IDW has posted a nice preview of the soon to be released ninth issue of G.I. Joe: Origins. Crisply written by Larry Hama, this has been a great origin story behind the formation of this new generation G.I. Joe special ops team. Check out the two covers and the preview below!
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Recently announced solicitations for IDW in February, 2010 reveal a wealth of new product on the way. The movie may be over, but the G.I. Joe brand doesn’t seem to be losing any steam, going full speed ahead into next year. Click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below for the full details!
Real life once again sort of got in the way this weekend, and I didn’t have a chance to comment on too much news, which is a shame because there was a bunch of great stuff in the community this weekend, and perhaps the coolest was Rulz over at HissTank.com, who showed off a recently acquired Desert Battle RAM w/ Sandstorm. This is slated to be a Target Exclusive, and is a very nice looking package, not only for the cool new character in desert camouflage, but also with a desert themed RAM that fits in nicely with those tan repaints of the old school figures of Clutch and Grunt from 1984. It’ll look really nice next to the VAMP Mark II. But what’s really got my attention is this new character Sandstorm, who’s got some nicely weathered Reactive Armor, and great desert camouflage that matches the Toys “R” Us Troop Builder pack perfectly. Love the masked look, too. Good stuff…
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With all this new product hitting, seems like old friend of GeneralsJoes “Alexx” has his hands full! This weekend, we’re getting a feature on the Wal-Mart exclusive Outpost Defender w/ Roadblock and Tripwire. Excellent choice. 🙂
Check out the original thread on JBL here, and take a peek at the gallery below as well!
This one definitely tops my list of most wanted from these latest Wal-Mart exclusives. Love the Outpost Defender, and LOVE that Roadblock. Tripwire is a bit sketchy, very obviously using the old Tiger Force paint apps, only done up in the slightly overdone black and silver movie paint scheme, which doesn’t look nearly as good. I guess I don’t really understand…if Roadblock can be done in various shades of brown and green, why not Tripwire? That would give the vintage fans their Tiger Force homage they want, while still getting some neat movie product out there, too. I can understand the desire to use the movie paint scheme, but if Roadblock can be in different, more jungle themed stuff, why not the other figure? It would bring the whole set together a lot more cohesively, and this is coming from someone who normally doesn’t give a crap about old school homages…
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Yeesh…again with the bad timing. This crazy mail server project at work as kept me hopping during the day and during the night time hours. Apologies for the spotty updates to my Q & A page, but the links should now all be accurate for everything that’s been dug up so far. A big thanks to The Terror Drome for their helpful archive as well!
I did get the answer to my third question as well, which you can read here.
Thanks for sticking with it! This server is almost done, then hopefully things can get back to a sense of normalcy again.
I know I bitched about Hasbro’s non-committal answers yesterday, and to a point, that holds true. It can be frustrating when we, as fans, reach out, simply for some information…and don’t get a whole lot in return. I wasn’t asking for trade secrets, I wasn’t trying to be a dick, I was just trying to come up with some interesting, different questions, and get some insight, yet still received nothing really in the replies. A bit disappointing, is all.
But…apparently Hasbro wasn’t so non-committal with everyone. There’s actually some information that we gleaned from this round, which was cool to see.
JoeCanuck.com – “Look out for a S.A.W. Viper Crazy Legs, and plenty of others in 2010.” Very interesting…cool to hear the name SAW Viper, that’s for sure. I can only imagine what he’ll look like in a Pursuit of Cobra theme. Crazy Legs seems to be a somewhat odd choice, but I’m open for anything.
JoeBattleLines – “Good news – we plan to release Alpine in a 2010 multipack in a classic look.” I like hearing this, too, even though I was one of those folks who found the Best of the 80’s multipack when it was first released. I am a bit curious about “classic look”, though. Do they mean a direct homage to his vintage appearence, or with some liberties? Does this mean some more classic-themed multipacks are in the wings? Guess we’ll wait and see.
Kastors Korner – “We are finally releasing some of the characters that collectors have been clamoring for (Roadblock, Scarlett, Destro and Baroness among others)… and have some newly tooled figures based on the Resolute series that are sure to please…“. Yeah, this one was a no-brainer in my mind. Everyone realizes the tooled up figures are getting in these boxed sets, the real question is who the newly tooled figures are going to be. I’m still laying my cash down on Stalker, Flint, and Zartan as being key members of these 7-packs. Who wants to take my bet?
JediDefender – “Alley Viper is planned to be released as a single carded figure with updated gear and deco – watch out for him in the Pursuit of Cobra line!” Hot damn! Love the Alley-Viper, and can’t wait to see what they do to him to make him gel with the Pursuit of COBRA. I’m sensing some bad ass new gear and paint apps. Very cool…gotta be a “City Strike” guy.
