For several years running, Joe Moscone has taken the lead when raising money for cancer research, most notably working alongside Greg Olson’s “Receptions for Research” as a great way to funnel necessary money to the right places to lead the way in finding a cure.
As a long time toy fan and former PR rep for Hasbro’s Public Relations firm, Joe has amassed a great collection of unique toys and collectibles, and offers them up via charity auctions to support Receptions for Research.
You can check out his auctions right here, all running on eBay, and there are some real gems in there. You can get your hands on some great collectibles AND support cancer research at the same time. Help me get this done!
The full list of items up for auction is below. Joe has spent a ton of his own time devoted to this cause, let’s help him raise some cash for Receptions for Research!
Sealed Case – Mezco Toyz RARE 7” Hellboy II Action Figures
SDCC 2012 Hasbro Exclusive RARE Hollywood Jem and The Holograms Doll
TRU Exclusive 2006 Transformers Robots In Disguise Soundwave w/ Laserbeak and Ravage
Mr. Potato Head – Marvel Iron Man 2 “Tony Starch”
G.I. Joe 25th Ann. Cobra H.I.S.S. Tank w/ Driver
Hasbro Indiana Jones 3.75” Raiders Of The Lost Ark Indiana Jones action figure
Star Wars Celebration V 2010 Hasbro Exclusive 3.75” 4-LOM & Zuckuss figure set
Starting Lineup 1990 Series – NFL Christian Okoye Kansas City Chiefs figure
Starting Lineup 1990 Series – MLB Bo Jackson figure Kansas City Royals figure
SDCC 2014 Hasbro Exclusive Mighty Muggs ROM figure
I know, I know… it’s about damn time! Yes, yes it is. But, the way I look at it is we waited over 30 friggen years for a Billy figure, what’s another couple of weeks to get the review done?
But it is done! I’ve got full blown text reviews as well as YouTube video reviews all polished off for both Billy and the Interrogator, two characters that are very near and dear to me, and two characters I was greatly looking forward to. One of them mostly meets my expectations, while the other falls a little short.
It only makes sense that within the furious whirlwind of G.I. Joe news over the past week, Pythona’s arrival would make its way in there somewhere.
Over on HissTank a G.I. Joe Collectors Club member from Florida reveals that his 2016 incentive Pythona arrived in his mailbox. Keep your eyes out, everyone! Between this, possible ComicCon reveals, and JoeCon about 10 days away, business is about to pick up!
It’s hard to believe, but as I sit here, we’re looking at less than two weeks until the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention in Loveland, Colorado, and the final Fun Publications event. With their license with Hasbro expiring at the end of the year, this is the last time Fun Pub will gather the G.I. Joe faithful for one last, exciting gasp.
Without hesitation, I’ve said time and again that the annual JoeCon is far and away my favorite weekend of the year. Even if Hasbro wasn’t there, even if there were no convention exclusives, it’s an extended weekend of fun with friends, some of which are people I consider my closest friends in my life. As of ten days from now, this will be happening for the final time. Regardless of what Hasbro does going forward, the annual pilgrimage to JoeCon was a unique event and something that I’ve relished every single year.
I regret that this year I will not be able to repeat that pilgrimage. Due to many different real life obligations, most of which center around a somewhat unexpected job change in March, I will not be able to make the trip to Loveland, Colorado this year to share the final JoeCon with everyone. This was not a decision I made lightly, and I tried very hard to find a way to make it even for the weekend itself, but unfortunately it was just not meant to be.
So it is with a mixture of great sadness and excitement that I look forward towards the G.I. Joe Convention in Loveland, Colorado and wish everyone the best of luck in their travels and hope you all have a terrific time, as I always have.
I will be there in spirit, and I’ll be covering the news as best I can from halfway across the country.
Hopefully this convention isn’t “good-bye”, it’s just a “see you later”. There are plenty of exciting regional events throughout the country, and maybe without the annual trek to JoeCon, folks can figure out a way to make it to one of those…they are certainly worth the trip.
EDIT – Original source of the images (as I should have guessed) is ACToys here. I’ve mirrored a bunch more images and added them to the gallery below. This set is looking even better!
Labeled as only coming from the “Chinese Web” new images of what is believed to be the upcoming G.I. Joe ComicCon set have emerged on the G.I. Joe Discussion group on Facebook.
This year’s SDCC exclusive appears to be a Rattler repaint as Powerglide, with Scarlett facing off against a HISS repaint as Soundwave, with Zartan! Very cool looking repaints, for sure, and I’m loving that Scarlett build, though not really wild about the 25th Anniversary head sculpt.
I really loved the Retaliation Zartan as well, it will be interesting to see what the differences are between this one and the previous.
Choosing the repaint the Direct to Consumer HISS Tank is an awesome idea, too, and I’m digging those Soundwave missile launchers at the turret. Really creative stuff.
Not only is it cool to see these, but there are two slots in the crossword puzzle to fill in! Check out the mirrored images below, and hit up the G.I. Joe Discussion Group on Facebook to join in the talk!
