by generalsjoes | Sep 15, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Extreme, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: Resolute, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Pursuit of COBRA
Mere days after the unreleased Training Snake Eyes was shown on JoeIntel, test shot maestro Gyre-Viper at HissTank.com has shown some pictures of the unreleased “Iron Klaw Trooper” that was initially slated to come with another wave of Comic Packs before the line shifted to a movie theme. Check out the mirrored images below.
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This… is awesome. From what I’ve seen there hasn’t been much unreleased stuff that has really made me sad that it won’t make it to retail. Resolute stuff aside of course (which looks to be coming in a boxed set in 2010). But this Iron Klaw Trooper? Damn, man. I love it. I was a big fan of the Extreme universe, but the figures were horrible, it’s freaking great to see those characters worked into the Anniversary line, even with just a new head, beret, weapon, and webgear. The base figure looks to be an Iron Grenadier Destro. Regardless of all this, the figure is very cool, and I hope Hasbro finds some way to work this tooling into the Pursuit of COBRA line. I really love the face sculpt and skull-themed webgear. Very cool figure.
He also showcased some images from the upcoming Pursuit of COBRA Arctic Destro, which is another pretty neat one. Those ice-cased accessories are pretty cool and the sculpt is great. Check out those images below.
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by generalsjoes | Sep 11, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
ocab27 over on HissTank.com has scored a Pursuit of COBRA Storm Shadow test shot, based on the tooling from the unreleased Resolute version, and has kindly posted images online, which I’ve hosted below.
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This is one bad ass version of the COBRA Ninja…I love the Resolute tooling anyway, but with all of these bad ass accessories, this is a fantastic version of Storm Shadow. Considering how tired I was getting of the character during the Anniversary line, the Rise of COBRA and Pursuit of COBRA has really revitalized the character, and given us some wonderful toys. Awesome. To see fully painted versions of this great looking figures, hit up the Pursuit of COBRA SuperPage.
by generalsjoes | Sep 6, 2009 | Dio-Stories, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Pursuit of COBRA
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.
(more…)
by generalsjoes | Sep 1, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Pursuit of COBRA
I know I’ve posted most of these images before, but when I got these again in the mail, I took an even closer look at the rediculously high resolution images and a few more things caught my eye. Let’s see how many folks had this all figured out before I did. :shifty:
Wave 5 is something that I’ve bounced back and forth on relentlessly since we first got images. City Strike Snake Eyes makes that wave, but other figures were really starting to impress me, too, even if there are a lot of reused parts. Both in Waves 4 & 5 there is an almost brutal amount of reused tooling, though Hasbro does their best to camouflage it.
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Now Duke and Arctic Storm Shadow are obvious (though Storm Shadow is actually better masqueraded than I initially thought). Desert-Viper and Ripcord, though, I think are masked fairly well. Desert-Viper is essentially an Elite-Viper with the MARS Officer webgear in a different paint scheme and with the scarf from Hostile Environment Major Bludd. It all comes together nicely, though. Ripcord uses a lot of the Pit Commando as a base, it would appear. I’d bet the boonie hat is from that set, and of course, the combat vest as well. Not sure where the arms come from, but if the Pit Commando is used as the base, I’m glad we’ve got new arms, because the Dusty arms are a lot less poseable than many of these new ones. Ripcord also comes with a bevy of reused weapons, a lot of them from the still unreleased Resolute Baroness.
So while it’s not nearly as obvious with Wave 5 as it was with Wave 4, there seems to be just as much reused tooling, though perhaps disguised a bit better.
Also got the images from the latest round of Target Exclusive vehicles.
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That SNAKE w/ “Viper Commando” (again, why are they phasing out the Neo-Viper codename?) is absolutely KICK ASS. Love the black, and I really dig that darker colored Viper. I may grab a couple of those, though I’ll probably skip the rest. No real interest on the movie Wet Suit, that funky colored Air-Viper is bleh, and I’ve got no real interest in the Arashikage Cycle Storm Shadow either. The “racing suit” kind of looks neat, but I’ve got 3 of those bikes already, don’t need any more.
Lastly, we also got the first look at the upcoming Arashikage Temple set w/ Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, due to be a Wal-Mart Exclusive.
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What was it your mother said? If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all? Well, a ton of accessories come with this set, that’s for sure. Beyond that the colors are pretty lame, and the figures don’t offer anything interesting either. A swing and a miss on this one, I really think. Would have been neat to have seen the unreleased Training Snake Eyes from the Resolute Comic Packs in here, but as it stands, pretty dull stuff.
by generalsjoes | Aug 30, 2009 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
Notorious pre-production and prototype fanatic Gyre-Viper over at HissTank.com got his hands on some very early test shots for the upcoming Pursuit of COBRA Zartan and Ripcord (Desert Battle) figures. These figures are slated as early 2010 releases, but could see retail release during the holidays of 2009. And yeah, these images only serve to cement my excitement for the upcoming new direction of G.I. Joe.
While the anniversary was great for what it was, G.I. Joe needs a fresh take and a new “mythology” in my mind. I love and appreciate everything that was in the Real American Hero history, but at this point it’s gotta be considered history. Too many things just don’t translate into cool toys these days if you’re so married to how things were designed twenty-five years ago. Hasbro is taking the core of the Real American Hero mythos and really changing a lot of the elements to make it more 21st Century with a heavy injection of Metal Gear Solid, Ghost in the Shell, and other very cool semi-futuristic influences. The result is toy perfection. I really love these figures, and even without paint apps or much detail, these test shots only further that opinion.
Check out the thread on HissTank here, and mirrored images below.
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I love the Reactive Armor uniform below Ripcord’s flight suit, and the detail on his backpack and vest is just insane. I love how the Joe stuff looks a bit less streamlined here, and kind of more “cobbled together” as far as the technology goes. It’s crazy.
Zartan looks very “sorcerer” like and truly looks Aboriginal and mysterious, which is a great look, too.
I cannot WAIT for 2010. Awesome stuff in the wings, for sure.
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.
