GI Joe Overload (Joverload?)

It's funny, in the period of time between the postponement of GI JOE:RETALIATION and New Years there was little to no new GI Joe product on the shelves.  Sure, there was the Figure Subscription Service for the GIJCC, but for those of us who didn't want to take out a 2nd mortgage for some custom action figures it was a very dry period without our favorite Real American Hero(es).

Well, not anymore.  Seemingly overnight GI Joe has returned to retail shelves, true, it's nowhere near the presence they used to have, but compared to the last 8 months or so it's a freakin' bonanza!

And it's not just the Retaliation figures, fans now have their choice of three sizes of Joes, each with their own combination of cuteness and lethality.

I was really excited to see the Retaliation hanging on the pegs, it had been too long since I picked up a new GI Joe, even if it's $10.  Overall I have been very impressed with the 2nd wave of figures, especially Lady Jaye and Mouse from the Tactical Ninja (Wha?) 3 Pack.  Even derpy-eyed Joe Colton has his charms.  Now that I've got my fill, it's a short wait until the next waves arrives sometime in May (In-between is Joecon, at which time I will probably buy "a few" more figures.).

Also on the shelves are the GI Joe Microforce figures, and while I tried to resist buying them for a while, their cute little bodies and oversized heads won me over, and I caved.  I made sure to snag an Adventure Team Commander right off, and while the line seems overrun with ninjas, it is still a fun line to collect, and at $3 for a blind bag 2 pack, fairly affordable.

Finally, we come to the Toys R US exclusive GI Joe Kre-O line.  The words "Toys R Us Exclusive" make me shudder, as their distribution seems at best to be hit or miss.  I still have had no luck picking up an AT Commander Kreon, but the three sets I got are a lot of fun and are really faithful to their 3 3/4" counterparts. 

It makes it really hard to resist buying them right now, as TRU is running a buy one, get one 50% off sale right now, if you have thought about trying the line, now is a perfect time to dip your toe in the water.  Even if you don't have a TRU close buy, the sale is also running at toysrus.com so give them a try!  Hopefully the sales will be strong enough for more sets, I need a Kreon Adventure Team!

GI JOE: RETALIATION opens in a little over 4 weeks, so get ready, who knows when we'll see this much GI Joe stuff again!

Meet Shane Black

IRON MAN 3 opens in a little over two months, I can't wait to see and hear more of Robert Downey Jr. speaking Shane Black's dialog, the snark-o-meter should be very high.

 "Oh crap!!"

IM3 will be the second movie that teams Downey with Shane Black, the first one was 2005's KISS KISS BANG BANG.  I highly recommend checking it out, Downey and costar Val Kilmer are in rare form, and I guarantee you will want to see it more than once.

 Iron Man and Batman

Shane Black has written the screenplays for LETHAL WEAPON, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (Another underrated movie), and THE LAST ACTION HERO (It wasn't that bad).  In addition to these movies, he was also Hawkins in PREDATOR, the first one killed in that movie.

"What, there's something behind me?"

May 3rd can't get here fast enough!

GIJCC Iceberg Revealed

I know it can be trendy to kill the GIJCC for some of the moves they make, but when they get something right they deserve praise.  The 2013 3 3/4" membership figure Iceberg has been revealed, and to me it looks great!

 

I never liked really liked the Iceberg figure when he was released.  I collected all G.I. Joe figures, even the arctic ones, and Iceberg always struck me a blah figure, with one crappy white rifle for an accessory .  This Iceberg, however, is coll looking , and a great use of parts, and he didn't get shortchanged on the accessories this time around, way to go GIJCC!  I will be getting the Comrade of Action figure, but will look to pick up an Iceberg at Joecon.

Six Weeks Til Joecon

As of right now we are six weeks and change from the 2013 G.I. Joe Collectors Convention (Joecon) in Indianapolis.  This year's convention will be held April 4-7 at the JW Marriot Indianapolis, and should be a great time for everyone attending.

http://www.gijoecon.com/in2013/index.cfm

This will be my 7th convention, with my first one being the Norfolk Convention in 2002.  I have seen a lot of change in those 11 years, the main one being the rise of the 3 3/4" Real American Hero figures as the dominant force int he hobby.  I am a collector of both, and it has given me a great opportunity to meet collectors for all over the world and to make quite a few lasting friendships.

