For the last ten plus years, Hollywood in general, but specifically companies like Disney have made billions of dollars by playing to our nostalgia.
The 1980s were a time of some of the best music, movies, and television shows and many look back fondly at the decade. The trend continued into the 90s as more boundaries were pushed, but someone in the mid 2000s creativity was stymied for the sake of a quick, easy buck.
Now, over a decade later we’re seeing the various toy companies do the same thing by reissuing old childhood favorites in a new 6 inch action figure line like GI Joe Classified, Indiana Jones, and the old Dungeons and Dragons Saturday morning cartoon.
Not meant to last
While many have welcomed these new lines, as a collector I grabbed a few myself, there are certain drawbacks.
To put it succinctly, the plastic is softer than the old hard plastic, which is fine in some respects, but the joints are often so stiff they won’t move for fear of breaking them and it brings back the desire for ball bearing joints like in the old GI Joe figures.
The new He-man figures are made the same way, and it can be maddening. None of them are as sturdy as the originals (they’ve lasted over forty years), but they do give us a far greater ability to pose them with ankle and wrist joints.
It’s not surprising given nothing is built to last more than a few years as we’ve become a far more consuming society than previously, but the real test will be to see how these new figures last over the next forty years.
Shooting themselves in the foot
Hasbro has seemingly been doing everything they can to sabotage themselves between the exclusive deals with Walmart, Target, and Con releases as well as spitting into the face of D&D faithful the last few years.
The gamers have been attacked for complaining about the various changes Hasbro has made and the company’s stock has dropped.
It’s amazing and sad to watch as the lack of quality across the board along with attacks to the fanbase for not blindly accepting their changes, and it was reported by Clownfish TV that Hasbro was relying on the new Dungeons and Dragons movie to save them.
The movie, while good to great from everything I’ve heard, only drew in hardcore fans their first week when it was tops in the industry, but it didn’t draw in the casual fans.
After that, it basically dropped off a cliff and will most likely be considered a flop.
It’s hard not to look at Hasbro as purposely sabotaging industries that have meant a lot to us over the years, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to change their stance any time soon.
Have you had any problems with the new figures or gaming in general? Let us know in the comments below.
For any other soap opera and entertainment news, please visit again Daily Soap Dish.
