We’ve been getting flooded with some very cool Oktober Guard themed reveals over the past week or two, but many folks have been clamoring for more information about who the Oktober Guard will be facing off against.
Well, the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club revealed that today with the Iron Grenadiers! We get a great revelation of the Iron Grenadier trooper himself and also some details about the story line itself. For folks who don’t recognize the figure itself, it was originally planned as part of 5 Pack of Iron Grenadier figures from the Rise of Cobra/Pursuit of Cobra line, but never got released. The image for that original 5-Pack can be seen at this post on GeneralsJoes. I’ve also mirrored that image below:
As for the story itself… check out those details below:
“By popular demand, the 2012 convention set stories and enemy factions are revealed…
OKTOBER GUARD Box Set: The 1990s brought us many captivating Cold War stories but this one was kept Top Secret for over two decades! Recently declassified documents revealed the original Oktober Guard (G.I. Joe’s Russian and Warsaw Pact equivalent) team’s “Special Mission” in Siberia to rescue their captured General from the ruthless Iron Grenadiers in OPERATION: BEAR TRAP!”
Okay…now THAT is bad ass. They give themselves an “out” for the dead Oktober Guard members by talking about declassified documents. And they’re also talking about their “captured General”… hmmm… could we see a modern version of General Mayhem from the 2005 set? Or maybe…dare I hope… Voltar?! Of course I misread this, and it’s the Oktober Guard general who is being rescued. Not sure what the angle is there…
Wow. The possibilities are endless! I cannot wait to hear and see more! Check out the Iron Grenadier figure below, and keep your eyes on GIJoeCon.com for the latest intel!
Every Joe fan’s favorite package artist Mike Thompson had a stretch where he was posting several awesome pieces of his Joe art on an almost weekly basis. Working as a package artist through the Rise of Cobra and into the Pursuit of Cobra era, Mike’s excellent blog, Mike T Artworks showcased his excellent renditions of characters like Spirit, City Strike Scarlett, and Whiteout.
He’s taken a break from posting G.I. Joe related art, most likely because he’s either shown most of it already, or is still waiting for them to be cleared by Hasbro to post…but today that changed! During our interview of Mike Thompson on the What’s on Joe Mind podcast we were lucky enough to see some of his other pieces, and now he has posted them via his Twitter page.
These head shots were to be used on some canceled Wal-Mart 2-Packs featuring Nano-B.A.T., Zap, Budo, and Dr. Mindbender. Check out these excellent images below. Also make sure you keep your eyes on MikeTArtworks.com which is his main site featuring some fantastic work that he’s done over the years. He has some amazing talent, even if you’re checking out some non-G.I. Joe work, I think you’ll appreciate what he does. He’s obviously a geek at heart!
To hear straight from the source about the process for producing this incredible artwork, hit up the embedded player below to listen to our interview with Mr. Thompson. It’s enlightening to say the least!
USA is going to air the network television premier of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra February 4th at 8:00pm Eastern, and they’ve aired a television promo for the showing, which promptly made it to YouTube.
Big thanks to the folks over at the MS GIJoe Collectors’ Club for directing me to this site, which belongs to Paul Christopher, a concept artist who did some work for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Some very interesting stuff in there, including artwork from Cobra/MARS Industries’ Arctic fortress, among some others. Very cool blue uniformed troopers as well, which were never seen.
Check out the site right here, and I’m mirroring some of the images below. Check out the site to view the rest.
Wow. Now maybe someone remembers me talking about this already, but I don’t think I did.
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!
Yes as a Christmas present to ourselves the What’s on Joe Mind crew is taking the week off. But that doesn’t mean you get a break from us yet.
Hot on the heels of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer and two years removed from the Rise of Cobra, an email encouraged us to go back in time and reflect on the first Joe film. Our recollections might surprise you.
As always check out this special edition of What’s on Joe Mind on our Podbean page or hit up the embedded player below.
As the Joe fandom is already in a frenzy over G.I. Joe: Retaliation, many fans and many online pundits are quick to point out the glaring flaws from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I think most folks out there would acquiesce that there were some serious flaws, and Monte certainly does not disagree.
But rather than dwell on the faults we all know well, he elects to dive deeper and find ten things that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra did right. And he nails it.
Click the Read the Rest of this Entry link below for the full article!
So the site has been inundated with G.I. Joe: Retaliation news and articles…so when the always awesome Monte Williams offers to submit a list of Overrated and Underrated Joes of the “Modern Era” I just can’t help but jump on it.
Even if it ends up sitting in my mailbox for a week or so first. :shifty:
Seriously, this was a great article, and a huge thanks to Monte for taking the time to write this up for the site. It’s greatly appreciated! Click the “read the rest of this entry” link below to view Monte’s list and argue it out in the comments below!
I’m sure eventually you guys will tire of my constant posts about G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but let’s face it, with the film coming out next June, there’s going to be a lot to talk about over the next six months. As always, you can expect me to be on top of everything as it happens.
The rocket shots of social media updates, interaction with the production team, and hushed whispers about what might be on the horizon have gotten me pretty amped up.
But, I figure if I’m going to be all giddy and excitable over the next half-year, I might as well provide some reasons why, especially considering the lackluster response that the first film generated. I’ve seen a lot of questions out there asking exactly why folks should be pumped up for this movie, based on the first. Well, let me give you ten reasons, at least as I see them.
Click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below for the full story!
Even with all of the FSS (Figure Subscription Service) subscription figures revealed, the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club is keeping the reveals flying! This time around, we get a peek at the card art for the upcoming Nano BAT!
Wow. Very cool. It’s essentially a photoshop recolor of the Defense of Cobra Island Battle Damaged B.A.T., but it looks terrific. I’m sorta down on the whole Nano B.A.T. concept, but this art is impressive even to me. Very nice. Check out the G.I. Joe Club website for full details and the mirrored image below.
