Yeah, looks like someone at MonkeyBarTV got a little tipsy the night before work last Friday…  what was being advertised as Episode 2 of Operation: HISS was likely Episode 3, and has now been pulled.  However, the real Episode 2 is now online, featuring some arctic action.  We see Timber, a little cameo from Snow Job, and hear some thick Scottish juice straight from Destro.

Check out the episode here, and some gratuitous screenshots below.

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If it wasn’t already obvious enough, looking at this one, it’s pretty clear that Hasbro is taking full advantage of the 3d models from the video game.  I mean, these designs look nearly identical…

Thanks to GeneralsJoes commentor Braxthunder for reporting that MonkeybarTV has just posted an online flash-based game for the Pursuit of Cobra!  I’ve only played it briefly so far, and so far it seems to be a pseudo puzzle style game, at least the City Strike level is.

I’m playing as Agent Helix, and you have to activate a series of levers, buttons, etc…  to navigate through the cityscape.  So far it’s pretty neat.  I’m interested in seeing what the other environments give us.

Check out the game right here!

EDIT – The other levels are just as cool…  Arctic Threat features Snow Job piloting a Rockslide down an arctic slope.  Desert Battle features Dusty (wearing Ripcord’s jetpack!) flying from truck to truck.  Lastly, in the Jungle Assault mission, Recondo is piloting a Mech suit in a first-person shooter style game with all guns blazing.

This is actually pretty fun.  Cheesy, yeah, but still fun.  Check out some screen shots below, especially that last shot with some old school HISS goodness…

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With a big thanks to MSGiJoe Collectors’ Club Facebook page and The Terror Drome for informing us that Webisode Two for Operation: H.I.S.S. has been posted!  It can be seen on MonkeybarTV right here.  Taking queues from the Pursuit of Cobra concept, it’s obviously based in the Rise of Cobra universe, this episode features the debut of Recondo and mention of a Cobra Terror Drome.

Now, we all know it’s no great shakes, but this episode wasn’t quite as cheesy as the last one.  It was still far from perfect, but it’s not terrible.  Compared to something like Resolute…well…  we don’t need to go there.

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Along with Webisode Two, there’s also a feature focusing on Operation: HISS Duke, with some nice Accelerator Suit action.  Check that 56 second feature right here.  Yeah, this stuff even makes the Rise of Cobra film look like oscar material…  bring on the IDW Operation: HISS comic!  That’s the post-Rise of Cobra storyline I’m sticking with.

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I’m a little behind the eight ball with this one…he hit the mailbox just before Toy Fair, so got caught up in all of that, but here’s the review.  You can hit it up on the Pursuit of Cobra Review Page or just read it directly right here!

Big kudos to Entertainment News International for posting the G.I. Joe press event by Jeff Labovitz at Toy Fair last Saturday in its entirety.  You can check out the video right here, or see it embedded below.

Toy Fair 2010 – Hasbro G.I. Joe Presentation from Enewsi.com on Vimeo.

With a humongous thanks to Todd, aka m6d, GeneralsJoes has a beautiful Pursuit of Cobra checklist in .pdf format that you can download and save or print out to keep track of the freaking fantastic G.I. Joe themed toys coming out later this year!

To download this great checklist yourself, just click here!

Again, thanks to Todd for doing this up, I love it!

With the change in information, head tooling, and other things coming about with Toy Fair, I revamped and updated the Pursuit of Cobra SuperPage to reflect the new assortment information and details.  Check out the new page right here.

For folks who are still interested in seeing “what might have been” I still have the original Pursuit of Cobra SuperPage archived here.

Lastly, we got some looks at the new Mech Suits coming out for Pursuit of Cobra.  The Sigma 6 2.5” vehicles with some heavily tooled cockpits really mesh with the new age Joe universe perfectly, and both G.I. Joe and Cobra have ‘em. Retailing for $19.99, these should hit in August of 2010.

