Casting for Paramount’s G.I. Joe sequel appears to be well underway with French-Chinese actress (and Future Ex-Wife alum) Elodie Yung attached as ninja operative Jinx, and Dwayne Johnson joining as Roadblock. (sidenote: it seems like Dwayne’s seeking out a lot of “I’m Black Y’all!!!” roles recently!) Now comes word that DJ Cotrona and RZA having also joined the cast. According to Superherohype, Cotrona will be playing Flint, while RZA will be playing the Blind Master, who trained both Snake Eyes and Jinx.

Honestly, between some of these casting choices, 80% of the first film’s cast not returning, and the fact that the film will be directed by the same guy who did the Justin Beiber 3D documentary/concert movie, this whole project has “random-as-fuck” written all over it.

Granted, this isn’t the most original idea. In fact, the inspiration came from an old website (I mean, it’s so old, it’s still hosted on geocities!) by a guy named Paul Chen who chronicled the web’s best Asian action figures. Unfortunately, homeboy’s site hasn’t been updated in a decade, and action figures have gotten way better (and more Asian American, natch!) in the years since.

So rather than just listing each and every action figure of an Asian character that’s sitting at your local Toys ‘R’ Us, I gave myself some criteria. First off, either the character or the actor portraying that character immortalized in plastic has to be Asian American. That means Ken Watanabe as Asian R’as Al Ghul from Hasbro’s Batman Begins or McFarlane Toys’ Yao Ming don’t count. Sorry guys.

The other criteria I look for in an action figure are sculpting, likeness accuracy, and points of articulation.

So without further ado, let’s start with #5, which is actually a tie!

#5. Sulu from Diamond Select Toys/Sulu from Playmates

How could we talk about Asian American action figures without talking about the granddaddy of Asian American sci-fi: Mr. Sulu? There have been several Sulu action figures from various companies over the years, but for the sake of this blog post, I’ll stick with this 6-inch fig from DST’s Star Trek Classics line. When it comes to Trek action figures, I think Diamond and Art Asylum are unrivaled. I love the scale and detail in all their figures, and the sculpt on this Sulu in his classic uni is the spitting image of George Takei!

Back in the late ’80s/early ’90s, my brother and I used to collect the 4-inch Next Generation figures from Playmates. The detail and articulation on those toys weren’t the greatest (which is likely the case for most toys of that period), but there is definitely a sense of nostalgia that kicks in when thinking back to those figures. So I was (sort of) excited to learn Playmates was returning to the world of Star Trek to do figs for the reboot that came out last May. And to be honest, these weren’t the greatest toys. The 3 3/4-inchers left a lot to be desired and the detail on the 6-inch scale was not as impressive as their DST analogs. Still, we were treated to our very first John Cho action figure. Now, if only they’d make action figures for the rest of the Better Luck Tomorrow crew and my collection will be complete!

#4. Athena and Boomer 2-Pack from Diamond Select Toys

Wow, another DST figure? Trust me, this has nothing to do with the fact that I used to work at Diamond! Anyway, I’m putting Boomer and Athena here even though I don’t watch Battlestar Galactica. What’s that? How can I make that claim and still be allowed on a site like PopCultureShock without having my geek credit card cut up into a million pieces? And where do I get off recommending an action figure of a character from a show I don’t even watch? Good questions, all. First off, I’ve always meant to watch BSG, but just never got around to it. So it isn’t like I’ve purposefully shied away from it like I did with, say, everything in the Whedonverse (blasphemy!) As for the second question: my justification for putting this Grace Park 2-pack on my list is, well, because it’s a Grace Park action figure. Duh! Plus, there are two of them.

#3. Data from Mezco Toys/Short Round from Hasbro

That’s right. Number 3 on my list is Jonathan Ke Quan, baby! Now, while it could be argued that his two most iconic portrayals–Short Round from Temple of Doom and Data from Goonies –are essentially Long Duk Dong for the tweens of the ’80s generation, I have to disagree. First off, Data was the man in The Goonies. And secondly, Short Round is the heart and soul of Temple and is the best sidekick Indy’s ever had. That’s right, Shia! I said it.

Anyway, even though Quan hasn’t worked in several years, the last couple have been good for him, at least from an action figure point of view. First off, Mezco released a series of Goonies figures and didn’t skimp on the accessories! I mean, he comes with the Pinchers of Peril for chrissakes! As for Short Round, I’ve been wanting 3 3/4 scale Indy figures since I was a little kid (hell, I actually remember Kenner’s short-lived Raiders figures) for no other reason than to have Indy and Han Solo standing next to each other on my desk. So, when they expanded the line that came out in ’08 to include Short Round, I was so there. But, what was even cooler was the Short Round Mighty Mugg that was exclusive to Entertainment Earth. Seriously. How dope is this?

