The GI Joe Collectors’ Club has sent word along that their fall membership drive is barreling full steam ahead, and they have opened up a new G.I. Joe “Ultimate Battle” Contest! Details for this contest can be found on GIJoeClub.com.
Also as a part of the fall membership drive, they are showing a sneak preview of the upcoming Adventure Team Sea Adventurer with Sea Wolf! You can see a snippet of the image mirrored below, with a full image over on GIJoeClub.com.
The full press release can be read after the jump. (more…)
This week at Past Generation Toys:
### GI JOE ###
First up we have a Target Exclusive, GI Joe: Cobra Air-Viper with Rocket Pack from the GI Joe Movie: Rise of Cobra. Air-Viper pilots fly next-generation aircraft designed by MARS Industries. Like all top test pilots, these ruthless hunters of the sky are meticulous, detail-oriented problem solvers with an extensive knowledge of aeronautical engineering. Figure comes with stand, rocket pack accessory, elevating cannons and other weapon accessories.
Next we have the GI Joe Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) collection. These figures were a limited production of 2,000. Still available are Air-Tight, Cobra Officer, Copperhead, Lt Falcon, and Night Viper. We also have the BAT Troop Builder 6 pack; this 6 figure pack was only available by mail order and includes 1 OVERKILL, 3 Cobra BAT V2s, and 2 Cobra Inferno BATs
By the case, we have 12 figure cases from the GI Joe Movie: Rise of Cobra Collection 2 Wave 1 available today. These cases contain Shipwreck (x1), Heavy Duty (x2), Zartan (x2), Ripcord (x2), Breaker (x2), Cobra Viper (x2), and Scarlett (x1). (more…)
While a debut date is not yet known, Hasbro has announced a partnership with Corus Entertainment, which will broaden the viewership for upcoming Hub programming, including new series like Transformers: Prime and G.I. Joe: Renegades. Corus Entertainment is Canada’s leading family broadcast station, and this would appear to be the first step towards bringing new Hasbro based animation worldwide.
Check out the full press release after the jump, and thanks to The Terror Drome for the information. (more…)
I have been woefully behind the 8 ball in reviewing IDW’s G.I. Joe titles, but I’ve got a few in the queue, now that I made my most recent trip to my local comic shop. Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods “local” is a relative term, and I can usually only hit the shop once in a while, so I try to get a handful of books at once. For that reason, you will likely see a small bunch of reviews posted within the next couple of days.
Among those will be the two books being released tomorrow, G.I. Joe: Origins #21 and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #160. While you wait with baited breath for the reviews to go up, here are some 5-page previews for these two upcoming issues.
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G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #160
Larry Hama (w) • Agustin Padilla (a) • Padilla, Rod Whigham (c)
Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow switch sides. Baroness gets deprogrammed.
Billy gets taken over completely by Dr. Venom. Blame it all on the Brainwave Scanner! *2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
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G.I. Joe: Origins #21
David Lapham (w) • Werther Dell’Edera (a) • Tom Feister (c) David Lapham’s “Sedition by Numbers” continues here! The Mad Monk begins his training with COLOSSUS WORLD SECURITY, INC., which is owned by COBRA, of course. Torture is the routine and Monk is singled out for extra attention. If the camp doesn’t break him, then his first mission might have him wondering whose side he’s on. There’s no bottom to this rabbit hole.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Also, I know a lot of folks had been holding out for the Trade Paperback to check out Max Brook’s G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds. Well, the paperback is hitting this Wednesday and here is the solicitation info below: G.I. JOE: Hearts and Minds
Max Brooks (w) • Howard Chaykin, Antonio Fuso (a) • Bill Tortolini (c)
Tanks, planes, guns, and bombs are the tools of war, but in order to succeed you must win over the HEARTS AND MINDS. Max Brooks, writer of World War Z, brings his gut-wrenching storytelling approach to G.I. JOE. Partnered with critically-acclaimed artists Howard Chaykin and Antonio Fuso, Brooks cracks open ten G.I. JOE and COBRA characters, revealing their true hidden nature, their highest highs and lowest lows, and leaves you tensely gripping your chair and confronting your own fears. It’s G.I. JOE like you’ve never experienced before.
HC • FC • $24.99 • 132 Pages • ISBN:978-1-60010-776-4 Bullet points:
Max Brooks is the best-selling author of TheZombieSurvivalGuide, and WorldWarZ.
From 2001 to 2003, Brooks was a member of the writing team at SaturdayNightLive that won an Emmy in 2002.
“Max Brooks has told an in depth and amazing tale.” — Generals Joes.com
“Hands down, Bar None, Absolutely, Unequivocally… I think you get the point, the best book I read this week.” — iFanboy.com
“The outcome of these tales is rarely in question, but the journey never fails to be engrossing.” — IGN.com
Well known for an assortment of excellent deals just prior to the Black Friday shopping frenzy, online retailer Entertainment Earth has started the process yet again! Click the banners below to check out their awesome offerings for the pre-Black Friday sales this year!
Also, you can now get free shipping for any items above $99 until December 8th.
A while ago I showcased some pretty neat stop-motion videos from VisorHUNgary’s YouTube page, and I’m happy to report he has updated once again! G.I. Joe: Cobra Part 1 and Part 2 have been posted for a while, and now it’s time for Part 3.
