It seems like it’s been a long time since new G.I. Joe product has been spotted at normal retail outlets, but from the looks of things, they’re making up for lost time! All at once, various different G.I. Joe products are starting to hit retail chains across the country.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation Waves 2 & 3
Over on The Terror Drome, gijoefrank has posted photographic proof finding these figures at his local Target. Over on HissTank reports of Wave 3 also being spotted at Target, and even K-Mart!
G.I. Joe Micro Force “Starter” Pack
Perhaps these have been mentioned somewhere, but I didn’t notice. There is apparently a MicroForce “Starter Pack” featuring some Micro figures on an interesting packaging. The below image was sent from Gary “cmdrinchief”.
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G.I. Joe Kre-O
I’ll blame my 48 hour flu with the fact that I missed an update from Now Back to G.I. Joe on Twitter saying that he found G.I. Joe Kre-O at his local Toys “R” Us! He also, very awesomely, took some great pictures of some of the mini figures via his Instagram account. I hate to say it, but those little guys are growing on me. Check out the mirrored images below, and be sure to follow Now Back to G.I. Joe to see more of the great stuff he posts.
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Also, you’re really going to want to add this HissTank post to your favorites if you’re hunting Kre-O. The unique code on the back of the bags have already been linked to figures in the blind bags, so no more guessing! I’m mirroring the code set for that below as well:
Joe fans and horror movie fans, check it out and let me know what you think! Already Twitter buddy Count Geekula has seen it, and even though he generally dislikes 3D conversions, he said this looks pretty good. Thanks to Jon Chu on Twitter for the intel!
Now, of course, this has to stay in strict “rumor mill” mode, but honestly Drew McWeeny from HitFix is a very well connected guy in the movie industry, so I would think this is something we should pay some attention to, and it does connect some dots for us.
According to the aforementioned HitFix, Paramount’s decision to move the film release date has created some contention between the studio and director Jon M. Chu, and in fact, Paramount may be attempting to press forward with reshoots without Chu’s involvement. This could be huge, and would certainly explain the director’s Twitter silence.
Chu has long established his fandom of the G.I. Joe franchise, and has been exceptionally well connected to the fans through social media, so if Paramount tries to lock him out of the reshoot process, do we all risk losing some connection to the production, and losing the assistance of someone who will fight for what we want to see in a G.I. Joe film? However, also according to HitFix, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (who has some klout with the studio) is standing firm by Chu’s side and supporting him against the studio. Check out the full paragraph here:
“We’ve been hearing reports of rough test screenings for the film, but things are starting to get genuinely contentious between director Jon Chu and the studio, and right now, there is a chance he won’t be directly involved at all with the reshoots. There’s also a chance Chu might try to legally force his way back onto the film, which could create even more strain in the relationship he has with Paramount. Word is that producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura is firmly on Chu’s side, which could help, but I shouldn’t be shocked if we get word soon that Stuart Baird or someone similar is being brought on to “consult.””
Obviously this turns the entire production process on its ear, and unfortunately injects even more doubt and chaos into what is already a bizarre, uncomfortable next nine months for everyone involved.
Interestingly, among this is other news according to IGN.com, who reports that another Paramount production, World War Z is also going through a long series of reshoots and have also endured a date change, signifying that this isn’t a problem necessarily focused purely on G.I. Joe. It sounds like Paramount is scrambling to refocus on their films and find a better, more effective formula for their story telling. In light of the massive domestic failures of John Carter and Battleship, and in light of the tremendous success of Avengers, it looks like Paramount is paying more attention to the narrative. Hopefully the results in March show that to be the right move, but if the voyage over the next nine months is fraught with the same chaos, uncertainty, and train wreck under tones that we’ve seen over the past two weeks, G.I. Joe’s public face is just going to suffer further.
At the end of the day, it feels like the G.I. Joe brand in general is a brand that has been skirting the line of viability and profitability over the past several years, and this constant barrage of press for all the wrong reasons isn’t going to do it any favors long term. Buckle up, Joe fans.
Big thanks to Ed Dam from JoeCanuck.com for the heads up to the article, and check out the full article at HitFix.
So last night I put out the call, and I had some great responders who listened to the KERN Radio segment on AICN last night in order to get some details about the apparent reaction to the G.I. Joe: Retaliation screenings.
From the sounds of “Caller X” and his feedback from the film…well, it sounds like things weren’t good.
In fact, it’s sounding more and more likely that there will be some reshoots done over the next nine months in order to bring Duke back to life. At this point it’s unknown whether these reshoots will also make drastic changes to the script or film itself, but something tells me they’re not going to do anything dramatic. I’m not sure if 9 months is quite enough time to change things significantly, especially if the stars filming schedules don’t allow it.
For Spoiler sake, I’ll keep the actual reports after the jump. You can read them below. THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW.
While many of us low level fan sites were ushered out of the city after the exciting event on Saturday, the “big boys” are still lurking around talking to cast members from G.I. Joe: Retaliation. ComingSoon.net was among those sites, and they’ve posted a few video interviews on SuperHeroHype.com! Check out the interviews below and some interesting snippets from each.
Thanks much to Ghost Man for the heads up.
Also try to ignore the ComingSoon dude who calls the film G.I. Joe: Retribution. Good thing they let those guys get the good interviews and not us folks who don’t know what we’re doing, huh?
