G. I. JOE: FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

In my last review I looked at Alpine v.6. The Joe team’s primary mountain trooper came in the 4th shipment from the G.I. Joe Collector Club’s third Figure Subscription Service (FSS).  The figures ship out 2 at a time each month and Alpine’s shipping buddy was none other than the joe team’s secondary mountain trooper, Hit & Run.

The first Hit & Run figure was released in 1988 and it was a good one.  He had cool climbing accessories and a really unique paint job that featured green skin with black tiger stripes.  But no, he isn’t a half-man half-tiger character which is what Vanessa asked me when I showed her this figure.  Hit & Run just happens to take camouflage seriously.  I really liked that original figure but I never owned it, my brother Doug did.

I didn’t get my first Hit & Run figure until version 2 was released 21 years later in 2009.  The 2009 figure was included in a 7-pack called “Assault on Cobra Island”  which was the last gasp of the 25th anniversary line before the brand transitioned into the movie-based Rise of Cobra toyline.  I thought that Hit & Run was one of the better figures in the pack despite being made-up completely of re-used parts including Airborne’s head.  I still think that figure holds up pretty well so I saw no need for an updated version but some people did.

Hasbro first whetted Hit & Run fans’ appetite for a new & improved modern-era version of the character when they showed an unproduced prototype in a case of concept figures at the 2012 Joe Convention.  The case was full of cool new characters and much needed updates of existing characters but Hasbro made no promises that any of them would ever see the light of day.

Hasbro did eventually release a few of them, like Heat-Viper, in the tail-end of 2014 as part of their 50th anniversary line.  One of the concept case figures they haven’t produced is Hit & Run.

The Collector’s Club tried to appease fans desperate for an updated Hit & Run by including a Night Force version of him in their 2013 15-figure Convention Set.  It seemed like an odd choice because the other 5 Joes from the set were established as Night Force member in the late 90s but Hit & Run had never previously been associated with the nocturnal sub-team.  The Con Set figure was constructed well enough but the Club opted to not give him his signature face paint which I think was a bad idea.  Why remove a figure’s most iconic characteristic?  Especially when it made so much sense for him to keep it.  Maybe if it was an arctic or aquatic version of the character I would understand but this was a NIGHT OPS version.  Some black and grey camo would’ve been awesome but the Club dropped the ball on that one. I was so underwhelmed by that figure that I haven’t bothered to review it yet.

Not long after the Convention Set came out the Club announced that they’d be including re-decoed versions of those Night Force figures in their upcoming FSS 3.0, this time painted in classic v.1 colors.  When the first images of the upcoming FSS Hit & Run were revealed fans were shocked to see even the Club’s 1988-inspired version, in all it’s green and black striped glory, was still devoid of the iconic face paint.  This was an unforgivable faux pas.  Fans cried foul and surprisingly the Club listened.  The result is this figure.

Hit & Run version 4 is the exact same build as 2013’s version 3 but it has a spiffy vintage paint job. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do because I think this figure is WAY better than it’s predecessor.  I couldn’t appreciate this figure in the Night Force colors but now I see what a well put together toy this is.  All of the parts used to build it are from 2011 or later and in general those parts are far superior to those used from 2007-2009; when Hasbro was still working out the kinks of the modern construction.  I still like my 2009 Hit & Run but it looks pretty meek when standing next to this figure.  This Hit & Run is bigger, buffer, grittier, and more detailed.  The costume is loaded with pouches, wrinkles and removable weapons.  Even the helmet and goggles are light years better than the ones from 2009.

Hit & Run got  his very own unique head sculpt in 2013.  It was nice that he was no longer just a green clone of Airborne but I didn’t really like the 2013 head.  The shape seemed off and it reminded me of Josh Brolin.  But I think that same head  looks great now that its been painted green and given some stripes.  The best thing about the green face paint is that it looks like it’s actual green face paint.  The 1988 and 2009 versions of Hit & Run basically had green skin; the head and bare arms were molded in green plastic.  He could’ve been mistaken for a skinny relative of the Hulk.  This new version’s head and arms  was molded in flesh colored plastic and then the green paint was lightly applied so the flesh tone shows through.  It looks much more realistic and pretty damn cool.

Another thing I like about this paint job is the stubble on his face.  He’s got a bunch of black dots peppering the lower half of his face to give the impression that maybe he’s been out in the woods for a few days.  The dots are applied extremely uniformly which does not look very true to life (more like stubble from an old comic book when everything was colored with dots) but I still think it looks neat.  You really only notice the cartoonishness of it when you get up close.

2013 & 2015

For accessories Hit & Run has a display base, a helmet with removable goggles, 2 pistols and a knife that can be holstered on his body, a rifle, a pick axe, and a couple of grappling hooks with rope.

The Club surprises me yet again.  This figure rules.  9 out of 10.

2013, 2015, & 2009

PACIFIC RIM

There was some doubt for a while but a Pacific Rim sequel is officially happening in 2017 and I’m pretty excited by the prospect of it.  The first film had a lot of potential even if it fell short in a few places.  One area where the film really succeeded was in the creature designs.  The Kaiju featured a good blend of fantasy and believability; they were ugly and alien but inspired by real-world animals which grounded them in reality.  They shared similar characteristics so you could believe they all came from the same world and yet they all looked unique and had their own defining calling card.

My favorite Kaiju from the movie was Knifehead.  Unfortunately the wave 1 action figure of Knifehead is rather disappointing.  Thankfully, Neca improved their figure design significantly by the time they got around to my favorite Pacific Rim toy to date, wave 4’s Scunner.  In between the release of those two figures was wave 3’s Trespasser.

Trespasser was the first of Neca’s new and improved Kaiju.  It was bigger, more articulated, and featured a more elaborate paint job than the wave 1 and 2 figures.  I read on another blog that the reason for the change in size and style is because the toyline was originally going to be sold in Walmart stores but that deal fell through and Neca saw that as an opportunity to do the figures how they originally wanted to.  I don’t know if that’s true but I’m happy about the shift in direction whatever the reason may be.  Both Trespasser and Scunner are awesome figures, as is the wave 3 re-release of Knifehead; a figure I haven’t picked up yet.  Neca had really hit their stride with this line and I was  excited to see which Kaiju they would tackle next.

I was rather surprised and disappointed when it was announced that the next Kaiju figure would be a repaint of Trespasser named Axehead.  It seemed like a good way to lose momentum on the hot selling toyline. I planned on skipping the underwhelming Axehead. I was much more excited when Neca announced they’d follow up Axehead with their largest Kaiju figure to date, the 18″ Otachi.

Now I’d love to get the Otachi figure but it retails online for around $70 which is more than double the price of previous figures.  Plus, there is speculation that Neca will release a winged version of Otachi down the road.  I only need 1 Otachi in my collection and if its going to cost me $70 I’d rather it be the winged version so I opted to wait for Neca’s next announcement before splurging.  Since I put the Otachi purchase on the backburner and I was still looking to scratch my Kaiju itch, I decided to give Axehead a second look.  I was  intrigued by the fact that he was being marketed as a brand new character.  Had this figure just been released as Trespasser version 2 I surely wouldn’t have bought it but new characters are always tempting.

After some internal debate I came to the conclusion that the paint job was different enough to warrant picking him up after all.  Where Trespasser and the other Kaiju have been mostly grey with a few colorful highlights Axehead is colorful throughout.  It’s almost hard to tell if he’s black with a green wash or green with a black wash but I’m leaning more towards the former.  I think the figure was molded in the same gray plastic as the others but a green paint wash was liberally applied so that his skin tone is quite a bit different.  His underbelly has an aqua blue hue and instead of stark lines of color as we’ve seen in the past Axehead has yellow dots dabbed on his chest neck and shoulders.  It’s an odd paint deco but all-in-all it works pretty well.

Paint job aside I was surprised to discover that this wasn’t just a straight repaint of Trespasser.  There are actually several differences in the figure  construction:

1. Axehead has boney spiked protrusions on his knees that Trespasser doesn’t;

2.  Axehead only has 3 fingers on his small secondary arms while Trespasser has 4;

3. Axehead has the same hands as Scunner which look like they’d be useful for digging or swimming while Trespasser’s hands are open claws more equipped for fighting;

4. Axehead has a much smaller shell on his back and one of the spiky protrusions is battle damaged;

5. And the heads are even different.

The heads look the same at a glance but on closer inspection you can see a number of subtle differences such as in the ridges over the eyes and in the structure of the axe.  Axehead is based on this creature’s concept designs where as Trespasser is based on the final product that appeared on screen.  It’s kind of a cool idea and I actually wouldn’t mind getting a few more concept figures.

broken jaw

I’m quite happy with Axehead (other than the fact that mine arrived with an unhinged jaw which refuses to snap back into place) and would definitely recommend you snag one if you don’t already have Trespasser.  Axehead isn’t essential if you do already own the Trespasser figure but there are enough differences between the two to distinguish them from one another if you are considering adding an extra monster to your shelf.  8 out of 10.

MARVEL UNIVERSE

When my brother Doug and I were kids we collected everything jointly. However, that doesn’t mean we shared our stuff in a “what’s mine is yours” kind of way. We clearly had our own things which we kept apart.  We each had our own toy boxes, lego bins, and figure drawers.  With comics we alphabetized our collections on separate bookshelves on opposite sides of the bedroom.  I collected books like Spider-Man and Silver Surfer and he collected books like the X-Men and Captain America.  We always read each other’s books before filing them away in our own respective collections.  So back in those days I was well versed in the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe because Doug collected X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, Excalibur, Wolverine and all the various mini-series’ that spun out of them.

But we haven’t lived together or had easy access to each others collections since I was in high school.  Thusly, I’ve been out of the X-Men loop for quite some time. I have a vague idea of what’s going on in the X-books  but every now and again something weird happens like “Jubilee becomes a vampire” or “Beast has a secondary mutation and turns into a cat” or “the original 5 teenage X-Men time travel from the past and now reside with their adult selves” and I have absolutely no idea how we got to that point.  The X-Men books have seemingly become such a continuity nightmare that I don’t think I could ever find the patience to dive back into them. There are only a half dozen X-Men movies and they can’t keep things straight so just imagine what the comic universe looks like after thousands of stories have been told. Yet, while I keep the modern X-Men at arm’s length I still think fondly of the X-Men comics of the late 1980s when I knew them well.

