Many G.I. Joe received an extra present just before the Christmas holiday– the first pair of figures from the G.I. Joe Collector’s ClubFigure Subscription Service had landed on their doorstep! Of course, as soon as those first two figures shipped, fans began to speculate as to when the next round would be arriving. Brian Savage sends out this update to let “eagle eyed” fans know that the wait is almost over:
We are getting ready to prepare the second shipment. We anticipate they they will ship about two weeks from now. Please have any address changes in the system by Wednesday (1/09/13) at 5pm Central Time.
Also, we are planning to do the installment billing for the second payment on or about January 21st. Please ensure that your credit card information is correct and that your debit cards have enough funds. Everyone’s billing amount is different so please refer to your first invoice to know what your amount will be. If you don’t have your invoice, you can log in and look at your order..
For those of you who paid in full, you can ignore the billing information.
Thanks for your support! We hope that you are enjoying your first figure shipment!
Now the speculation begins– with Jinx and Dice already shipped, who will be next?
For those of you that signed up for the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service it’s time for some holiday cheer! The Club announced earlier in the week that some of the FSS orders would start shipping before the holidays and now it seems that some folks have already received theirs!
According to a thread over at HISSTank.com, board member Raginspoon and site admin Destro have received their figures. The Club initially asked that folks not discuss what figures were received until everyone had theirs so as “not to ruin the surprise”. (In other news, fairies are real and unicorns make good bacon!) However, as folks are excited to finally have some of these pieces in-hand pics have been posted over at HISSTank. I don’t want to jinx this with any spoilers but fans are going to be happy, no matter how they slice and dice the reports popping up on the web.
Here’s the shipping announcement from the Club, posted better late than never:
I hope that you are all having a great holiday season so far. Today it was confirmed that our container was aboard a train and headed to the Dallas terminal.
We still don’t have an exact delivery date to our warehouse, but we are anticipating that we will get some of the sets out before Christmas.
The Christmas holiday will probably see the shipments split so please have patience while they are enroute to you.
We now anticipate that they will all be shipped before New Years.
Merry Christmas!
Brian
Now, while you’re waiting for your first shipment to arrive, enjoy some PR pics of what is coming to subscribers:
Sometimes an image speaks for itself– the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club has announced the location of the 2013 Collector’s Convention. (Some of us are happy that it is only a 4 hour drive!)
The Club has posted the official 2013 Joe Con page with a link for reservations. Go now!! It’s just one week after the much delayed premiere of G.I. Joe Retaliation! Plus it looks like we’re dealing with a Night Force theme. Could a repaint of the 30th Crazylegs be in the works?
Here’s the official press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
G.I.JoeCon 2013 Coming to Indianapolis, Indiana April 4th – April 7th!
Fort Worth, TX – December 4th, 2012 – Fun Publications, Inc., licensee for Hasbro’s official G.I.Joe Collectors’ Convention, G.I.JoeCon, announced today that next year’s convention will take place at the JW Marriott from April 4th thru April 7th in the great city of Indianapolis. You can make your hotel reservations now at GIJoeCon.com.
In the coming weeks, Pop Culture enthusiasts from around the world will be able to register for G.I.JoeCon 2013 through the GIJoeCon.com online registration system. Fans and Collectors’ who register for G.I.JoeCon as a General OR American Hero package holder will receive either the 12-inch Secret Mission to Dragon Island or 3 3/4-inch Nocturnal Fire convention set, admission to the Friday private sales room experience, priority seating at all panels and seminars throughout the weekend and admittance to the Saturday Night Casino Night Dinner event. Finally, General and American Hero package attendees will also receive a special bonus to go along with their convention box set. General Admission for non-registered guests will be available on Saturday and Sunday only.
For more information on G.I.JoeCon and all activities and the exclusive figure offerings, please visit GIJoeCon.com. About Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
About Fun Publications, Inc.
For nearly 20 years, Fun Publications, Inc. has been a Hasbro licensee offering fans and collectors of pop culture memorabilia news, exclusive product and family events through different print offerings, websites, collector clubs and brand specific conventions such as GIJoeCon and BotCon. Located in Fort Worth Texas, Fun Publications reaches a large audience, serving the United States and many other countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Canada. For more information visit TransformersClub.com, GIJoeClub.com, GIJoeCon.com, and BotCon.com. BotCon is a registered trademark of Fun Publications, Inc. (C) 2012 Fun Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
The 2012 G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention sets featuring the Oktober Guard sold out in near record time. Those who were hoping to snag a non-attending Homefront Heroes set had to either be incredibly lucky to have been online when they were listed or have ties in the Springfield underground. Realizing that this rapid of a sellout leads to an unhappy membership, the GIJCC raised the possibility of a second production run but made no guarantees. Well, that run has now come to fruition. This email went out to all Collector’s Club members late yesterday:
“Attention Comrades!
