G.I. Joe Classified Series: The Chatty Pointless Thread & Performance Art

[vicious]

Or, and hear me out:

A *hero* move because in 2026 or 2027 we will get a glorious fist appearance Baroness with all details accounted for, with said details paid for by the HasLab.

Don't these guys decide what they're making? Is there not enough budget for that Baroness without it being in a Haslab? Clearly the demand was there, they knew we wanted her so they put her in to sell Rattlers.

I do appreciate your positivity and will give you a shout out when it happens.

 

[Ru1977]

Or, and hear me out:

A *hero* move because in 2026 or 2027 we will get a glorious fist appearance Baroness with all details accounted for, with said details paid for by the HasLab.

I know you keep bringing this up, and you are probably right.

Fist appearance makes total sense though, like in the issue, "Bend over, Destro"?

Emily said three years on the figures so I'm mostly making it up. Cobra Commander didn't take three years.

You fucker!!!!!

 

[vicious]

Sorry I meant vehicles, not figures.

 

[AceofKnaves]

I know you keep bringing this up, and you are probably right.

They’d be wasting a lot of unnecessary tooling $$ if they didn’t release the “clearly sculpted with first-appearance-specific details” sculpt in the actual colors that sculpt is made for.
There are a lot of uncertainties in this line, but I can say FOR SURE that the body of Pilot Baroness was specifically sculpted to be first appearance/MASS Device/OG comic Baroness, there is literally no other reason for the waffle-cut details on shoulders and waist, etc. Like I suppose it’s possible that they will end up not releasing her that way for some reason, but it’s without a doubt the intent behind the HasLab Baroness’ unique body sculpting, and said HasLab release very intentionally stayed away from first-appearance colors.

 

[AceofKnaves]

Is there not enough budget for that Baroness without it being in a Haslab?

It’s my understanding (don’t quote me here!) that every budget battle is fought in the trenches, and while classic Cobra Commander and FA Baroness were probably on short lists from the jump, the HasLabs made it much easier to get those tooling dollars going. I imagine they get their hits in where they can, like dropping the v2 headsculpt in with v1 Night-Creeper because they could, and because that makes a “budget” v2 NC easier down the line.

 

[vicious]

It’s my understanding (don’t quote me here!) that every budget battle is fought in the trenches, and while classic Cobra Commander and FA Baroness were probably on short lists from the jump, the HasLabs made it much easier to get those tooling dollars going. I imagine they get their hits in where they can, like dropping the v2 headsculpt in with v1 Night-Creeper because they could, and because that makes a “budget” v2 NC easier down the line.

Your points are all valid. It's hard to tell sometimes with this line, which figure a part was "made for". Like, did Law's vest start as Law's vest, or as Policeman's vest? Others like the Night-Creeper example are cut and dry. What you say about Baroness makes absolute sense. I suppose in a world where these prices keep going up, our jackass President has done his best job to kill toy sales in the past year, Hasbro is one jackass CEO away from cancelling ANYTHING, I just want the damn thing now and not to spend $300. Going from 2022 Retro-onwards, they haven't done another regular Baroness. We still don't have a non-multipack Baroness with double elbows which is wacky as hell. Actually, it's Hasbro as hell.

My point is, I think Pilot Baroness delayed the "good" Retro Baroness we want. If they hadn't funded the Haslab, I wouldn't be surprised if we had gotten it this year. And if Pilot Baroness weren't crammed into a $300+, "buy it sight-unseen a year before you get it" pack, I'd buy her, too.

 

[AceofKnaves]

My point is, I think Pilot Baroness delayed the "good" Retro Baroness we want.

You may well be right, I’m definitely not sure what’s the chicken and what’s the egg here.
All I know is that the existence of Pilot Baroness clearly indicates a near-ish future release of FA Baroness, or else why waste money on that specific tooling.
Now a redux of *classic* Baroness, which is absolutely necessary, might be less specifically “certain”, although they must be thinking about it.

 

[Damien]

The alternate argument is that Baroness was never going to come out this year, but the HasLab was a good way to get a different version of her out there, and 'pre-make' some parts for her so that she's less expensive to make in the main line when the time comes and can more easily be slotted into a wave.
We can't know unless Hasbro tells us, I imagine.

