by generalsjoes | Jun 3, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, JoeCon 2016, Show and Convention Coverage
As the arrival of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention draws nearer (2 weeks away… is it possible?!?) the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has released the schedule of events. It has an outline of all the panels and when those panels are happening, so mark those times in your appointment book. As usual, there are some key days/times you should keep in mind:
Wednesday Evening
Golden Ticket holders will be able to pick up their packages Wednesday night, and those packages include the exclusive convention comic! Within the convention comic is usually a rundown of what attendee exclusives are available, so news will be hitting probably around 9:00pm Mountain time!
Thursday Evening
Package pick up for everyone is Thursday, and the official reveals of all of the convention exclusives will happen then! Pictures and details of the extra items should start spreading like wildfire tonight.
Friday
The Club store opens and the sales floor has its sneak preview starting at 2:00pm Mountain! It’s not clear whether or not Hasbro will have anything new to show at first, but it sounds like they will reveal their real good stuff on Saturday after their panel. More on that later.
Friday also has a great assortment of panelists including Adam Riches, James Kavanaugh and Dave Tree talking about IDW, Real American Hero, and Action Man himself.
Saturday
Obviously the big draw on Saturday is the Hasbro panel at 11:00am Mountain (1:00pm Eastern) where Hasbro will reveal 2016 G.I. Joe items! That’s right boys and girls, confirmation that we will see some product this year. This will obviously be a pretty huge draw for fans both at the Convention and sitting at home! After this panel, they will be putting prototype figures in their display booths, so expect a flurry of fans rushing to get pictures of these toys. WATCH YOUR COMPUTER SCREENS.
The Kindle Worlds panel is at 2:00pm moderated by Derryl DePriest, with the Collectors Club roundtable happening at 3:00pm (all times Mountain). The GIJCC round table will no doubt outline what’s left for us to see this year, including FSS 5.0 and perhaps more details on the G.I. Joe/Transformers 5-Pack and perhaps even some surprises. Always a good panel to pay attention to, and considering it’s the last one (ever!) you won’t want to miss it.
Other great panels with Kirk Bozigian, Larry Hama and Gregg Berger are happening this day as well!
Sunday
The most bittersweet day at JoeCon where the tired masses are trying to recover from the craziness in the days previous, all while getting ready to leave for the last time. This will be an emotional day in Loveland, Colorado, but folks have to brave the tears for a few more panels.
JoeDeClassified will do their panel at 10:00am Mountain with the always entertaining Joe Colton during her cosplay panel at 11:00am. You’ll want to check that out, and see if she’s wearing her “Tequila sunglasses”…
Larry Hama will be doing another panel after that, and then bringing up the rear is no other than What’s on Joe Mind themselves, manning the live broadcast for what is literally the last Fun Pub Convention G.I. Joe panel ever. Landmark occasion capped off by the WOJM street team.
Obviously if you want to check out the full schedule you can click here, but for folks stuck at home, these are the high level events that you may want to keep your eyes on.
by generalsjoes | Jun 3, 2016 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
Comic Book Resources has revealed images from the upcoming variant covers for IDW Publishing’s “Revolution” series. There are five variants to the first issue, and the article also includes an amazing piece of art by John Byrne, Something about seeing Byrne draw a handful of G.I. Joe characters just gives me a warm feeling, and I gotta admit, I’m quickly warming up to seeing MASK and the Joes running alongside each other. I may be slowly getting on board this whole shared universe train.
Check out the full details at Comic Book Resources, and the mirrored images below.
Big kudos to Adam Riches for his contribution – the cover with a toy homage to Optimus Prime and Scarlett. Looks pretty boss, Adam!
by generalsjoes | Jun 1, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Hasbro Cinematic Universe
So much for the quiet news days, eh?
Apparently Hasbro has just participated in the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, and rumor has it they spent quite a while talking about their future entertainment and toy plans with the folks in attendance there.
According to staff with TFW2005, Hasbro actually spoke about G.I. Joe specifically, saying they were going to “reignite” and “reimagine” the G.I. Joe brand through the Cinematic Universe, and that they were even currently developing a new G.I. Joe animated series.
In a way, this should come as no major surprise. G.I. Joe in its current iteration isn’t exactly a retail behemoth, and with a potential movie franchise on the way, you have to expect that Hasbro is looking to get back to the drawing board and push the franchise forward. I am fully on board with this plan.
