We discovered last week that G.I. Joe: Renegades was now available on the Netflix Instant streaming service, much to the joy of G.I. Joe fans everywhere.  Now, we have a few more details behind the decision, including some exciting information about other Netflix offerings throughout 2012.

Multichannel.com reports the following information:

“Netflix will add popular Hasbro Studios series Transformers Prime and My Little Pony to its online instant streaming service as part of a multi-year deal with Hasbro Inc, the companies announced Thursday.

The Hasbro content, which also includes kids-targeted series Pound Puppies, G.I. Joe: Renegades and The Adventures of Chuck & Friends, will be available immediately on Netflix, as well as the Netflix “Just For Kids” section targeted to children 12 and under. The series currently air on the Discovery Communications/Hasbro Inc.-owned Hub network. 

Other series such as JEM & The Holograms, Transformers: Generation 1, G.I. Joe: Real American Heroes,Transformers: Beast Wars and Transformers: Rescue Bots will follow later in 2012, said Hasbro.

“We are very excited to be working with Hasbro Studios,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Content Acquisition at Netflix in a statement. “This deal allows us to offer even more great kids’ programming to our members, both adults and kids alike, including new seasons of My Little Pony, Transformers Prime and Pound Puppies after the season finale airs on The Hub.”

Added Hasbro Studios President Stephen Davis: “We are pleased that consumers will now be able to watch our award-winning programming on Netflix, the leading internet subscription service. We are making our content easy to access, anytime, anywhere and on all platforms where audiences are consuming content and this is a big step forward with our all-screen strategy.”

So for folks who couldn’t be bothered to read through all of that, later in 2012, not only can we expect the new series that appear on the Hub, but we can also expect the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero to appear on Netflix Instant streaming!  How cool is that?  And…and…  woah…missed that the first read through… BEAST WARS!!!  NICE!

Glad to see Hasbro expanding the potential audience for their brands, and hope this results in more awareness and possibly an increased attention at mass retail.  Time will tell.  Once again, you can find the original article on Multichannel.com.

We saw this via Amazon.com last week, but now we get the official announcement and press release from Shout! Factory themselves!  As fired up as I am for an eventual Blu-Ray release, I’m pretty pumped up for this as well…a way to see G.I. Joe: Renegades on my TV whenever I want is just too damn cool.

The DVD is slated to be released June 5th and will contain the first 13 episodes of G.I. Joe: Renegades, plus a movie cash offer for the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film!  Bonus.

Click the “Read the Rest of the Story” link below for the full Press Release!

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No, it’s not a review of the as yet non-existent G.I. Joe: Renegades Season 1, which makes me a very sad panda.  But Transformers: Prime is a pretty darn good series in its own right, and seeing this action-packed animation in Blu-Ray quality is a sight to behold!

I had a chance to check this full season out extensively, and I can say it’s better than watching it the first time around, especially if you don’t have The Hub in HD (I don’t).

Check out my review of Season One of Transformers: Prime at the link below!

• Transformers: Prime the Complete First Season (Blu-Ray)

A short while ago we heard rumor that a potential follow up for G.I. Joe: Renegades is potentially in the early stages, so this should really come as no surprise, since any animated series in the “discussion” phase would be for programming not slated to begin until late 2013…but for the sake of full coverage, The Hub has issued a press release confirming their line up of programming for late 2012 and early 2013.

As expected, no G.I. Joe to be found.

The press release can be found on Discovery’s Corporate Media Page, and I’ve also mirrored it after the jump.

Thanks to CIAD of HissTank.com for the heads up.

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Wow!  An awesome blast from the past.  Big thanks to GeneralsJoes Twitter comrade Twitziller for uncovering this excellent blog from production artist April Eriksson, who apparently did some vehicle design work for G.I. Joe: Renegades.

She posted her artwork this past summer, and so far it has flown under the radar.  No longer!

Check out her awesome blog with G.I. Joe: Renegades and other artwork right here.  Also check out the mirrored images below.  SWEET!

[View with PicLens]

With an awesome YouTube promo to go with it!

