by generalsjoes | Aug 24, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Pursuit of COBRA
Lord knows there’s been no shortage of complaining online over the Rise of COBRA film and everything surrounding it, but by and large, folks seem to at least be relatively happy with the toys we’ve gotten. Sure, there are people who have some issues with the design or the concept of figures, but for pure sculpting talent and design accumin, I just can’t conceive at how anyone could argue that Hasbro’s art team is the best in the business on a 3 3/4″ scale…and man, it’s not even close.
ToyArk.com just posted some loose images of upcoming Avatar toys. And while the film promises to totally revolutionize the medium, the action figures…well…in my mind, they look terrible. The vehicles rock pretty hard, but from a sculpting and detail standpoint, those figures just aren’t even in Hasbro’s league. I mean, let’s look at this…I’ve posted a comparison gallery below.
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I mean, is it even a close comparison? Sculpting detail, scale, design…it’s miles better with the Joe stuff than it is with Mattel’s Avatar line. It’s a world of difference. No bulky, ugly hips to conceal wonky articulation points, much fewer blatantly obvious cut-lines for movement, and a much more well-blended articulation and musculature style.
Like I said, though, the vehicles are very nice (even if the Mech and Dropship are direct rip offs of Sigma 6 :shifty: ) but those figures? Bleeech.
And yeesh, I didn’t even touch on the Terminator: Salvation travesties…those were some butt ugly toys, too. It just gets more and more obvious to me that aside from rampant collector complaints, Hasbro absolutely rules the boys toys aisle, and it’s not even close.
by generalsjoes | Aug 24, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie
Official retail product images have cropped up for upcoming Combat Heroes sets as well as Target Exclusive vehicles. Curiously, though, these images show clear international markings…it will be interesting to see where these crop up. Anyway, galleries are shown below.
Combat Heroes
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Target Exclusives/International Packs
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The more I see those exclusives the more I’m loving the SNAKE Armor set. Though why the heck is the Neo-Viper now being called the Viper Commando? He’s named that in the recently released Toys “R” Us SRO 3-pack as well. Weird.
by generalsjoes | Aug 23, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: Resolute, G.I. Joe: The Movie
Okay, how can something so utterly cheesy be so cool at the same time? I dunno, but this is. The voice work is horrid, the flash-based animation is choppy and no-budget, but the character designs rock, and I loved every minute of it! Still not sure how it’s possible.
Hasbro’s MonkeyBarTV has posted a neat little flash-based animated game, mixed in with a short new story/cartoon following a COBRA attempt and putting a spy in the midst of the Joe team. Like I said, the story is thin, but the character models are freaking cool. A lot of them look pretty much the same as the RoC film, but in a smoother, more animated style, however many of them are clearly Resolute inspired! Destro, Ripcord, the Baroness, and Snake Eyes especially all have some great Resolute “feeling” to them, and it’s a pretty cool marriage between the two styles.
Does this mean an actual cartoon using these designs is in the works? No idea, but you’d have no complaints out of if it is. I’m amazed at how nicely the two styles merge into each other. They seemed to dramatically contrast one another at first, but whoever designed the characters for this little game did a good job making them work together.
As part of a “reward” for completing certain aspects of the game, you can also download character filecards! I snagged them all, and put them in a gallery below. Pretty bad ass.
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by generalsjoes | Aug 23, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie
As thought, last weekend, District 9 took a chunk of G.I. Joe’s audience domestically, but the film is still rolling along fairly strong worldwide. It hit at least $2 million every day throughout the week, and jumped to $3.6 million Friday night. At this point, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the film is estimated to bring in $12.5 million domestically this weekend which would bring it to $120.5 million domestically since release three weeks ago.
But the real story here is the worldwide appeal. G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA has quietly kept it’s #1 ranking worldwide for 2 solid weeks, and still brings in some serious dollars in other countries. Box Office Mojo is reporting that overseas box office returns stand right now at about $102 million (though often those numbers are somewhat out of date). That means by Monday, The Rise of COBRA could have $225 – $240 million worldwide. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura initially said he wanted $350 million to guarantee a sequel, but recent comments from Paramount have put their goal at a more mangeable $300 million. That number certainly seems pretty achievable at this point.
Not bad numbers at all, and certainly not the “bust” that many armchair quarterbacks were predicting and even hoping for.
by generalsjoes | Aug 23, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie
The Terror Drome has dug up some nice packaged shots of the upcoming Wal-Mart Exclusive Battle Stations which come with familiar mini playsets and a pair of Rise of COBRA themed action figures. They should retail for $17.99 and be available at Wal-Mart. The sets include:
- Heatseeker Missile Launcher w/ Scrap Iron and Neo-Viper
- Laser Artillary Weapon w/ Hawk and Grand Slam
- COBRA Surveillance Port w/ Tele-Viper and MARS Trooper
- Outpost Defender w/ Roadblock and Tripwire
I’m sort of on the fence with these. I love the Surveillance Port, and really dig that RoC Tele-Viper, but I’m not wild about another MARS Trooper. The green camouflage Hawk kicks ass, but I don’t really need another Grand Slam, and I’m not crazy about the LAW either. I am a bit tempted on the Outpost Defender, simply for the Resolute styled Roadblock, but I’ve got a pre-production version, and I really don’t care for Tripwire. The Heatseek Missile is probably my favorite of the actual mini playsets, but I don’t really like either figure. It’ll help Scrap Iron if he’s got the newer construction from the unreleased Wave 15 version, but beyond that…I dunno. Nothing with these sets is knocking my socks off. Check out the images for yourself.
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by generalsjoes | Aug 21, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie
Thanks to JoeBattleLines for pointing out that HasbroToyShop.com has the following vehicles in stock and ready to ship:
Don’t forget that “GIJoe10” saves 10% off your order!
