In the 1960’s Hasbro, quite simply, wasn’t what it is today. Beginning in 1923, the Hassenfeld brothers formed a company selling textile remnants, then migrated to school supplies, and finally, in the 1940’s spun off into producing toys. In 1952 with the arrival of Mr. Potato Head, they finally had a big toy brand to call their own.
Meanwhile, Mattel was rolling hard and strong with Barbie, and while Hasbro was doing okay, it wasn’t in the same league as its west coast competition.
Then came 1963. Then came the revelation that they could do what Mattel is doing and make a Barbie…but make it a Barbie for boys.
G.I. Joe was born.
Pitched in 1963, the brand depended on a successful reception at Toy Fair in New York City to spring forward into production. Deals were made in New York, not in the backrooms in the months leading up to what is now essentially a press event. Brands literally lived and died by their presentation.
It all came down to this.
With the above film reel from 1963, Hasbro officially convinced American retailers to buy into this brand. In 1964 and 1965 G.I. Joe made up 75% of Hasbro’s sales, and while it dipped in the late 70’s, it rebounded in the 80s to become the first multi-media toyline release with a cartoon, comic book, and landmark series of highly articulated action figures all hitting at once. It was an incredible feat of marketing the likes of which had never been seen before, and have rarely been replicated to such perfection even 30+ years later.
It all came down to that nine minute video. The concept of Action Figures was born there, and lives on today.
Today, three decades later, G.I. Joe remains one of the most recognized American icons and toy brands around the world.
It feels like forever since I’ve been able to say this, but a new episode of the What’s on Joe Mind podcast is HERE.
Rescued from technical purgatory by our esteemed editor Gary, the 46th Special Edition focused on the fun of JoeCon 2015 in Springfield, Illinois! It’s a review of the excellent 2015 G.I. Joe Convention hot on the heels of the four day foray into G.I. Joe fun and nerdery.
Go check out this latest special edition on our Podbean page, or check it out embedded below.
Last year, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club strongly indicated that they would provide a hint to the 2015 G.I. Joe Convention set in the Diamond Solicitation of their convention comic.
Sure enough, in the comic, an ad for the 2015 G.I. Joe Convention appeared, complete with a tiger pattern on the background. As we all know, last year’s set had Tiger Force elements.
Fast forward to this year… the Diamond Solicitation of the JoeCon comic hit shops last week, and there is another G.I. Joe Convention advertisement… but the background is different:
That’s right, it’s the clear blue sky.
Now, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club never stated this year’s comic would contain a hint to the JoeCon set, but if we’re to go by previous years, they could be throwing us a bone here.
Could we be seeing Sky Patrol in 2016?
And if so, who would they be facing off against? The G.I. Joe newsletter has been featuring Action Force pretty heavily, but I’m not sure how Action Force dovetails with Sky Patrol (especially considering they’re both good guys).
Who knows, the whole thing could be a red herring, but it’s certainly going to make for some interesting speculation. Hopefully we’ll hear more details about the 2016 G.I. Joe Con set soon! Keep watching GeneralsJoes and GIJoeClub.co for the latest info.
What’s to come after the COBRA World Order is still up for grabs, but IDW has provided their solicitation list for April, 2016 which reveals a bit more information on what’s to come in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero going forward. Also check out the details of Transformers vs. G.I. Joe and Street Fighter X G.I. Joe!
With the first round of duels settled, the World Warrior Tournament enters the quarterfinals! But can the forces of G.I. Joe and their Street Fighter allies remain in the fight long enough to take down M. Bison himself? The time for titanic tussles has arrived!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Street Fighter X G.I. JOE #3 (of 6)—Subscription Variant
Your favorite Street Fighter characters face off against G.I. JOE for the first time ever!
8-bit Variant Cover by Matthew Waite!
Transformers vs G.I. JOE #12
Tom Scioli, John Barber (w) • Scioli (a & c)
WELCOME TO THE TERROR DROME! As the forces of COBRA plot a treacherous move, OPTIMUS PRIME descends in to CYBERTRONIAN hell in search of the MATRIX. They say the sun also rises… but will it be friend or foe?!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Transformers vs G.I. JOE #12—Subscription Variant
Tom Scioli, John Barber (w) • Scioli (a) • Giannis Milogiannis (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
The road to hell is paved with good intentions… and DINOBOTS!
The end is nigh, and the action has never been bigger!
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #227: Cobra Nation, Part 2
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a & c)
Cobra Commander’s plan would be going perfectly—If he hadn’t messed with the wrong people: his own members of Cobra! Now Destro, Zartan, The Baroness, Tomax and Xamot want something from Cobra Commander… and if he wants his COBRA NATION to succeed, he’ll have to do just as they say!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #227: Cobra Nation, Part 2—Art Appreciation Variant
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Juan Carlos Ruiz (c)
The COBRA World Order moves at a rapid pace, with both Chuckles and Cover Girl wounded in action, the political machinations churn onward.
