The Game: CONTESTS! PRIZES!

Hello all,

As you know the main purpose of this blog was to discuss the game I have been developing for a while now. I am happy to say that the response on. the survey I ran for a month as it was very positive only one person thought it wasn't any good. However, I've not had too many responses to my requests for your own squads and battle reports.

Now since the response has been so positive I now realize that perhaps the need for incentives is in order! It's just a brainstorm for now but I am thinking I'll be running a contest of some kind. I can't quite decide what type of contest. I mean it could be one of the following:

-Best custom squad
-Best Battle report
-Best Battlefield (terrain)

It will have to be game related though and the truth is it wouldn't have many other limitations. Now I don't know whether to run it through this blog, Joecustoms or in conjunction with Slayer Design Studios. As for Prizes I am thinking of some sort of voucher from an online store. Maybe Marauder gun runners, SDS, Big bad toy store or some place like that.

Now I haven't contacted any of these sites and nothing's official yet, but I really want to promote the game further as interest will lead me to put extra effort into developing (more like refining) and publishing the finished advanced rules. Look out for the contest some time next year. Feel free to contact me with any ideas for the contest.


In other news....

1. I have spoken to Slayer Dave from slayer design studios and he has demonstrated great interest in the game and we are currently discussing what we can do with it.I haven't heard from him for a while but he is a very, very, busy man! I have provided him with some ultra secret documents and I'm sure I'll hear back from him soon....

2. I have been thinking a lot about the current G.I.JOE wave with the Zombie Vipers and while I am not a big zombie fan, I have some great ideas on how to integrate zombies or other similar creatures into the game, even if it's just for a single mission (I'm sure people want more than the stand alone mission that's currently included in the basic version of the game). Imagine wielding a chainsaw or a shotgun while trying to resist wave after wave of zombies...

3. On the customs front, I am currently working on a nautical themed Cobra unit, I've been watching too many WWII U-Boat documentaries!

4. On the toy-buying front, I am currently only waiting for the Dreadnok and Marauders pack to become available so I can click 'ship my loot now' for my massive order over at BBTS. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Anyways,
Thanks for reading and like I wrote earlier feel free to contact me here at the blog or the following:

g.i.jac0001@gmail.com
Google+
Facebook
I need to add people to my circles! So very lonely...

One last thing: I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! God Bless!

Behind the Times: G.I.JOE Retaliation

Hello all,

well this isn't so 'behind the times' but I'm sure it's already been reviewed to death already all over the net by other more 'important' people.Just watched the trailer above and I have to say it is looking awesome! I like the first film, but I can't really say that I love it. Maybe I'll do a review on that some time later.

On with the likes, dislikes:

LIKES
- Cobra Commander
-Cobra Flags over the white house

The Rock, I mean Roadblock

-All other Joes are dead (explaining away Hawk, Scarlett, Breaker, etc)
-Ninjas, and I don't usually like Ninjas!
-Ninja Showdown
-Snake eye's mask
-Potentially Agent Helix
-Jinx
-Not too much sci-fi stuff on the Cobra end
-Did I mention the Cobra Commander
-Bruce Willis of course!

Dislikes
-Where's Destro?
-Where's Hawk, Scarlett, Breaker, etc. Where's Ripcord even!
- The Way Snake eyes is restrained: it looks ridiculous!

Well there you have it. Is this even a review? I don't know more of a likes/dislikes list. With a review, I feel I need to write about filmography, camera angles, symbols etc. Anyways, I am really looking forward to the toy line for this film. I give this toy commercial, I mean film trailer: 5/5 behind the times (still haven't thought of anything better)

Iron Grenadiers

Hello all!

This is the second installment  of my 'armies' these are my Iron Grenadiers, I have to say it is very cool to see them all on display I love the red, black and gold! they say pictures say a thousand words so I'll stop writing and you can check the photos out below.