G.I. Joe and Cobra Mech Suits

• G.I. Joe Steel Marauder w/ Kickstart – A new driver, and a familiar green and black color scheme give us a nicely military, yet futuristic tool of destruction for G.I. Joe.  I was in love with the Sigma 6 Iron Hammer, and I’m really digging this version as well.  Sign me up.
• Cobra Deviant w/ Cyber-Viper – A fairly obscure vintage character gets a modern remake and he’s piloting a pretty neat, modified version of the G.I. Joe mech.  These two vehicles really can go toe-to-toe and they both look very cool.

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And that was about it.  G.I. Joe had a fairly tame showing compared to Transformers, Marvel, and Star Wars, but us Joe fans are pretty used to that.  I know there wasn’t a whole lot of new coolness to see, but what we did see was pretty incredible.  The Pursuit of Cobra is taking G.I. Joe in an awesome direction…absolutely awesome.  And Resolute is just the perfect icing on the cake.  There wasn’t much seen there that I didn’t really like, and I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more in April/May at JoeCon.

To go along with the Pursuit of Cobra figures, we have 2 assortments of Alpha vehicles and 2 assortments of Bravo vehicles.  Now, there’s a lot that was seen at JoeCon that isn’t here…  that absolutely amazing motorcycle/armor suit?  Probably slated for 2011, from what the Hasbro reps told us.  The HISS Scout wasn’t nearly as desirable to me, but I’d imagine that either has the same fate, or may not end up happening at all.  No big loss in my mind.

The Alphas will retail for $14.99 while the Bravos clock in at $24.99, and initial waves should be hitting in August.

What we did see is the following:

Alpha Wave 1

• Ghost Hawk w/ Tomahawk – Some very cool retooled parts on the Sky Hawk and a new character made of some rehashed parts makes for a very cool new addition to the Joe arsenal.
• Doom Cycle w/ Storm Rider – A new Dreadnok with an amazing new Chopper.  The bike looks to have all new tooling with some great shotguns in the handle, and the Dreadnok driver has a great combination of new and existing tooling.  Very cool.

Alpha Wave 2

• AWE Striker w/ Night Fox – Pretty interesting recolored AWE Striker in a more night ops color deco with a new character by the name of Night Fox.  Another cobbled together figure with existing parts, but still has some cool new elements.  I might be in the minority, but I’m always interested in seeing some new blood.
• Ice Cutter w/ Snow Serpent Officer – Press photos showed the officer looking like the TRU Snow Serpent, but he’s actually without camouflage and with some very cool red colored webgear.  The Ice Cutter isn’t a bad looking vehicle (working treads!) overall.

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Bravo Wave 1

• Wolfhound w/ Whiteout – Initially slated to appear in the Rise of Cobra line, but then pushed back, the Wolfhound now makes it into the Pursuit of Cobra line pretty much intact with a fairly “blah” worthy driver in Whiteout.  Nothing really to write home about.
• HISS w/ HISS Driver Officer – This is just about the polar opposite.  Absolutely incredible looking new vehicle and play features like crazy and a whole TON of fun to boot.  THIS is what G.I. Joe vehicles should be all about.

Bravo Wave 2

• Cobra Fury w/ Alley-Viper – We’ve seen quite a bit of this item already, and it looks relatively unchanged.  A neat addition, but not much more, in my book.
• VAMP w/ Double Clutch – This on the other hand fills me with awesomeness.  New tooling, once again filled to the brim with play features, and with an interesting updated version of the classic VAMP driver.  An awesome looking new vehicle, to be sure.

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Toy Fair this year was a subdued affair, with it being a non-movie year and at a slower pace than 2009, but that didn’t reflect in the enthusiasm of the Hasbro reps, or in the level of product.  Yes, a lot of what we’ve seen here has already been seen, but that doesn’t take anything away from the beauty of some of these Pursuit of Cobra toys.  These things are just amazing.  You think the pictures look nice?  In person, they will blow you away.