Back in the good ol’ days Sabretooth and Wolverine were meeting in battle for the first time, Cypher and Warlock of the New Mutants were two separate people, Psylocke was a sweet and innocent new addition to the Xavier school, Rusty and Skids were a happy couple, and Dazzler went from an outdated disco diva to my favorite Marvel mutant. Another thing I liked from those days was that Magneto was a good guy. He had been the X-Men’s primary villain since 1963 but by the time Doug and I started reading X-Men in 1986 he was the headmaster of Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. He had stopped wearing his signature red tights and bucket helmet and made the switch to a much comfier looking baggy purple outfit with snazzy white boots.

version 1

This figure showcases Magneto in all his 1980s good guy glory.  It’s the third Magneto figure released as part of Hasbro’s 3 ¾” Marvel Universe line. The first Magneto was included in a Secret Wars themed 2-pack along with a black suited Spider-Man in 2009. It featured the master of magnetism in his iconic red tights and helmet. It was a good figure but not one I picked up because I hadn’t fully committed to collecting this toyline at that point. Plus I already had a black Spidey and didn’t feel the need to add a second one to my burgeoning MU collection.

An individually carded Magneto was released in 2011 which featured him in the dark purple and black uniform that he wears in the alternate reality known as the Ultimate Universe.  I would’ve been happy to add an Ultimate Magneto to my collection but Hasbro made an ill-conceived decision to paint his face grey to emulate the shadows cast by his helmet. It looked dumb and the figure was an easy pass.

Version 2

This third Magneto was released in another comic themed 2-pack in 2012; this time with Captain America. As was the case with the first Magneto figure I didn’t want or need his pack mate but this time I didn’t let that stop me. I had fully committed to collecting this toyline by then, I wanted a Magneto, and this one was too good to pass up.

Not to say this is an amazing action figure necessarily but it does capture a moment in time that I care deeply about; the time when I first discovered the wonderful world of comics. The way characters were portrayed back then is how I still view them today so Magneto is still mainly a good guy in my mind; no matter what atrocities he’s committed since the 80s. So this purple blouse wearing Magneto with the feathered hair is my favorite version of the character even though he only sported this look for a short while in his long history.

The figure itself is pretty good. I find the scrawnier figures like Spider-Man usually suck at this scale while the bulkier figures like the Hulk look great. Middle sized figures like Magneto here tend to fall somewhere in between the two quality-wise. The sculpt is good and the articulation is decent, meaning that there are plenty of joints as we’ve come to expect from this line and yet it can be difficult to pose him dynamically. The paint job is a little boring but that’s not the fault of Hasbro since this is a minimalistic costume by Marvel’s design.

The cape has some really nice sculpted folds and wrinkles but I find it a little too long. The fact that the cape hangs past his feet can make it difficult to stand him up at times but when you lean him against something you can use it to create the illusion that he’s using his magnetic powers to levitate which is kind of neat. 6 out of 10.

TRANSFORMERS: COMBINER WARS

When I was a kid some of my favorite Transformers were the smallest and simplest ones. For example, my favorite all-time Transformer is Gears, as is evidenced by my multiple reviews of him (review 1, review 2, review 3). Cosmos, Cliffjumper, Huffer, and Windcharger were also favorites of mine. My brother Doug’s favorite minis were Bumblebee, Warpath, Seaspray, and Powerglide. The reason that all those characters were so pint-sized and cute when compared to larger figures like Starscream and Optimus Prime is because they were originally part of a completely different Japanese toyline. The mini vehicles were from a line called Micro Change while the larger figures were originally Diaclones.

One thing I found very appealing about the mini  figures was that they were so easy to transform. Two or three quick flips would take you from vehicle mode to robot mode and back again. A negative side effect to those simple transformations however was that the figures were not very posable. Most Transformers weren’t very flexible back in the day but the little ones were particularly rigid. The original 1985 Powerglide is a good example. He was cursed with a dreadful case of uni-leg, that thing when your legs are fused together into a solid stump of plastic. At least he had elbow joints and a swivel neck which were extremely rare for an 80s Transformer toy his size. I still think the ‘85 Powerglide is a neat figure, it oozes nostalgia and it’s totally adorable, but it’s pretty far from what I would consider “cool”.

Hasbro released an updated Powerglide in 2008 and I considered picking it up because he’s one of those classic characters that I wanted a modern version of. They updated Seaspray around the same time. The problem with those figures is that, even though they were “cooler”, they were too far removed from the originals. Both were much larger and more detailed than their vintage counterparts but Powerglide wasn’t the right color and Seaspray’s face looked nothing like the original’s. I passed on both of them. I ended up paying a ridiculous price for an unofficial, third-party produced, Seaspray as a means to have a modern version of the character on my shelf that retained the classic look. I figured I’d have to do the same for Powerglide if I wanted an appropriately-sized, red and grey version of him in my modern Transformers collection. Multiple third-party companies produced awesome versions of Powerglide that met all my criteria but they were so damn expensive that I held off on buying any.

2008 Powerglide

I’m glad I waited because Hasbro has finally produced an updated Powerglide of their own.  I think some of the third party ones were superior but this is a still a very good figure. It’s small, red and grey, and it has all of the iconic Powerglide design elements such as the nosecone shaped head and the upward pointing wings on the shoulders. The icing on the cake is that he’s fully articulated. Powerglide can finally kick.

Third Party Powerglide

This little fella is brand new and is included in wave 2 of the Combiner Wars series. I got Doug hooked on Transformers again for the first time in nearly 30 years when I showed him my wave 1 Combiner Wars figures. He bought up all of wave 1 a week or so ago and then began the hunt for wave 2. He emailed me on Tuesday to say he found wave 2 at the Walmart by his work. I made the trek over to Dartmouth as soon as I could but the wave 2 figures were completely gone by the time I got there with the exception of Powerglide.

Powerglide himself was never a member of a combiner team before and even now he doesn’t merge with anyone to form a larger robot but Hasbro has cleverly added a neat little gimmick to tie him into the popular subseries. Besides transforming into at jet he also has a third mode that makes him into a double barrelled shotgun that can be wielded by Superion or one of the other Combiner giants. The gun mode is pretty lackluster in design but I think it’s a cool option to have. My Powerglide will be displayed in his robot form anyway so his other modes don’t concern me too much. I will say that the airplane mode is quite nice and very reminiscent of the original.

This Powerglide isn’t perfect (I find his head too small) but it’s pretty darn good and for $12 who can complain. 7 out of 10.

My Powerglide collection

G. I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

It’s not often that I get requests for reviews on my site but when I do I try to oblige promptly.  A regular reader asked me to review a Night Creeper figure a while back and it kinda slipped my mind.  He reminded me the other day and so I thought I’d better do it next before I forget again.  My first instinct was to grab one of my two modern-era Night Creepers (versions 11 or 12) because they’re displayed on a shelf right next to my computer desk.  But I’ve been reviewing lots of modern-era figures lately so I decided to go old school today and review the Night Creeper that started it all; 1990’s version 1.

1990 was the year I quit collecting G.I. Joe figures as a kid.  I ‘d been collecting since the Real American Hero (RAH) line launched in 1982 when I was just 4 years old.  In 1990 I was 12 and both my brother Doug and I only got one Joe figure each that year.  He got the Iron Grenadier frogman, Undertow, and I got the Joe Shoreline Defender, Rampart.  I remember thinking that the Night Creeper was a pretty cool looking figure but we had decided to quit collecting that year and thats what we did. I can’t recall why we quit so suddenly.  It’s not like we had lost interest in playing with toys because I remember having many battles with Rampart playing a crucial role.  Whatever the reason, after 8 years of working towards a complete collection, we threw in the towel and I did not acquire a Night Creeper.  My little brother Brian did get one though and I’m pretty sure that I eventually got his.  There are presently two in my collection and I think the broken one was Brian’s.   The other one came to me in last summer’s EPIC HAUL.

Not only had I quit collecting Joe figures by 1990 but Doug and I had stopped collecting G.I. Joe comics as well.  The Night Creepers appeared in the comics quite a few times, first appearing in issue 107 that year, but Doug and I stopped buying at issue 100 so I never read any of those Night Creeper stories until years later. They also appeared in the Joe cartoon produced by DIC but Doug and I stopped watching Joe cartoons after Sunbow’s series wrapped with the 1987 animated movie. In the case of the cartoon though I don’t think the DIC episodes ever aired in my area.  I never found out about them until several years later.

For all of those reasons I don’t have the same nostalgic ties to the Night Creeper that I do with most Joe figures produced before 1990.  None the less, it’s a really cool figure and I’m glad I have him now.

The Night Creepers are a syndicate of High-Tech Ninjas who work under contract for Cobra.  They were nameless faceless troopers much like the Cobra blue-shirts with the exception of their leader, who was first released as an individual figure in 1993.

The design of the original Creeper is quite unique and cool.  It’s got a narrow visor to cover the eyes, kind of like Cyclops from the X-Men, and an Arabian keffiyeh  wrapped around his head.  There are 3 armour plates on the torso which look like they’d be effective against some weapons but would still allow for lots of mobility. And then there’s the color scheme.  This purple outfit makes about as much sense for a ninja as the Alley Viper’s bright orange uniform did as urban camouflage. The Night Creeper is painted in two different shades of purple with shimmery silver highlights and he’s got a pair of pants that wouldn’t help him blend in anywhere.  Perhaps they wear this to show off just how stealthy they are.  You gotta figure if a guy can break into a building an assassinate someone in this attire without being seen then he’s gotta be good.

For accessories the Night Creeper came with a purple backpack which can hold a sword on it’s side, 2 weirdly jagged swords, and a crossbow.  I don’t have either of the swords with mine.

I really like this toy and I’m sure that if I owned it as a kid this guy would’ve kicked a lot of ass.  I think the look translated quite well into a modern-era figure too as you can see in the pic below.   Night Creeper version 1 came out just before the Joe line got bogged down with ninjas and gimmicks.  Later versions of this character weren’t so lucky.  I also own 1994’s version 3 and it is an atrocity.  Perhaps I’ll share that one with you next.  8 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

In my last post I reviewed 1990’s Night Creeper version 1; a pretty rad figure.  What a difference three years can make.  This abomination is 1994’s Night Creeper version 3.

Night Creeper was the last ninja to be added to the G.I. Joe toyline while it was still intended to primarily be a military brand.  1991 was ninja free (except for a new version of Snake Eyes) but the ninja s**t hit the fan in 1992 and 1993 with the introduction of the sub-team Ninja Force.  Not only were new ninjas like Slice, Dice, and Banzai added to the line-up but established characters like Firefly, Scarlett, and Zartan became full-blown ninjas as well.  (92/93 also featured the following sub-teams: Mega Marines, Drug Elimination Force,  Star Brigade, Street Fighters, Eco-Warriors and Dino-Figthers…the days of the modern military man were over).