This year I have decided to immerse myself fully into the convention experience.  Not that I haven't do a lot in the previous 6 conventions, but this year I really wanted to go all out.  Not only am I attemtping to enter all contests, including the film festival, I am also going to dip my toe in the cosplay pool, yikes!  Plus, I will once again be hanging out at the Joecustoms.com table, talking figure customizing and other inportant stuff, come on by and say "Howdy".

I will also be blogging and tweeting  at the convention, with a 12" slant on things.  For 3 3/4" coverage, you can't beat the excellent reports from Generalsjoes.com, THE 3 3/4" news site.

If you can't already tell, I am getting fired up for the convention, and even if you aren't a fan, stay tuned, it should be fun!

Killin Time on a Saturday

We had fairly decent weather today, so I took advantage of it by busting out something I have been planning for a while.  For the 2009 GI Joe Convention in Kansas City I made a remote control Cobra vehicle that I dubbed the Cobra SCAR.  It was an old Cobra Bat APC mounted on a Hot Wheels RC car I got cheap at Wal-Mart, and I have to say the whole thing went together nicely, meaning it actually rolled around like it was supposed to.  I entered it in the Wheels for Joe competition, and out of the four entries I finished, well, 4th.  But I was still proud of it and couldn't wait for the next time I could take it out for a spin....

...which was three years later.  I found a sport video camera on clearance for $15, and with a little imagination and electrical tape, I managed to mount it to the SCAR, and here is the result:

Not bad for just messing around, and if you liked that, wait til you see what I have planned for Joecon in Indianapolis!

Five Points of Apathy

Another Toy Fair has come and gone, and fanboys everywhere are figuring how much blood they will need to sell in 2013 to get all of the action figures, playsets, and vehicle that were unveiled in New York last weekend.  And while there were some really neat reveals, I noticed a trend that seems to be picking up steam, and one that is disappointing to say the least.

More and more companies seem to be rolling out action figure lines that feature figures with only five points of articulation, at the neck, shoulders, and hips.  I know this is done to help keep the price of figures down amidst the rising cost of materials and manufacturing, but it just kills the desirability of these figures for me and other collectors.  This trend begun in 2011 with the Green Lantern movie line, which was just plain awful, and has continued into the Iron Man 3 line, the Star Wars line, and in the GI Joe line, the upcoming Max Steel line, and shows no sign of stopping.   

"Oillll can."

It’s with the GI Joe line that I have the biggest issue with figures with limited articulation.  Beginning with the Retaliation line all figures included with vehicles have 5 POA, which is too bad, because a lot of the figures would have made great additions to my collection; instead they are thrown into my custom fodder bin and not given a 2^nd look.  One of my favorite features of GI Joe figures, 12-inch and 3 ¾ inch, has always been the incredible articulation the figures had, in fact it’s why I dumped Star Wars figures for GI Joe figures in 1982.  Looking at the Cobra Commander that came with the Retaliation HISS Tank just makes me sad.

Cool design, crappy posability

Perhaps the biggest abomination with 5 POA are the 12” figures of the Spider-Man, GI Joe, Star Wars, and Iron Man 3 lines.  Yeah, they’re cheap ($13), but look at them, what can you do with these?  Put them on a shelf?  Use that as a weapon?  Ugh!  I am stunned that figure being made today can’t even come close to matching a figure that was created almost 50 years ago for play value.

Which one looks cooler?

I know the companies say this is used to keep costs down, but right now an Assembler Iron Man 3 costs the same as a GI Joe Retaliation figure, so what gives?  And how long will it be before the 5 POA is replaced with figures in static “Action” poses?  Yes, it really seems like the days of the mult-poseable action figure are numbered, and soon they will be shuffling off into the sunset.



My Evening is Set!

I don't know about anyone else, but I know how I am going to spending my evening tonight:

To me, Sean Connery was pretty much James Bond, and then came Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE.  His take on OO7 was completely different from anyone else who has played him, a combination of vulnerability and lethality the like of which the series has never seen before.  Ok, QUANTUM OF SOLACE was kind of a dud, but all of that was forgotten with SKYFALL.

