G.I. Joe: Retaliation First Look: Elodie Yung as Jinx

The newest still image to be released in conjunction with the marketing of this summer’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is of Elodie Yung as Jinx! The Blot’s always been a huge Jinx fan, starting with her debut in the 1987 animated film G.I. Joe: The Movie. A month later she would make her debut in the Marvel comic book and the rest is history. Jinx has never been a hugely popular G.I. Joe character, but she always seems to pop back up eventually in every iteration of the franchise. After making a brief appearance in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Jinx is ready to take center stage in G.I. Joe: Retaliation as the film explores the history of the Arashikage ninja clan.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation is scheduled to premier in theaters on June 29, 2012.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation First Look: Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock

The next G.I. Joe: Retaliation still image to hit the web is of the film’s star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Roadblock. Roadblock was always one of The Blot’s favorite G.I. Joe characters from the ‘80s cartoon and comic book series. Sadly at some point in the late '90s Hasbro decided to replace Roadblock with Heavy Duty, but for the life of me I could not figure out why. I guess it worked out then that it was Heavy Duty, and not Roadblock, in the horrible G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. This allowed Roadblock to take center stage in what is starting to look like a good movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation is scheduled to premier in theaters on June 29, 2012.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation First Look: Ray Park as Snake Eyes

So G.I. Joe: Retaliation has finally started releasing some still images of its cast and first up is fan favorite Snake Eyes (played by Ray Park). While Snake Eye’s overall look in the first film was spot on, his helmet was pretty much hated by everyone because of the molded lips. Why would they do that for a character known for not speaking? Seems like a Michael Bay move to me! It ranks right up there with the nipples on Batman’s uniform in Batman and Robin as one of the stupidest costume decisions ever. Thankfully they got it right this time by dropping the lips and amping up the cool! It’s just too bad they didn’t go with this look from the start. For those of you keeping score at home…that makes it G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - 0, G.I. Joe: Retaliation - 1.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation is scheduled to premier in theaters on June 29, 2012.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - Cobra Commander Live Action Movie Photo

Wow…that’s all The Blot can think to say after seeing the first leaked photo of the new Cobra Commander movie tie-in 3 ¾” action figure. As you all know The Blot has been extremely excited about the upcoming G.I. Joe live action movie G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, but after seeing what Cobra Commander will look like in the film (see the still photo of the character on the figure’s backing card) I think it’s safe to say this movie might turn out to be a complete disaster.

(click on the photo above for a more detailed look)

I originally thought there was no way Cobra Commander could possibly look as bad in the movie as he does in Combat Heroes form (as seen below), but the photo on this action figure’s packaging just reinforces my worst fear…that G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is going to suck. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but this movie has summer blockbuster flop written all over it. Why are they messing with a sure thing?


I think the success of the live action Transformers movie has gone to Hasbro’s head. Cobra Commander has been a feared villain for years while wearing nothing more than a blue hood, and yet that was evidently too easy for Paramount to use on screen. Instead they turn him into the monstrosity we see here for simple shock effect. It’s all very disappointing. But, I hope the movie is successful if for no other reason that we get an eventual sequel where we can see more classic G.I. Joe characters adapted to the silver screen.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra debuts in theaters August 7, 2009.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - First Look at Cobra Commander

This post may mark the beginning of the end of The Blot’s love affair with G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Let me preface things by stating this post does not include any actual photos of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander. Instead, The Blot is posting the next best thing, the first leaked photos of an official movie tie-in Cobra Commander action figure. How Hasbro let these photos get out is beyond me!


Since the character’s look in the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie is still in lockdown, this is really all we have to go by. And sadly, I am thoroughly disappointed! While I have loved everything I have seen about this movie to date, this bizarre alien looking Cobra Commander wannabe looks horrible. This is not the Cobra Commander I grew up, and after seeing this I’m now extremely worried about what Destro’s mask will look like in the film. Hopefully Hasbro and Paramount will give us an official look at the live action Cobra Commander soon.


G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra debuts in theaters August 7, 2009.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Official Teaser Trailer

The Blot had been trying to stay cautiously optimistic about the upcoming G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra feature film, but then I totally geeked out when I saw the movie’s first official trailer during last night’s Super Bowl.


