Well how is that for timing?  Fresh off an interview with What’s on Joe Mind, it has just been announced that the voice of Sunbow Shipwreck Neil Ross will be at the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention in New Orleans!

While I unfortunately missed the last recording, I listened to the interview and it was hilarious, I can imagine he’s going to be a terrific guest at the Convention as well.  Keep up to date with all of the latest and greatest G.I. Joe convention news and events at GIJoeCon.com!

So, I figured covering each release individually got me up to speed on talking about the 3 3/4″ convention set, but Twitter buds kenny and Twitziller brought it to my attention that I did post about the 12″ set in general, once the club revealed the full image, so it really made a lot of sense to look at the 3 3/4″ set as one cohesive set and see how my perspective might have changed.

The Collectors’ Club did reveal the full image of the set, and that image can be seen at GIJoeCon.com and also mirrored below, and it gives me an opportunity to talk about this set as a whole, instead of piecemeal.

Now, pretty much all of my responses have been positive throughout all the single figure reveals, so I can’t help but maintain that positive opinion when looking at the set in its entirety.  The portion of the set that really strikes me, though, is the Iron Grenadier side of the house.  Seeing the individual figure reveals kind of put a tight focus on the figures as stand outs themselves, and you don’t realize how cohesively they do all fit together.  Even with Voltar’s somewhat purple coloring on his armor, it ties in pretty nicely to some of the red components on the Iron Grenadier Troopers themselves.  While I’m still not 100% sold on the Iron Grenadier Troopers, I do love the Heavy Weapons guys and the Elites, and I think the red is the great unifying color that ties them all together nicely.  Various shades of gray are prevalent throughout, which only further ties the figures together.

For the Oktober Guard, I know there was some concern about Horror Show and his green uniform standing out among his teammates, but I don’t see that issue at all.  Beyond Horror Show, every member of the Oktober Guard here meshes together almost to perfection.  Iron Bear, Daina, and Schrage all work flawlessly, while Brekhov and Stormavik balance with each other as well.  Even the brown figures have those hints of dark green to match the webgear of the other two, and Horror Show’s jacket.  A definite unifying theme that works really well.

As a whole, I think this set is terrific.  I have voiced my concerns with the Iron Grenadier Troopers, and I maintain those…it’s probably the canceled Iron Grenadier Troopers that keep this set from being pretty much one of the best Convention Sets ever.  But that award still goes to the 2005 MARS Attacks set, and I doubt that will ever be surpassed.

That being said, this figure set is still extremely strong, very well done, and remarkably impressive for the operation that the Club is.  A ton of new tooling, a great array of unreleased characters and fan wishes, and unlike many folks out there, I welcome the infusion of “new blood” like Iron Bear.  Great stuff, and I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for New Orleans to come and more Con goodies to be revealed!

You know I almost didn’t post this, because as usual, I missed an episode with a famous Sunbow voice actor, and the guys took the opportunity to rib me about it…so screw ‘em, right?

Nah.  I’m nothing if not forgiving, so I’ll play nice and post the latest update for the What’s on Joe Mind podcast.  This episode the guys are joined by Sunbow voice actor Neil Ross, who voiced the indelible Shipwreck, one of the most popular characters in the G.I. Joe mythology!

They also tackle all the latest news and information, and talk about the GIJCC 2012 Convention Set in its entirety. I’m jealous that I didn’t get the chance to share my .02.  Ah, well, maybe I’ll make them revisit it tomorrow night.

Check out the latest episode on our Podbean page, or via the embedded player below, and don’t forget to hit the jump for our show notes.

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Yes, we’re getting ever closer to the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention, but hot on the heels of JoeCon this year will be San Diego ComicCon, and part of the big SDCC showing this year will be a pair of exclusive Jinx figures.

The decision makes sense with Jinx being a big part of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and with a desire to fill in some gaps in the old school roster.  Well, old friend Gyre-Viper has gotten his hands on one of these excellent looking Jinx figures, and we’ve got some great in hand pictures at JoeDeclassified.com.  He was also kind enough to supply an exclusive image to GeneralsJoes featuring the card back and file card.  Excellent!

I’ve mirrored a chunk of the images here, but you should hit up JoeDeclassified.com to see the full selection.  Some great details revealed!

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Quickly becoming one of my favorite things to check up on, the G.I. Joe: Special Ops online game has added two more familiar faces to the roster today with Lady Jaye and the Cobra Viper.  Taking elements from various continuities, G.I. Joe: Special Ops seems like it’s trying to sample the best from everything.  Lady Jaye wears a tactical vest and is an established hard ass, yet she totes around javelins, and wears her hair long sort of like Adrianne Palicki.

The Cobra Viper looks a lot like the Viper we all know and love, but with a distinctly Sideshow Collectibles twist.  Thjey seem to be bringing a lot of very cool elements together. Now we just have to see how the game plays!  Check out the SyFy G.I. Joe: Special Ops website, and also check out the mirrored images below.

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As soon as convention season grows near, it seems like the questions continue to pop up year after year about this year’s convention.  What does “golden ticket” mean, what do I get with my registration… how can I get a set if I’m not travelling to New Orleans?

Well, What’s on Joe Mind is all over it!  We are your “one stop shop” for any Convention information you might need, and we got started bright and early with Special Edition #12.  Gary and Justin break down the entire convention brochure and provide some insight as to what you can expect on every page and just how much of your hard-earned money you should be grasping onto prior to the end of June.

So check it out at our Podbean Site or via the embedded player(s) below.

