Well, I gotta hand it to the Renegades guys…  I was certainly not expecting an answer this detailed from the question I submitted for the bonus Q & A in regards to episode order.  This comes straight from the “Horse’s Mouth”, in other words, Michael Vogel, VP of Development for Hasbro Studios:

Q: As much as I love the series, several events in the G.I. Joe: Renegades series have made it clear that the episodes are airing out of chronological order.  Can you please reveal what the episode order is supposed to be, and if there is a DVD release, will it feature the episodes in their intended order?

A: Well, first of all, the whole G.I.JOE RENEGADES team says “thank you” for the “thanks,” and that we really and truly appreciate the amazing fan feedback we’ve received thusfar.  We are also kind of thrilled that you were watching closely enough to figure out that our episodes were aired a little out of order.

There were several factors that contributed to the “not quite the way we intended,” most of them too boring to get into here.  But, yes., the DVD release will have the episodes in their proper chronological order.

And that order is as follows:

1. The Descent Pt. 1
2. The Descent Pt. 2
3. Rage
4. Dreadnoks Rising
5. The Package
6. Return of the Arashikage Pt. 1
7. Return of the Arashikage Pt. 2
8. Busted
9. The Enemy of My Enemy
10. Firefight
11. Homecoming Pt. 1
12. Homecoming Pt. 2, and so on…
    

In a nutshell, we premiered a little later in the year than we originally planned to, but still wanted to get the Xmas-themed episodes on-air BEFORE the holidays.  In the future, the Hub will rerun the episodes in their original order.

Awesome.  A huge thanks to the Hasbro PR guys, and especially to Mike Vogel for taking time out of his very busy day to write such a detailed and informative response to our question!  Great info!

Got word from Hasbro today that they are offering a special G.I. Joe: Renegades Q & A round!  Only one question per outlet, but they are willing to take questions focused on the G.I. Joe: Renegades Animated Series.  Question has to be in by mid-day on Friday.  Answers should be back February 7th.

I’m considering asking a question about the order of the episodes…  yay or nay?  Anything else anyone wants to know?

Must be Friday…the G.I. Joe related Q & A answers are coming back in!  Here’s what we have from GeneralsJoes:

1) Hasbro revealed at the last Q & A that we were likely to get more Pursuit of Cobra toys in 2011 than initially thought.  Are we going to have to wait until Toy Fair to hear more about these, or can we expect to see some product reveals in the coming weeks?  Could we even get a few hints as to what to expect?
A: Unfortunately, you will need to wait for Toy Fair to hear about all of the additional figures; however, we will be bringing out some of the figures that have been asked for over the years. Some of the favorite 80′s GI Joes will be making a comeback. Stay tuned.

2) The move to a more realistic style for the G.I. Joe: Renegades toys has thrilled many fans, but it seems like a decision that came at the last minute.  Considering tooling is usually done far in advance, were any animated style tools created for the line?  What are the chances of seeing some of that stuff used somewhere in the future?
A: We believe that the decision to stick with the realistic style was the right one and see that fans have been pleased with that decision as well. That decision was reached before the tooling dates for the line and we have no current plans to release animated style figures.
3) Considering the different style formats for the G.I. Joe: Renegades and the G.I. Joe movie universe, how does Hasbro plan to deal with toy releases for the G.I. Joe sequel, or for that matter, the potential for the 30th Anniversary?

A: NOT YET REVEALED

Thanks as always to Hasbro’s PR Firm and Hasbro themselves for answering the fandom’s burning questions!  As always, keep on checking the GeneralsJoes Q & A Page for more Q & A Answer goodness!

They’re coming in a few weeks late, but answers to the latest round of G.I. Joe Q & A’s are coming in, and there are already some neat tidbits.  First and foremost, here are GeneralsJoes selections:

Q1 – Recently the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club has revealed to great joy that they will be releasing a 25th Anniversary homage Dial Tone figure as part of their 2011 Membership incentive program.  Judging by the widely positive fan response, it’s obvious that this is still a source of potential sales from a retail perspective.  What is Hasbro’s final stance on whether or not we will see 25th Anniversary homage figures within the next 12 months?  Is the Collectors’ Club destined to be our only outlet for this, or might we see something at retail?

A1 – The 25th anniversary was almost four years ago. We have already started looking forward to the 30th anniversary! While we won’t be introducing any more 25th anniversary figures, we will be tapping the great history of G.I. Joe to bring you 30th anniversary figs. The plans that we have, while not quite final, will most likely please the collectors of the 25th and Pursuit of Cobra lines.

Q2 – Articulation has always been a mainstay of G.I. Joe action figures ever since the 60′s, and at JoeCon, Alan Hassenfeld seemed to pride himself on that. Can you ensure us that even if G.I. Joe: Renegades toys are produced in an animated style, that they will maintain the high expectations for next generation articulation that G.I. Joe fans are used to?

A2 – We have always prided ourselves on the high quality of the action figures that we have produced. You can be assured that those standards that you have grown to know and love with the G.I. Joe line will continue in the future. Great articulation is a very important part of the line and will continue to be part of our line.

Q3 – It’s quite evident from the Pursuit of Cobra line that many of your designers are fans of movies like Predator, Aliens, etc… many of the fans also agree that a perfect fit for the G.I. Joe universe is Metal Gear Solid. Has Hasbro considered inquiring about the rights to that license, and if not, how much of an inspiration do the designers draw from that ground breaking military series?

A3 – We believe that the G.I. Joe brand and history are so strong and well known that we don’t need an additional license. It would also be difficult to reconcile the two stories. We are very excited as we continue to develop the future of G.I. Joe and believe that we are just beginning a great journey.

