The nightmare that was GI JOE Extreme

[Werewolf]

I know a lot of Joe fans like to bag on the DIC series and it was lower in quality to the beloved Sunbow series. The "Got to get tough" theme song was also not the greatest. But it was a golden age in comparison to the roid rage Image Comics fueled nightmare that was GI JOE Extreme.

The DIC series had the good points of Cobra Commander finally getting revenge on Serpentor and many of the popular new figures, like the 91 Snake Eyes and 92 Duke, getting animated. There is nothing redeeming about GI JOE Extreme. It was an absolutely terrible cartoon and the figures were grimacing vein popping big ugly slabs of plastic. I love me some Kenner but wow they made some terrible GI JOE figures.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I remember seeing them in stores and thinking how ridiculously ugly they were. thankfully it was a short lived series

[The Nawd]

I remember seeing the figures in stores and watching part of an episode and saying "NOPE!".

[Werewolf]

I remember seeing the figures in stores and watching part of an episode and saying "NOPE!".

Sgt. Savage was bad enough but when I saw GI JOE Extreme I was like "Yeah, I'm done here."

I remember one of the first things Kenner did after being purchased by Hasbro was shut down the popular RAH line. It's like Kenner was actively trying to sabotage the GI JOE brand.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Such...um...extremes to go from the classical artwork of Joe Kubert on Savage to the worst of Image knock-offs on EXTREME.

And the bad thing, RAH was still selling pretty well, so all of these replacement lines that tanked weren't necessary.

Chris

[palitoy]

I loved Sgt. Savage, I thought it was terrific, I bought every single when they came out. Sold my set about ten years back and made negative $50 in profit.

"Extreme" was one of those awful 90s buzzwords and the whole line looked and felt like bad committee thinking. The grunge guy with the guitar is just.....poochy. I'm surprised they don't all have barb wire tattoos.

I bought the SGT Savage to be a completist but it was hard.

[Werewolf]

I loved Sgt. Savage, I thought it was terrific, I bought every single when they came out.

The scale change was a big turn off for me.

[palitoy]

And for me, it was a neat entry point. I thought that line was gorgeous.

[Werewolf]

And for me, it was a neat entry point.

I can understand that. But for me it just meant they towered over all my other figures and the vehicles were not compatible. Had they not changed the scale it probably would have appealed to me more. Nothing could have saved the Extreme concept.

[PNGwynne]

I was never into "small" Joes, but I liked the concepts and art of Sgt. Savage and have the lone 12" figure. However, GIJ Extreme was off-putting and ugly to me.

[palitoy]

I can understand that. But for me it just meant they towered over all my other figures and the vehicles were not compatible. Had they not changed the scale it probably would have appealed to me more. Nothing could have saved the Extreme concept.

Regardless of that, I think it was nicely designed, well thought out and doesn't deserve to be lumped in with extreme.

RAH inventory was piling up and they were trying to reinvent the brand and be a little different.

[Werewolf]

Regardless of that, I think it was nicely designed, well thought out and doesn't deserve to be lumped in with extreme.

RAH inventory was piling up and they were trying to reinvent the brand and be a little different.

I think Joe fans tend to lump them together because the are both from the mid 90s and share the same scale. Have you seen the Sgt. Savage cartoon pilot? The animation style also looks a lot like Extreme. That said, the sculpts on Sgt. Savage are very nice and had they not changed the scale it probably would have gone over better.

RAH definitely had some poor selling over produced sublines like DEF and Ecoforce. But overall the line was still a strong seller.

[palitoy]

Do you have sales numbers? I'm not trying to be combative but everything I've heard was the line was on it's way out. I honestly think Savage was a "New Coke" concept to wipe the slate and eventually bring back the RAH concept, there was a lot of stuff withering on the shelves and so many cheap knock offs, which is ironic cause that killed the Adventure Team.

I do think the collector thing was just about to kick in but the kids were cooling off.

[Werewolf]

Do you have sales numbers?.

Obviously, I don't. It's just what I've read over the years from interviews with people that worked on the line.

[palitoy]

Obviously, I don't. It's just what I've read over the years from interviews with people that worked on the line.

I've read similiar things that stated the line was in heavy decline, that's why i wondered where you got your information. I'm sure it still sold but when something trends downward year after year, you need to make a shift.