Category Archives: Fandom

32 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – Cobra helicopter

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image: Cobra helicopter

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Going back to the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline it’s pretty obvious that Cobra has always had some really innovative vehicles.  From high-speed tanks like the HISS, to the powered CLAW glider, to the one man helicopter the FANG, the armies of the serpent have had a solid technological edge.  In the trailers for G.I. Joe Retaliation we’ve been given the briefest of glimpses at this new piece of Cobra’s aerial arsenal and it’s left this Joe fan wanting more!  Sleek, black, and sporting the Cobra logo– it’s the perfect type of weapon to fit into Cobra Commander’s stable.  (Why there wasn’t a toy version, I’ll never know.)  Regardless of the role it plays in the film, it’s just another piece of the puzzle that forms my anticipation for this film!

Check out Twitziller’s previous entries in the series below.   I for one cannot wait until I can post “0 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation”!

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32 days to go!

33 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – One the run!

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image: On the run!

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Story-telling is all about building tension– putting the heroes in a place/situation that they absolutely HAVE to escape from.  It’s about getting the listener/viewer on the edge of their seats and making it all but impossible for them to miss “what happens next.”  A classic technique to build that kind of tension is to completely turn the tables on the heroes, remove them from their support network, and make them the underdogs.  IF everything that we’ve seen in the G.I. Joe Retaliation trailers is correct then this is EXACTLY what will be happening in the film.  The Joes are turned into fugitives and put on the run with Cobra rising to a place of both respectability and power.  The villain is in a position of strength and the heroes are left at a profound disadvantage.  Oh yeah, that’s the meat and potatoes of a good action story right there!

Check out Twitziller’s previous entries in the series below.   I for one cannot wait until I can post “0 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation”!

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32 days to go!

34 Days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – Zartan

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image: Zartan!

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Sequels are tricky things.  Sometimes they emulate the source material too much with a sense of “been there, done that” and other times they divulge wildly from the original, with mixed results.  With G.I. Joe Retaliation, director Jon M. Chu was faced with a difficult task as the original film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra left many plot threads dangling at the end.  Zartan, altered by nano-mites, had successfully replaced the President of the United States.  (This was the entire point of the first film.)  Would the sequel acknowledge this rather big thread or go its own way.

It would seem that former approach was chosen as the trailers make no bones about the fact that Zartan is still impersonating POTUS– in a big way.  In fact, all of the events shown in the trailers seem to be a continuation of the plot lines that were begun in the first film.  Zartan appears front and center and we even get a glimpse of Arnold Vosloo (even if it is just a quick CGI morph) that shows audiences that the fact of Cobra’s “Master of Disguise” will be dealt with in the film.  Now, if only he keeps on whistling “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow…”

33 more days until this film EXPLODES on the big screen!

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35 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – the HISS Tank!

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image: the HISS tank!

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If Cobra has a signature vehicle, this is it!  Forget the CLAW, SNAKE armor, FANG, etc.  As a kid, the HISS tank grabbed my attention with his combination of perceived speed and firepower!  When you combine those details with the fact that I never owned one as a kid and you’ll fully understand my obsession with the vehicle.  In the first Joe film, audiences were treated to a modified Night Raven that was part of the M.A.R.S. arsenal.  This time around– we’re getting the full-blown Cobra treatment and it looks fantastic!  Just look at the shot– a series of HISS Tanks rolling on the U.S. Capital building.  Oh yeah, that’s not upping the stakes at all, he said sarcastically!

34 more days until this film EXPLODES on the big screen!

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36 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – concept design

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image: concept design!

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I find that I’m in complete agreement on this.  G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra took the film version of Joe in a definite sci-fi direction.  Sonic weapons, nano-mites, accelerator suits (*shudder*)– all of these were pretty far removed from the realm of reality.  Retaliation is opting for more of a “future weapons” look– especially when it comes to the Joes.  The use of the Ripsaw tank as the Tread Ripper and the incorporation of hi-tech body armor for the team members shows that this film is looking at things that are just on the cutting edge.  Even better– waves 2 and beyond of the movie toy line are shaping up to be pretty spot-on recreations of these designs.  So the studio and Hasbro seem to be walking hand-in-hand to give fans a much more cohesive and plausible vision of G.I. Joe.  Boo-yah!

35 more days to go…

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37 days until G.I. Joe Retaliation – Flint

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image that’s dedicated to the team’s premiere warrant officer!  (Sadly a day of excessive meetings at work delayed today’s posting.)

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Once again, it’s a great reason to look forward to the film.  In the Sunbow animated series, Flint was one of the cornerstone characters.  Frequently , he was seen leading a team of Joes into all manner of dangerous situation and yet he always managed to bring his team back intact.  (Granted, it was a kids cartoon and so there were no character deaths but let’s just run with this, okay?)  The inclusion of Flint in the cinematic G.I. Joe universe is a welcome sight and another sign that director Jon M. Chu is staying more faithful to the mythos than Rise of Cobra did.

36 more days to go…

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38 days to G.I. Joe Retaliation – Desert ambush

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Twitter user Twitziller continues his “40 Reasons to Be Excited About G.I. Joe Retaliation” series with today’s image:

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I can’t fault his logic– this sequence looks like it will be intense.  (In the very way that the night attack scene in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra wasn’t.)  Regardless, he’s right– this is going to be quite the sandbox indeed!