As usual feel free to comment, send me an e-mail g.i.jac0001@gmail.com or join me over at google +
as always, if you haven't already, check out the game

Iron Grenadiers and Heavy Trooper

Officers. Left to Right: Highlander, Deathwish,Heavy Metal, Destro, General Mayhem and Big Mac

Mars Troopers

Bird's Eye

JAC's Armies: G.I.JOE (Green Army Men)

VEHICLES

After writing my latest new 'feature' Behind the times, I decided that I should start photographing all my figures together and display them here. although it took a long time, I have to say I really enjoyed taking the figures out of their storage boxes and setting them up. They look great together specially with the vehicles, I usually purchase a new figure or figures, I open them, display them for a week or so and then I store them with all the others. I have a lot of figures but it's not often that I get to see them all together, using the figures is part of the reason why I came up with the game in the first place.

Greenshirts

Now I got rid of all my old Joes a while ago and although I regret it from time to time, I must say I am happy with the new figures. A couple of things to get out of the way before I begin:

-I mix the different Joe lines together, for example I have Resolute, ROC, POC and 25th all together existing in the same universe.
-I mix different figure lines, particularly the POWER TEAM ELITE vehicles.
-I am not a completest
 -I do not adhere to any real Joe Canon, growing up I had the cartoon and my imagination. To this day I prefer the latter

G.I.JOE

The figures in the pictures represent my G.I.JOE army you will see all three elements: Land, Sea and Air.

Steel Brigade

To start off the Green army men.
 -Officers
-Greenshirts
-Steel Brigade (next level up after Green-shirts)
-Joes
-Medics
-The A team










Hope you enjoy seeing my collection.

LAND

Officers and bodyguards

Medics: Doc, Stat and Panacea

Famous Joes (The Elite)

The A Team

Officers: Col. Strong (my own creation), LT. Steel (my own creation), Col. Courage, LT. Peck (Faceman), Col. Smith (Hannibal), GEN. Hawk, GEN. Thaddeus, Thunderbolt, Ross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VEHICLES

Buggy and modified Rockslide ATV

Lower level: Recondo and 'Sandman' AKA 'Sandy'. Upper level: Duke, Bulldog and Dusty

SEA

AIR

So thanks for looking guys, hope you liked the pictures, if you want comment, email me at: g.i.jac0001@gmail.com or check me out at Google+

Behind the Times: IDW Cobra Civil War: G.I.JOE

 Hello all,

Don't actually 'click', got this from Amazon.

From time to time I will put up reviews, relating to products I have purchased including comics, action figures, games and movies even. Cause, well why not? I will call this section 'Behind the times' because, well I'm usually just that, I buy games when they're on special, I get all my figures from the U.S.A so that by the time they arrive here they have been reviewed to death all over the net. So here I will express my opinion relating to these items, as always I appreciate comments through my e-mail g.i.jac0001@gmail.com, at Google+ or post below.

Cobra Civil War: G.I.Joe:Volume 1

Just got and then read IDW's Cobra Civil War: G.I.Joe Volume 1 and unlike with the last set of comics I got from Amazon, which included the whole set of G.I.Joe: Cobra Volumes 1 to 4 and  G.I.Joe Volumes 1 to 5. I am a bit frustrated that I can't read on. You can read a bit more about them here.

I don't really like reading comics an issue at a time, I always wait and buy them when they are collected in volumes. So that I can read the whole story arc all at once. Again I know that I am behind the times here but hey where else am I gonna express my views on a comic book?

R.I.P-C.C.

Anyway, I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed G.I.Joe: Cobra. However, there are some elements I enjoyed and there are some other elements that I didn't enjoy so much. I will list them all below, I don't know if I should write spoiler alert as, like I said before, most of you have read the comics already.