The official G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club is proud to announce a special limited edition second-run of the “sold out” and extremely popular 2012 Operation: Bear Trap! convention set.
This exclusive Oktober Guard vs. Iron Grenadiers set includes fifteen modern era 3 3/4-inch action figures with weapons and accessories. You will get the classic Oktober Guard characters such as Colonel Brekhov, Daina, Schrage, Stormavik and Horror Show. Plus, for the first time ever… the Oktober Guard General: Iron Bear. The Iron Grenadiers have unique troop builders that include: Iron Grenadier Elite Troopers x4, Iron Grenadier Elite Guards x2, Iron Grenadier Heavy Weapon Specialists x2 and also for the first time ever… the Iron Grenadier General: Voltar!
Don’t miss this limited edition second-run of these fantastic Oktober Guard vs. Iron Grenadiers action figures. You must be an official G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club member to order. Visit the Club Store to pre-order before the Nov. 30th, 2012 deadline! (Product will be shipping in the spring of 2013, exact date TBD). Cost is $360 per set (plus shipping). Only boxed sets will be produced and the production run will only be what is pre-ordered. Don’t miss this final opportunity to own this highly sought after set! Check it out at GIJoeClub.com/shop.
For pictures of the individual figures from GIJoeCon.com click here!”
I don’t know what this bodes for the future but for those of you who missed this set, now is the time to try and snag a fantastic update on the Oktober Guard. Once this particular site admin gets finished moving and unpacks, the review of those figures might FINALLY be posted.
Here are a few shots of this awesome set from the Collector’s Club.
This is it– the LAST day to subscribe to the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service! Fans that fail to do so by MIDNIGHT CST tonight will have to take their chances with “day of shipping” available figures in the Club Store or with online resources like Ebay or BigBadToyStore.
Here’s the final enticement from Brian:
Hey all you Club Members!
The Figure Subscription Service ends at midnight on September 4th central time. That’s Tuesday at midnight!
DOB’T MISS OUT!
Go to the club site for the official link. You can link through the Log In feature or through the news article.
Thanks for your support!
Brian
We’ve talked about this quite a bit here at JBL and I’ve even editorialized my thoughts on it. At the end of the day, I’ll decide whether to pull the trigger on this or not. However, fans that are interested need to take care to NOT miss out on the sign-up period!
Here’s one last look at all of the Club Sub images thus far:
It’s time to place blame where blame is due. The G.I. Joe Collector’s Club is turning me into an Adventure Team fan. Those nefarious scoundrels in their evil headquarters on Cattle Baron Drive in Texas have managed to take my initial impression of the fuzz-headed Joes as “those older dolls” and turn them into full blown Jonny Quest-styled heroes. Part James Bond, part Indiana Jones– the Adventure Team has come to life in the form of the monthly Adventure Team Chronicles comics in the Collector’s Club newsletter. In fact, and here’s the frightening portion of this confession, I read the AT comic BEFORE I read the A Real American Hero strip.
So, imagine my newly-found AT giddiness when the Club posted the following video up on their Facebook page. Posted by YouTube user “vidmystery”, the commercial showcases the modern 1:18 AT figures in the style of a classic 1960’s commercial. Seriously– that’s just too much awesome for one short video! (This seems to be the Club’s official YouTube page– so my hat’s off to the video’s actual creator!)
The oft-delayed sign-up period for the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service (or GIJCC FSS) is rapidly drawing to a close. Midnight on September 4th is it so if you’re a hard-core G.I. Joe fan that wants these “made-to-order” figures you’ll have to act soon. Estimates put the cheapest option for the 12 named and 1 bonus figure to be just over $350.00, putting it on par with a boxed convention set in terms of pricing.
In addition to some new images of Quarrel and TNT, the Club posted this information on their Facebook page yesterday:
Deadline for the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club FSS subs is Midnight CST on 9/4/2012! If you’re subbing, that’s the cut-off!
FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE Update!The Figure Subscription Service ends at midnight on September 4th central time. DON’T MISS OUT! Go to the club site for the official link.Please note that if you are checking your FSS order, you do this at the FSS site NOT the club store. The two systems are independent even though they are able to use your same login and passwords.
NOTE ABOUT SINGLE FIGURES: There will not be a large quantity of single figures ordered for the club store so if you are interested in most of the figures offered, we recommend that you subscribe and sell the items you are not interested in to others. This will ensure that you receive the figures that you really want.
