BATTLE BEASTS

For their fourth and final wave of Battle Beast figures Takara did away with the Transformer-esque heat-activated rub emblem found on the first 3 waves and replaced it with a round magnifying lens.  The idea was that you would hold the figure up to a light source in order to see the character’s secret team affiliation: Wood, Water, or Fire.  My Rainbow Sam happens to be a Fire soldier but he was available with all 3 symbols.  Perhaps one day I’ll become such an obsessive collector that I’ll need to track down one of each for all of the Battle Beast figures.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

I’ve mentioned many times before how much I loved Battle Beasts when I was a kid.  I think its the most under appreciated toy line of the 80s.  The characters were a clean slate and you could use them however you wanted without being a slave to a predetermined TV show or comic book play structure.  The 2 inch figures generally came in 2-packs and I always assigned one as a good guy and one as a bad guy.  Rainbow Sam was the good guy in the case of his 2-pack which meant his pack mate Tiger Burn had to be a bad guy.  The choice seemed obvious to me.  How could you make this lovable little red bird a bad guy?  Then again Disney did it in Aladdin so I suppose it wouldn’t have been too far a stretch.

Because I didn’t know the characters names when I was a kid I named this figure Battle Parrot.  In my Battle Beast universe he was a no-nonsense tough guy who often double talked and squawked between sentences.  His speech pattern was modelled after Polly, Shipwreck’s parrot from the G.I. Joe cartoon.

Both the sculpt and paint job are really nice on this figure.  His armour is relatively simple with a subtle wing motif on the shoulders and really cool boots with spikes on the back.  I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a kick from this guy.  There are absolutely no paint apps on the armour.  It’s a solid shade of beige.  Normally this would be disappointing but the figure is so colorful otherwise that apps on the armour might have made it to busy.

The feathers are a bright shade or red, his beak is orange, his eyes are yellow, and he has white circles around his eyes.  Apparently there are variants out there without the white circles. Something else I’ll need to track down if I ever go fully Battle Beast insane.  The wings have a nice rounded design and they’re proportioned well.  They go from red to yellow to blue which really makes this figure stand out on a shelf when displayed with other figures.

My only gripe would be that the wings hinder his arm articulation a bit which isn’t good since his arms are the only part of him that move.  Luckily the plastic is soft enough that you can push the wings back out of the way if you want him to outstretch his arms.

Where the first 3 waves of Battle Beasts all had bladed weapons the Laser Beasts (or Shadow Warriors) of wave 4 all had guns.  The guns were all very creatively designed to resemble their carrier.  Sam’s gun looks like a parrot’s head and yet still looks likes a pretty cool gun too.

A cool little figure.  9 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: 25TH ANNIVERSARY

I’m not on ebay very often these days. Making an ebay purchase usually means I’m on the auction site seeking out something in particular that I can’t find anywhere else. For the past couple of years I’ve pre-ordered many of my toys from BigBadToyStore so it’s rare that something new slips past me forcing me to turn to the pricey secondary market. Also, I only browse ebay when I have some disposable income burning a hole in my pocket. Between the G.I. Joe convention sets, the G.I. Joe Figure Subscription Service, my monthly Masters of the Universe purchases from Mattycollector, the influx of Transformers Combiner Wars figures at local toy stores, and the multiple action figure kickstarter campaigns I’ve backed this past year, I’ve pretty much bled my disposable income dry. There are still plenty of holes in my toy collections that I’d like to fill  one day but the steady stream of new product has diverted my attention from seeking out those older items. And yet, despite the fact that I’ve stopped looking for them, those “want list” figures still manage to find me and bleed my wallet just a little bit drier.

I’m a member of a couple G.I. Joe discussion groups on facebook; at least two but possibly even three or four. I didn’t set out to join those groups; I was “invited” by friends and once invited I’m automatically a member. And so everyday my newsfeed is flooded with posts from strangers debating things like “What’s the best water-based Cobra vehicle” or “Should your collection be arranged alphabetically or chronologically?” I actually enjoy reading the posts most of the time but sometimes it can be a bit much.

One of the benefits of these facebook groups is that members will often offer up figures for sale and trade. Because we’re all “friends” in the online G.I. Joe community people tend to offer items at pretty good prices most of the time. You may recall a post I wrote a few weeks ago where I reviewed a Crimson Cobra Viper. That was a purchase I made through one of the facebook groups. There’s another dude named Robert in one of the groups who is constantly posting pictures of huge lots of Joe figures for sale ranging from $5 to $8 a pop. I’ve bought a handful of figures from him now in three different transactions. A couple days ago my most recent acquisitions from him arrived in the mail.

Pic from yojoe.com

My latest batch of figures from Robert included 4 G.I. Joe troopers from 2008, an Elite Viper from 2009, and this Crimson Guard Officer from 2008. All of them are figures from the early days of the modern-era that I either passed on initially or they eluded me at retail.

The Crimson Guard Officer came in a 3-pack which was part of a series called “Senior Ranking Officers”. The pack also included a red hooded Cobra Commander and a standard Crimson Guard Trooper. All of the Officer 3-packs were exclusive to Toys R Us stores.  I was buying all my Joes from my local comic shop, Strange Adventures, at the time and didn’t get over to Toys R Us very often.  I managed a couple of trips but the only Senior Ranking Officer sets I found were the the one with Ace, Starduster, and Wild Bill and the one with Cutter, Torpedo, and Deep Six.  The other four 3-packs frustratingly eluded me.

My brother Doug scored the Crimson Guard themed pack on one of his visits and he doesn’t even collect Joes. It’s annoyed me for the past 7 years that he had this figure and I didn’t but finally that wrong has been righted.

This is the only figure I got from the 3-pack but that’s okay.  The Crimson Guard Trooper doesn’t really matter to me because I already have a few of them and the red Cobra Commander is neat but not essential (I already have more than a dozen CCs and the red one is kind of dated). It was only this Crimson Guard Officer, with the gold faceplate and the black panel on his jacket, that I needed for my collection.

The build of this figure is identical to the Crimson Guard Troopers I already had.  The only difference is the paint job but what a paint job it is.  As you can see from the pictures above and below there have been several paint variations of the standard Crimson Guard.  Some of them are subtle ( a silver faceplate or a silver visor) and some of them are drastic (the python patrol and desert versions).  This version is the best of both worlds because  the differences are obvious so you know immediately that this guy holds a higher rank than the average trooper and because he’s still a CRIMSON guard.  I always found it odd when Hasbro released Crimson Guards in colors other than red.  They might look cool but it kind of clashes with the name.

The sculpt of this figure is pretty great.  It does the fan-favorite 1985 original proud.  I prefer the rounder head of the original for nostalgic reasons but this helmet design looks more menacing.  I’m glad Hasbro has released so many variations of this figure over the years as its given me an excuse to army build a small squad of them.

For accessories the Crimson Guard Officer has a standard CG backback, a rifle with bayonet, a display base, and a pistol which can be holstered on his leg.  Many of the early 25th anniversary figures have not aged well but I think this one has stood the test of time.  9 out of 10.

G.I. JOE: 25TH ANNIVERSARY

In addition to the Crimson Guard Officer of my last post I also recently purchased four G.I. Joe Troopers from a facebook seller. Rather than blog about them separately I’m just going to lump them all together for a single review.

The idea of generic troopers being members of G.I. Joe is somewhat controversial amongst Joe fans. G. I. Joe is supposed to be a highly trained special missions force made up of the best of the best. Traditionally, Joes have had fancy code-names like “Blowtorch” and “Roadblock” and they have unique military specialties and flashy outfits. So perhaps you can understand why some people find it odd that there would be a bunch of unspecialized nameless grunts on the team. I’m neutral on the topic. I don’t necessarily like the thought of the Joe team being padded with cannon fodder but at the same time I understand the need for them.

