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Hi all,
We wanted to tell you about some web site updates and new product listings.
Release dates confirmed for G.I. Joe #3 and G.I. Joe: Movie Prequel #1
Phil Kost from JoeReloaded reports that according to Midtown Comics, G.I. Joe #3 and G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA Prequel #1 (featuring Duke) will both be released next Wednesday, March 11th.
We reported yesterday that G.I. Joe: COBRA would be released March 18th, which still leaves G.I. Joe: Origins #2 somewhat up in the air.
Thanks to Phil for the info, it would certainly appear that IDW is flying out of the starting gate…and I think I might be the only one at least a little bit excited to already be starting the move into the Rise of COBRA universe. If nothing else, it’ll be a different take. I’m willing to give it a shot, at least.
New vehicle test shots on eBay
eBay seller “dreamcab” has posted several auctions for test shot vehicles with drivers that may or may not be for upcoming movie items. I would hypothesize that at least a couple of them were slated for vehicles w/ figures before they got cancelled and re-allocated as figures in the COBRA Island 7-Packs. I’m not sure I buy the listing descriptions, but we can at least take a look at what are listed:
Listing calls this a “RAM” and doesn’t mention the figure’s name, but the vehicle itself is obviously a newly tooled and somewhat modified Silver Mirage. That being said, it’s still tough to tell what the figure is with the size of the pic in the auction. The tooling looks like the Resolute Duke that comes with the Resolute 5-Pack, though who knows in what capacity the figure would have been used.
This is definitely a curious one. The listing calls it a “FLAK w/ Outback” but obviously that’s the Whirlwind, not the FLAK. And also obviously, taking a close look at the figure, that looks a hell of a lot like Recondo to me. The tooling, the shoulder holster, the hat and gun. That’s who it is. It would seem this is how Recondo was supposed to come before this set may have gotten cancelled and had the figure re-allocated to the 7-Pack.
The Firebat itself looks to be modified with larger engine intakes, rockets, and a differently tooled tail section. The figure looks like Sgt. Airborne, so who knows if it’s just a test shot for that figure, or if it was slated to be something new. It’s certainly not A.V.A.C. as the auction indicates. Something for the movie perhaps?
The auction is labelled as “Duke w/ Jet” but I see no indication that this is even Duke, or that this is even an upcoming vehicle. This is obviously the Valor Vs. Venom Sting Raider, but who knows in what capacity this may end up getting released or what the main goal is. The figure is tiny, so it’s tough to tell what tooling was used or what weapons it comes with.
EDIT: Thanks to the keen eye on folks on HissTank, as well as DistantFred via the comments, it certainly looks as if the driver included with the above auction is the COBRA Island 7-Pack Lamprey.
This is obviously the movie COBRA Gunship w/ Firefly, though the auction is listed as being the “Skyhawk”, which is the most glaring example of these auctions being mislabelled.
All in all, this is certainly an eclectic mixture. Possible movie stuff, possible upcoming anniversary stuff? Possibly cancelled Anniversary stuff? Regardless, these are some really interesting items that I’m fasincated with. It’ll be really interesting to see what ends up coming down the pipeline.
Thanks to The Terror Drome for pointing these auctions out!
G.I. Joe: COBRA #1 release date confirmed
I think we all knew the first issue of the COBRA limited series was coming out in March, but I’m not sure we knew when in March it would arrive at comic stores. Well, we know now.
According to the big-ass sponsorship wallpaper from IDW on Comic Book Resources’ Robot 6 blog, the arrival date is March 18. Cool to see IDW sponsoring a pretty major comic oriented blog, and even more cool to see they’re plastering G.I. Joe images on it. Love it, and I cannot wait for the first issue of COBRA. I have a sneaking suspision people are going to really be blown away by this book.
Lots of pictures of the Target Exclusive Tiger Rat and Python Conquest
Dark 5cythe over at The Terror Drome has posted a wealth of great looking pictures of the recently released Target exclusive Tiger Force Tiger Rat w/ Wild Bill and Python Patrol Conquest with Python Patrol COBRA Viper.
