JoeCanuck

Just a heads-up for anyone local to the Saskatoon area: Toys R Us is setting up a Toys R Us Express outlet at the Lawson Heights Mall area, as of today. The store is going in the old Rogers Video location, on the mall property. The store is expected to be opened around the 18th of November, and its expected to carry a sizeable, though smaller amounts, of the usual TRU selection. I do not know, as yet, if they will be stocking any GIJOE product at this store.

 The current plan is for the store to remain open for the Christmas season, but its also a test location to see if it becomes a permanent outlet. Of note is that across the parking lot the old Zellers store inside the mall is undergoing conversion into the first Target store in Saskatoon.   The TRU set-up may be a strategic placement at that location, to try and syphon off some of the business before Target fully establishes themselves.

Just a heads up for everyone: Canadian TRUs are receiving shipments now and in the past week of GIJOE assortment cases with Renegades figures. Storm Shadows ARE in these cases at ONE PER. Apparently cases are marked as "Renegades" ( assumed to be "wave 9")and should have SS in the assortment. I purchased my second SS today from TRU--my first was back in Dec from a LCS.
Additional case assortments have the first wave of 30th Anniversary ( Sgt. Stalker etc.) My local store received 6 cases total, 5 of which were the 30th Ann. Assortment, and 1 case was Renegades. Understand that there COULD possibly be mixes of cases, some wave 9, some wave 10, of which wave 10 does NOT ( to my knowledge) have the Storm Shadow figure.
Larger stores in larger centres may have a correspondingly larger order, and thus possibly more of these cases.
Indications are that these shipments, and possible following shipments will be the LAST 30th product shipped to store just prior to the release of Retaliation stock, which should start arriving in the next month or so.

If you have a established relationship with your TRU store, and they will hold back items for you.......NOW is the time to inquire with them. Otherwise you will need to be johnny-on-the-spot to snag these. Assume that, after this, you will not see these in-store any more, except on the secondary market.

Okay, this one is going to be tricky:

Channing Tatum has played a character nicknamed "Duke" in THREE movies.  What is the FIRST one?? ( Hint: it is NOT Rise of Cobra!)

Here's a all-new character:




CODE-VIPERS:

Drawn from the ranks of the Tele-Vipers, Code Vipers are troopers that show exceptional skills at computer hacking and cryptography.
They are equipped with the latest in computer technology, and a cybernetic vest based on the design worn by COBRA Commander, that acts as a personal mainframe. The vest is powered by their own biology and is not removed until their term of service is over.
Code-Vipers are a vital part of the criminal COBRA organization because they are directly responsible for stealing and disemminating information (and misinformation), as well as securing all COBRA communications.
They literally hold the keys to the kingdom, because almost all COBRA secrets pass under their noses. To ensure their loyalty, Code-Vipers are told they can keep any funds they steal off the Internet on their own time, but that if they ever betray COBRA, or are captured by the enemy, the vest they wear will explode!


Notes:
Recipe:
ROC COBRA Commander
POC General Hawk head
POC Alley Viper "Resolute" helmet
VvV Wrist module with Knife inserted into hole.
Various electronic gear, such as laptops etc.

 This is a throw-together bash. I had a broken ROC COBRA Commander figure ( broken at left elbow) that was laying around in my parts box, and I decided to do a quick repair with him. I simply glued the forearm to the elbow with 5-minute epoxy--thus repairing the figure for my needs.
I swapped a fair number of heads and parts on the figure, trying to find combos that worked. For a while I considered making a Medi-Viper, but that would have involved some painting, and this is a straight-from-the-bow kitbash ( the best kind!).
I grabbed a POC Hawk head, realized that it was small enough to fit most of the smaller helmets and headgear and just swapped items until I found a look I liked.
He doesn't have any COBRA sigils on him ( so he could technically even be a Joe, if you preferred), so one could keep the jacket on him. (I put mind on a Red Skull figure ).
Now, I just have to figure out the font used on the stands so I can print out a proper label

...You'd better not cry......
Watch the vid and tell me it wouldn't make most 7 year old Canadian kids cry!

http://io9.com/5868042/austrias-krampus-parade-celebrates-santas-child+eating-monster

Never, ever heard of this myth before, and its been around for a while by the sounds of it, but I tellya if I had seen THAT when I was a little kid, it'd have freaked my brains right out the back of my skull. Crazy stuff.

Okay there's something I'm not quite understanding about Pursuit of Cobra....
I opened up a POC Cobra Commander today , Wave 5 or 6 figure I forget, and I made my usual note of all the gear, and of the folded poster item underneath the stand......and there the idea struck.
It occurs to me that Hasbro had all the ingredients of a certain kind of marketing push in place for POC, but for whatever reason did not exploit it.
They have:
-Highly detailed figures.
-Lots of extra accessories.
-Detailed vehicles
-Specific environmental themes and the characters designed largely around those themes.
-Posters with diorama themes promoting the characters in specific situations and storylines.
Does anyone else see the pattern unfolding there?

One of the BIG deals in the early GIJOE toys--the stuff that goes waaay back to the 60's--was the diorama pamphlets. It was a marketing/play pattern angle that fed both the toys, the accessories, and the "hobby" as it pertains to GIJOE collecting. It was clearly diminished in the 80's--although alluded to in the commericals. In the 90's it was non-extistant, and in the return in 2000-ish it was again ignored.

Now, those posters that came with the figures were, in my opinion, a golden opportuinity to push the diorama concept once again. The side with the diorama storyline was great, but the opposite side with the characters facing off against each other seemed like a waste of space---because, after all, after two waves..........most of those characters stopped seeing shelf time.

What I think would have been welcome: Show us an instructional how-to on HOW TO MAKE the diorama on the other side of the sheet. Get collectors engaged in GIJOE again. Like I said above, all the components for this are there in the product line. All it would take is some basic household products, some how-to guidance, and some imagination. 
Granted, they would be simplified displays,  lacking obvious Photoshop work etc. but like anything of this nature, it'd be a starting point.
The nice thing here is that the instructional material need not be all that different from that back in the 60's. How to make a ground work base, pehaps a hill with paper mache, how to make a fox-hole, trees and foiliage etc. Basic stuff that's the foundation of a diorama, with tips for things more advanced, such as using common items such as plastic tubs for bunkers, small empty pill containers for fuel drums etc.
It would make GIJOE different from any other toy-line out there, and it would follow traditions that GIJOE has had in the past.