Wow. Now maybe someone remembers me talking about this already, but I don’t think I did.
With the launch of the first G.I. Joe film in 2009, Electronic Arts released a licensed game as companies are wont to do, and the game was pretty widely panned as these licensed games generally are. However, one cool thing about the game, in my opinion, was the designs of the characters. They took the Rise of Cobra aesthetic and tweaked it a bit with more military elements to pretty good effect.
But, thanks to notpicard and Greg from What’s on Joe Mind who pointed this art site to me, there was a nice amount of unused concept art that completely and totally ROCKED. Stuff that wasn’t used in the game. Sure, a lot of it walked that line between current military realism and future technology, but I’ll be damned if every one of these concepts isn’t really bad ass. I would kill to see some of this stuff in toy form.
You can find the gallery at CGHub.com and I’ve also mirrored many images below. There are a ton of great pictures hosted at the site, you should definitely check it out. Now I feel like I want to go home and play this game again!
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To be fair, as a rule most video game tie-ins to new movies aren’t very good. Most seem to be about rushing a game into stores for a quick merchandising buck. But I agree that these designs are all pretty nice.
I never played the game, but those designs are great. I really wish we could have seen some of the ROC figures painted in this manner. Hasbro could have kept the reactive armor molds and repainted them like these. Too bad, really.
If Hasbro scrapped all their Retaliation toy plans and post-Retaliation plans and announced that all they’d be producing for the foreseeable future is accurate action figure takes on these designs, I for one wouldn’t complain.
If nothing else, I want a Helix repaint in red. That looks sharp!
I like the military designs quite a bit, but the ninja designs are absolutely fantastic.
Love those MARS Trooper designs. Look vaguely Shocktrooper-ish.
I think these designs are flat-out amazing- already getting some custom ideas from them. The Scarlett color image reminds me of Desert Patrol Squad Scarlett. Anyone know were we could see pix of more Cobra characters’ designs? Would love to see this aesthetic on CC, Destro, Baroness. Or were no name Cobra characters in the game?
There certainly were named characters in the game, including Destro, Baroness, and Cobra Commander, but they all faithfully followed the movie or toy aesthetic. Cobra Commander and The Baroness looked just like their movie versions, and Destro looked like his v.1 toy Rise of Cobra version: https://generalsjoesreborn.com/reviews/2009/rise_of_cobra/figures/collection1_wave1/destro.html
Character design sheets and models were unlockables in the game. Someone who unlocked everything and who can screen capture images off their video game could show off more of the game’s amazing designs, including vehicle designs. I really like their take on the VAMP.
Very cool art!
If ever there was a need for a Battlefield spinoff…
THIS! is the direction any future Joe game needs to take! Am I the only one anxiously awaiting G.I. JOE to get the “War for Cybertron” treatment?
The Red Ninjas in Retaliation look pretty similar to this guy’s designs.
I definitely want that Helix repaint. I like the fact that she has the helix tattoo on her forearm. And I keep imagining a custom of the MARS shield troopers from the game. If I could apply the candied red look of PoC Cobra Commander (once-cancelled mail-in) to the helmet to one of the bazillion MARS Troopers that area dime a dozen now I think it could breathe some new life into that mold.
I really liked how this game kept with the RoC look but was less monochromatic, allowing the characters to have their own flair as G.I.Joe had always done. I just wish that the Destro from the SRO 3-pack had included brown pants so that he would be precisely the one from the game.
The game was not good but I agree that these designs are awesome! I would love some figs using those designs. Although the MARS trooper looks a lot like the Shock Trooper and Beachead looks a lot like the POC version.
I thought the game was pretty fun. It wasn’t groundbreaking or anything, but just nice to be able to play a GI JOE game on my ps3. Pretty sweet art I must say though, my new desktop!
I wish someone would have sent me those Helix Turnarounds when I was drawing her in the book. That would have been really helpful. These are all fantastic man!
Next time you have anything to draw, hit Justin up for a reference.
I really would have preferred that Heavy Duty. It looks like the Red Ninja design might be used in the Retaliation.