Over the span of the next few days, GeneralsJoes will be bringing you an exclusive look at some upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures, courtesy of Gyre Viper.
Both Gyre Viper and I thought long and hard about showcasing these images, considering product isn’t due on store shelves for a little while yet, but ultimately a desire to inform the community won out. The G.I. Joe online community has been extremely divisive in regards to Retaliation toys ever since information began leaking out. Concerns about articulation, marketing strategy, and overall figure quality was brought to the forefront.
With an ultimate goal of informing the community and giving these toys closer scrutiny, Gyre Viper decided to bring these figures to light.
There is so much great information that can be gathered here…figure construction, figure quality, articulation enhancements (as well as subtractions) and it just seemed with so much community based indecision over the past month or so, this was a great time to do something for the community. I strongly believe a closer look at these figures shows that even with the disagreement among the fandom, Hasbro has done some terrific things design-wise and execution-wise, and I think Gyre Viper’s decision to showcase these figures for the G.I. Joe community as a whole was a good one. Shifting the discussion from missed articulation to a focus on fantastic new designs and sculpting is a good plan, and I’m hoping these images showcase that. It’s not all peaches and cream, and there are some concerns to be voiced here, but the important thing is being educated and well informed, which is what we are hoping to accomplish here.
Once again, thanks to Gyre Viper for getting these out in the open and giving back to the community. Hopefully these images spurn some good, healthy discussion and discourse and prepare us for more of what’s to come.
I’m starting off slow, with just Kamakura right now, but will ramp up over the next few days, bringing you guys all six figures in the two upcoming 3-Packs. Of course this also means the launch of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation Review Page. Click there, or just click the link directly below to check out this exciting first look!
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation Kamakura (Ninja Showdown 3-Pack)
Whoa, wasn’t expecting anything like this for a couple of months. Nice!
As for the figure… I never got the RoC Kamakura, so I can wrap my brain around this one a bit easier than you, Justin. The Jungle Duke webgear’s a mistake, but it’s possible to work around that (even if it means punching a hole in the damned thing like I wound up doing with Stalker).
I was going to complain about the black head, but it looks much more appropriate when the webgear is on. I’d rather have had it the same colour as the rest of the body, however. On the other hand… doesn’t look like any articulation complaints, and the armour does kinda line up with the padding that the first figure had, so I see what they were trying for there.
Since this is probably the only three-pack on my list at the moment (although the character breakdowns in the later ones are promising), I’m encouraged that I can at least see easy ways to bring him up to snuff relatively quickly. This isn’t a case where the base is so fundamentally flawed that all the tweaking in the world won’t help the presentation.
One question, though – the sword is Snake Eyes’, but Kamakura’s in the Roadblock / Beachhead pack, right? So pretty much any ninja stuff would be per se his.
Or did Gyre-Viper just get a bunch of figures without any packaging?
Yep. My bad. Those Toy Fair images all start bleeding together!
Everything Justin pictured is what came with the figure. Being preproduction samples, anything could change. Accessories, colours, even sometimes parts. So take these for what they are and not necessarily what they will be. It could go either way.
Fair enough (and I think we’ve learned the hard way that pre-production / toy show accessory loadouts aren’t ever reliable); the review just reads as though Justin forgot he’s not in the Snake Eyes three-pack. 🙂
Yep, that was a brain fart on my part. I’ve edited the review to reflect the change. Thanks for that!
I haven’t liked the look of this guy since first saw the early Retaliation photos. Never liked that hood, even on Jungle Storm Shadow or Resolute Storm Shadow. Looks horrible here. I do like him unhooded and with the webgear, that’s a nice look for Kamakura. get rid of the golden armor and hood and he’d be a decent figure.
No one likes that damn hood.
The hood (meaning the Resolute one) actually looks really nice on RoC Storm Shadow.
Figured out a use for it – finally have a way to make that Ninja-Ku Leader SS look more distinct. Hope the plastics match.
Even though I was not impressed with most of the offerings for “Retaliation” shown at toy fair, Kamakura is at least a “decent” looking figure, even if the color scheme is somewhat off putting.
Seems a little slap together, and I honestly hate it when they give guys a backpack and then cover the hole, but I LOVE the look! Dunno if I’ll use him as Kamakura, but the colors and the accessories are good on thier own, at least. As a complete package he loses, but apart I think he’ll only need some new webgear to make him shine. I probably won’t use the hood, but I’m glad to have it ’cause I know it’ll work one someone, at least. We’ll see.
Are all articulations intact? I mean, the ugly “limited articulation ghost that seemed to show its ugly head in the toy fair photos” is present here???
Considering there’s no new parts here, I think there’s anything to worry about.
Correct. With all of the PoC parts used, articulation is fully intact. The most limited articulation is in the vehicle drivers, as has been stated many times…
I think most people still have worries about ankles and knees being scaled back, but for a character like this one, it’s not a concern, since it’s all recycled parts.
I like the idea of Kamakura, but the execution thus far has been lacking. I see him as more commando than ninja, and would love a more Jungle-green color scheme. The web-gear is appropriate for this view, actually, though it’s been overused as of late. Thanks for posting this up!
I can see what they were trying to do here and I think it comes out pretty well. The color choice I think is a middle ground between his Spytroops green color and RoC blue color. It looks a little odd but when thinking of it in that sense, I don’t mind it. I like the RoC interpretation a lot more though.
got to say I’m liking this version of Kamakura a lot more then I thought I would Though the ROC one is still pretty Bad ass I think this guy will be replacing him.
I like it and I want all the 3 packs they release.
Tomorrow should be interesting to say the least.
I dig the ROC version better too, but this one is acceptable.
Considering articulation will be lacking on some other figures I say he should at least get another star.
I’d rather they get docked a star, hanging around the lesser figs would only make him look better in comparison, shove him next the poc guys and it is a level playing field.
I’m actually very excited about the ninja part of GIJOE( not that I want all the joes to be ninjas. Gots to be millitary first) so this year will be a very exciting year for me. I still like the RoC version of Kamakura but This figure has some definate possibilities. It will work well in my collection.