Hasbro shifts digital content to Vimeo

Vimeo logo

Hasbro animated series are coming to Vimeo!

As reported yesterday by Wired.com, Hasbro Inc announced yesterday that they were partnering with video sharing site Vimeo to be the exclusive online host for many of the toy-maker’s animated series.   Currently available are Transformers (Generation 1) and Jem & the Holograms with other series including G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and My Little Pony to follow later this year.

Per the announcement, episodes of the Hasbro series will be $.99 to rent for 24 hours or $1.99 to purchase individually.  Entire series may be purchased for $40.00.

Is this a good move for the Pawtucket-based Hasbro, Inc?  By the numbers, it means that Hasbro’s animated properties will be delivered to a significantly smaller audience.  As of Q1 2015, subscription-based Netflix had an audience of just over 60 million global subscribers. As of December 2013, Vimeo was sitting at 22 million subscribers.  It’s not a strict apples-to-apples comparison as far as the dates go but it indicates that Vimeo doesn’t quite have the reach that content posted on Netflix does.

There’s also the issue of the the pricing model.  Increasingly, more and more digital content has gone “pay-to-play” requiring viewers to either rent or purchase episodes on a platform-to-platform basis.  Vimeo follows that model meaning that fans will have to pay around $40 to own a full season of their favorite nostalgic series.  This puts it on par with the cost of owning the content on DVD and Blu-Ray from retailers such as Amazon.com but it leaves casual fans a bit out-of-the-loop.  Rather than being able to randomly browse through a few episodes of a series before getting hooked, viewers will be have to pay to rent or view episodes on an series-by-series basis.  This could limit the Hasbro content’s overall reach when it comes to new viewers rather than diehard fans who most likely already own the content in tangible form anyway.

What do you think?  Is the move to Vimeo better for Hasbro?  Will is help grow the audiences for their animated properties?  Will you be making the jump to the new video-sharing service in order to follow the adventures of your favorite characters?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Sgt. Slaughter to Appear at Retro Con 2014

sgt slaughter

The fan-run convention Retro Con gets better and better with each new announcement. First, the event for 2014 has been extended to two days.  Next Zack Hoffman (the voice of Zartan from the Sunbow animated series) is added to the guest roster.  However, yesterday Retro Con pulled out all the stops– wrestling legend and “real life” G.I. Joe Sgt. Slaughter is now scheduled to appear for both days of the nostalgia event!   You can read the original announcement here.

Autographs or posed photos will be available for $20 with a discount being available for both. So grab your vintage Sgt. Slaughter file cards and make plans to head to Oaks, PA!

Long-known to fans of G.I. Joe from his appearances in the second season of Sunbow’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series, Sgt. Slaughter joined WWE (then WWF) in the early 80’s and quickly achieved celebrity status.  Brandishing his signature move “the Cobra Clutch”, he delighted wrestling fans each week with his hard-nosed drill sergeant persona.  Yet it may be his appearance in the animated G.I. Joe: The Movie that permanently endeared him to Joe fans around the world with his leadership of the Renegades and his “itty bitty ditty bag.”

Retro Con 2014 will run from September 27 – 28 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA.  To keep up with the latest on Retro Con 2014, keep your eyes peeled to JBL and follow them online on Twitter at @Retrocons and at www.RetroCons.com.

SDCC: Derryl DePriest interviewed!

The SDCC is one of the most intense genre experiences of the year!  Chock full of movie and TV reveals, it’s possible to forget that it is rapidly becoming a rival to Toy Fair in terms of toy news!   Hasbro was on scene again this year and JBL staffer and JoeDeclassified.com owner Nomad was on the scene to talk to Hasbro’s own Derryl DePriest.

Check out the interview below:

Despite the madness that is SDCC, Hasbro’s Derryl DePriest was kind enough to take out a few minutes for us to batter him with some Q&A. What follows, is my best attempt to transcribe such verbage, above the din of the overwhelming throng, and some Con-goers who didn’t understand what “private interview” meant. Special thanks to Joe Moscone and Justin Aclin of Hunter PR for giving us the opportunity, and Fred Meyer of Joe Battlelines for putting the contacts in place. As always, thanks to Derryl: a gracious, patient, and willing victim.

Declassified: You’re aware of the backlog issues at retailers, items/waves getting stuck at warehouses and eventually being pushed to discount stores; is there a plan to circumvent that?

