Mark Weber is new G.I. Joe Brand Manager

Meet Mark Weber, the new brand manager for G.I. Joe.

Meet Mark Weber, the new brand manager for G.I. Joe.

It’s a new year and Mark Weber is the new brand manager of G.I. Joe!

The latest G.I. Joe Collector’s Club newsletter is hitting mailboxes now and inside is a short one-page interview with the newest G.I. Joe brand manager.  Eagle-eyed fans will recall the rumors in late 2013/early 2014 that the then-current Joe team at Hasbro had been reassigned to other projects, leaving the brand in a stage of limbo.  Speculation was rampant as to what the future would hold for the brand that helped put Hasbro on the map as a leader in boys toys since 1964.  Now, it seems that our favorite brand might be getting back on track.

Weber, head of the Transformers brand since February 2012, is no stranger to the toy industry with over seven years experience at Todd McFarlane Productions.  However, for the past nearly three years he’s overseen the development of Construct-bots and Transformers Generations.

The newsletter should be arriving any day now to Collector’s Club members but this quote was reprinted over at HISSTank.com which first broke the story:

“For the most part, our biggest plans will be centered around future entertainment – the kind of stuff I can’t talk about just yet. We are finalizing our 2015 plans and expect to deliver a lineup constructively similar to 2014 – with popular characters and vehicles, as well as a few NEW Surprises. If things go as planned, we will have an update to reveal at JoeCon in Springfield.”

We want to have stronger, more consistent dialogue with the collectors and fans. We want collectors to have NEW vehicles and playsets to energize the brand to a new generation of kids and a fantastic new feature film that is faithful to the soul of the brand (action, fun, weapons, vehicles). Two things I want to prioritize right away – I want to enable and simplify army building for Collectors, and I want the file cards to be brilliant for our characters.”

New vehicles? New playsets?  Any form of playset?  More importantly – FILE CARDS that are BRILLIANT?!!  Sign me up!  This just made the Springfield G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention that much more interesting!

Here at JBL we’d like to extend Mark a warm welcome to the G.I. Joe community and hope that his tenure on the brand brings with it a new era of a revitalized Joe!