Word has been passed along to me from my buddies over at TS118 of an incredible looking new project called “Sidewinder”, designed as a modular diorama! Check out the awesome details by clicking on the “Read the Rest of this Entry” link below! This thing looks amazing.
PreviewsWorld.com has posted some information from the November issue of Previews Magazine, including some very cool details about the upcoming follow up to the critically acclaimed G.I. Joe: COBRA miniseries.
“Mike Costa, Christos N. Gage (w) o Antonio Fuso (a) o Fuso, Howard Chaykin (c)
CHUCKLES is the only man alive to have successfully infiltrated COBRA… and he’s M.I.A. Has he been killed? Defected? Gone rogue to fight a one-man war against the enemy? None of these alternatives are acceptable to GENERAL HAWK. He wants CHUCKLES back with G.I. JOE, so he’s sending a new Joe to retrieve him. But what she finds may be worse than anyone could have imagined… Also, get a deeper look inside COBRA than ever before, as TOMAX, XAMOT, and Erika continue to feel the effects of the previous miniseries, and several COBRA operatives are introduced for the first time in an IDW book!”
Absolutely freaking awesome. I cannot wait to get my hands on this book. Really looking forward to it.
Other G.I. Joe related entries, all slated to be released in January, 2010 include:
NOV09 0809 GI JOE COBRA II #1 01/27/10 SRP: $3.99 = $
NOV09 0812 GI JOE MOVIE SNAKE EYES #4 01/27/10 SRP: $3.99 = $
NOV09 0814 GI JOE #14 01/27/10 SRP: $3.99 = $
NOV09 0816 GI JOE ORIGINS #11 01/27/10 SRP: $3.99 = $
NOV09 0818 GI JOE BEST OF BARONESS TP 01/27/10 SRP: $19.99 = $
NOV09 1240 GI JOE COBRA ISLAND AF ASST (C: 1-1-3) 01/27/10 SRP: $49.99 = $
NOV09 1241 GI JOE MOVIE AF COLLECTION 1 ASST 201001 (C:1-1-3) 01/27/10 SRP: $12.99 = $
NOV09 1242 GI JOE MOVIE BRAVO VEHICLE W/AF ASST 201001 (C:1-1-3) 01/27/10 SRP: $39.99 = $
NOV09 1383 GI JOE CLASSIC COBRA COMMANDER BOBBLE HEAD 01/27/10 SRP:$11.99 = $
NOV09 1384 GI JOE CLASSIC GUNG HO BOBBLE HEAD 01/27/10 SRP: $11.99 = $
NOV09 1385 GI JOE CLASSIC DUKE BOBBLE HEAD 01/27/10 SRP: $11.99 = $
NOV09 1386 GI JOE CLASSIC DESTRO BOBBLE HEAD 01/27/10 SRP: $11.99 = $”
A big thanks to Jeff Bohn for the info.
Hi – Here is a quick newsletter from http://www.bigbadtoystore.com about a
ton of new preorders and more new arrivals. There is a lot of great stuff
this week so be sure to scan through the big list below:
Thanks to a report on Entertainment News International, we know that Brian Goldner, CEO at Hasbro had a conference call yesterday to discuss company earnings, and the topic of G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony television projects came up. According to ENI:
“Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner today during a company earnings conference call made hint to the possibility that G.I. Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony could be returning to television in 2010. Goldner stated that they planned to have television support for these three properties along with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and a number of Marvel related projects…”
Mr. Goldner also talked about the Rise of Cobra and mentioned that the sequel was in the planning stages.
But, most importantly, while talking about the potential television products, it was revealed “…that they plan to reveal more details about these projects at their Hasbro Investor Day event which will be held on November 5, 2009 at their headquarters in Rhode Island.”
So, on the surface, it sounds like things are moving along at a brisk pace. 2010 certainly looks to be a potentially exciting year for G.I. Joe fans, let’s hope everything pans out as expected! Hopefully we’ll hear some cool information come November.
The latest issue of the JoeCanuck Canadian Joe Collectors’ Club newsletter has been posted! It’s a smaller edition than normal, but it’s a special Halloween edition. As always, check out the full announcement and post your thoughts at JoeCanuck.com.
The Associated Press is reporting that Hasbro has posted higher profits than expected, raising 8.8%, buoyed by strong boys toys sales. The article says specifically:
“Hasbro Inc, the nation’s second biggest toymaker, said Monday its profit rose 8.8 percent in the third quarter, helped by lower costs and slightly higher sales of Transformers and G.I. Joe toys.
Hasbro said its earnings rose to $150.4 million, or 99 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 27, up from $138.2 million, or 89 cents a share, a year ago.”
While I’m sure Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen played a larger role in the profits arena than Rise of Cobra did, it’s nice to see G.I. Joe getting some credit for raising some capital for parent company Hasbro as well. Read the full article here, as well as a report on WallStreetJournal.com.
The countdown has been on for a few weeks now, just wondering when it would come, and if estimates hold true throughout this weekend, by the time Monday rolls, around, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will have broken 300 Million dollars internationally, an almost even 150 million domestic and 150 million International. This comes at the same time as Entertainment News International reports that The Rise of Cobra also hit the Top Ten list for summer films. For a film released at the tail end of the summer blockbuster season, I think this is a great sign and absolutely a successful indication in Paramount’s eyes.
Look…in spite of what the 25 – 30 year old fanbase will tell you, G.I. Joe has never been purely about gritty military drama. It’s never been about hardcore special ops soldiers in realistic military uniforms fighting terrorists down and dirty. Sure, it’s had those elements, but the core of G.I. Joe has always been the science fiction and fantasy elements of the story, and what made Larry Hama so special was his ability to seamlessly work that new age technology into a more real world story and make it work.
