The Terror Drome reports of some information gleaned from overseas auctions indicates that many of the recent revealed repaints are of Toys “R” Us exclusive 3-Packs. Keep in mind that this is merely rumor so far, and is not the least bit confirmed, but there are a round number of figures that fit that theme. The rumored figures are as follows:
Grunt (Woodland camo repaint of Wave 1 Zartan)
Sgt. Stone (Green repaint)
Destro (Blue and red repaint)
Elite Viper
Neo-Viper (Blue repaint)
Speed Metal (Accelerator Suit guy with Serpentor head)
I must say, if this news is true, I’m happy to hear it. With the rash of revealed repaints, I was pretty worried that the main line might get heavily diluted with minor color changes that meant little or nothing to the plot, but I’m happy to see these being relagated to exclusives. It’s also pretty neat to see a couple of new characters mixed in here like Grunt, Speed Metal, and Elite-Viper. A good thing for TRU, but also good for the collectors who want to keep the main line for the original stuff. Check out the recent images mirrored below. I’ve also included some past pics that are of higher quality, just to give a good reference point.
Thanks again to WildWeasel from The Terror Drome for the scoop.
If you’d asked fans at the beginning of the year which film might prove more successful or more “in tune” with what the fandom wants, the answer would have been unanimous: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Hell, if you’d asked the same fandom a week ago, the answer would have been the same.
Yet Kris Polglase, a blog writer for Voxy.co.nz seems to indicate that perhaps the tables are turning, if just a bit. Transformers 2 is receiving widespread negative reviews (though, I gotta say the first film did the same), while the latest trailer has risen the stock of G.I. Joe considerably. Check it out here.
Listen. I don’t pretend to assume that G.I. Joe will hold a candle to Transformers 2. Not by a long shot. Just thought it was an interesting article. Hell, I’ll be seeing Revenge of the Fallen in iMax on Saturday, so I have no delusions that it won’t be entertaining. I just look forward to August 8th, when everyone can judge on actually seeing the film rather than casting blanket statements about it.
Jeff Bohns drops a line to let us know that he has stumbled upon a couple of new Rise of COBRA books at his local Barnes & Nobel. He has also located them on Amazon:
He also found a pair of 100 piece puzzles at Toys “R” Us featuring Duke and Ripcord dodging missiles in their accelerator suits and Storm Shadow facing off against Snake Eyes. Each puzzle was $4.99.
Also of note, the Simon & Schuster website has a section totally devoted to G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA, featuring release dates, information, etc… check it out here!
Reports are coming in from various online sources that Target retailers in the United States have started receiving and stocking The Rise of COBRA Combat Heroes. I’ll be honest here…the superdeformed animated “cutesy” look has never been my thing, but I absolutely love the G.I. Joe ones, and the RoC ones are no different. It’s amazing how they can make killer terrorists in nanotech body armor look so damn cute.
I’m trying something a bit different, let me know if it’s useful and/or interesting…I’ve updated the drop down menu above with an entry called “SuperPages”. There’s one entry in there right now for “The Rise of COBRA movie”. Essentially this page sorta centralizes the information so that folks can have quick access to interesting content on that page. The Rise of COBRA movie superpage right now has all of the various TV spots and Trailers all in one spot as well as links to the official website, the IMDB entry, and various movie and fansite sections for the links.
You can find the Rise of COBRA SuperPage right here.
Is this helpful to people? Any other “SuperPages” you’d like to be considered? Or was this a waste of my Father’s Day morning? :shifty:
In recent months, Aint it Cool News has been a hotbed of ambilivlence towards G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA, while the talkbacks boiled over with contempt and nerd anger. However, the recently released trailer, combined with some insight from someone in the industry has given Harry Knowles a bit more of a positive outlook, which is nice to see.
He often gets blamed for being “in bed” with certain movie production companies, but considering how badly he’s lambasting Transformers 2, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case here. And honestly, the comments he mentions from the director he’s spoken with sounds pretty on-target. Here’s the full text from the AICN article:
“Hey folks, Harry here – over on YouTube – they have the latest GI JOE trailer up and frankly… I’m dying to see this trailer in the greater glory of Glorious Quicktime – but there’s flying motorcycles and crazy cool vehicles galore. Yes, none of this looks particularly real – but with the exception of specific costumes – it kinda looks an awful lot like GI JOE. I just want Cobra uniforms – and the cool ol Village People unique look of the JOES themselves. That said – I have a correspondence with a director. One we all collectively worship who told me that the film is made for the boy in us. And I can’t share that director’s name, but I can say he wants all the vehicles in this movie. And that’s as much of a clue as I’ll give ya. I’m now much more excited about this than TRANSFORMERS 2 – as the word on that is pretty awful at this stage”
Regardless of any agendas or reasoning, it is at least somewhat refreshing to see some positive spin and optimistic views, considering every single other website I’ve seen (save for Latino Review) has been pretty universal in their “Meh”ness.
An eBay seller from the Southeastern United States has posted what looks to be a full set of the upcoming Rise of COBRA toys coming through the Burger King Kid’s Meals. Click here to check out the auction, or take a look at the images mirrored below.
no images were found
Thanks to fireflyguy from HissTank.com for the intel.
Originally announced and displayed at Toy Fair in February, the deluxe Accelerator Suit Duke has accelerated some interest in Joe fans recently with the announcement of a $69.99 price tag and information about its availability at Target stores this fall. While there were a wealth of images of the Accelerator Suit Duke from Toy Fair, a video has now been posted on YouTube of the figure in action. Check out the video below!
For better or worse, another new trailer/TV spot has emerged from Latino Review for the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA. I say for better or worse, because while the action still looks frenetic, high-paced, and awesome, we get a clear indication of what to expect from Ripcord here…I’m all for comedy relief, but not bad comedy relief. Ah, well…
Still, the trailer is fun. Check it out via Latino Review or via the YouTube embedded video below:
Thanks to Hiss Commander from the Terror Drome for the heads up!
By and large, the reaction has been raving…pretty much every review I read is stellar and positive, and I agree completely. Ever since hearing the premise for the story, I had a good feeling about it, and I was not let down. From the fast-paced first issue, straight through the twists and turns, and all the way to the biggest twist at the end, this has been a suspensful, action packed thrill ride, from beginning to end.
COBRA is given some instant credibility, a relatively unknown character in Chuckles gains some incredible depth, and in just four issues, lots of groundwork has been laid for the future. Excellent story.
I have to find it more than a little ironic that Chuckles, a guy in a Hawaiian shirt who never got any real credibility has now been the star of two great stories, both from the Devils’ Due days, and now in IDW. Just goes to show, that even the smallest “throw away” character can be a great one, if given the right chance to shine.