HissTank – “The Pursuit of Cobra product will hit shelves in the back half 2010.” Ummm… wha–? The back half? My understanding from the Con was that these would start hitting in January and be a full blown year long theme. Are they really being pushed back to the second part of 2010? If so, that’s a bit of a bummer from a stagnation stand point. Sure, there’s plenty of product on the horizon like the next run of Target Exclusives, Alpha vehicles wave 3, Bravo vehicles wave 3, etc… but most of that stuff contains heavy doses of repaints, retools, and rehashes. I gotsta get my hands on some NEW stuff, man. This is a bit of a bummer…hopefully we can get some elaboration or clarification on this.
As usual, somewhat of a mixed bag. There were some answers scattered about, but still a lot of marketing talk. I have noticed a trend of questions getting a bit “snippier” as time goes on. It would appear the fandom is tiring a bit of the non-answers, but we should get used to it. It’s nice to at least see some information flowing out there, even if you have to dig through a lot of jargon to get it.
Looks like production is ramping up for upcoming Pursuit of Cobra figures, as we have another allotment of images to check out, but of mostly the same figures we’ve seen. Still, these images are even nicer than previous ones and offer some very cool new details.
These figures are…freaking…amazing. Look at all of those accessories! I’m not big on arctic figures, but the way Snow Job’s gear all fits onto his backpack like that? Holy crap. Zartan blends a lot of his classic elements into a very neat Aboriginal style…very nomadic and bad ass, and that disguise looks great. Storm Shadow is another absolute winner. I was getting really damn tired of that character during the Anniversary line, but he just comes to life in new ways with that cool jungle camouflage, that amazing webgear and really neat glider. Not to mention the twin uzi’s. I’m almost speechless. These are some of the finest looking toys to hit G.I. Joe in a very long time. I’m astounded that they can work that level of detail and accessorization into a 3 3/4″ figure, it’s truly fantastic.
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As the second wave of Target exclusive mini-vehicles are now trickling into stores, Alexx from JoeBattleLines has posted another one of his great “Shorts”, this time focusing on the updated Cobra Rocket Pack with Air-Viper. I actually like this rocket pack quite a bit, and the crimson Strato-Viper is a lot more appealing than I thought he was from original images. I think the Serpent Armor is still the only one I’m really dying for in that assortment, but this one is pretty cool, too.
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One of my answers has to wait until tomorrow, I would imagine because it involves some extra research and writing (and is hopefully informative)…but here are the two answers that I DID get today:
All of my answers can be found below!
Q: Can you explain the process behind producing store exclusives? Do stores have sole discretion over what’s in the set, or do your designers build out several various “exclusives” sets and sell them to buyers that way? Are there consistent budget restrictions, or does it depend on which retailer you’re trying to sell to? How much say to they have over included characters, tooling costs, or MSRP?
A: We really try to look at how best to blend the needs of both the retailers and the collectors. Ultimately, it has to sell well… and we do have to factor in many components as you mentioned, but with the wealth of Joe-knowledge and fan base here at Hasbro – the designs are primarily internally generated to fit best within the overall GI Joe line.
Q: One of the fandom’s favorite things about Resolute were the character designs and the art style, and in fact, Deviant Art has supplied the fandom with a great assortment of Resolute inspired concept art and designs. When can we expect to see an “Art of G.I. Joe: Resolute” book to celebrate the unique style of the great designers behind the creation of G.I. Joe: Resolute?
A: While there are no firm plans in place at present, the publishing team is looking at various options for the use of this material.
Q: With so much demand from fans for vintage homages in the Rise of Cobra line, why does Hasbro continue to do these “homages” in strange and different ways? Why not put Footloose in a Jungle Operations set and give him a proper “vintage” look? Why not do a night operations or urban operations set with a proper Lowlight that folks have been asking for? Is Hasbro “saving” these figures for something in the future? It seems like a no-brainer….
A: We always try to do what’s best for the brand depending on the current context and situation. We try to mix classic looks with modern gear to keep the brand relevant and accessible for the next generation of GI Joe fans but also keep the brand relevant to current fans.
I’ve defended Hasbro pretty heavily on their Q & A process in the past, but this is getting a little silly. I tried to ask a relatively in depth question in attempts to get some insight into their decision making, yet it was still returned with the typical marketing speak. I only hope my third question maybe offers a little bit more information, I don’t think I’m really asking for a whole lot. Certainly not trade secrets or anything.
Hasbro, a note…we’re collectors here. We LOVE this stuff. We simply want to know more about it. Why can we not get informative and insightful answers to questions that don’t even ask about upcoming product? I’m really not understanding this.
In the meantime, keep watching the Q & A page for more answers…hopefully with more information than I got here.
Thanks to the guys at The Terror Drome for pointing out that some more images have been revealed for upcoming Pursuit of Cobra single pack figures on the horizon. Yes, I know that they may not necessarily be called “Pursuit of Cobra” when they’re released, but for simplicity sake, I’m still calling them that for now.
Read the full story here, or just check out the mirrored images below. Pretty cool glimpses of these figures, including some nice shots with the gear removed. Damn, I’m looking forward to these!
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