>>11118824At the end of the day I think there's three viable ways you can go with GI Joe, and we've seen at least two of them so far: faithful re-creations of the original toys but with better manufacturing like MOTU Origins (this is what Hasbro's O-Rings tried to do but failed at in the detail / quality area, although Super 7 is giving it another go), something that re-creates the classic character designs but with more modern articulation and styling (this is what 25A was, and it was successful enough to keep going through the movie lines), and a line that re-imagines the classic characters with a bit of modern flare (Classified series, with some attempts being better than others early on).
Retro Collection was trying to do what Classified did but without investing in new toolings other than maybe a new head sculpt here or there. Duke felt like an early 25A figure, but made worse with his brighter colors, simpler paint apps, and gummy arms that couldn't be posed without exposing the peg. With Snake Eyes I don't think anyone actually wanted a mix of Commando and Ninja Snake Eyes, those designs represent two different parts of his character arc. That'd be like mixing farmboy Luke Skywalker with Jedi Luke Skywalker to give people "the ultimate Luke." It just felt like the same old 25A figures but with a bunch of arbitrary and questionable changes made to their deco and accessory loadouts.
Baroness is a great example for many reasons. I already mentioned how giving her the pistols she had in the movie don't make any sense due to their play feature, but she also comes with the nano warhead briefcase, complete with cutouts for the warheads, but the warheads themselves are completely absent from the line making that play feature come across as very strange. Some of her weapons can fit inside but just like the rest of the line it's a hodge podge of ideas that nobody put much thought into.
