Email just came in from the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club that the convention brochure is online now.
In the brochure, they outline what to expect for the convention, and of course, give us a rundown of the convention exclusives. This year, I am saddened to report, the 15-figure convention set is a 25th Anniversary reproduction of the Crimson Strike Team from 2002.
As a big vintage fan, the G.I. Joe Club figures are one of my most sought after and strongly desired figures of the entire year. I eagerly await pictures and details online and in the newsletter so I can see what great new concepts and new ideas the Club has up their sleeves this year. And now we’re getting 25th Anniversary reproductions of figures I already have? No new characters, new stories, or new ideas? One word: Disappointment.
Utter and total disappointment. Pictures of 25th Anniversary Tomax and Xamot figures have been floating around Asian auction sites for a while, and I continued to tell myself that the Club wouldn’t do that. They’ve always supported the vintage fan and they’ve always told us that their medium of choice was the vintage “o-ring” style. I am totally and completely disappointed by this choice.
They mention that the souveniers will feature members from the highly sought after “international teams”. So, in other words, probably more 25th Anniversary repaints colored up like foreign exclusives.
I’ve been coasting on a “Resolute” high for the past 4 hours, and this is just a kick in the gut. Bummer.
This is…amazing. I had a feeling Resolute would impress when the footage was first shown last year at the JoeCon, but the level of ass that it kicks already (before even seeing a single episode) just blows me away. Hasbro just seemed to nail this one perfectly.
Where the fandom rants and raves about characters looking like they should, Hasbro, Titmouse, and every stellar person involved as been able to take the very familiar look of each character and update them to a current, modern military uniform, yet still maintain a very familiar appearence. There’s no Heavy Duty to be seen, only Roadblock. We get a lot of Duke and Snake Eyes, but both characters are expressed in a way that makes it okay.
It would appear that there is a strong Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow ninja influence, yet the military action obviously takes center stage. Warren Ellis and Hasbro were not afraid to take the bull by the horns, show some balls and ramp up the action and intensity to give us a mature and action-packed feature that still strongly pulls from the mythos we love.
I’ve just spent the last hour on GIJoeResolute.com and it’s amazing. The flash interface is crisp, clean, and enjoyable. The character designs and histories from the filecards are seamless, well-written and in line with how they should be. Even the “ready rooms” on the Flagg are filled with small little fan-friendly touches like Roadblock’s cook books, Scarlett’s crossbow, etc… (by the way, to get to those ready rooms, insert the following codes: “HAUSER”, “OHARA”, “HINTON”, and “NINJA”). Thanks to Imperial Serpentor of HissTank for that insight.
Even minor characters would appear to get awesome redesigns…Zartan looks incredible. Firefly is awesome. Airborne pulls so many elements from his classic look, but fits right in with the modern military aesthetic. A small touch like dreadloks on Stalker give him a whole new vibe.
Kudos, Hasbro. Kudos Titmouse and every designer involved. I will not give kudos to Mr. Ellis as of yet, because I haven’t actually watched it, but if the previews are any indication, I’m sure he’ll be getting his ego puffed up by me very shortly. I only wish the Resolute universe was the focus of this new surge in G.I. Joe energy…I’m still holding out hope for the movie, but I know in my bones that nothing done by Hollywood is going to match what I’ve seen already. I think this is about as good as it gets…it only took twenty-six years to get here.
Along with the onslaught of G.I. Joe: Resolute over the past couple of days, it would appear that the website for the animated feature has gone fully operational! Two days ago the site was live, but just posted a press release about the series, but today it has a full flash interface, high quality trailer (the same one as the TeleToon version) as well as character bio’s and other very cool little bells and whistles.