The trailer might have been a little over the top but who cares, it’s a freaking live action G.I. Joe movie. Plus, it doesn’t look anything like that lame live action He-Man movie from the 80’s or that cheesy Street Fighter movie from the 90’s. Check out the movie’s very first official trailer below and be sure to come back to The Blot Says… for the latest in G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra:



G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra will debut in theaters on Friday, August 7, 2009.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Character Movie Posters Set 2

Today, The Blot is excited to bring to you the second set of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra character movie posters. You can see the first set of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra character movie posters here. I have to say, I’m more than a little disappointed that these new promo movie posters aren’t that different from the first set of black and white character posters. I was really hoping for a new look at the movie version of some of my favorite G.I. Joes.



When it comes to this upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie, The Blot is trying to be a realist. The fact is there is a better than good chance the movie sucks. There, I said it. Yes, I felt the same way about the Transformers live action movie and it was a huge success. But more often than movies like this one end up being a big disappointment to fans, and this is coming from a huge lifelong G.I. Joe fan.


I think the one thing Transformers had going for it is that TF fans are used to the franchise being rebooted (i.e. Generation 2, Beast Wars, Universe, Animated) every few years. While G.I. Joe has launched some minor not-in-continuity series (including the Sigma 6 television show and Valor vs. Venom toy line), the upcoming movie (along with the new line of comic books from publisher IDW) is the first time Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero franchise has been officially rebooted.


This new direction for the franchise has some fans really nervous, while others are excited to see what comes out of all this new hoopla surrounding their favorite action figures. I guess only time will tell what the real impact this relaunch will have on the popularity of these characters.


The G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra live action movie will debut in theaters sometime in August, 2009. It stars Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, Channing Tatum as Duke, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander, Said Taghmaoui as Breaker, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow and Christopher Eccleston as Destro.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - First Look at Character Movie Posters

There has been some exciting news coming out of this week’s Cinema EXPO International 2008 taking place in Amsterdam concerning the live action G.I. Joe movie. Not only do we now know the movie’s subtitle, Rise of Cobra, but Film1 has scored some excellent photos of the 2009 movie’s soon to be released teaser character movie posters featuring Channing Tatum as Duke, Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Sienna Miller as the Baroness and Marlon Wayans as Ripcord.



Your eyes do not deceive you, these posters are following in the same tradition as The Spirit character movie posters in that they are black and white with one item highlighted in red. Hopefully more details and/or posters of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra will be leaking out of Amsterdam soon.



The G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra live action movie will debut in theaters sometime during August, 2009. It stars Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, Channing Tatum as Duke, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander, Said Taghmaoui as Breaker, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow and Christopher Eccleston as Destro.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Destro

After having only seen pictures of two members of COBRA so far, today we finally get a look at another villain from the live action G.I. Joe movie. The Blot is pleased to bring you a picture of Christopher Eccelston (Heroes, Doctor Who) as Destro. Besides being the lover of The Baroness, James McCullen Destro XXIV is a Scottish arms dealer and leader of M.A.R.S. (Military Armament Research Syndicate), an organization that supplies COBRA with all of its weapons of mass destruction. I’ve loved watching Eccelston ever since his debut in 2005 as the ninth Doctor in the BBC series Doctor Who. What troubles me a little bit is that in Eccelston’s G.I. Joe promotional photo he’s not wearing Destro’s trademark steel mask “forged from Beryllium Steel, a tradition dating back to the English Civil War, when an ancestor of his was caught selling weapons to both sides. Forced to wear a steel mask for his crimes (neither side wanted to execute the ancestor because they still wanted the weapons he sold), the Destro clan has since turned it into a symbol of pride, passing it down from father to son for over 20 generations.” (link) To me, and I’m sure millions of G.I. Joe fans, Destro’s steel mask is an important aspect of the character and a large part of who he is (as well as the character’s most distinguished characteristic). He has always been one of those bad guys who skirts the line between villain and hero, and I’m excited to see how they use him in the upcoming film. Hopefully the G.I. Joe writers have worked his mask into the movie and at some point Eccelston’s Destro will “mask up” before going into battle.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Heavy Duty and Breaker