If you log in to check your order(s) (click My Account at the bottom after you log in), and you are not seeing your invoice or emails, please drop us an email using the link at the bottom of the My Account page and we will have your file reconstructed. Your invoices are in the system but there are a few accounts that are not displaying correctly. After the subscription period ends, we will only send out emails to the FSS subscribers concerning shipping/billing updates and all of those emails will appear in your My Account.Thanks for your patience and support of this new system
To sign up for the GIJCC FSS or “Club Sub”, follow the link below:
Have you seen my wallet? After a few of the announcements in the “genre world” this weekend, it’s probably hiding under the couch in fear. Simply put– there are too many “geek products” hitting in the next few months for my mind and budget to comfortably process. Here’s a quick rundown:
1) The G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service. Yes, I wrote an editorial about this on Friday and have caught some flak as a result. For just under $300 + shipping, hard-core Joe fans can snag 12 exclusive paid figures and 1 free bonus figure that will only be available through the FSS. Places like BigBadToyStore.com have listed preorders for the figures at a logical markup which might be more cost effective for fans in the long run who aren’t interested in all 12 known figures and don’t want to have to take time to sell off the others on Ebay. Regardless, collectors are looking at $300+ easily for this set of items.
2) Star Trek The Original Series Soundtrack Collection. This is something I never thought I’d see released. The INSANE folks over at Lalaland Records are releasing a 15 CD set of EVERY note of music to appear in the classic 1960’s original Star Trek series. Yes, that’s right– every single note. However they’re also including the unused-by-recorded season 3 episode soundtracks as well! As a music and soundtrack nut, this is HUGE. Lalaland just got me for their incredible release of both Batman: The Animated Series vol 2 and The expanded score to The Phantom and now they throw this down? You are evil evil people. This will easily be $300.00 but well worth it for the HOURS of music.
3) Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1 Blu-Ray collection. Not nearly as bad but Marvel Studios is dropping their 10 disc set of Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain American: The First Avenger, and (what may be the greatest comic movie ever made) The Avengers. Not only that but the set boasts new cool deco artwork for the DVD cases and a replica of the Cosmic Cube in one awesome box. Yeah… Amazon’s got it for around $140.00 but still it’ll add up.
4) IDW’s Complete G.I. Joe Collection. What happens when the current G.I. Joe comic publisher decides to release the entire Marvel Comic series in prestige edition hardcover format? This does— $50.00 300 page volumes that collect Larry Hama’s now LEGENDARY run on the series into one definitive format. Add in the mix that Joe scholar Mark Bellomo is point man on the project and these are sure to be the stuff of comic collector dreams. The irony is that I just got my copy of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero vol 15 in the mail last week! Now it’s time to start all over again.
5) HALO 4: Legendary Edition. Hey! What does a video game have to do with G.I. Joe? Isn’t this a G.I. Joe website? Yes it is– now sit down and read! For many video game fans, HALO 4 quite possibly the most anticipated game release this year. (Call of Duty Black Ops 2 will give it a run for its money at retail.) The HALO saga is a rich story– filled with ancient races, timeless mystery, and more FPS action than fans can shake a joystick at! 343 Industry’s first installment of the new trilogy drops in November and the top edition of the game is going to set you back a cool $99.oo! It’s not as bad as previous Legendary editions but it’s still going to add up. However, the Covenant (and apparently the Forerunners) must pay!
6) New Marvel Universe! It’s been a long time since anyone could say that new Marvel Universe figures were hitting stores. Suddenly Toys R Us has 4newexclusivecomic packs, a new X-Factor 5 pack, and new casesof figures are finally hitting retailers! Just snagging individual pieces here and there is going to easily run a Marvel maniac over $150.00 total. (Heck the SDCC Masters of Evil was $30 and I shudder to think what the Super Helicarrier cost some folks.)
7) Regional G.I. Joe exclusives! I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention two awesome Joe shows that produce some great non-Hasbro manufactured exclusives. The Canadian Joe Con was this past weekend and fans who weren’t fortunate to be able to truck up north can still snag the 2012 Con set including 5 exclusive figures, 5 file cards, and a slick chromed vehicle for $200.00. These tend to go fast so don’t delay if you were debating adding these “Northern Neighbors” to your Joe collection.
2012 Canadian Joe Con Set
It doesn’t stop there, however… the crew at the Coil Club is rapidly preparing for Coil Con 2012 and has revealed images of Zilant, the exclusive Cobra Guerila fighter! With SLICK colors and a solid design, he’s likely to become a highly sought-after piece in the future.
