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Over the past fifteen years. I've noticed that in our post September 11th world. Transformers and My Little Pony have become more popular then G.I. Joe.
After September 11th. G.I. Joe should have become more popular then either Transformers or My Little Pony.
Yet Transformer and My Little Pony are running Neck to neck with G.I. Joe lagging far behind in the popularity race.

Keep on Transforming

Towline.

The original Marvel Productions was the pinnacle imho (animated series) Once DIC took over, it was downhill.

I think the appeal is there but there needs to be some type of refresher for the Joes. IMHO I always loved watching G.I. Joe as a kid but Transformers had that cool factor to it. I see a lot of GI Joe look alike toys these days which seem to sell but I think Hasbro needs to find some way other than the current films to bring them back to life so to speak.

Super hero-esque military guys fighting terrorists dressed in kooky outfits just doesn't really work post-9/11.

Also, Transformers and MLP have done wonders with refreshing themselves as brands and finding new audiences over the years. Joe has not. Pretty simple.

A generation of little boys watched their dad's go off to war.

Their moms weren't up for buying toys that made light of it. Nor did the little boys who worried that their dads might not come home find anything romantic about the notion of war.

Yup.

Also, Star Wars does that "war" thing better with their Clone troopers and Jedi stuff.
Of course, that all changes when they're old enough to play CoD, but no accounting for that.

I personally have seen it as such, in the 80's First World kids (for lack of a better identifier) did not see a great enemy out there. Yes there was the ongoing threat of communism from the Soviet block, but even they were not something that a "hero" could go up to and punch in the face.

And so when it was time to find a licence to copy what was happening with the Star Wars figures, having teams of military heroes representing freedom (G.I.Joe, Action Force, heck even the Oktober Guard) against colorful "terrorist" bad guys (COBRA, Red Shadows) it was easy to digest.

Post 9-11, and to a degree since the first Iraq war, it's hard to equate the so-called terrorists of the likes of Cobra Commander, Baroness, Tomax, Xamot, Baron Ironblood, Cobra-La and such against actual flesh and blood evil we see on the news.
Destro selling arms to both sides of a confict, against fighting in the Ukraine.
Firefly blowing up an imaginary oil rig, against ISIS beheading people.
Dr. Mindbender "torturing" a joe, against Boko Harum kidnapping entire schools.

The world we live in now, is likely no more deadly than the one in the 80's, but with the advances in the internet and cable news services alone, we are a lot more aware of the specters of evil than exist around the globe.

And while watching Duke kick a Cobra trooper off the side of a truck is cool, with so many of our real service men and women engaged in the middle east, sadistic radicals in Africa, and who knows what going on North Korea any given week, it just is not as cool as it once may have been.

Transformers is largely removed from this due to it being seen as a conflict between Cybertronions, and removed from the human side of conficts.
MLP, well is a different kettle of fish all together.

What others have said,. GI Joe hits too close to home at the moment and has the air of "Dude, not funny" about it. Transformers and MLP also have a wider appeal to them, IMHO.

A ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world...........gawd how fiction does reflect facts. Scary ain't it.

Honestly, my guess is the story lines hits too close to home for a lot of people. The story, a group of soldiers fights against a terrorist group? I'm sorry, but that is too close to reality then I would like, especially since I hail from a small town that has suffered a number of losses, including my neighbor's son.

And reason that those other two brands have soared above and beyond? It's because Transformers and MLP are fictitious in the highest regard, they are escapism, a world with charming talking ponies and a world with giant robots that can change before your eyes.

G.I. joe is not a politically correct franchise. You can't tell a proper Joe story without stepping on somebody's toes.

They had a chance to reinvigorate the franchise with the live action movie. They tried to make it PC and it bombed. End of story.

Ironhidensh wrote:They had a chance to reinvigorate the franchise with the live action movie. They tried to make it PC and it bombed. End of story.

It wasn't the PC-cleansing, that was already in the cartoon with the lasers and stormtrooper effects. (And if you haven't watched the G.I.Jeff episode of Community, shame on you.)

The problems were:
Pushing them as a multi-national, instead of US Force.
Using lesser knowns like Heavy-Duty (which is only good for leaving Roadblock open for the The Rock)
Forsaking the actual use of COBRA until the end.
Not having a COBRA Commander until the end.
The needless CC and Baroness family connection.
The more so needless Duke/Baroness/Destro triangle.
The pointless Ripcord (who should have been Stalker) macking on Scarlett.

