“Interactive entertainment software, namely computer game software, computer game programs, computer game cartridges, computer game discs; interactive multimedia computer game programs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games, communication devices and mobile telephones; computer game software for use with communication devices and mobile telephones, video game programs, video game software, video game cartridges; pre-recorded laser and video discs featuring animated cartoon series.”

Now, this could mean any matter of things…it could be mobile games for the Apple IOS and Android, or perhaps even Facebook games or viral marketing techniques.  I would think that if a full blown video game was being released, we might have known about it by now, but I could be wrong.

Full details for the Rise of Cobra game came out in February, 2009 but that film was released a bit later in the year.  Still, with Toy Fair on the horizon, chances of this info getting out soon are very good.

Hopefully we’ll hear more details in a few short weeks at Toy Fair.  Meanwhile, let speculation run wild!

With the launch of the first G.I. Joe film in 2009, Electronic Arts released a licensed game as companies are wont to do, and the game was pretty widely panned as these licensed games generally are. However, one cool thing about the game, in my opinion, was the designs of the characters.  They took the Rise of Cobra aesthetic and tweaked it a bit with more military elements to pretty good effect.

But, thanks to notpicard and Greg from What’s on Joe Mind who pointed this art site to me, there was a nice amount of unused concept art that completely and totally ROCKED.  Stuff that wasn’t used in the game.  Sure, a lot of it walked that line between current military realism and future technology, but I’ll be damned if every one of these concepts isn’t really bad ass.  I would kill to see some of this stuff in toy form.

You can find the gallery at CGHub.com and I’ve also mirrored many images below.  There are a ton of great pictures hosted at the site, you should definitely check it out.  Now I feel like I want to go home and play this game again!

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And yeah, as much as the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra video game didn’t inspire much love among the fandom, I did enjoy the costumes they used (a neat mixture of the movie themed Reactive Armor, and some more toy-centric colors).  Since these are obviously the same models they used for the video game, it’s neat to see Kamakura sporting those togs here, too.

Check out the episode right here, and I’ve mirrored some images below.

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And yes, if I go through the trouble of screen-capping even these cheesy mini-webisodes, can you just imagine the kind of treatment Renegades will get once it hits?  It’ll be epic, I promise you.

I will do my best to remember what the various sections were, but please bear with me if my memory is fuzzy.  It was damn early in the morning after an equally damn late night the night before!  I will post pictures where pictures were allowed, but keep in mind, some places did not want photography.  Click on the Read the rest of this entry link below to check it all out!  Beware, this post is image intensive.

G.I. Joe Concepts and Pre-Production

Our first stop brought us to a booth where a pair of designers ran down the pre-production phase of an action figure.  They had various concept artwork, line art “inputs” and figure samples out for display and spoke to us briefly about particular characters.  Some notes from the presentation:

• Pursuit of  Cobra Firefly’s helmet serves  dual purpose.  It allows him to have 360 degree “sonar” vision, and it also gives him a bit of character.  Designers were concerned about an over-abundance of balaclava (or masked) figures in the first assortment, so the helmet breaks up the monotony somewhat.
• Pursuit of Cobra Zartan was designed to emulate a Mongolian desert nomad.

I didn’t hear a lot of other conversation as I was busy snapping pictures.  Check out the images below.

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G.I. Joe Figure Construction and Production

The next tour stop gave us basically the next step in the production process.  Several figures were broken down into individual components while a designer painted some parts and pieces and assembled them.  We got a great close up look of some upcoming Resolute and Pursuit of Cobra action figures as he spoke about how they achieve their articulation standards, how they design weaponry, and how the figure all comes together.

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G.I. Joe Artwork Gallery and Licensing

I’m combining these two different stops into one bucket, just because it was all done in one large room, and it all was relatively artwork based.  Our first step into the room allowed us to walk through a literal museum of G.I. Joe artwork from the 80′s.  Seeing this stuff up close was absolutely amazing.  Pure joy.  Yes, the art does look as good as you think it does.

From the gallery we went and spoke with a couple of the licensing guru’s who talked to us a bit about how the comic goes through it’s production phase, as well as the Sideshow Collectible toys.  According to Hasbro licensing, the Sideshow toys get sent to them and have to pass their rigorous testing just as any 3 3/4″ figure does.

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Intellectual Property

As we were lead through a Sesame Street set, we went and met in a room with Aaron Archer where we discussed how Intellectual Property plays a role in G.I. Joe.  The conversation ended up being mostly about G.I. Joe: Resolute, how it was created, how it shaped the “look” of G.I. Joe, and how it leads into the future of the brand.  We were also shown a very cool slideshow with many G.I. Joe: Resolute concepts that didn’t make the cut (including Training Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, as well as Pilot Destro, all in Resolute animated style).  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed during this panel, though I asked about a potential G.I. Joe: Resolute art book, and the response was pretty positive.

