I rarely give my personal perspective or opinion on Rise of Cobra’s retail presence, simply because I really have little to no experience in it. My local stores consist of a run down Wal-Mart that rarely (if ever) stocks Joe stuff, and a K-Mart that time forgot that is in the same boat. As such, I buy most of my stuff online, and really have no personal basis for an opinion of how the RoC line is moving at retail or what the real retail presence is.
Well, yesterday I had a chance to get on the road, and I went down to Southern New Hampshire and scoped out a number of Targets and Toys “R” Us’, and wow…I was pretty floored. I had an idea that the peg situation in my town was pretty pathetic, but I had no idea just how much Rise of Cobra product is on store shelves and on the pegs! It was really eye opening.
My main goal was to find the Target “Rescue Mission” 4-Pack and the Toys “R” Us Attack on The Pit 5-Pack, and I saw them in droves. Every single Target and Toys “R” Us I hit had the exclusives I was looking for, and then some. Out of the 4 Targets I hit, none of them had any wave 2 mini-vehicle sets, however, which was a bummer. I loved seeing the lower $5.99 price point (which was present at all four Targets) but there was little product to get excited about. Pegs were full of the familiar Waves 1 and 2 items, with a scattering of Wave 3, but none of the really high profile or highly desirable stuff. No Elite-Vipers, Pit Commandos, Doctors, or Crimson Neo-Vipers. A few Hawks, Flash’s and Helix’s, but that was about it.
I swung through three total Toys “R” Us stores, and was absolutely elated at the amount of product seen there. It’s obvious that TRU is a firm believer in the G.I. Joe brand, and they had hit the market fast and furious. Each TRU had a nice bunch of the Attack on the Pit sets, 2 of the TRU’s had Wave 2 of the Bravo vehicles, and 1 of them had the Senior Ranking Officer 3-Packs. I was a bit bummed that none of them had Bench Press, though. I think I hit ’em a bit too early. 🙁
By far the highlight of the trip was the Toys “R” Us in Nashua, NH. Wow. Impressive doesn’t begin to cover it. I know we’ve all seen those old school images of an entire aisle devoted to G.I. Joe…well, Nashua’s just about got that matched. Check out the pics below taken on my crappy camera phone:
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I know to most of you folks out there this might not be a big deal, but to a backwoods guy like me who doesn’t get to “The City” very often, I absolutely loved seeing all this product in one place. Toys “R” Us is obviously really gearing up for the holiday season, and I can only hope Rise of Cobra proves worth their investment. Each TRU I hit did have a nice allotment of Waves 1, 2, & 3, though the later wave army builders were already picked over.
I was pleasently surprised at the amount of devoted shelf space G.I. Joe has these days. Speaking as a Joe fan since ’82, it’s been a long, looooong time since I saw this much product at retail. I know the common reaction is “it’s not selling! Deth of teh line!!!” and honestly, that might be the case. But when Christmas goes into full swing and the toy aisles get ransacked, there are going to be a TON of Joe items to pick through, which is a great thing for the brand, and will hopefully draw in a new generation of fans.
On another note, expect my reviews of the Target and TRU multi-packs next week… :shifty:
I’ve sort of ranted and raved on these pages before about Mattel’s putrid looking Avatar toyline…it retails for 2 bucks more than G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, yet the figures lack most of the detail and all of the charm of the G.I. Joe toys. Where Hasbro’s offerings manage to cram a ton of sculpt and tooling detail into the 3 3/4″ scale as well as a ton of accessories, the Avatar items look more like emotionless slabs of 4 inch plastic with very few accessories and zero spirit. Pure licensed “blech”.
But one bright spot appeared to be the vehicles, especially the absolutely kick ass looking dual-engine attack craft that resembled the Sigma 6 Dragonhawk. Alas, various posters on HissTank, and in other places have revealed that not even that vehicle saves the line, as it ends up being too small to really work well for the Rise of Cobra figures (or vintage figures for that matter).
But, apparently that’s not the case for the Mech suit! Nas, a frequent GeneralsJoes commenter has his own blog site, and he took some neat pictures of the Avatar mech suit, and it looks to work quite nicely with the Rise of Cobra figures! Joe fans who have been clamoring for an Aliens-style power loader, or even just a kick ass Mech assault suit need look no further. So far, this seems to be the biggest bright spot for the Avatar toys, let’s hope the movie itself is better…
Well, between an all day road trip yesterday and several Autumn-related activities with the family today, I’ve got some catching up to do with some recent news stories and G.I. Joe related events! Click the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for some great embedded videos!
For G.I. Joe fans who are Facebook users (and I know there are a lot of you), there’s a new Facebook app out there entitled G.I. Joe: Face Off, and it’s a fun little flash-based game where you choose a side, then build up a trooper to go against other Facebook users in a fight to the death! It ain’t rocket science, you come equipped with some default gear, then as you progress through the game, you can build up points to spend on upgrades, new weapons, and movie-inspired uniforms.
