Apparently Hasbro has just participated in the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, and rumor has it they spent quite a while talking about their future entertainment and toy plans with the folks in attendance there.
According to staff with TFW2005, Hasbro actually spoke about G.I. Joe specifically, saying they were going to “reignite” and “reimagine” the G.I. Joe brand through the Cinematic Universe, and that they were even currently developing a new G.I. Joe animated series.
In a way, this should come as no major surprise. G.I. Joe in its current iteration isn’t exactly a retail behemoth, and with a potential movie franchise on the way, you have to expect that Hasbro is looking to get back to the drawing board and push the franchise forward. I am fully on board with this plan.
G.I. Joe as it currently stands remains a fantastic and relevant product. Its design aesthetics, articulation, and overall style have very few peers at brick and mortal retail, in my opinion, the main issues all seem to fall around thematic ones and conceptual ones. Continually revisiting the same themes from the past 30 years is not an innovative way to carry a brand forward, so really, with a film franchise coming, it only makes sense to jettison some things and start fresh.
By all accounts, that seems to be what Hasbro is prepared to do.
Unlike many of my collecting peers, I don’t feel handcuffed or wedded to three decades of past history, and I really look forward to seeing what new concepts Hasbro might develop to move into the 21st Century. It will certainly be interesting to see what they do to dovetail a mostly real world military brand with these other interstellar adversaries, but I’m definitely on board to see what happens.
Check out TFW2005 and HissTank.com for some more specific commentary. I think the next few years could certainly get interesting!
Great news to start your June in that Spero Studios has launched their Kickstarter campaign for the new Animal Warriors of the Kingdom action figure line!
Four inch scale, highly articulated action figures highlight this exciting line based on the graphic novel The Kingdom. These are some really nice and fun looking figures that are sure to appeal to collectors and toy fans of all ages.
Jump on Kickstarter and support these bad boys, I want a Baron Kah Lee and we need to unlock some stretch goals to get to him!
UPDATE – I reached out to Chris Ryall, editor at IDW to inquire about A Real American Hero, and he confirmed that this title will be “untouched by the #IDWRevolution”. Great news!
For a while, IDW Publishing has been promoting a mysterious “Revolution”, hinting at some major storyline or paradigm shift with their comics, and sure enough, Entertainment Weekly brings news that this “Revolution” happens in September.
A short while ago, I posited that this rumored “Revolution” would potentially feature an alignment of IDW’s Hasbro properties, and indeed that looks to be what’s happening here.
Revolution is a five-part biweekly series which brings the Hasbro universes together, and as a result of this coming together, the M.A.S.K. title will be born.
Now, all of this doesn’t come without its share of risks. According to editor Chris Ryall, all titles are going to be relaunched with new #1 issues, though Ryall also stresses that this is NOT a reboot. The universes are coalescing in new ways, but past history is not just being wiped away here.
I think this is a fascinating concept, and may hopefully provide some insight into what Hasbro might be attempting with their huge cinematic universe initiative. We’ll see how successful things are. To me, the real question is whether Real American Hero is going to reset, or whether this will be the birth of a new main line G.I. Joe #1. These are questions I’m going to work to find the answers to, but for now, it seems like an interesting and exciting concept, and I’ll be eagerly anticipating the results in September.
Check out the full article with a great interview with Chris Ryall over on Entertainment Weekly.
Over on their Facebook Page, the folks behind Marauder “Gun Runners” have posted an exciting announcement about the upcoming G.I. Joe Convention in Loveland, Colorado!
Hey Folks!
We hope to see you ALL in a couple weeks at the upcoming Joe convention in Colorado! At the con, we will have:
-A huge 3 booth Marauder “Gun-Runner” display
-The MTF Valkyries figures & gear from the production tools on display
-NEW & UNANNOUNCED MTF accessories & gear on display that are ALSO getting released this summer
-Special con pricing on MTF items & MGR weapons,
-UNVEIL our upcoming and ALREADY IN THE WORKS Marauder Task Force 2017 projects
-3 (THREE), never before released, MTF Convention EXCLUSIVE figure styles: Range-Ops, Assault-Ops and Havoc-Ops (details and images to come!)
-Ryan Lord, the artist responsible for the MTF cardart illustrations & MTF skull/knife design, will be at the booth with a wide variety of artwork & custom items.
Again, would love to see you all at show! Please stop by, check out the booth and say “Hi” to your “Gun-Runners!”
MJ
Sounds pretty exciting! Everyone make sure you check out the Marauder booth at JoeCon, I’ve hit it in year’s past and it’s always a highlight of the Convention!
You could say the release of the Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. line has been an exciting moment for me, and I’ve spent the last two weeks or so expressing that excitement with the development of a Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. archival website at VitruvianFACTS.com!
The Vitruvian F.igure A.ccessory C.ollection T.racking S.ystem is a Wikipedia style archive with entries for pretty much everything released to date (except for the non-Kickstarter Blanks) and I’ve spent hours over the past couple of weeks getting things loaded, updated and linked up. This will be a “working document” able to evolve over time, and in the spirit of WikiPedia, at some point I’ll likely open it up to contributors. At the moment it’s locked down to myself and a couple of others for updates, but it is possible that in the days to come things will open up a little bit.