#2. Tunnel Rat (1987) from Hasbro

I think it’s safe to say G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was the be-all-end-all action figure/comic/cartoon franchise of my childhood. I mean, I loved He-Man and the Super Powers and the Real Ghostbusters and Thundercats… Okay, I loved every toyline in the ’80s, but there was something special about Joe vs. Cobra (so the fact that I’ve gotten to know and hang out with Larry Hama in the last few years is, like, mind-blowing). I knew that a Joe had to figure on this list somehow. I could have gone with easy ones like Storm Shadow or Quick Kick. And I was this close to putting Snake Eyes here. But in the end, I had to go with Chinese-Trinidadian Tunnel Rat. And not the “Resolute” one that came out this year. I’m talking old school. The one with the “Win a Fridge Action Figure” sticker on the card! Not only was Tunnel Rat’s likeness based on Hama himself (though the bio on the filecard, like most of the one’s in the collection, was based on a friend of Larry’s), but the dude’s got the coolest specialty: explosives! Not the resident martial artist or ninja. Nicky Lee was the dude who blew sh*t up! And you don’t get more Asian American than that.

#1. Bruce Lee series from Enterbay

Tops on the list have to go to the coolest sixth-scale action figures I’ve ever seen. And ironically, my favorite Asian American action figure is one I don’t (and will probably never) own: Enterbay’s Bruce Lee series of figures. Unless, you had $200-$300 you wanted to give me, that is. Still, I’ve seen these bad boys up close and personal, and they are worth every dollar that I don’t have to spare.

Enterbay has done several Bruce Lee figures now. There are two from Enter the Dragon, one from Game of Death, one from Way of the Dragon, and a Kato from Green Hornet. But my personal favorite is the one modeled on Bruce as Chen Zhen from Fist of Fury.

Not only are these the best, most intricate sixth-scale bodies, like most 12-inch figures, each one comes with a plethora of accessories and outfits. To wit, the FoF Bruce comes with two different head sculpts and three(!) different hair sculpts (seriously), two different tailored, cloth outfits, five sets of hands, a pair of nunchucks, a premium wooden diorama, and the infamous “Sick Man of Asia” wooden sign that Bruce so famously cracks in two!

And the best part? Enterbay’s exclusive 360 Eyeball system, which allows you to pose his eyes! I know I’m a sucker for articulation, but that’s just crazy!

Keith is the Editor-at-Large of the groundbreaking graphic novel anthology SECRET IDENTITIES and Outreach Director for SIUniverse Media. Visit the official Secret Identities blog to keep up with Keith and the rest of the SI team

Pop Culture Shock usually gets the blu-ray of such big studio releases but due to limited material PCS was given the DVD to screen. I will try to list the differences where possible.

Film/Feature: C
If you were hoping for a live action version of the cartoon, then G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra hits that mark. If you expected the film to transcend what the cartoon was, well then, you’re out of luck. But in comparison to Hasbro’s other brand-gone-wild, Transformers, I think G.I. Joe is more faithful adaptaion of the beloved 1980′s cartoon, which was really about two opposing covert teams in some special arms race, showcasing tricked out weapon-vehicles, specialized soldiers, in every terrain known to man. As a kid you never cared about what these things would look like in real life, you just wanted the toys. So after 45 years, what did you really want out of a GI Joe movie directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing)? An extension of the cartoon? Or some crazy bastardization with cool effects? The Rise of Cobra is a bit of a mixture of those two, something in the middle of not-so-good and not-so-bad. And based on all of the Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes outfits I saw at Halloween, I think the goal has been accomplished.

It’s a basic year one type story where Duke (Channing Tatum) is recruited out of the US Military forces into a special international operations unit called G.I. Joe and with him is another soldier and friend, Ripcord (Marlon Wayans). Duke has orders to protect four warheads with nanotechnology created by James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston) of the MARS industries. Think Haliburton on steroids. When unleashed the weapon can eat and destroy metal. Duke’s unit comes under attack by some covert team of soldiers with extremely advanced weapons, led by someone from his past, a woman named Ana (Sienna Miller) who now goes under the codename, Baroness. G.I. Joe saves Duke and Ripcord and brings them back along with the warheads to the Pit where they meet the leader, General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) and are properly introduced to Scarlett (the voluptuous Rachel Nichols), Snake Eyes (the ever silent Ray Park), Heavy Duty (the imposing Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Breaker (Said Taghmaoui).

