JoeCon 2018 End of an Era?

The final JoeCon took place over the weekend in Chattanooga, TN. That is, the last "official" JoeCon endorsed by Hasbro. At least I think that's how the annual GI Joe convention is organized. The weekend long convention brings fans together to specifically celebrate GI Joe, in all its incarnations. However with this year being the last official JoeCon, it seems as if Hasbro has finally admitted their apathetic attitude toward what was once their top seller. Actually that's not a recent revelation, no new GI Joe action figures or vehicles have been on the retail shelf for years. Retail sales are typically driven by a strong media presence, be it  a cartoon, live-action-show, or in most cases now a movie. Hasbro executives have acknowledged this, yet have no plans to produce a new animated series or live-action-show. The two GI Joe movies were considered disasters both critically and commercially, and rightfully so. Allegedly their are plans to make additional GI Joe films (that may or may not be a soft reboot of the franchise, its complicated) that may connect to other Hasbro property films forming a Cinematic Universe like Marvel. Clearly Hasbro has focused all their attention on the Transformers, with multiple animated shows and a new big-budget film every couple of years. If they had the same approach to the Real American Hero the brand could conceivably reach the astonishing heights it once had a stranglehold on in the 1980's. Maybe this wouldn't have to be the final official JoeCon.

With little support of the brand from Hasbro there is very little to report. No major announcements occurred. No inspiring plan to revitalize the franchise was divulged. No big reveal for upcoming toys took place. Nothing about a show or the next movie. I read the Facebook/Twitter posts and watched live streaming videos all weekend and saw nothing of note. There were entertaining panels with artists, authors, and even Mr. Larry Hama himself, reliving fond memories and answering questions from the audience. Several new, exclusive action figures made their debut at the Con, but they appear to just be repainted versions of older figures. Certainly nothing brand-new that could really get the attention of the toy-buying public.

There were no answers given as to the fate of the Kindle Worlds program either. It is already known that the service is no longer taking new submissions and will shut down by mid-July, but what happens next. Fortunately, we can still tell our own stories through fan-fiction without Amazon, we just can't get paid without invoking the wrath of Hasbro's copyright attorneys. There are other platforms to tell your GI Joe related adventures. I've looked at several and my favorite is Inkitt.com, mainly because of the easy-to-use app and their massive library of free books, such as my third GI Joe fan-fiction novel Sandcastle Detente.

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Synopsis: Snake Eyes and Scarlett are enjoying a few days of rest and relaxation in beautiful Miami, Florida. But it's not the sweltering summer heat or the harmful UV Rays the Joes have to worry about. International drug-smuggling kingpin, The Headman just made his move to overthrow the established criminal element and has left a trail of bodies in his wake. Matters are complicated when the Joes bump into Zarana and Road Pig, who happened to be in the area recruiting new Dreadnoks. Fortunately, the Joe lovebirds and The Dreadnok duo come to an arrangement, but can the combustible quartet coexist long enough to take down The Headman and his army of Headhunters?

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