New Years Day, The Hub will be showing a marathon of Sunbow G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero episodes as well as old school episodes from Transformers, too.  Fans of either property don’t want to miss it!

Check out the awesome YouTube promo below.

Well, even with eleven more new episodes of G.I. Joe: Renegades, the fun Friday evening tradition has gone by the wayside, as both G.I. Joe: Renegades and Transformers Prime are moving to Saturdays to showcase all of their new episodes.

Transformers Prime launches with premier content on April 9th, while G.I. Joe: Renegades moves to April 16th.  Transformers will start the action hour at 7:00pm, with Renegades picking up at 7:30pm.

I’m not sure of the reason for the movie, and am hesitant to blame ratings, considering Prime is a ratings behemoth (according to The Hub) but I can’t argue that there is less competition on Saturday nights, I suppose, and the chances of the younger kids being home is better.  Time will tell.  As we are all painfully aware, it’s too late to save G.I. Joe: Renegades, but maybe it can at least go out on a positive note.

Thanks to The Terror Drome and Nick and More for the information.

Well, consider the unfortunate news confirmed.  I spoke with Public Relations at The Hub, and they have confirmed that G.I. Joe: Renegades will cease airing original episodes after the summer.  They have declared the series “On Hiatus” in anticipation of the upcoming film sequel.

This sounds remarkably similar to the situation with Transformers: Animated after the third season, as it was phased out in favor for a style closer to the live action Transformers films.  Considering how much stronger fan support Renegades seem to generate, especially when compared to the Rise of Cobra film, this is a disappointing turn of events, to say the least.

Let’s all hope that the next live action film franchise is closer to the spirit of A Real American Hero than the previous film was, so the animation doesn’t potentially suffer for it.  The entire text of the communication from The Hub is below.

“…we’re very pleased with the performance of G.I. JOE RENEGADES on The Hub. The series will go on hiatus at the end of season one while the second installment of the G.I. Joe movie franchise is being produced so Hasbro and Hasbro Studios can ensure the creative and storyline continuity that fans of the films and the series expect.  We’ll have original episodes into the summer and we envision resuming new animation following the movie.”

I do thank PR at The Hub for their quick confirmation, though I do wish the news was better, for sure.  Regardless of the future of G.I. Joe: Renegades, you can count on GeneralsJoes to continue updating the episode guide, spreading the news, and enjoying the hell out of G.I. Joe: Renegades while it lasts.

Yo Joe, I guess.

Well, I promised some days back that The Hub was holding one of their “Upfront” sessions in New York City today, and we should possibly get some information about the future of G.I. Joe: Renegades.  Well, the press release has been sent out, and the news for G.I. Joe: Renegades does not look good.

While not specifically said or mentioned by name, G.I. Joe: Renegades was absent from a list of returning series for The Hub in 2011/2012, a list which included Transformers: Prime, My Little Pony, RL Stine’s the Haunting Hours, and more.

I’m hitting the pavement to see if I can get some confirmation, but at this point, it sounds like perhaps the Renegades mythology will end after 26 episodes.  That would be a shame if it’s true.  Still, I don’t want to hold the funeral too soon.  Hopefully we’ll get some final details shortly.

Until then, read the full Press Release after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Kenny for directing me to a great site on kid’s animation, NickandMore.com which has its finger on the pulse of all these kid’s channels, including, of course, The Hub.

They are reporting that beginning on March 24th, The Hub will be holding the first of three “Upfronts” which are press conferences with advertisers and media, and at one of these upfronts, The Hub is expected to announce which new shows they’re adding, and which existing shows are getting renewed for a second season.

We already know Transformers: Prime is coming back, due to the long lead time necessary for CGI based animated series, but Renegades’ fate is still up in the air.  The upfronts are the 24th, the 29th, and the 31st, and it was unclear from the article if the information would be the same at all three, or if some other details could be revealed along the way.

Suffice it to say, by the end of the month we should know one way or another if G.I. Joe: Renegades returns for Season 2.  Let’s see if anyone can guess my preference.