Super Joe/Adventure Command Still The Key Focus For White Elephant Toys?

[Dan2Dan]

For me, it was great when White Elephant Toys began producing modern Super Joe figures, as I had had a couple of them as a child circa 1977 (and a lot of Adventure Team GI Joes before that). But then , like so many other elementary school-age boys at the time, I dropped them like a hot potato once I saw "Star Wars" and then mostly wanted those action figures.

I now own a couple dozen figures from White Elephant's Super Joe line (and related lines, like the glow-in-the-dark apes), and was even able to source vintage SJ power packs for several of them on ebay. I have been really impressed by the quality of these figures, the outfits, and the various weapons, helmets etc... As a result, I've been a multiple repeat purchaser/customer over time, as recently as last week.

But now, having made another purchase from their online store just days ago, I am wondering whether they might be slowly moving on from their SJ line? The White Elephant Toys Facebook page still regularly promotes the upcoming 'Gargon' figure. But about a year (or so) ago, they seemed to've been forced by HASBRO to change the name of that line to 'Adventure Command,' and now their online store seems to have none of the Super Joe figures for sale, just mostly extra SJ heads, a couple of different blank bodies, and some SJ accessories that didn't seem to sell very well. When I see photos of the White Elephant Toys' booths at conventions posted on their Facebook page from time-to-time, including from this prior weekend at Toylanta, those booths always seem to still be very heavily Super Joe oriented and well stocked prominently with Super Joe figures. But I unfortunately don't make it to any toy conventions.

If they are maybe shifting focus incrementally away from Super Joe/Adventure Command, I wonder what they will focus on next, and if it will be in the same scale? I saw in their online store that they produced a range of 3.75" figures (but even those now seem mostly sold out there as well). I've also seen that they have collaborated on a couple of AHI Monster figures (which I likely first saw that on the Brick Mantooth You Tube channel), following the Tura Satana figure (ditto on Brick Mantooth channel).

Does anyone reading this know what their near and longer-term future focus will be?

[EMCE Hammer]

I know they are working on some cool stuff. I will send this along and see if I can get an "official" update. I don't get the sense they're shifting focus. My guess is it's more of a 'there is only so much time in the day and so much cool stuff to do' issue.

[palitoy]

I can't speak for Steve or Jason, but the Gargan was a huge undertaking; if anything, it shows their commitment to the brand. The tooling alone is astronomical, and then they have all of Todd's cool accessories.

They are a small company with limited resources, but it's incredible how much they've accomplished with this. They're good at innovating and creating new characters and sets, and I expect you'll love some of their new designs and creations.

[ODBJBG]

Not sure when you got into this, but they just in the past few months dropped a whole bunch of new stuff. While they no longer use the SJ name, the same concept is there with the Adventure Command.

The red and green science officer outfits are new, along with new boots, belts and gear. They also made a new version of the AA figure and added new deco to the previous figures (giving them sideburns) so that was a lot of unique efforts in a short period of time. Within the last 6 months or so.

Gargon is coming.

And the other half of the equation, Steve, sells a bunch of unique stuff through his Ebay store.

They're a small company so they are only going to produce a few items a year.

[Dan2Dan]

Thank you all for these great replies! I waited to respond myself until now because I had seen on White Elephant Toys' Facebook page that they were going to be putting up some additional SJ 'accessory sets' for sale in their online store yesterday evening.

That Gargon is cool-looking and seems to be very faithful to the original. But personally, it's not for me. Even as a kid, I never thought that it really looked like it was in the same toy line as Super Joe himself. Both the aesthetics and scale seemed different/mismatched to me. (As an aside, I felt the same way about several/many toys in the Micronauts line as well as a kid, a line I loved so much as a child.) In contrast, I completely loved the Snow Gor and Darkon that White Elephant made, which to my mind were/are a precise scale/aesthetic match for their Super Joes. Same with the apes they've made, which I have also really liked.

I did also see that WE recently added those red and green SJ science officers to their online store. I don't know why, but I don't personally remember them from childhood the way I so fondly recall my SJ commander with the light-up power pack. That said, upon seeing those figures for sale in their online store, I did order the new, darker-toned African American blank body/head and dressed it in a vintage SJ uniform that I'd previously bought on eBay. Even though I'm white, for whatever reason, since childhood I've always been drawn to the black figures in any toy line, going back 50 years to the GI Joe Adventure team. While I never saw the black, bearded, talking GI Joe Adventure Team commander in any store as a kid, I do still have the non-beared, flocked hair Adventure Team black GI Joe and thought as a kid, and still think now, that he looks particularly great. The new darker-toned, non-bearded Super Joe from White Elephant is excellent as well, but to me he looks more South Asian than black.