Not to give too much away for those who haven't seen it yet, but SKYFALL wraps of James Bond's "Origin" and gives us the tried and true OO7 we've known for the last 50 years, but in a more ground, less campy way.  The franchise has never been stronger, and Craig is well on his way to supplanting Connery as the greatest Bond ever. 

The DVD/Blu Ray is out today, and even if you are not a fan of Bond films you may be surprised at how much you like SKYFALL. 

Tales from the Quarter Bin: NFL SuperPro

Licensed comic books have always had a spotty history, for every G.I. Joe and Micronauts there seems to be 2 or 3 comics like US1 or Sectaurs to make you shake your head.  As bad as some of those are, nothing can compete with probably the worst licensed comic book of the last 30 years: NFL SuperPro.

Don't be fooled by this nice looking cover: it's crap.

The story goes like this: football play Paul Grayfield suffers a career-ending knee injury saving a child from falling.  Right there you can tell this has no basis in reality, maybe if he had shot himself in the leg with a gun he tried to smuggle into a nightclub it would have been more believable.  Not just a football player, Mr. Grayfield is also a scientist, which means he graduated from College, so that’s strike two in the believability department.  Out of football because of his injury, he develops a near-indestructible football uniform, but instead of using it to cut down on concussions, he keeps it for himself to become a Super Hero: NFL SuperPro!

Paul Grayfield: a Man's Man.

Published in 1991, this stinker managed to last for 12 issues, to put this in perspective, the first run of the Incredible Hulk only managed 6 issues in 1962.  While the Hulk managed to go on to become a movie and TV star, SuperPro has become Quart Bin fodder, destined to forever be remembered as one of the worst comic books ever, and in an industry that has Rob Liefeld in it, that is saying something!

Yeah, whatever.

Published in 1991, this stinker managed to last for 12 issues, to put this in perspective, the first run of the Incredible Hulk only managed 6 issues in 1962.  While the Hulk managed to go on to become a movie and TV star, SuperPro has become Quart Bin fodder, destined to forever be remembered as one of the worst comic books ever, and in an industry that has Rob Liefeld in it, that is saying something!  My biggest grip has to be that I have yet to see a comib book srtist draw a convincing football uniform.  Or basball uniform, or baseball game for that matter.  Really, there is nothing in this turd that is even remotely good, stay away, I took the bullet so you didn't have to. 

Good and Evel Knievel

Here's a picture of me as a young lad on Christmas Morning, 1974.  I had just unwrapped and unboxed an Evel Knievel Stunt Stadium and was busy at work trying to figure out how to assemble it.  Once it was assemble it was another struggle to make Evel do the stunts that looked so easy to do on the box.

In addition to the Stunt Stadium I also received the Derry Daring Stunt Cycle that year (You can see the box right by my head).  An attempt by Ideal to bring girls into the Evel Knievel craze, Derry had a much shorter shelf life then Evel.  At this point, I didn't care if it was aimed at girls, I just wanted some variety with my stunt cycles.  Sadly, the Stunt Stadium is long gone, as are the shag carpet and orange mushroon footstool, but I still have the Derry Daring figure, she is currently residing in my garage.

Synergy! (Or maybe Syn-nerdgy)

I tweeted this blog address, now I'm blogging my Twitter address here. Synergy!

@NxtGr8Adventure

So it begins!

Welcome to the all-new Next Great Adventure Blog! 

Before we get knee-deep in the geekery, let me start off by giving you a little introduction about myself and my interests.  My name is Michael Walstrom, and I was born a Geek.  Some of my earliest memories were watching televisionand movies, reading comic books, and collecting action figures.  Some folks grow out of this stage in their teens, but I never did, instead it got bigger (And way more expensive!).  One of my favorite things is discussing my interests with other people, and thanks to the Internet I have the opportunity to discuss it with way more people than I ever imagined, so even if you don’t know who Snake Eyes or Lightning Lad are I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog, and I will do my best to be entertaining.

Stay Tuned!