Make the Madness Stop!

[picollogoku]

If we are really trying to do this it should be kept as simple as possible. Look the reason being if we get to technical with it you end up with the tomart numbering system. For the noobs out ther it makes no sense at all. Heck its confusing to me.

I really like the idea of G1, G2, G3, ect. but for the most part it needs to stay at that. Moving eveything around and renaming stuff is just silly. Yes there are sixty versions of SE but I feel the version #'s should stay roughly the same. Granted for legal reason or what ever some characters have several names but it is very clear who they are. That is why they are grouped together. There version #'s should have nothing to do with date stamps only release dates as well.

A few years back I, as well as some of the older members tried to come up with a new numbering system. In the end the simplicty I was shooting for was lost so I gave up. What I was trying to set up was a 00001-? (or 1-?)system based on release date, Good guy/Bad guy, and then alphabetical order. Then people started complaining about subteams ect. and it started to look like the tomart guide . Out of all of the back and forth the ideas that stuck with me where.

• Series recongnition

ARAH, VvV, SPYTROOPS, ect
This I agree could be replaced with G1, G2

• Release date

This should remain the focal point of the whole thing and Variant should listed as A, B, C ect unless its a completely different figure released in the same year

• Team Afiliation

GIJOE/COBRA (subteams are called subteams for a reason) think of it as good guy vs. bad guy

• Names remain as they are listed on card

But sense I always call sub teams by that in my head
(example night Force Shock Wave)
if its not part of the name it should be put in ()'s after the actual name
DUKE v2 (Tiger Force)

• Type/Sculpt

Now this is a huge iffy for me. I like the idea but I worry about the details.

In the end though I would like to see some thing like this....

Open your copy of Mark Bellomo's The Ultimate Guide to G.I.JOE 1982-1994. Breaker would be #1 . Release Date, Team, Alphabetical order. Simple and presice. As SwivelArm Breaker was re-released in 83 and of a different construction he would be #18 or #000018.

With the sculpt versions though I think we could also add that info but it should not change the numbering. Think of the comic packs released in 2000 ect during the VvV/SPYTROOPS era. If we seperate versions by sculpt where would those go. In general the release time line is solid with a few odd balls here and there. Here is and example of what I would shoot for.

DUKE v2 (Tiger Force)G1
or
DUKE v2 (TF) ARAH

Oh and his number would be 00196 or 196 ( if I counted right)

I feel that either one of these would be solid and help navigating the site. If you know a figure is DUKE but can't tell which one my system would really help.

But Release date has to remain the most important Guideline.

Off shoots need to remain that. Mcdonalds figures are happy meal toys of a cheap production quality as are the Pepsident figures. They need to be on the site but not really part of the archive or numbering/version system. I mean the Hulk Buster figures are repaints of VvV Bazooka with a new head, should we include them.

[kessek]

I like the proposal a lot. I think series recognition should be added though. ARAH etc would be helpful. In regards to the newest series, its confusing as **** to know right now what your looking for when it comes to Snake Eyes. I currently have 4. Three of them are all based on the old ARAH V1 Snake Eyes. One is radioactive, one is Navy Blue and Black and the other has a torn shirt. Maybe a short description for the characters with insane numbers of varients would help.

[AmbroseKalifornia]

I liked this article and enjoy the chance for discussion. Here's my take on the issues:

*Leave the numbering system in place. I hate the Version 40k Snake Eyes syndrome too, but it is simple and direct. Adding things will only help people than can already navigate the archives, and confuse any new folks.

*Keychain guys and Happy Meal buddies don't count. There were a few Snake-Eyes-s in Sigma Six, but they're on other parts of the site. They belong here on Yo Joe, but not in the Figure Archive.

Something else to consider is that, for the most part, hasbro DID sub-brand the various "new sculpt" lines. Collectors have largely stuck with "new sculpt" because they weren't the same as "RAH figures".

2002 is clearly marketed as "GI Joe vs Cobra"
2003 is marketed as "Spy Troops"
2004/5 is Valor vs. Venom
The DTC line is still recognized as DTC (even by the collector club)
2007/8 is the 25th, and I think one can justify the remaining 2008/9 products as "25th" as the branding and themes (not to mention figure styles) are pretty much the same. Not any different than when hasbro altered the Energon Transformers line in mid-2004 to "Powerlinx Battles"

I don't feel the "Generation" classification is any better simply because, especially during the last retail run, you had SO many figures of conflicting styles on the shelves at the same time under the same brand.

*I also agree with a lot of this. I understand that the "Spy Troops" guys weren't that popular, but they had a great deal of differences from the "Joe vs. Cobra" guys. "Valor vs. Venom" while similar, was a little different that the DTC stuff. But those are four different ideas on how to make Joe figures, and it sucks that they all get lumped in the lame and not very helpful "new sculpt" title. Or even "Generation 2."


I like that you want to change things for the better, and I would love to see more details in the archives. I am eager to see where this crowdsourcing will take us.

[picollogoku]

I don't want out right changes I want additions after the name. you know (---) or "---"

[JayLeeBowen]

What is a generation that we would use? Do we count the gaps in production years as the set for the next generation? What would constitue the generation?

1982 would be g1

1983 would be g2 because of the swivel arms

1984-1994 would be part of g2 because no changes were made in the figures

1997 would be g3 cheap manufacture

1998 to 2001 would be g4

2001 would be g5 because of no o-rings

2002-2006 would be g6

2007-2008 would be g7 25th anniversary figures

Would that be all the generations?

[davewhitaker]

I'd break each "Generation" along the lines of release years. An original sculpt style figure released in a later year would remain classified in the gen that their release year falls in.

G1 would be the original line, 1982-1994. The change between straight and swivle arm is very minor and only affects 16 figures, not enough to classify them as anything more than variants.

G2 would be 1997-2001. These figures were solely repaints of G1 figs. No new sculpting techniques were used, but the overal quality of the figures was greatly different.

G3 would be 2002-2006. This where things get really messy. You have lots of new design techniques as well as repaints in the vein of the G2 figures being released. This Generation would be the 'catch-all' generation. Pretty much all of your Con and Club figure would fall into here, including possibly those released after 2006, as its not really right to lump them in to the same Gen as the anniversary style scupts.

G4 would be 2007+. Anniversary style sculpting.

One change Id like to see is an alternative numbering method for Con and other extremely limited release figures. The sequential numbering should apply only to regular retail release figures, including store exclusives.

Instead of, for example:
Destro (v14) - 2007
Destro (v15a - Silver) - 2007
Destro (v15b - Gold) - 2007
Destro (v16) - 2007

I'd prefer something along the lines of:
Destro (v14) - 2007
Destro (v15) - 2007
and
Destro (ex1 - Silver) - 2007
Destro (ex2 - Gold) - 2007

[Falcone]

I agree completely that the current 3 names (RAH, new sculpt, 25th) do not work at all because the names no longer apply. I brought this up not too long again, not couldn't come up with a good naming system. I love your system and would love to see it implemented. Using the "G" tag to refer to sculpt style and not particular years in genius, considering the confusion that there is now.

My only concern now is what the movie line will entail.

They would be G3 because they are the same sculpt as the 25th figures.

As for the Snake Eyes problem, there is a simple solution. He have a "Snake Eyes burning" where we all burn versions 5-25. Once they are all destroyed they get removed from the archive.