by generalsjoes | Feb 17, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
IDW Publishing has released their list of upcoming comic solicitations for May, 2016, including the newest issues of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Street Fighter X G.I. Joe. Check out all the details below.
Street Fighter X G.I. JOE #4 (of 6)
Aubrey Sitterson (w) • Emilio Laiso (a) • Phil Jimenez (c)
The World Warrior Tournament enters the finals, and M. Bison will stop at nothing to be the last one standing! Can the Street Fighters and G.I. JOE stop the Shadaloo dictator before he takes the top spot?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Street Fighter X G.I. JOE #4 (of 6)—Subscription Variant
Aubrey Sitterson (w) • Emilio Laiso (a) • Nelson Daniel (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
- Your favorite Street Fighter characters face off against G.I. JOE for the first time ever!
- 8-bit Variant cover by Matthew Waite!
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #228: Cobra Nation, Part 3
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a & c)
Things have been quiet on the Cobra front, as far as G.I. JOE can tell… but that may just be because there’s a snake in the grass on the homefront. Could there be a traitor within G.I. JOE’s ranks?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #228: Cobra Nation, Part 3—Subscription Variant
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Brian Shearer (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
G.I. JOE: The Complete Collection, Vol. 9
Larry Hama (w) • Herb Trimpe, Marshall Rogers, Rod Whigham, Ron Wagner, Don Hudson (a) • N/A (c)
Presenting the full run of original G.I. JOE comics in proper reading order. Includes an introduction and issue notes by Mark W. Bellomo. Collects issues #77–83 of A REAL AMERICAN HERO and issues #14–19 of SPECIAL MISSIONS.
HC • FC • $49.99 • 356 pages • 7” x 11” • ISBN: 978-1-63140-607-2
Bullet points:
- The in-depth look at Marvel’s classic G.I. JOE run continues!
by generalsjoes | Feb 17, 2016 | Marauder "Gun Runners"
Okay, I think I’m in love.
Alongside their latest Kickstarter for the Marauder Task Force Valkyries, Marauder “Gun Runners” also included a great stretch goal for the “stedi-cam gunner” an excellent looking tweaked version of the Marauder Task Force figure with rolled up sleeves, different lower legs, a fantastic new helmet, webgear, and really cool looking new stedi-cam heavy weapon.
Today over on the Marauder Gun Runners Facebook page we get a first look at an early test shot of this set and frankly, it looks amazing. Even better than I thought it might. The same fantastic design work that we’ve come to expect from Boss Fight Studio, all working flawlessly within the Marauder customizable figure system. Really great stuff. Check out the mirrored images below.
by generalsjoes | Feb 17, 2016 | 12" Scale, G.I. Joe Collectors Club
While Toy Fair news was pretty sparse in the way of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe line, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club started this week off on the right foot with a nice look at the upcoming 12″ Mike Power “Atomic Man” as well as a report that FSS 4.0 would start arriving “in the next week or so”!
Great news for those of us who subscribed. The image of Mike Power can be found on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Facebook page, and you can read the FSS update via their Twitter page here.
by generalsjoes | Feb 16, 2016 | G.I. Joe, Podcasts
The guys from the Full Force are back with another action-packed…or is it action FORCE packed episode discussing all the latest G.I. Joe news.
Chris, Dave, and Eddie talk with Erik from Boss Fight and run through the gauntlet of G.I. Joe information…there’s more than you think!
Check out the latest episode over on the Podbean Page, or listen to it embedded below. FULL FORCE.
As series 2 comes to a close the boys at the Full Force celebrate 100,000+ overall downloads and listens since they began the show!! They delve into the Wolverine’s different guises and it’s drivers in the Figure Review, Erik ‘Chico Rodrigues’ Arana delivers a superb ‘Hunter’ in the Mexican Boss Fight Builds and Justin Bell gives us all of the news hot of the General’s Joes presses!! With series 3 around the corner (this means nothing to anybody but Chris) we wonder what the future holds for these three amigos……no we don’t!! FULL FORCE!!
by generalsjoes | Feb 15, 2016 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club
So what exactly is the future of G.I. Joe?