Joe Troopers, or “green shirts” as fans call them, have been around since the earliest days of the Real American Hero. They were often seen in the background of the cartoons, comics, and merchandise. However their presence was never really addressed back then as far as I know. Were they actually members of the G.I. Joe team or were they just there as back-up?

The first sort-of generic Joe was introduced into the toy line in 1986; the Steel Brigade Trooper. I don’t think the SB Trooper really counts though because he wasn’t intended to be a generic nobody; he was intended to be you. Kids could send in an order form with a code name and military specialty of their choosing and Hasbro would send them a generic masked figure with a file card that was unique to them. It was a neat idea and I’m sure most kids that ordered the figured used it as an individual character as opposed to an army builder  (My Steel Brigade Trooper’s code name was Blackout).  But in the years since that figures release in 1987 most fans regard the Steel Brigade as a sub-team of G.I. Joe.

Devil’s Due greenshirt

The first acknowledgement of green shirts actually being part of the G.I. Joe team that I’m aware of came during the run of comics produced by Devil’s Due in the early 2000s. The Devils’s Due green shirts had a kind of sci-fi flair which would’ve made for a cool action figure.  But when Hasbro released the first green shirt action figures in 2005 in a Toys R Us exclusive Infantry Division 6-pack they went with a more traditional look.  All six of the figures shared the exact same build. Their bodies were made up of parts from various vintage Joes dating all the way back to 1982 and they all had the same head which originally belonged to the Joe’s mortar specialist, Downtown. To differentiate the infantry soldiers from one another the head was repainted in 6 different ways. There were a couple of black guys, a redhead, a blonde, a brunette, and a Latino. None of them were given names but they each had a unique file card describing their individual skills.  The cards had a blank space on them where a code name could be written. The idea being that once the infantry division recruit proved himself as a valuable member of the team he could choose a code name for himself and become a true Joe. It was another neat idea that added some extra play value to some otherwise dull figures.

2005 infantry division

Three years later Hasbro revisited the infantry division idea.  These modern-era green shirt figures also came in a Toys R Us exclusive box set. The 2008 set was called “Firefly vs G.I. Joe Troopers” and it featured 4 Joe recruits along with a repaint of the Cobra saboteur. Many of those exclusive sets were hard to come by in my area.  I never managed to find one in the wild and I never bothered to buy one on ebay because the prices were too steep for what I considered a fairly lackluster set. But it went on my want list and I waited, hoping that one day I would find the figures at a decent price.  That day came recently when Robert from one of the G.I. Joe discussion groups I’m a member of offered up the troops for $6 a piece.

I’m pretty happy to finally have these four figures after seven years of waiting, however, my initial assessment of the figures was accurate, they’re pretty lackluster.  All four of them share the exact same build from the neck down.  They’ve got Snake Eyes’ legs and torso which is fine but then they have the dreaded 2007 Duke arms.  Duke arms are the worst.  They’re long, lanky, poorly articulated and they have an awful looking joint on the forearm.  These things should have been banished from use after they first showed up but unfortunately they were reused multiple times in the early years of the modern-era.  Each of these figures has a different head which is nice and a big improvement over the 2005 pack.  All the heads come form other Joes.  The blonde bearded trooper has Breaker’s head, the ginger has Duke’s head, the brunette has Hawk’s head, and the tan-haired dude has Flash’s head. They’re not the best looking of faces but at least they’re relatively generic so they can pass for everyday Joes and they’re not immediately recognizable as name characters.

I really like the paint job on these figures.  They have dark green pants and olive green shirts and helmets which is how I believe they looked in the cartoons.  It’s a very basic military look that blends in very well with the original 13 Joes and the old-school vehicles.

For accessories each Trooper comes with a knife that can be sheathed on their leg, a pistol that can be holstered on their belt, a rifle, a machine gun, a helmet, and a display stand. The weapons are pretty standard but perfectly suited to these retro looking troopers.  My only gripe about the accessories is none of my troopers’ helmets fit except for the blonde guy who has a huge noggin when compared to the other guys.  Like the 2005 file cards these troopers have a card that has a blank space where you can write your own code name. The novelty of the gimmick has worn off over the years but I’m still happy to see it.  6 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA

In my last 2 posts I reviewed the Crimson Guard Officer and the G.I. Joe green shirt Troopers. I bought them in a lot from a dude on facebook recently. Today I’m gonna take a look at the final figure from that lot, the Elite Viper.

I’ve said all this before but I’ll say it again. My relationship with the first live-action G.I. Joe movie, Rise of Cobra (ROC), is a complicated one. I was super stoked when the movie was first announced. Then I was continually let down as each new cast member was announced and each new piece of concept art was revealed. When the movie finally came out I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised. It definitely wasn’t the G.I. Joe movie I would’ve made but it was a lot of fun to watch.

I had a similar reaction to the movie-based action figures. The actor likenesses were quite good for the most part, they were well built and showed some major improvements in articulation and sculpting when compared to the 25th anniversary figures, plus they had lots of accessories and vehicles. But I didn’t feel like I needed a Duke that looked like Channing Tatum or a Ripcord that looked like Marlon Wayans. The color palette for the figures was dark and drab. Almost everyone, good guys and bad guys alike, was wearing black and grey. I really ramped down my Joe collecting during the ROC years. I decided to only buy one version of each main character and I passed on most of the secondary characters that didn’t even show up in the film like Shipwreck and Snow Job.

Cobra has a wide array of troopers, from Alley-Vipers to Zombie-Vipers, and they come in every color of the rainbow.  Which is why it was so frustrating to see the film makers populate the movie with dreary uninteresting new trooper types. The main troopers in the film were the Neo-Vipers.   I really disliked them at first but I must confess they’ve really grown on me over the years.  I cannot say the same for the other movie-based troopers.  They all have a similar generic look that pales in comparison to the beloved classic trooper types of the 1980s.   Some of them were okay, like the Desert Viper and the Ice-Viper.  And some of them I really hated, like the ROC Eel (but I still bought one).  The Elite Viper was one of the ones I really hated.  So much so that I didn’t buy any of the 3 versions of him that came out in 2009 and 2010 and thats saying a lot because I pretty much buy all of the various troopers.  Absolutely nothing about it appealed to me.

The only movie still of an Elite Viper that I could find. At least I think thats an Elite Viper.

Years have passed since the Elite Viper’s release and more and more I find myself wanting to fill in those ROC holes in my collection.  Thus I reluctantly added the Elite Viper to my want list a while back.  Well it took a while but now I finally have one in hand.  Now that I have examined him thoroughly for this review I no longer hate him;  but I still don’t like him.

The Elite Viper shares a waist and torso with the MARS Troopers and Neo-Vipers so I suppose its nice to have a cohesive looking Cobra team, but that consistency also diminishes the uniqueness that made the old troopers so fun to collect.   Elite Viper at least got brand new arms and legs and they’re not bad.  He also received a brand new head.  I would’ve sworn he had the same head as the Eel but apparently he does not.  They’re very similar but there are a few subtle differences that can be spotted when scrutinized.  The main reason its so hard to see the differences is because both have a shiny black head with zero paint apps.  The head was the thing I liked least about the Eel and its the thing I like least about the Elite Viper too.  The sculpting is okay, it kind of looks like a Neo-Viper helmet mixed with a Snake Eyes mask, but the lack of paint really hurts it.  None of the details can be made out and it looks unfinished.  It seems like it belongs on a completely different figure.  Some silver paint on the visor would have made a world of difference.  Both versions 2 and 3 of the Elite Viper have painted visors so perhaps I should seek them out next.

Elite Viper and Eel

The Elite Viper came with a healthy dose of accessories. He’s got a display stand, a pistol that can be holstered on his leg, 2 machine guns, a missile launcher with missile, a backpack, and an axe that can be stored on the backpack.  I don’t know why he has an axe but it makes him that much scarier.