I’m one of those folks who really isn’t wild about the Tiger Force deco. Repaints for repaints sake…stuff that the fans like to slam Hasbro for these days are the same reason I wasn’t wild about Tiger Force back in 1989. I absolutely hated the figure paint schemes for Python Patrol, too, though I absolutely love the vehicle deco. The dark black and red paint colors with the criss-cross pattern is a great look, and I love the concept of Python Patrol representing a high end COBRA technology. Still not sure I’ll be dropping thirty bucks a pop on each of these, but I can appreciate the appeal.
To see a ton more pictures, check out this thread on The Terror Drome.
Kick ass custom of the week – 25th Anniversary Barrel Roll
Anyone who follows my reviews or my dio-stories knows that I’m a big fan of Barrel Roll from the Spy Troops era, and am, in fact, a huge fan of the whole Stall family dynamic. From Barrel Roll and Blackout’s conflit, tying in the whole sister angle with Bombstrike…sure it’s unlikely that three separate siblings would all happen to join G.I. Joe and/or COBRA and face off against each other, but it was still a cool story and an interesting subplot, even if not fully explored. I like to think Brandon Jerwa obviously had it on his mind when he was penning the G.I. Joe title, but I’m not sure he ever got the chance to fully develop it.
At any rate…the utter distaste that most fans have for the new sculpt era has left a lot of great stuff on the table, as it’s fairly unlikely that Hasbro will dip into that pool for source material. Yeah, they did the “Greatest Battles” 4-Pack, but let’s face it, that was pretty much just an excuse to release another Duke, COBRA Commander, Snake Eyes, and Storm Shadow.
Lots of folks have identified the Resolute Duke figure that showed up in the 5-Pack as being a potential Barrel Roll, and I can see that. The original figure was labelled a “high altitude sniper” and came with some COBRA pilot gear…the second figure actually came with a jetpack. When Barrel Roll showed up in the Sigma 6 toyline, he actually had a remarkably similar paint scheme to the Resolute Duke from the 5-Pack as well. But this is all just a roundabout way of me being giddy that someone finally gave us a decent 25th Anniversary Barrel Roll custom, and it’s only fitting that it’s longtime “friend of the site” Mysterious Stranger.
He posted the custom here on JoeBattleLines, and damned if I don’t freaking love it. He took the familiar Resolute Duke with the jetpack, gave him a sculpted head from Broken Arrow Toys, the Ace legs (which look PERFECT in comparison to the original version) and then painted the figure to more closely resemble the original Spy Troops look of the character. The end result is a fantastic update to the Barrel Roll character that blends perfectly with the 25th Anniversary, yet is also a nice representation of the Spy Troops era.
Great job on this one! Love it. Now do a Blackout, dammit. 😉
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More Marvel Animated goodness
Anyone else even sorta looking forward to the new Iron Man Animated Series?
Yeah, me neither…at least not until I saw this trailer:
Okay, honestly the trailer is only sorta cool. It’s not mindblowing, it’s not amazing, and I’m still barely sold on the “Iron Man as hip teenager” concept. Actually, I’m not sold at all. But the animation looks nice and fluid, and I dig the dialog. Plus, so far with Spectacular Spider-Man and Wolverine & the X-Men, Marvel’s animated fare has been pretty damn good as of late, so I’ll give this one a shot. And that’s not even considering the 60 minutes of pure awesome that was Hulk Vs.
But this actually opens up a bigger can of worms, which is a YouTube channel that I’d never heard of before, one devoted to the Marvel Universe. This includes movie trailers, motion comics, promo’s for various animated series…and dude. Full episodes of X-Men: Evolution. Sweet!
M.A.R.S. Trooper loose 3-Packs on eBay now
Familiar overseas seller, ws_toys is now selling the M.A.R.S. Industries Officer and Trooper in sets of 3 for $29.99 with free shipping. Considering the Officer and Trooper were $14.99 and $12.99 apiece respectively, this is a pretty decent deal, though these will be available at mass retail in probably 1-2 months for about half the price.
For those folks who want these early, though, check out eBay to get all three of them in one whack.
New cover images from IDW Movie Prequels
IESB.net comes through with images of the upcoming Rise of COBRA prequels from IDW Publishing. Each issue is a solo story focusing on Duke, Destro, Baroness, and Snake Eyes respectively, with an additional Snake Eyes follow up following the film’s release. According to the announcement, Issue #1 is scheduled for release next Tuesday, March 11th!
Check out the article and the images at IESB here, or you can also check out the gallery below.
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