-Article by Justin Bell

Atlanta, Georgia. Besides a quick stop at the airport while traveling to Florida I had never been to this city, and that’s one of the things I really enjoy about the G.I. Joe convention. It allows me to regularly visit cities and regions of the country that I would normally not see. I took this opportunity to put some miles on the car and travel South.

My good buddy Mike was my wingman and provided plenty of toy-related conversation (as well as sports talk!) on the trip down, and before long, we found ourselves pulling into the Atlanta Marriot Marquis. As always, the Collectors’ Club did a great job choosing the hotel, with a large spacious lobby, plenty of space for mingling, and attached to a nice shopping mall, complete with food court. Thankfully the food court was infinitely more reasonable than the whopping twenty dollar breakfast buffet that the hotel restaurant offered.

We arrived in Atlanta Thursday afternoon around four o’clock, so we had a couple of hours to get settled before the whole registration process began. The day by day breakdown went as follows:

Thursday: Arrived in Atlanta, settled into the hotel and joined the massive registration lines. Brian came on the microphone promptly at 6:00 and gave us the lowdown on the Convention Exclusives being offered in Atlanta that weekend:

VAMP: The Convention Set “freebie” was a VAMP for Clutch to tool around in. I’m glad the VAMP is free, because I’m not sure I’d love to pay for this, considering how similar it looks to the Toys “R” Us exclusive version from a few years ago, I wouldn’t have been wild about dropping cash on it. As it is, the addition of this makes sense and it matches the set well.

Grand Slam/Starduster Two-Pack: This set got incredible attention the minute it was placed in the display case. In a terrific dark green and silver color scheme, both figures are very nicely detailed and come with a JUMP jetpack with laser, helmet, flame display stand, and additional weapon. They both fit in quite nicely with the rest of the Con set and the “Original 13” theme. The price of the two pack was $46.00.

Steeler w/ MOBAT: This was a mixture of good and bad news. The good news was that Steeler was getting a spot in the Convention set, and the green Mauler looks amazing. The bad news is that the Mauler had some production issues and would not be available to pick up in Atlanta. A shame. The figure itself looks very nice in a light brown color scheme that matches a number of the rest of the Convention figures. He looks very nice. The Mobat (as well as the Shredder) came in at $78.00.

Rip-It w/ COBRA Shredder: Rip-It is a repainted HISS Driver, in an amazing dark blue and black paint scheme that brings him together with the rest of the COBRA’s in the set. Combining this with the bright silver logo gives you a very cool looking HISS/Tank Driver leader. Like the Mauler, the Shredder had some production problems which meant it was not available to pick up at the Convention and will be shipped by Thanksgiving.

Rowdy Roddy Piper: The last Convention exclusive mentioned was the Rowdy Roddy Piper figure available mint on card. The reception seemed to be pretty strong and the figure looks decent, using a mixture of new sculpt parts. The art was nice, and at a price point of $25.00 the figure was the first exclusive to sell out.

It was announced that there was also some 25 th Anniversary Wave 2 figures available for sale (which only lasted a matter of minutes). The line-standing lasted a few hours as normal, and day one of the Con was quickly in the books.

Friday: We started off the day with a seminar with Larry Hama (unfortunately Kirk Bozigian had a family emergency and would not be available to come to the Convention). Mr. Hama gave us some insight into the first few years of A Real American Hero and the conversation was enlightening to say the least. He also broke down how he went about creating Issue #21. A fascinating seminar, to be sure.

After the roundtable I got out too late to get in line for the parachute drop, so I couldn’t volunteer, but I quickly traveled up to the 6 th floor of the Atrium and was able to watch the drop. The Collectors’ Club closed off the “landing zone”, so this time around there weren’t any kids (or adults really) who could stand underneath and retrieve the figures. There was a small construction zone nearby, though, where several men in hardhats were able to catch the figures falling from the air. A few lucky folks on other floors reached out and scored, too, but for the most part the figures all coasted easily to the floor and were retrieved by staff members. As always, an entertaining event, and I was quite surprised that the 8” figures floated so effortlessly to the ground.