I had stopped collecting Joes by that point but my little brother Brian was just getting started collecting so I was aware of what was going on.  I didn’t like the over-abundance of ninjas.  I felt it diminished the uniqueness of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow and watered down the brand’s military theme.  Plus the ninja figures featured “real ninja action” which meant they karate chopped when you pressed their legs together or kicked when you lifted their arm or something like that.  Generally I hate built-in play features.  It was a kitschy novelty for toylines like DC’s Super Powers Collection but it doesn’t belong in G.I. Joes in my opinion.

The Night Creeper got a weird redesign in 1993.  He went from High-Tech Ninja to Battlestar Gallactica reject.  The body was really dull and lacking in detail and the head looked completely alien.  He would have looked more at home displayed with my Micro-Nauts figures than with my Joes.  The blue and purple paint deco was ugly and his baby blue weapons were also pretty lame.  On top of all that Night Creeper version 2 had a useless”Banzai Bash” attack.

But just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse Hasbro re-released Night Creeper version 2 one year later in a god-awful pink and milky-clear color scheme.   The reason for the translucency is because the figure was now part of a group of Shadow-Ninjas that had a color change feature, allowing them to turn “invisible” when put in warm water.  This figure is ugly as f**k.  It’s the perfect storm of a horrible sculpt and the worse color palette I can imagine. It’s far worse than the Bushido Shadow Ninja I reviewed a while back.

I don’t remember where I got this god-forsaken figure.  I don’t think it was Brian’s because all of the fingers and thumbs are broken off and we Hyland boys took better care of our toys than that.  At some point though this thing found its way into my collection.  I can’t find a single redeeming quality about it.  This may be the worst toy I own.  0 out of 10.

This was a big weekend for me.  On its surface it would appear to have been a pretty standard Mike weekend.  Friday I had some drinks at Vanessa’s and we watched the first 4 episodes of Netflix’s new Daredevil series (which is great so far), Saturday night my buddy Guy came over and we had some drinks and watched a Stone Temple Pilots concert on TV, and today I’m just lounging around reading comic books and probably watching more Daredevil.  All of that was fine but what made this such a big weekend is what was happening many miles away in Springfield, Illinois.  The town of Springfield played host to this year’s G.I. Joe Convention.  I’ve never been to a Joe Con myself but when one is going on I never venture too far from my computer as want to hear all the latest news as it breaks. And boy oh boy was there some exciting news this year.

There are many toy news sites out there reporting on Joe Con so I’m not going to rehash what’s already out there but I’d like to quickly tell you about the product that was shown and give my 2 cents on it.

First off there’s the 15 figure convention box set.  This is my fourth consecutive year purchasing a set.  I’ve been very pleased with the Con sets every year and I’m sure this one will be no different.  The theme this year is Tiger-Force (a sub-team of G.I. Joe where everyone wears tiger-striped uniforms) vs Destro’s Iron Grenadiers.  Attendees got to pick up their sets this weekend but sadly, as a non-attendee, my set won’t be mailed out to me until June. I’ll post individual reviews of all the figures once my set arrives. Besides the box set there are always additional figures available at the Con that nobody knows about until they arrive on site (like 2012’s Darklon and Annihilator) .  These figures can get very expensive on the secondary market so I secretly hoped there would be no good ones.  This years attendee exclusives included:

Helicopter Crew: Alpine, Frostbite, SkyStriker

Iron Grenadiers Air Assault Two pack (repainted 2012 Annihilators)
Tiger Force Helicopter Crew Three Pack (Frostbite, Alpine, and Sky Striker)
Tiger Hawk Helicopter (a repainted Tomahawk)
Tiger Shark w/ Felino (a repainted Moccasin with a repainted Brazilian Dusty)
Tiger Sting w/ Sgt Katzenbogen (repainted Vamp with repainted Bazooka)
Iron Anvil Officer w/ Parachute (a repaint of the Iron Anvil figure included in the 15 figure box set)
Kre-O Six Pack (based on characters from the box set)

That’s a whole lot of exclusives.  Fortunately none of them are on my “must-have” list.  It would be nice to get Felino and Sky Striker since those are characters I don’t already own but the one exclusive I would most like is Frostbite.  The original Frostbite came out in 1985 and he was a Joe I quite liked.  He’s presently the oldest vintage Joe figure who hasn’t gotten a modern-era remake.  He got a figure in 2009 but it looks nothing like the original so it hardly counts.  This Con exclusive finally gives us the bearded Frostbite that fans have been waiting for.  The only reason I haven’t shelled out $150 for him on ebay already is that this figure is based on his 1988 Tiger Force version 2.  It’s almost a certainty that the Club will later rerelease this figure in the 1985 white outfit which is the version I would prefer anyway so I’ll hold out for that.

The next big news came from Hasbro.  They revealed their continuing 50th anniversary releases for summer 2015. Here’s what’s coming:

SDCC EXCLUSIVES (Available: July 2015)
G.I. JOE CRIMSON STRIKE: Features the Cobra Scythe jet (Skystriker repaint) and the G.I. Joe Chimera (HISS tank repaint). Includes Grunt, Steeler, A.V.A.C. & Alley Viper Office.
G.I. JOE DESERT DUEL:  Features the F.O.E. Striker (A.W.E. Striker) and the Cobra Basilisk (Snow Cat repaint). Includes Night Fox, Chuckles, Elite Horseman and Cobra Air Trooper.
TOYS “R” US EXCLUSIVES (Available: August 2015)
G.I. JOE DESERT DUEL: Features the F.O. E. Striker and the Cobra Basilisk. Includes Chuckles and the Elite Horseman.
G.I. JOE SILENT STRIKE: Features the G.I. Joe Skystriker, and the H.I.S.S. Tank. Includes Ace, Sightline, H.I.S.S. Gunner and Driver.
G.I. JOE 3-PACKS 
Chase for the MASS Device: Includes Duke, Cobra Commander, and Cobra Trooper.
Sneak Attack: Includes Bazooka, Firefly, and Dusty.
Vanishing Act: Includes Torpedo, Hit & Run, and Zartan.
Rock Rampage: Includes Alpine, Rock Viper, and Cobra Shock Trooper.
G.I. JOE 2-PACKS 
Marine Devastation: Includes Gung-Ho vs. Cobra Shadow Guard.
Hunt For Cobra Commander: Includes Shipwreck vs. Cobra Commander.
Classic Clash: Includes Spirit Iron-Knife vs. Storm Shadow.
Troop Build-Up: Includes Steel Brigade vs. Iron Grenadier.
Swamp Steam: Includes Blowtorch vs. Croc Master.

That’s a pretty impressive line up for a toy-line that seemed pretty much dead in the water again. Hopefully this push at retail can bring some attention back to the brand.  I’m excited about these toys and I’ll buy pretty much all of them but I would have liked to have seen some actual “new” product. Almost all of Hasbro’s summer figures and vehicles are repaints of stuff we already have and some of them are just straight re-issues. I’m most excited about the new Gung-Ho.; it was shown by Hasbro as a concept figure a few years back and we’re finally getting it.

B.A.T. and Old Snake

Some other items of note from the Con is that G.I. Joe Kre-O is not dead and that more news on that line is coming and also the Transformers’ Collector’s Club revealed that they will release 3 G.I. Joe crossover toys this year; Marissa Fairborne (the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye) A Stealth B.A.T. ( a repainted drone Soundwave) and Old Snake (Cobra Commander’s alter ego from his one-time cameo appearance in the Transformers cartoon).  I’m pretty excited about Old Snake.

And finally, the last bit of big news from the Con was the Collector’s Club panel where they revealed their 2016 plans.  I’m very excited about next years Club figures.

The free  figure that you get for being a Club member in 2016 is none other than Pythona.  Many fans like myself have been wanting this figure ever since she first appeared and played a key role in the 1987 animated Joe movie. There has never been a figure of this character and I could not be more pleased with this announcement.

Another upcoming figure I’m excited about is Heartwrencher.  She was a female Dreadnok character that was introduced in the Joe comics published by Devil’s Due before IDW took over the license.  I imagine she’ll be made using many of the same parts used for Zarana and Zanya.  I’m fine with that but hopefully she gets a brand new head sculpt.  I love me some punk rock biker chicks so she’ll be a welcome addition to the collection.

And then there’s the 12 figure line-up for the Club’s Figure Subscription Service 4.0.  I think this may be the best line-up yet.

First up is Barricade.  This is a character I’m not very familiar with.  The first Barricade figure came out in 1992 after I had quit collecting Joes as a kid.  Second and third versions came out in 1993 and 2004.  I don’t have any of them.  But he’s a character we haven’t seen in the modern-era yet and he looks like Robocop with his helmet on so I’m looking forward to this guy.

Next up is Billy.  This is another figure that is long overdue.  Billy is the son of Cobra Commander.  he was introduced in the Joe comics as an adolescent back in the 80s.  Over the years he studied with Storm Shadow to become a martial arts master and a key character to the Joe mythology.  He was nearly killed by Scrap Iron at one point and he lost an eye and a leg.  I hope the upcoming figure has an eye patch and a prosthetic.

Then there’s Bullhorn.  A Native American Joe first included in the 1990 series of figures.  I didn’t have that figure when I was a kid but my little brother did and I inherited it from him when he grew out of it.  Bullhorn is a unique looking character with a unique specialty, he’s the Joe team’s intervention specialist.  I don’t know a ton about this guy but he’s another character appearing in the modern style for the first time and I’ll be happy to have him.

Next up is Interrogator.  The aptly named Cobra interrogator. He first showed up in ’91 and then again in ’93.  I never got my first version of him until 2006’s version 3.  He’s a great looking character with a classic Cobra vibe.  They could’ve easily made him a new version of Cobra Commander instead of a new character but I’m glad they didn’t. I think this is one of the coolest looking “name” Cobra characters and I bet he’ll look amazing in the modern style.

And then there’s Law & Order.  This is the first character of the seven I’ve talked about thus far of whom we already have a modern-era figure. As a guy that prefers new characters over countless repaints I’d say thats pretty awesome. But as far as repaints go Law is a character that I’m glad to see re-done.  I loved the original Law figure from 1987 which is why I was very disappointed with the 2009 modern version of the character which took all of his iconic design elements and threw them out the window.  The 2011 figure was a big improvement but it still didn’t fee like Law to me. Both figures were too drab.  I want a classically colored Law with a red shirt and a blue vest and I think that’s what we’re gonna get. 

