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G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA mini dio-story by yours truly

Warning – This is gonna get long.  If you just want to check out the latest project, click here.

Without a shadow of a doubt the most asked question I get is “when are you going to do more dio-stories?”.  And well, at least, for the moment, I’ve got an answer, though it might be one that ticks off some folks.

Ever since I began my Dio-Story adventures way back in 2002, it was because I was inspired.  The new Real American Hero Collection figures did it for me back then, sparking me into my massive review archive and monstrous dio-story universe that has spanned 7 years, hundreds of characters, and lots of obnoxious special effects (not to mention many an oversized blade of grass representing mysterious “jungles” in different parts of the world…  :shifty: ).  But, as the years roll on and real life takes its place amongst my hobbies, time grew shorter, and for me to tell the types of stories I wanted to tell, well…it was going to take a lot more time and a LOT more effort than I was putting in.

But I stand before you, still determined to finish what I started.  However, this little project is NOT a continuation of what I started.  Confused yet?  Check out the “Read the Full Story” link to…well…read the full story.

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That’s a whole lotta crimson right there…and dollar signs!

Over on JoeBattleLines, Mysterious Stranger has posted a great image featuring two of the excellent JoeCon Exclusive Crimson Guard paratroopers as well as the ever elusive San Diego ComicCon Sideshow Collectibles COBRA Commander.  The end result is a whole lotta red that also set him back a whole lotta green.  But the picture is absolutely bad ass.

Check it out below!

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News Catchup – Reviews, pics, other goodies

I was actually somewhat surprised at the level of G.I. Joe news and info over the past few days…it’s been downright sparse!  At least in official type stuff…I am glad to see lots of sites really ramping stuff up, though, and getting some great reviews posted, some leaked pics, all the good stuff we expect as toy fans.   Now that the family is in bed recuperating from a few hectic days, I’ve taken a couple of minutes to scour the web and find some worthwhile recaps.

HissTank.com – G.I. Joe Desert 5-Pack Toys “R” Us Exclusive

This set has me REALLY excited.  I’m not normally a big fan of desert figures or environmentally specific sets, but I am loving pretty much every figure in here.  I really like that we have so many new characters… Dial Tone, Law, Repeater, and Footloose all make up for a very neat cast of characters, and it’s amazing that with so many reused parts we get such a cool and diverse 5-pack.  The desert camouflage is actually pretty unique as well.  Rulz got his hands on an early sample and has posted a ton of pictures here.  I mirrored a few of them below.

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Terror Drome – Pictorial Review of Rise of COBRA Dragonhawk

Listen, I’ve heard all the complaints about the size of this thing, and I share many of them.  This is a VERY small vehicle.  But I gotta admit, I love small little mini-copters.  Stuff like the Locusts of old have some really cool potential…but of course, those Locusts of old didn’t have an MSRP of $25.00.  I have yet to see a Dragonhawk first hand at this point, so maybe in person the size issues really will be too much, but from the distance of a computer screen, it still looks like a bad ass little helicopter and I dig it.  Check out the review at the Terror Drome here, and I’ve mirrored some images below.

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Terror Drome – Review of JoeCon Exclusive 12″ Crimson Guard

12″ figures have never really blown my skirt up, but some recent examples have softened my stance a bit.  Obviously the Sideshow stuff is amazing, but even the 12″ Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, SDCC Baroness, COBRA Commander, and the upcoming Destro all look fairly cool, too.  But this Crimson Guard takes the cake.  It seems evident that the GIJCC wanted to give us a good 12″ figure at semi-Sideshow quality without the Sideshow level prices.  I mean, it was still $50, but that’s better than a hundred.  Figure doesn’t look perfect, but it’s still very nice.  Check out the review here, with some images below as well.

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Very cool videos from JoeCon by JoeCustoms.com

We can funnel all the information you want from JoeCon, but there are always a ton of interesting details at the roundtables that don’t seem to filter out to the sites.  Luckily, the great guys at JoeCustoms let the video cameras roll and have posted part 1 of a video series from the Hasbro Panel at JoeCon 2009!  Check it out below.

Catching up – More info from Hasbro Panel at JoeCon 2009

Still playing a bit of catch up today and yesterday with JoeCon intel as I was on the road for a lot of the excitement, then ended up at work until after midnight with a Firewall/Switch issue.  When it rains, it pours…

Anyway, a spontaneous Hasbro round table was held yesterday in conjunction with the Rise of COBRA panel, and they showcased a lot of images of upcoming 2010 exclusive items, mostly available at Toys “R” Us and Target stores.  They also talked about some “zipcord” figure/vehicle sets intended for the kids’ market, but those vehicles will come with fully functional Pursuit of COBRA action figures in them.  They are listed as follows:

Rip Attack Zipcord Vehicles

  • JetStorm Cycle w/ Snake Eyes
  • Tiger Snake w/ Street-Viper

Target Exclusives

  • RAM w/ Sandstorm (the Joe that Zartan kills and disguises himself as!)
  • Trouble Bubble w/ Elite-Viper
  • Glider w/ Ace
  • Twin Battle Gun w/ Range-Viper (a darker colored Range-Viper from the 7-Pack?  SOLD!)

Toys “R” Us Exclusives

  • Single Pack Doc (Arctic Threat)
  • Single Pack Shipwreck (Arctic Threat)
  • Sting Raider w/ Copperhead and Swamp-Viper (Swamp-Viper is an AVAC in green)

And in perhaps, some of the best news of the panel, Hasbro revealed they are retooling the Sigma 6 2.5″ Iron Hammer mechs to fit the full sized figures!  Hell yeah!

Images are mirrored below, courtesy of JoeBattleLines.com.

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The panel also discussed Shadow Tracker, who is a COBRA tracker who refuses to use guns, and only uses melee weapons.  He was conceived of to work with Jungle-Vipers, who are all macked out on nanomites, and use advanced technology to pin down their targets, then Shadow Tracker goes in to finish them off.  A very cool team, and an absolutely bad ass looking figure.