by generalsjoes | Jun 1, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: Renegades, Pursuit of COBRA
Originally found by an eagle eyed member of JoeDios.com, a website for concept art company Massive Black has been unveiled, and along with it, a bunch of great looking concept pieces for potential use in the G.I. Joe line.
Actually if you look, a lot of these ideas were borrowed for G.I. Joe throughout the Pursuit of Cobra, G.I. Joe: Renegades, and even the Ghost Hawk II has some strong elements from the VTOL in this artwork. Some of this stuff looks fantastic.
For obvious safety and cost reasons, Hasbro cannot make toys with this many hard edges and details, but for sure the inspiration was there for the HISS, the Black Dragon, and the Ghost Hawk II. The stuff that wasn’t used like the APC and the Tank wasn’t used for pretty obvious reasons, in my mind, as they are very evocative of similar vehicles from Aliens and HALO. While G.I. Joe has clearly pulled some inspiration from those properties in the past, those two examples strike me as being extremely blatant.
To me the biggest loss is the incredible concept for The Baroness, a much more combat ready soldier looking version of that character. Amazing looking figure there. Pretty neat to see some of the steps taken towards our retail offerings. Check out the gallery below, and hit up the site itself, too.
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by generalsjoes | May 8, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
And the crowd goes wild!
We’ve been getting flooded with some very cool Oktober Guard themed reveals over the past week or two, but many folks have been clamoring for more information about who the Oktober Guard will be facing off against.
Well, the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club revealed that today with the Iron Grenadiers! We get a great revelation of the Iron Grenadier trooper himself and also some details about the story line itself. For folks who don’t recognize the figure itself, it was originally planned as part of 5 Pack of Iron Grenadier figures from the Rise of Cobra/Pursuit of Cobra line, but never got released. The image for that original 5-Pack can be seen at this post on GeneralsJoes. I’ve also mirrored that image below:
As for the story itself… check out those details below:
“By popular demand, the 2012 convention set stories and enemy factions are revealed…
OKTOBER GUARD Box Set: The 1990s brought us many captivating Cold War stories but this one was kept Top Secret for over two decades! Recently declassified documents revealed the original Oktober Guard (G.I. Joe’s Russian and Warsaw Pact equivalent) team’s “Special Mission” in Siberia to rescue their captured General from the ruthless Iron Grenadiers in OPERATION: BEAR TRAP!”
Okay…now THAT is bad ass. They give themselves an “out” for the dead Oktober Guard members by talking about declassified documents. And they’re also talking about their “captured General”… hmmm… could we see a modern version of General Mayhem from the 2005 set? Or maybe…dare I hope… Voltar?! Of course I misread this, and it’s the Oktober Guard general who is being rescued. Not sure what the angle is there…
Wow. The possibilities are endless! I cannot wait to hear and see more! Check out the Iron Grenadier figure below, and keep your eyes on GIJoeCon.com for the latest intel!
by generalsjoes | May 3, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Pursuit of COBRA
One of the longest running G.I. Joe websites on the web, and a bastion of research for every Joe fan everywhere, YoJoe.com has quite simply left an indelible mark on the fabric of not just the online G.I. Joe community, but I would argue on the fabric of the action figure community in general.
I often see people in other collecting arenas asking “where can I find the “YoJoe” for Star Wars? Where can I find the “YoJoe” for Transformers?” It has serviced G.I. Joe fans for many years, and I would argue it is quite simply the most impactful G.I. Joe themed website ever. Just remember the first time you stumbled upon it and immediately were thrust back to the good old days.
But YoJoe.com isn’t content to rest on their laurels and survive based on the robustness of their figure archive…they’ve been working extremely hard behind the scenes for several months, and I dare say even years to do a soup-to-nuts overhaul of the entire action figure archive. The results are quite simply amazing.