Then there’s the Cobra Inferno BAT.  The first Inferno BAT was an online exclusive figure released in 2003.  It was a translucent orange version of the 1991 BAT figure. It was a neat looking figure but not one I ever bothered to seek out.  I doubt the club will create new parts for this figure.  They’ll likely just take the existing modern BAT figure and cast it in translucent orange plastic. It’s a relatively simple repaint but I think it will look fantastic. I already have multiple BAT variations and a clear orange one will look great with the others.

Next up is Nunchuck. The Club could go one of two ways with this.  In the 90s Nunchuck wore a traditional looking ninja outfit with a green and black striped camo pattern.  In the 2000s he wore baggy pants, bare feet and body paint.  I don’t have any real fondness for this character one way or the other though I think I would prefer the masked ninja version.  This is another character who has never been done in the modern-era and I think he’ll look good displayed with his fellow Ninja Force members who have been slowly trickling out.

Then there’s the Night Creeper Ice Ninja.  I just reviewed 1990’s Night Creeper version 1 earlier this week.  And then I reviewed the horribly re-designed version 3.  Well Hasbro corrected their design flub on the Cobra ninja and went back to the original look for 1998’s version 4.  That version was included in an arctic themed pack so it was painted all white and blue. I really liked the arctic design so I’m glad to hear its making a return in the modern-era.

The Joe team’s Jungle Assault Specialist comes next.  Pathfinder was first released in 1990.  I didn’t own that figure as a kid but I have it now and I really like it.  It has a good paint deco, some cool accessories (a weed whacker) and lots of personality.  Pathfinder hasn’t been seen since 2001 so it’s good to see him get a modern-era update.

The next FSS 4.0 inclusion is the one figure I’m not very excited about, Jammer.  The original 1984 Jammer was a European variant of the 1982 Stalker figure.  All Palitoy did to differentiate him from Hasbro’s Stalker was paint his hat red and paint a red logo on his chest.  Most times I’m thrilled when the Club gives us these international repaints like Bombardier or Quarrel but in this case the figure just wasn’t different enough.  I’m hoping the Club surprises me here but my expectations are low.

Then there’s Tiger Force Outback.  The Joe team’s Survival Training Instructor never made it onto Tiger Force in America but in 1990 a Tiger Force Outback was produced in the UK.  That figure is sought after by collector’s because of a couple of unique design elements.  He has an over-the-top orange shirt with a roaring tiger’s face on it and for some reason they gave him white hair.  it’s a drastic change from the gingery Outback we all know and love.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the Club reimagines this look on a modern era figure.

And last, but certainly not least, is Tiger Force Sneak Peak.  SP is one of my favorite Joes.  I have been patiently waiting for a Sneak Peak update since version 1 came out in 1987.  He got a Night Force repaint in ’88 that I never knew about because it was a store exclusive and the only other version of him out there is a UK Tiger Force repaint from ’91.  There hasn’t been a Sneak Peak since. I’m so happy to finally be able to add him to my modern-era collection.  I would prefer to be getting an ’87 inspired red and grey Sneak Peak but the Tiger Force outfit looks pretty cool too and I know it will eventually lead to a v1 repaint at some point down the road.

So that’s what you can expect in 2015 and 2016.  I hope you found as much to get excited about as I did. Yo Joe.

FUNKO POP!: AVENGERS

When the first Avengers movie came out in 2012 I had an Avengers theme week where I reviewed a different Avengers toy every day for 7 days.  I reviewed toys of characters that appeared in the film, like Hawkeye and Iron Man, but I also reviewed a couple of Avengers who weren’t in the movie, like Wonder Man and the Vision.  Vision has been a long-standing member of the Avengers but he’s never really been an A-List character and he seemed like an unlikely candidate to ever appear in a big-budget Hollywood film.  But in less than 2 weeks Avengers 2 will be hitting theatres and it will feature none other than the Avengers resident android as part of the ensemble cast.  A couple of years ago I never would’ve guessed that we’d be seeing the Vision so soon in Marvel Studios’ shared cinematic universe but seeing as the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man both have their own movies now  I don’t think anything would surprise me.

I like the Vision but he’s never been a character I was ever really passionate about.  He always seemed a little boring to me but at least he looked cool.  He’s usually a yellow and green dude with a popped collar and a bright red face.  I have an action figure of him in his classic colors from Toy Biz’s animated Avengers line of the 90s.  It’s a pretty cool figure which I have yet to review (maybe after the movie comes out).   The figure I reviewed in 2012 for Avengers Week was a solid white figure which was based on Vision’s appearance in the 1989 story “Vision Quest”where he lost both his complexion and his personality.  This latest Vision figure that I picked up a couple of days ago showcases yet another color palette, this one based on his upcoming live-action appearance.

I really like this new color scheme for Vision.  I find it looks more alien than it does super hero.  It gives him a creepy factor which I like.  He’s wearing a grey textured onesie and pink boots and gloves with some gold accents.  He also has a cape which is molded in a blend of translucent pink and gold plastic and features some nice microchip-like sculpted details.  The pink face is very evocative of his classic red face but the head gear is much more elaborate for the movie version.  The comic Vision appeared to have a skin tight hood on where as this Vision’s head gear looks much more cybernetic and functional.

I don’t know if this design will look as good on a 6″ Marvel Legends or 4″ Marvel Universe figure but I think it looks great on this vinyl figure from Funko.  I’m a big fan of their POP! figures and I have a small army of them adorning my desk at work.  I try to collect characters from a variety of properties for my POP! display.  I presently have DC comics characters, Masters of the Universe characters, and various movie and TV characters.  When I bought Vision and the Collector (Benico Del Toro’s character from Guardians of the Galaxy) the other day I didn’t realize that they were my first Marvel POP! figures.  Which is why I was rather surprised when I pulled them from their boxes and discovered they were bobble-heads.

None of my other POP! figurines are bobble-heads.  I was aware that for some reason certain POP! properties, such as Star Wars, were bobble-heads and I steered clear of them because  I don’t like bobble-heads.  All that bobbling gets on my nerves.  It never occurred to me that Vision might be a bobble-head when I purchased him because  I was thinking that I already owned at least one Marvel POP! figure but apparently I didn’t.  If I had the option to trade this figure in for a non-bobble version I most certainly would but that’s not an option and so I’m stuck with this wobbly annoyance.

Vision is being played by Paul Bettany in the movie.  I’ve been a fan of Bettany’s ever since 2000’s Gangster No. 1.  He’s been the voice of Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S. operating system in all 3 Iron Man movies and the first Avengers.  I wonder if there were always plans to turn Jarvis into the Vision or if it came about as an after thought.  Either way, I think it’s a great idea.  He’s one of the characters I’m most excited about seeing on the big screen this summer.

I wish I could attend a Thursday night showing on April 30 but I’m gonna be in Mexico for my buddy Miguel’s wedding that weekend.  So unless I’m willing to sit through a Spanish version I won’t get to see Avengers: Age of Ultron until 3 or 4 days after its release.  Don’t post any spoilers.  7 out of 10.

HOT WHEELS

I’ve reviewed over 700 toys for this blog and about 690 of them have been action figures.  The other few have been statues, bobble-heads,  and stuffed animals.   I’ve reviewed a couple of G.I. Joe vehicles but this is my first ever dinky car review.  I’ve never been into cars but I still had a sizeable collection of dinkys when I was a kid.

Sidenote: I’m so out of the loop on these things that I’m not even sure if dinky is a popular term used to describe them.  It sounds silly to me now but that’s what I always called them when I was a kid.   I always assumed that “dinky” was a generic term used to describe all small die-cast metal cars but I could be wrong.

I used to keep my dinkys in a white wicker-like basket that was probably meant to be a garbage can.  Most of my toys were kept in drawers or boxes so I’m not sure why my dinkys ended up in such a strange storage receptacle but it was the perfect size to hold them all so thats where they remained.

When my brother Doug and I played with out dinkys as kids (see, that sounds wrong) we pretended the cars themselves were characters, kind of like Transformers or KITT from Knight Rider.   I suppose it was most similar to how cars are treated in the Pixar movies of the same name.  I guess we were ahead of our time with that concept.  Our dinkys never did car-related things like race around a track.  Instead they went on adventures and fought rubber dinosaurs and stuff like that.  We pretty much used them the same way we played with our action figures.  I got rid of nearly all of my childhood dinkys long ago but I believe I held onto my 2 or 3 favourites.  Those would be Sunburner, Flashlight and Rookie if memory serves.  (yes, we named them all).  I haven’t gotten a new dinky since I was like 6 years old but I was in Toys R Us the other day and saw this thing and felt compelled to pick it up.

Anchorman is one of my all-time favourite comedies; it’s one of Vanessa’s too.  I thought this van was hilarious when I spotted it while we were out shopping for Transformers on the weekend (she was actually shopping for a dress…not Transformers).  I pointed it out to her and once we noticed it was the only one left on the pegs she insisted I buy it.

There’s nothing particularly special or interesting about this van which is what makes it so funny.  You’d expect Hot Wheels’ movie-based line to include famous cars like the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard, the A-Team’s Van, or the Batmobile but I guess those have probably all been done to death.  So now it seems Hot Wheels is going obscure and producing a whole bunch of barely memorable TV and movie vehicles.  The car from Simon & Simon?  The Zoolander jeep? Really?

I usually open my toys but I don’t dare take this one out of its packaging.  It would immediately lose its recognition factor and look like nothing more than a boring generic van.  It must remain sealed so that it can truly be enjoyed.  It’s a pretty spot on reproduction of the van from the movie which is cool but that’s about all I have to say about it.  It doesn’t appear to have opening doors or any other features of note.   It’s a fun little oddity that will look nice tacked to the wall of my man-cave.  5 out of 10.

G. I. JOE

It seems Joe fans take the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club for granted these days.  The Club produces a lot of product each year and almost everything they do is greeted with moans and grons from impossible to please fans on the internet.  Not everything the Club does is perfect but I think they’ve played a major role in keeping the brand fun and innovative for the past 13 years.

The Club offers us a chance to sign up for a monthly figure subscription service that provides  13 exclusive figures each year, they give us a free annual membership incentive figure for joining, they produce exclusive figures and vehicles that they offer as optional purchases to members, and they offer exclusive figures to those who attend their annual convention. If I have anything to complain about its that they produce too many great figures because it gets awfully expensive to keep up with them all.