Last week The Blot teased about some all new photos of never before seen characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie and here are two of them. I was really excited to hear that one of my favorite television actors, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, OZ), had been cast in G.I. Joe as Lamont A. Morris, codename: Heavy Duty. While I would have preferred they include the original heavy machine gunner/cook Roadblock in the movie instead of the newer Heavy Duty character, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. While Heavy Duty, G.I. Joe’s heavy ordnance specialist, seems to have taken over Roadblock’s place in the core G.I. Joe squad in recent toy lines and cartoons, including G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, The Blot can’t figure out why considering how popular Roadblock is with the G.I. Joe faithful. The second G.I. Joe Movie First Look of the day is Saïd Taghmaoui as Alvin R. Kibbey, codename: Breaker, G.I. Joe’s original communications officer. While Breaker was a member of G.I. Joe’s initial lineup, most of those original “green shirt” Joes quickly disappeared from the comic books and cartoons to give way to more colorful popular characters. In the Marvel Comics G.I. Joe series Breaker, alongside Doc and Quick Kick, was murdered by a SAW Viper (who would eventually become the villain Overkill). I always preferred Dial-Tone as G.I. Joe’s communications officer, but its nice to know that the underused Breaker will be a major part of the upcoming G.I. Joe movie.

G.I. Joe The Movie - Second Look at Storm Shadow and The Baroness

Who knew when I said yesterday’s G.I. Joe First Look post would be the last one for the foreseeable future that Paramount would then decided to release photos of some previously unseen characters that very day. Today’s post though is of new pictures of Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow and Sienna Miller as The Baroness. While I’m still not sold on Storm Shadow’s overall look, at least in this newest picture Lee looks to be wearing Storm Shadow’s traditional uniform and has donned his very familiar headgear. This costume is more similar to the look I was originally hoping for, much more so than the original photos leaked onto the web. The new photo of The Baroness has her in the same uniform as the original photos, but this one is a more action oriented shot like most of the other G.I. Joe Movie First Look photos. To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Duke and Ripcord

Today’s G.I. Joe First Look is the last one for a while, or until Paramount decides to let more character photos leak out from the set of the live action G.I. Joe movie. First up is Channing Tatum as Conrad S. Hauser, codename: Duke. Duke is one of G.I. Joe’s most popular members and is the team’s field commander. To me Duke will always be G.I. Joe’s leader, even if Hawk is technically the elite counter-terrorist team’s commanding officer. While most remember Duke in his original costume of dark olive pants and tan button down shirt, the movie’s costume more closely resembles Duke’s uniform in the current G.I. Joe comic book series produced by Devil’s Due. Last, but not least, comes Marlon Wayans as Wallace A. Weems, codename: Ripcoard. To be honest I don’t know much about Ripcoard other than he is “a HALO jumper, which stands for High Altitude Low Opening. In order to avoid detection, a HALO jumper jumps from very high altitudes, drops for thousands of feet, and then opens his chute at the last second, just enough to break the fall.” (link) If nothing else, Wayans’ character should provide for some cool scenes with great special effects. Hopefully we’ll be seeing photos of rumored characters like Heavy Duty, Shipwreck and Gung Ho very soon. To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at General Hawk and Cover Girl

Up until this point I’ve been really happy with all of the G.I. Joe cast photos I’ve seen. That changed today. When I heard they had cast Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, the commanding officer of G.I. Joe, I thought it was a pretty good casting decision. But why they decided to dress him up in such a god awful uniform I’ll never know. For some reason they ditched the all leather look in Quaid’s cast photos and dressed him up in Army fatigues that bare a horrific resemblance to something Jean-Claude Van Damme once wore in 1994’s Street Fighter movie. If you don’t believe me or don't remember the horrible movie adaptation of the popular video game, I’ve included a photo of Van Damme as Colonel Guile below. I hope the producers of G.I. Joe see the error of their ways and end up changing General Hawk’s uniform before the movie starts filming. Karolina Kurkova stars as G.I. Joe member Courtney A. Kreiger, codename: Cover Girl, and her uniform isn’t nearly as bad since it’s really just basic army fatigues. But the more I look at her picture, the more I start having flashbacks to Kylie Minogue’s costume as Lieutenant Cammy in Street Fighter. So maybe the all camo look isn’t as good of a choice for Cover Girl either. The members of G.I. Joe should either all be in leather uniforms or all be in army fatigues, but this mixing of the two doesn’t really seem to work. Here’s hoping the G.I. Joe live action movie is no where near as bad as the live action Street Fighter movie was back in 1994. To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Storm Shadow and The Baroness