Lastly I should mention his paint job.  While lack of paint is this figure’s biggest downfall the black paint wash over his silver armour actually looks pretty awesome.  It adds a real-world whethered look to the figure.  5 out of 10.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

For those of you not in the know, this is how Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics toy line is sold. On the 15th of each month at least one new figure is made available on their website, matty collector.com. The figure remains for sale on the site until it sells out which can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days depending on the figure. Fans tend to scoop up old favorites like Beast Man and Trap Jaw quite quickly but lesser known and new characters like Netossa and Sir Laser Lot may sit around for a while.

To ensure they hit a certain amount of sales each month Mattel offers a subscription service at the start of each year. The benefit to Mattel is that it locks buyers into purchasing all of the figures released that year. The benefits to subscribers is early access to the monthly sales, discounted prices, and subscriber exclusive figures.

I buy the new MOTU Classics figure almost every month so you’d think it would make sense for me to subscribe. However, I never have because I feel Mattel set up the subscription option very poorly in a major way in that they don’t allow for combined shipping.

I live in Canada and our dollar is pretty much always worth less than the American dollar. Presently a $28 MOTU figure costs me $34 Canadian. The shipping for a single figure is at best $15 US which is about $19 CA. Therefore, a single figure purchase costs me $53. PLUS I occasionally get dinged at the boarder for customs fees which can tack as much as $20 more onto a figure’s overall cost. That is why I occasionally do not buy the monthly MOTU figure. Each figure I buy has to be justifiably worth $73 to me otherwise I pass on it. To Mattel’s credit their figures are so good that I buy from them about 10 months out of the year.

Presently, as a non-subscriber, when I buy 2 figures a month, which is often the case, the shipping costs are combined thereby bringing the overall cost per figure down which is great.  But, if I were to subscribe I would have to pay the full shipping costs on my obligatory subscription purchase and if I made any additional purchases I would have to pay full shipping on those items as well; even if they shipped out on the same day and from the same location. It costs me extra cash needlessly and that is why I’ve never subscribed.

Having early access to sales and getting minor discounts would be nice but the only time I ever felt royally screwed for not being a subscriber was when Mattel made Two-Bad a subscriber exclusive figure in January 2014. Two-Bad is one of my favorite MOTU characters. I love the original 1985 figure and I love the updated 2002 figure. Two-Bad was one of the characters I was most looking forward to getting in the Classics format and to deny me the chance to purchase him was downright cruel.  Shortly after his release BigBadToyStore was selling this figure for $80 plus shipping and I considered buying it many times.  I never did though because paying $80 for a figure I feel I should have been able to purchase from Mattel for under $30 really pissed me off.

Well it took a year and a half but Mattel finally gave me the opportunity to purchase Two-Bad for $27 last month and now I have him in my collection.  It did require me to subscribe…sort-of…but I’ve rambled on long enough in this post so I won’t get into that.

According to the origin story on Two-Bad’s packaging, which is inspired by an episode of the 200X cartoon, Two-Bad was once two separate guys; bounty hunters named Tuvar and Baddrah.  After they failed to complete a mission assigned to them by Skeletor he punished them by merging them via an irreversible spell.  When the halves work together Two-Bad is a brilliant strategist but unfortunately they’re usually fighting amongst themselves and strategies are few and far between.

I gotta say, that was a real dick move even for Skeletor.  All of his evil warriors have horrible track records and yet none of the other guys are forced to share abdomens.  Poor bastards.

As much as I love the previous two incarnations this is definitely the best Two-Bad yet.  It’s an excellent homage to the 1985 figure.  The only element retained from the 2002 redesign is his weapon, a double mace.  The mace is pretty cool though it would be better is it was articulated like the 2002 version.  He also comes with a vintage style shield which looks fine but it doesn’t attach to his arm very well.

The sculpt on this figure is really nice.  The left side (the Tuvar side) is a mix of new and re-used pieces but the right side (the Baddrah side) is entirely new.  Baddrah is covered in scales and it has lots of boney protrusions.  The realistic sculpting on his leather boot and glove is very impressive too.  Tuvar’s skin is smooth and lacking in detail but his new medieval looking boot and gauntlet pieces compensate for that.  The torso is wider than that of most MOTU figures for obvious reasons but it doesn’t look overly so.  That unique design element was pulled off with much more finesse here than it was on the awkwardly shaped original.  Lastly, the head sculpts are both awesome.  Each face has a neutral expression which seems to say these guys mean business.  They don’t have any of the goofiness that was present in the original toy and the animated look.

The paint work is also very well done.  The skin tones are nice and crisp and most of the accessories have subtle two-toned paint jobs.  The metallic orange paint used on his chest armour flair is especially cool looking.  I’m very happy to finally have this figure in my collection.  10 out of 10.

TRANSFORMERS: COMBINER WARS

This was a nice little week for me toy-wise. On Tuesday my latest Masters of the Universe Classics figures, Two-Bad and Blast Attack, showed up in the mail. Wednesday afternoon the final G.I. Joe Figure Subscription Service (FSS) package arrived which included Big Ben, Crimson Guard Immortal plus the bonus mystery figure. Then later that night I went to Walmart and found three new Combiner Wars Transformers: Motor Master, Viper, and Groove.

Groove is a member of the Autobot sub-team the Protectobots.

1986 Groove art

The Protectobots were originally released in 1986. They were five individual robots, each of whom transformed into a rescue vehicle, that could combine to form the heroic gestalt Defensor. Equally sized Groove, First Aid, Streetwise and Blades formed the limbs while the larger leader of the team, Hot Spot, formed Defensor’s head and torso. I had all five of them when I was a kid and I loved them. The Protectobots were the only other full Combiner team I owned other than the Constructicons who formed Devastator. The Constructicons were the original combiners and they looked great but Devastator wasn’t much fun to play with because he was so fragile. Hasbro vastly improved their combiner design and construction by the time the Protectobots came out so Defensor was a much more stable toy that was a lot of fun to play with.

1986 Groove figure

First Aid, who transformed into an ambulance, was my favorite Protectobot but Groove and Blades were close seconds. Blades was a helicopter and Groove turned into a police motorcycle; both of which were quite unique among my collection of Autobots that mostly turned into cars. I often curse myself for selling off my vintage Transformers collection when I was an adolescent.  I have to continually remind myself that the toys were not as good as I remember them to be. The combiners of old were a prime example. Defensor was a pretty rad toy as a whole but the individual Protectobots were not so impressive.  Hot Spot was decent but the figures that formed the limbs were small and stubby, lacked articulation, and had pea-sized heads. The ’86 Groove was especially stumpy because of his alt mode. His legs and torso were basically a solid hunk of plastic and he had these horrible narrow feet made out of his motorcycle seat that looked like witch shoes. The arms were wide and nubby and they didn’t extend more than a centimetre or so past his thick chest. My childhood imagination allowed me to believe that Groove was cool but objectively the toy was a clunker.

I love that 30 years later those short and stubby combiner limbs are finally getting their due as legitimate action figures. If you’ve read my reviews of Fireflight of the Aerialbots or Breakdown of the Stunticons then you know how vastly superior these modern figures are when compared to their vintage counterparts. I now have the complete waves 1 and 2 of Hasbro’s Combiner Wars collection which means I can fully construct Superion and Menasor.   They’re both great but to me they’re like appetizers to wave 3’s Protectobots main course.   I’ve been eagerly anticipating updated Protectobots for years and soon I will finally have fully-posable, adequately-sized, well-sculpted figures of First Aid, Blades, and Streetwise…..but not Groove.

