Turns out we survived the past nine months without a G.I. Joe film, and as I look at my calendar, we are nearing the 6 week mark until G.I. Joe: Retaliation launches in 3D in the United States. See it again for the first time!
I will admit I was a bit taken aback at Toy Fair this year, with a visible and palpable lack of promotion for the upcoming film. Last year and in 2009 there were movie stars, front-page stories, movie clips…the whole ball of wax. G.I. Joe was front and damned center.
This year, the G.I. Joe presentation at Toy Fair felt tacked on to the Kre-O presentation, and besides some words of encouragement from Derryl DePriest, the film felt like more of an afterthought than the main promotional push. Instead of walls of figures and vehicles, we got seven new figures and a single new vehicle.
Now this is not meant to be a reflection on the toys themselves… from all appearances this will be a fantastic year for toys. The ultimate film versions of Duke, Flint, Roadblock and Firefly all look incredible. Wonderfully accurate old school versions of Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, and Snake Eyes. Budo, Data-Viper and KWINN! And hey, I didn’t even mention the Tomahawk Eaglehawk. Very good stuff coming this year. But I won’t lie. The atmosphere was not as fired up and national coverage as it was in years past. I realize a lot of that has to do with the film delay, but when the coronation of a Pony princess on an animated cartoon gets more mainstream pub than a multi-million dollar Hollywood production? Damn right I’m going to say something about that.
Whether or not you agree with how G.I. Joe: Retaliation was treated at Toy Fair, though, the fact remains that it’s a new year and we have a ton of great looking product to look forward to. The film is hitting in just over six weeks and by all accounts looks to be awesome. We are on the verge of a potential tipping point in the G.I. Joe brand right now, and GeneralsJoes is riding that train all the way. As we lead up to the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film over the next six weeks, expect loads of content. Editorials, figure reviews, vehicle reviews, comic reviews, and heck… perhaps even a dio-story chapter or two. No promises. 😉
The movie is coming. The new toys are coming. The comic is getting revitalized. There’s a lot to look forward to over the next six weeks, hope you all are joining me for the ride.
The pictures were just revealed this morning, and now this bad boy is UP FOR PRE-ORDER! Click the link below to place your order for this freaking awesome movie-accurate Cobra Ninja:
It’s like a little miniature Lee Byung-Hun is staring into my soul.
Thanks to Toy News International for passing along word that details and images are now available for the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation Storm Shadow figure from Hot Toys! Just like Snake Eyes, this is one incredible, movie-accurate version of the infamous Arashikage ninja. He looks SHARP.
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Thanks again to Toy News International for the info, and click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for all of the details of this upcoming release. You can always check the product page on Hot Toys.com for information as well.
Again coming courtesy of Mysterious Stranger via Twitter… it looks like the Cobra Special Forces social media experiment is starting to take life in more ways than one. In various locations around California, billboards are being unfurled, celebrating the Cobra Special Forces movement!
We must be back on track for the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, because suddenly CobraSpecialForces.com and the Cobra Special Forces Facebook group have some content! Included in this content is what appears to be a brand new recruiting video for the Cobra Special Forces.
Awesome! We see many different scenes of these Cobra Troopers, in full G.I. Joe: Retaliation accurate uniforms… I like it. Check out the embedded video below, and looks like we should keep checking Cobra Special Forces on Facebook for the latest updates! Thanks to Mysterious Stranger on Twitter for the info!
I remember it like it was yesterday… not only was my team playing the biggest game of the year, but G.I. Joe: Retaliation was poised to launch their huge Super Bowl TV spot, introducing the viewing public to the wonders of flying mountain ninjas.
This year, not so much.
Not only is my team not in the game, but from the sounds of Latino Review, G.I. Joe: Retaliation will not return to the big stage for a second go at an its marketing campaign. I’m not quite sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet. Actually, correct that. I know it’s not a good thing. But is it terrible?
We’ve already had over 12 months of G.I. Joe: Retaliation advertising blitz, is one more commercial during the Super Bowl going to provide any additional bang for the buck, or will it simply be a reminder to folks of what happened in early 2012?
I suppose time will tell what the affect is, but I almost wish Paramount was jumping back in with both barrels blasting instead of treading on eggshells hoping to not remind folks about the delay. Thanks again to Latino Review for the information.
