Big kudos to Entertainment News International for posting the G.I. Joe press event by Jeff Labovitz at Toy Fair last Saturday in its entirety. You can check out the video right here, or see it embedded below.
With a humongous thanks to Todd, aka m6d, GeneralsJoes has a beautiful Pursuit of Cobra checklist in .pdf format that you can download and save or print out to keep track of the freaking fantastic G.I. Joe themed toys coming out later this year!
To download this great checklist yourself, just click here!
Again, thanks to Todd for doing this up, I love it!
Store exclusives are not typically shown at Toy Fair, so it wasn’t really a surprise that we didn’t see much there, but there were questions asked, and by the sounds of the answers, vintage fans may have something to really look forward to throughout 2010.
First and foremost, the SDCC Exclusive Sgt. Slaughter! No images were shown, but comments from the Hasbro rep confirmed that he would contain all new tooling, and the mail away deco (with the USA on his shirt and plain green outfit) would be the primary release, while the version that piloted the TTT (with the black tank top and camouflage pants) would be the “variant”. It was not specifically stated how rare it would be, but they did assure us that we shouldn’t be worried about another Gold-Headed Destro.
But that’s not all for the vintage fans… according to Hasbro reps, a lot of the store exclusives through 2010 will call back to the past, and will have some strong 25th Anniversary influences. They understand and appreciate the rich history and culture of G.I. Joe, and plan to pay tribute to that by giving us some great vintage homages sprinkled throughout some store exclusives in 2010. In fact, I mentioned two names specifically, Low Light and Dial Tone, and while the Hasbro rep would not confirm anything, he did smirk in a way that makes me think that they know what many collectors are looking for, and are hoping to take advantage of a non-movie year to deliver something in several different styles from several different eras, if you catch my drift.
Now it’s a non movie year, so of course, we won’t see a ton of product exclusive on store shelves, but it sounds like what we do see will make the old schoolers pretty happy. More information at JoeCon, I’m sure.
Lastly, we got some looks at the new Mech Suits coming out for Pursuit of Cobra. The Sigma 6 2.5” vehicles with some heavily tooled cockpits really mesh with the new age Joe universe perfectly, and both G.I. Joe and Cobra have ‘em. Retailing for $19.99, these should hit in August of 2010. G.I. Joe and Cobra Mech Suits
G.I. Joe Steel Marauder w/ Kickstart – A new driver, and a familiar green and black color scheme give us a nicely military, yet futuristic tool of destruction for G.I. Joe. I was in love with the Sigma 6 Iron Hammer, and I’m really digging this version as well. Sign me up.
Cobra Deviant w/ Cyber-Viper – A fairly obscure vintage character gets a modern remake and he’s piloting a pretty neat, modified version of the G.I. Joe mech. These two vehicles really can go toe-to-toe and they both look very cool.
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no images were found
And that was about it. G.I. Joe had a fairly tame showing compared to Transformers, Marvel, and Star Wars, but us Joe fans are pretty used to that. I know there wasn’t a whole lot of new coolness to see, but what we did see was pretty incredible. The Pursuit of Cobra is taking G.I. Joe in an awesome direction…absolutely awesome. And Resolute is just the perfect icing on the cake. There wasn’t much seen there that I didn’t really like, and I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more in April/May at JoeCon.
To go along with the Pursuit of Cobra figures, we have 2 assortments of Alpha vehicles and 2 assortments of Bravo vehicles. Now, there’s a lot that was seen at JoeCon that isn’t here… that absolutely amazing motorcycle/armor suit? Probably slated for 2011, from what the Hasbro reps told us. The HISS Scout wasn’t nearly as desirable to me, but I’d imagine that either has the same fate, or may not end up happening at all. No big loss in my mind.
The Alphas will retail for $14.99 while the Bravos clock in at $24.99, and initial waves should be hitting in August.
What we did see is the following: Alpha Wave 1
Ghost Hawk w/ Tomahawk – Some very cool retooled parts on the Sky Hawk and a new character made of some rehashed parts makes for a very cool new addition to the Joe arsenal.
Doom Cycle w/ Storm Rider – A new Dreadnok with an amazing new Chopper. The bike looks to have all new tooling with some great shotguns in the handle, and the Dreadnok driver has a great combination of new and existing tooling. Very cool.
Alpha Wave 2
AWE Striker w/ Night Fox – Pretty interesting recolored AWE Striker in a more night ops color deco with a new character by the name of Night Fox. Another cobbled together figure with existing parts, but still has some cool new elements. I might be in the minority, but I’m always interested in seeing some new blood.
Ice Cutter w/ Snow Serpent Officer – Press photos showed the officer looking like the TRU Snow Serpent, but he’s actually without camouflage and with some very cool red colored webgear. The Ice Cutter isn’t a bad looking vehicle (working treads!) overall.
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no images were found
Bravo Wave 1
Wolfhound w/ Whiteout – Initially slated to appear in the Rise of Cobra line, but then pushed back, the Wolfhound now makes it into the Pursuit of Cobra line pretty much intact with a fairly “blah” worthy driver in Whiteout. Nothing really to write home about.
HISS w/ HISS Driver Officer – This is just about the polar opposite. Absolutely incredible looking new vehicle and play features like crazy and a whole TON of fun to boot. THIS is what G.I. Joe vehicles should be all about.
Bravo Wave 2
Cobra Fury w/ Alley-Viper – We’ve seen quite a bit of this item already, and it looks relatively unchanged. A neat addition, but not much more, in my book.
VAMP w/ Double Clutch – This on the other hand fills me with awesomeness. New tooling, once again filled to the brim with play features, and with an interesting updated version of the classic VAMP driver. An awesome looking new vehicle, to be sure.