h), and sent away for all the mail-in figures; Sarge, Starduster, Steel Brigade, Super Trooper, a couple of extra HISS tanks, the Special Missions Drivers 6-pack (Ace, Thunder, Keel-Haul, Strato Viper, Motor Viper, & Lampreys)... whatever mail-in offers they had packaged in the vehicle paperwork, I was there.

I didn't know any kids with that TTT thing. It looked like a Rascal Scooter on steroids. I had no idea it was even remotely popular. I just assumed people were going nuts over that version last year because it was the rare variant, not because they actually cared about the particular deco. Go figure.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

hangs head in shame...

*gets bored w/o friend*

*knocks on door*

hey Nacho, whatcha do'n?...wanna be friends agian?

i actually had the USA version first too...he was one of few mail-ins we had (me and my bro)...also had Super trooper and Steel Brigade...

though later we got the TTT and the good Sarge and USA was never seen or heard from again