Duke had some history with the Ana dating back four years prior when they were engaged to be married. Her brother, Rex (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was in Duke’s unit and was apparently killed in a poorly-timed air strike. The relationship between Duke and Ana incinerated after that, sending Ana to the side of this black ops team who will be later revealed as Cobra. Alongside are Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee), Arnold Vosloo (Zartan), and McCullen. The other story we get in Lost-like flashbacks is the story of rival ninjas Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, two of the most popular characters from the animated series, and are centerpieces of the satisfyingly good action scenes in Rise of the Cobra, whether when they are young (played by Brandon Soo Hoo and Leo Howard) or in their present grown-up selves.

The story is not as tight as an old fan would hope. With all of the military-related action films done in the last 15 years, the bar is pretty high these days what passes for a good script. But I’ll give them this, they did consult G.I. Joe comics writer Larry Hamma and the work he did in the 80′s and use the nanotechnology, as well as technology that is being planned for real use in the military. The tech eventually gets a bit too fantastic when Duke and Ripcord try out the Joes’ new weapon, the accelerator suits. Looking as if they were patterned off HALO outfits, these suits give the soldier inside enhanced agility, speed, and strength. Cool in theory, but in reality these suits get mixed results. Everything builds to an underwater battle that brings the Baroness back in Duke’s arms and revelation of what we will come to know as Cobra as well as a much bigger threat for the inevitable sequel.

Where the movie really loses me is in some of the bigger set designs that are almost done completely in computer animation and that’s not so bad, but it’s got that strange cold feeling like Sky Captain or Phantom Menace where it’s so close to being a fully animated film, instead of looking real, that it’s almost not worth pretending to be a live-action film. In that case, the film could have been just given over to the team who created the excellent G.I. Joe Resolute, which all of us at PCS are all fans of. Any scenes where it’s all vehicles waging all out destruction or are establishing a new setting, take you out of the moment of the film in the air, in the snow and especially underwater. In the commentary, director Stephen Sommers even says at one point where a G.I. Joe aircraft is landing into the Pit, that it’s not his favorite shot because they simply ran out of time. It does look like a student animation project.

I wanted to like this film more, and after I heard what I heard I wanted to dislike it more. But hearing and seeing are two different things, and I had to see it for myself. Truth be told, I think it’s like a computer-game hybrid stylish take of an extended G.I. Joe cartoon episode. Everything looked right, which was a plus. I was fine with almost all of the casting choices. The action sequences, weapons and vehicles all delivered, but the acting? Not so much. It’s reminiscent of the early 90′s acting in comic book movies. A little stiff, a bit wooden, and for too simple for my liking. Actors like Gordon-Levitt have been so impressive in other films but look like a shell here. It’s a lot like people describing the acting in the Star Wars prequels: Great actors who act like impersonators of themselves. Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes and the Baroness offer the most interesting arcs, everything else is forgettable.

Does it keep the spirit of the 80′s cartoon? Yes. Is it realistic? Hell no. Although lots of people die in this film where nobody died in the cartoons. But if you imagined a PG-13 live action version of the G.I. Joe franchise to be better than this, go watch The Hurt Locker or HBO’s Generation Kill instead because believe me, those guys are truly bad-ass. Rise of Cobra falls short of what G.I. Joe always was to me and that’s an action-packed bonanza that ironically portrayed the battles of war accurately. Take a look at the real action of Desert Storm and compare it to an episode of G.I. Joe. It’s pretty close. The battles here are taken to the proportion of a Star Wars prequel and that’s not a good thing. Sommers again in the commentary referred to Thunderball as a childhood influence. That also is not a good thing. However the sequel is set. Cobra is established, and hopefully the filmmakers up the ante and raise the quality of the script and acting, so that fans and non-fans can talk about a great G.I. Joe film. Until then it’s the 80′s animated series and Resolute for me.

Video/Audio: B+
Rise of Cobra on DVD has 480p encoded transfer in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. It’s a great looking film, even on DVD with good reproduction on colors and detail. Knowing how good this would look on blu-ray makes me hold back on giving a higher rating. The soundtrack on the DVD is a beefy 5.1 English Dolby Digital audio track. It’s an active sound stage with lots of explosions and spatial sound effects that moves all around you. Rear channels are active with atmosphere and environment noise as well as residual music. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, and subtitles are available in English, French, and Spanish.

The blu-ray is presented in 1080p and English 5.1 DTS-HD which I’m confident are upgrades worth checking out.

Extras: C+
I honestly expected a bit more from the extras section considering a passionate fan base would probably want to sink into every single aspect of the film. Maybe the DVD was rushed or perhaps there wasn’t much budget for lots of supplements. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.

Audio Commentary by director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay is not the best commentary track I’ve listened to because these guys really believe they put forth the best G.I. Joe film they could make. They do reveal the studio’s resistance for the back story between the ninjas among other anecdotes but it’s a very loving and apologetic track for a rather mediocre film.

