For being one of the most popular G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero characters in its long, forty year history, it seemed to take Hasbro a while to get their arms around what they wanted to do with Storm Shadow. Sure, we got their Amazon exclusive Arctic Assault and the one from the Snake Eyes film– but a traditional Storm Shadow, a more general purpose version of the character — it just barely arrived, over two years since the line’s start.
Now, while I would have preferred the stellar looking version we saw on GIJoe.com way back when, it’s tough to argue how nicely executed this rendition is. To see everything I have to say, check out my review of the figure here then come back and let me know how wrong I am.
As I write this, the majority of G.I. Joe related news out of Toy Fair has been reported, with the latest updates from both Jada Toys and Jazwares just pushed through this morning.
G.I. Joe: Classified
Most of us are aware that from the G.I. Joe: Classified 6″ perspective, the only figures we saw were Snake Eyes (Pulse Exclusive), Duke, Roadblock and Scarlett. This was disappointing for most of us, though keep in mind the reveals of Snake Eyes and Duke were both leaked by fan sites, so the Hasbro presentation could have had a lot more oomph if not for that. Below is a gallery of great images courtesy of Chris from The Full Force who was in attendance at Toy Fair reporting on behalf of GeneralsJoes.
You can see some various apparel in the images above, too, which is a cool touch.
Speaking of leaks, while only three figures were revealed from Wave 1 of the G.I. Joe: Classified line, thanks to some enterprising online retailers, we do know that Wave 1 should also have Destro and another Snake Eyes in it, so we should expect to see those figures revealed at some point. Because the tentative release date is June (which is before SDCC) I’d expect to see those revealed hopefully within the next 4 – 6 weeks, though that’s complete conjecture on my part. I know I’m pretty interested to see how the Wave 1 Snake Eyes will differ from the Pulse Exclusive version, and I’m absolutely dying to see what Destro looks like.
The cool thing about a lack of items revealed at Toy Fair is that there’s still a lot to look forward to over the coming months.
Jada Toys
We also learned that Jada Toys has acquired the license to produce die cast vehicles based on the G.I. Joe universe, and in fact the first two vehicles were revealed in the form of a 1:32 scale VAMP and HISS, along with some potential sneak peeks at a VAMP Mark II, Snow Cat and even stuff like a Night Raven, Dragonfly and MOBAT. Craaaaazy.
This has been a source of much back-and-forth among the fan community ever since it was first revealed. Chris and I were of the opinion that there was no way Jazwares would be making action figures, but a HISSTank report from the Nuremberg Toy Fair seemed to dispute that.
However, the word from Toy Fair is that Jazwares is indeed making– figures. Sort of.
According to a few reports, Jazwares will be making G.I. Joe “Domez” figures, which are static collectibles encased in transparent plastic domes. See the image of Jonesy below, which is from the Fortnite line, but should give some indication of what we might see on the G.I. Joe side.
Meanwhile, Chris and I jumped on a call first thing this morning to go through the Toy Fair recap, and you can find that News Burst on YouTube and also embedded below.
Thanks as always for following along, Toy Fair is always an exciting time and it certainly looks like there will be no shortage of G.I. Joe toys and licensing news going forward.
EDIT – Thanks to SkinnyJoeFan for letting us know that Alan Baltes is a CON ARTIST. The Tweet and linked “Casting Page” are erroneous and should not be believed.
On to you’re regularly scheduled G.I. Joe fandom hysteria.
I officially don’t know what to believe any more. In recent days, news has begun bubbling to the surface again in regards to G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant the rumored sequel to G.I.Joe: Rise of COBRA and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
For those who don’t remember, news of this crazy film emerged over a year ago via ThisHashtagShow (linked here via CBR because the original article appears to be gone…) and while this early information is obviously fully in rumor mill territory, there seem to be some more current facts aligning with this nutty news.
For anyone who doesn’t remember, G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant promised to introduce Tomax and Xamot to the G.I. Joe movie universe and place a focus on Chuckles, surrounded by the strangest group of supporting characters I ever heard.
Fellow G.I. Joe team members would supposedly include Adele Burkhart, Wild Bill, Keel Haul, Barbecue, Doc, and General Flagg. Well, thanks to HissTank.com for passing along the word that an official Paramount Casting Agent Tweeted over the past week that they are beginning casting for the film, and sure enough listed several of the above characters as characters slated to appear in the film.
Now, we should still take this with a grain of salt. Early reports stated that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was hoping to come back for Ever Vigilant, and so far we’ve seen no indication of this.
Also, the original story was initially being developed as a way to join several Hasbro franchises within the rumored Hasbro Cinematic Universe, but to this point we’ve seen no sign of that moving forward either.
Keep in mind, this is the same film script that was talking about futuristic weaponry and time travel as a key component to the script. You may want to check out the recent Full Force News Burst we recorded to talk about the more insane aspects of the rumored Ever Vigilant script.
What’s the deal on GeneralsJoes Reborn, and wait– how many times did my wife watch the new Top Gun trailer?!?
Also, some exclusive footage only for Full Force Patreon subscribers… the latest “outtakes” features some truly intriguing insight by me and Chris, only available to those of you who subscribe via Patreon…
Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but big thanks to skinny on Twitter who pointed me in the direction of a concept artist named Juan Richard Feliz, who has posted some very interesting Visual Development art for a mystery project entitled G.I. Joe Squads. There is no real information about what this is for (whether it’s even work-for-hire professional work or his own experiments) but judging by other work throughout the site, he seems to be a concept artist for mobile and video games.
Several pieces of art are visible, including some really great, fun looking concepts for characters like Duke, Deep Six, Scarlett, Doc, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes, COBRA Commander, Destro, Zarana, Baroness, Serpentor, and a COBRA B.A.T. Not sure about anyone else, but these designs are kinda right up my alley.
There are also some images of backdrops or scenery, which also seems to lend credence to the fact that these may be video game or mobile game related. Check out all of the nifty concept art over at Juan Richard Feliz’s website, and I’ve also mirrored the images below. Cool stuff, be interesting to see what (if anything) comes of it.
It’s been a little while since the fine folks of the What’s on Joe Mind podcast have blessed the G.I. Joe community with their presence, and in the past few months, a few things have changed with WOJM.
I’m thrilled to report, though, that the WOJM crew is BACK and bringing fresh audio gold to the masses. Mike is joined by cosplay master Joe Colton and 3DJoes mastermind Carson, tossing out two brand-spanking new episodes! One of them recaps the final JoeCon and the second is from the floor of Ohio Toy & Comic Show. It’s fantastic to hear the guys (and girls) of WOJM back and you should absolutely give them a listen. Also, make sure you’re following along on Facebook for the latest news and info about the podcast!
What’s on Joe Mind 2018 JoeCon Wrap Up Show
What’s on Joe Mind Ohio Toy & Comic Show Spectacular
Once again – fantastic to see everyone back behind the microphone, check out the latest episodes right here and now! Good stuff from the fine folks at What’s on Joe Mind.
