Big kudos to Entertainment News International for posting the G.I. Joe press event by Jeff Labovitz at Toy Fair last Saturday in its entirety. You can check out the video right here, or see it embedded below.
Store exclusives are not typically shown at Toy Fair, so it wasn’t really a surprise that we didn’t see much there, but there were questions asked, and by the sounds of the answers, vintage fans may have something to really look forward to throughout 2010.
First and foremost, the SDCC Exclusive Sgt. Slaughter! No images were shown, but comments from the Hasbro rep confirmed that he would contain all new tooling, and the mail away deco (with the USA on his shirt and plain green outfit) would be the primary release, while the version that piloted the TTT (with the black tank top and camouflage pants) would be the “variant”. It was not specifically stated how rare it would be, but they did assure us that we shouldn’t be worried about another Gold-Headed Destro.
But that’s not all for the vintage fans… according to Hasbro reps, a lot of the store exclusives through 2010 will call back to the past, and will have some strong 25th Anniversary influences. They understand and appreciate the rich history and culture of G.I. Joe, and plan to pay tribute to that by giving us some great vintage homages sprinkled throughout some store exclusives in 2010. In fact, I mentioned two names specifically, Low Light and Dial Tone, and while the Hasbro rep would not confirm anything, he did smirk in a way that makes me think that they know what many collectors are looking for, and are hoping to take advantage of a non-movie year to deliver something in several different styles from several different eras, if you catch my drift.
Now it’s a non movie year, so of course, we won’t see a ton of product exclusive on store shelves, but it sounds like what we do see will make the old schoolers pretty happy. More information at JoeCon, I’m sure.
Lastly, we got some looks at the new Mech Suits coming out for Pursuit of Cobra. The Sigma 6 2.5” vehicles with some heavily tooled cockpits really mesh with the new age Joe universe perfectly, and both G.I. Joe and Cobra have ‘em. Retailing for $19.99, these should hit in August of 2010. G.I. Joe and Cobra Mech Suits
G.I. Joe Steel Marauder w/ Kickstart – A new driver, and a familiar green and black color scheme give us a nicely military, yet futuristic tool of destruction for G.I. Joe. I was in love with the Sigma 6 Iron Hammer, and I’m really digging this version as well. Sign me up.
Cobra Deviant w/ Cyber-Viper – A fairly obscure vintage character gets a modern remake and he’s piloting a pretty neat, modified version of the G.I. Joe mech. These two vehicles really can go toe-to-toe and they both look very cool.
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no images were found
And that was about it. G.I. Joe had a fairly tame showing compared to Transformers, Marvel, and Star Wars, but us Joe fans are pretty used to that. I know there wasn’t a whole lot of new coolness to see, but what we did see was pretty incredible. The Pursuit of Cobra is taking G.I. Joe in an awesome direction…absolutely awesome. And Resolute is just the perfect icing on the cake. There wasn’t much seen there that I didn’t really like, and I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more in April/May at JoeCon.
Also a big hit with many of the collectors were the Resolute 7-Packs, hitting in August/September of 2010. They will be available as online exclusives from the same vendors who offered the Cobra Island 7-Packs. HasbroToyShop may get in on the action as well. The lowdown is as follows: G.I. Joe
Beachhead – Looks to have some new tooling with great gear and a very nice representation
Flint – Similar head, but might even be a new sculpt, plus new webgear and the very familiar shotgun shells on his forearm! Hell yeah… comes with the tactical shotgun we’ve seen down the road.
Arctic Duke – Looks to come with a new head sculpt and other new trimming to separate him from the 5-pack Jet Pack version. I may be alone, but I love this addition. Now where’s Scarlett??
Snake Eyes – Deco appears to be much the same as the single packed version, all I can think is that we’ll get some nice new accessories out of this one. Maybe the flight pack that was slated to come with Jungle Storm Shadow?
