Many thanks to Fred of JoeBattleLines for the scoop on a new assortment of G.I.Joe Retro wave 2 images!
The images give us a much better look at Destro, Roadblock and Scarlett. Check it out –
Destro appears to have no changes from his 50th Anniversary version, whereas Roadblock & Scarlett are a mix of parts (not including their heads).
Will you be chasing after these new releases? Have you found wave 1 yet? Sound off in the comments below!
SURVEILLANCE PORT 
Roadblock and Scarlett are must haves!
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Hopefully you can find’em!
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Wave 1 made it to the UK (one has to understand that for Hasbro, Europe seems to limit itself to the UK… I’m not even sure they are aware there’s a Brexit looming on the horizon. But until then, it’s a relatively easy way for me to get them, living here in Belgium) without any problems. So, I’m hoping the same will hold true for wave 2. 🙂
One advantage (and about the only one) we have is that over here, Hasbro doesn’t do the whole store exclusive thing. So, if they decide to offer it to Europe (again, this basically means the UK), we can simply get it at whatever (online) store sells their products. There are 2 exceptions to this. Amazon exclusive usually remains Amazon exclusive, but fortunately they usually ship internationally without having to pay an arm and a leg. The other exception is HasbroPulse. Now, that one sucks, as Hasbro usually forgets about the rest of the world and their store is still limited to the US/Canada. Some products we get (most Marvel Legends), but others not. This unfortunately includes GI Joe. I’m still pissed for them not releasing the Deluxe Snake-Eyes over here (whereas I found some Hong Kong store that still had 10+ in stock, but of course didn’t ship internationally!!!). I’m afraid we’ll get a repeat of this with the upcoming Snake Supreme CC. 😦
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Wow, that’s an interesting read! Thank you so much for the intel! Amazingly enough, I have yet to see w1 in stores here, let alone any even remotely labeled w2 :D.
I’ve never understood why distribution was so lackluster across the pond. One would think logistics would be much easier to sort.
I don’t think I’ll see SSCC outside of the Hasbro Pulse pre-order later this week. We’ll have to start a cross-pond distribution network! 😀
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You’re welcome. 🙂
Let’s say it’s sometimes challenging to be an international fan and collector. 😉 It’s actually ironic. We live in a globalized world and you would think this would actually make things easier, but often the opposite seems to be true. I remember when I was a child in the early 80’s. This was before the open EU marketplace, with physical borders between the different European countries. Big toy companies such as Hasbro and Mattel were well represented in those days and often had a local branch per country. These branches were really localized and very familiar with the local workings, needs and tastes of every country. In recent years, most toy companies tried the save costs by centralizing business. At some point, Hasbro decided to make Hasbro Belgium disappear and put it under Hasbro France in Paris. This however shows you how little feeling they have with their customer base. Sure, we have a French speaking part in Belgium, but the bigger and richer part Flanders has much more in common with The Netherlands. Putting us under France didn’t make much sense that way. Slowly I also noticed how Hasbro and Mattel released less and less products over here through regular retail. GI Joe, MOTU… I saw it all slowly disappear from our stores. It took Hasbro more than 10 years to realize there might actually be interest in something like Marvel Legends. Oh, you Europeans also know what Star Wars is?
So, for many, many years import was the only solution. But a very expensive one! Not only did shipping costs explode in recent years, but Europe is far from an open market. This is something I’ve a very hard time to explain to my American relatives and friends (my wife is American). When I import something, it’s not only the product price and shipping I’ve to take into account. No, the worst part about it, is by far customs. You’ve to add 21% VAT on the product value as well as on the shipping costs. Then you’ve to add at least 30 euro administrative fees for the customs declaration process. And if you’re over 150 euro in goods, you can add another 4% import fees/taxes. As such I find it incredibly hypocritical when the EU accuses Trump and the US of protectionism… as they have been doing it for many, many years! To be honest, the only way this was affordable, was by cheating, something Belgians excel at as we’re used to extremely high taxes on everything! 😉 I used to work through proxies and family, who would combine stuff for me, sometimes take it out of the package and cheat a bit on the customs declaration in order to keep the extra charges to a reasonable amount. But every package was a new challenge as it would get stuck at customs for weeks (this is still the case even today, it got even worse!)
A couple of years ago, thanks to the efforts of some important UK based online retailers, European distribution slowly improved, at least for the UK which so far is still part of the European market. It’s actually hard to believe for a global giant such as Hasbro, but European distribution was a mess and almost non-existent. Hasbro UK was aware of it and let Hasbro US know several times, but found very little hearing. Back then, distribution was as follows. Stock was shipped from China to the US and after the US stock was taken out, the remainder, if any, was sent to Europe. Logistics wise this was maybe interesting, I don’t know. The result is that tens of thousands of European GI Joe/Marvel/Star Wars/Transformers fans barely saw any product ever arriving and had little other choice than to import. Or they gave up on it. The worst part is that Hasbro US was not even aware of this and didn’t even know this problem existed and that there was such a waste in buyer potential. It’s only after some UK retailers united and went to the US at their own charge to discuss the distribution problem directly with the US management, that they became slowly aware of it and made some changes. Now, the UK gets it’s own stock, directly from China. This is a vast improvement! As said, these days we get 95% of products without any issues. As this is another geographical market, we’re not hindered (yet) by store exclusiveness either (a bit like Funko in Australia). Prices for products are quite comparable (it depends a little bit on currency exchange rates, double for me as I also have to convert from £ to Euro). But instead of paying $100 for shipping and another $100 on customs, I know settle for £10 shipping. 🙂 No idea how long this will last, as with the Brexit looming on the horizon, I’m worried about the future. Importing from the UK to Belgium might become a hassle again (and expensive), the European distribution of Hasbro is still almost non-existent and Hasbro doesn’t seem very aware of the potential problem. So, some things never change. Toy collecting over here remains a challenge. 😉
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Fascinating to say the least! The “funny” part? Even with the distribution woes, it would appear that distribution is a bit more grounded there than it is here. 🤷🏻♂️
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