The latest installment of this series comes to your local comic shop tomorrow. Check out the preview below!
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #224: COBRA WORLD ORDER Part 6
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Stephen Mooney (c)
Snake in the Grass! Just when G.I. JOE thinks its safe, COBRA reveals another layer to the Cobra World Order, as a close ally is revealed as a traitor. Can G.I. JOE survive this betrayal?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
I. Joe cannot escape the true grasp of the COBRA WORLD ORDER!
All the way back in the mid 80s, during Season 3 of the Transformers animated series, the Sunbow writers made their clear link between the G.I. Joe and Transformers universes by introducing both Marissa Faireborn (daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye) and even more directly bringing forth the character of “Old Snake” a mysterious former terrorist who looked and sounded remarkably like COBRA Commander. Leveraging the whole idea of Synthoids only went to further that story.
Do you like your peanut butter in your chocolate? Some do, some don’t, but whatever your preference, the G.I. Joe and Transformers Collectors Clubs have taken steps to offer exclusives linking together the universes of G.I. Joe and Transformers, and their first entry into that world is Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterbreaker.
Actually released earlier last year, I only got the opportunity to pick this figure up a month or so ago, and am now getting around to the review. You can check out the review on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club review page, or the direct link below.
This Kickstarter fueled by the folks at The Fwoosh took the G.I. Joe community by storm a few months ago, especially with a few figures here bearing a passing resemblance to some of our favorite classic G.I. Joe ninja characters.
Well, if you didn’t have a chance to capitalize on the Kickstarter, you still have the opportunity to add some pretty cool looking 6″ ninja figures to your display shelves, as the Articulated Icons Feudal Series figures are up for pre-order now.
These are some pretty terrific looking figures, I have to admit, though I haven’t taken the plunge on any of them personally. I’ll be very interested to see how this all turns out, and look forward to seeing some in hand impressions so I can make an educated decision.
The new year brings big news for Articulated Icons! If you missed out on our successful Kickstarter Campaign, you won’t want to miss this!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Los Angeles, CA: January 14, 2016 – Following the highly successful Kickstarter Campaign, Articulated Icons: The Feudal Series is now available for PRE-ORDER! What that means is, if you missed out on our Kickstarter campaign, or if you have decided you want to bolster your ranks even more, now you can!
All of our figures (save for the KS-exclusive Smokey Grey Ninja), can now be ordered through our store page, located HERE.
If you are a backer or have been monitoring the Kickstarter campaign, you will notice that while this pre-order will be a part of our FIRST production run, these will be shipping AFTER all Kickstarter orders are fulfilled and shipped. Please note that this is NOT subject to change, so there will likely be a difference of a few of weeks between the end of the KS shipping and the start of the pre-order shipping. We will, of course, have better information about that as we get closer to fulfillment.
So, if you missed out on the Kickstarter, now is the time to order the Feudal Series! We will keep pre-orders open for as long as we can into the production cycle, but we advise that you do not delay in placing an order — we will not have a lot of lead time to announce when pre-orders will end, so it might be abrupt to stay with the production timeline. Don’t miss out again!
Here are a few specific details about the pre-order structure and process:
All pre-orders will be charged within 24 hours of the order being placed
The base shipping fee for US is $10, everywhere else is $30. Individual figures shipping prices are listed with the figure and are added to the base shipping fee
Pre-orders will be closed for each figure as they are sold out for our initial run (we will be holding some stock for conventions, etc.)
If you are an existing Kickstarter backer and want to buy more, you can do so but it will be at the new pricing structure
So, we hope you had great holidays and are ready to build up your armies! We will be back with more regular updates now that we are in the new year, so look for more soon! Thanks for your continued support!
During the Kickstarter for the Marauder Task Force Valkyries figures, we were all pleasantly surprised by the appearance of more deco choices for the existing Marauder Task Force figures. Many folks took advantage of the Kickstarter to buy these new colors, and now those new colors are available in the Marauder store!
The following email communication comes from the folks at Marauder “Gun Runners”:
Hey 814 Valtaskers!
The remaining Orange Hazard Ops, Brown Terra Ops, Yellow Shock Ops, Gray Tech Ops and Yellow/Green Strike Ops figures and accessories are NOW live on www.marauderinc.com We received several questions about when the new deco figures and new colored gear would be available…so wanted to let you all know!
I continue to play catch up from 2015 today, this time covering one of the membership incentives from last year, the Wave Crusher w/ Sub Viper! Using a great figure from 2001, the Collectors Club continues to pay homage to previously untouched corners of G.I. Joe history and does a pretty bang up job of it as well.