It’s a pretty fun time waster…trust me, I wasted over an hour on it today alone… :shifty:
ACTION-PACKED ANIMATED ADVENTURE DEBUTS ON DVD
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
All Games End November 3, 2009 when the Animated DVD is Deployed, Armed with
Filmmaker Interviews, Storyboards and More
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Experience G.I. JOE like never before when the action-packed G.I. JOE: RESOLUTE arrives on DVD for the first time ever November 3, 2009 from Paramount Home Entertainment. Featuring a more sophisticated animation style and story than prior animation and intended for the adult fan that grew up with the brand in the 80’s, G.I. JOE: RESOLUTEis an intense vision of the raging battle between the G.I. JOE team and the menacing COBRA organization. The G.I. JOE team is a highly trained, classified special operations unit that officially doesn’t even exist. This elite team fights a secret war as the first and last line of defense against forces that seek to plunge our world into chaos.
Hasbro developed the bold, state-of-the-art animation with executive producer Sam Register as well as a dynamic creative team including Joaquim Dos Santos, a veteran animation director, who worked closely with award-winning comic writer Warren Ellis, who penned the story. This highly regarded team brings an edgy, intense feel to the animation, which features the most popular characters from the
G.I. JOE vs. COBRA saga such as DUKE, SCARLETT, SNAKE EYES and
COBRA COMMANDER.
The G.I. JOE: RESOLUTE DVD includes illuminating interviews with the filmmakers, storyboards, G.I. JOE files, exclusive bonus footage and a “Now You Know” teaser promo. The DVD will be available for the approximate retail price of
$19.99 U.S./$22.99 Canada.
DVD:
The G.I. JOE: RESOLUTE DVD is presented in widescreen with Dolby Digital English 5.1 sound and English, French and Spanish subtitles. Special features are as follows:
“Now You know” teaser promo
Interviews with Filmmakers
Storyboards
JOE Files
About Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. PHE is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment products on behalf of various parties including: Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Paramount Famous Productions, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, CBS and PBS and for providing home entertainment fulfillment services for DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment.
About Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. (C) 2009 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Cinemablend.com has posted a nice, complimentary article about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and discusses the impending DVD and Blu-Ray release, then celebrates the news with a cool snippet from the bonus video of the DVD release.
Check it out in embedded form below! I, for one, can’t wait to check this out in Blu-Ray goodness come November 3rd. Awesome!
We got a very light glimpse of this third wave of Target Exclusive vehicles during JoeCon a couple of months ago, but the images were shoddy at best and impossible to see at worst. The sounds and overall look of the packs seemed like winners over all, but I was reserving judgement until we saw some actually legible images.
Well, thanks to HissTank, we’ve got some images now, and I am SOLD. Capt. Ace w/ the Glider leaves me totally cold, but the other three sets all have some very nice redeeming factors, especially if these hit at the same price point as past Target exclusive vehicles. This is what we’ve got to look forward to:
Cobra Flight Pod w/ Elite-Viper; Damn! Elite Viper looks GREAT with the red armor and the red camouflage pants. I love this look…really love it. The crimson Trubble Bubble is iffy, but the figure more than makes up for it. Very impressed with this.
RAM w/ Sandstorm; Hell yeah. I love the RAM, and seeing it in desert paint scheme is pretty cool, but again, it’s all about the figure. He looks like your basic Reactive Armor Joe with the Resolute Duke helmet and some desert camouflage pants, but I think the look is still great. The fact that the Pursuit of Cobra Zartan supposedly comes with a Sandstorm costume only furthers the “legacy” of this new character as well.
Cobra Twin Battle Gun w/ Range-Viper; WOW. I love the Whirlwind, and it looks bad ass in these Cobra colors…but what makes this set is the Range-Viper! My favorite figure from the Defense of Cobra Island was awesome enough, even in bright blue and yellow. Seeing it in muted grays and blacks is only more bad ass than it was before. Gorgeous. I cannot wait to get this set in hand.
Glider w/ Capt. Ace; Ehhh… no thanks. Basically a Slipstream repaint in strange urban camouflage with the same Glider we’ve seen several times already. This one is a definite miss, but it’s the only one in this assortment that I’m not crazy about.
For mirrored images check below. Very excited for this wave!
JoeCustoms.com will be kicking off Custom Celebration 4 on October 19 through November 1. Custom Celebration is a two week event where the site is flooded with customizing and collecting content that nobody will want to miss.
Past Custom Celebrations have included interviews with some of the finest customizers, who often share tips and techniques through tutorials posted to the site’s wiki. Visitors can also read in-depth articles on G.I. Joe, customizing and related topics, as well as reviews of figures from the site’s extensive gallery by some long-time members. This year promises to have all of that and more, so be sure to stop on by.
An independently run fan site for G.I. Joe hobbyists, enthusiasts and collectors, JoeCustoms offers free hosting for more than 9,000 customized action figures, 700 customized vehicles, and 100 playsets, as well as commentary from the artistic minds behind them. The site is supported by its users – including the artists themselves – who share their thoughts and insights on G.I. Joe, customizing and any number of topics through the site’s forums.
For more information on JoeCustoms.com’s Custom Celebration 4, please feel free to email contact@joecustoms.com. The schedule of events will be updated daily.
EBay seller Special Movie Arts has posted a very cool (though expensive) G.I. Joe themed item, with what is advertised as a full life-sized statue of the Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes! Very, very cool! The ultimate mancave addition…
Check out the auction here, and some of the images below.