Short answer – I don’t think anyone except Hasbro really knows. Heck, I’m not even sure Hasbro themselves know.
Some confusion has emerged over the past 24 hours based on a post by HISSTank which states that Hasbro confirmed at Toy Fair that there would be no 50th Anniversary type line sold at Toys “R” Us this year.
I don’t consider this news very surprising.
Hasbro did go on to confirm that there would be a ComicCon exclusive, and that they were committed to getting the Fan Vote winner Stiletto out to collectors as well. Beyond that, pretty much nada.
Many Joe fans lept to the attack citing a Tweet from Entertainment News International that seemed to say there would be a G.I. Joe presence at retail this year, but in fact, that Tweet merely said a “few reveals” would be at JoeCon. I consider an SDCC set (or two) and the Stiletto release a few reveals, to be sure.
At this point, as it has been several times in recent years, the future of G.I. Joe as a retail brand remains murky. The one main difference now is that while G.I. Joe at retail was sketchy, we at least at the Collectors Club to fall back on, which was generally good for 30 – 40 releases per year, a nice healthy number. Now as we push forward towards 2016 and 2017 not only is retail looking unhealthy, but rumors persist that the Collectors Club is off the brand as well.
So what the heck is going on here? It makes no real sense to jettison Fub Publications if you’re also jettison a retail presence unless there’s some kind of fallback plan, which at this point there doesn’t appear to be. All Hasbro will really tell us right now is “wait for a movie”, but that does us no good in the short term. Over the past few years, the G.I. Joe collectors community has been dwindling with no real catalyst to bring us together, aside from the Kindle Worlds fan vote, which was a fantastic experience, but ultimately came and went.
As we look towards 2017, we have no clear vision of a retail brand, and simply no clue on any product from any sort of Collectors Club, and hell, we may not even have an annual G.I. Joe Convention to look forward to.
I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I hope that we can get some kind of information from Hasbro at some point, just so we don’t continue to be left adrift, wondering. I’m one of those few who actually enjoys some healthy speculation, but speculating on something vs. nothing doesn’t do much for me.
Hopefully we can find out what’s next and get some kind of answers beyond just waiting for the next movie.
by generalsjoes | Feb 15, 2016 | 12" Scale, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club
Please bear with me today as I try and power through some post Toy Fair recap and news reports, both within and outside of the G.I. Joe realm.
First and foremost, for any G.I. Joe fans who are concerned with the recent rumors of the future of the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and JoeCon itself, the folks from the Regular Joes podcast posted an episode discussing this very event.
Anyone who has listened to this podcast before knows that these guys are long time G.I. Joe fans and collectors who really have their fingers on the pulse of things when it comes to the G.I. Joe Collectors Club. I’m not saying this episode has any sort of secret inside information or anything, but Barry, Dave, and Todd certainly know their stuff, and any insight they provide here should be considered quite valuable.
Check out the latest episode of Regular Joes here, and keep tabs with them on Facebook as well.
by generalsjoes | Feb 13, 2016 | Toy Fair 2016
I have some mixed emotions when it comes to this time in February…mostly it’s disappointment that I’m here at home when so many of my toy geek website peers are down in New York. I always loved my frantic trips to the city, but unfortunately, over the past few years, my real life has played havok with my toy life, and I just haven’t been able to make it down. The same holds true this year.
That being said, I don’t anticipate a ton of G.I. Joe news happening this weekend (or throughout next week). With the 50th Anniversary line being a Toys “R” Us exclusive, there’s really no need for it to be showcased at the general Toy Fair event, and this year especially, the action figure news promises to be dominated by Transformers, Star Wars, Marvel and other non-Hasbro brands. Today, of course, is the day for the Hasbro Collectors’ Event, which typically begins around 1:00pm. It will start with a slideshow (no pictures allowed) and then by late afternoon, folks will be in the showroom. I expect pictures to start emerging by anywhere from 4:00pm – 6:00pm.