More and more pictures of the live action G.I. Joe film’s cast are slowly leaking on to the internet and here we have our first look at two of the movie’s villains, Thomas S. Arashikage, a.k.a. Storm Shadow, and The Baroness. I’ve been pretty impressed with the movie’s costumes so far and like the modern feel of the characters. With that being said I’m a little disappointed in Storm Shadow’s uniform. The character has always had a very distinct look in the G.I. Joe comics, cartoons and toys, but here he looks like a generic ninja straight out of the Matrix trilogy. After having done such a great job with Snake Eyes’ uniform and staying so true to his character, I am surprised the movie went such a different direction with Snake Eyes’ blood brother and fellow ninja, Storm Shadow. The Baroness, on the other hand, has always had a very simple look, one that is easy to reproduce in a live action movie. I’m anxious to see how the movie chooses to recreate G.I. Joe’s main adversaries, Cobra Commander, the leader of COBRA, and Destro, into living breathing characters. Storm Shadow is played by Byung-hun Lee and The Baroness is played by Sienna Miller. Update 5/9/08: To see BRAND NEW photos of Storm Shadow (in a different uniform) and The Baroness click here! To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Scarlett

After the G.I. Joe movie released official photos of Snake Eyes last month it was only a matter of time until they released additional photos of the movie’s main characters. Yesterday JoBlo.com got their hands on an official photo from Paramount Pictures of Snake Eyes’ main squeeze and G.I. Joe’s leading lady, Shana M. O’Hara codename: Scarlett. (link) Rachel Nichols (Alias) stars in the live action G.I. Joe movie as Scarlett and she looks pretty good in the role of the crossbow wielding redhead.

    To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.

G.I. Joe The Movie - First Look at Snake Eyes

When I first heard there was going to be an official “first look” at one of the characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie, I got really excited and nervous. (link) I wasn’t that big of a fan of the live action Transformers movie because in my heart I’m a traditionalist, and I really wanted the robots in the movie to more closely resemble the Transformers toys, comic books and cartoons I grew up with. When I realized the movie’s producers/director had decided to go in a new direction and alter some of my favorite childhood toys I was pretty annoyed. Then I heard there was a new G.I. Joe movie in production and I didn't know what to think. Growing up G.I. Joe was my favorite toy/cartoon and, much like with the Transformers movie, I was really hoping the movie would be faithful to the material it was based on. While rumors are swirling about the different direction the movie is going in to make G.I. Joe more of a global strike force and increase its marketability worldwide, I was stoked when I heard the first look photo was of the masked, mute ninja Snake Eyes, probably the most popular G.I. Joe character of all time. Not only that, but the pictures are awesome and look almost identically to how most Joe fans would imagine him looking in real life.

  If these two pictures are any indication of things to come, maybe this movie will be better than fans are expecting and hopefully other characters will be as faithful to the comic books/cartoons/toys as Snake Eyes is. Thank god they didn’t take the same liberties with his uniform that the Transformers movie did with Optimus Prime. Those flames on his blue cab almost made me cry. Was it really that difficult to just keep that classic look of his fire engine red cab? G.I. Joe is being directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) and is scheduled to be released August of 2009.

    The movie brings together a wide array of actors to fill the ranks of both G.I Joe and the villainess Cobra. On the G.I. Joe side the movie has cast Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Channing Tatum as Duke, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Marlon Waynes as Ripcord, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty and Dennis Quaid as Hawk. As for the villains, we have Sienna Miller as Baroness, Christopher Eccleston as Destro and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the evil Cobra Commander. Now we just have to sit and wait for a little over a year until we can see the final product. Until then let the speculation and debates rage on. To see other G.I. Joe First Look photos of characters from the upcoming live action G.I. Joe movie click here.