Couldn’t quite get them all finished up last week, but I managed to wrap up the last three reviews among packing and moving this weekend, and you can check them all out on my G.I. Joe: Retaliation Review Page.
Of course you could also just click the various links below:
And, of course, do not forget that awesome review sponsor Big Bad Toy Store is loaded up with pre-orders for these figures and future ones as well! Wave 2 looks especially awesome with movie accurate Roadblock, Snake Eyes, Flint, and Firefly! Check out the links below.
I know this could be considered grasping at straws, but I honestly think that there’s a valid point here, too. By now we’ve all seen this new trailer footage a few dozen times (at least) and one of the most striking scenes is the scene where Zartan (disguised as the president) slices his face open, and it heals up behind the blade. We get a cool blue skin homage that only lasts a couple of seconds.
Well, GeneralsJoes reader ghost man decided he might have seen something…so he did some screen capture comparisons and sent them along. Check out the image below.
Now, I’ve already been accused of dissecting this film footage way too much on the site by someone, but I thought this was just a fun note to point out. Take a look at the second-to-last image, and look at Vosloo right next to it. I’ll be damned if that’s not a close match. The shape of the jawbone, the narrow smile…even the eyes. Sure, it may just be a computer generated fabrication, but if nothing else, it indicates that possibly Zartan can change back, and perhaps we’ll see Vosloo somewhere along the way.
A very interesting comparison, and a big thanks to ghost man for sending it along. Yes, I fully admit I am way too invested in this film and this property, but it’s not like a blockbuster summer film comes along every day. I will happily take apart every single second of it.
UPDATE – Some folks have been reminding me that IMDB has Arnold Vosloo listed as a cast member. Please keep in mind that IMDB does allow user-edited content (like WikiPedia) and isn’t always accurate. After all, as of a couple of weeks ago, they had “Zandar” listed as a character in the film as well. He very well might be, but for some reason I’m not betting on it.
One benefactor of the recent Meijer’s early G.I. Joe: Retaliation figure release was Jay over at Carded Heroes, and we’re all getting the benefit of it. He’s posted a very nice review of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation Zartan.
As a big fan of G.I. Joe: Renegades I obviously love the aesthetic of this figure, and while the light piping looks pretty weird on some of those disguise heads, I think the effect is still neat. Check out the review right here, I mirrored just a couple of images below. Check Carded Heroes for the rest.
Over the past number of days the GIJoe Collectors’ Club has been revealing carded images of upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures. Well, the latest installment is the G.I. Joe: Retaliation Zartan.
It’s an interesting subject because obviously as we’ve seen, the cards themselves are not at all different, it’s more an exploration of how the figures might look from a more final perspective. The slot in Zartan’s head for the light piping seems to be striking a negative chord with fans, but I don’t mind a whole lot, and I think the idea of glowing eyes is pretty neat.
Check out GIJoeClub.com or the mirrored image below.
One thing that IDW artist Robert Atkins does that I love is showcase some of his commission work on his blog. Because of this, we get some awesome detail into the thought process behind work that we might not normally even know existed.
Today he provided some terrific inks for a commissioned Flint and Ace piece, with links to each step in the process.
Previously he also supplied an update to a terrfic Zartan, and a very nice classic Firefly piece that he had done as well. All of these items are awesome and deserve some Joe fan attention. Check out the various links below:
Ace and Flint (with 25th Anniversary Ace as the apparent inspiration!)
Excellent work, and don’t forget, Robert Atkins is scheduled to make an appearance on the What’s on Joe Mind podcast this week, too, and I’m already fighting myself not to just geek out for 2 hours straight.
Now that shooting has officially begun, I’d imagine that more details from G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be emerging on a bit more steady basis. Yes, we’ve already had a pretty decent stream of casting updates and other news, but sometimes it’s the little things that are only revealed during the shooting process.
A few weeks ago, I posted about some cast auditions that had been posted online, and while those video auditions did not last long, they did reveal some characters previously unrevealed. One of those characters was named “Havoc” and sources from the production tell me that he is indeed a Joe character from G.I. Joe: Retaliation. No, “Havoc” does not refer to the vehicle, it is a character, but the exact scope and role of the character is still a mystery.
Along the same lines, some minor plot details were revealed by the same source. There are some minor spoilers involved, so I will post the rest after the jump.
There have been a smattering of G.I. Joe fan films during my time online, but I have to say Mark Cheng’s work on G.I. Joe: Operation: Red Retrieval is setting a new standard. Granted, I’ve seen previous trailers for this feature, and was always mildly interested, but this particular trailer really cranks the action up a notch.
We’ll see how the final project fares, but for now, this is some very cool stuff. Find out more about Operation: Red Retrieval at G.I.JoeFanFilm.com and check out the embedded video below.
You can also follow the director on Twitter to keep apprised of his progress.
This is looking excellent. Can’t wait to see more.
Well, the HasbroToyShop fiasco is behind us, SDCC has come and gone, and the guys from What’s on Joe Mind reflect on the weekend of apparent non-activity in their own unique way. We also take some time to speak with Gary “Gyre-Viper” Head about our close knit community, run through a great SK Omega update in preparation for next week’s interview, and have a G.I. Joe party for 2 hours.
Size doesn’t matter? Ridiculous! Check out the episode at Podbean.com, subscribe via iTunes, or listen via the embedded player below:
This great G.I. Joe sequel related scoop comes from down under, as Mercer, usually hanging out at JoeBattleLines tosses me a link to a MovieHole article. In the article, someone who is auditioning for a role in the G.I. Joe Sequel reports what all of us who follow Rhett Reese on Twitter already know. G.I. Joe 2 is no longer called “Cobra Strikes”.
But what we didn’t know previously is that the new working title is apparently G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation. Also, from the sounds of it, Arnold Vosloo will be returning to his role as Zartan, the Cobra Master of Disguise! This is terrific news in my mind.
Of course, this should all be taken with a grain of salt until confirmed…the text of the report is below, courtesy of MovieHole:
”
Hey Clint,
I went up for “G.I Joe 2″ this week. Now firstly, I believe they’ve changed the name of the film from “G.I Joe 2 : Coba Strikes” to “G.I Joe 2 : Retaliation”.
The part I was chasing was Ibrahim, a presidential advisor to India’s leader. He tries to talk the president out of getting involved in a very suss rescue mission and consequently backing up the united states on something… that might not be totally legit.
And we all know who the president is now, right? Who is running the country? Zartan, played by Arnold Vosloo. He’s got the world leaders all under his thumb, war heads headed towards innocent populaces, and some new heavies on the payroll to keep G.I Joe at bay.
One of the first scenes to be shot is a flashback sequence with young Storm Shadow and young Snake Eyes which will cronicle how they became what they are and their relationship. Those parts have already been cast I think now they’re just working on the smaller roles – presidents of every country; security guards; ‘Mouse’, etc.
Anyway, thought you’d like to know about the title change and all that.”
Excellent intel, and it’s great to have Mercer reporting movie scoops again!
Leading up to San Diego Comic Con the folks at Sideshow Collectibles have released a great video going behind the scenes on their upcoming 12″ Rock n Roll and Zartan! The designers go into some of the great tributes that are prevelant throughout the figures (Rock n Roll sports a surfing T-Shirt underneath his uniform) and show some of the amazing detail throughout each figure.
Quite an impressive look at a pair of very impressive figures. Check out the embedded video below, or hit up Sideshow Collectibles themselves.