March 29th– you’re so far away…

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39 Days to G.I. Joe Retaliation – Mini-Tank

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Counting down to G.I. Joe Retaliation?  You’re not alone —  Twitziller has updated his “40 Reasons to be excited about G.I. Joe: Retaliation” with today’s installment and it’s a good one!  In fact, it’s extremely appropriate as I just snagged the Tread Ripper at Kmart yesterday in anticipation of a review!  (Also, because my Retaliation HISS needed something to shoot at it!)

Check out today’s “kernel of wisdom”:

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It’s going to be a loooong 39 days…

We now return to your regularly scheduled day.  After all, “the world ain’t saving itself!”

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40 days of G.I. Joe Retaliation – Color

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You’ve heard of the 12 Days of Christmas but have you heard of the 40 Days of G.I. Joe Retaliation?  Apparently Twitter user Twitziller has because he’s bringing us just that– 40 days worth of reasons why he (and the rest of us) are looking forward to the G.I. Joe movie set to debut in theaters on March 29.  Every day he’ll be providing fans and non-fans alike to look forward to the next cinematic installment of our favorite Real American Heroes.

It’s a great and original idea– and one that is sure to give us all a lot to think about in the next two score days!

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For more information, visit GIJoeMovie.com!

JoeDeclassified.com’s Ultimate G.I. Joe Custom Contest!

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JoeDeclassified

The folks over at JoeDeclassified.com have launched “The Ultimate Custom Contest” with a bevy of prizes that are hard to beat!

Check out the official announcement:

Joe Declassified and Joe Customs have joined together to bring you the ultimate custom contest! Here at Declassified, you know we love the history of the G.I. Joe brand and we love the production process – which leads to your chance to recreate unproduced Joe toys in order to win some pretty swell prizes.

Custom contest rules:

1. Customs may be figures or vehicles.
2. Any customs created for any prior contest, or that have been shown prior on the web are automatically disqualified. Customizers should submit a photo with their entry that shows their construction materials with any dated item (magazine, etc) created after the contest start date.
3. Customs must be of an unfinished Hasbro product (Rocky, for example). Anything that ever existed in any state of design is eligible. Please see the references at the bottom for further inspiration.
4. All entries are due no later than 15April2013.
5. All prize-winning customs become property of Joe Declassified, and will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to help support future Declassified endeavors. If contest winners do not wish to participate in the fundraising process, we will select the next highest rated customs to take their place.
6. No more than 3 custom entries per individual.
7. Entries MUST include real name, any online screen names, city and state of origin. All entry photos should be submitted to damnedmp@gmail.com. Please include no more than 10 photos per entry. Any questions or clarifications of contest rules should be sent to the same email address.
8. All judges and Joe Declassified staff are automatically disbarred from entry.

The Prizes:

1st prize: Carded wave 14 Storm Shadow

picsay 1358302861 175x300 The JoeDeclassified/JoeCustoms Ultimate Custom Contest!
2nd prize: all 13 Club FSS figures (these will ship to the winner after all 13 have been released)

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3rd prize: Set of white and red SDCC Jinxes

sdcc jinx 01 300x236 The JoeDeclassified/JoeCustoms Ultimate Custom Contest!

4th-6th prizes: Red SDCC Jinx

Judging:

Judging will be on a rating system among several categories. Points assigned by each judge individually will be averaged to determine a winner.
Judges will include:

  • Joe Declassified Staff
  • Joe Customs Staff
  • Chris Chung – Admin of Joesightings.com
  • Fred Meyer – Owner/Admin of Joe Battlelines.com
  • Fran O’Boyle – Owner/Admin of Hisstank.com
  • Justin Bell – Owner/Admin of GeneralsJoes.com
  • Terry Dizard – Admin of YoJoe.com
  • John Warden of Hasbro

Judging categories are:

  • Faithfulness – How accurately the custom reflects whatever existing source material is available. Difficulty – Customs accomplished through minor parts swapping vs. those that require parts fabrication.
  • Obscurity – The lesser known the concept, the better -bonus points for revealing unknown sourece material.
  • Part usage – How creative the customizers parts choices are. Paint – Painting execution and detailing.
  • Buyability/Playability – How much does the finished product look like something likely to sell, as well as durability to play.
  • Overall execution

References:

The sites listed below all include some preproduction material, but are by no means intended as an all-inclusive list.

Joe Declassified forums
Joe Intel Preprodution Archives
Joe Declassified SpecOps podcasts
YoJoe.com’s preproduction archiv
A Real American Hero Book
The 788th Armored Division

Additionally, not only do we have big prizes and big name judges, but true to Declassified form we also have some big reveals to accompany the custom contest. Over the next few weeks, in conjunction with Joe Customs, we will be revealing some previously unseen G.I.Joe 80’s history in the form of concept art images and sculpts. These concepts can be used for your customs for this contest as they are all unproduced material. See the sneak peak images below, and get ready for more to come. Keep an eye both at JoeDeclassified and JoeCustoms over the next few weeks for more inspiration and history!

Good luck!

Start preparing the parts bins and dust off those painting skills– this is going to be one contest to win!

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