by generalsjoes | Feb 15, 2014 | 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, Show and Convention Coverage, Toy Fair 2014
Over on their Facebook page, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has started posting press images of the upcoming G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary product!
Check out the gallery right here and make sure you “Like” their Facebook page while you’re at it.
The Press Images will be widely available tonight, so I’m not going to mirror those images, you can find them at this link.
Suffice it to say, we are getting concept case Destro and Leatherneck, Lady Jaye, and HEAT Viper, but at the same time we’re getting re-releases of a standard color Blowtorch (for the third time, really?!), PoC General Hawk and Low Light.
I will say the Cobra Wolf with Ice Viper is an exceptionally great surprise. WOW!
Anyway, check out the images right here.
by generalsjoes | Feb 15, 2014 | 50th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Kre-O, G.I. Joe Toys, Show and Convention Coverage, Toy Fair 2014
The real issue I have watching Toy Fair from afar is that it’s tough for me to grasp all of the information from all of the different places without having my own personal perspective.
As such, I’ll direct to a few different sources for current information.
What we know right now is that we are getting G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary 2 Packs and 3 Packs along with vehicles as Toys “R” Us Exclusives this year. According to HISSTank.com this is what we can expect:
Two Packs
- Low-Light vs. Night Viper
- Snow Job vs. Arctic B.A.T.
- Blowtorch vs. HEAT Viper
- Cobra Trooper with Cobra Officer
- Lady Jaye vs. The Baroness
Three Packs (Unconfirmed)
- Cobra Trooper
- Cobra Viper
- Destro
- Leatherneck
- Hawk
Vehicles
- Cobra Wolf with Ice Viper
- Arctic Sky Hawk
- G.I.Joe VAMP MkII with Flint
- Eel with Night Landing Craft
Also, according to HISSTank staff on hand, the figures shown are the concept case figures! That’s right, both Destro and Leatherneck are the same amazing figures from the Concept Case last year, and HEAT Viper apparently from the year before. Lady Jaye and Flint are also likely pulled from that year’s case.
This is… well… pretty freaking amazing news. But it doesn’t stop there. The G.I. Joe Kre-O love continues as well:
- Terror Drome with 856 pieces and 6 Kre-Ons (including Gung Ho, Hawk, Mainframe, Serpentor, and Xamot). That only adds up to 5 Kre-Ons, so one has to think that maybe we’ll get Tomax, too?
- Outpost Defense with 97 pieces and Storm Shadow (in his G.I. Joe outfit!) and Beach Head.
- Firebat Attack with 292 pieces comes with Firebat and Wolverine.
- 24 Mini Figures including Nunchuk, Atomic Man, Scrap Iron, Lowlight, Doc, Night Creeper, Torch, Budo, Nemesis Enforcer, Zartan, Snow Serpent, Cobra Eel, and Chuckles (among others).
News reports come courtesy of JoeBattleLines.com, HISSTank, Toy News International, and from the awesomly insane Twitterati everywhere.
Press photos should be available tonight, and you’d better believe I’ll be all over that business!
by generalsjoes | Feb 15, 2014 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Convention, Show and Convention Coverage, Toy Fair 2014
So unlike previous years I’m looking at the Hasbro Fan Event this year from an outsider’s perspective, which is an interesting sensation indeed. Normally this morning is filled with hectic travel down to the city, navigating the trains from Connecticut, and then the whirlwind walk from Grand Central to the location of the event.
Keep your eyes on the interwebs starting around 1:00pm or so, as I believe that’s the start time for Hasbro’s event. Typically, in years past, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has posted some images ahead of the event, though I’m not sure if that will hold true this year.