DDP:
Well, that’s unfortunately part of the environment we work in. When things go according to plan, then there’s no issues. We’ll make our release decisions based on what we anticipate our future needs will be. We’ll release those waves right to it, and the size of that wave will meet the market need. So, if the fan-base is growing, we need to make enough of it, or fans will complain it’s short. But, if for some reason we’re delivering a substandard wave, or we’re not meeting the needs, then our point of sale will go down. That hasn’t necessarily happened. The big problem here has been calling the right size for G.I Joe in the absence of any entertainment activity, and we haven’t found the right cadence yet. So, what it means is that when we re-launch a new line, we’ll put our first shot in there of what we think we need, and if it doesn’t meet our needs, then we’re in trouble, because everything’s backed up after that. It’s all about calling the right numbers.

With Retaliation, we think we’ve started fresh, and we’re off to the right start, and we have the right cadence. It’s all about right-sizing those expectations. So, if everything goes according to plan, we shouldn’t have any of those wave issues. But when we do release the inventory, and we have problems like we’ve had – Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart – they’re jammed, they can’t get out of it, and it’s massively expensive to the company to go pull inventory out of retail. Basically, it costs us their retail price to pull a figure out and replace it with a different figure that we sell for less, since we sell at wholesale. So when we get jammed like that, it’s a major problem, so we’re working hard to avoid that at all. So that’s my commitment – that’s one thing on the Joe brand that I want to make sure we do, is get into that cadence where we don’t have these problems.

But, the TJ Maxx’s of the world become valuable partners to get product out that we’ve already made, that we have no way to distribute. It’s either that, or donate it to charity, or shred it – and we never want to do that. So, they’re valuable partners. It’s a great channel and avenue for us, but regionally, they’re limited.

Declass:
Is there any plan, as it was in the 80’s, to align the visual medium (cartoon), comic, and toy, with the toy driving the way, and the comic and cartoon following, even year by year? Is there a mentality, approaching the future, to try to get that same universal level of tie-in again?

DDP:
Yes. That’s an outrageously great question. One thing that is at the center of what we do, and we’ve had a lot of lines that were lacking…I would say “soul” before…The Pursuit of Cobra was an attempt to get into that cadence. The things that followed it – Renegades – we never got synched up, because that show started before we could get going, and our follow up line was already out there. I think with the team, what I want to do is make sure that we get back more into that mentality, even if it’s internal storytelling in waves. So, kind of do stories that tie figures together, like little mini-stories. No plans to integrate IDW into the mix – they’re doing their own thing and we’re letting them tell their own stories. But we definitely want, after the movie, to figure out what the next entertainment story is, and ideally it would be a TV play, and we’re not there yet as the delay in the movie has pushed everything out. Ideally there would be a stronger integration between entertainment and toys, and that’s what we’re going work on, or at least, more story-telling rather than just putting more random unrelated figures out.

Declass: 
I know you had Resolute, Renegades… you have Retaliation – so far, in all 3 of those, the toy line hasn’t perfectly lined up. Is there a possibility then, with those old concepts, to release figures that were tied to those, even though you don’t have that medium to support them anymore? Or are those pretty much going to get written off?

DDP:
Not right now. I think one thing we want to do is make sure we focus on the entertainment that’s in front of us, or focus on getting high-demand figures back out. And that may be related to your question. I’m not sure what the lingering demand is for more Resolute or Renegades figures.

Declass:
Resolute HISS tank. Want.

DDP:
OK. Well, that’s an interesting one. There could be a possibility down the road for that. But for more figures connected to that, or more multi-packs, or things like that, there won’t be any new ones, and unlikely there won’t be any more for that [Resolute]. If it’s new figures for Resolute, it’s very unlikely.

The thing with Renegades, we’re now putting Renegades behind us. It’s possible that figures could come out, but especially as part of the Vault project that started at Joe Con, it’s possible that there could be Renegades figures in the mix, but we wouldn’t do the vehicles – it would be just too expensive.

Declass:
Have you considered the possibility, as you have Hasbro Toy Shop here at SDCC…at the Joe Con, of Hasbro selling directly to the people that show up at the Joe conventions.

DDP:
We’ve looked at that before, and we feel that Brian Savage and the Collector’s Club, can take care of that audience. We would be slightly duplicative. But also, Hasbro Toy Shop, we only go to one show a year. We actually stopped going to [Star Wars] Celebration, because the economies of scale don’t work for us, so we just focus and put our efforts on the one show a year. So, we’ll let Brian take care of that.

Declass:
You have two years running of a Joe/Transformers SDCC exclusive going here at the show. Is that a plan you intend to keep going with?

DDP:
No comment. Would that be of interest to fans?

And that’s that! Thanks for reading. If you have other questions you think we can track down answers to, hit us up here.

 

A HUGE thanks to Sam Damon (aka “Nomad”) for his con legwork!  Be sure to check out JoeDeclassified.com for more pics from this year’s SDCC!