So head on over to VitruvianFACTS.com and see what you think! Big thanks to the immeasurable Troy McKie for his help on the logo, and a huge thanks to the folks at Boss Fight Studio for their advice in insight as I developed the archive.
If you like the figures you see in there, don’t forget to head right over to BossFightShop.com and spend lots of money!
I will warn you, I’ve been experiencing some performance issues on the website and am keeping a close eye on them. It’s possible I may eventually migrate to a new webhost to see if it improves, but for now, I’m just looking to see how things work. Thanks for your patience as we work out any hitches as this goes forward.
Yeah, I’m a little removed from the news from MegaCon at this point, mostly due to working on another Vitruvian HACKS related project which I will hopefully be able to reveal very soon.
Boss Fight Studio has officially set up shop at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida this weekend, and is making some fantastic announcements!
First and foremost, they’ve revealed the digital sculpts for the first two figures in the Series 02 Fantasy line from Vitruvian HACKS. There are some key changes, especially to the knight, but the figures still look, as one might suspect, pretty fantastic.
But the even bigger news out of MegaCon, courtesy of Boss Fight’s Facebook Page is the reveal of a special Wave 5 from the Greek Mythology line! Featuring a Cursed Skeleton, the River Styx Guardian, a Boa Constrictor Gorgon, and the Amazon Commander Penthesilea! For folks who are unfamiliar with the history around Penthesilea, she was the daughter of Ares, and an Amazonian queen. Certain mythologies also connect her with Achilles, so it will be very interesting to see where this all plays out. We already have the Myrmidon Warriors, and now we’ve got Penthesilea, it’s pretty fantastic to see the dots slowly getting connected here. Boss Fight revealed first samples of the figures as well as the spectacular card art, check those mirrored images out below.
As if this wasn’t enough…they also revealed two brand new Silver Blanks!
But, wait… there’s more! Along with all of this exciting news, they’ve also announced a collaboration with them and Dream Concept on a new line of HACKS compatible ZOMBIE FIGURES. Holy cow.
Yeah, MegaCon has been pretty huge for Boss Fight Studio, and from the looks of things, more huge still to come. Follow along on the Boss Fight Studios Facebook Page. Even better, if you’re in the Orlando area, swing by MegaCon booth 818 and tell them GeneralsJoes says hello!
As we move within a month of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention, Hasbro has posted an exciting update over on their Hasbro Pulse regarding the upcoming development of Fan Vote winner Stiletto!
Along with the update, we see a first look at Stiletto’s head sculpt and what looks to be an early concept for the figure build using parts from the Rise of Cobra Agent Helix. As a huge fan of the Helix action figure, I approve of this build big time.
Mark Weber mentions that Stiletto will appear at Toys “R” Us and Entertainment Earth in November, which surely seems to follow the familiar formula from the past couple of years, indicating that we will see some G.I. Joe product later this year. Let’s all look forward to JoeCon to see what’s up Hasbro’s sleeves.
Check out the full article over on Hasbro Pulse, and I’ve mirrored a couple of images below.
An exciting announcement from the folks at Roll Out Roll Call! Attendees of the show in London Heathrow will get a special opportunity to own Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #13 with a special exclusive cover by Robert Atkins and Joana LaFuente.
There will be a run of only 250 of these exclusive covers featuring a number of characters played by convention guests Morgan Lofting and Neil Ross. Your best chance to get this exclusive comic is at Roll Out Roll Call! Along with this, they’ve already announced exclusive availability of previously sold out Botcon exclusives!
The show is July 8th – 9th at London Heathrow and is a favorite show for many fans. Boss Fight Studio will be there, likely with a bunch of product in hand to sell!
There’s going to be lots to love about this year’s Roll Out Roll Call, and you can find all of the great details over on their Facebook page. Tickets are on sale now, so don’t wait!
Even though the written reviews have wrapped, there’s still more Vitruvian HACKS goodness over on the GeneralsJoes YouTube Channel! I’ve just posted video reviews for the NJCC Exclusive Ultimate Spartan and Kokomo Toys/All the Cool Stuff Amazon (Elite Warrior)!
More HACKS video reviews soon to come, but until then, check out these two additions embedded below. As always, please let me know if there are things I could do to make this better.
Okay, I approached these reviews a little differently. I wasn’t going to break down every individual blank or every individual skeleton or every individual accessory pack. That felt like overkill.
So instead, I’ve framed these reviews at a more high level, looking at these three elements conceptually, with how well I think they were executed overall. There are no real review scores for the blanks or accessories, and while I did use one for the skeletons, I’m not sure it really works.
None of these are individual characters, nor are they really designed to come with accessories, and the paint applications are purposefully simplified, so it didn’t feel appropriate to judge the success of these items on those prerequisites. That being said, I still took a ton of pictures and gave my opinions on the themes as a whole. They’re all posted on the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page or you can check them out individually below.
