Wow. Wow wow wow!
As much as I’ve loved the G.I. Joe Kre-O stuff to date, what they’re showing in the show room at Toy Fair this year is just incredible! Look at that Terror Drome! The Firebat, the Skyhawk… Serpentor?! Good grief some amazing stuff coming for Kre-O fans this year.
HISSTank.com has been on the ball with posting their images, and I’ve mirrored some of their images below. Hit them up directly for the details.
Over on their Facebook page, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has started posting press images of the upcoming G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary product!
Check out the gallery right here and make sure you “Like” their Facebook page while you’re at it.
The Press Images will be widely available tonight, so I’m not going to mirror those images, you can find them at this link.
Suffice it to say, we are getting concept case Destro and Leatherneck, Lady Jaye, and HEAT Viper, but at the same time we’re getting re-releases of a standard color Blowtorch (for the third time, really?!), PoC General Hawk and Low Light.
I will say the Cobra Wolf with Ice Viper is an exceptionally great surprise. WOW!
Anyway, check out the images right here.
The real issue I have watching Toy Fair from afar is that it’s tough for me to grasp all of the information from all of the different places without having my own personal perspective.
As such, I’ll direct to a few different sources for current information.
What we know right now is that we are getting G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary 2 Packs and 3 Packs along with vehicles as Toys “R” Us Exclusives this year. According to HISSTank.com this is what we can expect:
Two Packs
Three Packs (Unconfirmed)
Vehicles
Also, according to HISSTank staff on hand, the figures shown are the concept case figures! That’s right, both Destro and Leatherneck are the same amazing figures from the Concept Case last year, and HEAT Viper apparently from the year before. Lady Jaye and Flint are also likely pulled from that year’s case.
This is… well… pretty freaking amazing news. But it doesn’t stop there. The G.I. Joe Kre-O love continues as well:
News reports come courtesy of JoeBattleLines.com, HISSTank, Toy News International, and from the awesomly insane Twitterati everywhere.
Press photos should be available tonight, and you’d better believe I’ll be all over that business!
Along with the blockbuster news of a G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary series of 2 Packs, 3 Packs, and Vehicle Packs, Hasbro also confirmed that G.I. Joe Kre-O would continue at Toys “R” Us this year. And not just continue, but explode!
We are getting 24 new mini figures, as well as a Cobra Terror Drome with 856 pieces and SIX Kre-Ons!
The new mini figures include Nunchuk Atomi Man, Scrap Iron, Lowlight, Doc, Night Creeper, Torch, Budo, Nemesis (Enforcer?!), Zartan, Snow Serpent, Cobra Eel, and Chuckles (among others).
Information has been pouring in from Twitter, Toy News International, and HISSTank.com.
The news is flooding in from various different sources, namely Toy News International and HISSTank.com, and those reports are confirming that there will be Toys “R” Us Exclusive 50th Anniversary G.I. Joe product at retail.
These will include “Battle Pack” 2-Packs as well as possibly 3-Packs and Vehicle packs as well. So far, we know the following from TNI:
Low Light vs, Night Viper. Snow Job Vs Artic BAT, Blowtorch Vs Heat Viper, Cobra Trooper and Cobra Viper Officer
Vehicle packs include Snow Wolf and Arctic Sky Hawk and Vamp MKII with Flint and Urban Night Landing Raft with Cobra Eel.
There are some different reports as well of “3 Packs” at HISSTank.com, but I’m not entirely sure how accurate all of these different reports are, since some of the mentioned 3 packs are similar to what we hear about 2 packs from other spots. This is the list of reports from HissTank:
So a very interesting turn of events this year! Some great news to be sure, I just wish I was there in person to dig through it all. More to come!
Take this for what it’s worth, but the G.I. Joe Collectors Club (who is typically first with Toy Fair info during the presentation) has posted a “Hasbro Toy Fair 2014” thread on their new message boards.
This indicates (to me) that there will be some kind of G.I. Joe product to be shown and spoken about on the site. Check it out right here. Do we think the G.I. Joe Club would show that if there weren’t G.I. Joe items to discuss? I wouldn’t think so, but…
Curiouser and curiouser…
Very interesting article out of the Wall Street Journal, who reports that 3D Printing company 3D Systems Corp is partnering with Hasbro to create a new 3D playground for Hasbro’s large portfolio of games and toys.
3D Systems Corp is one of the largest manufacturers of three dimensional printers, and has recently acquired Gentle Giant, a well known toy/collectible design and manufacturing company in their own right.
This could create some interesting opportunities for kids and fans, as Hasbro leverages this new agreement to perhaps expand their brands. Time will tell how this all shakes out, but definitely an interesting twist leading up to Toy Fair.
Check out the article right here.
So unlike previous years I’m looking at the Hasbro Fan Event this year from an outsider’s perspective, which is an interesting sensation indeed. Normally this morning is filled with hectic travel down to the city, navigating the trains from Connecticut, and then the whirlwind walk from Grand Central to the location of the event.
Keep your eyes on the interwebs starting around 1:00pm or so, as I believe that’s the start time for Hasbro’s event. Typically, in years past, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has posted some images ahead of the event, though I’m not sure if that will hold true this year.
But please manage expectations. I’m not sure precisely how much stuff is going to be shown, but it would be nice if some little gesture to the father of the action figure was on display in the city today. It’ll be a very fun ride, regardless.
Collectors have been pretty consistent with their praise for the ECO Force Flint and Ozone reveals from the upcoming 2014 Convention Set, and now the Collectors Club has finished off the ECO Force trifecta with none other than Clean Sweep!
They’re pulling an “Ozone” and only giving us a masked image at the moment, but I’ll be darned if that’s not looking pretty friggen sweet all on its own! He’s got a great new mask (and apparently a new dome underneath it) and I am loving his weapon allotment. Very interesting choices and they fit his MOS pretty nicely. The computer-integrated case is an awesome touch.
Check him out at GIJoeCon.com and mirrored below.
Okay, now that my brain has stopped exploding from the combination of awesome witnessed in this preview, I can write a little post about it.
CBR sat down and chatted with Larry Hama about his run on G.I. Joe comics, and looked towards March and the release of G.I. Joe #200. We get a little insight into what to expect with this landmark issue, but best of all, a few preview pages are shown including the best image I’ve ever seen:
SL Gallant + G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero + Sigma 6 themed Cobra Commander.
My soul is smiling.
Check out the whole article right here, and brace yourself for some great images of a Cobra army of HISS Tanks preparing to face off against the G.I. Joe team with some truly great old school vibe to it. I’ve mirrored one image below, but the rest are over at CBR.