Hasbro has decided to replace Groove with a newly conceived member of the Protectobots named Rook who will now fill the role of Defensor’s right leg.  It’s a bit disappointing that Groove lost his spot but it makes some sense. Groove is a motorcycle…Blades is a helicopter….they should not be the same size. Not that scale has ever made sense in the world of Transformers but I appreciate the attempt by Hasbro to make things a little more believable at least within the confines of a single sub-team. Besides, founding members of the Aerialbots and Stunticons also got the boot and scale wasn’t even an issue with them. Thankfully Groove didn’t get omitted from the team completely. While his peers will soon be released as 6” DELUXE class figures Groove gets this 3” LEGENDS scale figure.

This figure looks pretty small to me, especially when compared to the other combiner figures, but in fact this figure is about as tall as the original 1986 Groove. I think it seems extra small because this modern Groove is much leaner than the tubby ’86 model and also I’m much bigger than I was when I owned that original toy.

This Groove figure is nothing to get too excited about but it’s not bad at all.  The build of the figure is significantly different from the original but there are enough similarities that you can tell they’re the same character.  I always found Groove’s most distinguishing feature to be his gold face and this figure retains that.  This figure is way more posable than the vintage Groove.  He’s articulated at the ankles, the knees, the hips, the shoulders, and the elbows and many of those are ball-joints.  This allows for all kinds of poses.

The areas where the original figure has an edge over this one is that this Groove has no weapons whereas the original had a hand gun and leg cannons.  Also the old figure had lots of stickers which added some color to the figure and lastly it had chromed pieces which I always like to see.  This Groove would look much better if his flat grey-colored arms and legs had that classic metallic sheen.

Groove on Groove

Groove’s alt-mode is still a police motorcycle though it looks a bit more modern than the old one.  This guy could be driven by Robocop whereas the old Groove was more suited to Ponch and Jon.  And even though he lost his spot as a limb Groove still has a place as part of Defensor; he now has a third mode where he form’s Defensor’s chest plate.

I would’ve preferred a 6″ Groove (which I think may be released eventually anyway) but this is a decent upgrade to the character and it’s hard to complain about a figure that only costs around ten bucks.  7 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

The G.I. Joe Collectors Club’s third Figure Subscription Service (FSS) has come to a close. The final package containing figures 11 and 12 plus the mystery 13th figure arrived in the mail last week. The line-up for FSS 3.0 was first announced at the 2014 Joe Con. Faithful readers may recall that I promptly provided my 2 cents on the character selections in a post titled G.I. Joe Convention 2014 News. In that post I made my guess as to who the 13th figure would be. My guess was Golobulus based on two things.

One: the Club promised an exciting mystery figure for FSS 3.0 largely because fans were overwhelmingly disappointed with FSS 2.0’s 13th figure, Grand Slam and you can’t get much more exciting than Golobulus.

Two: Boss Fight Studios was at the Con that year showing off the prototypes for their upcoming Vitruvian Hacks action figure line. Boss Fight has worked with the Joe Club in the past and the fact that their Hacks line features a snake-bodied Gorgon practically guaranteed that we’d eventually see it used for a Golobulus figure.

It turns out I was wrong.  However, I now think there’s an even better chance of us getting Golobulus next year because the Club has already announced that his Cobra-La compatriot, Pythona, will be their 2016 incentive figure. My fingers are crossed that next year’s 15-figure Convention Set will be Cobra-La themed and contain a full squad of Royal Guards. Maybe we’ll even get some flying slugs as exclusive convention vehicles. That would awesome.

I already knew this year’s mystery figure wouldn’t be Golobulus a few months back because Boss Fight has been dealing with production delays on their Hacks line meaning no snake body was available to the Club.  So then I started thinking it might be Billy, Cobra Commander’s son. But as of the 2015 Joe Con weekend (April 10-12) I knew that wasn’t the case either because the Club announced that Billy is going to be included in their FSS 4.0. Unfortunately the Club pretty much spoiled their own FSS 3.0 surprise that same weekend by releasing Tiger Force Frostbite as one of the attendee exclusive figures.

The original Frostbite figure was released in 1985 as the vehicle driver of the Snow Cat. I had that set growing up (still do) and I had a lot of fun with it. The Snow Cat was an awesome vehicle and Frostbite was a pretty cool figure. Frostbite struck me as an extremely likable Joe. Not only because he had a big smile on his face but also because his black beard made me associate him with one of my dad’s military co-workers, Bob Bilodeau, who always seemed like a pleasant guy.

In 1988 the original ’85 Frostbite was rereleased with a drastically different paint job.  He was made a member of the sub-team Tiger Force so in place of an all-white arctic deco he and his vehicle got a bright yellow, tiger-striped make-over.  Frostbite took his role on Tiger Force very seriously apparently because version 2 even had orange hair and an orange beard for some in explicable reason.  In truth, version 2 was much more interesting to look at but I almost always prefer the original character designs so the white uniformed Frostbite with the black beard was always my favorite.

During the new-sculpt era of G.I. Joe that ran from 2002 to 2006 Frostbite was released a whopping 8 different times.  For some reason Hasbro marketed him as the Joe team’s preeminent Arctic Trooper thus pushing the original, Snow Job, to the side (he didn’t get a single figure during the new-sculpt years). Some of those new-sculpt Frostbite figures were quite nice (and some weren’t) but none of them looked like Frostbite because most of them were clean shaven and the uniform was completely different.

1985, 2015, 2002

When the modern-era figures hit the market in 2007 Hasbro ditched the redesigns and began releasing updated figures of classic characters in their most iconic outfits.  I was looking forward to a classically attired Frostbite but all we got was this figure in 2009.  I actually think Frostbite v12 is a cool looking figure but again it looks nothing like the original.

As more and more obscure vintage figures got modern-era make-overs the lack of a 1985 design Frostbite seemed all the more blasphemous.  The Club heard the fan outcry and finally rectified the situation with this figure.

As I mentioned above, the Club first made this figure available at the Joe Convention in April except that version had the yellow pants and the orange beard because the theme of this year’s Con was Tiger Force.  That figure looked amazing and I hope to own it one day but the cheapest one available on ebay at the moment is $105 + shipping and import charges so thats gonna have to wait.  As soon as I saw that figure though I knew the Club would soon rerelease it in the classic white outfit which is the version I most wanted.  As it turned out I didn’t have to wait very long because it ended up being the 13th mystery figure of FSS 3.0 and he’s now in hand.

1988 and 2015 Tiger Force Frostbite. Pic is from GeneralsJoes

This figure is awesome.  It may not look it because my crappy camera skills have flushed out a lot of the details in the sculpt but trust me; this is a must-have figure.

The body is made up of re-used parts that work really well together but the head and fur collar are newly sculpted pieces by Boss Fight Studios. The head sculpt is very well done with lots of personality in the face and fine detail in the fur hat.  This Frostbite isn’t nearly as cheerful looking as the original but I’m fine with that, fighting terrorists isn’t supposed to be fun.  The removable fur collar would be an easy component to overlook but its an excellent piece that really ties this figure together and completes the vintage look.

For accessories Frostbite has two pistols that can be holstered on his belt and chest, a rifle, a wrench, a European carry-all, and a pair of removable goggles.  I struggled a bit to get the goggles on over his hat but once they’re on there they look great.  This figure is a total home-run and probably the best of FSS 3.0.  10 out of 10.

2015 vs 2009 Frostbite

G. I. JOE: FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

About a week and a half ago I reviewed a Crimson Guard Officer figure. Loyal reader and frequent commenter Guy requested that I follow that up with a review of the leaders of the Crimson Guard, Tomax and Xamot. The modern-era versions of the twins are on my short list of pending reviews but before I get to them I’m going to first take a look at another member of the crimson clad  family; Crimson Guard Immortal.

The first Crimson Guard figure was released in 1985. The Crimson Guard were said to be the soldiers who were most loyal to Cobra Commander. However, that proved not to be the case in the G.I. Joe comics published by Marvel in the 1980s as it was a CG that murdered the Commander and stole his identity. Over the years Hasbro has released numerous variations of the classic Crimson Guard. Like when Pink dyed her hair blonde the CGs refuse to be fashion slaves to their namesake. The Guards have donned uniforms ranging in colors from yellow to tan to black.

