We all knew it would happen shortly after the store launched, and here we go. The G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club has officially announced the Figure Subscription Service with full details on pricing and the timeline for signing up for the subscription. This news comes via GIJoeClub.com and the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Facebook Page.
A VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE G.I. JOE COLLECTORS’ CLUB. Re: FSS
The launch of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Figure Subscription Service is imminent; we will notify you the link when we make the service active. While we are loading the final details, here are some things to remember:
1. You must be a member of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club to take advantage of the Figure Subscription Service.
2. There is NO reason to rush the site or be in a hurry as this is a build to order system. We will build as many as you order, so we cannot run out. YOU CAN ORDER AS MANY AS YOU WANT, there is no limit.
3. What you do need to be concerned about is the closing date of the subscription service, which ENDS on September 4th at midnight.
4. You can either pay In Full or by Installment. There will be 3 installments. When you subscribe and choose pay by Installment, you will be billed for the first two months’ shipments. Then sometime during the second month, you will be billed for the 3rd and 4th months’ shipments and sometime during the 4th month you will be billed for the final 2 months’ shipments.
5. Your free surprise 13th figure will come with your final shipment during the 6th month.
6. The figures will be shipped in random order. All members receive the same figures each month. The figure pairings will not be preannounced. So if you don’t mind, when you get your shipment each month, PLEASE do not go online and tell what you received. We want each shipment to be a surprise for as many members as possible.
7. The cost is $294 if Paid In Full (plus shipping) or three Installments of $98 (plus shipping). Please note that there is a $3 online processing fee for each billing. We take Visa, Discover or MasterCard. Unfortunately we cannot accept Money Orders or Checks for this offer.
8. If you pick a shipping service that does not include insurance or if you don’t pick the insurance, we do not have any responsibility for replacement of lost or damaged or misdirected orders.
9. If you move or need to change your credit card during the program, you can log into your account and change it there. This will change all of your future FSS billings and shipments. We will also be sending you reminders to check your address and cc before each billing/shipment goes out. We are not responsible for shipments that are lost due to incorrect shipping information on file.
10. We are waiting on the final schedule from China so we don’t know exactly when the first figures will ship. We hope it will be by Christmas. We will announce this as soon as we get the final schedule.
11. Some of the figures (single figures) MAY be available in the Club Store after the subscriber’s figures ship. These will be at a price of $32 per figure. There is no guarantee of availability of any of the figures in the club store. If you want to ensure getting these limited edition figures, you need to subscribe to the service.
…and it’s a doozy. Five pages, over THREE HUNDRED images and enough words to make you mad.
Folks were asking for it, and now you’ve got it whether you like it or not. Check out the review at the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Review page, or by clicking the link below. Hope you have some time to kill.
Apparently the technical glitch that impacted the Club store opening last week have been resolved and the store should be coming online today at noon Central time (1:00pm Eastern). The full text of the email can be viewed below:
“The issue that caused the problem with Friday’s relaunch of the store software has been corrected. We will go live at noon on Monday, August 6, CDT. We will continue to add our older inventory into the stores each day. We did not want the loading of older inventory to delay the stores’ reopening.
For the Transformers Club members: There is not anything new at this time, we are just updating your store code.
For the Joe Club members:
Once again: note that there are LIMITS on the loose Footloose, carded Footloose and signed carded Footloose membership figures.
You are limited to ONE of each (per membership account) until we see how the demand goes. We can track exactly how many of each are ordered by account. If you place more than one order, we WILL CANCEL all of your orders and charge you a 25% administration fee. Please do not try this as we want as many members as possible to get these figures at the offering price. Quantities are limited.
Thanks for your support!
Brian”
Let’s hope things hold up this time. The stores can be found right here.
Here we are. Number one. My most requested, most admired, and most longed after item that we saw in the Concept Case at the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention. I will admit something, though. If we’re talking about being impressed by a specific item itself, I would have to admit, the Coyote was probably the most impressive toy that I saw, standing on its own. But with the thought in mind that we will likely never see this thing at retail, I wanted to place the number one moniker on a more realistic goal. A figure with some new tooling (but not too much), and a figure of a character that I have loved for a very long time.
