#1 – Read the review! :shifty:
I mean, folks had to know it was coming, right? Along with the contest to win a copy of the Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe (2nd Edition), I’ve also posted a fairly exhaustive review of the book as well, with a ton of pictures and details about the improvements and the contents.
Trust me, it’s worth your Joefan money. Check out the review, and if you’re so inclined, pick up a copy at Amazon.com.
ocab27 over on HissTank.com has scored a Pursuit of COBRA Storm Shadow test shot, based on the tooling from the unreleased Resolute version, and has kindly posted images online, which I’ve hosted below.
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This is one bad ass version of the COBRA Ninja…I love the Resolute tooling anyway, but with all of these bad ass accessories, this is a fantastic version of Storm Shadow. Considering how tired I was getting of the character during the Anniversary line, the Rise of COBRA and Pursuit of COBRA has really revitalized the character, and given us some wonderful toys. Awesome. To see fully painted versions of this great looking figures, hit up the Pursuit of COBRA SuperPage.
Long title, simple concept.
When I announced my Rise of COBRA mini dio-story project earlier this week, I mentioned that I had a finale in mind when I initially produced my dio-stories…a clear beginning and an end. What I didn’t necessarily mention was that I have actually already written the end. I have it down on paper, I know what happens, what’s next, and how I might transition to a Rise of COBRA/Pursuit of COBRA universe, if that is my intention. Click the Read the rest of the story link below to continue on…
Chrysophylax from JoeCustoms comes through again with a nice pictorial and review for a recently released Rise of COBRA figure, this time the Arctic Snake Eyes. I haven’t gotten my hands on this one yet, but he looks pretty cool, I gotta say, especially for an arctic figure.
Check out the hosted images below.
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The Terror Drome has dug up an image of some Anniversary themed troop builder packs, one of them that we’ve seen before, but one of them we definitely haven’t. The real question is, are these upcoming items, or merely packaged images of packs that have since been cancelled?
I’ve seen some hypothesis in various places that packaged pictures automatically means we’ll be seeing these items in the future. I’m not so sure. We know the Viper Troop Builder pack was marketed prior to the end of the 25th Anniversary line, but Hasbro has stated in past Q & A’s that the Viper troop builder pack was canceled. It’s quite possible that packaged samples were put together before that cancellation (heck, we’ve seen packaged versions of Wave 14 figures, and those are definitely canned). I personally wouldn’t bet the house that these items are coming out this year or at all.
Personally, it doesn’t really bother me either way. I’ve got enough BATs to last a life time, and the non-dirtied Resolute version is nothing special. None of those Vipers are the “fixed” versions, so I couldn’t care less about any of them, even with a poorly cobbled together Mercer figure. So yeah, I wouldn’t expect to see these at retail any time soon, and personally, that doesn’t bug me in the least. I’d rather Hasbro invest their time and money into cool Rise of COBRA product, or Resolute stuff, and leave this substandard troop builder stuff in the past.
For folks like me who are video game fans and toy fans, Toys “R” Us has launched a very cool program in the same vein as video game retailers like Electronics Boutique, Gamestop, etc… Toys “R” Us will now take in used video games in exchange for a store credit gift card that can be used on any item in the store. The full information on the new program pulled from Toy News International is at the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below:
#2 – It’s about more than just the pictures.
While I raved yesterday about the level of detail in the new images from the second edition of the Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe, today I’m going to talk about how much more there is in this book besides the images. Each and every figure and vehicle has a paragraph written about it, and some of them offer some terrific little details from military history, and even from the Godfather himself, Larry Hama. Duke especially offers some nice insight, explaining that his initial character was slated to be an officer, older than Hawk and perhaps even more distinguished. Quite a difference between that and the final result.
That’s only a small sample of the amazing level of great detail included in the Ultimate Guide, and just one small reason why it’s worth a purchase. Order a copy at Amazon today, or see if you can win a copy free from GeneralsJoes!
With much thanks to Dave Thornton for the link, The CGSociety has posted an absolutely exhaustive look at the myriad of special effects and CGI work that went into G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA, and posted their feature right here. Granted a lot of the information is based on the various different pieces of software and technical expertise required for such an endeavor, but there are some pretty cool images and details mixed in that are quite interesting to those of us out of the CGI “loop”.
Once again, check out the article here.
With thanks to kennywr22 on HissTank.com, apparently Wal-Mart’s online site now has the following Alpha Class Rise of COBRA vehicles available for order:
While the Snarler Cycle utilizes new tooling, both the Mantis and the Skysweeper use existing molds (though the Skysweeper at least modified the Firebat somewhat), and all figures are repaints of previous releases. Ironically, Rollbar uses the parts from the 25th Anniversary Airborne, yet doesn’t use his name, and the “Air Raid” figure that comes with the Skysweeper uses Airborne’s filecard information (including his file name) but has a different code name. For a quick peek at these vehicles, check out the gallery below, and of course, for all release information, hit up the Rise of COBRA SuperPage.
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#3 – The pictures.
What good is a reference guide and price guide without decent pictures? While the images in the first edition of the Ultimate G.I. Joe Guide were certainly servicable, there were a number that had some lighting issues, layout issues, or other minor composition issues that just limited how effective the pictures were.
Well, the second edition changes all of that in a big way. Unhappy with images in the previous volume himself, Mr. Bellomo enlisted the aid of a professional photographer to go through every single one of his G.I. Joe toys and shoot with the proper lighting and arrangement to really bring the pictures to the next level. The end result is a book that is infinitely more functional and feature-filled than the previous edition. There is an absolute world of difference between volume one and this second edition, and you’ll see it on every page.
Order the book now from Amazon.com or see how you can win one for free here.