GI Joe Con Reveals Dawg and Repulsor

The final figure in this year's convention exclusive set has been revealed. Repulsor, a new character based on the original Sludge Viper uses parts from the 30th Techno Viper, and a helmet from the Zombie Viper. Also to be included in the set is his zombiefied K9 companion, Dawg, who is newly tooled. Check out Dawg here, and Repulsor here.

Dawg is interesting, for sure, and nice that they made him as a newly tooled piece. I also really like what they've done with Repulsor. He nicely finishes off the Eco-Warrior updates, and is much nicer as a new character than if they had done a less accurate Sludge Viper.

More Images of GIJCC H.A.V.O.C. MK-II

The official G.I. Joe Collector's Club has posted final images of their exclusive H.A.V.O.C. MK-II that will be for sale later this year along with some information about it. Most notably the price which is to be set at $42, before shipping. It is also noted that the vehicle will not include a box, but be shipped instead in a bag.

 

Not a bad price, though it's disappointing that it won't have a box. Personally I'm not feeling this vehicle much, though I see where they were going with it. It does look similar enough to the H.A.V.O.C. to work, but I suppose that both the Snow Cat and H.A.V.O.C. were strong enough identities in my mind that painting one into the other just doesn't work.

Joecon Reveals Clean Sweep Head Sculpt

Today's reveal regarding this year's GI Joe convention set was an updated image of Clean Sweep featuring the figures new head. See it here or check it out below.

Frankly I'm not too impressed with the head on this one. I really wish it were more faithful to the original head, which was bald. The overall figure is still rather impressive, so I think this can be easily overlooked, especially since the head itself doesn't look bad.

Toy Fair Interview with Derryl DePriest

Bloomberg has posted an interview with Derryl DePriest from Toy Fair. The interview mainly talks about where the brand's been, but also touches on where Hasbro intends to take it, and they also talk about what image Hasbro intends to portray with a military toy line in the modern world, click here to see it.

So, he didn't really say much, but Derryl didn't make me feel too good with his responses here. I'm not one of these who's constantly fretting that the line is over... but when asked about how GI Joe is innovating, it was like he blanked out. I'm sorry, but in the end of the day a Lego knock-off isn't innovation, even if it's moderately successful. I think GI Joe still has a future to it, although this interview gave me a feeling Hasbro has no clue what they're doing anymore.

50th Anniversary Flint and "Danger at the Docks" Set Not SDCC Exclusive

A rumor based on the file name for the official images of the 50th Anniversary Danger at the Docks set had fans believing that this set would be a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, but this is not the case as we now know thanks to GeneralsJoes. After getting in touch with Hunter PR, he discovered that the set will only premier for sale at the convention, but be available at retail similar to the Masterpiece Soundwave set Hasbro did for Transformers last year. Click here to see where the General tells all.

2014 Joecon Toxo Zombie Revealed

And today we see one of the last reveals for this year's convention exclusive Joecon set, a Toxo Zombie retool of the Toxo Viper from this year's set. He features reused tooling from the 30th Zombie Viper and a new head sculpt inspired by the 1992 figure. Click here to check him out or view the image mirrored below:

A pretty good update in general, the zombie parts were worked in really well and the head they made is fantastic. It's spot-on to the original card-art featured on the Toxo Zombie's card, so that's very nice. I do hope that they might work in the original figure's colors as an attendee item, but it's nice they went with consistency for this figure.

Toy Fair News Roundup

As it's mostly safe to assume the news for GI Joe from this year's Toy Fair is mostly out, here's a collection of the bits we learned.

First, Hasbro's offering for the 50th Anniversary. The whole assortment is to be a Toys R' Us exclusive, with one variant of the VAMP and Night Landing set being rumored to be an SDCC exclusive. There will be two-packs and three-packs, and the figures shown below are all there is to be available for this year, with the exception of a Cobra Trooper and Officer two-pack that isn't pictured currently.