Don’t forget, you can catch up with every site’s Q & A submissions on the GeneralsJoes Q & A Page!

Just as a reminder that Hasbro’s latest round of the G.I. Joe Q & A is coming right up.  Questions are due to be submitted next Monday, September 13th!

If you have any burning questions, post ‘em in the comments below.  Can’t promise I’ll use them, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Although a few days late (mostly due to SDCC prep, I’d imagine) the latest round of Q & A answers are starting to come in.  This is what I received from the questions I asked:

1) During Botcon, Hasbro and the Transformers: Prime producers confirmed that the animated series might not be ready for The Hub’s debut in October.  Do you anticipate the same situation for G.I. Joe: Renegades?

A) The new series will launch in the fall around the same time as the Hub network launches, though it is still too early to give specific release dates.

2) Looking at G.I. Joe toys produced in the early 2000′s compared to what we have now, the differences are night and day.  What do you think are the core reasons for that?  Is it technology, a new philosophy, or simply new sculpting and design techniques that have evolved over the past eight years?  Has moving away from the o-ring format given you more flexibility in design and detail work?

A) Every year brings new innovations in design and every generation of G.I. Joe brings with it a new expectation for the level of detail and articulation.  When the team looks back even to the original release of the G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary figures in 2007 and compares them to the Pursuit of Cobra figures of today – it is clear that there are differences in the level of sculpted detail and the acuity of the articulation.  Certainly philosophy has played a part, but design in general is often influenced by the world we live in.  The design team doesn’t rest at any one style, they know that there is always room for improvement.  Technically speaking, the move away from the “o-ring” has allowed for a greater lever of flexibility and has allowed us to create details without having to worry about that detail hindering articulation. While we’re very pleased with the amazing figures the design team is delivering, as we look into the future, we know that the G.I. Joe line will only continue to improve in sculpting detail and design.

So the answers have all pretty much trickled in for the latest round of the Q & A, which I’ve archived much of right here.  Honestly, it seemed like a somewhat drab round, without a whole lot of info.  I know many of you will say that’s no surprise, but in the last round, I thought we got some great news nuggets, especially considering how close we were to Toy Fair.

This round there wasn’t much to get riled up about, but we did get some interesting information gleaned from the sites around the ‘net.  These were some of the more interesting things discussed, in my opinion…click the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for the full run down.

Read the rest of this entry »

It must be Friday afternoon, and the poor guys with Hasbro’s PR agency are now shipping out the answers to our burning G.I. Joe questions…  here are GeneralsJoes two answered questions:

Q:  The fandom seems pretty excited about the upcoming G.I. Joe: Renegades animated series, however it’s curious that the cartoon is starting this fall, with the toys not coming until the fall of 2011.  Why is there this large gap, and what challenges does it provide producing a toyline based on an animated series nearly 10 months after it airs?

A: The timeframes for producing an animated series and a complete toy line are very different.  In order for the Hasbro Design team to produce figures with accurate likenesses the character art and color palette needs to be final.

Q: Speaking of G.I. Joe: Renegades, with the series debuting in October, when can the public expect to start seeing some animated models or video?  Is it possible we’ll see something at SDCC?

A: It is too early to comment on this but we hope to see you at SDCC!

By the way, make sure you keep visiting GeneralsJoes Q & A Page with links to all other site responses!

As part of the new Q & A process, Hasbro PR sends each site a full rundown of every question and answer sent to every site, and for your convenience, I’m mirrored the entire list below.  It saves some time from hitting every different site, even with the GeneralsJoes easy to navigate Q & A Page.  There are actually some decent answers this time around…  Click the “Read the rest of this entry” link below to see the full list.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, the Q & A answers have only started trickling in, and it already seems like we’re getting some better responses from Hasbro.  Even if they’re not revealing future figures, the responses seem at least a bit less “canned” and more thought out, which is great to see.  The following questions have already shown up on my radar:

• Allspark.com reveals in their session that Sgt. Slaughter has a new wrist joint, and Hasbro confirms it, reporting that they are going to feature that joint on a number of upcoming new figures.  Awesome!  I’m all for articulation improvements, and this looks like a good one.  If you take a close look below, you can see what they’re referring to:

• JoeBattleLines got a couple of gems for us!  They asked Hasbro about particular items that didn’t appear at Toy Fair and got confirmation that both Shadow Tracker and Ashiko with the Cycle Armor should be hitting retail in their Spring, 2011 line!  They also promised to show more at JoeCon in Providence.  Excellent!  Another interesting tidbit from JBL is that Hasbro reports that they have started shipping Alpha Wave 3 Rise of Cobra vehicles, in spite of recent reports from BigBadToyStore.  So we’re not getting the awesome Target exclusives, but we are getting the somewhat tired Rise of Cobra Wave 3?  Yay?
• HissTank.com got Hasbro to talk a bit about the Pursuit of Cobra Duke’s headsculpt, and they confirm that it was inspired by Resolute, classic, and Valor Vs. Venom!  Awesome to hear that they pulled from different era’s, and it’s almost a little confirmation that the Pursuit of Cobra is the first real new G.I. Joe universe if you set aside the film (which so many fans seem only to eager to do).
• ToyNewsInternational gets to the bottom of the COBRA Commander “Chase Figure” reports, and Hasbro admits that while the Commander is a chase figure, he will not be limited to 1 in every 10 cases as has been previously reported.  He should be much more accessible than that.  Great news there.

I know many fans were quick to jump on Hasbro a bit for their new, somewhat convoluted Q & A submittal process, but so far, so good.  We’re getting some great answers and great information this time around, I’m really happy to see it.  Don’t forget to keep checking GeneralsJoes Q & A Page for updates!  Got a number of sites up there already.