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GeneralsJoes Reviews the 2014 Convention Set “Zombie Initiative”

First and foremost, a HUGE thanks to long time Joe friend and fellow website admin Fred from JoeBattleLines.  For folks who don’t follow me on Twitter, you may not know this, but during my trip to JoeCon, my beloved Fuji digital camera got destroyed in transit.  That’s one of the reasons why my pictures from JoeCon were all of the less-than-optimal smart phone variety.  So, fresh off an expensive JoeCon trip, I was faced with the distinct possibility of replacing my camera.

Well, Fred heard my dilemma and without hesitation, sent a loaner in the mail to me at his own expense.  It was that camera that I used to take all of the pictures for these reviews, so make sure you thank Fred for his quick generosity.  It’s quite possible these reviews may not have happened nearly as quickly without his help.  While you’re at it, check out JoeBattleLines.com or on Facebook or Twitter to see his Joe reviews and general geekery.

Now, on to the review talk..

The questions generally start coming in about a day or two after I return from the Convention…  “when are you going to post the Convention Set reviews?!”

In previous years I had sort of combined all of the individual pieces into one review, but it was getting arduous and lengthy, and I felt like each individual part of the set was not getting its due scrutiny.  So starting last year I broke everything out into individual reviews, all linked to one central “Set Review”.  Is the format perfect?  Nope, probably not.  And really, in my opinion, there’s no way to slam out 20 reviews in 2 weeks time without some of it sounding repetitive.  Hopefully I do these toys justice, because there are some fantastic ones in here.

You can hit up the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Review page, or just click the link below for this monster.  This will hopefully be a good way to kill a couple of hours on a busy Monday.

set-19

2014 G.I. Joe Convention Comic reveals hints at exclusive details

As usual, by examining the comic book/program that came with the boxed sets last night, you can get a decent idea of what the exclusive items might be once revealed tonight.

I’ve included some small images from the comic, and a run down of what we can probably expect.

Steel Brigade Pilot w/ VTOL

No real idea about the pilot himself, but a quick panel from the comic shows the Pursuit of Cobra Ghost Hawk, which is definitely a VTOL aircraft, so that would seem to answer that question.  I wonder if it’s color scheme will be based off the Steel Brigade Sky Hawk from 2005?

VTOL

Cobra Septic Tank MK II

Images from the comic show a DTC HISS!  That is a pretty pleasant surprise, I suspect.  We haven’t seen this vehicle since it was used in the DTC line, and it was a surprise to me to see that the Club may have used it for this convention set.

SepticTank

G.I. Joe Rescue Ops 2 Pack

Near the end of the comic, Clutch and an unnamed driver of an ECO Warrior themed Ninja Combat Cruiser appear!  We see no mention of the Combat Cruiser itself, but we do see Clutch and a small hint of a driver, who almost looks to be wearing a knit cap?  Perhaps these are the two “Rescue Ops” members?

RescueOps

Steel Brigade Zombie 3-Pack

I think it’s safe to assume these are based off the concept case figures, and they are shown throughout the comic as well.

Now, neither the Kre-O set nor Night Force Crazylegs were shown in the comic (unless that’s Crazylegs driving the jeep with Clutch, considering the PoC version had that knit cap underneath his helmet) but I think we can all assume what we’re getting there.

It’s still unknown to me whether or not Crazylegs is indeed the “Parachute” figure.  It certainly seems likely, but the Club did not explicitly state that in the program.  They did mention that he’s a “Paratrooper” so that really seems to lead that direction, though.  Something tells me ole Crazylegs might be the sleeper hit this year.  Check out the full gallery of images below.

The “hood” is lifted and the 2014 G.I. Joe Convention Clean Sweep is revealed!

Just a few moments ago, the G.I. Joe Con Twitter account mentioned checking “under the hood” and now, they have!

Although I was hoping for perhaps a Repulsor reveal today, instead we get our first look at Clean Sweep’s face underneath the chem hood!

Check out GIJoeCon.com, and I’ve also mirrored the image below.

08_Clean_Sweep_Head

G.I. Joe Collectors Club finally reveals the long awaited Toxo Zombie!

I will admit, I’ve been waiting for the Toxo Zombie with some trepidation.

At this point I’ll act like a big ole hipster and say “I liked Zombies before they were cool”…  but I actually have proof!  I have about 10 vintage Toxo Zombies as a little undead squad, and back in the 90s I thought those guys were pretty bad ass, even if they were pink and neon green.

For that reason, I must admit I was taken aback by the concept case presentation of the Toxo Zombie.  By and large the concept case in New Orleans was mind blowing stuff, but the Toxo Zombie, was… well…  kinda blah.  I think some folks were nervous that the Collectors Club would try to replicate that with this figure (myself included).

Thankfully that’s not the case!  They went all out with this one, leveraging the skills of the awesome folks at Boss Fight Studios to generate some great new parts and make it awesomely vintage.  That new “battle damaged” head sculpt is terrific, and I kind of like that they went with the same colors as the Toxo Viper’s uniform rather than the bleached out colors of the vintage version. I am in LOVE with this thing.

Check out the full details on GIJoeCon.com and also see the mirrored images below.  Down to Repulsor and Dawg (as well as Clean Sweep’s face)!  Looking forward to seeing how this set rounds off.

09_Toxo_Zombie

G.I. Joe Collectors Club teases another Convention reveal today

We got nothing yesterday, but according to the Twitter account of the G.I. Joe Convention we should be seeing another 2014 Convention Set reveal today!

Earlier, they posted the following clue:

Now that may not make a whole lot of sense on its own, but when you consider that Cobra Troopers who are “bad” at their jobs are transferred to the Toxo Viper corps, it sounds like we just might be getting a peek at a Toxo Zombie today!

Of course, the last time I assumed this was happening, it didn’t exactly turn out that way, but fingers crossed that I’m right this time.

That would leave just Repulsor, Dawg, and Clean Sweep’s big melon as the last three items to see…  Registration time GOOOOOO.