Joe Con 2016: Armchair Coverage Begins!

joe con 2016 armchair coverage square

Joe Con 2016 has officially begun!

Sadly, this year it wasn’t in the cards for the JBL admin to attend what is Fun Publications final year as administrator of the annual G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention.  While I’ll miss not being able to catch up with some old friends and getting to see the new product reveals at Saturday’s Hasbro panel, it doesn’t mean that JBL will be going dark throughout the weekend.

Instead, we’ll be doing our best to provide comprehensive coverage of the event, thanks to the efforts of all of the other individuals attending.  We’ll provide links to coverage as it goes up on sites from HISSTank.com, to ToyNewsI.com, and even our fellow “at home” correspondants over at GeneralsJoes.com.

Sure, you’ll get some commentary along the way but that’s just part of the experience. Coverage of this year’s event will be archived on the 2016 G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention page.

Now, on to the news!

Wednesday Golden Ticket Package Pickup:

Tonight was intended to be the Golden Ticket package pickup in which those individuals who spent the extra $300 to purchase the “Joe Con Speed Pass” get a first crack at their sets and at the bonus attendee exclusive item.  However, it was announced by the folks from Fun Publications that their “shipment was delayed at customs and then held up due to a sick driver” and that, hopefully, items will arrive by tomorrow and the Golden Ticket pickup will be at 3pm, with the rest attendee registration beginning at 6pm MST.

The t-shirts and the comics were on hand but were not permitted to be released until the sets arrive.

That’s all we know for now… so stay tuned to JBL for more Joe Con 2016 coverage!

Save G.I. Joe petition now live at Change.org

Save G.I. Joe petition

Bummed by the Collector’s Club news this week? Do you want to help Save G.I. Joe?  Look no further than one fan’s petition and make your voice heard!

We live in an age of social activism.  It is far easier to rally the troops behind a cause than at any other point in history due to the 24/7 interconnected nature of our society.  As such, when all of the news about the potential end of Fub Publications’ relationship with Hasbro and the cessation of new G.I. Joe Collector’s Club memberships after March 16 dropped this week, many fans were shell-shocked.

What did this mean for the brand?  Was G.I. Joe going to go away? Would there never be another Joe Con again?  Where would fans get their tangible and social G.I. Joe fix?  Is this really the deh of teh line!1!!!???

Over on Change.org, there’s a petition to #SaveGIJoe.  While the future of the brand itself is at least being discussed as part of the forthcoming Hasbro Cinematic Universe many fans still want to let Hasbro know that G.I. Joe (and the annual Joe Con) still has a following and is still important to them.  As such, the petition was started as a show of support not for Fun Publications or A Real American Hero but for the larger brand of G.I. Joe itself.  Yes, much of the focus is about the annual Joe Con but, according to one of the organizers of the petition, the goal is (and I’m paraphrasing here) to remind a billion dollar company to not only remember what the last 50+ years has built but to see what the next 50+ years could bring.

If you’d like to throw your name in to support the Save G.I. Joe petition, head on over to Change.org and not only sign but add in your own comments as well.  Plus, you can use the hashtag #savegijoe to further the message on your favorite social media platforms.

And now you know…

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Fun Publications to end relationship with Hasbro in 2016

fun publications hasbro

Fun Publications is ending its relationship with Hasbro in 2016.  This has been rumored for some time based on the changes to memberships for both the G.I. Joe and Transformers Collector’s Clubs.  While nothing official has been stated regarding this from either the folks on Cattle Barron Drive or Hasbro, a recent email to all Transformers Collector’s Club members offers us our most concrete evidence to date:

“All memberships will end December 31, 2016.  Hasbro looks forward to sharing new plans for the Collector’s Club with you in the future.”

Okay, let’s read that again.

Hasbro looks forward to sharing new plans for the Collector’s Club with you in the future.

Did you notice something?  Nowhere in that statement does it say “Hasbro is ending Transformers and G.I. Joe forever.” It does, however, indicate, that Hasbro will no longer be relying on Fun Publications to administer the Transformers Club and, by implied association, the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club. Continue reading

G.I. Joe Collector’s Club January Newsletter to Update Status

GIJCC update

It looks like the January issue of the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club newsletter may potentially offer more information about the recent changes in Collector’s Club memberships that were revealed before the holidays.

Amidst a great deal of speculation over the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club forums, the “FubPubAdmin” account posted this bit of text:

 All the information we have has been released. No further details are available at this time. We continue to take renewals so that members that expire between now and March 16th can still get the 2016 FREE figures, as these are two of the best figures we have ever produced!

 

In addition, as a continuing active member, you will still be eligible to purchase FSS 5.0 should you desire to participate.

So…. FSS 5?!  That’s either a typo or Fun Publications’ relationship with the G.I. Joe brand may have a bit more life in it for 2016, aside from delivering FSS 4.0 and running the Colorado GIJoeCon in June.

A bit further down the thread, one last bit of information regarding the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club was posted: Continue reading

FPComics.com debuts– the comics arm of the Fun Publications

With the 2012 Joe Convention getting underway in New Orleans, you might expect that most of the Joe-related news right now is going to be centered around “Darklon is an exclusive!” or “Ice Cream Soldier is the parachute figure!!”  Well, imagine my surprised when Ben Yee of BWTF.com posted a link to a new website…

http://www.fpcomics.com/

Currently more of a static image than a fully functioning website (although I suspect this is just a ‘preview’), FP Comics seems to be the publishing arm of Master Collector/Fun Publications.  It’s also a site where fans can order previous convention comics for both G.I. Joe and Transformers as well as a series called “Lydia vs. Zombies”.  (No idea what it’s about as the individual title links aren’t working right now.)  The current main pages indicates that comics will be available in the July edition of Previews from Diamond Comics Distributors.

It’s certainly an interesting move for the folks down at Cattle Baron Drive and one that could pay off for them in the future in a ‘print on demand’ kind of way.  With IDW Publishing regular Joe and TF titles I don’t know how much intial appeal this will have but if FP Comics starts to offer trade paperback versions of the monthly Joe news letter comics I know one particular site admin who will be placing an immediate pre-order.  (Seriously– the AT comic is surprisingly good!)

Check out the preview over at FPComics.com!