Stalker – Tough to tell how elaborate his new head is, but he’s got some great webgear and awesome colors. Can’t wait for this one.
Roadblock – Same as we’ve seen. And still bad ass.
Scarlett – We’ve seen her in preproduction form here and there as well, and she looks the same as she did then, too, and is still a very nice rendition of the Resolute character.
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COBRA
Storm Shadow – The same one we’ve seen online, didn’t appear to be many changes
Alley-Viper – Nice new accessories over the Trooper base figure. Hot damn I need a bunch of these bad boys.
Firefly – Some nicely done new accessory tooling to give us a very authentic looking Resolute version of the Cobra Saboteur
Cobra Commander – Hasbro mentioned that he might have a vac metal face mask, but the sample did not… he definitely comes with a new knife to slit the throats of incompetent crimson Troopers. Yay!
Zartan – Holy crap this one took me by surprise. Great uses of existing parts, with just enough new tooling to knock it out of the park. Impressive.
Baroness – Uses the same old tooling, but in a new gray and black paint scheme that is much, MUCH improved over the baby blue. Like it a lot.
Destro – Pretty much what we’ve seen. Which, again, is awesome.
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no images were found
Some images above were mirrored from the great coverage at YoJoe.com and HissTank.com.
To go along with the Pursuit of Cobra figures, we have 2 assortments of Alpha vehicles and 2 assortments of Bravo vehicles. Now, there’s a lot that was seen at JoeCon that isn’t here… that absolutely amazing motorcycle/armor suit? Probably slated for 2011, from what the Hasbro reps told us. The HISS Scout wasn’t nearly as desirable to me, but I’d imagine that either has the same fate, or may not end up happening at all. No big loss in my mind.
The Alphas will retail for $14.99 while the Bravos clock in at $24.99, and initial waves should be hitting in August.
What we did see is the following: Alpha Wave 1
Ghost Hawk w/ Tomahawk – Some very cool retooled parts on the Sky Hawk and a new character made of some rehashed parts makes for a very cool new addition to the Joe arsenal.
Doom Cycle w/ Storm Rider – A new Dreadnok with an amazing new Chopper. The bike looks to have all new tooling with some great shotguns in the handle, and the Dreadnok driver has a great combination of new and existing tooling. Very cool.
Alpha Wave 2
AWE Striker w/ Night Fox – Pretty interesting recolored AWE Striker in a more night ops color deco with a new character by the name of Night Fox. Another cobbled together figure with existing parts, but still has some cool new elements. I might be in the minority, but I’m always interested in seeing some new blood.
Ice Cutter w/ Snow Serpent Officer – Press photos showed the officer looking like the TRU Snow Serpent, but he’s actually without camouflage and with some very cool red colored webgear. The Ice Cutter isn’t a bad looking vehicle (working treads!) overall.
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no images were found
Bravo Wave 1
Wolfhound w/ Whiteout – Initially slated to appear in the Rise of Cobra line, but then pushed back, the Wolfhound now makes it into the Pursuit of Cobra line pretty much intact with a fairly “blah” worthy driver in Whiteout. Nothing really to write home about.
HISS w/ HISS Driver Officer – This is just about the polar opposite. Absolutely incredible looking new vehicle and play features like crazy and a whole TON of fun to boot. THIS is what G.I. Joe vehicles should be all about.
Bravo Wave 2
Cobra Fury w/ Alley-Viper – We’ve seen quite a bit of this item already, and it looks relatively unchanged. A neat addition, but not much more, in my book.
VAMP w/ Double Clutch – This on the other hand fills me with awesomeness. New tooling, once again filled to the brim with play features, and with an interesting updated version of the classic VAMP driver. An awesome looking new vehicle, to be sure.
Toy Fair this year was a subdued affair, with it being a non-movie year and at a slower pace than 2009, but that didn’t reflect in the enthusiasm of the Hasbro reps, or in the level of product. Yes, a lot of what we’ve seen here has already been seen, but that doesn’t take anything away from the beauty of some of these Pursuit of Cobra toys. These things are just amazing. You think the pictures look nice? In person, they will blow you away.
