Hasbro Has Lost Their Minds (Updated)

No, they aren’t releasing Sugar Daddy Duke for their 12-inch G.I. Joe line, although that would be kind of awesome. Instead the company announced at its Fall Investor Day that it’s going to re-release the Micronauts — or release for the first time, since the Micronauts were originally released by Mego back in the day. Now, the Micronauts were kind of cool — slightly before my time, but they had magnets and interchangeable parts — and a Marvel comic, although everybody had a Marvel comic back in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

So why do I think Hasbro is crazy? Because no one gives a Skywalk about the Micronauts nowadays. Sure, there’s those dozen insane and insanely vocal fans that every franchise has, but Micronauts doesn’t have anything near the pull of a Star Wars or Transformers or even Indiana Jones. This was proven pretty decisively when Palisades released a batch of Micronauts toys to absolutely zero sales or acclaim in the early ’00s, one of the many, many things that bankrupted an otherwise awesome toy company. Now, I assume that Hasbro will be starting the toyline from scratch, and targeting kids rather than collectors. But I have a hard time believing kids will go for 30-year-old property, not matter how much it’s tarted up. (Via ToyNewsI)

Update: And now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that J.J. Abrams is in talks to direct a Micronauts movie, based on the recently acquired Hasbro toyline. Really, Hasbro? Really? (Via /Film)