One of the first Crimson Guard uniform variations came in the form of 1991’s Crimson Guard Immortal. I had stopped collecting Joes by ’91 so I never owned the original Immortal figure. I always assumed they looked different because they were higher ranking CGs but upon reading the file card I now see that there was no mention of the Immortals being squad leaders. The card describes them as fanatical super soldiers and the most formidable fighters in the Cobra Legions.

The ’91 Immortal figure was rereleased with a new blue paint deco in 2003.  I never acquired that one either even though my passion for collecting Joes had been renewed with a vengeance the year prior.  Version 2 came packaged with a vehicle I didn’t want so the added cost deterred me buying a brand new one. Plus I didn’t suffer from completest fever in those days so I didn’t feel compelled to seek a loose one out on the secondary market either.

version 1 (1991)

Since I never owned either of the previous incarnations of this character I have no nostalgic ties to the Crimson Guard Immortal and wasn’t clamoring for a modern-era update. When the Club announced last year that Immortal would be included in their third Figure Subscription Service (FSS) I was rather indifferent about it. I’m always happy to add new trooper types to my Cobra ranks but I would’ve preferred to see a Secto-Viper or a Sea Slug.

Often times proposed FSS figures that I’m lukewarm about end up wowing me once I have them in hand.  That is not the case with Crimson Guard Immortal. Overall I think he looks pretty cool and he fits in nicely with the rest of my crimson army but there are just a few too many issues keeping him from being a great figure.

A lot of people out there don’t seem to like the vest the Club gave him.  They say its a poor approximation of the armour chest plate of the original.  I personally don’t have a problem with the vest.  It adds some bulk to the figure and I think it does a decent job of recreating the armoured look of the original’s torso.  The head sculpt is pretty good but there’s something a little off about it.  The goggles seem to sit a bit low making it hard to imagine someone’s face fitting inside there.  However the original looked that way too so I can’t knock the Club for replicating the design of the vintage figure.

What I don’t like about this figure are the arms and feet.  The feet have really annoying rocker joints at the ankles.  Sometimes too much articulation can be a bad thing and that is the case here.  These type of joints make it difficult to line up the  figure’s feet holes with the pegs on the stand and even when you do the holes aren’t deep enough.  The result is a very wobbly figure.  The arms used here are brutal.  The shoulder joints appear to be lower down on the torso than they should be and the vest accentuates it.  The elbow joints are goofy and the silver gauntlets don’t look good.  Worst of all are the hands, he’s got incredibly long hands with ape-like fingers.  He can barely hold onto any of his accessories. So now I’ve got a wobbly guy who drops everything; it’s like he’s a drunk.

Speaking of accessories Immortal comes with two guns.  The smaller one fits in his hand okay but the larger one is useless. He also comes with a missile launcher and 3 missiles just like the original but he can’t hold that either so it’s pointless too.  Lastly he comes with a flag featuring what I guess is the Crimson Guard logo.  I love the flag but for the love of god why didn’t the Club give him a display base with a hole to place the flag in? The Club’s FSS 2.0 Keel Haul got a hole for his flag.  How come the guy whose hands don’t work has to carry his?  It’s cruel.

Despite all of those issues there’s still enough here to like to not give this figure a terrible score.  Let’s go with a 6 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: FIGURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 3.0

This is the final figure for me to review from the G.I. Joe Collector Club’s third annual Figure Subscription Service (FSS).  All-in-all it’s been another impressive line-up of figures.  The highlights for me were Spearhead, Bombstrike, and Frostbite.  Slice, Repeater, Hit & Run, Vypra, and Alpine were also very nice figures.  And rounding out the set were Psyche Out, Muskrat, Night Creeper Leader, and Crimson Guard Immortal.  Big Ben is a great looking figure who would easily make my highlight list if I had any nostalgic attachment to the character but since I don’t I’d place him in the middle tier.

The original Big Ben was released in 1991 which is the year after I stopped collecting Joes as a kid.  Big Ben hails from England; as you may have guessed from his choice of code name.  He is a member of the British Special Air Service (SAS) and he works with G.I. Joe on special assignment. It’s nice to see that Hasbro added a little international flavour to the team.  Being Canadian I would’ve liked to have seen more of that but I suppose it would have went against the whole “Real American Hero” (RAH) concept  (In Canada some of the character’s file cards were altered to show that some Joes were born in Canada but none of that is canon).

A second Big Ben, repainted in a brown uniform, was released in ’93 and a third version, repainted in white, was released in 2000.  During the new-sculpt years of 2002-2006 three more Big Ben’s were released in various colors.  Six figure variations is pretty impressive for a character who was created so late in the RAH line.  The last newly-created character I got as a kid was Rampart who was released in 1990 and to this day there has not been a second Rampart figure produced.

Even though I was collecting Joes during the new-sculpt years I never acquired any of the Big Bens of that era.  It’s because I missed out on all six versions of him when they were originally released that I have no nostalgic ties to him from my childhood or even from my 20s.   However, I did get Big Ben versions one and three years after their release. Version one came to me in last summer’s epic haul and I found version 3 carded at a flea market not long after that.

Looking at the original figure now it’s impressive that such a realistically sculpted and painted military figure made it into the line in 1991.  Things had gotten pretty bright and science-fictiony by that time.  I think I would’ve really liked that figure when I was a kid had I owned it then.  It’s simple design harkens back to the early days of Joe.

The Club’s modern-era Big Ben is modelled after the original which was a wise decision because none of the later repaints looked as good as version 1.  The look of the original has been recreated quite faithfully here using existing pieces for the body plus a brand new head from Boss Fight Studios.  The body parts all appear to be fairly recent pieces so he’s not plagued with any carry-over issues from the early modern-era figures.  There are plenty of sculpted details in the uniform like pouches and wrinkles and I especially like the sculpted fabric texture in the pants.

This BFS head is perhaps the most impressive newly sculpted piece we got in this years subscription.  I absolutely love it.  The face has a unique look and depending on the angle you view it from it can look stern or friendly.  There’s a small silver bluetooth sculpted in his right ear which is true to the original’s earpiece and the hat with the fur flaps is perfectly proportioned.

For accessories Ben has a sniper rifle with bi-pod, a knife, another gun, a TNT satchel, a couple of grenades, and a massive backpack which can hold some of the other items.  It’s an impressive arsenal for one dude.

The paint job is very true to the original and it looks great.  There’s just the right amount of highlight colors (golds and reds) peppered in to break up the primarily green color scheme.  I really like that the Club added a Union Jack on his right sleeve as it matches up nicely with his fellow brit, Quarrel’s, uniform.   On his left sleeve he has a logo for the SAF.  Is that the same as the SAS?  I don’t know.

Between the sculpting, the paint job, and the accessories this is a nearly perfect G.I. Joe figure.  My only gripe is that the legs don’t line up with the torso as well as they should.  It creates a noticeable gap and it makes for some really loose legs.  He stands up fine and is a solid display figure but if you hold his head and shake him his legs rattle around like some of my vintage Joes who only got that loose after years of play.  By no means is it a deal breaker though.  This is still a must-have figure.  9.5 out of 10.

JURASSIC WORLD

On it’s opening weekend Jurassic World grossed over $524 million (just hit a billion as of today).  I think about half of that came from me and my family.  My girlfriend Vanessa, my brother Doug, his wife Alaina, their kids Alex and Luke, my sister’s kids Carter and Ty, my Dad and myself went to a matinee together on Sunday.  We’d all been looking forward to it for some time except for Doug who isn’t impressed by dinosaurs for some reason.  Although afterwards he told me it was his favourite Jurassic Park movie yet so I guess they won him over in the end.  I really enjoyed it but there’s no topping the original in my opinion.  There was just something magical about seeing Steven Spielberg’s and Stan Winston’s dinos on screen for the first time. I’ve really enjoyed all of the JP movies, my least favourite probably being the Lost World, and I think World has clinched the number 2 spot.

