by generalsjoes | Mar 7, 2013 | 30th Anniversary, Dollar Store, Exclusives, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Reviews, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
I remember like it was yesterday… the frantic post-G.I. Joe: Retaliation meltdown where everyone was convinced G.I. Joe was dead, the Dollar General exclusives were getting recalled, truly Deth of teh line!11! Here we are a little less than a year later with a good chunk of pretty cool product to look forward to. Included in that product is the “running change” versions of the aforementioned Dollar General figures. So far being spotted in places like Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, these figures promise to be a bit more available than the previous ones.
I was able to get my hands on Snake Eyes, and you can either check out the review on my 30th Anniversary Review Page or the direct link below.
by generalsjoes | Feb 20, 2013 | 30th Anniversary, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Toys
Well, this certainly comes as a surprise. Online retailers Big Bad Toy Store and Entertainment Earth have both opened up pre-orders for the now legendary “Dollar General” G.I. Joe figures. Based on the images shown, they appear to be the original decos and NOT the “running change” versions, but I’m thinking perhaps we shouldn’t take that as a guarantee.
Considering even the “running change” versions of these figures use the original figure on the package itself, I would not be at all surprised if that’s what is being offered here. I would hesitate to recommend people pre-order these blindly, but it might just be worth taking a chance, I don’t know. Check out the links below to stock up!
Entertainment Earth
Big Bad Toy Store
Keep in mind at BBTS, a few of the singles are already sold out, so going by the set may be your best bet. Pretty inexpensive, too! Check out my reviews for the original “Dollar General” G.I. Joe figures at the links below as well:
by generalsjoes | Jan 7, 2013 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow
In a clear sign that these discount store G.I. Joe figure repaints are likely on the way to retail stores, eBay seller viperkingdom has posted them all up on eBay. This second wave is full of some great homages to the classic Joes…some obvious, some not so much:
Now most folks have identified some of the clear inspiration for these figures. Cobra Commander is based on his comic deco, while Storm Shadow uses T’Ginzu from Ninja Force as his base. Duke’s interesting uniform color pulls inspiration from the animated Sunbow Breaker.
Shipwreck looks like a great OG13 base, and Snake Eyes looks to be based on the unheralded and extremely underrated Toys “R” Us Heavy Assault Set 6-Pack version from the new sculpt era. But perhaps the most interesting here (and maybe the most overlooked) is the Cobra Trooper.
Many folks have identified the Cobra Trooper as having a comic inspiration, with the light blue and tan. But it goes beyond that, at least from my view. I’m sure folks remember those animated commercials way back in the day. Well, the Cobra Troopers in those animated commercials look exactly like these figures, all the way to the blue mask. It’s a very obscure and really neat homage for Joe fans who are interested in that type of thing.
I’ve mirrored the original gallery of images courtesy of Gyre-Viper from JoeDeClassified, and I’ve also included some low res images from those old school commercials. I think the inspiration is clear. Very cool stuff.
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And below some very low resolution screen shots of those animated Cobra Troopers…notice the blue masks, blue gloves, and yellow straps? Pretty cool.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 28, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe: Renegades, G.I. Joe: The Movie
One would think this would be a pretty easy, straight-forward article, right? I mean, we barely had a wave of figures released, and the vehicles were by and large unremarkable, so what is the point of this discussion?
Well, I kind of thought so, too, but then I started looking into what we got this year, and it became evident, that even with G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s short-lived shelf life, there was still plenty of topics to dissect and plenty to talk about in regards to 2012’s slate of G.I. Joe toys.
Now, a pair of items kind of had me in a quandry. While technically the Slaughter’s Marauders and Dreadnoks 7-Packs were shipped in 2012, I still consider them 2011 product. They were announced and solicited in 2011, and I received my sets in 2011, even though many folks got them in 2012. For that reason I did not include them when considering this list.
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery on that?
Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below to see my thoughts.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 27, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Kre-O, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie, IDW, Podcasts, Sideshow, Sunbow, What's on Joe Mind
And in the true Spirit of Christmas, join us while we talk about female body parts for a couple of hours…
In all seriousness, this was a homecoming of sorts as we all got back together to do a real live episode for the first time in well over a month, and we had a ton of news to cover! If that’s not all, the rest of the crew (alongside YoJoe guru Terry Dizard) spoke with Bill Ratner, the voice of Flint in the Sunbow animated series.
Make sure you don’t miss me and Chuck throwing down about Michael Bay and the Transformers franchise… it’s one for the ages!
Check out the latest episode on our Podbean page, or via the embedded players below. Show notes are after the jump.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 27, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Special Ops, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe Video Game, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe: Renegades, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Podcasts
Whatever you think about the state of G.I. Joe throughout 2012, I don’t think anyone can argue that it was a slow year for news. Quite the opposite! Going from nearly daily reports of movie updates, to the downward spiral of G.I. Joe: Retaliation confidence, and finally finding some middle ground with the great regional gatherings of Joe fans and the countless great independent projects.
It was quite the interesting year for G.I. Joe, and in celebration of 2012, I’m picking the top 12 news stories for the year. They may be good, they may be bad, but the end result is a collection of events throughout 2012 that paints a pretty cool picture when we look back on it. Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for the run down.
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