It’s time for Heartwrencher and the Dreadnok Ground Assault 4-WD. We have been waiting for the release of the Club Exclusive Vehicle with Figure Set since Joe Con last year and as of Thursday we can finally pre-order the set. I for one cannot get enough of the Cobra Stinger mold and as fans we are always clamoring for more females in the lineup. This set looks great and may be one of the last vehicle/figure combo’s we see from the club. Make sure to jump on this right away and get your pre-order in today.
Email from the Club:
(PRE-ORDER) 2018 GI Joe 3 3/4″ Club Exclusive Vehicle with Figure Set: Dreadnok Ground Assault 4-WD Vehicle w/ Dreadnok Mechanic Heartwrencher Figure (1 set)
Part Number: 1-11-18
Price: $64.99
THIS ITEM HAS TO BE ORDERED BY ITSELF IT CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER ITEMS OR ORDERS.
(PRE-ORDER) 2018 GI Joe 3 3/4″ Club Exclusive Vehicle with Figure Set: Dreadnok Ground Assault 4-WD Vehicle w/ Dreadnok Mechanic Heartwrencher Figure (1 set).
Order is billed at the time the order is placed.
FINAL PRODUCT MAY VARY FROM THE IMAGES SHOWN HERE.
First and foremost, I want to give a nice shout out to a few folks who have emailed to kindly volunteer their time and energy to supplying content for GeneralsJoes. I’m hoping to share some more names shortly, but first and foremost is Almon. He volunteered to pitch in with content, and the first thing he sent over was a review of the G.I. Joe episode of the Netflix documentary series The Toys That Made Us.
Let’s give Almon a warm welcome and check out the review of the episode below!
I’ve had these in the queue for way too long, and it’s long past time to let folks know how the second wave of the second series of Vitruvian HACKS figures measures up. Hint – They measure up pretty freaking well.
I’ve updated the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page with the second wave of the Fantasy figures, or you can just check out the reviews by clicking the links below directly.
If you’re a regular visitor to GeneralsJoes, you’re probably thinking that a lot of stuff is new, I just haven’t been talking about it. And yeah, you’d be right.
Why is that? Honestly, I don’t really have an answer. I think it’s a lot of things.
After holding the torch of the G.I. Joe fandom for near twenty years, I think I’ve gotten a little tired. I’ve posted hundreds of reviews over twenty years, thousands of news stories, and seen many of the same themes come and go. Popularity swings from one extreme to the other, but a solid core of devoted, motivated fans who love the brand and want to continue to see it evolve.
One thing social media has done is provided an outlet for many of those motivated fans to continue expressing their feelings of the brand at large and as things have become more social media driven, I’ve felt like a place like GeneralsJoes hasn’t had a very large role in that. Mostly my own fault, but it is the truth.
Also I can’t help but say that my own motivation has been somewhat lacking. As many of you are aware I’ve begun focusing a lot of time and energy on my career as an independent author, an endeavor I’ve found to be exceedingly rewarding and unbelievably enjoyable. Unfortunately as a husband and father with a 50 hour a week job, I only have so much time outside of daily life to contribute to what are essentially “hobbies” at this point. Posting new FSS reviews or writing 20,000 words on a new novel? The novel is going to win out at this point. I need to do what’s best for my own self worth and my own reward system.
Lots of you will say it’s a lack of news or interest that’s driving the site into relative silence, but I can promise you that’s not the point. My site begun in 1998 when we were getting maybe 15 new figures a year (and then none in 1999). My site has survived the Direct to Consumer doldrums, the disintegration of one of my favorite brands, Sigma 6, the rise and fall of the G.I. Joe film franchise, and GeneralsJoes was right there the whole time. It didn’t go anywhere, and it’s still not going anywhere. I’m never going to abandon this site, I’m never going to abandon the G.I. Joe brand, I just have only so much time to go around, and for the moment that time is being spent on other endeavors. I truly hope everyone reading this understands.
That being said, if there is anyone reading this who wants to assist in keeping the heartbeat of GeneralsJoes alive, please drop me line (justin AT generalsjoesreborn.com). I hate to see the site dwindling into obscurity, I desperately want to keep it active and keep it relevant, but there’s only so much I can do personally, and as I said, for my own mental well-being and self-reward, I really want to continue to focus on being an author.
Who knows, if my author career takes off to the point where I can do that for a day job, then that changes my whole landscape. I don’t see that happening for a while (if ever).
That being said, there are rumors that the next G.I. Joe film will be landing in early 2020. Along with that will likely be a new action figure line. The G.I. Joe Collectors Club is officially winding down with their last convention in Chattanooga this coming year. The good news is that there are so many fans of the brand still keeping the fires lit, and trust me when I say I’m doing the same thing, I’m just doing it a bit more quietly than some others. That may change in 2018, but I can’t promise anything at this point.
Like I said, I’m not going anywhere, and if anyone wants to help keep the light on, please drop me a line. Time will tell how things look going into 2018.
I’ve had this wonderful book in my grubby hands for a very long time, and shame on me for not reviewing it before now, because anyone who is a fan of Vitruvian HACKS needs to check this book out.
Total HACKS is a fantastic creation by the brainchildren of Brian Hickey and Paddy Lennon who worked on a similar book for G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Paddy is also the one writing the bios for the Vitruvian HACKS characters on the packaging, so he is certainly fully immersed in the universe.