I went into Jurassic World with fairly high expectations and I’d say they were met.  It was very familiar at times but there were enough new elements introduced to keep it feeling fresh.  For example, the iconic JP dinos (T-Rex and Raptors) were on hand but there were some pretty rad new ones brought in as well.  The most notable addition was the fictional Indominus Rex.

In the movie, the Jurassic World theme park has been up and running for about 10 years.  Things were great for a while but attendance is beginning to drop because people are getting bored of the same old dinosaurs.  In order to drive interest the scientists whip up a new creature named the Indominus Rex by mixing the DNA of a T-Rex, Raptors, frogs, cuttlefish and other things.  The result is a big smart monster with a number of unique biological abilities.  So naturally all hell breaks loose.

Before seeing the movie I wasn’t sure if I’d like the Indominus Rex.  You saw glimpses of him in the trailer and he looked kinda cool but other than his white skin I didn’t think he looked all that different from other dinosaurs we’d already seen.  My first good look came when I saw this toy on the shelves at Walmart.  I was pleased to see that he looked like a believable dinosaur.  They didn’t go too far by giving him bat wings or anything crazy.  Considering all the boney protrusions I decided that he looked different enough from my T-Rex figure to seriously contemplate buying him.  After looking him over thoroughly though I was turned off my his unrealistic proportions so I left him behind.

Then I saw the movie and I knew I needed to go back for this toy.  The Indominus Rex was definitely cool but it wasn’t his portrayal alone that won me over.  The whole movie just got me excited about dinosaurs again.  If the other Jurassic World toys were better I probably would’ve bought them all but most of them are underwhelming.

When I went back for a second look at this figure I was still bothered by the wonky proportions.  However I was pretty sure that a big part of the problem was that his tail was not attached to him in the box which threw off the overall look.  After some coaxing from Vanessa (who loved the movie) I took my chances and shelled out my thirty-five bucks, all the while hoping that he would look better once I got him home and attached his tail.  Fortunately, adding the tail did help a lot.  His head and arms still seem oversized but its not nearly as noticeable as it was sans tail.

Now that its home and on my shelf I am happy I purchased him to display next to the 1993 Jurassic Park T-Rex; an item I inherited from my little brother Brian a few years back.  This toy is a worthy follow-up to the Rex but just like the movies they’re based on it falls short of the greatness of the original.

The ’93 T-Rex is a work of art.  His whole body, with the exception of his little arms and lower legs, is covered in soft rubbery dinosaur skin.  There are almost no seams in the rubber so it looks and feels quite realistic.  I absolutely love the thing and I was very jealous of Brian when he got it for Christmas way back when because it completely blew any dinosaur toys I ever owned out of the water (exhibit A, exhibit B).  Thankfully he outgrew it and it ended up in my collection.  The Indominus Rex has similar rubbery skin but only on it’s head.  The rest of the figure is sculpted in hard plastic.  There are visible seams at the tail, the hips, the shoulders, the neck, and along the spine.  You might think all those seams would mean increased articulation but you’d be wrong; this figure is just as stiff as the T-Rex.  Indominus does have movement at the hips that Rex didn’t have but the lack of tail articulation seems like a glaring oversight.  Rex’s rubbery wire tail was able to be posed all kinds of ways.

The T-Rex also sported an excellent paint job with a greenish belly and brown spots on the back.  Indominus is almost completely lacking in paint but at least he has it where it counts.  His eyes are well done with multiple apps and his teeth, inner mouth, and claws are painted too.  If you do find him too dull you can take comfort in the fact that if you install a couple of AA batteries in his belly his back will light up pink.  It might seem silly but it’s Hasbro’s way of replicating Indominus’ cuttlefish camouflage maneuver from the movie.  The batteries would also allow him to roar.  I haven’t bothered putting batteries in mine and I likely won’t.

A couple other fails to point out are that right side of Indominus (the side that wasn’t visible when he was still in package) is riddled with screw holes.  There are six very noticeable holes that really detract from the look of the figure.  And lastly he doesn’t stand up very well.  It can be done but it usually involves pointing his head up to the sky.

On the plus side, when you pull down on his arms Indominus’ mouth opens big and wide just like it does in the movie thanks to what appeared to be a distended jaw.  The play feature works well and doesn’t require any unsightly joints or screws on the face.

Despite its flaws I still think this is a cool toy.  It’s big, it’s fun, and it’s a dinosaur.  7 out of 10.

MARAUDER TASK FORCE

A couple of years after I started buying G.I. Joe figures as an adult collector in 2002 I discovered Marauder Gun Runners; a website that sells custom-made guns, weapons, and accessories for action figures.  The Marauder homepage explains it best:

“The source for weapons & accessories scaled for use with ALL collectible 3-3/4 inch action figures. We carry accurate 1:18 scale miniature replica versions of authentic looking weapons or designs based on military & science fiction originals. Sturdy & highly detailed items are NOT “soft & bendy” rubber or “fragile & brittle.” Similar feel to vintage 1980s 1:18 scale weapons. The weapons are perfect for the ADULT COLLECTOR to “upgrade” the equipment of their collectible 3-3/4 inch (1:18 scale) figures or to finally provide those incomplete or custom figures with COOL & INEXPENSIVE accessories.”

Basically, it was the perfect website for guys who wanted to replace the crappy blue rocket launchers and pink ninja swords that Hasbro tended to include with its figures.  I appreciated what the gun runner guy was doing (a fella who goes by the name Marauder John) but I’m not really a weapons guy.  Perhaps it’s because I’m Canadian.  Of course I would’ve preferred for all of my Joes to have cool, realistic looking weapons but it wasn’t so important to me that I’d pay for them separately.  John also made accessories like folding chairs, ladders, and flags which were great for collectors who make dioramas but my figures are displayed rather statically so I never had much use for chairs and computer terminals and the like either.  I placed one order of guns with John just so I could see his stuff up close and to lend my support but that was many years ago.  Since then I’ve just admired his handiwork from afar.

Tactical Padded Vest

Nearly a decade later I had another chance to support one of John’s endeavours.  In April 2014 he launched a kickstarter campaign in hopes of funding his own line of action figures called the Marauder Task Force (MTF).  He recruited Boss Fight Studios to sculpt the base figure which was a great idea since they’ve worked on a ton of great toy lines like G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars.  The prototype Boss Fight produced for the MTF trooper looked fantastic.  If the kickstarter achieved it’s funding goal of $29,500 the figure would be released in 3 different variations: Desert-Ops (tan camo), Urban-Ops (grey camo), and Night-Ops (solid black).  I had never backed a kickstarter before but this one seemed like a no-brainer considering the quality of work produced by those involved.  I knew I was going to back the campaign but I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to contribute so I waited to see how things went.

Things went well.  By the end of the month backers had contributed just shy of a quarter of a million dollars ($244,155).

The base figure

As the funding skyrocketed John announced that additional figure variations would be available: Special-Ops (green camo), Security-Ops (solid blue), Arctic-Ops (white camo), and Command-Ops (solid red).  Besides the figures themselves you could also purchase accessory packs.  I contributed enough to get all 7 figures plus one accessories pack consisting of 4 alternate heads, a gas mask, and some goggles.

Shortly after the campaign ended backers such as myself received an email from John giving us the opportunity to purchase an eighth figure, a solid green Field-Ops trooper.  Apparently he had received several requests for an all green figure and I’m glad he did because the Field-Ops trooper is one of my favourites.