Even though there’s likely not much in the way of G.I. Joe, there will certainly be stuff I’m excited to see from Transformers, especially some nice looks at upcoming Titans Returns items. Marvel should provide some cool stuff as well, and later on in the weekend into next week, I’ll be watching for Thundercats news from Mattel.
Meanwhile, if you want some up to the minute toy news straight from the Hasbro presentation, consider following these Twitter users:
For the most part, these folks will be breaking news straight from the Hasbro presentation with pics to come later. I’ll likely do a recap at the end of the day with whatever strikes me as interesting.
Enjoy!
by generalsjoes | Feb 10, 2016 | Eagle Force, Zica Captain Action
Zica Toys recently relaunched their Adventure People Kickstarter, and is making some great progress, already accumulating over $15,000 of their $25,000 goal. This fun looking Kickstarter includes some nostalgia based characters like Captain Action and Action Jackson, as well as some different variations of those figures.
Meanwhile, over on the Eagle Force Returns Facebook page, Fresh Monkey Fiction has revealed the first look at Stryker, one of the new characters from the upcoming Eagle Force line. One thing to note with this first reveal is that he’s using some Adventure People parts. Fresh Monkey Fiction noted that the success of the Adventure People Kickstarter could go a long way towards ensuring that Eagle Force has access to their library of tooling to spin out some great looking figures like this.
I think Stryker looks pretty great, and I know with the Adventure People’s new Kickstarter methodology, I’ll be pledging some support that way as well.
Keep watching the Eagle Force Returns Facebook page for the latest updates, and if you like what you see there, consider pledging towards the Adventure People Kickstarter, too!
by generalsjoes | Feb 9, 2016 | 5 Page Previews, Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
COBRA World Order comes to its Earth shattering conclusion on Wednesday at your local comic shop! Check out the preview below and get ready for the rise of the COBRA Nation!
G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #225: COBRA WORLD ORDER Part 7
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a & c)
COBRA has unleashed the COBRA WORLD ORDER and now G.I. JOE must fight back before the world is pushed past the brink and COBRA reigns supreme! Larry Hama and S L Gallant bring fans the concluding chapter of the story, which will change the world of G.I. JOE forever!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
- Part of IDW’s big Valentine’s Day promotion!
- COBRA WORLD ORDER ENDS HERE!
- The biggest G.I. JOE storyline comes to an epic conclusion in this special 24-page story!
by generalsjoes | Feb 3, 2016 | G.I. Joe
As an adult collector it can be a little too easy to turn to snark and disdain when speaking to certain pop culture elements, especially ones that were so important to us as children. Anyone who has visited GeneralsJoes knows that I try and retain some of the pleasure and joy that toys brought me as a kid, and I’m extremely happy to announce a new project between myself and Jim Beard!
We are working together to bring a new book to the collecting community. Entitled The Joy of Joe, it endeavors to portray the pleasure of G.I. Joe to kids throughout the years.
But in order to move forward on the project, we do need your help. We do have a potential publisher, but we need a professionally designed cover and interior formatting, which does cost some up front money. It’s not much, but it is necessary. If this is a publication you’d like to support, please consider checking out the GoFundMe page and throwing some support our way. All we’re asking for is money to develop the cover and format the book. I’m greatly looking forward to getting this project out there, and sincerely appreciate anyone who might consider supporting it. The full details are below!
THE JOY OF JOE is thirty-plus essays about the joy of growing up with one of the greatest toys of all time.
“The book will collect the memories of Joe fans from over fifty years of childhood play, and focus on the true joy of the figures and their accessories. Everything from the original 1960s soldiers through the 70s Adventure Team and into the later Real American Hero era will be covered in equal measure.”
Jim and I see this as the ultimate tribute to not only the toy itself, but to the joy of play and childhood. We would be very grateful if you could help us achieve our vision of the book and have it look as professional as possible. In return, we will try to keep its price as reasonable as we can when it’s published, so that everyone can share in THE JOY OF JOE.
