by generalsjoes | Feb 3, 2014 | G.I. Joe
With the 2014 G.I. Joe Convention now about six short weeks away I think back to some of the highlights of past conventions, and without a doubt one of the most memorable moments of every convention is the costume contest. Dozens of fans dress up as their favorite characters, and while the main focus on these great costumes is that Saturday night, you can find all sorts of excellent cosplay throughout the entire weekend.
One of the groups most devoted to this endeavor is “The Finest”, and they’ve got a great new project coming up to celebrate G.I. Joe’s 50th Anniversary, and to also support very worthwhile cause, the “Wounded Warrior Project”.
Keep watching GeneralsJoes and The Finest on Facebook for the latest details, and meanwhile, check out some of the information below.
Celebrate 50 Years of GI Joe !
The Finest: A GI Joe Costume Club will be Announcing an Exciting Project to Celebrate GI Joe’s 50th Anniversary Very Soon!
We are super excited to be able to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the GI Joe franchise! The organizers, Robin (Head of the Night Watch Garrison) and Joe Colton (Membership Liaison Officer) are huge fans of GI Joe and decided upon a great way to give back to the community! And since THIS year is the 50th anniversary of GI Joe, they put their heads together and decided they would do something special to celebrate! Stay tuned for the announcement and for details how you can contribute!
The 50th anniversary of GI Joe is here, and we wanted to do something special to celebrate this milestone. We also wanted to showcase our amazing members from around the country by creating something that GI Joe and Cobra fans everywhere could enjoy. And thus the idea for the Girls of the Finest calendar was born!
Trust us, this is no ordinary pin-up calendar. We are passionate about the characters we portray and we want to reflect the passion of the G.I. Joe fandom. All of your favorite female characters (plus a few twists on classic characters) will be portrayed here – 12 months of our amazing female costumers photographed exclusively for this calendar! We think you’ll agree that the Girls of the Finest is unlike any calendar you’ve seen before.
And as if that weren’t enough…
We also wanted to show our support for the Real American Heroes that make up our U.S. military. Thus, all net proceeds earned from this campaign will go to benefit Wounded Warrior Project. That means whatever money is left after we pay for the printing and distribution of the calendars and all associated perks will be presented to Wounded Warrior Project with our thanks.
We Need YOU!
As excited as we are about this project, we can’t do it without YOU. Only through your donations will this calendar happen. Your contribution of $5 or more will allow us to:
• Compile all the calendar photography
• Design/produce the calendar and all associated perks
• Pay for printing and shipping costs of the calendar and perks
We will be creating EXCLUSIVE content for this campaign that will only be available to those who donate here, including Girls of the Finest trading cards, post cards, patches and t-shirts! These will only be produced in limited quantities and once they’re sold out, that’s it!
Everyone who donates $5 or more will receive an exclusive Girls of the Finest item. Anyone donating $25 or more will receive the calendar PLUS exclusive items! (See perks below for a complete list)
How to Get Involved
Clearly, donating funds is the #1 way to get involved but if you can’t contribute, that doesn’t mean you can’t help! We also need people to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign. Share our link on your Facebook, Twitter or other social media, let other GI Joe fans know what we’re doing, use the Indiegogo share tools to spread the word, harness the power of the Internet to help us achieve WORLD DOMINATION! (Oh sorry, Cobra Commander took over typing there for a minute…)
Just get involved in whatever way you can – all help is appreciated!
Funding begins on Monday, February 10th!
by generalsjoes | Jan 31, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, JoeCon 2014, Show and Convention Coverage
Another notch in the E.C.O. Force belt was revealed today by the G.I. Joe Collectors Club! Along with the previously revealed Flint, today we get my personal childhood favorite ECO Warriors character, Ozone.
Unfortunately they elected to only show a helmeted image for now, as I’m really dying to see what his head sculpt looks like, but the parts choice is relatively solid. Color matching is pretty much dead on.
He looks to be using RoC Flash/Resolute Zartan arms, which is great, and PoC Snake Eyes legs, which is… not so great. Sure the lower legs show off a bit of an armored look, and perhaps I just don’t like them because they were attached to one of my least favorite figures in the PoC era. Tucked underneath there appears to be the torso from Retaliation “Ninja Duel” Snake Eyes as well. Whatever the case, the entire figure ends up looking really nice and really captures the original’s spirit well. That Retaliation Cobra Trooper webgear sets it off nicely, too.
Check out the figure at GIJoeCon.com and see the image mirrored below.
by generalsjoes | Jan 31, 2014 | 12" Scale, Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 3, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Hot Toys, IDW, Podcasts, What's on Joe Mind
Among many other things…
Quite awhile ago, we had the unique opportunity to interview a couple of the guys from the Hot Toys Podcast, and while it took us a little while to get this posted (apologies Jim and Eamon) with G.I. Joe: Retaliation Roadblock on the precipice of release, it seems apt to get this out there now.