 

[vicious]

It is really hard to say because Classified has so many sublines and versions. They absolutely flubbed the early Retro line figures, with half-assed designs and terrible packaging, and there's a few figures stuck in that limbo, Baroness included. Snake Eyes seems to be the only guy, maybe Cobra Commander too, getting annual releases. I think both Destro and Baroness are long overdue for a redo because I consider them main characters, if a step below SE and CC. But I appreciate that there's a little bit of everything for most Joe fans so I'm not going to complain too much. Just my usual complaint that 2025 didn't have enough female figures and the best one by a mile was in the Haslab, that's really the issue for me here. Just an absolute sausage-fest. Still, brilliant year of figures, maybe the best year so far. Deciding a top 10 isn't going to be easy.

 

[Damien]

I don't think Baroness is considered quite that important, to be perfectly honest. In fact, I'd argue that Scarlett is the only female character in the entirety of the franchise that Hasbro would put on the 'main character' list. And Joe, like every other property originally created to appeal to young boys, has always had and probably always will have an issue with not seeing a ton of use for female characters beyond a little bit of window dressing.
Not saying that's a good thing, but I also don't see it changing.

 

[Ru1977]

I don't think Baroness is considered quite that important, to be perfectly honest. In fact, I'd argue that Scarlett is the only female character in the entirety of the franchise that Hasbro would put on the 'main character' list. And Joe, like every other property originally created to appeal to young boys, has always had and probably always will have an issue with not seeing a ton of use for female characters beyond a little bit of window dressing.
Not saying that's a good thing, but I also don't see it changing.

I guess it really depends on which version you're talking about. In the comics, Baroness was significantly featured for years after her figure was no longer available, and she seemed pretty prominent in the cartoon as well, with Scarlet appearing in only a few more than Baroness. Lady Jaye was the Joe featured the most.

One thing with the One A Day thread really shows, I think, is how many female characters, a lot of whom would make great figures, are being ignored. I'd be into a better Baroness, but not as much as Freestyle, Chameleon, Munitia, and several others.

 

[vicious]

I remember seeing her a ton on the cartoon, which is why I think she's so important. But GIJ is more of an ensemble cast anyway. "Main character" is a pretty loose term.

Three females for the entire year and only one was a stand-alone release, I don't know, that just kinda sucks (lmk if I'm wrong with my facts here). Give us a new, original girl (or remake of a classic without a Classified update) every year. That would be great.

 

[Ru1977]

I remember seeing her a ton on the cartoon, which is why I think she's so important. But GIJ is more of an ensemble cast anyway. "Main character" is a pretty loose term.

Three females for the entire year and only one was a stand-alone release, I don't know, that just kinda sucks (lmk if I'm wrong with my facts here). Give us a new, original girl (or remake of a classic without a Classified update) every year. That would be great.

This may not be totally accurate but just eyeballing... Looks like 39 main line figures this year, 2 legacy guys, and 8 retro? Does that seem right? 49 total? Of those, we got CoverGirl in retro, then Baroness with the Rattler, Claw pilot, and Pythona. A twelfth of the year or so? Again, with the One A Day I'm aware there are more fellas than ladies overall, but that ratio is definitely off.

Start delving into the comics, cartoon, and bringing in characters that were made in the last twenty years like Crimson Asp and Stiletto.

 

[Damien]

I think the problem with any ratio conversation is that G.I. Joe starts from a position where not only are there just inherently way more male characters, but there's only a handful of female characters that rank as being even remotely as important as the the first FEW tiers of male characters.
I.E. you have Tier 1 male characters, Tier 2 male characters, Tier 3... etc. Going down the line in terms of popularity and relevance. But with female characters you basically have Tier 1 and Tier 7. They were either fairly important/popular (probably in part because they were some of the only female characters for many years) or half the Joe fans don't even know who they are (because they were added later).

Combine these two things and what you have is a problem where adding a lot of female characters in a single year is going to look obviously arbitrary and forced. You can't take a brand that is 88% male characters and make yearly figure offerings that are split 50/50, because people will flip out. Partly because the ratio is off, and partly because that also means that you're going with like 30-50% insanely deep dive characters to a level that would make the Marvel team blush.

Again, not a defense. I'm not a 'Joe gotta be JOE not JANE!' kind of collector/person. Just explaining where I think the disconnect might be between a fan of female characters and Hasbro, as well as the fans of female characters and probably your average G.I. Joe fan.

 

[vicious]

I forgot about Pythona, she's a single release but obviously not a standard one. So out of 51 single releases, there were 2 females, one was a con-exclusive. That ratio is wack. Not even 1 in 20.

But also, holy shit did I buy 50 Classifieds this year?

It's not even like a "I'm mad there's not enough females" it's just a genuine wanting of variety. And I think it's important to make new molds every year for reuse...every year that slacks on new parts means less of that next year. (ofc this is where Ace is right, the Haslab tooling counts for future reuse)