Tell Hasbro what you want from the G.I. Joe Concept Case from Joe Con 2012!

The past few years at Joe Con fans have been treated to a case full of “what might have been”– figures and vehicles that made it to the design phase but never saw production.  The Hasbro team is typically quite patient with the cries of heart-broken fans screaming “Why didn’t you make that awesome Ice Cream Soldier v2?!!” and always tell individuals that if there is enough demand for a particular item it might get made.

One  admin was so GUNG-HO about the project that he has taken matters into his own hands and decided to give Hasbro a vehicle for feedback.

Over at GeneralsJoes.com, Justin has launched a Survey Monkey survey that will allow fans to submit their feedback on what was shown as well as allow users to submit their own options.  (GUNG-HO!)  Love the zombie theme?  Let Hasbro know!  Want to fill your shelves with Arashikage ninjas?  Take the survey!  Want to see a NEW version of the greatest marine in the G.I. Joe team Gung-Ho that doesn’t share a headsculpt with Leatherneck?  Let Hasbro know and take the survey!

Just click the image below and get started!  I know you’re all GUNG-HO about this!  (See what I did there?  It’s called “subliminal advertising”…)

Here are some galleries to refresh your mind a bit…

30th Anniversary:

Renegades:

Vault Other:

 

Joe Con 2012: Hasbro’s unproduced Renegades figures…

Photonut is on the scene and been providing pics when he can.  (Plus, the admin is a bit late in getting these posted.)  Friday Hasbro unveiled part 1 of their “Vault”– a series of figures and vehicles that were in development but never saw final production.  Up first– the much lamented G.I. Joe: Renegades ANIMATED figures.

Some of these are pretty close to what actually hit shelves (Tunnel Rat, Scarlet, Ripcord) but some of these are pretty radically different.  The less I say about the reveal of the Coyote the better– otherwise you’ll see a grown admin cry.

Check out the pics below!

DVD: Renegades Season 1, Vol 2 and complete series Blu-Ray announced

It’s about time that Joe fans had some good news!  The good folks over at Shout Factory posted this announcement today posted over at TVShowsOnDVD.com:

Following the Season 1, Volume 1 release earlier this week, Shout! Factory has alerted retailers that G.I. Joe: Renegades – Season 1, Volume 2 is coming to DVD on September 25th. On the same day, Shout! will also release all of that content combined onto a single release in Blu-ray Disc format with G.I. Joe: Renegades – Season 1. The 2-disc DVD title is $19.93 SRP, and the high-def 3-disc BD version costs $49.97 SRP. . We have art below that for the DVD version, but we’re still waiting on the Blu artwork:

I for one would like to say: “WOO HOO!!!”  While I didn’t have access to the series when it debuted on Hasbro’s HUB network, I was able to get caught up by “other means” and have recently concluded rewatching the entire series on Netflix via Xbox LIVE.  Honestly, Renegades is one of THE best incarnations of Joe in any media and one that really deserved more support than it received from both Hasbro and the HUB.
Hopefully there will be some actual SPECIAL FEATURES on the Blu-Ray.

G.I. Joe Renegades vol 1 released tomorrow on DVD

There hasn’t been a lot of exciting news for Joe fans lately but Shout Factory manages to have one bright spot for the immediate future and that is the release of the first volume of G.I. Joe: Renegades on DVD tomorrow!  Netflix users have been enjoying the full series in HD for several weeks now but this marks the first official release of the series in any sort of “home video” format.  Sadly, it’s a bare-bones release with no special features included on the discs.  Still, it’s a good chance to enjoy this excellent short-lived series once again.

For Immediate Release

BRANDED AS RENEGADES FOR CRIMES THEY DIDN’T COMMIT, A GROUP
OF YOUNG HEROES IS FORCED TO TURN FUGITIVE AS THEY BATTLE
TO CLEAR THEIR NAMES AND EXPOSE THE EVIL THAT IS COBRA
G.I. JOE: RENEGADES
SEASON ONE, VOLUME 1

The First 13 Episodes from the First Season of Popular Animated
Series Produced by Hasbro Studios in a Collectible 2-DVD Set

OWN IT ON JUNE 5, 2012 FROM SHOUT! FACTORY

This summer, prepare to join the action and witness the emergence of the heroic G.I. JOE team as a cadre of highly-trained specialists who are forced to band together to prevent the nefarious COBRA from achieving world domination. On June 5, 2012, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios, will debut fan favorite animated series G.I. JOE: Renegades Season One, Volume 1 on DVD. Featuring the first 13 episodes from the first season, this collectible 2-DVD set is a must have for fans, kids and collectors and has a suggested retail price of $19.93. The initial product run of G.I. JOE: Renegades Season One, Volume 1 DVD set will include a Movie Cash offer to see the upcoming major motion picture G.I. JOE: Retaliation, in theaters June 29.