2014 Joecon Clean-Sweep Revealed

One of the last Joecon exclusive set reveals was made today, and it's Clean-Sweep! Clean-Sweep is made using parts from the Data Viper and 30th Airtight, and new tooling for his mask, check him out here, or view the image mirrored below:

I've got to say I'm very impressed with this one. It's a perfect update, the mask looks excellent, weapons are good, I like what they did with the Retaliation Trooper gun in particular. I'm normally very critical of convention exclusives, but they've done a great job with this one, and with this set in general.

2014 Joecon Outback Revealed

Another figure reveal was made on Joecon.com today for an exclusive figure at this year's G.I. Joe convention. The Outback figure is based on Hasbro's Vault design according to the convention's Twitter feed and is made up using parts from POC Snowjob, Recondo, and a few other Pursuit of Cobra figures. Click here to see the image, or view it mirrored below:

Personally I'm not too impressed, though it may well be because I just don't like what they chose to base him on. This year's convention set is pretty firmly 90's based, so it seems like a shame to not continue with that aesthetic and do a take on his Battle Corps/Eco Warriors design.

Joecon Ozone Head Sculpt Revealed

Joecon.com has posted another reveal, or rather an update on one of this year's convention G.I.Joe figures, Ozone. The updated head sculpt is new, to see it, click here, or view the image mirrored below.

I'm not the hugest fan of this Ozone figure, mainly because of the way the helmet looks. The new head definitely improves the look though, and for a convention figure it's a pretty good vintage update.

7 Bad G.I.Joe Figures

I don’t focus on the bad too much, but there’s a few figures in my collection that I just have to admit are pretty lame. While I’m sure everyone has different opinions what the worst Joes are, I felt these had the fewest redeeming features. Here’s my list of the seven worst Joes ever made in 1/18 scale. Check out my list after the jump.

2014 Joecon Joe Colton Figure Revealed

Members of the GIJCC are receiving their bi-monthly member magazines, this month's featuring a new convention exclusive on the front cover, Joe Colton. Joe Colton is to be the souvenir figure you receive when you purchase a set and attend the con. To see the figure also shown on Joecon.com, click here.

The figure appears to be mostly a repaint of the SDCC exclusive ROC Destro from a few years back, with a head from the Club's Adventure Team figures. Not a bad idea at all, and it's in good taste for the brand's 50th anniversary.

Confirmation G.I.Joe Will be at Toyfair 2014

An article on Associated Press confirms by Hasbro that GI Joe products will be at Toyfair this year. Other major sources (Such as Huffington Post and Washington Post) are reposting this article giving it further credibility. To read the full article, click here.

 Hasbro said it intends to announce details of its 50th anniversary plans during this year's fair in New York on Feb. 16-19.

It’s a good thing to read no doubt, although I must say I’ve found recent rumors of there being no Joe products available this year to be laughable to say the least. There really isn’t any reason to think such a thing other than people growing more pessimistic in the hobby because of Retaliation’s retail disaster. Either way, this should help quell fears there will be nothing to see.

G.I. Joe Now a Part of Amazon Worlds Licensing Agreement

News straight from Businesswire:

The new licensing agreement comes at a historic time for the G.I. JOE brand, which will celebrate its 50^th anniversary in 2014, since the first G.I. JOE action figure was released in 1964. It has become one of Hasbro’s most enduring and recognizable brands with toys, comics, TV series, films and video games. With the launch of the G.I. JOE World, writers will be able to publish their own original fiction starring iconic G.I. JOE characters like DUKE, SNAKE EYES, and COBRA COMMANDER, and sell their work on Amazon.com. 

Meaning now you can get paid to write fan-fiction for G.I. Joe on Amazon. An interesting move no doubt, but I don't think anything really impressive will come from it.

2014 Joecon Toxo-Viper Revealed

G.I. Joecon.com has officially revealed the fifth figure in this year’s convention set, which is to be an update of the V2 Toxo-Viper from Eco Warriors. Check out the figure here or by clicking the image below.

Not a bad likeness on this one, I like it much better than last year’s SAW and FRAG Vipers. The sub machine gun and missile-launcher were also fairly good accessory choices. It will also be interesting to see how they turn this into a Toxo-Zombie, and how much effort they'll actually put in that.