No, it’s not 100% confirmed, but at this point it’s quite obvious.
I’ve covered the first three hints from the Collectors’ Club extensively in this post, and now, according to jamarmiller from The Blood for the Baron, the 4th clue is:
“We battle in foreign lands but NOT in the shadows.
You’ve seen us before, but now we bend more.”
Now this does add a level of minor confusion…the Collectors’ Club does emphasize the “NOT” when referring to the Shadows. Are they trying to tell us the set doesn’t involve the Red Shadows? Perhaps just Action Force against some international COBRA threat? I hope not. I would love for them to take the head sculpt from the old Palitoy Red Shadows figure and retool it to work on the more common G.I. Joe construction, but I’m still a bit curious about the wording of those hints.
Obviously the “You’ve seen us before, but now we bend more” is referring to the fact that many of the old Palitoy figures had limited, Star Wars-style articulation. So, it’s evident that there is at least a heavy Action Force element to this year’s Convention Set. Whether or not the Red Shadows are in fact involved, though, is still up for debate, I’d say.
If the Red Shadows aren’t going to be the bad guys for this year’s con set, then who else can you use?
Eddie: KAOS? Iron ARMY?
Fred’s right! If it’s not the Red Shadows we need to look at non-articulated “figures”…
Star Brigade Armor Tech, Lunartix Empire, Mega-Marine Monsters, G.I.Joe Extreme, Sgt. Savage?
I think we’re more likely to get Extreme or Savage compared to anything else.
I would almost be willing to bet money if anything it would be Extreme. The Club seems to love to take two separate things that the fandom has been clamoring for, and working them into a set together. People wanted Original 13 and Arctic, they did both in Tanks for the Memories. People wanted SWAT/Urban and they wanted BATs, we got them both in one set last year.
Lots of folks have been asking for European Exclusives, and lots of people have been asking for Extreme characters, so I could see them working them into a set together. SKAR takes place in the near future, but Iron Klaw has been stated as the former leader of a European country. They could easily shoehorn those both into one cohesive Convention set. While I would love the Red Shadows, SKAR would be close behind as a cool second choice. Definitely interesting there…
I also am leaning towards Extreme or Savage (per my phone call w/ Kevin) and am trying to see how the idea fits with the rest of the clues given. Action Force / Extreme would be a very nifty set.
I don’t think you can ignore the fact that it’s the 25th anniversary of Action Force, so that would seem to be an aspect of the set they would likely include and fits the clues already given.
If they can pull this off well, it should be a hell of a set. I do not think they will disappoint, with more attention than ever on the GI Joe brand concentrated in the two back to back weeks of the movie release and the convention.
God that would be awesome. If that were the case, this would surely push me over the fence in regards to my first Joecon
“I am you, and you are me, that’s why we have our own army”
Could this be a reference to Sgt. Savage? He had two armies ‘The Screaming Eagles, and Extreme’.
Emm, just a thought: Could it mean Action Force, in reference to GI Joe? The latter was supposed to have been the “American Allies” of Action Force, International Heroes. They were supposed to have merged under a common flag in ’89 (when the European toys were renamed to “GI Joe the Action Force before being just ” GI Joe” -no “A Real American Hero” tagline). Of course they were the ARAH toys repackaged. So, they were them…and so on… and there was a whole army of GI Joe/Action Force…
Const, an originally Action Force International Heroes fan…(from Greece)