| (March 1, 2005) So what about the unreleased stuff? - While we face the unknown with what we've known to be items still coming out, I'll keep this list I'm providing as the first topic posted in each month's commentary until we know for sure if it's coming out. This list is the one that's of the various items that are either listed around the net or at the least it has been mentioned:
Duke, Destro, Roadblock
Road Rebel Tank with Tunnel Rat
Quick Strike with Sgt Bazooka
ROCC with Long Haul
G.I. Joe 3.75" Crimson Guard: Xamot
VENOM STRIKER With FIREFLY Figure
Kamakura with Ninja Lightning Cycle - Joe |
| (March 3, 2005) Previews March 2005 - We were getting a good list of items that was being provided by Quickick Theatre up until they stopped giving their daily news. I was sending in the list of month to month G.I.Joe listings a lot of times. I stopped when they were able to get the list before I was able to get it over there. Since then there hasn't been any place to get the updated list, so until someone starts ciopying me, I'll start providing it here on my commentary page. So what follows is what's listed for the March 2005 edition:
PREVIEWS MAR 2005
PG 13
DEVILS DUE
PG 273 - a full page Devils Due intro with G.I.joe promonently stating "This spring, G.I.Joe as you know it... WILL END" PG 284 - a Cobra Commander ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 312 - a Joe Colton ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 364 - a Flint ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 384 - a Roadblock ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 385 - a Scarlett ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will She Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 385 - a Snake Eyes ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 391 - a Wraith ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 463 - a full size page ad for the Cobra Wall Plaque PG 482 - a Lady Jaye ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will She Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 508 - a Firefly ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" PG 508 - a Zartan ad for Issue #42 with caption "When the War Ends, Will He Pay the Ultimate Price?" - Joe |
| (March 6, 2005) Info On Gonzo - Well today I found an official listing for the G.I.Joe show by Gonzo. This is the Sigma Six show set to hit this September. What difference does this make you ask? We already knew that the show was coming. Well many still have argued that Gonzo is the company with the license. This just gives something to make it official: http://www.animeka.com/animes/detail/gi-joe-2004.html I'm not on the side thinking that this will not be any good at all. Gonzo has put out some pretty good stuff in the past. It's going to be if Hasbro allows Gonzo to do the job in a good way. The show could very well be decent and worth watching. The previous cartoon didn't follow the toy's story background and it sure didn't follow the comic. The 2 CGI cartoon by ReelFX didn't follow the comic, but it did actually come closer to following the toyline than the original. This new cartoon, or Anime, will not be any different. I'll give it a shot, but I really don't think it's going to help sell those stupid figures Hasbro has wasted plastic on. While I'm at it, there were other links I found today about the new cartoon. I figured I may as well list those too. Some of you might be interested. Still no pictures of the the actual art though:
I got no clue what this says, but it mentions G.I.Joe: That's about it. I'll keep on checking sites until I stumble on an image from the show or some sort of art to see what this will look like. It seems that all of this is being kept locked up for now though. - Joe |
| (March 9, 2005) G.I.Joe Card Game Canceled - Word just came out that the expansion set along with the card game it's self is now canceled. If you are a fan of the G.I.Joe Card Game, here's yet another things going away along with the figures. Now I can't really say that it was due to Hasbro and their supposed "hiatus", but Wizards of the Coast is owned by Hasbro. It could very well be due to sales not meeting their expected projection. I really don't know though. There are sites that has the press release such as joesightings. You can link hop and find more info if you'd like, but for now that's the end of the card game too. I wonder if the Diamond Select items and other licensed stuff will be next to go? I'll no doubt have something to say if more gets canceled. - Joe |
| (March 11, 2005) G.I.Joe Movie - This is just a quick update to let everyone reading know that the Wizard Mega Movie Issue has come out and will be on news stands until for a while. There is an official update on the G.I.Joe movie that reads: G.I.JOE - In script stage at Paramount Pictures. Based on Hasbro toy Property that spawned a Marvel Comics series and an animated series. David Elliot and Paul Lovett writing. Lorenzo Bonaventura producing. Also there's a list of "55 COMIC MOVIE THINGS WE CAN"T WAIT TO SEE". G.I.Joe is listed at #45: (45) LIVE-ACTION G.I.JOE - With a manageable cast of highly-trained, terrorist-hunting, badass special forces operatives such as Duke, Flint, Snake Eyes, Scarlet, Roadblock and Sgt. Slaughter, a live-action, gritty "G.I.Joe" film would be one part "Band of Brothers" and one part "Blackhawk Down", as the Joes are sent to stop a terrorist organization known as Cobra. A perfect mix of real world events and politics as well as punch-in-the-gut action would make "G.I.Joe" the war movie event." Take that for what you will. Wizard can be a little much to take sometimes. They're either taking that stand as the hardest fan to please and think they're so cool for putting down everything, or they just totally geek out and make you question their credibility. Well most people go into reading the book questioning credibility, but I guess that's beside the point. At least there was some mention anyway! - Joe |
