G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits Hollywood milestone

by generalsjoes | Oct 18, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie

The countdown has been on for a few weeks now, just wondering when it would come, and if estimates hold true throughout this weekend, by the time Monday rolls, around, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will have broken 300 Million dollars internationally, an almost even 150 million domestic and 150 million International.  This comes at the same time as Entertainment News International reports that The Rise of Cobra also hit the Top Ten list for summer films.  For a film released at the tail end of the summer blockbuster season, I think this is a great sign and absolutely a successful indication in Paramount’s eyes.

Look…in spite of what the 25 – 30 year old fanbase will tell you, G.I. Joe has never been purely about gritty military drama.  It’s never been about hardcore special ops soldiers in realistic military uniforms fighting terrorists down and dirty.  Sure, it’s had those elements, but the core of G.I. Joe has always been the science fiction and fantasy elements of the story, and what made Larry Hama so special was his ability to seamlessly work that new age technology into a more real world story and make it work.

Rise of Cobra had the military action, it had the next gen realistic weaponry, and it also had super-futuristic technology and fantasy elements, just as G.I. Joe has had since it’s inception.

I would never say the film is perfect, it had it’s healthy share of faults (just as Resolute did, I might add…) but it was entertaining as hell, and like it or not, the movie has done more for G.I. Joe’s public “street cred” than anything else since the 90’s.  Fans of all era’s and all ages should be appreciative that at least the G.I. Joe brand is once again in the public consciousness.  I know it’s easy to slam the film, but before doing that, just try and remember a time when you could find 10 – 12 feet of G.I. Joe product in your local store shelves, I can guarantee you haven’t seen it in the past 20 years, not even when the 25th Anniversary line was in its hey day.

There are plenty of things that I would change about the film if given the chance, and I hope the inevitable sequel gets a chance to improve on the mistakes of the first film, but from a pure brand-awareness perspective, I have a hard time getting mad about anything the movie did or didn’t do.  For all of its faults, it’s put the words “G.I. Joe” on the lips and tongue of the American public again after being forgotten for a long time, and that can never be a bad thing.

The Rise of Cobra retail situation – my own perspective

by generalsjoes | Oct 17, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie

I rarely give my personal perspective or opinion on Rise of Cobra’s retail presence, simply because I really have little to no experience in it.  My local stores consist of a run down Wal-Mart that rarely (if ever) stocks Joe stuff, and a K-Mart that time forgot that is in the same boat.  As such, I buy most of my stuff online, and really have no personal basis for an opinion of how the RoC line is moving at retail or what the real retail presence is.

Well, yesterday I had a chance to get on the road, and I went down to Southern New Hampshire and scoped out a number of Targets and Toys “R” Us’, and wow…I was pretty floored.  I had an idea that the peg situation in my town was pretty pathetic, but I had no idea just how much Rise of Cobra product is on store shelves and on the pegs!  It was really eye opening.

My main goal was to find the Target “Rescue Mission” 4-Pack and the Toys “R” Us Attack on The Pit 5-Pack, and I saw them in droves.  Every single Target and Toys “R” Us I hit had the exclusives I was looking for, and then some.  Out of the 4 Targets I hit, none of them had any wave 2 mini-vehicle sets, however, which was a bummer.  I loved seeing the lower $5.99 price point (which was present at all four Targets) but there was little product to get excited about.  Pegs were full of the familiar Waves 1 and 2 items, with a scattering of Wave 3, but none of the really high profile or highly desirable stuff.  No Elite-Vipers, Pit Commandos, Doctors, or Crimson Neo-Vipers.  A few Hawks, Flash’s and Helix’s, but that was about it.

I swung through three total Toys “R” Us stores, and was absolutely elated at the amount of product seen there.  It’s obvious that TRU is a firm believer in the G.I. Joe brand, and they had hit the market fast and furious.  Each TRU had a nice bunch of the Attack on the Pit sets, 2 of the TRU’s had Wave 2 of the Bravo vehicles, and 1 of them had the Senior Ranking Officer 3-Packs.  I was a bit bummed that none of them had Bench Press, though.  I think I hit ’em a bit too early.  🙁

By far the highlight of the trip was the Toys “R” Us in Nashua, NH.  Wow.  Impressive doesn’t begin to cover it.  I know we’ve all seen those old school images of an entire aisle devoted to G.I. Joe…well, Nashua’s just about got that matched.  Check out the pics below taken on my crappy camera phone:

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I know to most of you folks out there this might not be a big deal, but to a backwoods guy like me who doesn’t get to “The City” very often, I absolutely loved seeing all this product in one place.  Toys “R” Us is obviously really gearing up for the holiday season, and I can only hope Rise of Cobra proves worth their investment.  Each TRU I hit did have a nice allotment of Waves 1, 2, & 3, though the later wave army builders were already picked over.

I was pleasently surprised at the amount of devoted shelf space G.I. Joe has these days.  Speaking as a Joe fan since ’82, it’s been a long, looooong time since I saw this much product at retail.  I know the common reaction is “it’s not selling!  Deth of teh line!!!” and honestly, that might be the case.  But when Christmas goes into full swing and the toy aisles get ransacked, there are going to be a TON of Joe items to pick through, which is a great thing for the brand, and will hopefully draw in a new generation of fans.

On another note, expect my reviews of the Target and TRU multi-packs next week…  :shifty: