by generalsjoes | Jul 17, 2012 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
Halfway through this Top 10 list, and I have a feeling things might get a little controversial. As if putting Data-Viper way back at #6 wasn’t bad enough, now I’m going to get under the skin of not only the Sigma 6 haters, but also the Rise of Cobra haters and the “Marlon Wayans as Ripcord” haters. It’s a three-for-one deal!
But really, my love and desire for this figure only have to do with one of those three things, and based on what I’ve heard from other fans, I don’t think my opinion is that dramatically different from many of yours.
5 – G.I. Joe: The Pursuit of Cobra Ripcord Sub-Arctic Diver
Yes, it’s another Ripcord figure. Yes, it’s from the earlier days of G.I. Joe: The Pursuit of Cobra, and really, it’s a guy in a scuba suit which means there isn’t a whole lot of use or extraneous detail to appeal to the general collector crowd. But for me, and I would think for other lovers of Sigma 6, it’s got something very important. It’s got a 4″ scale Sigma Suit. John Warden, who is currently the design maestro of the G.I. Joe line, also worked on Sigma 6, and based on conversations I’ve had and that I’ve read, he has a love for that property. With this Ripcord figure, he seemingly shared that love by giving him a straight up Sigma Suit, and I love it. Even though I strongly doubt that Hasbro would ever re-visit the Sigma 6 theme in a 4″ scale, giving collectors a good custom base to do it themselves makes a ton of sense, and I’m crushingly disappointed that it never went anywhere.
Sure, there are other options. Heck, many fans would argue that the Rise of Cobra Reactive Armor was more or less a Sigma Suit and could be used as such for customs. But the Ripcord was different. He had that unique texture where there wasn’t rubberized coating. He had those signature ports on his arms…this guy WAS Sigma 6 at a smaller scale, and the fact that he most likely will never be released is a true shame.
Based on what I’ve heard from other current Joe fans, I don’t think I’m the only one that thinks like this. Many folks seem to have the opinion that Sigma 6, done in a proper scale, would be a great addition to the current run of G.I. Joe. Many fans claim that the only issues they had with it was the fact that it was at an 8″ scale and that it went totally overboard into the animated styling. Regardless, though, it certainly seems as if we may not see this figure going forward, especially with all of his accessories going to the Night Landing raft, but I’ll still hold onto this dream. Go Sigma!
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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 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”]
by generalsjoes | Jul 9, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe: Renegades, Pursuit of COBRA
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!