1 – G.I. Joe: 30th Anniversary Hit & Run
In 1988 I was just starting high school, and trying to figure out what I wanted to be “when I grew up”. I bounced between being an artist, being a writer, and pretty much as far away from Information Services flunky as you can get. Back in those days, well before I ever heard the term “fanfic” I explored my writing by diving into the G.I. Joe universe. With it being 1988, and the last Sunbow G.I. Joe adventures being behind us, it felt kind of like a new start, even though I was a devout comic fan, and the comic was still going strong. One of the first figures I bought from the 1988 series was Hit & Run, and I was immediately blown away. As a 14 year old kid, I was especially impressed by his background on the filecard, involving the death of his parents, and it immediately gave the character an immense depth in my mind.
My own personal G.I. Joe universe developed over the next couple of years, and in 1990 I really dove into my writing, which involved the Joe team picking up the pieces after a massive battle had eliminated much of their leadership team. Stalker was the new commander, Bullhorn played a key communications role, and Hit & Run earned his spot as the trademark “lone wolf” being rather anti-social and angry at the world because of his rocky upbringing and his inability to stay in one place for too long. As a big fan of Wolverine and The Punisher back then, the whole lone wolf mentality was fresh in my head, and the character was without a doubt the focus of my entire G.I. Joe universe. He wasn’t a ninja like Snake Eyes, but he was fast, awesome with a weapon, and he just didn’t care about anything but killing Cobra.
The character has just always resonated with me, and continued to when I wrote my fanfic The Price of Peace (which is pretty different than what I was writing in 1990, but still had some of those elements in place), and then when I moved over to my Dio-Stories. Hit & Run has always remained a constant, and even as I’ve watched several other characters evolve through new designs and concepts, my trusty ’88 Hit & Run has maintained his place. Yes, we did receive a 25th Anniversary update in the Attack of Cobra Island boxed set, which both surprised and impressed me, but the end result, unfortunately, didn’t really give the character justice in my mind. I wondered if a new version ever would.
Turns out that yes. A new version could do the character justice. Justice in a huge way. As I walked to the Concept Case up ahead, after grabbing my parachute figures from the Sales floor, I had already heard the whispers of people milling around. No less than four people walked up to me in the 20 minutes I was in line, a couple of them practically jogging, to excitedly tell me there was a Hit & Run in the case. I almost couldn’t believe it.
After waiting in line I rushed over, and there it was. A newly tooled head, with the necessary green facepaint and camouflage. Lots of borrowed parts, but parts borrowed from as of yet unreleased figures (upcoming 3-Pack Firefly torso, upcoming 3-Pack Agent Mouse arms) and using the fantastic parachute rig that was never included with Lifeline…essentially the figure looks all new, but with lots of borrowed tooling. Parts choice was perfect, the weapons used were simply fantastic, and the new head, helmet, and goggles simply topped the whole thing off. This figure is freaking gorgeous. Gorgeous. Not only does it look amazing, but it does a perfect job of taking one of my all time favorite characters, as obscure as he might be, and planting him firmly in the modern era, capturing all of the old school spirit, yet making all of the right updates. If I was allowed to make the perfect update to Hit & Run myself, this figure would be the end result. I love this figure so much, I’m desperately trying to not imagine a world where it is never released. I’m trying to convince myself that fan demand will somehow prevail and this figure will end up at retail or as some sort of online exclusive somewhere, some time, and some place. I don’t care when, I don’t care how, and I don’t care how much, this figure must happen.
A huge thanks goes out to JoeCzar, a G.I. Joe fan of all formats who stepped up and submitted an awesome review for the 12″ Adventure Team “Last Man Standing” Convention Set! I was wow’ed by this set, especially with the obvious similarities between the Henchman and the Cobra Trooper.
You can find this review in the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Exclusives section, or just linked below. Again a big thanks to JoeCzar for hooking me up with the review and helping out!