The Model Shop

This is where it all goes down.  We were lead deep into the bowels of the Hasbro building and got a chance to talk with a couple of the guys who actually produce the tooling and molds for the G.I. Joe line.  We learned about all new technology that allows them to produce molds in a couple of hours where it used to take overnight.  Various samples of fresh molds were hanging on pegboard, and the level of detail was astounding, even as they showed various sizes.  A head that was a mere centimeter high still retained much of the detail of one that was much larger.  We also got our first glimpse at an unfinished prototype for the G.I. Joe Howler, which unfortunately looks like it will never see the light of day.

We were then brought along to a desk where a dilligent Hasbro employee painted some of the pre-production figures, and we listened to how the colors are coded to make sure it stays consistent through every step of the production process.  Also to consider a number of paint operations and whether or not each one is cost effective.

Honestly, it felt like we really didn’t get enough time at this stop, I could have sat in there all day…and unfortunately, no pictures were allowed.

G.I. Joe Dioramas, History, and Display

The next stop was out in the large foyer area where an impressive display of action figures was arranged throughout.  Each and every single figure from every year and every country was arranged in neat rows within class cases that was truly a sight to see.  A short video played of the history of G.I. Joe, and the familiar diorama from JoeCon last year was on prominent display as well.  Not much new information here, but some pretty neat sights.

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Digital Concepts

While the G.I. Joe video game certainly was not very warmly received, there was also a stop on the tour to talk about Joe’s foray into the digital realm.  Although many fans didn’t like the end result, we heard a nice speech about how much work goes into creating a video game, from the music to the design models, and the presenter even spoke with pride about creating Helix and Sgt. Flash, which both made it to toy form.

Most interesting was a slideshow outlining a lot of the video game concepts, complete with nice little designer notes about what was wrong with the piece or what might need some tweaking prior to use in the game itself.  Pictures can be found below.

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DeCommisioned – Every G.I. Joe fan’s heartbreak

The last stop on the tour was a presentation with John Warden and Richard Woodhouse, where they proceeded to tear out all of our hearts and stomp them into bloody chunks right on the floor at our feet.  They gave us a rundown of some of the various toys that ended up not getting past the design stage, and it was a miserable thing to behold.

No, pictures were not allowed.

A brief rundown is as follows…there may be some that I forgot:

• PoC Hiss Tank Driver – The driver initially slated for the upcoming HISS Tank was bulky, crammed with cybernetics, and generally looked bad ass.  From what I could tell, it was mostly new tooling.
• PoC Clutch – Like the Hiss Tank driver, this figure was slated for an upcoming Bravo vehicle…the VAMP.  But like the Hiss Driver, the new tooling didn’t cost out, so the figure got cut and we got the repaint/frankenstein Clutch.
• COBRA Stinger – A repaint of the upcoming Bravo PoC VAMP with Stinger colors
• RoC Howler – Initially seen briefly in pink in the model shop, this one was in full silver colors and crammed with special play features.  An integrated handle, lights and sounds, and the machine gun sound even overheats, then starts clicking with the “ammo” runs dry.  Tons of pegs on the running boards, lots of flip out panels.  Probably would have been considered the best vehicle in the Rise of Cobra line.  Wah.
• RoC Payload – The slated pilot for the RoC Howler, he had a nice assortment of new tooling and would have been a great addition.
• RoC Zarana – I don’t quite recall where Zarana was going to fall in release schedule, I only recall that the figure was mind-blowingly awesome.  Of course she was.  Everything that doesn’t get released always is.
• RoC Sandstorm w/ Star-Viper – The Night Raven repaint we saw last year is finally confirmed as cancelled.  In interesting news, though, they do report that packaged samples were shipped out at some point, so those folks with Chinese contacts might want to keep their eyes (and fingers) on the pulse.
• PoC City Strike Scarlett – We’ve seen images of her.  They just confirmed that she is, indeed, never being released.
• PoC Ripcord Sub-Arctic Diver – This one really breaks my heart.  Not because it’s Ripcord.  Not because it was a diver.  Because they were also planning to pay homage to Sigma 6 Snake Eyes with this figure.  Apparently John Warden had worked a Sigma 6 SE (with ports and all!) into the figure to resemble the Sigma 6 commando.  On top of all that was the most realistic and intricate dry dive suits ever done in 3 3/4″ scale with a ton of accessories.  John actually spent some time with some Navy schmuck to get all the details just right.
• Robot Rebellion Scarlett – Scarlett as seen before she got her Sigma Suit in the Sigma 6 cartoon.  I had to fight myself not to storm the table and steal her.
• Robot Rebellion Destro – Same as above.  An awesome 3 3/4″ representation (in o-ring goodness) of Destro how he appeared in the Sigma 6 cartoon and toyline.
• Robot Rebellion “Overlord” – While they didn’t specify which Overlord this was, by the looks of the figure it was this guy right here.
• Robot Rebellion Machete’s Motorcycle – While the Dreadnok himself was missing in action at the seminar, his motorcycle was there in full effect, looking like it just stepped out of the animated series.