When a spy mission against Cobra Industries goes awry, a group of young G.I. JOE team members is forced to hit the road as fugitives. Now the team members – DUKE, SCARLETT, ROADBLOCK, TUNNEL RAT, RIPCORD, BREAKER and SNAKE EYES – must use their wits and elite training to prove their innocence to the world before being caught by the authorities, the COBRA organization or, worse yet, another elite military team called the Falcons.

With exciting, action-packed storytelling, spectacular animation, G.I. JOE Renegades, produced by Hasbro Studios, boasts an incredible voice cast, including Charlie Adler (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man), Clancy Brown (Shawshank Redemption), Jason Marsden (Batman: The Brave and the Bold), Johnny Messner (Tears of the Sun) and Kevin Michael Richardson (The Batman).

G.I. JOE: RENEGADES – SEASON ONE, VOLUME 1 DVD set
Street Date: June 5, 2012
Running Time: +/- 5 hours
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo

About Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world-class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as THE TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multiplatform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. ©2012 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company’s audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit shoutfactory.com.

Taken from: http://tvshowsondvd.com/n/16672#ixzz1pHf4jpP7

Amazon.com Renegades & Retaliation 4-packs are “in stock”

UPDATE: The Renegades pack is once again BACK in STOCK but this seems to change daily.   (5/11/2012)

Mondays… the nemesis of most individuals seldom brings good news.  However, this Monday might be a bit different for Joe fans.

Amazon.com has listed BOTH of their exclusive 4 packs as “in stock” as of this morning with a list price of $39.99.  Sadly, that’s essentially high retail price for each of the figures but there are some advantages.  In the case of Retaliation the pack provides a means for Joe fans to get their hands on the figures well before the official end-of-May release day.   For Retaliation fans, it’s a chance to get different deco’s of 3 primary characters and an all new 4th character in the form of the Red Ninja!

Non-affiliate links are below:

G.I. Joe Retaliation Sneak Peek 4-pack

  • Duke
  • Roadblock
  • Snake Eyes
  • Cobra Commander (black deco)

G.I. Joe Renegades 4-pack

  • Duke
  • Snake Eyes (with trench coat)
  • Storm Shadow
  • Red Ninja

Hasbro signs multi-year deal with Netflix!

I love streaming Netflix to my TV via my Xbox 360.  In fact, I love it so much that I ditched cable over a year ago and replaced it with Netflix and a HD antenna.  However, there have been times when I wish that the streaming library had just a bit more content.  Well, thanks to a multi-year deal between Hasbro and Netflix, the future is a bit brighter!

Hasbro Studios, the Los Angeles-based television production and distribution division of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), today announced a multi-year deal with Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). Ten highly popular franchises, including new and catalog seasons of famed Hasbro content, will be available to instantly watch on Netflix.

“This deal allows us to offer even more great kids’ programming to our members, both adults and kids alike, including new seasons of My Little Pony, Transformers Prime, and Pound Puppies after the season finale airs on The Hub.”

Transformers Prime, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, G.I. Joe: Renegades and The Adventures of Chuck & Friends are now available to instantly watch on Netflix. JEM & The Holograms, Transformers: Generation 1, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Transformers: Beast Wars and Transformers: Rescue Bots will follow later in 2012.

The Hasbro content will be available on Netflix and included in the Netflix “Just For Kids” section. Netflix “Just For Kids” is a collection of TV shows and movies that is specifically selected for children 12 and under, making it easier and more fun for kids and families to browse and instantly watch a large selection of kid-friendly TV shows and movies within Netflix.

“We are very excited to be working with Hasbro Studios,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Content Acquisition at Netflix. “This deal allows us to offer even more great kids’ programming to our members, both adults and kids alike, including new seasons of My Little Pony, Transformers Prime, and Pound Puppies after the season finale airs on The Hub.”

“We are pleased that consumers will now be able to watch our award-winning programming on Netflix, the leading internet subscription service,” Hasbro Studios President Stephen Davis said. “We are making our content easy to access, anytime, anywhere and on all platforms where audiences are consuming content and this is a big step forward with our all screen strategy.”

My girlfriend and I have already been enjoying Renegades via the streaming service (She’s a huge Snake Eyes fan now) and I managed to check out Transformers: Prime last night.  With the promise of even more Joe-related content in the future, Netflix has secured my loyalty for the foreseeable future.