One of the coolest (and most expensive) exclusives they offer each year is their 15-figure box set which is available to both convention attendees and to non-attending Club members via their online store.  The first set the Club produced was 2002’s “Crimson Strike Team”.  It featured red re-paints of the 1984 Baroness, both of the 1985 Crimson Twins, and 12 1986 Cobra Vipers.  A box set containing 12 identical figures might not have been everyones cup of tea but it was a pretty cool set for those who like to army build.  I’m sure it was primarily done to reduce production cuts but it didn’t reduce them enough for me to shell out a couple hundred dollars to get a set for myself.  As neat as that set was the figures didn’t feel essential to my collection.

The Club continued to produce new sets each year and they got better and better. In 2005 and 2006 the set still only contained 3 unique name characters but instead of 12 of the same army builder you got 6 of one type and 6 of another. 2007’s set featured 9 unique characters and a squad of 6 army builders.  The sets had begun to feel much more essential by that point but 2007 ushered in Hasbro’s new “modern style” of G.I. Joe figure.  I fully embraced the modern style and boxed up all my vintage and new-sculpt era figures.  This evolution saved me and my wallet from “needing” to purchase the Club’s convention sets because, even though the figures were cool, they were done in the vintage O-ring style which didn’t mesh with my modern collection.

But with the release of their 2009 box set the Club decided to embrace the modern-era figure construction.  The Club paid homage to their original 2002 set by releasing the Crimson Strike Team again (Baroness, Tomax & Xamot, and 12 Vipers) only this time in the modern 4″ style.  It was a cool set but still too pricey for my tastes.  I didn’t cave until 2012’s Operation Bear Trap set which featured the Oktober Guard vs the Iron Grenadiers.  Once I got a taste for them I haven’t been able to pass up a convention set since.  I’m presently eagerly awaiting the arrival of my 2015 Tiger Force themed set.

I wish I had started buying the box sets at least one year earlier because there were some great figures included in 2011’s “Special Mission: Brazil” set.  The only figure I have from that set is Cobra De Aco which Vanessa bought me for my birthday a few years ago.  It’s one of my most prized possessions.  Hopefully I’ll eventually get the rest of that 2011 set.

As for 2009’s Crimson Strike Team I never felt compelled to seek out the whole set because I didn’t need 12 identical red Vipers…..but I did need at least one of them.  Crimson Vipers are plentiful on the internet and they’re not that expensive either as far as exclusives go because everyone who bought the set got a dozen of them.  I’ve intended to buy one for years but I didn’t actually do it until two weeks ago.  I think I was so excited by the 2015 G.I. Joe Convention which  took place over the weekend of April 9-12 that I got a bit of convention set fever.  I impulsively bought this figure from a lovely fellow named Greg online and a few days later it was in my hands.

I really like this figure.  I think the classic blue Viper outfit looks quite nice in red.  I was worried that this was going to be a repaint of 2008’s Viper version 16 (the first Viper of the modern-era which was a real clunker) but thankfully it’s not.  It has the same torso, waist, and upper arms as that figure but all the other pieces (the problem areas) have been replaced with superior parts.  These lower arms don’t have gimpy wrists, these lower legs don’t have weirdly angled ankles, and this head’s goggles don’t constantly fall off.  Best of all this Viper has a vac-metal faceplate.

Each Crimson Strike Team Viper came packaged with a red display base, a backpack, and 2 silver rifles. I’m very happy that I finally picked up this figure.  8 out of 10. 

M.U.S.C.L.E.

Early tomorrow morning I leave for Mexico.  My best friend Miguel is getting married down there and I’m his best man.  I live in Canada, the Great White North, and I’ve never been down south before.  I’m excited about the trip but I’m equally trepidatious.  I once got third degree burns when I stayed out in the sun to long here at home. I’m pretty much doomed once I get down there.  Besides the deadly sun I’ve also received the following warnings from various people:

1. Don’t drink the water.

2. Stay near crowds to avoid getting murdered by the crime families who run the resorts.

3. By wary of deadly jellyfish swarms, and

4. Wipe down all the utensils so I don’t get worms.

That’s just a few of the things I have to worry about.  Don’t even get me started on airplanes and sharks and all the other dangers that await me.  But I’m trying to stay focused on the positive aspects of the trip.  I’m sure it will be a blast.  It’s mine and Vanessa’s first vacation together and I’ll have a bunch of my good buddies there too.  It’s two weeks away from work if nothing else.

In celebration of the trip I thought I’d review a toy with Mexican ties but I had a really hard time finding one.  Most of my toys are made in China.  I think the only Mexican made toys I have are the terrible Batman and Nightwing bootlegs that Miguel brought back for me as a souvenir a few years ago.

I tried to think of Mexican pop-culture characters.  The first one I thought of was the Spider-Man villain Tarantula who I could’ve sworn was Mexican but after reading his Wikipedia page I discovered that he hails from a fictional South American country.  The next one I thought of was Arana but I already reviewed her a few months back.   I couldn’t think of any other Mexican super heroes and I couldn’t think of any Mexican G.I. Joes either.  I then pondered if I had any figures of Mexican wrestlers like Rey Mysterio.  It turns out I don’t but that line of thinking made me remember these two little figures.

M.U.S.C.L.E.(Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere) was a Japanese toy line exported to North America by Mattel in the 1980s.  They were small flesh coloured wrestlers and they came in all kinds of weird varieties.  I have previously reviewed two batches of them (Muscles 1 and Muscles 2).  My brother Doug and I collected them and we each had sizeable collections of the little guys.  None of the characters came with names or back stories so we had to make it all up ourselves.  I thought these two guys looked like maracas so I named them the Maraca Brothers.  They were some of my favorites and the were my reigning tag-team champions most of the time. I viewed them as Mexican Luchador wrestlers which is why they ended up the subject of this post.

Tag Team Match: The Maraca Brothers vs The Egyptians.

The two figures are very similar.  From the waist down they’re identical. Their maraca shaped torsos share many similarities such as the flower pattern near the belt buckle, the “handle” on the top, and the round masked face in the center.  The differences are that one has a necklace of shrunken heads and an arm up in a punching position where as the other guy is jewelry free and has both arms at his side.  I always imagined the guy with the necklace of heads was the crazier of the two; the one who would fly off the handle in pre-fight interviews and stuff like that.  

Regrettably I decided to add some color to these two one day which is why they look the way they do.  I actually don’t mind my color choices but I used a type of marker which didn’t age very well.  A lot of the ink has rubbed off entirely or bled into other colors over the years.  Apparently my 10 year old self didn’t feel the need to color the back of one of the figures for some reason.

Before I sat down to write this review I googled this character to see if I could find out his real name.  Apparently he’s called Mixer Taite and he’s actually a blender, not a maraca.  That flower pattern near his waist is intended to be dicing blades seen through what would be a clear glass body…strange.  Also, I couldn’t find any reference to his partner so I think these figures are actually supposed to be variations of the same guy.  It’s neat to find that kind of stuff out after the fact but I still like them better as the Maraca Brothers.  6 out of 10.

So adios mi amigos.  Hopefully I survive the trip and this is not my final post.  If all goes well I shall return in a week with a bunch of crappy Mexican bootleg figures to review.

In my last post I told you I was about to embark on a perilous journey to Mexico for my buddy Miguel’s wedding.  Well I’m happy to report that I survived the trip.  Not only did I survive it but I had a great time.  I’d never been down south before so I was a little worried about the heat (I burn easily), the ocean (I fear sharks and I can’t swim), the food (I mostly survive on Pizza, Kraft Dinner, and PB sandwiches), the locals (I was warned that Cartels run the resorts), and a slew of other things.  Fortunately the whole trip went very smoothly and none of those things were an issue.

We arrived on Sunday and spent the first night drinking beers and exploring the large resort.  Monday was spent drinking cocktails in the pool.  Tuesday was the wedding.  It sucked wearing a suit in that heat but the ceremony was lovely and the reception was fantastic.  Miguel and his beautiful new bride Ashley hosted a dance party on the beach complete with a light-up glass dance floor, a piñata, a taco stand, a photo booth, over-sized sombreros, and unlimited booze.  We ended the night at the resort’s 60’s themed dance club which was a blast.  The combination of Beatles tunes, funky retro decor,  and afro’ed go-go girls made me feel like an extra in an Austin Powers movie.

Miguel: Groom/Best Friend/Mexican

Wednesday was more pool drinks and I believe that was the evening we hit up a local town, Playa del Carmen.  There were two things I was looking for in town.  I wanted a Mexican comic book and I wanted a crappy Mexican bootleg action figure.  I was hoping to find a yellow ninja turtle with a Superman logo or a green Spider-Man with a machine gun labelled Spider-Warrior-Soldier.  Something like this.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find action figures or comic books anywhere.  I even asked an English-speaking local where I could maybe find comics and he didn’t even seem to know what I was talking about.  Many of the crappy souvenir shops (there were hundreds of them) had poorly painted Marvel statues but they were too big and cumbersome to carry around.  The Predator was also very popular there for some reason.  I found multiple Predator statues but no action figures.  The highlight of my visit to Playa del Carmen was getting my picture taken with a monkey named Obama.

Me, Vanessa, and Obama

I didn’t want to leave town empty-handed so I settled for buying this wood-carved hammerhead shark.  I may fear sharks but I still love them.  I love animals in general and am always tempted to buy rubber versions of them when I see them. Here are a few examples of past animal figure purchases: Jellyfish, Grizzly Bear, Frog, Platypus.

The particular souvenir shop I stopped in to make a purchase had a number of neat wooden animal figurines.  I just so happened to have this shark in hand when the very aggressive shop owner approached me and told me how his family carved it themselves and that it was a steal at $90.  It took about 5 minutes to negotiate him down to a much more reasonable $20.  You might think even that seems a little high but this is a very nice piece.  The wood is silky smooth with a nice grain pattern.  Gills and even a little mouth have been carved into it and the name “Playa del Carmen” has been etched into the belly.  Makes for a decent souvenir.

Though I’m not sure where I’m going to display this thing.  It doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of my collection.  I think I’ll find a home for it in my living room somewhere, away from the action figure filled  man-cave.  I also ended up purchasing a painted tile featuring Chichen Itza (one of the New 7 Wonders of the World) and a small dip bowl featuring a cute skull motif so maybe I’ll lump them all together for a nice little Mexican display.

I never did find a Mexican action figure but I did find a Mexican comic book at the airport just before heading back home.  I rooted through every magazine rack I saw at the airport (there were dozens) and at the last one, right by our gate, I found 2 comics; an issue of WE3 and an issue of 100 Bullets.  It seemed odd that those were the books I found because both were published in America several years ago but I was happy to find anything at that point.  I opted for the WE3 comic; I was never able to get into 100 Bullets.