The lowdown for the rest of 2010 is essentially 2 waves of main line figures, 2 waves of Alpha vehicles, and 2 waves of Bravo Vehicles.  Single packs MSRP is $5.99, Alphas are $14.99, Bravos are $24.99, and the Mech Suits are $19.99.

The best thing shown today, by far, though were the Resolute 7-packs.  Being solicited as online exclusives ( the same vendors as the COBRA Island 7-Packs) they do a great job blending new and existing tooling and getting a great representation of the Resolute characters.  All of these items should start hitting for August store resets and will be sold throughout the rest of 2010.  The images for the first two waves of single pack figures are below…

Pursuit of Cobra Single Packs – Wave 1

Wave 1 consists of:

• Duke (Jungle Assault) – Same as we saw, with a new retooled head (that looks great)
• Snake Eyes (Desert Battle) – Same as we saw.  Timber features a play action tail…when pressed down, his jaw opens and head turns!
• Snow Job (Arctic Threat) – Same as we’ve seen.
• Beachhead (City Strike) – Appears to be the same as was shown at JoeCon
• Alley-Viper (City Strike) – Tooling from the Cobra Island version, but in awesome new gray and red paint scheme.  Also comes with Resolute Alley-Viper helmet and goggles!
• Firefly (City Strike) – Same as we’ve seen
• Cobra Commander (Jungle Assault) – Chase figure.  Will NOT be impossible to find.  Not as hard as the Clear Wraith, probably more along the lines of white/black coat Dr. Rex Lewis.  The retail version will NOT come with that cool as hell HISS Drone.  Hasbro is trying to figure out where to work that into the line.
• Storm Shadow (Desert Battle) – Obviously quite different than the version we thought we were getting, but still looks pretty amazing.  Uses RoC Arctic Storm Shadow tooling underneath some cool new ceremonial gear.

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Wave 2 consists of:

• Dusty (Desert Battle) – New tooling with swappable heads!  One has a great looking gas mask and the other one is uncovered.  Some very nice looking gear.
• Recondo (Jungle Battle) – Same as we’ve seen from JoeCon.
• Destro (Arctic Threat) – Appears to be the same one from JoeCon
• Snake Eyes (City Strike?) – I’m guessing on the “City Strike”.  I know we’ve already gotten a City Strike version, I honestly have no idea where this one fits, just that he looks pretty cool, even for just another Snake Eyes.  The armor looks kinda clunky, and he actually doesn’t blend remarkably well with the rest of the PoC theme, but something about him does look kind of neat, and kind of “Sigma 6″ in a way.
• Zartan (Desert Battle) – Almost the same as what we’ve seen, but with a new non-Arnold Vosloo head sculpt.
• Jungle-Viper (Jungle Assault) – Same bad assed sniper that we saw from JoeCon,

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Of course, obvious by their absenses are Ripcord (Desert Battle), Storm Shadow (Jungle Assault), Shadow Tracker (Jungle Assault), Scarlett (City Strike), Heavy Duty (Desert Battle) and Duke (Arctic Threat).  There may have been others missing, too, that I don’t recall off the top of my head.  Hasbro couldn’t verify any future status, but seemed pretty confident that figures which contained a lot of tooling would see future release in the line, most likely in 2011.  I know that’s small comfort to the fans who are out there clamoring to see some of these great looking figures, but that’s all we have at this point.  If I had to guess, I’d say figures like the City Strike Scarlett and Desert Battle Heavy Duty are probably destined for the scrap heap, simply because no new tooling was really invested in any of their production.  However, figures like Ripcord, Shadow Tracker, Arctic Duke, etc… will probably come out in one way or another, whether it’s their gear being included with someone else, or perhaps just a different head sculpt and different character.

Here’s hoping there’s a bit more intel at JoeCon.

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