To conclude, the new SJ items that White Elephant listed for sale last night did leave me with the same impression I'd previously had. They are selling what is described as the last 5 SJ Commanders they have in stock, and are even selling their remaining inventory of empty SJ Commander boxes, while seeming no longer to stock SJ commander black boots or 1/9 scale SJ bearded commander heads (or black unitards). Meanwhile, the new accessory sets they listed for sale yesterday seem to me to be the remaining inventory of 'other style' SJ heads and SJ dog tags and SJ shoulder pad armors (and helmets) that they still have.

I am so happy with everything I've bought from them so far. But I also totally get that they are a small company with limited resources. And, while I have no personal experience with the toy business, I have gleaned over the last 10 years that one crucial aspect of the commercial side of toys is not being stuck with too much unsold inventory. It's always going to be better commercially to under-produce than overproduce.

[Dan2Dan]

To further clarify my comments above, I thought I'd quickly add that, in recent years, I've watched dozens of You Tube videos by 'toy experts' explaining that the reason toy companies keep making Batman action figures, or Darth Vader, or Mandalorian, or Wolverine, or He-Man and Skeletor, is that there is always someone new to buying that toy line and it would be a big barrier to entry for those new people if they couldn't immediately buy the key characters.

To me, the Super Joe Commander is that Key, lynchpin figure in White Elephant's "Adventure Command" line. But I also entirely get that the calculus is significantly different for a much smaller company and a much more obscure vintage toy line: in reality, by now, probably 80%+ of every active toy collector who was 6-9 years old back in 1977 and who has nostalgia interest in "Super Joe" has already purcahsed a White Elephant Super Joe Commander. So commercial reality dictates ongoing evolution....

[ODBJBG]

I'm not officially affiliated in any way, so take my answer with a grain of salt, but I don't really think you can compare this to a traditional toy line in most ways. The Super Joe "Commander" figure is just an outfit using the same head as several other characters. Whether you consider Super Joe or the Commander the "main character" it's not really like Batman in that all you really need is the head. The outfits in the vintage line varied. While there was a "default" look, the line was full of alternate outfits for the character so realistically you could make any variation of the head and costume into the "Commander" or "Joe".

There really aren't characters or very defined ones in the line. Super Joe was even more vague than the Adventure Team. Adventure Command is playing into this. Make up your own characters. Buy some figures and decide who are the main heroes and use their adventure packs to help you create adventures for them.

Likewise this is a much more niche property. They don't need to have a generic version of the character available, because the pool of people buying this is small enough that people wanted some replicas or replacements, sure, but most are looking for new ways to expand the universe.

I liken it more to Glyos than traditional toys. You probably won't see them go back and redo a previous design (although a few items might be evergreen) but instead every so often they're going to come up with a new wave of variations to pick up. The heads and bodies are mostly the same (with some modifications) but the outfits, gear and concepts will be new.

And all that said, WE isn't the only way to get the figures. Steve's eBay shop tends to have all the other stuff that is "sold out" and presumably it will carry much of that for as long as they have stock. Alongside exclusive items that he puts together.

I'm sure in a few years if there's a big demand for the original outfits/looks again they might revisit them. But as is, they're only going to keep that stuff around for a bit and find new ways to create characters so that the pool of people who buy this stuff have new versions to buy.

[Dan2Dan]

I'm not officially affiliated in any way, so take my answer with a grain of salt, but I don't really think you can compare this to a traditional toy line in most ways.

Thank you for this great and thoughtful reply! And I agree with probably 90% of it, especially the sentiment that, as a niche line, commercial reality suggests that probably 90% of every active toy collector in 2025 who has a nostalgia tie to Super Joe has already purchased WE's Super Joe Commander.

But my 10% subjective, personal opinion disagreement would be that it's pretty hard to keep a "Super Joe" toy line alive without the iconic "Super Joe Commander" (or at the very least his constituent parts) being perpetually available for purchase. And as of this writing, that's no longer the case.

As for me personally, I already have all the Super Joe Commanders I will ever buy from WE. So I am not looking for more. But I was hoping for more 1/9 scale, compatible products being announced. I bought two of their 'apes' and would buy more. I bought the Atomic Mike cyborg-esque figure. Snow Gore. Darkon. At one point, my memory is that they teased a Logan's Run 'sandman'-style uniform as a possibility on their facebook page. Space:1999-inspired uniforms would seem to be a natural extension.