Likes:
-Blacklight's ambush of Stalker's Squad and his getaway in a trouble bubble
-Zartan's Raid of the PIT (Question: is Zartan African American now?)
-Zartan using Leatherneck's Defence Mech or what looks like one.
-Brainstorm's heroic sacrifice
-Mainframe's crush on Scarlett
-The panel on page 13 where the Crimson Guard are carrying the fallen Cobra Commander
-The fact that Storm Shadow works for a Japanese representative of Cobra and not the Commander (RIP) directly
-The way the crimson guard are used, not so much in this comic but more so in G.I.Joe: Cobra. Never really liked the identical accountant/lawyer deal.

Dislikes:

Don't like this guy

-Why is it called 'Cobra Civil War'? It should be more like 'The great Cobra Competition' or something! When I think civil war I expect IG's vs CG's
-The whole Duke got himself infected side story, well maybe we'll see airtight soon.
-Krake, not liking Krake or the way he massacred the Joe squad, oh and I'm no fan of BBQ so don't think it's that.
-The fact that Storm-Shadow and Jinx didn't have a showdown as depicted in the cover art

Anyways, I'm hoping that Cobra Civil War: Cobra Volume 1 and Cobra Civil War: Snake Eyes Volume 1 are better. Don't get me wrong it was very interesting and it was cool to see the Pit taken down as well as Zartan and Blacklight in action but I would actually like to see some Cobra infighting, not 80's cartoon squabbling but some real intrigue and outright  battles.

A lot of people are very negative about these comics, but I must say that I am enjoying them, I give this Volume 3/5 Behind the times. That's the best I could come up with, so for now that's the unit of measure.

Custom Colonel Courage

Hello all,

How often do you get such great alliteration in a title? Below you'll find some WIP pictures and the finished product. My interpretation of the character is that he is very pedantic and  a bit of a nerd. But a brave warrior when in a fight. The fact he is smaller than the other Joes helps put this point across, I think too many joe figures fit in the 'big black guy' cliche. I like that Courage is the brainy sort, a tactician and a fighter.

I used the Star Wars head everyone has been using for this custom but I avoided the 25th Duke body. The parts I chose give him a WW2 American officer feel to him. The top half of the figure is Indiana Jones with a tie, the lower half is the Indiana Jones German soldier figure. The Webbing and the helmet are from the 25th anniversary line but I don't remember from who exactly. The guns are from Marauder gun runners and the colonel decal is from Cobra stickers.

Let me know what you think and check out the game while you're here it's free to download.
Contact me at: g.i.jac0001@gmail.com

WIP Courage

WIP Courage with Equipment

Spindoctor's Customs II

Riot Gear

CHiPs

Last month I posted photos of the AGP and custom Nullifier I purchased from Spindoctor from Joecustoms. I mentioned that I had purchased another two figures from him as well in that post and they arrived last week. The figures are Highway, a police officer based on the old C.O.P.S toyline and Gnawgahyde a Dreadnok. Like the Nullifier, I love the work he put into these two figuresI really like this version of Gnawgahde more than the pictures I've seen of the upcoming BBTS version. I'm still buying the set though!

Not only are they great customs but it's like I purchased two POC figure, they each came wit a lot of accessories. Gnawgahyde came with a bow, quiver, machete, pistol and removable hat, necklace and custom painted vest. Highway came with a removable vest, helmet, glasses, pistol and coolest of all a bike.

The Highway custom is great and I think it fits right in with the custom police squad I made for Mr E, I have added a few photos of Highway with the other police officers (above and below). If you want to see some more pictures of the police officers in action check out the battle report.  The cool thing about the two figures are the paint application and the fact that they look as though I purchased them from a local store, they even came with a custom base. I have made only a slight modification to Highway, I added 'Police' Decals so he could fit in with the other officers. Just one final note about the figures: Although some of the parts that Spindoctor used are instantly recognizable, I love that he has modified them enough so that they look like brand new characters and figures. Spindoctor usually sells his figures through ebay and I suggest you have a look, just don't outbid me at the next auction!

Below you'll find more pictures of the figures.