Was that it?  Someone else chime in if there were others.  They went through them so quick, I’m not sure I got it all jotted down in my notebook.

And that was pretty much that.  It was a fantastic tour.  Along with all of this, we also got free reign of the Hasbro employee boutique ($2.00 Joe figures!) and some awesome face time with the designers and producers of our favorite toys.  It was a pure pleasure, hopefully I get a chance to do it again some time!

In G.I. Joe world, however, the past 10 years might as well have been 5 separate lifetimes.  It’s been a roller coaster ride for certain since the 2000′s began, and this decade has been absolutely loaded with G.I. Joe related events.  So what are the ten most important events of the past 10 years?  Here they are, in my opinion (below the jump):

• 10. – YoJoe.com comes into it’s own. Yes, technically YoJoe came into existence in the late 90′s, but I believe it really flourished during the early 2000′s as the archive swelled, the vehicles section came online and its popularity just continued to grow and grow.  While many folks might not count this as a key moment in G.I. Joe history, I don’t see how it can be anything but.  When several enterprising Joe fans pooled their resources and formed the ultimate G.I. Joe reference site and archive, it fueled the imagination and desire of fans everywhere, and single-handedly sparked the online Joe fandom into a fever that I personally had not been a part of in my entire Joe collecting history.  The importance of YoJoe.com in the grand scheme of things, especially from the perspective of an online fan and Joe Collector simply cannot be ignored.  Without a doubt, this deserves a spot in the top 10.  It has changed ownership throughout the years, but it remains and invaluable resource and a great beacon of G.I. Joe history that has drawn many fans into the online community.
• 9. – G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Collection debuts at US Retail. While not quite as ground-breaking as the mass retail mega-release of G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Hasbro elected to reuse a scattering of vintage tooling, double-pack them and unleash them upon the world as the “Real American Hero Collection”.  While the line did have it’s share of detracters, mostly focused on the plethora of greens and browns in the line as well as the over-abundance of paint wipes, by and large the fans were thrilled that a new toyline was at major retail outlets.  I fondly remember being on my honeymoon and hitting up coffee shops in the Pokonos so I could check the boards and see the blurry pictures that first showcased these new figures.  As a nice side effect, being one of the very first folks nationally to find these figures kick-started the GeneralsJoes review extraveganza, which continues on to this day.  Reviews can be found right here.

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• 8. – Hasbro shocks the world with Sigma 6. As the “new sculpt” era was obviously drawing to a close, Hasbro once again reinvented the G.I. Joe brand, but this was a whole new world…the scale was bumped up to 8″, the style was completely changed, and it, of course, turned the entire G.I. Joe world on its ear.  Many fans stoically refused to accept a new scale, style, and universe, but by a few folks, Sigma 6 was embraced, and embraced fiercely.  Now, a few years beyond its life, the toyline is (if not loved) at least fully respected for its place in history and the fact that besides the scale and style issues, it was a GREAT toyline.  Finally accompanied by a mainstream animated series (for the first time since the 90′s) Sigma 6 made a play to once again bring the Joe brand into the mainstream, but ultimately a substandard cartoon and somewhat expensive toyline seemed to doom the line to failure.  Regardless of the size faults, it was a great toyline, and an interesting way to try and catapult G.I. Joe back into the limelight.  Check out all of my coverage of Sigma 6 at the reviews page, or with the Sigma 6 Celebration!

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• 7. - G.I. Joe Collectors Club begins selling 3 3/4″ Exclusives. Once Hasbro finally put some energy behind a 3 3/4″ G.I. Joe line in 2002, the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club followed suit, and for the first time offered a large scale 3 3/4″ exclusive set for attending their convention in the forum of the original Crimson Strike Team.  It was a runaway hit, and  the club has never looked back, last year celebrating that event with a 25th Anniversary homage to that same set from a number of years ago.  Since then, the focus on the 3 3/4″ area of collecting as increased 100 fold and motivated hundreds (if not thousands) of G.I. Joe fans from all ages to congregate at the Conventions on an annual basis.  It has helped forged lifelong friendships and attachments based purely on an action figure toyline.  Reviews, of course, can be found here.