The Big Bang Theory: The Making of G.I. Joe SD (29:34) shows how the comics and cartoons of the 80′s were used as a foundation for the film and the arduous task of making a popular children’s cartoon into a big studio action film scene. Action sequences, the accelerator suits, and the final underwater scene are their special effects are broken down.

Next-Gen Action: The Amazing Visual FX and Design of G.I. Joe SD (21:08) is set by set breakdown and the computer generation of the these creative pieces through the efforts of Digital Domain. Helicopters being crushed by a concussion cannon, detailing the Pit, the Night Raven, and the underwater finale were some of the sequences explained. Again, the end sequence was created with Thunderball in mind, huh, go figure.

There’s a 3D Holographic Video Game that can be played with your webcam but after doing the recommended plug in, every time I tried to access the game on the GIJOEexperience.com site, it crashed my browser. So if you’re able to get it to work, you can play a ninja battle game.

The extras disc is also used as a Digital Copy Disc to download on home computer and portable electronics such as iPod and PSP.

To close out the extras, check out Previews for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek, Monsters vs. Aliens, and the excellent G.I. Joe Resolute cartoon.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Like it or not, G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra accomplished its goal of bringing back the popular brand, capitalizing on the grown-up fan base from the 80′s and being able to sell more toys and licensed products to their kids. Like Hasbro’s other franchise, Transformers, it made a global impact that financially is unmatched in the brand’s run. It certainly looks right and feels a lot like the original animated series come to life, but unfortunately, it’s not much more than that. If you’re a home theater fanatic like myself, I would opt to save the pennies and make the jump up to high definition if you can because the high def picture and audio would add to the experience greatly. Still the DVD is probably best suited for devoted G.I. Joe fans who have to get their grubby paws on everything saying, “Yo Joe!” and I think boys who are in their early teens will probably get a kick out of it too. Otherwise I’d recommend Rise of Cobra as a rental and pray for something deeper and more ambitious for the second installment.

Daily Wallpaper Update: Alodia as The Baroness (available in 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1024×768)

If you like this set, definitely check out both sisters on deviantart for much more:
Ashley Gosiengfiao: http://orangeish.deviantart.com/
Alodia Gosiengfiao: http://blackmage9.deviantart.com/
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UPDATE: Some photos also by Richie dela Merced

The Shout! Factory will also release box sets of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero in separate seasons beginning with Season 1.1 DVD box set on July 21, 2009. Details are below.

“A must-have for any aspiring hero, the 4-DVD box set features the first 22 episodes, including the three 5-part mini-series The M.A.S.S. Device, The Revenge of Cobra and The Pyramid of Darkness.” There’s a special SNAKE EYES and STORM SHADOW tattoo from the Arashikage ninja clan and other exciting bonus content. G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero Season 1.1 DVD box set is priced at $29.99 SRP.

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO SEASON 1.1

Synopsis
G.I. JOE is an elite group of special operatives, fighting for freedom wherever there’s trouble. In this animated series based on characters from Hasbro’s popular line of 3″ action figures, the G.I. JOE team will stop at nothing to defeat COBRA – an enemy with the singular goal of world domination!

Bonus Features Include:
– Knowing is Half the Battle PSAs
– Looking Back with writer Ron Friedman
– Archival Hasbro toy commercials
– G.I. JOE’s original 1963 Toy Fair presentation
– Printable script for “Jungle Trap”

Technical Information
Street Date: July 21, 2009
Packaging: The 4 DVDs are collected in thin packs with a deluxe foil board sleeve with embossed accents. For a limited time, the DVD set will include rub-on tattoos.
Rating: Not Rated
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
DVD Selection Number:
Running Time: Approx. 480 min.
Discs: 4
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Technical Info: English, Stereo.

Marlon Wayans

It’s the first PopCultureShock.com podcast as we fumble our way through our unofficial test episode. The gang isn’t all here yet, and we’re ironing out format, but we still figured it would be fun to chat it up a little about last week’s big internet news: G.I. Joe Resolute. It was kind of a big deal. Warren Ellis on plot? Joaquim Dos Santos on animation direction? Yeah. We had some thoughts….

Oh yeah! and call in for comments, questions, and general tom-foolery!

Finale was disappointingly short…but probably disappointing overall. I’m posting about the GI Joe Resolute podcast on popcultureshock.com. Hope you guys get a chance to check it out. We’re still ironing out format and pushing for calls from you guys to make the show live.

Check it out and give us a call for this week. We’re doing three podcasts weekly: Games, Film/TV/Animation, and Comics…

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