Leading up to JoeCon, Hasbro has posted a nice little clue up on their Hasbro Pulse website in the form of a crossword puzzle, with the names of the entire 18 figure lineup for 2016 concealed inside!
Now, they haven’t given any clues (pretty smart if you ask me) but they’ve oriented the puzzle in a way that fans can dive into it, trying to figure it out. Pretty brilliant if you ask me. It’s a really fun and interesting way to build hype and get the community fired up working on something over the next two weeks to JoeCon.
Check it out right here, join the Discussion on Facebook and lets see if we can get this thing busted! Kudos, Hasbro, the adult collecting community can sometimes lose focus on what makes their hobby fun. You nailed this one.
As the arrival of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention draws nearer (2 weeks away… is it possible?!?) the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has released the schedule of events. It has an outline of all the panels and when those panels are happening, so mark those times in your appointment book. As usual, there are some key days/times you should keep in mind:
Wednesday Evening
Golden Ticket holders will be able to pick up their packages Wednesday night, and those packages include the exclusive convention comic! Within the convention comic is usually a rundown of what attendee exclusives are available, so news will be hitting probably around 9:00pm Mountain time!
Thursday Evening
Package pick up for everyone is Thursday, and the official reveals of all of the convention exclusives will happen then! Pictures and details of the extra items should start spreading like wildfire tonight.
Friday
The Club store opens and the sales floor has its sneak preview starting at 2:00pm Mountain! It’s not clear whether or not Hasbro will have anything new to show at first, but it sounds like they will reveal their real good stuff on Saturday after their panel. More on that later.
Friday also has a great assortment of panelists including Adam Riches, James Kavanaugh and Dave Tree talking about IDW, Real American Hero, and Action Man himself.
Saturday
Obviously the big draw on Saturday is the Hasbro panel at 11:00am Mountain (1:00pm Eastern) where Hasbro will reveal 2016 G.I. Joe items! That’s right boys and girls, confirmation that we will see some product this year. This will obviously be a pretty huge draw for fans both at the Convention and sitting at home! After this panel, they will be putting prototype figures in their display booths, so expect a flurry of fans rushing to get pictures of these toys. WATCH YOUR COMPUTER SCREENS.
The Kindle Worlds panel is at 2:00pm moderated by Derryl DePriest, with the Collectors Club roundtable happening at 3:00pm (all times Mountain). The GIJCC round table will no doubt outline what’s left for us to see this year, including FSS 5.0 and perhaps more details on the G.I. Joe/Transformers 5-Pack and perhaps even some surprises. Always a good panel to pay attention to, and considering it’s the last one (ever!) you won’t want to miss it.
Other great panels with Kirk Bozigian, Larry Hama and Gregg Berger are happening this day as well!
Sunday
The most bittersweet day at JoeCon where the tired masses are trying to recover from the craziness in the days previous, all while getting ready to leave for the last time. This will be an emotional day in Loveland, Colorado, but folks have to brave the tears for a few more panels.
JoeDeClassified will do their panel at 10:00am Mountain with the always entertaining Joe Colton during her cosplay panel at 11:00am. You’ll want to check that out, and see if she’s wearing her “Tequila sunglasses”…
Larry Hama will be doing another panel after that, and then bringing up the rear is no other than What’s on Joe Mind themselves, manning the live broadcast for what is literally the last Fun Pub Convention G.I. Joe panel ever. Landmark occasion capped off by the WOJM street team.
Obviously if you want to check out the full schedule you can click here, but for folks stuck at home, these are the high level events that you may want to keep your eyes on.
Comic Book Resources has revealed images from the upcoming variant covers for IDW Publishing’s “Revolution” series. There are five variants to the first issue, and the article also includes an amazing piece of art by John Byrne, Something about seeing Byrne draw a handful of G.I. Joe characters just gives me a warm feeling, and I gotta admit, I’m quickly warming up to seeing MASK and the Joes running alongside each other. I may be slowly getting on board this whole shared universe train.
Check out the full details at Comic Book Resources, and the mirrored images below.
Big kudos to Adam Riches for his contribution – the cover with a toy homage to Optimus Prime and Scarlett. Looks pretty boss, Adam!
They are the nameless backbone of the Gorgon War…the soldiers in the trenches. Their names are not etched into the stone of history, but that doesn’t mean they’re not awesome action figures. 😀
I’ve posted another video review for the second Kickstarter shipment of Vitruvian HACKS figures, this time looking at the Athenian Warrior, the Myrmidon Warrior, and the Disciple of Eurayle. Three great figures who have provided tons of entertainment in the past couple of weeks.
Check out the video review below, and if you prefer the written reviews, hit up my Vitruvian HACKS Review Page.
I’m approaching my video reviews for the Vitruvian HACKS second Kickstarter shipment a little differently. I’m certainly not going to review every single figure individually, but breaking them up into “chunks” made a lot of sense.
For this first review, I’m looking at the ladies of the second shipment first, including Gorgon sisters Stheno and Eurayle as well as the vicious Amazon Warrior. Obviously, if you prefer to read the written reviews, you can hop on over to the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page, but the video review can also be seen below!
