I just found the new wave at my local Wal Mart. I picked up destro, and saw that he has a small flashing red light in the package. Then I saw that ALL of the new figures have a small flashing red light in the package. What is up with that? Anyone know?:confused:

To get your attention! And it worked, didn't it?

Hasbro marketing added those to get the attention of kids and spur more sales.

Hello,
Can anyone tell me what the point of the Blinking light is in the Sigma Six packaging?

I bought Destro (8 inch) and he looked too cool to leave in the box, so I popped him out. Now, I haven't been very regular about going after Sigma Six, I only buy the ones I like and so I might have missed something, but there were no instructions as to the purpose of the light, and I find myself curious as to why the just put a blinking light in the box?

The light is to get kids to go " WOW,I want that".:D

No, I dont know. :confused: I noticed it as I was walking through the toy isle & it did catch my attention.

Maybe blinking lights make people buy things….?

I bought the Pink Floyd pulse album entirely because of it’s blinking light. When it was first released :)

I'm over thinking this, especially since I'm not a S6 fan at all, but...

There is a TARGETING SCREEN included with Destro right? Perhaps the blinking light can be viewed as "paint" on a target for the ROCKET LAUNCHER?

Other than being a standard "gimmick", I would say yeah, its an "enticer" or a "lure".

BLINK BLINK..BUY ME..BLINK BLINK..BUY ME..BLINK BLINK..BUY ME

BLINK BLINK..BUY ME..BLINK BLINK..BUY ME..BLINK BLINK..BUY ME


That is all there is too it. They do nothing else. Seems like a waste to me. Then again, I did buy the Pink Floyd album as well but I like Pink Floyd. Those lights do nothing to make me like these figures any more.

It's all abouts gimmicks these days but I admit it did catch my eye. Too bad they didn't think of that idea for the 3.75 line.

Sure got my attention walking through the toy aisle

Those lights sure do work. Not only did they get my attention.......but as I was at my local TRU checking out the action fig section......this lady walked in with her son and a few of his friends........as soon as they hit the Joe section all you heard was..."WOW......I want one of those" and "Mom....these are from the cartoon"!!!!!!! I say props to Hasbro.

I look at the flashing red lights like this. In one sense, they're a little wasteful, since they serve no real function to the figure. However, as Neo-Viper mentioned, they do seem to be decent attention-getters.

(On the other hand, they don't seem to have helped unload the dust-gathering supply of Arctic Duke's that's been lingering at my Wal-Mart for the past month and a half...) :rolleyes:

The ten cents that these probably cost Hasbro to produce probably could have been put to better use elsewhere, like certain aspects of quality control, but that's just a general gripe on my part and is probably an overall factory situation that Hasbro needs to address, blinking lights or not.

Now, consider the following. It could've been a lot worse. Suppose Hasbro had used sound chips instead of blinking lights? And we know Hasbro has a history with sound chips, including in G.I.Joe. Imagine these toys yelling all the time. Picture walking through the action figure aisle and hearing, "Hey, it's getting close to winter. Better buy me, Arctic Duke, right now!" "Yes, you can finally get a figure of Destro. I really run Cobra, not that incompetent Commander." "Hi, I'm Hi-Tech. I invented the Sigma Suits that all the Joes wear. You've got to have me in your collection!"

Approximately how long do you think it would take for someone to visit the sporting goods section and return with a loaded rifle, or at least a baseball bat? :eek:

Also consider this. There's two little AA batteries in the toy package powering that light. A blinking LED does not require that much power, and the batteries are labeled "Extra Heavy Duty". So, after I got Hi-Tech and Destro and opened them, I kept the batteries. And the next time my digital camera, or my flashlight, or my VCR remote, needs batteries, I'll see how much juice these have left. They've got to have SOME life left in them or the light wouldn't've been blinking.

So I figure I got a toy at the same price the line was costing me anyway, and a couple of free batteries that probably are at least halfway decent. Not a bad deal. :D

I put mine in my car dash to look like a car alarm.

I believe they are secret COBRA spy devices- they are individual GPS linked tracking sensors that each have their own IP address. At anytime, COBRA- or COBRA's subsidiary HASBRO can track what each of their figures are doing and get a real time inventory count at all global retail outlets :D :D

COLDSLITHER- Loved the car alarm idea- I wish I was that creative!!!

I thought it was just an attention getter too, at first, because my son got Storm Shadow for Christmas and it had a blinking light. After looking over the package, I think I discovered soemthing that may be related to the light...maybe... You'll notice that all the figures with the flashing light have a strip on the left side of their file card on the back of the package. Look closely and you'll see it's got blue letters obscured by red lines. Being innovative as I am I held the blinking light up to the strip and the red light blanks out the lines so you can see the letters. It gives a "secret" way to defeat the character. It's pretty annoying to read it by the flashing light, but that's what I figured out it's for. (In addition to the attention getting gimmick, of course.) Plus once it's opened, the flashing light serves a variety of imaginary purposes...like part of Cobra's evil memory wiping machine... or an alarm system... you get the idea. :)

Oh...forgot to comment on the batteries...hubby actually did try to use the batteries elsewhere in a pinch and they're basically almost dead. I have a tester that confirmed it. When we opened the second character with the red flashy thingie, I tested them, too, and they are in the almost dead range. Don't count on reusing them. ;)