Brian also does the design work on the Bucky O’Hare packaging, so you can believe his eye for design and production is second to none.
Check out my review of the Total HACKS book right here, and from now until December 31st, this book is only $19.99 at BossFightShop.com. You DON’T want to miss out. It’s great.
Over the past few years there has been a propensity of books being funded and sold throughout the online fandom, many of them being done through Kickstarter. Brian Hickey and Paddy Lennon (who frequently appear on the always entertaining Full Force Podcast) went another route, producing the book entirely out of pocket for sale directly to collectors.
Their work on Total Retaliation, covering the G.I. Joe: Retaliation action figure line was fantastic, and their look at (most of) Series 01 of Vitruvian HACKS is equally spectacular. Actually, moreso in many ways.
Total HACKS is an almost 100 page coffee table book crammed full with action figure profiles, fantastic diorama shots and short fiction stories interwoven within the universe of HACKS. It truly is a magnificent book from many different perspectives.
The action figure profiles have great images of each figure (up through Series 01 Wave 6) as well as the Skeletons, with many really fun diorama images worked in along the way. See really awesome battle sequences, interesting connectivity with other toy lines and some fantastic conversation pieces.
Taking all of that, you then get exposure to the wider Vitruvian HACKS universe with the great short stories by Paddy Lennon mixed within the other elements. Paddy is also the one writing the bio’s on the action figure packages, so he certainly is immersed in the HACKS universe and is the perfect choice to be telling these stories.
If you haven’t checked this book out yet, you really need to. It’s at a discounted price at BossFightShop.com through December 31st, and it’s worth every single penny. The quicker they sell through Total HACKS volume 1, the quicker we can get volume 2 rolling and I’m pretty fired up to see what they come up with for that.
It’s great stuff. During this awesome month-long series of sales at BossFightShop.com you need to just toss it in your cart and prepare to find new ways to love Vitruvian HACKS.
The Full Force has posted Series 4, Episode 9 of their awesome podcast, this time featuring a plethora of content about Transformers! They speak to former Hasbro Transformers and G.I. Joe manager Marc Weber and dig into the awesomeness that is Transformers lore for a solid NINE HOURS.
It’s bound to be some good listenin’! Check out the latest episode on Podbean (also embedded below and be sure to check out the show notes on the Full Force Facebook page, they always have a ton of images and great details straight from the show.
So I realize as I prepare to write this that I’ve been taking something for granted. Month in and month out, the greatness of Larry Hama and SL Gallant effortlessly weaving their way through the G.I. Joe mythology, incorporating new things, adding some great vintage homages and generally having fun with it all. I’ve been buying it every month, reading it every month, and enjoying it every month. But it became a routine and I just kind of expected to have it there, month in and month out.
When IDW announced that SL Gallant would no longer be the primary artist on G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, I have to admit, I was pretty upset. His work with Hama had become evocative of the legendary Hama/Whigham work from back in the day, a team that became so inexorably tied with the brand that it’s difficult to think of that era of G.I. Joe without picturing those particular versions of those characters in your head. The same had become true of Gallant’s time on the title, and now that I don’t have that routine anymore, it feels like a piece of that history is gone.
It’s odd because I’m typically not a fan of brands leaning on vintage nostalgia like a crutch, and I’d much prefer to see different ways that brands can evolve and stay relevant with these days rather than becoming overly reliant on trying to revisit the past…yet Hama/Gallant had just enough taste of the past to feel natural without feeling forced.
That being said, Netho Diaz has certainly made a splash and a very good impression with his work here. Keep reading for a full review.
A year ago, if you told me I’d be reviewing Bucky O’Hare figures on this site, I would have said you were full of it. But here we are!
You can thank the fine folks at Boss Fight Studio for not only acquiring the awesome Hama/Adams/Golden license, but for also absolutely killing it with the toy design and production. These are some fantastic, fun toys made as a labor of love and you can really tell.
Check out my brand spanking new Bucky O’Hare Review Page or click the links below to see what I thought!
While I think many of us wait patiently for news of the upcoming Hasbro Cinematic Universe so we can set expectations for new retail G.I. Joe figures, a few licensees have emerged with potential G.I. Joe related items in various stages of conception and production.
Perhaps most unusual is news from Dynamic Attractions (revealed via Skinny on Twitter) who is apparently planning a new full-blown amusement park attraction and framing it around the G.I. Joe brand. They speak about it in depth in this YouTube video and even show some brief video (including a look at very COBRA-themed set design and a vehicle that looks more than a little like a four-seat VAMP):
Dubbed an “All-Terrain Dark Ride” this was announced at IAAPA 2017 (The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) and even included some promotional opportunities.
Along with this information, Pop Culture Shock Collectibles has also announced they have acquired rights to produce some G.I. Joe product as well. Most well known for their lines of statues, we’ll have to see what they have in store and how it compares (or compliments) the existing work of Prime 1 Studio.
“PCS Collectibles is pleased to announce we have now secured a licensing agreement with Hasbro Inc. We are excited about the opportunity to team with Hasbro in creating collectibles based on characters from properties like TRANSFORMERS, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, G.I. JOE and MY LITTLE PONY to name a few. Stay tuned for further details!
G.I. JOE, TRANSFORMERS, and MY LITTLE PONY are trademarks of Hasbro. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast LLC.”
As always, time will tell how this all shakes out. Stay tuned!