With a totally revamped index, and much improved layout for the individual action figure entries, YoJoe has drastically improved on what was already a fantastic resource. You can see all the various different versions of the figures in a single entry, and you should never have to leave a page to look for another page. In the grand scheme of things to folks visiting the site, the changes result in a much more intuitive and fluid interface.
As of this posting, the Action Figure Archive is the only section that has been completed, but there are many more to come. Kudos to good friend of GeneralsJoes Terry Dizard and Phil Donnelly for all of the work they put in, and big props to the tech guys for building this all out. They made a great resource even better.
Check out the new Action Figure Archive now!
by generalsjoes | Apr 28, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
As usual, notpicard has got a great eye for parts, unused or otherwise. I posted images of the Fang Boat w/ Swamp-Viper last night, and today, notpicard left a comment referencing some old unused “Clutch” tooling.
It was a story that I posted some time ago, pointing back to the Facebook page of Matt Brouillard, who is apparently a freelance sculptor who did some work for Hasbro, including an incredibly awesome looking “Clutch” (a name Mr. Brouillard used). This Clutch looked pretty futuristic, yet had a ton of amazing detail throughout…and guess what?
Yeah, that’s Swamp-Viper. Only the figure looks considerably different once it’s tooled up with reduced detail and articulation. There’s absolutely no doubt that the Clutch sculpt was the foundation of this figure, yet it’s downright depressing to see how much detail and design is lost through the articulation changes. Ugh. It’s not just missing joints, the entire figure just doesn’t look as sharp or as cool. Check out the comparison image below:
Obviously the armor design and overall uniform design is the same, though there are some missing pouches around the waist, and with the t-crotch added, you loose the detail in the upper legs as well. Some of the sculpting work on the gloves is not the same either, and overall, things just look a bit softer and less crisp. It still looks like a very impressive design, but by reducing the articulation, the figure itself suffers in almost every way.
A real shame. Again, big thanks and kudos to notpicard for picking up on this instantly. He’s got a great eye.
by generalsjoes | Apr 16, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Podcasts, Pursuit of COBRA
Believe it or not, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As cool as the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation Crimson Guard and Night-Viper are…and as neat as it is that they were once rumored to be 30th Anniversary figures, the JDSO crew dives into many more mysteries, both modern and vintage!
Patrick “notpicard” Stewart reviews the G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures, they talk about the awesome ARBCO Playset, and solve the long-standing mystery of what the hell is on Low Light’s leg??!
Of course any episode of JDSO is always complimented by some awesome images, so be sure to check out the thread on JoeDeClassified to soak in all of these great pictures. I’ve mirrored a a handful of them below, but you need to check out DeClass to see the rest. Some great, GREAT stuff.
Hit up the Podbean site to have a listen!
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by generalsjoes | Apr 14, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
Every Joe fan’s favorite package artist Mike Thompson had a stretch where he was posting several awesome pieces of his Joe art on an almost weekly basis. Working as a package artist through the Rise of Cobra and into the Pursuit of Cobra era, Mike’s excellent blog, Mike T Artworks showcased his excellent renditions of characters like Spirit, City Strike Scarlett, and Whiteout.
He’s taken a break from posting G.I. Joe related art, most likely because he’s either shown most of it already, or is still waiting for them to be cleared by Hasbro to post…but today that changed! During our interview of Mike Thompson on the What’s on Joe Mind podcast we were lucky enough to see some of his other pieces, and now he has posted them via his Twitter page.
These head shots were to be used on some canceled Wal-Mart 2-Packs featuring Nano-B.A.T., Zap, Budo, and Dr. Mindbender. Check out these excellent images below. Also make sure you keep your eyes on MikeTArtworks.com which is his main site featuring some fantastic work that he’s done over the years. He has some amazing talent, even if you’re checking out some non-G.I. Joe work, I think you’ll appreciate what he does. He’s obviously a geek at heart!
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To hear straight from the source about the process for producing this incredible artwork, hit up the embedded player below to listen to our interview with Mr. Thompson. It’s enlightening to say the least!
