We all know the fine folks at IDW and Fred Van Lente are bringing a somewhat new G.I. Joe world to us in 2013, and one member of that team is Hashtag. Billed as an “embedded blogger”, Hashtag fits in with the current social media-infused communications world.
Over on Comics Alliance, notable Joefan Chris Sims and artist Chris Haley came up with some other roster additions to this new Social Media friendly G.I. Joe team.
So, the Yahoo Movies trailer was cool and all, but the GIJoeMovie YouTube channel just posted a full HD version of the latest G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer, and it’s pretty awesome. Check it out on YouTube, or embedded below.
Thanks to Phil from YoJoe, I was directed to a better quality version of the third G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer, so I pulled more screen caps down, much better quality than the ones I got yesterday. I even noticed a nice little image of the Ripsaw firing some missiles at what looks like a HISS Tank that I hadn’t noticed before.
I’m sure Larry Hama had no idea of the firestorm of fan speculation he would cause by throwing one little head shot in G.I. Joe #1. Initially just an homage to Marvel editor Jim Shooter, this mysterious G.I. Joe character was never meant to be a full time member.
Devils’ Due Publishing (with Hama doing the writing chores) ran with this idea in their G.I. Joe: DeClassified series, a fantastic series that explored the beginnings of the G.I. Joe team in ways that hadn’t yet been revealed. Shooter emerged as an actual character, a mysterious female sniper who served behind the scenes and helped the original 13 along without them even realizing it.
Now an enterprising G.I. Joe fan is taking that ball and running with it. Since Shooter appeared in the comics and at least sorta became an official component of the Real American Hero mythos, now we need an action figure right? Over on Kickstarter Falcone is attempting to produce a series of Shooter figures to satisfy those long time o-ring fans who are looking to dive back into the old school pool.
Are you an o-ring fan? Would you just like a great looking Shooter figure to supplement your original 13? Check out the project on Kickstarter and toss some support Falcone’s way. Check out the full details right here.
Initial reaction upon viewing the third theatrical trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation is that… there wasn’t a whole lot of new angles to this thing. Of course, that’s expected. We’ve already seen a few domestic and international trailers, and a few TV spots. At this point it’s going to be tough to get new footage out there without starting to reveal key components of the story.
However, we did a few cool new snippets of action.
The opening scene of Jinx and Snake Eyes walking across the mountain and hooking their grappling hook was something we hadn’t seen before. We also know at this point that they are heading into a battle with Storm Shadow. One assumes that they probably win this battle and that it’s Storm Shadow they are carrying in a glorified “body bag” as they swing away from the Red Ninja.
Scenes with the ambush on G.I. Joe and the president are all taken from previous trailers, though they’re cut somewhat differently and more quick-paced, leading me to believe this trailer is more focused on action than plot exposition.
We see a President with a sense of humor, poking some fun at North Korea, and the opening of the weaponized briefcase is a bit more elaborate than we’ve seen in previous footage.
London’s destruction seems more developed and a bigger focus here as well, with several shots of the country exploding from various different angles.
Fantastic scenes of Cobra invading domestic soil seem to be a bit longer as well, with an extra unfurl of the Cobra flag over the nation’s capital, and what feels like an extra second of the HISS Tank menacingly rolling down the street. My eyes might be playing tricks on me, but it felt like these scenes were a bit longer here than in previous trailers.
The Roadblock/Duke exchange about needing a new catch phrase kicks the music up a notch and we get a series of very well-cut scenes with some new footage. Cobra Commander striding towards the camera is an excellent one, as is a great shot of the Cobra helicopter flying away from the camera with some thrusters in back.
We see the Ripsaw tearing stuff up with rocket launchers, and SPOILER ALERT!!11! Cobra’s Mass Driver satellite gets nuked in orbit (it’s the only way to be sure). These all feel like scenes that we have not witnessed previously.
Trailer closes with some more Bruce Willis/Joe Colton wise cracking, but focusing on his retirement with some nice Lady Jaye/Colton head-bashing mixed in.
Overall I thought it was another great trailer. I’m not sure if Jon Chu himself is directly involved in the editing of the trailers (I suspect he is) but if so, his background in dance choreography and action mixing with music helps immensely in selling these films. Loved the music, loved the transitions, loved the chosen action sequences. No this trailer did not give us a wealth of new insight about the film, but with some added footage and some tweaked editing, it was a really fun 1:44 of G.I. Joe, and it feels like it’s been way too long since we had that. Check out the embedded trailer below, and a gallery of screen shots at the bottom.
Below are some screen caps…I do apologize, they are not of the best quality, but did reveal some neat details I hadn’t necessarily seen before. Do with them what you will.
