I’ve always been much more of an action figure and character guy than a vehicle guy, but even the cynical “vehicles take up too much damn space!” part of me fell in love with some of the vehicle concepts we saw at the G.I. Joe convention. As someone fully in love with G.I. Joe: Renegades, the minute I saw the Coyote and the Jeep in that case, my rational mind was completely overwhelmed by my drooling fanboy mind.
Combine that with the fact that Hasbro designers cited MASK as an inspiration for these vehicles? Sign me up.
4 – Flint’s Jeep from G.I. Joe: Renegades
I think most of us probably figured that the Coyote was in some form of production based on how heavily it was utilized throughout the G.I. Joe: Renegades animated series. Heck, the massive transport truck was practically a character in the show. But I’m fairly certain that the surprise I had at seeing Flint’s military Jeep in there was not only mine. Deco’ed in pretty straight up military greens, with a small light on top, the jeep bares only a passing resemblance to the one used on the show, but more importantly looks like a nicely sized, exceedingly fun play toy.
Combine that with the fact that there is a great button-key system that flips the Jeep from mere transport to gun-toting vehicle of awesomeness, and you have a can’t miss proposition. All I can do is think about what Major Bludd’s car from the animated series could possibly look at in toy form, and all I get all weepy inside.
It is a delicate balancing act between vehicle design, media accuracy, and play features, and by the looks of things, Hasbro hit every single right note with this one, and for that reason, it deserves one of the top spots on my list.
So in conjunction with the launch of the Survey that will hopefully gather some good data from G.I. Joe fans throughout the internet, I figured I would have a series of articles covering my own personal top 10 figures from the now infamous G.I. Joe Convention “Concept Case”.
Since the survey is running for two weeks, I’ve elected to feature one entry per day, Monday through Friday until the first round of the survey is done. This is not designed to sway anyone to my particular viewpoint, just to show how I’m thinking and why.
Out of the vast number of great looking figures we saw on display, I narrowed my favorites down to ten. Let’s kick this off.
10 – G.I. Joe: Renegades Scrap Iron
Everyone knows by now that I’m a huge G.I. Joe: Renegades mark, but I will admit that the figure showings in the concept case for G.I. Joe: Renegades were pretty underwhelming. Sure, the unmasked Storm Shadow was pretty fantastic, but beyond him we had a preposed Duke and Snake Eyes (who were vehicle drivers in case you were not aware) and a random masked trooper alongside what appeared to be Duke in a Blast Suit. No Roadblock, no Destro, no Baroness…
However, we did get a Scrap Iron! It’s obvious this Scrap Iron was shown incomplete, as he was initially supposed to have a heavy armored vest by the looks of the figure. Even without that component, though, this figure rocked. Large, armor-covered arms and legs, great articulation as well as a new and different design, all topped off by a fantastic new head sculpt, appropriately scarred. In all honesty, the figure itself was neat enough, but I was totally swayed by seeing a new character in G.I. Joe: Renegades form. I still weep a little inside when I think about what might have been for G.I. Joe: Renegades, and this figure managed to twist that knife just a little bit deeper.
That’s right! With a huge thanks from GeneralsJoes reader Chris, who greatly assisted in setting this up, we have launched a SurveyMonkey survey based on what Hasbro showed in the Concept Case at the G.I. Joe Convention last weekend.
Please keep in mind, this is not a Hasbro sanctioned poll or an official data gathering system! This is all being done by GeneralsJoes, and is simply a way of gathering some empirical data to send off to Hasbro. According to Marketing Director Joe DelRegno, Hasbro will likely be launching their own online polling system as well, but rather than wait for that to be coded (I believe they only made the decision to do it last weekend, based on the overwhelming response from G.I. Joe fans) we figured we’d get a leg up and start this sucker early.
As we’ve seen many times in the past, toy collecting is very much a “what have you done for me lately” scenario, and with a desire to strike while the iron is hot, GeneralsJoes is doing their own survey while emotions are raw and at the surface. You can either click the banner above to check out the survey page, or click right here.
Linked on the survey page is also a very easy to follow gallery of all of the unproduced items shown with clear identification. Chris and myself worked hard to make this as simple and straight forward as possible. Please check it out, and please take a few minutes to answer. I know this isn’t official, but the data from this survey will be gathered and sent to Hasbro, so there WILL be a voice. Let it be yours!
Folks who have purchased the G.I. Joe: Renegades Season 1, Volume 1 DVD very likely scoffed at the “movie cash” offer on the cellophane just like I did. Well scoff no more! Shogi actually emailed the movie cash folks in regards to the G.I. Joe: Retaliation offer, and received the following reply:
“Thought you guys might like to know this. I emailed emoviecash about the $5 Retaliation code that’s on the Renegades DVD:
Thank you for your DVD purchase!
The theatrical release date of G.I. JOE RETALIATION is now scheduled for March 29, 2013.
Please keep your e-Movie Cash code handy, and come back to this site beginning March 1, 2013.
to redeem your e-Movie Cash Code.
YOUR CODE WILL STILL BE VALID.
When you revisit this site beginning March 1, 2013, you will get to print your e-Movie Cash ticket, which will be valid for $5.00 toward box office admission to G.I. JOE RETALIATION, in theaters March 29, 2013.
Your e-Movie Cash code will be valid from 3/1/13 through 4/30/13.
See G.I. JOE RETALIATION in theaters 3/29/13!
The e-Movie Cash ticket that you will receive will be valid from 3/29/13 through 5/7/13.”
So there ya go! They will continue to honor the movie cash offer, it will just be delayed along with the movie. Thanks to Shogi for the information!
What’s the saying? It’s always darkest before the dawn? Well, just as all hope was lost with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation push back, Shout! Factory has single-handedly redeemed 2012 for G.I. Joe media, as an Amazon.com pre-order reveals a G.I. Joe: Renegades Complete Season One on BLU-RAY!
For many of us, this will be the first time ever seeing G.I. Joe: Renegades in high definition, and to say I’m excited for this release would be a massive understatement.
For folks who are into the regular DVD format, Amazon has also revealed a Season 1, Volume 2 set as well, to finish off the collection that was released just this week. Both sets are slated for release September 25, 2012.
I was made aware of this by no less than 15 or 20 of my awesome GeneralsJoes faithful today, but first mention came from Twitziller, so full credit to him for making my day!
Thank you very much, Shout! for giving Joe fans something to look forward to this year!