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• 6. – G.I. Joe: Resolute amazes Joe fans everywhere. Since the inception of G.I. Joe back in the 80′s, many of the long time fans (even back then) dreamed of a universe where G.I. Joe was a gritty, real world military team not afraid to use deadly force.  However, every animated rendition of G.I. Joe we saw gave us the same somewhat childish, “super hero” aspects that removed a lot of the military appeal and really watered down what many folks considered the core coolness of the G.I. Joe brand.  G.I. Joe: Resolute changed all that.  With some awesome, revolutionary, modern day  uniform and character designs, extreme action sequences, and several dozen Cobra deaths, Resolute gave many fans exactly what they’ve been looking for.  Bad ass action, gritty military realism, and a Snake Eyes who actually uses his sword.  Sure, there were some flaws, but Resolute struck a chord with Joe fans and just fans in general, more so than even the Rise of Cobra film did.
• 5. – Hasbro reinvigorates G.I. Joe with the 25th Anniversary Line. Once again, G.I. Joe seemed dead and on the slab.  Sigma 6 was phased out, the 3 3/4″ Direct to Consumer line had failed to captivate the fandom, and there seemed like no real news on the horizon…then along came with 25th Anniversary.  For the first time in several years, Hasbro really seemed to take the collector perspective at heart, totally revamped the sculpting and articulation, and released a purely homage-based toyline designed to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.  The popularity caught on almost immediately and spawned a new generation of G.I. Joe fans, and still managed to captivate and impress long time fans who had a fierce devotion to the familiar o-ring style.  As the line continued, sculpting, articulation, and weapons allotment improved exponentially, and produced a number of fantastic toys, which helped reignite the brand as a whole.

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• 4. – Devils’ Due Publications reignites the Marvel Comics Universe. Along with a brand new G.I. Joe toyline, Devils’ Due threw some cash Hasbro’s way and bought the license to produce new G.I. Joe comic books, based on the Marvel Universe.  Like everything else, it created a fairly devisive schism in the collecting community, but by and large, the brand brought mainstream awareness back to the G.I. Joe comic brand, and created a new universe that drew many, many G.I. Joe fans back into the fold.  Tapping the resources of Larry Hama, and bonafide fan-to-celebrity Brandon Jerwa, Devils’ Due crafted some great stories that breathed new life into the brand that it hadn’t had since 1994.
• 3. – The Return of the O-Ring. It was 2002, and the fandom was fired up about a new G.I. Joe line for the first time since 1994…that is until they actually saw the figures.  It was a crushing blow to most Joe fans that figures known mostly for their articulation and action had such restricted movement that they almost seemed like of a shell of their former selves.  The fans led a barrage of emails, snail mails, and communications to Hasbro, demanding the return of the o-ring, and with Wave 2 of G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Hasbro re-incorporated the o-ring into G.I. Joe once again.  The end result was still fairly mixed, with many long time fans turning their noses up at the dreaded “new sculpt” line, but the fact is, Hasbro listened to the fans, heard the yells, and made actual structural changes to their toys based on that.

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• 2. – G.I. Joe vs. Cobra debuts in 2002. As a mass release, mainstream brand, G.I. Joe had been dormant since 1994, and there didn’t seem to be any real inclination to get it back to its past glory.  Sure, Toys “R” Us had their own Commemorative edition 3-packs and vehicles, and the Real American Hero collection utilized existing tooling and rode the repaint train into a new limited release collectible line, but it had limited appeal and no real mainstream attention.  In 2002, Hasbro once again invested new tooling dollars into a mainstream G.I. Joe and Cobra line with newly tooled vehicles, new figures, and a whole new universe.  Granted, the lack of mobility and shlocky pre-posed figures caused much fandom outrage, but this was still a milestone that helped catapult G.I. Joe into the 21st Century.  For any reviews of these older toys, check out the Reviews Archive

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• 1. – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Like it or not, the mainstream motion picture film is, without a doubt, the most important event in the G.I. Joe universe since it’s hayday of the 80′s.  I’m not talking about “best”, I’m not talking about “my favorite”, I’m talking purely in the sense of importance to the future of the brand and for mainstream visibility.  I never heard or saw more mainstream press on the G.I. Joe brand until the Rise of Cobra came into the public consciousness.  Like everything, it divided the fandom in impressive ways and created a fantastic source of discussion, debate, and more interest than I’ve seen in a very long time.

Like it or not, enjoyed it or not, I don’t think anyone can argue that 2009 and the Rise of Cobra was one of the most influential years and events in recent G.I. Joe history.  It shaped the brand and the path to success (for better or worse) for more than anything in the past ten years, no doubt about it.

It will be extremely interesting to see what the next 10 years brings.  It’s absolutely incredible that ten years ago, G.I. Joe was mostly an after thought, and many of the online fandom had doubts that a full time Joe line would ever appear at retail again.  But here we are, ten years later, with thousands of toys released, several animated features, a video game, a multi-million dollar motion picture, and plenty of devoted fans spending way too much time discussing the ins and outs of this toyline which has enjoyed far more success than I think anyone ever dreamed in 1982.

Here’s hoping the next ten years are just as eventful.  Happy New Year, all.