by generalsjoes | Jan 7, 2013 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Sunbow
In a clear sign that these discount store G.I. Joe figure repaints are likely on the way to retail stores, eBay seller viperkingdom has posted them all up on eBay. This second wave is full of some great homages to the classic Joes…some obvious, some not so much:
Now most folks have identified some of the clear inspiration for these figures. Cobra Commander is based on his comic deco, while Storm Shadow uses T’Ginzu from Ninja Force as his base. Duke’s interesting uniform color pulls inspiration from the animated Sunbow Breaker.
Shipwreck looks like a great OG13 base, and Snake Eyes looks to be based on the unheralded and extremely underrated Toys “R” Us Heavy Assault Set 6-Pack version from the new sculpt era. But perhaps the most interesting here (and maybe the most overlooked) is the Cobra Trooper.
Many folks have identified the Cobra Trooper as having a comic inspiration, with the light blue and tan. But it goes beyond that, at least from my view. I’m sure folks remember those animated commercials way back in the day. Well, the Cobra Troopers in those animated commercials look exactly like these figures, all the way to the blue mask. It’s a very obscure and really neat homage for Joe fans who are interested in that type of thing.
I’ve mirrored the original gallery of images courtesy of Gyre-Viper from JoeDeClassified, and I’ve also included some low res images from those old school commercials. I think the inspiration is clear. Very cool stuff.
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And below some very low resolution screen shots of those animated Cobra Troopers…notice the blue masks, blue gloves, and yellow straps? Pretty cool.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 28, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, 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, G.I. Joe: The Movie
One would think this would be a pretty easy, straight-forward article, right? I mean, we barely had a wave of figures released, and the vehicles were by and large unremarkable, so what is the point of this discussion?
Well, I kind of thought so, too, but then I started looking into what we got this year, and it became evident, that even with G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s short-lived shelf life, there was still plenty of topics to dissect and plenty to talk about in regards to 2012’s slate of G.I. Joe toys.
Now, a pair of items kind of had me in a quandry. While technically the Slaughter’s Marauders and Dreadnoks 7-Packs were shipped in 2012, I still consider them 2011 product. They were announced and solicited in 2011, and I received my sets in 2011, even though many folks got them in 2012. For that reason I did not include them when considering this list.
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery on that?
Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below to see my thoughts.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 27, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Comics and Cartoons, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 2, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Retaliation Toys, G.I. Joe Special Ops, G.I. Joe Toys, G.I. Joe Video Game, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe: Renegades, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Podcasts
Whatever you think about the state of G.I. Joe throughout 2012, I don’t think anyone can argue that it was a slow year for news. Quite the opposite! Going from nearly daily reports of movie updates, to the downward spiral of G.I. Joe: Retaliation confidence, and finally finding some middle ground with the great regional gatherings of Joe fans and the countless great independent projects.
It was quite the interesting year for G.I. Joe, and in celebration of 2012, I’m picking the top 12 news stories for the year. They may be good, they may be bad, but the end result is a collection of events throughout 2012 that paints a pretty cool picture when we look back on it. Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for the run down.
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by generalsjoes | Dec 4, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Toys
For you unlucky souls throughout America without a local Dollar General store, if you have a “Christmas Tree Shop” nearby, you’re going to want to hit it up. Granted, I think Christmas Tree Shops are even more regional than the Dollar Generals are, but there are folks, specifically in New England, who have a Christmas Tree Shop, but no Dollar Generals.
Troy from the ToyVerse and Shogi from Joe Toon Archive both report that the Dollar General figures have been spotted there, and Shogi even sent along an image that you can see below. Do you have a local store? Check ChristmasTreeShop.com to see if there is a store in your area.
by generalsjoes | Jun 22, 2012 | 30th Anniversary, Dollar Store, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Toys
With the almost infamous Dollar Store G.I. Joe figures only being spotted sporadically throughout the United States at various Dollar General stores, there are a lot of questions about the mysterious repaints that Gyre Viper showed us quite a while ago. Are these variants of current product? A second wave? A Family Dollar exclusive?
Most of these questions we do not know the answers to (but will hopefully find out at JoeCon next week!) but Gyre-Viper has now shared with GeneralsJoes a carded image of the upcoming Storm Shadow repaint. Obviously taking a page from the T’Ginzu book, this great looking version of Storm Shadow is shown here in packaged form for the first time, revealing that these are being designed and packaged just like the first wave, with no real alterations.
For potential confidentiality reasons, Gyre-Viper will not be sharing the date stamp, or assortment number, considering these are as of yet unreleased items and things could have changed after he got his hands on this sample. He does mention that the code names are exactly the same, and the back of the card is exactly the same (showing the original paint schemes, not the repaint colors) which seems to indicate that these are indeed variants or running changes, and are not a full fledged second wave of product.
Quite an interesting look at a series of figures that there seems to be more questions than answers about. I really look forward to talking to Hasbro next week to see if we can get more details.
Speaking of Gyre-Viper and the Convention next week, if you’re going to be in New Orleans make sure you check out the Joe Declassified booth! If you love unreleased product, pre-production product and just finding out some great hidden details about the entire history of G.I. Joe you won’t find a better place to do that than at the DeClassified booth. With some awesome figures on display and some genuine fans of the hobby manning the booth it will be a fantastic opportunity to see some cool toys and talk to some cool people.
All of the information about the DeClass booth can be found right here on JoeDeClassified.com.
Make sure you check it out! Hopefully I’ll see you in New Orleans.