The rest of the trip consisted of more drinking in the pool, feeding tropical fish in the ocean, relaxing on the beach, renting a car and driving to the Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza (one of Vanessa’s bucket-list items), and lastly watching the underwhelming Mayweather/ Pacquiao fight at the resort’s sports bar.

All-in-all it was a great time.  The fact that I got to share the experience with Vanessa and so many of my best friends made it that much better.  The vacation was a solid 10 out of 10.  This shark trinket is kind of hard to rate but as far as wooden sharks go I can’t imagine a better one so I suppose I’ll give it a 10 out of 10 as well. Why not?

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

One thing I really like about the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline is that it covers all corners of the MOTU mythology.  It’s not simply a rehashing of the vintage 80s figures.  The Classics line also includes figures inspired by the 80s cartoon, the new Adventures toyline of the 90s, the 2002 cartoon series and toyline, the 80s mini-comics, and the She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon and toyline.  The Classics line has also introduced brand new characters into the mythology like Draego Man.  One of the coolest things Mattel has done is produce figures based on old concept art from the earliest days of the brand.  For example, in 2011 they produced figures based on the original design sketches for He-Man and Skeletor.  Those toys were given the names Vikor and Demo-Man and provided with new backstories to integrate them into the established continuity as unique characters.  In May 2013 Mattel did a similar thing with the release of the Fighting Foe Men 3-pack.

“Fighting Foe Men” was  the original name assigned to Mattel’s barbarian/science-fiction toy line when it was still in the development stage before they settled on “Masters of the Universe”.  I think it’s a cool nod to the history of the brand that the name was resurrected for this set. The first wave of MOTU figures was released in 1982 and new waves were released annually until 1988.  If Ditztroyer doesn’t look familiar to you it’s because he’s not a remake of one of those vintage figures; but he’s not a brand new character either.

From 1968 to 1984 Mattel owned a model company called Monogram. Monogram produced model kits of cars, airplanes, and other vehicles beginning in the 1950s and it continued to do so for years after its relationship with Mattel ended.  While still owned by Mattel, Monogram produced 3 model kits based on vehicles from the MOTU universe; the Attak Trak, the Talon Fighter, and the Roton.  The boxes of those model kits featured painted artwork of the vehicles in action.  For some reason the pilots of the vehicles in the artwork were not known characters like He-Man and Skeletor.  Instead, never before seen mystery men were placed behind the wheels.

I never owned any of those model kits as a kid.  Truthfully, I didn’t even know they existed and I wouldn’t have cared even if I did know.  I was never into building models.  I would much rather have had the actual toy versions of those vehicles produced by Mattel (but I didn’t own those either).  However, if I did own the model kits and had seen the mystery men featured on the box art I probably would have wanted action figures of those characters.  Somewhere out there, MOTU fans much more hardcore than I, did remember those characters and did want action figures of them.  In 2013 Mattel and the Four Horsemen (the designers behind the Classics line) gave them what they wanted.

This Ditztroyer figure is based on the character seen on the box of the Roton model kit.  All of the pilots seen on the boxes are somewhat obscured by the cockpits of the vehicles but the Roton pilot is the one you get the best look at.  He’s a blue skinned guy with a blue cape and hood, green gloves, green shin guards or boots, a green belt, and an orange chest and shorts.

The Horsemen have done a fantastic job of producing a figure that matches the box art.  The only design element of the action figure that don’t perfectly match up with character seen in the artwork is the lack of the crocodile skin texture on the gloves and shin guards.  The furry loin cloth may not be a perfect match either but its difficult to tell.

In the painting the character doesn’t have any sort of emblem on his chest nor does he have any accessories.  The Horsemen made a really neat decision to give each Foe Man an emblem and a weapon that represents the vehicle they piloted.  Ditztroyer has a black emblem that features the large eyes and jagged underbite of the Roton and for a weapon he has a long black staff with spinning red blades which is very reminiscent of the Roton itself (the staff’s blades don’t actually spin unfortunately).  Another cool thing about this figure is that the cape has a sleeve in it where the staff can be stored when not in use.

The newly crafted bio on the Foe Men’s packaging states that they started out as a group of renegade pirates but later swore allegiance to Hordak and joined his Evil Horde. Thusly each Foe Man comes with a Horde symbol that can be worn in place of the vehicle specific emblem.  It’s a pretty cool little detail that provides some additional play value.  No other toy line makes me wish I was a kid again like  MOTU Classics.  I would’ve loved to play out Diztroyer’s storyline.

As for the name, each Foe Man was given a name to homage a member of the Four Horsemen team.  Ditztroyer is named after a guy named Shane Ditzworth.  I’m not a fan of the name but whatever.

I really like this figure.  It’s by far my favorite of the 3 Foe Men.  The design is great, the colors are great, and the accessories are great.  His joints are solid and he has plenty of articulation.  My only gripes are:

1. His name sucks

2. I think all 3 of the Fighting Foe Men look like good guys.  They seem miscast as villains.  Ditztroyer reminds me of Dr. Manhattan and the Vision, both heroic characters.

3. He has nipples.  I didn’t notice until I took his larger Roton emblem off to replace it with the Horde symbol but this dude is apparently bare chested. That doesn’t make any sense to me.  I’ll just keep on pretending that he’s a blue guy with a very tight orange shirt on.

8 out of 10.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

In my last post I reviewed Ditztroyer from the Masters of the Universe Classics “Fighting Foe Men” 3-pack.  I figured I might as well go ahead and review another figure from that set now that I’ve gotten all the back story out of the way.

This here is Dawg-O-Tor.  He’s named after Owen “O-Dawg” Oertling, a member of the Four Horsemen team.  I’m not exactly sure what role Mr. Oertling plays in the production process but apparently he’s an integral member of the team. I’m sure it’s neat for Owen to have a character named after him but, as with Ditztroyer, it’s a pretty horrible name for an action figure.  However, seeing as other characters in the MOTU line have names like Clawful (because he has a claw and he’s awful) and Man-E-Faces (because he has many faces) I guess we can let the name slide.

This figure  is based on the character seen on the box art of the Talon Fighter model kit.  Ditztroyer could be seen quite clearly on the Roton box art so I imagine it was relatively easy for the Horsemen to design that figure.  In the case of Dawg-O-Tor very few details can be seen in the box art so they would have had to fill in a lot of the blanks.  All that can be seen of the pilot on the original packaging is that he has a green top, black shoulder pads, bare arms, and a helmet with a visor.  It kind of looks like he has long hair but it’s difficult to tell.

The Horsemen managed to take those few details and construct a fully realized character.  The Dawg-O-Tor figure has all of the features I described above and the Horsemen rounded out the character with green pants and standard MOTU fuzzy boots and shorts.  It’s a relatively simply body design but it looks great and blends in well with all the other MOTU figures on my shelf.

The head sculpt is quite unique.  It features a very masculine square jaw, a silver helmet with gold wings painted on the sides, translucent yellow goggles through which you can see his eyes,  and long brown hair that flows out the back of the helmet.  There’s a white streak painted in the hair which was apparently done because Owen Oertling has a white streak in his hair.

I’m not exactly sure why but I do not like this head.  I think it’s the goggles that bother me the most..or maybe it’s the hair.  I just don’t like it.  So what I’ve decided to do is display this figure with a completely different head.  I have a whole bunch of extra heads kicking around in my accessory bin.  I tried out a few different ones but ultimately decided to give him one of my extra Palace Guard heads.  The Eternian Palace Guard 2-pack came with 4 heads, a white guy, a black guy, a lizard-man, and a cat-man. I like monsters so I’ve been displaying my guards with the creature faces leaving the 2 human heads as spares.  The caucasian head’s skin tone matches Dawg-O-Tor’s arms quite well so i think it works.  I can now display Dawg-O-Tor as a higher ranking Palace Guard instead of an evil pirate.

For accessories Dawg-O-Tor comes with a shield and a mace.  The shield is inspired by the Talon Fighter vehicle in both design and color.  I’m not sure how the mace relates back to the vehicle.

Dawg-O-Tor also has 2 swappable chest emblems.  He has a Talon Fighter inspired winged logo and an Evil Horde logo as well. Since I’ll be displaying my figure as a Palace Guard I’ll be sticking with the winged logo.

Even though I really like this figure after the head swap I must rate it on it’s original form.  Because I dislike the original head so much I’m going to give Dawg-O-Tor a 5 out of 10.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

I already reviewed 2 of the figures from Mattel’s MOTU Classics “Fighting Foe Men” 3-pack earlier today so I might as well review the last one too.  These days I usually only have enough time/motivation to post 1 or 2 reviews a week so you may be wondering why I’m posting 3 in one day today.  Well it just so happens that I’m on vacation this week but nobody else I know is off work so I’ve had plenty of time to bum around my apartment alone thinking about action figures.

As I told you in my Ditztroyer review, the Fighting Foe Men was the working name for the Masters of the Universe toyline while the brand was still in development way back when. The name was revived in 2013 and assigned to this group of 3 figures which are based on artwork seen on MOTU model kits produced by Monogram in the 80s.

This particular figure is based on the artwork seen on the Attak Trak model kit.  She’s been given the name Shield Maiden Sherrilyn.  She’s named after Sherri Lynn Cook, a member of the Four Horsemen Studios team.

As was the case with Dawg-O-Tor, the pilot on the Attak Trak box is mostly obscured by the vehicle’s cockpit. The Four Horsemen really had to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps and turn the barely visible 2D character from the painting into a fully realized 3D action figure; and use their imaginations they did.  Nothing about the painting indicates to me that the Attak Trak pilot is female.  You can’t really tell what sex the pilot is since all you can see is one muscular arm, one muscular leg, and a silver helmet with gold goggles but if I had to guess I would assume it was intended to be a man.  I think it’s pretty cool that the Horsemen thought outside the box and made the third Foe Man into a Foe Woman.

As they did with the other 2 figures from this set the Horsemen did a great job of matching the parts and paint apps used for this figure to the character seen in the painting.  Both have furry brown shorts, both have shoulder pads with a feather pattern, both have a red breast plate, and both have a silver helmet with gold goggles.  I’d say its a pretty impressive translation.

Sherrilyn’s accessories are based on the vehicle she piloted.  Her chest emblem is a blue bird logo with 2 yellow lightening bolts on the wings.  The logo isn’t immediately recognizable as being related to the Attak Trak but the bird and bolts are inspired by the decals on the vehicle.  Her weapons have a much more direct connection.  Her double barrelled laser cannon looks just like the cannons seen at the back of the Trak and her shield looks like one of the vehicle’s rotating tracks.  It’s as if she ripped the tread right off of her transport and used it to protect herself.  She also has a swappable Horde logo that can be worn in place of the bird emblem.