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SHOW NOTES

“The JoeCon Brochures are out!”  Those 5 words are just as potent to a Joe fan as “Gentlemen, start your engines!” is to a race car driver, because to us it means JoeCon is drawing closer and registration time is near.  Print off your forms and follow along with Gary and Justin, who between them share their nearly 20 years of JoeCon experience.  Our dynamic duo will attempt to help you understand the brochure and read between the lines on this annually anticipated document.  From the con sets, to the package choices, to the guests, to the pre-con tours, they’ll break it down for you in tinier, much easier to swallow morsels.  Now all you need to do is print out the brochure and follow along!  We’ve been on the road to New Orleans for a couple of weeks now, but the city lights are now visible in the distance.  We’re your Golden Ticket to a successful JoeCon.  It all starts here…!

G.I. Joe Convention 2012

• GIJoeCon.com Website
• The GIJoeCon Brochure
• GIJoeCon 2012 Convention Exclusives
• The G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club GIJoeCon FAQ

I think it’s pretty fair to say that when six open slots were available under the Oktober Guard emblem for the 2012 G.I. Joe Convention reveal, most fans just assumed that we would see the six most famous Oktober Guard members as part of the boxed set.  Even though Dragonsky didn’t make an appearance until a little bit after the rest of the team launched in G.I. Joe #6, most fans identify him pretty specifically with the old school Oktober Guard.

It would certainly appear, though, that either this mission takes place without him, or he’s slated for a spot in one of the attendee exclusive sets available in New Orleans for Con attendees.  Regardless of where Dragonsky appears in the grand scheme of things, the release of the Convention brochure last week identified one member of the Oktober Guard that no one had yet heard of.  And I love that.

I’m all about the story aspects of the G.I. Joe universe and one thing the Collectors’ Club has done amazingly well is using their characters to tell a story.  Now we have a totally new Oktober Guard character, General Iron Bear.  I think common hypothesis is that this Iron Bear may very well be the guy who turns tail and becomes General Mayhem from the awesome 2005 MARS Attacks convention set, but we likely will not find that out for a while.

Until then, we can enjoy the reveal of the figure itself!  Check it out at GIJoeCon.com or mirrored below.

That is a pretty cool looking figure, I have to say.  I love it when the Club throws a curve ball, as they so often do, and I think this one is a cool one.  A mixture of Arctic Snake Eyes/Snow Serpent and G.I. Joe: Resolute Duke, it looks like an arctic themed commander, and I think the whole idea works well.

EDIT – Of course thanks to Caped Crusader for reminding me that the figure is essentially Resolute Duke (Siberian Attack) with a new head, which is equally cool to me, as I enjoy that figure quite a bit.

Along with the figure reveal, they also have showed us their convention T-Shirts and Hat for 2012, which is always a popular item at the Club store throughout the weekend.  Check those images out below.

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So are we all getting hyped up, Joe fans?  Registration is going to be happening soon, and then it’s all downhill for New Orleans, and I can’t wait!  Keep your eyes peeled here and on GIJoeCon.com for the latest details.

The guys jump back into our regular weekly show with a full compliment this time around as Chuck, Gary, Mike and myself all come together to uncover more G.I. Joe related secrets!  I’m sure everyone remembers that little 16 bit G.I. Joe themed game that was floating around the internet a few weeks ago, Attack on Cobra Island?  Well, we dig down into the center of it in this show, tracking down and interviewing the mysterious creator behind the video game.  He gave us some terrific insight and information about the game, tells us its current status (PS, you can download it RIGHT NOW) and what happened with the whole Hasbro situation.

We also took a few minutes to talk to Counterpunch from the Seibertron Twincast Podcast to uncover how Transformers fans feel about Fun Publications and the Collectors’ Club, and I think G.I. Joe fans will find some of his responses very interesting.  Check it out at our Podbean page, or via the embedded player below.  Don’t forget, Show Notes are after the jump.

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So now it gets good again…  I think most of us sort of knew what to expect from the last two days once the first Iron Grenadier: Elite Trooper was revealed.  It was evident that the Club was using that canceled 5-Pack as inspiration and we were likely to see most of those troopers within the confines of the Convention set.

Well, all three troopers have been revealed, and with the Club publicly stating that they would not include Destro with this set, the floodgates are wide open again!  What will they reveal today?  Dragonsky?  Horror Show?  An Iron Grenadier character figure?!  My mind was running wild…  and like clockwork, at 3:20pm Eastern Time, we got our answer!

VOLTAR!

Wow!  What a terrific looking figure!  The combination of Accelerator Suit parts, Pursuit of Cobra Beachhead parts…  he retains the general look of his color scheme, yet is darkened just a bit.  A new head sculpt and awesome removable helmet!  In spite of the slight dip of the grey uniformed Iron Grenadier, this Convention Set is shaping up to be one of the best of all time.  Truly an amazing looking addition to the set with this figure and I am giddy with anticipation to see what we might get at the show itself.  As always, keep your eyes peeled to GIJoeCon.com for the latest information as it appears.

Bring on the brochure and bring on registration!  Let’s do this thing!!

For G.I. Joe fans who have been following the property for only a few short years, this may come as a surprise, but believe it or not, there was a time, not very long ago, where Roadblock wasn’t a household name.  In fact, he wasn’t even on Hasbro’s radar.  A victim of lost trademarks, it seemed inevitable that Roadblock would simply fade from the consciousness of the G.I. Joe faithful and no longer be a major part of ongoing canon.

Sure didn’t turn out that way, huh?

I must give credit to long time Joe buddy Todd of Magnum 6 Delta for prompting me to put this post together, and considering the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motion picture on the horizon, and the potential for redefining the core characters of the Real American Hero brand, the timing couldn’t be better.  Click the “Read the Rest of this Story” link below to check out the full article.

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