Along with talking with those fine folks, we cover all of the G.I. Joe news and information, and even touch on the big “NO JOES in 2014” topic that seems to be rearing it’s ugly head over the past week.
As always, hit up Podbean or check out the embedded player below, and show notes are after the jump.
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by generalsjoes | Jan 31, 2014 | 12" Scale, G.I. Joe
This great little nugget showed up in my mailbox this morning courtesy of the fine folks at TeamCoco.com and it involves the one and only Conan O’Brien visiting an Armenian pawn shop in Los Angeles, trying to sell some memorabilia.
Among these items is an awesome 12″ customized Conan O’Brien G.I. Joe figure, which the host is quick to point out has knee pads, a quite embarrassing side note to O’Brien for obvious reasons.
It’s a really funny segment, check it out at TeamCoco.com, just watch out for the masterbating bear!
by generalsjoes | Jan 31, 2014 | G.I. Joe
If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, I’ve been promoting a Kickstarter Campaign for this new independent film project, but I hadn’t posted anything about it here on GeneralsJoes yet. Well, that’s gonna change now.
As many of you should recall, Mark Cheng worked on a G.I. Joe fanfilm, Operation: Red Retrieval a while ago, and managed to impress many viewers. One key viewer who he impressed was none other than Larry Hama himself. Thus began a collaboration that is now resulting in a Kickstarter Campaign for an independent “micro budget” film project Ghost Source Zero.
Today, the monster YouTube channel Machinima posted the pilot episode of Ghost Source Zero, which features the first 4.5 – 5 minutes of the project. It’s a look into a future where artificial intelligence and cybernetics run wild, and a cyber crime unit is tasked with investigating a particularly interesting case. It’s definitely got a Larry Hama flair, and judging purely by the first four minute sequence, there are some impressive production values involved as well. Please consider supporting the project on Kickstarter so we can get the next 11 parts to go along with the pilot. It looks like a very, very fun project. Check out the Pilot embedded (from YouTube) below, and again, hit up Kickstarter to show your support.
by generalsjoes | Jan 31, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys
Typically they only sell by the case, but Entertainment Earth has some single figures available from recent G.I. Joe: Retaliation releases!
Check the links below to see what’s left.
- Joe Colton, Not Mint
- Dark Ninja, Not Mint
- Kim Arashikage, Not Mint
- Blind Master, Not Mint
- Storm Shadow, Not Mint
- Ninja Duel Snake Eyes, Not Mint
- Firefly, Not Mint
- G.I. Joe Retaliation Bravo Vehicles Wave 2
- G.I. Joe Retaliation Alpha Vehicles Wave 1
- Battle-Kata Roadblock, Not Mint
- Lady Jaye, Not Mint
- Cyber Ninja, Not Mint
- Alley Viper, Not Mint
Go hit ’em up!
by generalsjoes | Jan 30, 2014 | G.I. Joe, Web Stuff
I’ve now been on this WordPress platform for nearly five years, and meanwhile the Dio-Story and Review sections have kind of been tagging along in static pages, not nearly as integrated with the rest of the site as I’d like them to be.
Well, the Reviews are still pending some integration within the YoJoe framework, but the Dio-Stories are now part of my GeneralsJoes WordPress Content Management System.
What does that mean for the reader? Honestly, not a whole lot. The pages have been slightly reformatted, with some cosmetic navigation differences, but the essence of the stories are the same.
The Drop Down Menu above has been re-coded to reflect the change, so if it’s been a while since you’ve checked out the dio-stories, you may want to consider diving back in.
And as some might suspect, the reasons for doing this are not just to help the current configuration, but also to prepare for new content, so consider this a confirmation that my latest Dio-Story “Darkness Falls” will indeed launch this year.
My current vision is to try and have it rolling by summer, and perhaps even earlier, if everything falls into place. In a perfect world, I’d start the ball rolling at JoeCon, but realizing that event grows nearer every day and I still have a lot of work to do, I’m not sure that’s reasonable.
I’ll try to keep everyone in the loop as progress is made, but meanwhile, hit up the GeneralsJoes Dio-Story section to play some catch up, and check out the Miscellaneous Dio-Story section as well, where I’ve collected a number of smaller stories I’ve done throughout the years.
Also, don’t forget about Self Modifier’s fantastic G.I. Joe vs. Transformers Dio-Story which is a must read for Joe fans and Transformers fans alike! Thanks as always for all of your support, I know this has been a long time coming, I really hope it’s worth the wait.
I really want to thank Mike and his work on the fantastic WordPress “WebComic” Plug in…it’s an awesome plug in right out of the box, and he’s offered some really great support along the way, too. If you’re looking for a nice, quick way to host webcomics on a WordPress platform, you should definitely check it out.