Goggles and breather head

All of the figures are essentially the same so I could’ve lumped them together for one large review but instead I’m going to focus specifically on the Field Ops Trooper today.  The body on this figure is excellent.  He’s wearing a wrinkled jump suit detailed with sculpted (and painted) zippers, straps, and pouches.  I really like the boots which have armoured shin guards.  There’s articulation at the ankles, double-jointed knees, ball jointed hips and shoulders,  and swivel joints at the elbows, wrist and neck.  The body is constructed almost exactly the same as modern G.I. Joes so an MTF figure can be displayed seamlessly amongst your Joe collection.  One improvement that Marauder John and Boss Fight made to the body is that this figure has waist articulation like the vintage Joes instead of the awkward mid-torso joint that you see on all modern Joes.  Not only is the waist joint more realistic but it’s easier to hide at the belt line.  I’d praise this figure even if it didn’t come with any accessories because the base figure is just that good but the accessories are what really make the MTF figures shine.

All the MTF figures came with a bunch of stuff but this guy came with the most.  With the other figures you can buy additional heads and vests but the Field-Ops figure came with one of everything.  I was going to list everything but figured it would just be easier to show you so see the checklist at the end of this review.

Needless to say, this thing is absolutely crazy with accessories and customizable options.  If you mix in the pieces from the other seven figures there are even more variations.  You could spend all day just swapping out parts so it’s really tough deciding how to display them.  For my Field-Ops trooper I think I’ve settled on the armoured vest, the masked face from my Night-Ops figure, a pair of goggles and a beret.  As soon as I put that combo together I thought that this guy looks like a leader.

I could go on and on about this figure but I should save some stuff for the other MTF reviews.  9 out of 10.

MTF vs G.I. Joe

FUNNY TOYS

My best friend Miguel has lived in Canada since he was a teenager but he hails from the land of drug-dealers and rapists (Donald Trump’s words, not mine), Mexico.  A few years back Miguel returned home for a visit and he brought me back some terrible knock-off action figures of Batman and Nightwing as a souvenir.  Those were exactly the type of figures I was hoping to find when I visited Mexico this past April for Miguel’s wedding.  Unfortunately we were staying in a nice touristy area so junk like that was hard to come by.  I talked about my failed search for Mexican action figures in this post when I returned from the trip.

After the whole wedding party and the invited guests enjoyed a week on the Mayan Riviera, Miguel and his new bride spent an additional week in Mexico in Miguel’s home town while the rest of us travelled back home.  In true best friend fashion Miguel sought out some crappy Mexican toys for me once out of the tourist towns.  Upon his return to Canada he told me that he found me some but he didn’t have a chance to give them to me until this past Saturday when we got together for some poker. (side note:  I won five whole dollars but drank too much and spent the night puking my guts out. You gotta take the bad with the good I suppose.)

Miguel came through big time in the crappy action figure department.  Not only did he get me a translucent light up ninja turtle but he also got me a 3-pack containing Captain America, the Hulk, and that other Avenger…Batman.

These things are atrocious.

The Captain, whom I have dubbed Captain Amexico, is a solid chunk of blue plastic which is probably slowly killing me with toxins the more I handle it  (it does smell weird).  It has some paint apps but they appear to have been applied by a 2-year old.  The boots and gloves are sloppy but acceptable, the chest isn’t too bad either, but the face and shield are just wow.  The giant gash of red paint on his leg is a nice touch too.

I wish his arms moved like Batman’s and Hulk’s do but this thing is glorious even if it can’t be posed in any way.  This toy rules.  Thanks Miguel.  An ironic 10 out of 10.  A realistic 1 out of 10.

G. I. JOE: VALOR VS VENOM

Friend of the site and regular reader and commenter, Guy, recently requested that I review some Tomax and Xamot action figures (side note: More of you should leave comments). I already reviewed the vintage 1985 versions of those characters a couple years ago so my first thought was to review the modern-era versions released in 2008.  However, I have a whole slew of modern-era figures in my “to be reviewed” queue so I thought I’d go for a less obvious choice. These figures were released in 2005 during the new-sculpt years…and yet they’re completely made up of vintage parts so the “new-sculpt” moniker isn’t exactly apropos in this case.

Tomax and Xamot are identical twin brothers who run the public face of the Cobra organization, Extensive Enterprises, but they’re not just business men; they’re skilled fighters and acrobats. Often times, in the 80s cartoons and comic books the brothers were shown flipping around and swinging about like professional trapeze artists. Their flair for showmanship was evident in their choice of clothing when out getting their hands dirty in battle. They wore sleeveless blue jumpsuits, knee-high Cobra themed boots, metal half-collars, silver codpieces, and red sashes. Those were the outfits the version 1 action figures were wearing which made sense because those were their battle-ready outfits and most kids want to play out battles.

But as often as the twins were shown wearing their flashy sashes they were shown just as frequently, if not more so, in their suits and ties. These boys from the Mediterranean had a corporation to run after all and they needed to look presentable in board meetings. I’m sure an action figure in a 3-piece suit would not have sold as well as a soldier or a ninja on the mass market but speaking personally I really wanted a sharply dressed Tomax when I was a kid (and my brother Doug wanted a Xamot.)

When we played Joes back then Doug and I often housed the twins on the top of a dresser which was a stand-in for the Extensive Enterprises skyscraper seen on the show. We would sit them behind a Kleenex box office desk where they would taunt the Joes who couldn’t touch them because as far as the general public was concerned the twins were legit business men with no connection to Cobra. This required some suspension of disbelief however because the twins were sitting there literally covered in Cobra logos. Variant versions of the twins in suits would have been very welcome and it seemed like a no-brainer. Hasbro released a version of Gung-Ho in his dress uniform so why not Tomax and Xamot in their Sunday best?

Tomax version 2 (2003)

Well somebody at Hasbro finally realized it was a good idea 20 years later.   2003 saw the release of the twins in red military outfits and then in 2005 we finally got these suited versions.  These figures mark the first and only time to-date that Tomax and Xamot have been sold separately.  Each of them came packaged with 4 Crimson Guardsmen and Firefly. The Crimson Guard is the faction of Cobra which the twins command (its why they’re often referred to as the Crimson Twins) so their inclusion made perfect sense but the addition of Firefly to both packs was odd.

The Crimson multi-packs never showed up in my neck of the woods so I ordered these two figures online.  I was very happy to get them at long last but sadly they failed to live up to their potential. The biggest problem is the body Hasbro used. It’s the zoot suit originally used for the character Headman, released in 1992. Headman was a Dick Tracy villain type of character created to do battle with the Joe team’s new Drug Elimination Force (D.E.F.). I‘m not a fan of the Joes fighting street level gangsters concept but fortunately that all came about after I had quit collecting Joes in 1990.

So while I do appreciate that this was the only suit-wearing body available at the time, and that the Hasbro designers did the best they could with what they had, it really doesn’t work for a couple of CEOs. A neck tie and dress shoes would really have helped to make this sculpt feel more contemporary.  I was going to knock the double breasted jackets as well but when I googled images from the old cartoon it turns out that those were the style of jacket they wore.

It doesn’t help that the whole suit is painted with a metallic blue sheen. A flat blue jacket and some gray slacks might have been better and more ‘toon accurate.

As for the heads, they’re the exact same ones that were used in ’85.  They may seem a little soft but I like them…they’re classic.

These figures aren’t perfect but they are pretty cool and they filled a long standing hole in my collection.  I hope we get modern-era suited twins at some point because Hasbro has many more “suitable” pieces to work with nowadays.  7 out of 10.