I appreciate how true to the original design this figure is but as was the case with Dawg-O-Tor I simply do not like the head design.  It’s just too goofy or sci-fi looking and I don’t feel it blends in well with other MOTU figures.  I’m considering displaying this figure with an alternate head.  Unfortunately I only have 3 or 4 alternate female heads and none of the skin tones match up.  I think my extra She-Ra head looks best but the difference in skin tones is very obvious.  If only she had a scarf or something to make the discoloration less noticeable.  Perhaps I’ll ask my mom to make me one;  she did an excellent job on Imperious Leader’s robe.

This is a solid figure with a great costume design, nice colors, cool accessories, and ample articulation.  I just wish it had a better head.  6 out of 10.

STAR WARS

I preface almost all of my Star Wars reviews the same way and I’m gonna say it again: I don’t usually collect Star Wars figures.  I love the Star Wars universe but I got burnt out on collecting the figures sometime after the release of Episode II.  I have a ton of late 90s/early 2000s figures but none of them are currently on display.  My passion was slightly reignited when Hasbro launched their 6″ Black Series line a couple years ago but that line has plodded along so slowly that the momentum seems to have been lost.  It’s extremely rare for me to purchase a 3 3/4″ Star Wars figure these days but it does happen.  Most new Star Wars figures are just updated versions of characters I already have in my collection a dozen times over but every now an again I see a new character that’s just to cool to pass up.  The last time this happened was when I found Savage Opress at Winners a few years ago.  Well it happened again the other day.

I was at Wal-Mart looking for Transformers: Combiner Wars wave 2. They didn’t have them but I did find a couple of Marvel Universe figures I needed.  As I was walking down the action figure aisle I noticed this guy hanging on the pegs of the Star Wars section.  At first glance I thought it was an unmasked Darth Vader figure.  I picked it up and discovered that it was actually a completely different character named Darth Malgus.  I knew absolutely nothing about him but he was just to cool looking to leave behind.

When I got home I looked him up on the Star Wars encyclopedia site, Wookiepedia.  Apparently Darth Malgus first appeared in the online role playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  He has since appeared as a major character in the novel, The Old Republic: Deceived.  The site describes a lengthy origin story that I didn’t have the patience to read in full.

To sum it up, Malgus was originally a kid named Veradun who worked at his dad’s zoo.  He showed a sensitivity to the force and, after he established himself as a dickhead by killing a girl, he was sent to Sith School.  At some point in his Sith career he got f***ed up by a Jedi and had to wear a respirator to survive; similar to Darth Vader.  Honestly I don’t really care about all that “expanded universe” stuff.  All I know is that this is a cool figure and I wanted it in my collection even if it is going to go directly into a bin in the closet.

Star Wars figures, even these small scale ones, have improved a lot since I collected them.  Most of the figures of the early 200os still only had 5 points of articulations just like the 80s figures.  This figure is articulated at the ankles, the knees, the hips, the waist, the shoulders, the elbow, the wrists, and the neck.  It only took 30+ years but Star Wars figures are almost as articulated as G.I. Joes now.

The detailed sculpt of this figure is also very impressive.  He’s covered in padding and panels with buttons and lights.  The outfit is very Darth Vader-esque but still unique. The large shoulder pads and chest plate are a separately molded but non-removable piece which adds to Malgus’ imposing figure.  A cloth cape is attached to the shoulder pads.  I find that cloth capes usually look better than sculpted plastic ones and that’s the case here.

The head sculpt is great and made even more impressive looking due to the stellar paint job.  I love the dark circles around his eyes and the veins on his forehead.

For accessories Darth Malgus comes with 2 lightsabers and a hooded cloak.  One saber is bladed (Sith red) and the other is sheathed (if those are the correct terms..I dunno).  The sheathed one has a peg on the handle so it can be plugged into his belt for storage.  The cloth hooded cape is a neat idea and it has a bendable wire around the neck so I thought it would attach nicely but I can’t get mine to look right.

Overall, this is a great looking new baddie for the Rebellion.  8 out of 10.

14 points of articulation vs 5 points of articulation

G.I. JOE FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

The third series of the G.I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service (FSS) is winding down.  My second to last shipment arrived in the mail this past Friday.  That means there’s only one shipment left which will contain Big Ben, Crimson Guard Immortal, and the mystery 13th figure. Ben and the Crimson Guard were two of the best looking figures from series 3 and I can’t wait to find out who the mystery figure is so, needless to say, I’m quite excited for next month’s package.  However, this month’s package was perhaps the one I was most anticipating.

If you read my “Convention News” post from April 2014, where I first reported the announced line-up for FSS 3.0, you may recall that I said the figure I was most excited about was Bombstrike.  Well here it is, a year and a month later, and I finally have that figure in hand.

Back in 2003, during the new-sculpt era, Joe collectors were introduced to the Stall family.  The Joe team’s new marksmanship instructor was Dwight Stall a.k.a Barrel Roll and Cobra’s new sniper was his brother Thomas Stall a.k.a Black Out.  The Stall family drama was mostly played out in our imaginations because there was no Joe cartoon at the time to flesh out the story described in the file cards of the back of the packaging.  Devil’s Due addressed this family conflict when they held the G.I. Joe comics license but I would have liked to have seen it played out further.  Devil’s Due lost the licence and had to quickly wrap up their story before we had a chance to meet the third Stall sibling, the younger sister Alyssa.

Alyssa was first mentioned on Black Out’s 2003 file card.  It read that Black Out flunked out of G.I. Joe training after it was suspected that he was involved in the disappearance of his sister, Cadet Bombshell.  On Barrel Roll version 3’s file card it said that his sister, Bombstrike, had been rescued and that it had been confirmed that Thomas Stall was working with Cobra.  I’m not sure why her name changed from Bombshell to Bombstrike.  Perhaps Hasbro lost the rights to the name Bombshell, perhaps they didn’t want to reuse a name already associated with a popular Transformer, or perhaps they decided naming a female character Bombshell was a tad sexist.  Name aside, she seemed like a character with a lot of potential.

We got our first Bombstrike action figure in 2005, 2 years after the introduction of her brothers.  I loved the original Bombstrike figure.  It wasn’t perfect but I’m a fan of female characters and it had been more than a decade since we got a new female character who wasn’t just a repaint of an older female figure; the 2005 Bombstrike was constructed with 100% brand new parts.  Her shoulder length blonde hair set her apart from all of the other ladies on the Joe roster and her “G.I. Joe” Tee-Shirt gave her a youthful vibe.  I thought the Stalls were one of the best things to come out of the new-sculpt era relaunch of G.I. Joe.

In 2007 Hasbro retired the new-sculpt style of figures and launched their 25th anniversary line.  The anniversary line was more focused on revisiting the past rather than spotlighting new characters so new-sculpt additions like the Stalls were all but forgotten.

Fortunately the Collector’s Club hasn’t forgotten about the hidden gems of the early 2000s.  In their inaugural FSS they gave us modern-era versions of Barrel Roll and Black Out.  After that I figured Bombstrike was a shoe-in to be included in FSS 2.0 and I was thoroughly disappointed when she didn’t make the cut.  Fortunately the Club rectified that oversight a year later and produced this figure.

Unlike her 2005 figure, this Bombstrike is made up almost entirely of reused parts.  Her legs and arms originally belonged to Covergirl and her torso originally belonged to Scarlett. Even her seemingly unique accessories are rehashed.  Her drone originally came with Data Viper and her computer briefcase has been used a number of times, most recently it was included with Vypra who was also part of FSS 3.0.  However, all these pieces work great together to  provide us with an excellent updated version of Alyssa Stall.  The drone and computer make perfect sense for her primary military specialty: Forward Air Control, and the use of the Scarlet torso gives her some protective clothing as opposed to the simple Tee-shirt of the ’05 version.

Bombstrike also includes a small backpack, a pistol, and a machine gun.

The Club probably could have gotten away with reusing Agent Helix’s head, like the did for Dialtone, but thankfully they didn’t.  Instead they had Boss Fight Studios sculpt a brand new head and I think its a great one.  Bombstrike’s hair is layered and it looks quite realistic as far as plastic hair goes.  I actually think she may have the best head of hair of any Joe figure.  Her face is cute and shows her youth plus it has a playful smirk.  It’s a very unique face so even if you removed the hair you wouldn’t mistake her for any of the other female Joes.  I love it.

I really wanted this figure to be a highlight of FSS 3.0 and the Club did not disappoint.  A must-have.  10 out of 10.

G.I. JOE: FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

Yesterday I reviewed Bombstrike from the G.I. Joe Collector Club’s third Figure Subscription Service (FSS). As a subscriber to the FSS I get 2 exclusive G.I. Joe figures in the mail each month. I was very excited to receive Bombstrike last week, however, I was much less enthusiastic about her pack mate.  Bombstrike out shipped out with the Club’s updated version of Night Creeper Leader.

You may recall that I reviewed a couple Night Creeper figures not too long ago. The Night Creepers are a clan of cyber ninjas who work under contract with Cobra. The first Creeper figure was released in 1990. A much uglier version was released in 1993 and an even uglier version was released in 1994. For the first few years of their existence the Creeper clan was without a leader in the toy world but in the sub-par G.I. Joe cartoon produced by DIC in the early 90s the Night Creepers had a boss that fraternized with Cobra high command. The leader in the animated series looked just like the standard purple and grey 1990 Night Creepers but his mouth and nose were exposed. When Hasbro finally released an action figure of Night Creeper Leader in 1993 they decided to go a different route.

DIC’s animated Night Creeper Leader

The ’93 Night Creeper Leader figure featured a mostly brand new sculpt and he bore little resemblance to his ninja henchmen. Instead of being covered from head to toe in purple and grey armour and camouflage NCL sported tiger-striped orange pants, a blindfold and skullcap, and no shirt.  It was a pretty wild design for the leader of a stealth ninja army.  I didn’t own Night Creeper Leader version 1 but my little brother Brian did.  As was the case with many 90s figures in Brian’s G.I. Joe collection I was not impressed with Night Creeper Leader.

1993’s version 1

One year later a repainted NCL was released as part of the Battle Corps subset.  It was the exact same figure as version 1 only this time it was painted purple and yellow instead of orange and black.  I wasn’t a fan of the v1 paint job but I don’t think v2 was an improvement.