Huge thanks, too, to Brad for his assistance in getting things polished up and ready for launch. I owe ya one!
by generalsjoes | Jan 29, 2014 | G.I. Joe
It seems only appropriate less than 24 hours after the State of the Union address last night that a mild controversy has formed within the walls of the online G.I. Joe community.
Honestly, it’s tough to remember a time when some sort of controversy wasn’t brewing with an online fandom somewhere.
In the latest SmallJoes.com newsletter, the following little nugget of information was in there:
“We are not expecting any new GI JOE 3 3/4″ product at retail in 2014.”
For obvious reasons, this caused a bit of a flurry of activity. But I do want to caution people to get to heavy handed or critical, and be tempted to shoot the messenger.
I’ve seen posts online claiming that perhaps the G.I. Joe fandom was “lied to” at San Diego ComicCon this past summer, and I would just ask that we please stop. The man who provided the information at SDCC was Derryl DePriest, someone who many of us have known for a very long time, and one of the hugest supporters of the G.I. Joe brand over the past decade. I have talked to him frequently at conventions over the past several years, and I can say without doubt or hesitation that he did not and would not “lie” to anyone about plans for a G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary.
That doesn’t mean that we’re getting something this year, though. In fact, signs point to no. But it’s much more a matter of plans changing, not so much someone directly “lying”.
The Internet is a wonderful thing. It has provided billions of people with a way to directly interact with each other in real time, and that atmosphere has created a strong sense of entitlement when it comes to early information. As a fandom, we all demand to hear and see things as early as humanly possible, and often berate corporations who don’t show us what they’re working on months or years in advance. So what do we expect when we ask a corporate rep something that far in advance, and then the plans change and we’re unhappy with the end result?
We cannot have it both ways. If we’re going to ask for this early information, we have to be mentally prepared to accept the fact that things can change in a period of 6 – 8 months, and it certainly seems like that happened in this case. But please, let’s not assume that Derryl stood up in the Hasbro booth in San Diego and “lied” to several fan representatives who asked him directly about 2014. That is not at all fair to him.
Now, I’m not absolving Hasbro of all blame here. If anything, I’m feeling far more critical of the way they’re treating (or not treating) one of their flagship brands on the 50th Anniversary of the brand’s creation. And not just the brand. We’re talking action figures as a whole. This entire industry was born 50 years ago this year, and even if G.I. Joe at large has faded from public consciousness, Hasbro makes enough money off of other action figure lines to at least pay some sort of lip service to the brand that started it all. To do otherwise is disrespectful and short sighted.
There are plenty of ways that Hasbro could do something with G.I. Joe using existing tooling at limited cost and through limited retail channels, but by all accounts they seem unwilling to do even that. Disappointing to say the least.
Of course this point might all be moot if we see something at Toy Fair, but by the sounds of it, that does not seem likely. At this point, though, in the midst of excellent Convention reveals and FSS shipments by the G.I. Joe Collectors Club at least there is a silver lining, though one that is more expensive than what many collectors are willing to consider.
So, I guess in conclusion, let’s not jump all over Derryl, I’m sure he was going by the information he had at the time, and Hasbro proper, if you’re reading, when you look at all of those Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Star Wars, Transformers, and dozens of other specific action figure toy lines that earn your revenue, pay your salaries, and continue to keep your entire corporation relevant, let’s not forget where that all started.
Yo Joe.
by generalsjoes | Jan 29, 2014 | G.I. Joe
If you’re a fan of high end G.I. Joe items and statuary, you should appreciate the special deal from Sideshow Collectibles today on their Flint vs. Zartan statue! They are offering double reward points on the item, so if you buy it today, you earn $24.50 in reward points.
Click the banner below to check out this great item!
by generalsjoes | Jan 29, 2014 | G.I. Joe, Sponsor News
* * * * * * * * * [ SMALLJOES.COM NEWSLETTER ] * * * * * * * * * *
http://smalljoes.com
Here’s the latest news and new product information from us.
GI JOE
——
We’re pleased to announce the recent acquisition of over 300 vintage
loose / complete 3 3/4″ GI JOE action figures. We also have a number
of new listings for carded figures from the early 90’s including
Battle Corps, Ninja Force, some rarer Mortal Kombat figures, and more.
Additionally listed is another round of various vehicles mostly from
the Spy Troops / Valor vs. Venom era. You can find all of these new
listings in the Vintage & Loose category under their respective years.
GI JOE: Retaliation wave 3.5 and wave 4 figure cases have been restocked.
Favorites here are Ultimate Duke, Ultimate Storm Shadow, Kwinn, Jinx,
Night-Viper, and many others. Get these before they are gone. We are
not expecting any new GI JOE 3 3/4″ product at retail in 2014.
For the 12″ / 1:6 scale fans we’ve recently acquired over 70 mint in
package GI JOE figures from the 90’s. Represented here are items from
Classic Collection, Timeless Collection, Hall of Fame, and 50th
Anniversary.
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