by generalsjoes | Jul 20, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: Renegades
We’re getting down towards the end of this massive top 10 list, breaking down all of the coolest things we saw in the Concept Case at the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention. Even though I strongly suspect that the G.I. Joe: Renegades vehicles have zero chance of ever being released (and according to JoeDeClassified’s interview with Derryl DePriest, he agrees with me) I can’t help but give them spots on this list.
I already talked about Flint’s Jeep with my number 4 ranking, but here at number 2 I had to focus on the big beast itself.
2 – G.I. Joe: Renegades Coyote
I think most of us fans of the G.I. Joe: Renegades animated series have been dreaming about the eventual release of the Coyote, but realistically I never expected it to happen. Considering the quick dismissal of the excellent Renegades animated series by Hasbro, even considering that they would invest big money in tooling up a new, larger sized vehicle, seems totally out of the realm of possibilities.
That being said, I was so blown away by the look, feel, and playability of the Coyote vehicle shown in the Concept Case, that I just had to mention it within the confines of the Top 10 list. I know it likely won’t be released, but it looks awesome, the press-button play feature is golden, and it would make the perfect endcap for a G.I. Joe: Renegades collection. I think that is perhaps what is so painful about the whole G.I. Joe: Renegades situation. The fact that we may not even get a complete Renegades team (where’s Roadblock, HASBLoowWW/??!1/?) and even if, by some massive stretch of the imagination, we do get Roadblock, there is probably a 2% chance we’ll ever see their trusty vehicle. So close, yet so damn far away.
But that won’t stop me from looking at the pictures of the Coyote from the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention Concept Case and dreaming a little dream…
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by generalsjoes | Jul 12, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
I’ve said throughout my reviews time and time again that I’m really not a fan of G.I. Joe army builders. In my little corner of the universe, Cobra attacks with the legions of troopers while the G.I. Joe team should be a tightly woven, highly trained operations team without the “nameless” and the “faceless”. Nothing bugged me more in the Sunbow cartoons than those generic Green Shirts mixing it up right alongside the regular Joes.
But over the past 12 – 18 months Hasbro keeps on releasing awesome G.I. Joe army builders, forcing me to totally rethink my ideas of the G.I. Joe team. The Steel Brigade and Steel Brigade Delta were the straws that broke the camels back, and now with this figure in the Concept Case it would seem as if I have totally broken my “no troop builder” for the G.I. Joe team vow. The funny thing is, this figure isn’t necessarily stunning or ground breaking, it just speaks to me. It seems like an awesome concept, and suddenly this is something I really want to see first hand and really want to supplement my G.I. Joe team with. I can’t explain it any different than that.
7 – G.I. Joe: The Pursuit of Cobra Raven’s Wing
Yeah, it’s the Raven’s Wing. I cannot properly explain or express why I’m drawn to this figure. Don’t get me wrong, it looks very cool, borrowing elements from the very fun Pursuit of Cobra Duke, and also injecting some nice Pursuit of Cobra Beachhead arms which provides a really cool armored suit combination.
The idea of a team of “Stealth Operatives” is pretty neat, with the Raven’s Wing working in complete silence and obscurity, and most importantly I’m loving the ideas of new concepts to bring to the G.I. Joe table. Is this figure as visually stunning as some of the others in the case? No, not necessarily, but I love the concept, love the design, and I think G.I. Joe needs to bring new things to the table every once in a while. Yes, the filecard does give these guys a bit of the “I’m the best there is at what I do” feel, but I still feel like there’s a lot of potential here to work with.
Check out the images below.
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by generalsjoes | Jul 11, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
This great looking figure first hit our radar courtesy of Mat Brouillard who posted an image of the sculpt for Clutch on his Facebook page. Everyone kind of wondered whether it was a canceled concept, or merely something still to come.
I had an opportunity to speak with John Warden at the G.I. Joe Convention, and he confirmed to me that this version of Clutch was initially slated to come with the Pursuit of Cobra VAMP, while the updated HISS Driver was going to come packaged with the HISS in the same assortment. Unfortunately, due to cost reasons, the new figures were dropped, and kit-bashes were put in their place.
If you don’t know which figure I’m talking about by now… here’s the official run down:
8 – G.I. Joe: The Pursuit of Cobra Clutch
Clutch was always a tough character for me to get my head around. He had such a great personality in the comic books, and seemed to be one of those guys that you love to hate. He smooth talks you, and goes out for beers with you, then waits until your passed out drunk and hits on your girlfriend. He’s a guys guy, a grease monkey, and seems to be one of the more popular characters in the G.I. Joe mythos.
What is so great about this figure is they take a guy like Clutch and really turn him into something unique and interesting. He has the familiar bearded head sculpt, but the whole rest of the figure is something dramatically new. The armored vest with pouches are awesome, the bulky gauntlets look great, and he’s got all sorts of that terrific Pursuit of Cobra pseudo-futuristic design from head to toe. I would have loved to have seen him behind the wheel of the VAMP, but alas it was not to be.
Perhaps all is not lost, though. If enough fans clamor for him, perhaps his appearance in the Concept Case will get him a second life. If you want to see this guy at retail, don’t forget to vote!
For now, just take a peek at the images below.
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by generalsjoes | Jul 10, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
Continuing my “Top Ten” countdown of the items we saw last weekend in the Concept Case at the G.I. Joe: Convention. With my number 10 entry, I focused on the G.I. Joe: Renegades Scrap Iron with his melted face and awesomely animated body style.
For my ninth entry, I went back into the archives… generally I’m not a fan of simply re-releasing figures as they appeared two decades ago, with only minor alterations, but the figure I saw in the case made me rethink that idea. Besides, I’m a huge fan of those crazy 1989 army builders, so I couldn’t help myself.
9 – G.I. Joe: 30th Anniversary HEAT Viper
HEAT Viper is just one of those crazy figures you can’t help but love. Bright yellow, purple, and with his trusty missile-boots he has all the earmarks of the wacky Cobra Troopers of the late 1980’s. I was actually pretty amazed at just how well Hasbro translated that crazy design to the modern style.
Using the 30th Anniversary Airtight tooling and what appears to be a resin sculpted HEAT Viper helmet, Hasbro is able to replicate the look and feel almost perfectly. It does appear that some sculpting modification was done to get the purple strip down the front of the figure, but beyond that, this would be a pretty straight forward kit-bash. In talking to Dave, one of the genius sculptors for Hasbro, the HEAT Viper head was sculpted and appeared in his display case at the Convention, but it has not been “tooled” yet. However, he also had sculpted a Crimson Guard head for a tour in Providence a few years back, and that head ended up getting tooled and used.
Anyway, since we have Alley-Viper, and will soon have Night-Viper, it seems only appropriate that we add HEAT-Viper to the growing ’89 trooper ranks. Can Frag-Viper be far behind?
Check out the images below.
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by generalsjoes | Jul 9, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
Twitter friend of GeneralsJoes Twitziller has provided an awesome service to folks who are pounding through the Concept Case survey I posted this morning! I’ve been hearing folks complain a bit about having to check an image, go back to the Survey, navigate through the gallery…
Well, Twitziller designed an entire Excel Spreadsheet with embedded mouse-over images, and sent it along for GeneralsJoes readers! This will hopefully make it even easier for folks to compare images and document the rankings before answering the survey questions.
A huge thanks to Twitziller and check out the Spreadsheet below. Use the Download link to grab it for yourself!
[gview file=”https://generalsjoesreborn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Poll-Reference-Sheet.xlsx”]
