Well, the ARAH Gallery must have the pulse on the Joe Community!
Yo Joe's facebook group did some strange and poorly timed commentary on the "State of affairs". Specifically in regards to The Black Major, it was pretty tone-deaf and reads like a decision to try and get TBM into trouble, while wrapping it in a "Reproduction figures harm the average collector who don't know any better!"
Start with a phony compliment, he's done great stuff BUT HERE'S HIS REAL NAME AND HE'S RUINING COLLECTING AND HASBRO SHOULD SHUT HIM DOWN. Why stop there? Why not reclaim all intellectual property and shut-down fansites that use trademarked Hasbro images? Good bye Yojoe.com, 3D Joes, etc. Would it be legal? I dunno, but I know who can afford the lawyers.
As for the new and average collectors. Average collectors would be happier doing something else.
Seriously, high prices, a vast collection impossible to complete unless you are wealthy, aging plastic that's brittle and yellowing, "bootlegs" and re-carding...vintage 3 3/4" GI JOE is a terrible hobby to just get into.
I'd say the same thing about most vintage toy collecting, though. Or modern Star Wars since just putting a figure on a retro style cardback increases its price by 200%. You want anything, gotta order a case and get stuck with whatever's not "hot" in that case.
I know the topic is repros of old toys, but in terms of action figure collecting in general, the stores (who never restock or order enough and influence what companies make), the companies (under-producing and overcharging) and the "collecting community" (too many collectors are primarily interested in the value of their collections and/or making money off other fans) have done their best to discourage the casual toy collector much much more than repros of old toys have. You cannot walk into a store today and hope to find, well, anything, unless you collect Lego. Someone pointed out there's only really two major brick and mortar action figure retailers left: Target and Wal-Mart. Locally, I'd say checking both in my area is a waste of effort 90% of the time.