G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary Eagle’s Edge Review

 

G.I. Joe 50th anniversary Eagles edge

It’s a new week with a new G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary review!  This time JBL takes on the Eagle’s Edge three-pack featuring General Hawk, Leatherneck, and a brand-new Destro!

It’s an interesting mix of old and new– a mix of G.I. Joe Retaliation and Pursuit of Cobra as Hasbro attempts to celebrate a half century of “America’s Moveable Fighting Man.”  I won’t lie– there’s some good, some bad, and some ugly but it’s still three classic characters in one reasonably-priced retail three-pack that’s currently available at both Toys R Us retail locations and online at Bigbadtoystore.com.

Check out the individual reviews in the G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary Review Index!

Plus, check back this week as JBL debuts a series of Halloween-themed reviews tomorrow!  Plus, the Social Clash review is coming soon!

G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary Items Hit Ebay

G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary Social Clash Lady Jaye Baroness

It was bound to happen sooner rather than later.  Ebay seller viperskingdom has listed several items from the forthcoming 50th Anniversary collection up for auction.  I’ve mirrored some of the images below but all of his auctions may also be found HERE.

First, the pictures, then some commentary….

Okay, I’m just going to go straight to the elephant in the room– the incredibly poor paint applications seen on the Lady Jaye figure.  Really– that’s one of the worst paint decos I’ve seen since the 2000 relaunch of the brand with the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra era.  This is the same head that was used by the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club for the Night Force Lady Jaye that was a 2013 Joe Con convention souvenir which means that fans have already seen how this head can turn out.  They’ve now got something to compare this “G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary” version to.  (I still argue that it’s really the “32nd Anniversary of ARAH”.)  Those same fans have also come to expect a certain level of quality from Hasbro produced items.

This isn’t it.  It’s like QC just took the night off and let the interns take a shot at painting.

As for the rest of the line?  Well, quite honestly– it’s uninspired.  Rather than celebrating the wide half-century history of a brand that redefined action figures for generations the marketing folks at Hasbro cobbled together a collection of repaints and some concept vault figures and called it a night.  While the more recent Joe fans might like the offerings, this long time Joe fan finds them lazy, uninspired, and downright insulting to the collectors of the 1:6 era that put G.I. Joe on the map in the first place.

Sure, there’s going to be a Snow Wolf and a “mostly new” Leatherneck, but overall this line is nothing even close to what it really should have been.

Check out the rest of viperskingdom’s current G.I. Joe auctions on Ebay.

Collector’s Club unveils G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary Images

G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary VAMP

We’ve got some G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary images– courtesy of the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Facebook page!  Eagle-eyed fans will recognize some of these figures from the Concept Case from Joe Con 2013.

I’ve mirrored them below but I’d also encourage everyone to stop by their Facebook page and give ’em a “Like” to stay abreast of the latest GIJCC news!

Also, check out the continually updated JBL Toy Fair 2014 Coverage as the day progresses!

2013 JoeCon: Hasbro’s concept case v2

This year at JoeCon many fans seemed disappointed that Hasbro didn’t have more to showcase in terms of new product.  During the Hasbro panel, it was announced that there was nothing new to see due to the six month delay of the release of G.I. Joe Retaliation.  So, attendees steeled themselves and found other news to be excited about.

I was sitting in the “What’s On Joe Mind” panel when my cell phone rang.  It was Madmac41 telling me to get my keester down to the dealer’s room and bring my camera.  So, I sauntered down, spotted him, and then dropped to my knees in awe.  (Literally.)  There, in the midst of the Hasbro case were new “concept case” figures and right smack dab in the middle of them was the greatest Marine to ever grace the team’s roster: GUNG-HO!  (Suck it, Leatherneck.)  Seriously– completely unannounced and unexpected.

There’s no guarantee that these figures will get made but are merely presented as means of gauging interest.  So, this is one of the few times that I’ll ask anything of the fandom– if you have the opportunity, drop the name GUNG-HO at every opportunity.  After all, he was one of the core characters in the Sunbow series as well as Larry Hama’s Marvel run.

With no further comments, here are the 2013 Concept Case figures: