So, being a connoisseur of cool branding and design, I was recently tipped off to a set of retro toy-inspired shades from the pretty darn rad Look/See Sunglasses company. They recently teamed up with Hasbro in honor of the new G.I. Joe Retaliation movie to release a very limited edition set of Joe and Cobra sunglasses…
Obviously the first detail that caught my eye and got me excited was the idea to package these glasses on the vintage style G.I. Joe cardbacks (complete with character file cards on the back and the 25th anniversary character paintings!) I’m a complete sucker for 80s era vintage style packaging, specifically the G.I. Joe explosion artwork, so I was drooling over these even before I took a closer look at the actual sunglasses. As you can see above, there are five different designs, Duke, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander, Destro and Storm Shadow. Each design is limited to only 100 pairs, so these are going to be super rare…
By far, my favorite pair in this series is the Cobra Commander-inspired shades with the his uniform colors represented, as well as the cobra logo on the inside of the frames. Most importantly, and it’s tough to see it in these photos, but the lenses are mirrored, which is the perfect touch!
But the other pairs are all pretty darn awesome as well and feature a lot of small, yet integral details that would make any G.I. Joe fan swoon. For instance, the Snake Eyes sunglasses have laser-etched horizontal lines in the frames to replicate his trademark visor…
…whereas the Storm Shadow pair features the design of his sword grip inlayed in the actual frames. Also, both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow shades feature the Arashikage symbol/tattoo design in the inside of the frame.
Though these are a little pricey at $110 per pair, they are super limited edition and some rather fetching designs. Of course, with my intense love for the packaging, it would be tough removing these from the packaging and not just hanging them on the Branded HQ wall! Head on over to Look/See and you can scope more detailed pictures of these, as well as the Destro and Duke pairs. If you pick up a pair, tell ‘em Branded sent ya!