G.I. Joe as it currently stands remains a fantastic and relevant product. Its design aesthetics, articulation, and overall style have very few peers at brick and mortal retail, in my opinion, the main issues all seem to fall around thematic ones and conceptual ones. Continually revisiting the same themes from the past 30 years is not an innovative way to carry a brand forward, so really, with a film franchise coming, it only makes sense to jettison some things and start fresh.
By all accounts, that seems to be what Hasbro is prepared to do.
Unlike many of my collecting peers, I don’t feel handcuffed or wedded to three decades of past history, and I really look forward to seeing what new concepts Hasbro might develop to move into the 21st Century. It will certainly be interesting to see what they do to dovetail a mostly real world military brand with these other interstellar adversaries, but I’m definitely on board to see what happens.
Check out TFW2005 and HissTank.com for some more specific commentary. I think the next few years could certainly get interesting!
by generalsjoes | Jun 1, 2016 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
UPDATE – I reached out to Chris Ryall, editor at IDW to inquire about A Real American Hero, and he confirmed that this title will be “untouched by the #IDWRevolution”. Great news!
Well, I’m not generally one to pat myself on the back, but…
For a while, IDW Publishing has been promoting a mysterious “Revolution”, hinting at some major storyline or paradigm shift with their comics, and sure enough, Entertainment Weekly brings news that this “Revolution” happens in September.
A short while ago, I posited that this rumored “Revolution” would potentially feature an alignment of IDW’s Hasbro properties, and indeed that looks to be what’s happening here.
Revolution is a five-part biweekly series which brings the Hasbro universes together, and as a result of this coming together, the M.A.S.K. title will be born.
Now, all of this doesn’t come without its share of risks. According to editor Chris Ryall, all titles are going to be relaunched with new #1 issues, though Ryall also stresses that this is NOT a reboot. The universes are coalescing in new ways, but past history is not just being wiped away here.
I think this is a fascinating concept, and may hopefully provide some insight into what Hasbro might be attempting with their huge cinematic universe initiative. We’ll see how successful things are. To me, the real question is whether Real American Hero is going to reset, or whether this will be the birth of a new main line G.I. Joe #1. These are questions I’m going to work to find the answers to, but for now, it seems like an interesting and exciting concept, and I’ll be eagerly anticipating the results in September.
Check out the full article with a great interview with Chris Ryall over on Entertainment Weekly.
by generalsjoes | May 25, 2016 | 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Kindle Worlds
As we move within a month of the 2016 G.I. Joe Convention, Hasbro has posted an exciting update over on their Hasbro Pulse regarding the upcoming development of Fan Vote winner Stiletto!
Along with the update, we see a first look at Stiletto’s head sculpt and what looks to be an early concept for the figure build using parts from the Rise of Cobra Agent Helix. As a huge fan of the Helix action figure, I approve of this build big time.
Mark Weber mentions that Stiletto will appear at Toys “R” Us and Entertainment Earth in November, which surely seems to follow the familiar formula from the past couple of years, indicating that we will see some G.I. Joe product later this year. Let’s all look forward to JoeCon to see what’s up Hasbro’s sleeves.
Check out the full article over on Hasbro Pulse, and I’ve mirrored a couple of images below.
by generalsjoes | May 20, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Kindle Worlds, Podcasts, What's on Joe Mind
G.I. Joe fans have been asking, and we’ve been hearing…it’s been a while since the What’s on Joe Mind Podcast was updating regularly, but us and our esteemed editor are working hard to get back on track!
Episode 103 has just been posted to our What’s on Joe Mind Podbean page, and while it’s still lagging a few months, we are making our way back to cover all of the latest G.I. Joe news and toy hobby discussions. Check out Episode 103 on Podbean, or the embedded player below.
It’s the Christmas in…May edition! Yes, yes, this is another one of those episodes we recorded months ago and are just now getting around to finish editing and posting it. In this episode, we have a hearty discussion about the Joes from 2003. In the news we spend a lot of time talking with Justin about working with Hasbro for the Fan’s Choice Kindle World’s Character voting process. Justin also asks Joe about her pie. Yes, it is the truth. It’s a little more than 90 minutes of fun, so have fun listening!