| (March 12, 2005) TRU Crimson Guard Force - I got these from TRU Amazon yesterday. I thought I'd give a quick thought on the sets since they are within the last group coming out. Plus I wasn't that impressed either. Why I wasn't impressed is the same thing my wife said, "Why did you get 2 packs of the same thing?" They look like the same packs at first glance. The only thing different is Tomax and Xamot along with few images changes and their filecards. Kids will have a hard time getting parents to let them have both, that's for sure. Firefly should have even been in the pack. They should have just had Tomax and Xamot packed together with the Crimson Guards. It just screams "Hasbro tryong to get an extra buck out of you". The Crimson Guards look nice. The trouble here is that there was already the Crimson Attack set from KB Toys that came with 3 figures. These just add to what you already have and if you aren't an army builder, well you are now. Don't get me wrong, as I said they're nice figures, but just a little redundant. The twins in their suits look ok but they're not that impressive. The mold for these heads look a little warped too. I also didn't really like the scar on Xamot because it just looks like an after thought for adding. Firefly, well he just should be in there, and he REALLY shouldn't be in both sets. I added some shots that you can view until the end of the month here: LINK REMOVED If you like having one of everything, you don't mind spending the extra money, or you're a fan that likes army building, I'd say this set is for you. Fans that really don't want to put money out on lower quality items and really aren't that interested anyway could skip this without feeling like they missed much. I've grown to prefer the newer sculpts over the old sculpts anyway but I do fall in that idea of having to get one of everything. I'd have just skipped both of these if it wasn't for that. - Joe |
| (March 17, 2005) TRU Sets Revealed - Today we got some images of 2 new Toys R Us sets. These are the Winter Operations & Imperial Procession sets. It appears that Hasbro will be keeping the ball rolling with these. As long as sales are up, I guess they figure why not. Toy News International is where you need to head to so you can get a look at these. I just wan't too impressed. The Arctic set has bad colors. They make you think of the old 1994 neon colors. The picture on the package looks good and the colors used there would have made the set pretty nice. Unless names are changes, it looks to come with White Out, Avalanche (from Battleforce 2000), Snake Eyes (v4), Mirage (which was remade 3 other times), Stalker, and I'm not sure about the last guy. The Cobra set has some nice troops that's has the body of Battle Armor Cobra Commander and the head of the Range Viper. The other 2 figures are repaints of the Cobra Comic pack that just recently came out. I can't see any reason for a red Cobra Commander. The other Baroness in red is ok I guess. The troops are about the only thing that I sort of like. I don't see any reason to spent $20 just to get 4 of them though. I'd have to leave these up to everyone else on getting. I couldn't say I'd recommend them. They're not really that well done. But I know there are fans out there that might like them, and also there's fans that's still buying anything old style sculpt too. I give the sets a thumbs down and won't be getting them myself. - Joe |
| (March 17, 2005) Toys R Us - Today it was announced that Toys R Us has been bought. I really don't know what this means for the future of the store, but my hopes are that it'll straighten things up and turn them into the store they should be. They keep saying Wal-Mart's low prices are hard to compete with. They could have the market all to themselves though. They can get the items in long before Wal-Mart does and draw in the crowds. The prices are all up to them as well. It's only been more recent that they started holding stuff way too long, even after Wal-Mart has marked the same items down to move them out of store. It has only been the past few months that Toys R Us started having the green tag sales to move dead stock out. Basically what I'm saying is yes, Toys R Us was putting their own selves out of business, not Wal-Mart. If this new buy out does what I hope, the store might be worth going to again. If not, they'll just be in the same situation. For info about today's report, go to Reuters' Wire News Service. - Joe |
| (March 29, 2005) More info on Sigma Six - Joesightings has an update with news reported by Nomad. He reports that he was able sit down with Billy Lagor, the G.I.Joe Brand Director for some info on Sigma Six. To read the info, just click here. Now I wanted to say something on this. I'm not taking away anything for the effort of getting that information. That was a job well done. Now, the trouble is, this is a 3 3/4" collecting community. Tons of fans want to know more about the hiatus. No info was given however. Nomad said he did ask, but all they'd give is the same info they already have stated. Saying this however, I've seen there are fans out there saying it's wrong for people to even ask Nomad if he did propose the hiatus question. Well, those people might be trying to prove something to somebody and pretend to be "super fan" but they're in the middle of a 3 3/4" collector community. That's on the front of most fans mind, not more info on an 8" figure line. It's I'm sure the same as when the 12" figure fans had their line canceled the first time and then in 1982 heard about a new scale G.I.Joe coming out. You just don't have an interest for something you aren't interested in. Now to be fair to those who are into the Sigma Six stuff, I know there are a few. Since they are using the Real American Hero characters, there is curiosity. For that it's great that people are passing info. For the Sigma Six fans, or whatever, it's good they are able to get info. It'd be great to see a new site open up that's nothing but Sigma Six so that people would have a place to go for up to the minute news and such. The only trouble is, who would do it? Would they continue to maintain it? Would they just be doing it trying to get attention for themselves? That's the biggest problem these days. So who will step up? As for me, I've said already that I'll most likely get one of each. I have the Sgt. Savage stuff and Extreme. As a fan I've bought atleast one of everything, but when it's something I really like I buy extra to open and sometimes more than that for customizing and such). I might even get an extra Snake Eyes to open since he is my favorite character. This will be my "evaluation figure" I guess. But as for really standing behind the line, I can't say I would. I can't say that kids will or won't, but I really don't see it happening. Hasbro's stepping in "it" with this one, it'll be up to them to see if they can wipe it off. - Joe |
| (March 29, 2005) Previews for April - I just wanted to give the update that I will have the listing up this friday. I got Previews last week, but I didn't want to ahve the April list up on the last week of March only to have to repost it, or have it not posted for the month. - Joe |
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