You know, I thought the previous two parts were pretty neat. This one is incredible. His skills have obviously developed and evolved as he’s done more of these, and I am extremely impressed with how G.I. Joe: Cobra 3 (Part 1) is looking so far. The gun fire, the action, the relatively seamless animation. It’s really good stuff.
Check out the embedded video below, and be sure to hit up VisorHUNgary’s YouTube Channel to catch up on past installments of G.I. Joe: Cobra as well as some great Masters of the Universe stuff as well.
They’ve gone through a few different names over the past little while…most recently it was Tri-Gate Creations, and now it’s Slayer Design Studios. But the basic idea and business model is the same. Provide production-level customized pieces to build you own G.I. Joe universe.
They most recently caught my eye with the incredible Red Shadow offerings they had a short while ago… caught my eye in such a way, that I made sure I had some pieces in hand to review. Well, I haven’t yet had a chance to review them, but a review is coming…while you wait, though, I just have to keep talking up these guys. They have some absolutely insane product offerings.
Want to inject some Super Hero love into your G.I. Joe universe? They got that. Want to beef up your Iron Grenadier army? Yeah, they can take care of that, too. Want to create an apocalyptic war-infested zombie wasteland with your Joes? Oh hell yeah, theygotthat. Hell, they even have some awesome other 80’s properties that you know and love.
From the sheer quality of the sculpting to the amazing variety of products, Slayer Designs is simply the shit when it comes to custom parts and pieces. Check out their revamped store front, and keep your eyes peeled. There are new items being posted every day, and nearly all of them are incredible.
* * * * * * * * * [ SMALLJOES.COM NEWSLETTER ] * * * * * * * * * * http://smalljoes.com
Hi all! We’ve created a Facebook page and integrated the feed into the menu
bar. The Facebook feed is a great way to keep up on all of our news and new
product listings that occur in between the email updates. Our Facebook page
can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smalljoescom/119151574807188
Please follow link then “Like” our page by clicking the like button
on the top (next to our logo). You will then be able to see our occasional
new product updates and other notices within your Facebook updates, usually
one or two a week.
On to the news and product announcements!
GI JOE
======
GI JOE: Pursuit of Cobra wave 3 and wave 4 figures are up for pre-order.
Each set of four figures is available for $27.99 per set. Wave 3 includes
Duke (v2), Snake-Eyes (v3), Cobra Shock Trooper, and Storm Shadow (v2). Wave
4 includes Destro (v2), Skydive, Shadow Tracker, and Lowlight.
Hasbro has announced that Snake-Eyes (v3) will not have a variant. Both
heads will be included in the package with the figure. I think this is
a relief for both retailers and collectors and will allow you to get both
heads without going to a lot of trouble and expense.
Wave 3 is expected in the first two weeks of December and wave 4 in the first
two weeks of January 2011. If you pre-order both sets together we will bill
and ship everything together when wave 4 arrives.
Some refresh cases of Pursuit of Cobra waves 1 and 2 will be shipping in
November. We will not be ordering a lot of these so recommend you put in a
pre-order to reserve figure sets if you’re interested. http://smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/pgen.cgi?CatId=2&Stage=5 (more…)
From what I can gather, the interview was done a number of months ago, but was just recently posted. Wildly enthusiastic G.I. Joe fan Gyre-Viper got an opportunity to talk with Mr. Merklein, and has posted the video interview on YouTube for all to see.
Guys like Mr. Merklein are overlooked in the toy industry, but his work on the original G.I. Joe line cannot be overstated. He did initial sculpting for many of the figures that we all know and love, and without talented guys like him, our favorite toyline would be only a shadow of what we know. The ideas are where everything starts…but the design of the figure itself is what carries the line for nearly 30 years, and the guys behind the pens, paintbrushes, and sculpting tools don’t get nearly the credit they deserve.
Too many fans think that just because they can do a custom, they can somehow do “better” than the Hasbro designers. I would challenge them on that. These guys are some damn talented artists, whether you like the end result or not. Kudos to Gyre-Viper for getting this interview done, and an even bigger kudos for sharing it with the rest of the Joe fandom, so we can peek inside the mind of one of the legendary creators of these timeless characters that we know and love.
Check the YouTube link below for Part 1 of the interview. There are multiple parts, and I will embed all of them after the jump.
As anyone who has seen my screen name knows (not to mention the name of the site itself) I’m a pretty big fan of the General Hawk character. Even as a kid, I loved how Hama portrayed him in the comics, and was endlessly annoyed that he somehow got blacklisted from the animation merely based on his resemblance to Duke. Heck, even when he appeared in Season 2, he had his hair color changed and didn’t seem to retain any of the hard-edged personality that I loved from the comic book.
However, I fully acknowledge that most folks know Hawk from his appearances in the cartoon, and the brown bomber jacket is certainly his iconic look, so I will admit, even though he’s in his ’86 togs I’m pretty freaking giddy to see him in the below Sideshow Production Blog:
Looks very cool. It should be noted there’s another figure in the background, which HissTank.com is labeling as “Grunt”, but there’s no proof I can see that this is the case. Regardless, love these behind the scenes peeks. Looking awesome.
Check out the production blog itself right here.