1994’s version 2

I had zero attachment to this character when I was a younger because I was 15 by the time the first NCL figure came out.  I didn’t collect the toys anymore, I didn’t read the Marvel comics anymore, and I didn’t watch the cartoons anymore.  Even now as an adult, having gone back and watched those cartoons and read those comics that featured him, I was not clamouring for a Night Creeper Leader figure.  When the club announced that he would be included in their FSS 3.0 I felt pretty indifferent about it.  Now that I have the figure in hand I can tell you that my opinion hasn’t really changed.

This first modern-era Night Creeper Leader is made up of Storm Shadow parts with a Serpentor head.  Those parts combined with Snake Eyes’s webgear make for a pretty decent recreation of the classic NCL look.  He’s got the wrapped shins, the bare chest and arms, the wrapped forearms, and the fully loaded chest harness.  The head works pretty good because it’s not immediately recognizable as Serpentor, since Serpentor always wears his hooded Cobra helmet, but the execution of the blindfold and skullcap fall short.  When the Club originally showed us their mock-up prototype of this figure it had a fully bald head.  Some fans complained about the lack of his black skull cap so the Club added it on at the last minute before it went into final production.  I’m not sure how I feel about it.  Would a bald head have been better?  At first I thought so but the skullcap is growing on me the more I look at it.  As for the blindfold, the original figure’s was sculpted on and it was wide; reaching right up to the cap.  This version is equipped with the thin removable blindfold originally packaged with Jinx.  It works reasonably well but I think a thicker one would have been better.  It looks kind of odd to see his exposed forehead between the blindfold and the skullcap; but honestly, it looks less and less odd to me with each glance.

Color wise the Club opted for the purple and yellow version 2 look instead of the black and orange version 1 colors.  Lots of collectors have been griping about that online too.  Since I have no nostalgic ties to either version I really don’t care one way or the other.  I assume we’ll get a tiger striped repaint at some point down the road anyway.  Perhaps they simply didn’t want him to get confused for a member of Tiger Force since that was the Club’s convention set theme this year.

For accessories NCL is fully loaded with a bunch of ninja stuff we’ve seen before.  He’s got two swords, two knives, two throwing stars, two uzis, and a crossbow.  I wish his webgear allowed for some storage of the smaller weapons because otherwise they just end up in my spare parts bin.

All in all this is a pretty adequate figure.  I’m always happy to add new “named” Cobras to my ranks so this guy will find a home on my top Cobra shelf with the Commander, Destro, Mindbender and the others.  7 out of 10.

TRANSFORMERS: COMBINER WARS

The first wave of Combiners Wars figures arrived at local toy stores at the beginning of March. It included 4 of the 5 Aerialbots and 1 of the 5 Stunticons.  I’m not sure why Hasbro decided to release them that way because it was kind of annoying trying to build a completed Combiner with one of the pieces missing.  For 2 months now I’ve had a Superion displayed on my shelf with a  yellow race car for an arm.  Fortunately wave 2 was set to include the missing Aerialbot needed to finalize Superion as well as the other 4 Stunticons which would allow me to build Menasor.  Wave 2 went up for pre-order on many retail toy sites at the same time as wave 1 so it seemed as though there wouldn’t be a long wait between the two waves.  And yet, the two month wait seemed extra long; and the reason for that is my brother Doug.

Doug and I collected Transformers together when we were kids but he hasn’t bothered to keep up with the brand.  I think he’s maybe bought one or two Transformers since the 80s.  I on the other hand am as big a fan as ever.  I’ve collected the comics religiously for the past 10 years and I have a amassed a pretty impressive Transformers toy collection.  I have two bookshelves worth of modern-era Transformers, well over a hundred of them, plus a handful of vintage ones.

I’ve been singing the praises of the Classics/Generations series of Transformers ever since I bought my first one, Bumblebee, back in 2006. Just like the G.I. Joe 25th anniversary figures or the Masters of the Universe Classics line, Transformers Generations was updating classic toys from my childhood with a modern spin geared towards the adult collector market.  Despite the accolades I heaped onto the Generations figures both vocally and on this blog Doug never felt the urge to dive back into collecting Transformers.  But when I showed him my wave 1 Combiner Wars figures I finally broke him.

Doug owned the original 1980s Aerialbots and Stunticons when we were kids and he has a soft spot for them.  The day after I showed him my wave 1 figures he went out and bought the entire wave for himself.  And then, with seemingly no effort at all, he stumbled upon wave two like a week later.

I don’t normally hunt for toys,  I don’t have a car so getting around to toy stores and malls isn’t always easy,  I usually just look for new stuff when I happen to be out.  But knowing that Doug had wave 2 and I didn’t drove me nuts.  I began hunting feverishly for my own set but my efforts were fruitless again and again.  I hate when he’s got cool shit that I want.  We always were a little competitive in certain aspects of our lives.

Well my hunt ended on Monday night.  Vanessa was out on a Walmart run to return some shoes and she called to ask the names of the Transformers I had been looking for.  Vanessa is supportive of my hobby but she is in no way a toy-girl. She can tell Snake Eyes from Storm Shadow about as well as my mom can.  So the fact that she would rifle through pegs and pegs of Transformers with her phone to her ear while I rhymed off names like Dead End and Air Raid should tell you how special she is.  But as much as I appreciated the gesture I expected it to be a lost cause. To my surprise they had them all.  Vanessa drove over to my place afterwards to drop off my four new figures, including Breakdown.

Breakdown was my favorite Stunticon back in the day.  Red and Black cars had been done to death so Breakdown’s white and blue color palette was a refreshing change.  I also liked his bright red face.  The original 1986 figure was nothing to call home about though.  It was blocky, clunky, and stiff.  It only had about 5 moving parts so the transformation was overly simple and articulation was practically non-existant.

1986 Breakdown

I don’t recall the character being very well developed in the cartoons or comics but his packaging describes him as being very paranoid which might have been a fun angle to explore.  I’m hoping to see Breakdown and the other combiners fleshed out further in IDW’s Combiner Wars tie-in comic which they’re currently publishing.

This updated version of Breakdown is pretty awesome.  It features a brand new mold which harkens back to the original but surpasses it in every way.  No longer is Breakdown blocky, clunky, or stiff.  This figure is bigger, more detailed and far more articulated.  I like that his head is actually big enough this time around so that he can have a little personality in his face.

His car mode looks almost exactly like the original.  Apparently its a Lamborghini.

For accessories Breakdown comes with a purple hand/foot/cannon and a long rifle with a bladed edge.  It can be held as if it were a gun or a sword.  It’s actually pretty sweet.

It’s a real shame that this figure is so good because he’s going to end up displayed simply as a limb and breakdown deserves to be seen. 9 out of 10.

G.I. JOE: VALOUR VS VENOM

In order to take a side-by-side comparison shot for my recent Bombstrike review I had to haul out my box of new-sculpt era G.I. Joe figures.  “New-sculpt” is the designation assigned by Joe fans to the figures produced by Hasbro from 2002-2007.  By and large those years don’t get a lot of love from Joe fans but I get more nostalgic about them all the time.  Digging through the box looking for my 2005 Bombstrike I came across so many cool figures that I don’t get to see very often because I haven’t had my new-sculpt Joes on display since 2007 when the modern-era figures took over their spot.

If I had the room to display all of my toys I would but I don’t so some things have to remain boxed up.  It makes sense that of the 3 eras of 3 3/4″ G.I. Joes (Real American Hero (RAH), new-sculpt, and modern) that the modern figures would be the ones displayed for a couple of reasons.  Not only am I still actively collecting them but also because they’re geared towards the collector market so they have a level of detail not seen in the first two eras.

As an adult collector who displays his toys I  think the modern era Joes are perfectly suited for display purposes.  However, if I was a kid who wanted to play with his toys the modern-era figures would fall short.  The RAH and new-sculpt figures had a fun and playability factor that is sadly lacking in the modern Joes.  When I was sifting through the new-sculpt box I kept coming across figures that I wanted to play with, not just stick on a shelf for display.  The Razor Trooper is a perfect example.

In 2004 Hasbro followed up their “Spy-Troops” theme with “Valour vs Venom”.  The idea was that Cobra was infusing their soldiers with animal DNA to enhance their abilities.  Most of the “V-Troops” were new army builders like Swamp Rats and Electric Eels but a few new “name” characters were introduced as well such as Venomous Maximus and a new Croc Master.  One of the new individual characters was Razor Claw; a warrior trained by ninjas and infused with the DNA of a tiger.  Nothing about his costume read “tiger” which seems kind of odd but perhaps they didn’t want him to look like a member of the Joe sub-team, Tiger Force.  Razor Claw had a black and red uniform with grey highlights and black goggles.  His defining characteristic was a couple of sword blades attached to his forearms.  Razor Claw was a decent looking figure but I didn’t care much for the head sculpt.

Later that year Hasbro decided to give Razor Claw some underlings to boss around.  They repainted his body, plopped on a new head, and created the Razor Trooper.  The Razor Trooper’s file card read almost the exact same as Razor Claw’s.  It said the venomization process erased their memories and filled them with unrestrained anger.  They are proficient with high-tech weaponry but they don’t rely on it.   They prefer to use the retractable claws gifted to them as a result of the tiger DNA.  There’s no evidence of retractable claws on the figure and it seems like a tad bit of overkill to give a guy claws if he already has sword-arms but who am I to second guess Dr. Mindbender.

I think the Razor Trooper is a pretty cool figure.  It’s proportioned fairly well which can’t be said of many new-sculpt era figures.  I like the sculpted cobra emblem on the chest and the raised black piping on the torso gives the figure a pretty distinct look.  The trooper has a similar color palette to Razor Claw (black, red, and grey) which ties them together nicely and yet the outfits are still quite different.   The arm blades are a cool idea but what I find especially neat about them is that they are articulated at the base.  That way the blades can be pointed up or down.  The fact that the Trooper can flip the blade back and forth makes it seem much more functional than just a blade for stabbing.  I can imagine him swinging them about and using them defensively to block attacks as well as using them as offensive weapons.  I bet it would look awesome in a cartoon or live-action.

The head was the only newly sculpted piece for this figure which is fine with me because that was the only piece I didn’t like about Razor Claw.  The helmet shape is similar to the one worn by Razor Claw but instead of black goggles and an exposed face the Razor Trooper has a solid black faceplate akin to the classic Viper.  It’s a very cool look that fits in perfectly with the established Cobra aesthetic.  The Razor Trooper was one of my favorite V-Troops and I’d love to see him updated in the modern style someday so that he could once again be put on display and enjoyed on a regular basis.  8 out of 10.