After another couple of hours of Seminars, lunch, and other assorted fun convention activities, the time came for the moment of truth… the 2:00pm Sales Floor private preview!

In past years, we got a glimpse of a bunch of new upcoming product in the display cases once the doors open…but this year was a bit different. After a quick bumrush to the display cases, fans stopped and gaped at cases that were mostly filled with unproduced 8” figures. Lots of preproduction figures and 2.5” vehicles were scattered throughout the large glass cases which people seemed interested in. Packaged samples of 25 th Anniversary items and 8” items were also plentiful…but there was only one new item there. The 25 th Anniversary Crimson Guard.

The minute I saw the Crimson Guard I knew we would be in for a great treat with the rest of the weekend, this figure looked flat out incredible. Hasbro representatives mingled with fans as always and we just sat back for a while and enjoyed the toys.

A few hours later the sneak preview of the show room ended, and more events like the Game Show and G.I. Joe Film Fest rounded off the first full day of the Convention. So far, so good.

Saturday: Upon waking up I knew it would be a good day. I slept in a bit to rest up from late night activities the night before, but woke up early enough to hit breakfast and roll into the Hasbro Marketing presentation at 10:00. Where we only had one new 25 th Anniversary figure to see on Friday, Saturday would prove to be much more fruitful.

Hasbro representatives gave us a very good and reassuring speech in regards to the upcoming movie, the status of the toyline, and even some video game possibilities coming down the pipeline. But then we got to the juice of the presentation, and got a first hand look at Wave 1, 2008:

• Iron Grenadier Destro
• Crimson Guard
• Flash
• Snake Eyes (Black)
• Snow Job

Each figure looked great and used a nice amount of new tooling (with the exception of Snake Eyes).

After that bit of good news, we got a look at the first wave of Comic Packs:

• Duke Vs. COBRA Commander
• Snake Eyes Vs. Storm Shadow
• Scarlett & Hawk

Those we had seen before, but it was still nice seeing some updated color schemes and accessories for the figures. We also got a nice glimpse of some surprise exclusive vehicles available at Target next year!

• HISS w/ COBRA Officer
• AWE Striker w/ Crankcase
• Night Spectre (SHARC Repaint) w/ Grand Slam

As if that news wasn’t good enough, we also got word about Toys “R” Us Exclusive 5-Packs, full of troop builders.

• Night Watch theme COBRA Troopers and Officer
• Red Ninjas Vs. Snake Eyes

We then got a great close up view of most of these items and were able to take pictures, ask questions, and check them all out.

Went back to the sales floor for a few hours, then eagerly went to the Collectors’ Club round table, hoping to get some more new information. I would not be disappointed!

The Collectors’ Club decided to take this chance to make a big announcement. DTC Wave 4 will be getting produced through the Club!

• Lt. Falcon
• Outback
• Airtight
• Munitia
• COBRA Officer
• Night Viper

It appeared from the slideshow that these would appear to be single carded figures, though specifications and price points were not mentioned. The Collectors’ Club also made it clear that if we wanted color and paint alterations we should let them know ASAP so they can go forward with production changes and get these in the wings. Great news!

But better news was to follow…they also quietly announced next year’s free membership figure…and it’s the formerly unproduced Robot Rebellion COBRA Commander. It was a great surprise for all of us in attendance and will be a fantastic incentive for folks to joint the club.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to cruise on by, and before we knew it, we were in the midst of the official Club Casino night dinner, which was an absolute blast as always. Costumes were prevalent and the fact was proven that COBRA La is mighty scary in real life!