Coil Con 2012 exclusive: Zilant, Cobra Guerilla Fighter
So, what does all of this mean for my wallet and the wallets of many? Some very hard choices coming up? Figures vs. action figures vs. video games? Heck, I’m not even factoring in two major life-changing purchases that I have to make in the next few months. This also doesn’t take into consideration recent Comic Con exclusive or G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention purchases– all of which add up to some SERIOUS dollars! Or, if you’re a DC/Masters of the Universe/Mattel fan then you’ve just been hit up with Club Infinite Earths, Club Eternia, and Club Black Freighter subscriptions! All-in-all it is both a good and a bad time to be a bit of a geek. Good in that there is a LOT out there right now but bad in the regard that most of my collecting friends and I aren’t independently wealthy!
Now, if only I could find a way to either get PAID to run the site or win the lottery. I’m open to suggestions.
Any other big “geek purchases” that I left out? Anyone?
It’s been an interesting year for toy fans and subscriptions. Mattel recently concluded their “subscription drive” over at MattyCollector.com for three of their product lines. The DC Universe Classics line went through– but only barely due to the efforts of SaveDCUC.com, the Masters of the Universe Classics snaked by with a last minute surge and the Watchmen sub… well that never seemed to be in question.
With two of these lines, price was a REAL point of contention. A 6″ Masters of the Universe Classics figure had previously sold for $20.00 and was increased to $25.00 per unit for subscribers and $28.00 for non-subscribers on day-of-sale IF any were available. This created quite an uproar in the MoTU fandom as the had previously been plagued by poor customer service from Digital River and QC issues in the form of reversed joints, breakage, and sloppy paint apps. However, the argument from brand manager Scott Neitlich was that these were “high quality collector figures” with unique tooling that was found nowhere else. This was the only way to get 100% original tooled figures like the forthcoming Ram-Man etc.
So, if a 6″ figure with all NEW tooling costs $25.00 and fans clamored at the blow to their wallets, where does that place the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service?
“There are those who said this day would never come. What do they say now?”
Apparently the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club is saying the same thing as the following announcement regarding the long-delayed Figure Subscription Service was posted this afternoon:
A VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE
G.I. JOE COLLECTORS’ CLUB. Re: FSS
The launch of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Figure Subscription Service is imminent; we will notify you the link when we make the service active. While we are loading the final details, here are some things to remember:
1. You must be a member of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club to take advantage of the Figure Subscription Se
rvice.2. There is NO reason to rush the site or be in a hurry as this is a build to order system. We will build as many as you order, so we cannot run out. YOU CAN ORDER AS MANY AS YOU WANT, there is no limit.
3. What you do need to be concerned about is the closing date of the subscription service, which ENDS on September 4th at midnight.
4. You can either pay In Full or by Installment. There will be 3 installments. When you subscribe and choose pay by Installment, you will be billed for the first two months’ shipments. Then sometime during the second month, you will be billed for the 3rd and 4th months’ shipments and sometime during the 4th month you will be billed for the final 2 months’ shipments.
5. Your free surprise 13th figure will come with your final shipment during the 6th month.
6. The figures will be shipped in random order. All members receive the same figures each month. The figure pairings will not be preannounced. So if you don’t mind, when you get your shipment each month, PLEASE do not go online and tell what you received. We want each shipment to be a surprise for as many members as possible.
7. The cost is $294 if Paid In Full (plus shipping) or three Installments of $98 (plus shipping). Please note that there is a $3 online processing fee for each billing. We take Visa, Discover or MasterCard. Unfortunately we cannot accept Money Orders or Checks for this offer.
8. If you pick a shipping service that does not include insurance or if you don’t pick the insurance, we do not have any responsibility for replacement of lost or damaged or misdirected orders.
9. If you move or need to change your credit card during the program, you can log into your account and change it there. This will change all of your future FSS billings and shipments. We will also be sending you reminders to check your address and cc before each billing/shipment goes out. We are not responsible for shipments that are lost due to incorrect shipping information on file.
10. We are waiting on the final schedule from China so we don’t know exactly when the first figures will ship. We hope it will be by Christmas. We will announce this as soon as we get the final schedule.
11. Some of the figures (single figures) MAY be available in the Club Store after the subscriber’s figures ship. These will be at a price of $32 per figure. There is no guarantee of availability of any of the figures in the club store. If you want to ensure getting these limited edition figures, you need to subscribe to the service.
So, a few points:
The price-per-figure appears to be $24.50 + SHIPPING!
Non-subscribers can order figures at the Club Store AFTER members’ figures ship at a cost of $32.00 IF any are available
Once started– the subscription service sign-up will be open through September 4, 2012.
I’ll post my thoughts in a subsequent post but that’s the OFFICIAL news from the Club.
In case you’ve forgotten what they look like– here are the 12 figures in the sub. More information available at http://www.gijoeclub.com .
