Good evening!
Well, I tossed up a massive clump of images a little over an hour ago on the train ride, and I’m here now to refine things a little bit and make a little more sense of what we saw today. This information is all cobbled together from various notes and speaking with some Hasbro folks at the show itself.
While G.I. Joe seemed a bit out of place among the Transformers, Marvel, and Star Wars brands, the Joe team folks were quick to give reasons for that. While those three brands are enjoying consistent years of build up, G.I. Joe is sort of “resetting” with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film. While those other brands are building upon already strong foundations, the Joe brand is trying to create that foundation this year, so they have things to build on going forward.
G.I. Joe is scaling back, but there is still a healthy presence this year with over 50 figures and 9 vehicles, which is pretty impressive, all told. 30th Anniversary probably only gave us around half of that, or perhaps a little more.
Figures will start hitting beginning of June. Official “Street date” is May 29th, but as retailers catch up, some might fall behind that just a bit.
Because the movie was moved up, Hasbro didn’t have a lot of time to get movie accurate figures in stores, so the actual movie accurate product will hit retail around July with Wave 2.
Now for pictures! Click the read the rest of the entry link below for all of the image goodness.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wave 1 – Roadblock, Duke, G.I. Joe Trooper, Cobra Commander, Cobra Trooper, Snake Eyes, Red Ninja, Storm Shadow, Zartan
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wave 2 – Flint, Roadblock (Battle Kata), Snake Eyes (Ninja Duel), Storm Shadow (Ninja Duel), Unmasked Firefly
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wave 3 – Lady Jaye, Alley-Viper, Cyber Ninja, Dragon Ninja, Joe Colton
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wave 4 – Jinx, Blind Master
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wave 5 – Crimson Guard, Night Viper
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3-Packs
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Alpha Vehicles
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Bravo Vehicles
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Delta Vehicles
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation SDCC Exclusives
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Display
While I’m thrilled with most of what is shown, even if it really seems like it starts out strong with wave one and then quickly fades (well, excpet for Night Viper of course…AWESOME!), listening to what the guys say kind of makes me wonder why we always seem to get the best (highest quality) figures on what Hasbro considers “off” years. Seems weird to me. GIJoe Resolute was just a filler, 25th was just supposed to be a quick couple anniversary sets, PoC was a recovery of the disapointment of RoC and 30th was just filler until the new movie hit. Yet those are what I consider the 4 best eras of modern GIJoe. Go figure!
I am not at all impressed with this. From the lack of articulation of the drivers ,the ninja overload,reuse of molds including Bruce Willis’s head on that God awful Recondo body they aren’t doing a very good job of trying to get people back into the line. This movie has way more positive buzz than the first and that line has all new molds, I just don’t get it. BTW whats with Flints Umpa Lumpa skin tone on that over sized melon?
It’s not Recondo’s body. Or at least not exactly. There is no tooled strap on the mid-torso. It certainly looks very close, but it’s not exactly the same, which means they may have retooled it to better fit the head. Let’s hope.
I imagine the strap is simply painted over given that the torsos appear otherwise identical.
If that were the case, you’d still be able to see it.
Wow! This is pretty amazing. There are a ton of figures.
The Shockwave tank and all its accessories are really cool. Mini Soundwave!! Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to get it.
Man and can you believe all the ninjas that are in this line?? Red ninja, black dragon ninja, Cyber ninjas, etc….
I want all 3 versions of Jinx. Surprisingly though I think I am liking the yellow one more than the red one.
Lady Jaye looks awesome.
Flint doesn’t look quite right.
I still want everyone that I saw before (Cobra Commander, Cobra trooper, Joe trooper, Zartan) along with the Ninja Combat Cruiser
I also would like Blind Master and Joe Colton and at least 1 Roablock.
The Night viper is cool and I also like the way the Crimson Guard looks a little more battle ready than ceremonial.
I know I shouldn’t expect too much from toy packaging, but “Battle-Kata?” Is firing a big honkin’ gun really a martial arts technique?
Really nothing catching my eye here, though the Night Viper still looks neat. Also, tiny Bruce Willis. The neon B.A.T. looks kinda interesting, but I don’t feel the same about the Shockwave HISS or that Destro. Maybe someone will sell theirs, who knows.
Battle Kata was described to us as a fighting technique using Roadblock’s vest and modular weaponry…
Nice job, what is the deal with Roadblock wave one hand and is there any news on who is in the 3 packs wave one?
3 Pack Wave 1 are Beachhead, Roadblock, Kamakura and Storm Shadow, Red Ninja, and Snake Eyes
Well done on the picture quality. Best I’ve seen from the show.
Is it sad that the figure I’m most interested in (Dragon Ninja) is a complete repaint of a figure I already have?
Wave 1: Skip.
Wave 2: Roadblock.
Wave 3: Dragon Ninja.
Wave 4: Skip.
Wave 5: Crimson Guard and Ni9ght Viper don’t exactly light me world on fire, but they get the job done.
I like the 3-packs I’ve seen. Even though I’m skipping the single card Wave 1, I do so knowing that I’ll be able to get the paint variants of Red Ninja and Storm Shadow in the pack with what I consider to be the best Snake Eyes of the new line.