It’s become a regular event… a landmark occasion… a national treasure.
Okay, maybe that’s going a bit too far. But let’s face it, folks seem to enjoy our Convention announcement special editions, and we work hard to try and provide as much information as humanly possible. This episode should be especially enjoyable, what with the 60 minutes of Gary bitching and moaning and all.
Seriously…the 2013 Convention is in his home town and he complains? Chump.
But there’s stuff in here for everyone else as well… what should you expect at the Con? How much money is it going to cost? What the heck is there to do in Indianapolis? We answer it all right here! Check out our Podbean page or the embedded player below, and Show Notes are after the jump.
Okay, I already spewed up a very quick post about this, but as over-analytical as a I tend to be, I had to come back and do something more official and fleshed out. JoeCon is serious business, after all!
The email came through just a couple of hours ago, announcing that the 2013 International G.I. Joe Collectors Convention will be held in Indianapolis, IN from April 4th – April 7th. My immediate reaction is crushing disappointment, as this exact time frame is usually when I’m stuck in Kansas City at a conference for work, but I’m gonna see if I can grease some wheels this year to get out of that. We’ll have to see.
My second reaction was directed at fellow What’s on Joe Mind co-host Gary Godsoe who has been very vocal in his desire to not have a convention in Indianapolis (because that’s where he lives…so you know, pretty much the opposite of any normal human reaction). I only have one thing to say to this:
In all seriousness, this announcement is good news, even though it’s not quite in time for a grand G.I. Joe: Retaliation premier, it’s close enough to the film launch to hopefully draw in some excited fans, and perhaps even encourage some of the Hollywood type to make an appearance.
Along with announcing the date and time, the Collectors Club also posted the following banner image and announced the theme for the 3 3/4″ set as “Nocturnal Fire”.
So at this point I’m not sure there’s a fan out there that doesn’t think Night Force plays into this somehow. “Nocturnal” means “Night” and G.I. Joe is giving Cobra a reason to “be afraid of the dark”. Heck, just look at the green grid lines and tell me that’s not amazingly representative of the Toys “R” Us Exclusive Night Force 6-Pack from Valor Vs. Venom. The Collectors’ Club even confirmed at the Convention last year that they were including Night Force Falcon in Wave 2 of the Figure Subscription Service. We all know how they love to tie everything together. The real question at this point is what unique twist will they put on it, and what Cobra elements are involved?
Hot damn, I friggen LOVE Convention speculation season. Good stuff. The full text of the e-mail is posted below, and keep watching GIJoeCon.com! Gotta wonder how long it will be before the brochure is posted and before we start seeing toys! Hell yeah!
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE G.I.JoeCon 2013 Coming to Indianapolis, Indiana April 4th – April 7th! Fort Worth, TX – December 4th, 2012 – Fun Publications, Inc., licensee for Hasbro’s official G.I.Joe Collectors’ Convention, G.I.JoeCon, announced today that next year’s convention will take place at the JW Marriott from April 4th thru April 7th in the great city of Indianapolis. You can make your hotel reservations now at GIJoeCon.com. In the coming weeks, Pop Culture enthusiasts from around the world will be able to register for G.I.JoeCon 2013 through the GIJoeCon.com online registration system. Fans and Collectors’ who register for G.I.JoeCon as a General OR American Hero package holder will receive either the 12-inch Secret Mission to Dragon Island or 3 3/4-inch Nocturnal Fire convention set, admission to the Friday private sales room experience, priority seating at all panels and seminars throughout the weekend and admittance to the Saturday Night Casino Night Dinner event. Finally, General and American Hero package attendees will also receive a special bonus to go along with their convention box set. General Admission for non-registered guests will be available on Saturday and Sunday only. For more information on G.I.JoeCon and all activities and the exclusive figure offerings, please visit GIJoeCon.com. About Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
About Fun Publications, Inc. For nearly 20 years, Fun Publications, Inc. has been a Hasbro licensee offering fans and collectors of pop culture memorabilia news, exclusive product and family events through different print offerings, websites, collector clubs and brand specific conventions such as GIJoeCon and BotCon. Located in Fort Worth Texas, Fun Publications reaches a large audience, serving the United States and many other countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Canada. For more information visit TransformersClub.com, GIJoeClub.com, GIJoeCon.com, and BotCon.com. BotCon is a registered trademark of Fun Publications, Inc. (C) 2012 Fun Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.”
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.
The whole Convention weekend is such a whirlwind, I often don’t have time to reflect on things I missed until afterwards. And unfortunately I missed a pretty big one this past weekend when I was pulled away during the IDW Comics panel on Saturday. I had been looking forward to the panel, especially considering Carlos Guzman was the speaker, and he edits my favorite book these days, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. However, the quick pace of the Con pulled me elsewhere at that same time.
Thankfully, someone was there to bail me out! Anyone who has read this site or listened to What’s on Joe Mind is probably familiar with Jay, who runs CardedHeroes.com. Well, his wife Mo (who you can actually hear on the “Ladies’ Night” Special Edition Episode of What’s on Joe Mind) attended JoeCon, and as a huge comic buff, she was front and center for the IDW panel. I reached out to her, and she was very kind enough to write up a fantastic piece on the IDW panel.
I cannot thank her enough. I strive to try and have the most in depth and thorough coverage as a I can, and I’m quite disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to make the IDW panel. Thank you, Mo, for yanking my butt out of the fire.
Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for the full write up, with pictures included!
A few left over stragglers from my image onslaught over the weekend. Set up in the middle of the Hasbro showroom at the Convention this year was quite the impressive diorama. A double sided display with two scenes on the near side and one large mountain scene on the far side, pretty much every element of recent G.I. Joe releases were captured. The far side brought the mountain side ninja combat into 3 dimensions, while the near side featured a Benzheen battle as well as a peek inside a Cobra base.
Some really great scenes throughout, and I took a ton of pictures.
Also included in this gallery are shots of various G.I. Joe: Retaliation posters that were scattered on display cases and the wall, many of which featured large sized artwork we had not necessarily seen, especially in such a big format.
