Straight from the floor at Toy Fair, 2014, Bloomberg Television sat down with Vice President and G.I. Joe historian Derryl DePriest to talk about G.I. Joe’s history and it’s present incarnation.
I’ll be honest, it’s not a softball interview. The host asks some hard questions about G.I. Joe’s military ties, about the role model it sets for boys, and about what the brand is doing to innovate, and to his credit, DePriest answers those questions, but quite artfully.
I find a lot of these interviews to be somewhat “more of the same” but this one stood out…it’s a good five minute watch, check it out.
When the images came out over Toy Fair weekend and revealed that the brown VAMP MK II w/ Flint and the Night Landing w/ Cobra Eel were marked “ComicCon” it caused a bit of a fan fury, as one might imagine. After all, a vintage accurate Flint figure was voted the #1 fan demanded figure in the Concept Case survey back in 2012, and many fans were over the top excited that he was finally finding a way to retail shelves.
This excitement was quickly muffled by the thought that he might only be arriving on “virtual” shelves via ComicCon and the general chaos of HasbroToyShop the week afterwards.
Seeking some clarification, I reached out to the Hasbro Public Relations folks, and the current plans are a bit more fan friendly. Take this with a grain of salt, as full details are still to come in the upcoming months, but the current plan is for the “Danger at the Docks” with vintage accurate VAMP MK II and Flint to debut at San Diego ComicCon, but then be available through Toys “R” Us afterwards.
This same formula was used last year for the Transformers Masterpiece Soundwave and Acid Storm, and early indications are that Hasbro will do this for the 50th Anniversary “Danger at the Docks” vehicle set.
Keep in mind, of course, the winds shift frequently in the toy world, so things might change, but as of this moment, fans can rest easy, it shouldn’t be as difficult to get this highly sought after vehicle and figure as some folks thought it might be.
Thanks to the always receptive folks with Hunter PR for responding so quickly amidst a very busy Toy Fair weekend.
One very cool licensed item that was debuted last year were some great mini figures by the Loyal Subjects. Packaged in blind boxes these unique items had some great chase figures as well as a really cool and unique design aesthetic.
GeneralsJoes Twitter friend Matt Guzy from Awesome Toy Blog acquired a catalog from the Loyal Subjects at Toy Fair, and within was a listing for Series Two of their G.I. Joe items!
Characters like Roadblock, Beachhead, and Cobra Trooper are shown in the catalog, among others. Check out the mirrored image below and big thanks to Matt for the heads up. Follow him on Twitter for some great Toy Fair coverage.
I’ve seen some questions about identifying the Kre-O releases, so I’ve updated the Kre-O SuperPage to include all of the latest images and assortment information to reflect the new additions.
Hit up the G.I. Joe Kre-O Super Page and scroll down to Wave 3, where you’ll see the two new waves announced yesterday as well as the boxed sets.
At some point I’ll probably do up a 50th Anniversary one as well, but it doesn’t feel like there’s quite enough details released to warrant that as of yet.
Among many others in New York City for Toy Fair was video toy reviewer Pixel Dan, and he broke out the video camera for his trip through the Hasbro Preview.
Included in this coverage was great video of the Kre-O station where he spoke with representatives about the Transformers and G.I. Joe Kre-O lines. Check out YouTube or the embedded video below.
So now that the flood of news has slowed to a simmer since yesterday afternoon, I figured it was time to sit back and see exactly what was revealed yesterday and break down what really stood out to me and what rose to the top.
This will be somewhat of a mixed bag, because as many folks have already witnessed, there is a lot of “carry forward” product here, which obviously is pretty cool in some respects, but not something that’s going to crack my Top 10 list.
