Yes, panic is a strong word. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen any real panic from anyone yet, but I do think what we’re seeing already from some Avengers toys being shown on Toys “R” Us Canada’s website might be something we want to keep in mind as we prepare mentally for Toy Fair in a couple of weeks. I will admit, I did panic a little bit myself, mostly over articulation concerns, but in all honesty, I don’t think we have much to worry about with the mainline G.I. Joe releases.
As for the product itself, the first thing is the appearance of a clear image of the Avengers Quinjet:
Originally there was some hypothesis that maybe the Quinjet was retooled from the canceled Sigma 6 Thunderhawk and Rise of Cobra Phantom X90, but upon closer inspection that’s not the case. The surface is completely different, and while there are some structural simularities, I think the vehicles themselves are different molds. If you look at the cockpit area, the surface is much smoother on the Quinjet without the vents near the rear, and the wing assembly looks like it’s all one piece, and not modular like on the other planes.
Regardless of the construction, the Quinjet looks pretty neat, and could make for some potentially cool custom fodder.
Next up, is this weird Ground Assault Vehicle:
This thing is actually pretty darn cool, design-wise, as long as it’s larger than the picture indicates (I think it probably is). If it’s close in size to the RHINO or even a bit smaller, it could make for a pretty awesome Cobra vehicle, with some fresh paint applications.
Another potential source of cool custom fodder is revealed with the appearance of Captain America:
Yes, the figure looks great, the webgear looks awesome…but… where’s the articulation? We’ve got single-joint knees and no torso joints whatsoever. Curious… I know some folks were wondering about this last week when Marvel leaked a few early images of the Avengers figures, but now seeing a finished model looking the same way is a concern. Granted, if your only worried about the accessories, this isn’t a big deal, but it is somewhat disappointing, especially considering it won’t necessarily match aesthetically with the rest of the Marvel movie figures that have been revealed so far.
Granted, Marvel figures aren’t necessarily known by their extensive articulation, but still… I have an Ultimate Captain America, Iron Man, and Nick Fury all in this format already, it is kind of too bad the Thor and potential Hawkeye figures won’t match it.
So even beyond folks being excited for G.I. Joe toys in 2012, the potential is there for some awesome customizing above and beyond the Retaliation brand. More info will come in a couple weeks from Toy Fair, and GeneralsJoes will be there as always to cover it!
Return of the T-Crotch!!
When I saw the Black Widow earlier this week I be
Rive she was also missing the mid torso joint. I’d have to look it up again.
*believe … Not *be Rive…
The proto of Hawkeye had mid torso joint (odd), Loki has robes and is hard to tell, Widow doesn’t. Really though, this like is hitting old ground anyway. Cap looks like a deluxe fig and looks like he is a repack of the deluxe bunker buster cap from the cap line which explains the lack of articulation with him. There is also an unmasked cap that looks like movie cap with a new head (If so his articulation would be fine). Lastly MU figs have had just as much as joe figs until recently (they are working up the wrists, and the rocker ankles like on Renegades Scarlett first appeared in Marvel figs).
Great bit of news, man. Yes, I panicked about the missing articulation in the knees and torso. Bad, just bad. But I was inspecting the figures further on the Toysrus page and noticed the knee articulation is actually a ball joint. You can see it in the picture of the maskless Captain America. I guess we still have to wait and see if it works. And hope those changes don’t go into the Retaliation figures. Can’t wait. Love the site, man, big fan.
When I saw the Quintjet I immediately thought of the canceled Sigma jet. Vehicles for superheroes always seemd odd to me. They never use them in the comic books and why would Iron Man with all his powers including flight and serious firepower need a jet or Cap a tank? Bummer on the articulation. I seriously hope that H doesn’t start to skimp on the Joes.
If you look at the picture here:
http://www.marvelousnews.com/database/gv.php?mode=view&album=1657&pic=IMG_0970.JPG&dispsize=600&start=0
You can see the figure above, repainted of course, on the left. The lack of articulation is found in the deluxe figures. The one on the right is the regular single pack. Funnily, the one on the left is missing the extra knee, ankle, bicep, and torso articulation but has wrist swivels, which the one on the right does not.