The first film, despite their hopes was going to succeed on the backs of the fans, and if they enjoyed it pushing others to go see it. The sequel had improvements and Chu did a heck of a lot better than expected but the quick "assault on the Joes" was a weak way to clear the field. And his departure from G.I.Three to helm Jem, doesn't bode well the next attempt.

All in all the best way that G.I.Joe would have worked =

Had Bay not gone with the Transformer licence and used his known love of the US military to get a proper military force movie made, we could be in an alternative present and all be awaiting word on G.I. Joe (5) Crimson Dawn, while the Transformer movies looks for a new director for it 3rd movie.

Ironhidensh wrote:G.I. joe is not a politically correct franchise. You can't tell a proper Joe story without stepping on somebody's toes.

They had a chance to reinvigorate the franchise with the live action movie. They tried to make it PC and it bombed. End of story.

This. Most excellent two sentence to sum it all up.

MLP > GIJoe

Because, GI Joe is just humans.

It's as simple as this: My Little Pony and Transformers are aimed right at kids, while G.I. Joe is for those of us who are kids at heart and/or never grew up.

Girls want to enjoy in the silliness and upbeat liveliness of MLP, while boys who want action and cool looking robots get both of their wishes fulfilled.

G.I. Joe? It worked as a cartoon series in the '80s because it was ridiculous and over the top with supervillians such as a dude wearing a chrome mask and another one being part snake (or some such nonsense) and those days have come and gone.

As others have said, 9/11 drastically changed people's perceptions of war and those who participate in it, either willingly or by force. Even the movies went and showed that war is ugly and there are serious casualties. It's not the same G.I. Joe we grew up with, and it shouldn't be. The one we grew up with is a lie, a big fat lie.

Still, it all boils down to this: MLP and TF are for kids, they'll continue being popular for the foreseeable future, and definitely more so than G.I. Joe.

Because GI Joe only has two cool characters, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

MLP is **** stupid as ****, but **** stupid as **** sells...just look at Bieber, One Direction, Backstreet Kids on the Nsync Block, etc. Pretty much same fanbase, too...5-13 year old girls and weirdo dudes.

Kibble wrote:Because GI Joe only has two cool characters, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

MLP is **** stupid as ****, but **** stupid as **** sells...just look at Bieber, One Direction, Backstreet Kids on the Nsync Block, etc. Pretty much same fanbase, too...5-13 year old girls and weirdo dudes.

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are cool, but highly overrated. And your 'opinion' of MLP has been put into the circular file.

Whoa boy, hadn't checked in this thread in a bit. Clearly an anti-brony present. Honestly, a while back, I'd watched a few episodes of MLP due to the insistence of a friend, and while it was awfully girly and feel-good, I can easily see why a lot of people like it so much. It's pure escapism, more-so then any other show I've seen recently. And, again, being honest here, it was cute, purely, unequivocally cute.

I rejected MLP:FIM when it first came out as I never had an interest in MLP, but as friends and my wife collected ponies when she was younger it was only a matter of time before we ended up watching them with our 3 year old daughter.

Honestly, the show is well written, the push is for cute but not sappy, so when it came to a choice of putting on ponies or other "kids" shows we went for this.

If anything the songs are super catchy, especially the ones from the Equestria Girls movies.

Not exactly my cup of tea, and i doubt anyone would label me a bronie anytime soon, but it's a damn sight better tp have on than having some of the other crap made for kids these days.

MLP reminded me a lot of K-ON!, but more for the 4-and-above crowd rather than anime fans. Maybe that's what attracted all the bronies, like how schoolgirl-themed anime of this sort attracts the otaku crowd. Honestly, it's strangely addictive. I'm by no means a brony, but I couldn't help watching over half a season's worth of eps on youtube before I realized it. But then, it had been a really boring evening that day.

Never did continue on, though.

Madeus Prime wrote:Whoa boy, hadn't checked in this thread in a bit. Clearly an anti-brony present.

I assume that's me? Because of the weirdo comment? Don't worry...TF collectors over the age of 13 or so are also considered weirdos by most.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are cool, but highly overrated.

Maybe the reason so few give a rip about GI Joe...not even the cool guys are that cool!

Transformers are cooler. They're both a vehicle and an action figure. The shooting terrorists theme of GI Joe works much better as a video game than man dolls with little guns. Call of Duty is the best example of a successful military game.

obvious

transformers are superior to all and rock most mightily.

most girls and some boys like ponies.

duh

GI Joe's death can probably be attributed to it being too "soldier-y" to be marketed to kids but not having the "hardcore edgy mature" quality + multi-billion-dollar game series to promote it with. Transformers is just kid-friendly enough that it can flourish.

As for MLP...manchildren and Tumblrinas. That is all.