I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a bit bitter that Hasbro scrapped G.I. Joe: Renegades without hardly even giving it a chance, and a part of my complaint lies within the fact that they ditched the animated aesthetic due to fandom outcry.
Now a big part of me doesn’t blame them one bit. I don’t have any false ideas that animated style figures would fly off the shelves…I have my doubts. Hasbro could have potentially shrugged off their long standing fans, and not drawn in any new ones, and the entire line could have gone straight down the crapper. I’m not sure G.I. Joe as a brand is quite strong enough for Hasbro to totally overhaul the realistic styling and still come out swinging. So, I don’t blame them, even though the animated figures were items I really wanted to see.
So Amazon.com comes through in a big way, offering a Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow figure that apparently use this discarded tooling to great success. Keep in mind I don’t yet have these figures in hand, and I will fully admit those hip joints immediately make me scared. I hate those hips on the Marvel figures, so I really, desperately hope the Joe design team has found a way to make those joints work better than the Marvel folks have been able to.
Aside from that, the angular sculpting of the figures, the articulation…everything else looks very cool, and I’m really digging the animated look. Part of me hopes we get a more normal Snake Eyes in this format, too. I don’t have any aspirations that they’ll do an entire Renegades run in this style, but I’ll take what I can get. Check out the original post by G.I. Joe: Renegades fan edhellman over at HissTank.com, and I’ve mirrored the images below.
Kudos to gijoefrank from The Terror Drome, who has posted some very cool pictures of the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation vehicles, the Fangboat w/ Swamp-Viper and the Ninja Commando 4 x 4 w/ Snake Eyes.
This is our first look at the overall design for the Swamp-Viper figure, and the lack of articulation becomes an even bigger, more crushing disappointment as the figure design is very nice. I love the helmet, I love the uniform design…it looks really, really cool, and would be a selling point for this vehicle alone if he had normal articulation.
As it is, I’ll probably skip the Fang Boat entirely as I don’t especially need yet another Water Moccasin, and I have no need for this figure as it stands. We’ll see.
You can check out the Fang Boat thread right here, and the Ninja Commando thread here. I’ve mirrored a handful of images below, but you should check out the threads for even more images.
So we’ve seen a number of International trailers flying around over the past few days, so I figured I’d take some time to grab some screenshots from those to add to the ongoing library. I know I’ve noticed some very cool elements from this footage that I didn’t necessarily see over the first viewing.
To me, International Trailer “G” especially was eye opening. I believe it’s been marketed as a Korean trailer, and features a heavy element of martial arts action, focusing on Storm Shadow specifically. The sequence near the end where it appears as if Joe Colton is talking to Storm Shadow in a friendly way is especially interesting, leading to some speculation that Arashikage may be joining the good guys this time around.
We also get a very nice look at the Cobra helicopter and a front view of the HISS Tank. Check out the screen grabs below.
International Trailer G (Korean Trailer?)
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There have also been assorted other International trailers, and I’ve tried to grab some new screen shots from those as well, which you can see below
Other International Trailers
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To see the trailers themselves click here for embedded videos of each. I will also be adding all of this to the G.I. Joe: Retaliation SuperPage on an ongoing basis!
Looks like a double decker at comic shops this week as Wednesday brings us both the conclusion for the G.I. Joe: Retaliation prequel series and Issue #12 of the ongoing Snake Eyes series which kicks off his new adventures apart from the G.I. Joe team!
Check out the previews for both of these issues below, one sale at comic shops everywhere on Wednesday.
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G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation #4 (of 4)
John Barber (w) • Salvador Navarro (a & c)
The final battle! STORM SHADOW leads his ninja on an attack that threatens to cripple America’s national security! The only men who can stop him are SNAKE EYES and ROADBLOCK—but can they put aside their differences and learn from each other in time? It’s ninja and commando action in the frantic G.I. JOE manner, leading ino the hottest movie of 2012!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Variant covers:
Black & white Salvador Navarro cover!
Bullet points:
Secrets of the new G.I. JOE movie are revealed!
See ROADBLOCK’s all-new fighting style in action!
Non-stop G.I. JOE combat!
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Snake Eyes Ongoing #12
Chuck Dixon (w) • Bennie Lobel (a) • Robert Atkins, Andrew Griffith (c)
COBRA COMMAND AFTERMATH! The most dangerous Joe is presumed K.I.A.—but we know different! SNAKE EYES returns to the HARD MASTER to deliver some shocking news as only the silent JOE can. But someone SNAKE EYES cares deeply about has been harmed and someone else is going to have to pay for that. It’s ninja action in the urban jungle and plenty of new surprises!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Variant covers:
Black & White Robert Atkins cover!
Bullet points:
In the aftermath of COBRA COMMAND, everything changes!
With thanks to Machinima, we have a brand spanking new G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer! Boo YA!
We knew it was coming, we were ready for it…but could we really be totally prepared for the awesomeness it would bestow upon us? HISS Tanks rolling upon Washington, DC? Firefly, Cobra Commander, Roadblock, and Snake Eyes oozing awesomeness from every pore?
June 29th, I’m ready and waiting for you! Let’s do this.
