We’re within a week of the kick off for the 2012 G.I. Joe Collectors’ Convention, and the Collectors’ Club has posted the full schedule of events right here.  This helpful document breaks down when various folks can pick up their convention packages, and also gives a lowdown for the seminars, of which there are many!

Below are some of the highlights:

• Friday 12:00pm – 12:50pm: GIJCC Magazine Comic Panel – David S. Lane, Pete Sinclair

I really think that the GIJCC Newsletter comic has been making some terrific strides lately, and I’m looking forward to hearing what Dave and Pete have to say about it.  From the obvious Pursuit of Cobra influences and the great GIJCC character tie-ins, it’s an enjoyable read every month.  I’d love it if they collected them into a singular volume.

• Saturday 10:00am – 10:50am: Behind the Scenes of G.I. Joe: Retaliation – Hasbro

This sounds like it could be very interesting as well.  I would imagine, since this is a Hasbro seminar, we’d be looking at Retaliation mostly from the toy design perspective, but any sorts of “behind the scenes” stuff is all good with me.  I will definitely not be missing this one.

• Saturday 11:00am – 11:50am: Insider’s Guide: G.I. Joe 2013 – Hasbro

Hmmm…  so we have a “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” themed panel as well as a “G.I. Joe 2013” panel?  Veeerrry interesting…  does this mean we might see some potential 2013 product that isn’t G.I. Joe: Retaliation related?  A peek at the future beyond the movie?  That would certainly be awesome.  This is a BIG one to look forward to. Plan your weekend around this.

• Saturday 1:00pm – 1:50pm: Syfy Games presents G.I. JOE: Special Ops

I will admit I never would have suspected we’d see a panel devoted purely to Special Ops, but I’m looking forward to checking it out!  Been hacking away at the Beta a bit, and it will be cool to see what else might be planned down the road and I’d love to hear about when the final release is expected.

• Saturday 3:00pm – 3:50pm: G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Roundtable

Always a very informative panel, getting some sit down time with Brian, Lanny, Dave, Pete and the GIJCC gives us some great insight into the design of the convention set, the reasons some decisions were made, and sometimes we even get a little peek at the future.  With the Figure Subscription Service looming on the horizon I suspect this will be a destination for many fans.

• Saturday 4:00pm – 4:50pm: IDW’s G.I. Joe: Real American Heroes

Comic fans, mark your calendars.  IDW will be in attendance and ready to talk about the future of their G.I. Joe comic universe for 2012 and beyond.  Hoping to hear some info here about future plans for G.I. Joe, Cobra, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, and G.I. Joe: Real American Hero here.

There are a number of other panels of course, with great discussions with Kirk Bozigian, package artwork talk, some insight with the voice actors as well as the always enlightening Mark Bellomo discussion Sunday at 1:00pm.   All in all, it looks like a fantastic weekend of G.I. Joe nirvana, and I cannot wait to hit New Orleans!  Again, find the full schedule of events right here!