Sunday: Like Saturday, I pulled myself out of bed a bit late, grabbed some breakfast and meandered my way down to the Devils’ Due roundtable. Some very cool bits of information from the comic guys, including the revalation of the thirteen-member Plague team:

• Guillotine – COBRA Eel
• Gallows – SAW Viper
• Grim Skull – Sand-Viper
• Blackout – COBRA Operative; Joe Trainee
• Body Bags -- Range Viper (not Skull Buster)
• Bayonet -- Snow Serpent
• Munitia -- H.I.S.S. Tank Driver
• Velocity -- A.V.A.C.
• Vector -- Laser Viper
• Vanguard -- Nick Bailey (the character Cobra Commander recruited in ELITE #25).
• Interrogator – COBRA Operative
• Incision -- Aleph, the Night Creeper Leader
• Infrared -- Crimson Guard/Crimson Guard Immortal

The costume designs are fantastic (although still not 100% approved by Hasbro). A very anti-military look with Commando sweaters, updated helmet designs (that are still extremely reminiscent of the classic character’s look). I love how all of the characters look, and hopefully once Hasbro approves the designs we’ll be able to see just how cool these characters are. Devils’ Due did say there would be full Data Desk entries on these characters in an upcoming issue as well, so we can see just who these guys are. It sounds like an excellent premise and they’re really doing the concept justice.

We also got a sneak peek at issues #28 and 29 and there are definitely some intense things coming up in the pages of America’s Elite. I think World War III is really going to impress some people. Unfortunately, though, there was some sad news to be reported at the panel…as of Issue #7, the Storm Shadow solo series will be ending. The Panelists could not really reveal a reason behind the decision, merely that it was a “business” decision. It is a shame to hear, as I really loved that book, but I’m sure everyone has their reasons for the cancellation.

The questions about the future of the license with Devils’ Due was brought up to the Mike O’Sullivan as well, but, understandably, he could not comment on that and would prefer to leave those questions to Josh Blaylock (who was not present).

All in all, this seminar gave me a great feeling about where America’s Elite is headed and who is in charge of the book’s production. Mike O’Sullivan was exceptionally knowledgeable, well spoken, and seemed interested in our questions and comments. A very productive panel. Mike Bear (the artist for America’s Elite) was also there and provided some neat insight to what kind of research and work goes into the series on a monthly basis.

Directly after the Devils’ Due roundtable, it was time for the second Hasbro session! Everyone was looking forward to this one based on the hints from Day 1 that we would see some new Comic Pack figures! Turns out our 24 hour wait was well worthwhile.

We started out by checking out one of the Wave 2 comic packs… Torch and Ripper, the Dreadnoks! Each of the two figures using some rehashed parts, but with new paint schemes, new heads, and some new items worked into the figures to make them resemble their classic versions like you wouldn’t believe. The two figures looked GREAT.

After that little bombshell, we got treated to another… Larry Hama is BACK with Hasbro! Our next revelation was that Larry Hama would be returning to the Joe line to write new comic material for upcoming comic packs. That’s right… NEW material. These new comics would be written as if they’re “between the pages” of existing comics. The first cover shown featured Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow (which drew some groans from the audience). Joe Brand Manager Neil Hoffman assured us that the figures would be significantly new in this first comic pack. We got to see a few pages (apparently this issue takes place between the pages of issue #21). Our next comic pack revelation featured COBRA Commander and the Crimson Guard on the cover of the book and was entitled “A Day in the Life in Springfield”. It appears to take place between the pages of Issue #10 (although the Crimson Guards don’t first appear until much later in the series) but that was tough to tell from the initial discussion. No mention of Dr. Venom or anything.

The seminar ended with some more questions and answers, and we were able to take some close up looks at the two new Dreadnoks. Trust me when I say they look absolutely amazing.

The rest of Sunday was spent making a few more laps around the sales floor, finishing up some booths, taking some more last looks at the display cases. Saying good-bye to the fans I wouldn’t see until next year, and just relishing in the last few hours of convention time.

ast year’s convention left a lot of the 3 ¾” collectors a bit cold. A lot of 8” stuff, not much news on the 3 ¾” front, and it seemed like somewhat of a down year. This year was a celebration of the 25 th Anniversary of A Real American Hero, was chock full of 3 ¾” new figures, movie news, and even some rumors of video games on the horizon. There was a ton of stuff to do every day and it certainly looked like a great time was had by all. Once again Hasbro and the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club have done a fantastic time making the entire weekend a fun and informative experience. Make sure to hit up www.gijoeclub.com for all convention details and become a member so we can see you next year! Yo Joe!

Convention Gallery (Photos by Justin Bell):