The lowdown for the rest of 2010 is essentially 2 waves of main line figures, 2 waves of Alpha vehicles, and 2 waves of Bravo Vehicles. Single packs MSRP is $5.99, Alphas are $14.99, Bravos are $24.99, and the Mech Suits are $19.99.
The best thing shown today, by far, though were the Resolute 7-packs. Being solicited as online exclusives ( the same vendors as the COBRA Island 7-Packs) they do a great job blending new and existing tooling and getting a great representation of the Resolute characters. All of these items should start hitting for August store resets and will be sold throughout the rest of 2010. The images for the first two waves of single pack figures are below… Pursuit of Cobra Single Packs – Wave 1
Wave 1 consists of:
Duke (Jungle Assault) – Same as we saw, with a new retooled head (that looks great)
Snake Eyes (Desert Battle) – Same as we saw. Timber features a play action tail…when pressed down, his jaw opens and head turns!
Snow Job (Arctic Threat) – Same as we’ve seen.
Beachhead (City Strike) – Appears to be the same as was shown at JoeCon
Alley-Viper (City Strike) – Tooling from the Cobra Island version, but in awesome new gray and red paint scheme. Also comes with Resolute Alley-Viper helmet and goggles!
Firefly (City Strike) – Same as we’ve seen
Cobra Commander (Jungle Assault) – Chase figure. Will NOT be impossible to find. Not as hard as the Clear Wraith, probably more along the lines of white/black coat Dr. Rex Lewis. The retail version will NOT come with that cool as hell HISS Drone. Hasbro is trying to figure out where to work that into the line.
Storm Shadow (Desert Battle) – Obviously quite different than the version we thought we were getting, but still looks pretty amazing. Uses RoC Arctic Storm Shadow tooling underneath some cool new ceremonial gear.
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no images were found
Wave 2 consists of:
Dusty (Desert Battle) – New tooling with swappable heads! One has a great looking gas mask and the other one is uncovered. Some very nice looking gear.
Recondo (Jungle Battle) – Same as we’ve seen from JoeCon.
Destro (Arctic Threat) – Appears to be the same one from JoeCon
Snake Eyes (City Strike?) – I’m guessing on the “City Strike”. I know we’ve already gotten a City Strike version, I honestly have no idea where this one fits, just that he looks pretty cool, even for just another Snake Eyes. The armor looks kinda clunky, and he actually doesn’t blend remarkably well with the rest of the PoC theme, but something about him does look kind of neat, and kind of “Sigma 6” in a way.
Zartan (Desert Battle) – Almost the same as what we’ve seen, but with a new non-Arnold Vosloo head sculpt.
Jungle-Viper (Jungle Assault) – Same bad assed sniper that we saw from JoeCon,
no images were found
no images were found
Of course, obvious by their absenses are Ripcord (Desert Battle), Storm Shadow (Jungle Assault), Shadow Tracker (Jungle Assault), Scarlett (City Strike), Heavy Duty (Desert Battle) and Duke (Arctic Threat). There may have been others missing, too, that I don’t recall off the top of my head. Hasbro couldn’t verify any future status, but seemed pretty confident that figures which contained a lot of tooling would see future release in the line, most likely in 2011. I know that’s small comfort to the fans who are out there clamoring to see some of these great looking figures, but that’s all we have at this point. If I had to guess, I’d say figures like the City Strike Scarlett and Desert Battle Heavy Duty are probably destined for the scrap heap, simply because no new tooling was really invested in any of their production. However, figures like Ripcord, Shadow Tracker, Arctic Duke, etc… will probably come out in one way or another, whether it’s their gear being included with someone else, or perhaps just a different head sculpt and different character.
Here’s hoping there’s a bit more intel at JoeCon.
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