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So the latest swath of Wal-Mart early product lists have been revealed on the oft-overlooked JoeBattleLines forums.  Big props to “Ghost Target” for his tireless research.  😉

And of course, as usual, I have my own thoughts on some upcoming items for 2009…

If you haven’t seen the actual list yet, it’s a pretty mixed bag for most fans.  Almost everyone has complained pretty heartily about the endless rehashes, repaints, and re-releases, and that trend looks to keep going strong with this new list, at least when you’re talking about actual Anniversary homages:

  • Scrap Iron
  • Red Star
  • Alley-Viper
  • Baroness (Omega)
  • Scarlett (Omega)
  • Snake Eyes (Omega)

So out of the three actual Anniversary homages, two of them are merely re-releases from former comic packs, and one of them (Red Star) wasn’t really a core character or important cog in the wheel anyway.  Somewhat disappointing, I’d think, for most folks, especially people eagerly anticipating Ripcord, Recondo, Dr. Mindbender, Footloose, or even Airtight.  Alley-Viper, however is an incredibly cool addition, and almost seems to make up for the other two.  I can only imagine that maybe Red Star will come with the infamous “fixed arms”, though I’d say he’s the one that needs them least, since he’s really the least important character to get saddled with them.

But I’d like to look at this from another perspective.  Everyone knows how much of a Resolute fanatic I am, and I am THRILLED to see three figures in this wave getting the Resolute treatment, especially the Baroness and Scarlett.  That brings to total “Resolute” roster for ’09 to:

  • Duke (Wave 1 ’09)
  • COBRA Commander (Wave 1 ’09)
  • COBRA Trooper (Wave 1 ’09)
  • Storm Shadow (Wave 2 ’09)
  • Zap (Wave 2 ’09)
  • Baroness (Wave 3 ’09?)
  • Scarlett (Wave 3 ’09?)
  • Snake Eyes (wave 3 ’09?)

So it already looks like we’re getting a solid cast of Resolute figures for ’09, but it would apparently be at the expense of Anniversary style figures.  I am ecstatic about it personally, because I love the new ideas, but I can see a lot of folks getting irked about this.  I just hope Hasbro can satisfy both fanbases by working some missing characters into vehicle sets and other exclusives, so that Resolute doesn’t end up getting the bad rep that Sigma 6 did because it “stole the limelight from the ‘real’ G.I. Joe”.

I am a little concerned that we haven’t seen any indication of Stalker or Destro Resolute figures, because those are the characters that I absolutely love the new design aesthetics of, but we have seen no evidence of actual figures for them yet.  Here’s hoping.