But please manage expectations. I’m not sure precisely how much stuff is going to be shown, but it would be nice if some little gesture to the father of the action figure was on display in the city today. It’ll be a very fun ride, regardless.
by generalsjoes | Feb 6, 2014 | G.I. Joe
Ever since San Diego ComicCon last year it seems as if everyone has been casting their eyes forward towards New York City, just waiting for Toy Fair. During ComicCon last year it was mentioned that there were possible “surprises” in store for G.I. Joe fans come Toy Fair, but now as we stand a little more than a week away, what those surprises may be remains a very foggy and murky topic.
While we’ve seen some press releases and articles for many different new Hasbro toy lines that are destined to be debuted at Toy Fair, the word on G.I. Joe has been surprisingly mum, only being referenced as having a “Spotlight” for it during the Toy Fair event, and not necessarily any new product to be shown.
This morning an AP article has started making the rounds, and within the context of that article, apparently Hasbro has said they will announce their plans for the 50th Anniversary of G.I. Joe at Toy Fair next weekend. This has, understandably, gotten many fans all ramped up to see what we might have waiting for us on Saturday, February 15th (which is when the Hasbro event is slated to begin).
While I remain as excited as anyone else, I just ask that we temper our excitement a bit, and understand where G.I. Joe’s place in the current market is. More and more action figure lines specifically (and toy lines in general) are shifting to a more licensed model, where you must have a major motion picture or animated series in order to catapult something into the market place. I think we all know, G.I. Joe currently has none of that.
That being said, it’s evident from the Press Release that Hasbro will have something to say next weekend, but I would just ask that everyone key their expectations towards perhaps being more of a “say” and less of a “show”. Regardless of what happens next Saturday, I’ll admit to being pleased with a flurry of G.I. Joe related news and information flying around the Internet this morning, and hopefully Hasbro is seeing that the brand still has some pop culture interest and enthusiasm. At this point I’m not certain if I’m actually making the trip down to New York next weekend or not, but whatever happens, I’ll be following the news very closely and hope to hear something interesting.
by generalsjoes | Feb 11, 2013 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe: The Movie
Well what do you know?
Turns out we survived the past nine months without a G.I. Joe film, and as I look at my calendar, we are nearing the 6 week mark until G.I. Joe: Retaliation launches in 3D in the United States. See it again for the first time!
I will admit I was a bit taken aback at Toy Fair this year, with a visible and palpable lack of promotion for the upcoming film. Last year and in 2009 there were movie stars, front-page stories, movie clips…the whole ball of wax. G.I. Joe was front and damned center.
This year, the G.I. Joe presentation at Toy Fair felt tacked on to the Kre-O presentation, and besides some words of encouragement from Derryl DePriest, the film felt like more of an afterthought than the main promotional push. Instead of walls of figures and vehicles, we got seven new figures and a single new vehicle.
Now this is not meant to be a reflection on the toys themselves… from all appearances this will be a fantastic year for toys. The ultimate film versions of Duke, Flint, Roadblock and Firefly all look incredible. Wonderfully accurate old school versions of Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, and Snake Eyes. Budo, Data-Viper and KWINN! And hey, I didn’t even mention the Tomahawk Eaglehawk. Very good stuff coming this year. But I won’t lie. The atmosphere was not as fired up and national coverage as it was in years past. I realize a lot of that has to do with the film delay, but when the coronation of a Pony princess on an animated cartoon gets more mainstream pub than a multi-million dollar Hollywood production? Damn right I’m going to say something about that.
Whether or not you agree with how G.I. Joe: Retaliation was treated at Toy Fair, though, the fact remains that it’s a new year and we have a ton of great looking product to look forward to. The film is hitting in just over six weeks and by all accounts looks to be awesome. We are on the verge of a potential tipping point in the G.I. Joe brand right now, and GeneralsJoes is riding that train all the way. As we lead up to the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film over the next six weeks, expect loads of content. Editorials, figure reviews, vehicle reviews, comic reviews, and heck… perhaps even a dio-story chapter or two. No promises. 😉
The movie is coming. The new toys are coming. The comic is getting revitalized. There’s a lot to look forward to over the next six weeks, hope you all are joining me for the ride.