Rise of Cobra had the military action, it had the next gen realistic weaponry, and it also had super-futuristic technology and fantasy elements, just as G.I. Joe has had since it’s inception.
I would never say the film is perfect, it had it’s healthy share of faults (just as Resolute did, I might add…) but it was entertaining as hell, and like it or not, the movie has done more for G.I. Joe’s public “street cred” than anything else since the 90’s. Fans of all era’s and all ages should be appreciative that at least the G.I. Joe brand is once again in the public consciousness. I know it’s easy to slam the film, but before doing that, just try and remember a time when you could find 10 – 12 feet of G.I. Joe product in your local store shelves, I can guarantee you haven’t seen it in the past 20 years, not even when the 25th Anniversary line was in its hey day.
There are plenty of things that I would change about the film if given the chance, and I hope the inevitable sequel gets a chance to improve on the mistakes of the first film, but from a pure brand-awareness perspective, I have a hard time getting mad about anything the movie did or didn’t do. For all of its faults, it’s put the words “G.I. Joe” on the lips and tongue of the American public again after being forgotten for a long time, and that can never be a bad thing.
I haven’t really been a fan of recent 12″ Hasbro figures, but the Rise of Cobra ones are actually drawing me in, if only a little bit. I’ve seen Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Duke, Cobra Commander, and Ripcord, and they all have some sort of limited appeal which I cannot really describe. They still have the silly, scrawny body types, sculpted uniforms, and general goofiness, but for whatever reason, I still think they’re kind of neat. Not nearly neat enough to drop $16 on ’em, of course.
Regardless, for those folks who are into them, apparently the latest wave has started hitting retail according jroosa030 on HissTank. He just scored the Destro and General Hawk, and I’ve mirrored images below. I think both of these figures look pretty neat and fit into the RoC aesthetic remarkably well. I dig ’em.
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I rarely give my personal perspective or opinion on Rise of Cobra’s retail presence, simply because I really have little to no experience in it. My local stores consist of a run down Wal-Mart that rarely (if ever) stocks Joe stuff, and a K-Mart that time forgot that is in the same boat. As such, I buy most of my stuff online, and really have no personal basis for an opinion of how the RoC line is moving at retail or what the real retail presence is.
Well, yesterday I had a chance to get on the road, and I went down to Southern New Hampshire and scoped out a number of Targets and Toys “R” Us’, and wow…I was pretty floored. I had an idea that the peg situation in my town was pretty pathetic, but I had no idea just how much Rise of Cobra product is on store shelves and on the pegs! It was really eye opening.
My main goal was to find the Target “Rescue Mission” 4-Pack and the Toys “R” Us Attack on The Pit 5-Pack, and I saw them in droves. Every single Target and Toys “R” Us I hit had the exclusives I was looking for, and then some. Out of the 4 Targets I hit, none of them had any wave 2 mini-vehicle sets, however, which was a bummer. I loved seeing the lower $5.99 price point (which was present at all four Targets) but there was little product to get excited about. Pegs were full of the familiar Waves 1 and 2 items, with a scattering of Wave 3, but none of the really high profile or highly desirable stuff. No Elite-Vipers, Pit Commandos, Doctors, or Crimson Neo-Vipers. A few Hawks, Flash’s and Helix’s, but that was about it.
I swung through three total Toys “R” Us stores, and was absolutely elated at the amount of product seen there. It’s obvious that TRU is a firm believer in the G.I. Joe brand, and they had hit the market fast and furious. Each TRU had a nice bunch of the Attack on the Pit sets, 2 of the TRU’s had Wave 2 of the Bravo vehicles, and 1 of them had the Senior Ranking Officer 3-Packs. I was a bit bummed that none of them had Bench Press, though. I think I hit ’em a bit too early. 🙁
By far the highlight of the trip was the Toys “R” Us in Nashua, NH. Wow. Impressive doesn’t begin to cover it. I know we’ve all seen those old school images of an entire aisle devoted to G.I. Joe…well, Nashua’s just about got that matched. Check out the pics below taken on my crappy camera phone:
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I know to most of you folks out there this might not be a big deal, but to a backwoods guy like me who doesn’t get to “The City” very often, I absolutely loved seeing all this product in one place. Toys “R” Us is obviously really gearing up for the holiday season, and I can only hope Rise of Cobra proves worth their investment. Each TRU I hit did have a nice allotment of Waves 1, 2, & 3, though the later wave army builders were already picked over.
I was pleasently surprised at the amount of devoted shelf space G.I. Joe has these days. Speaking as a Joe fan since ’82, it’s been a long, looooong time since I saw this much product at retail. I know the common reaction is “it’s not selling! Deth of teh line!!!” and honestly, that might be the case. But when Christmas goes into full swing and the toy aisles get ransacked, there are going to be a TON of Joe items to pick through, which is a great thing for the brand, and will hopefully draw in a new generation of fans.
On another note, expect my reviews of the Target and TRU multi-packs next week… :shifty:
G.I.Joe Review Episode 027 (35:20) – The guys review G.I. Joe #51.
You can direct download Episode 027 at: http://media.libsyn.com/media/gijoereview/GIJoeReview027.mp3
G.I. Joe: Review on iTunes, but if you’re not, their rss feed is here.
Email address is: GIJoeReview@gmail.com
You will be able to find the archives at: http://gijoereview.libsyn.com/
Discuss this episode at http://gijoereview.army4one.com
Also, feel free to vote and leave some comments for them on PodCast Alley.
Enjoy!