G. I. JOE

When the G.I. Joe: Real American Hero toy line launched in the early 80s Hasbro partnered with Marvel to produce a comic books series to help promote the brand.  Larry Hama was the man who wrote those comics.  In the early days there were only a handful of toys available to write about so Larry fleshed out the Joe universe with original characters. One of his original creations was Dr. Venom, a mad scientist type fella in the employ of Cobra.  He was introduced in issue 10 and killed off in issue 19 published in 1984.  Dr. Venom finally got made into an action figure for the first time in 2010.  Two years after Dr. Venom’s demise Cobra needed a new mad scientist so they recruited Dr. Mindbender.

Mindbender debuted in both action figure and comic book form in 1986.  My brother Doug owned that original figure.  The file card on the back of the package explained how Mindbender was once a kind and gentle orthodontist experimenting with electric brainwave stimulation as a means of relieving dental pain.  He used himself as a test subject and that lead to a total personality change, transforming him into the mad doctor we all came to love via the comics and animated series.  Voice actor Brian Cummings did a brilliant job portraying him on the old cartoons.

He may have been a man of science but Dr. Mindbender did not dress like your typical scientist.  He was always decked out in purple pants, knee-high boots, a black cape and, best of all, no shirt.  To complete the look he wore a monocle.  It was a pretty outlandish design but Doug and I never questioned it; it seemed to make sense in the world of G.I. Joe.

Updated versions of Dr. Mindbender were released in 1993, 2002, and 2003.  The costume went through some tweaks and changes but Mindbender never lost his unique and colorful sense of style. It wasn’t until 2004 that we finally got a version of the doctor in proper scientist clothing; a white lab coat, drab grey pants, and sensible footwear.

The first modern-era Dr. Mindbender came out in 2009 as part of a Cobra 7-pack called Defence of Cobra Island.  It and a Joe-themed 7-pack called Assault on Cobra Island were the last gasp of the 25th anniversary branded toy line before the movie-based Rise of Cobra figures took over.  I was happy to get an updated Mindbender, especially one based on the 1985 original, but it wasn’t a stellar action figure.  Some of the previously released parts used to construct the body came from one of my least favourite 25th anniversary figures, Gung-Ho. At least the head was brand new and it was a pretty good one.  Overall, the figure was adequate and, despite its flaws, I never felt that I needed a new and improved Mindbender to replace it.  Which is why I was underwhelmed by the Collector Club’s announcement at last years Joe Con that Arctic Dr Mindbender would be the 2015 free Club membership figure.

I should have learned by now to stop doubting the Club.  They almost always surpass my expectation…almost.  Arctic Dr. Mindbender arrived a month or so ago and I love him.  This figure is based on his appearance in the 1987 animated movie when he travelled to the Arctic to meet Cobra Commander’s prehistoric ancestors.

I never would have considered this a figure I needed for my collection but it comes together really nicely. The torso and arms come from Cobra Commander version 48 and the legs come from Techno-Viper.  The fur collar, lower jacket, and head are all brand new pieces.  The reused parts are fine but the newly created pieces are what elevate this figure to must-have status.  The fur is super detailed and looks surprisingly believable and the head is fantastic.  It’s got an expressive face, a monocle with a painted edge, and an epic ‘stache.  To top it all off the cartoon accurate purple paint job on the jacket is straight killer (I’m not even sure if thats real slang but it sounded good in my head).

For accessories Mindbender comes with a white display base, a pistol, and a laptop as well as new versions of the backpack, hose and cattle prod(?) combo the 1985 figure came with.  I like this figure so much it prompted me to buy the Arctic Destro figure I previously had no interest in.  Nice job Collector’s Club. 9 out of 10.

MARVEL LEGENDS

If you’re a reader of Marvel comics like I am then you know that Marvel has suspended the publication of all of its regular titles for the summer. The reason for this is they have a massive company-wide crossover in the works called Secret Wars.  To support the main Secret Wars title Marvel is publishing a bunch of tie-in mini-series’ in place of their regular  monthly books.  When the smoke clears we’re being promised an “All-New, All-Different” Marvel Universe and all the titles will relaunch with new #1 issues.  As a stubborn old-school fan this s**t annoys the hell out of me but I try not to get too hung up on the wacky numbering and the gaps in continuity.  As long as the stories are good I can grin and bear all the nonsense. God knows I’ve been through this before.

One of my least favourite status-quo shake ups came in 2008 with a storyline titled “Brand New Day”.   For as long as I’d been reading comics at that point, which was over 20 years, Peter Parker had been with Mary Jane Watson. They got married just a few months into my collecting hobby so a 30-something married Spider-Man is all I ever really knew.  I liked the mature married Spider-Man but apparently a lot of people didn’t.  For years writers attempted to undo the marriage they thought kept Spidey from being the down on his luck everyman that people wanted to see.  Marvel tried and failed to sweep married Spider-Man under the rug with their clone saga storyline that introduced Ben Reilly as a new Spider-Man but they finally did it with Brand New Day.

The gist of Brand New Day is that Aunt May was dying (again) and to save her Peter made a deal with the devil.  The cost of doing business?  His marriage. Groan.

Along with Aunt May getting better and the marriage being wiped from existence there were a few other side effects to the deal such as the whole world forgetting about Spider-Man revealing his secret identity during the super hero Civil War and Pete’s old buddy Harry Osbourne was alive again.  Gotta love comics.

To drive home the point that Brand New Day wasn’t just the same old Spider-Man stories we’d seen a dozen times before an editorial decision was made to not have any of Spidey’s famous villains show up for the first year.  Instead we got all new villains.  The problem with that was the new villains either sucked (Paper Doll?  Screwball? Overdrive?) or they were completely derivative of established villains (Menace = Green Goblin, New Vulture = Old Vulture).  One of the wholly unoriginal new characters introduced in 2008 was Anti-Venom who was a complete knock-off of, you guessed it…Venom.

Venom is black with a white spider on his chest while Anti-Venom is white with a black spider on his chest.  Beyond that their powers and abilities are pretty much the same (except Anti-Venom can cure diseases).  I should hate this character but I don’t.  There are a couple reasons for that.  First off, as I said earlier, I’m an old school fan who is often resistant to change. Venom was first introduced in 1986, right around the same time Peter and MJ got married and just a few months after my introduction into comic collecting.  Back then Eddie Brock was Venom and I liked him in the role. In 2004 Eddie was dying of cancer so he sold his alien costume and it passed from the Scorpion for a few years and more recently to Flash Thompson.

It didn’t sit well with me that Eddie Brock got pushed to the sidelines.  Which is partly why I like Anti-Venom because it was a persona better suited to Eddie who had long been portrayed as an anti-hero.  Eddie became Anti-Venom through some convoluted plot involving alien DNA in his white blood cells being triggered by Mr. Negative curing him of cancer or some such nonsense.  The other reason I liked Anti-Venom right off the bat is because he was drawn by John Romita Jr., one of my favourite artists.

Unfortunately, Anti-Venom was relatively short lived.  Eddie had to sacrifice his alien symbiote to save New York in the 2011 story line Spider Island.  However, I didn’t waste any time mourning the character as I have an inkling that we’ll see him again one day.

This figure is part of the latest wave of Marvel Legends consisting of all Spider-Man characters.  I saw the whole wave while shopping at Walmart tonight and there were a few decent figures to be had but money was tight so I went with the one  I thought was the best of the bunch.

The body appears to be the exact same as the one used last year for another symbiote character, Toxin.  However Anti-Venom is a much nicer looking figure because his paint job is way more interesting than Toxin’s solid red.  It’s a solid bulky body with well sculpted muscles and loads of articulation including doubled-jointed knees and elbows.

The only new pieces here are the head and the back attachment.  Toxin had tendrils that plugged into his back but Anti-Venom has spikes.  The head looks great and exactly as it appeared in the comics.  The only thing that could have been improved on the head would be a hinged jaw.  This is a cool figure and it comes with a piece (a leg) of this wave’s awesome build-a-figure, Phil Urich: Hobgoblin. For Spidey fans who missed out on the Marvel Select figure from a couple of years ago this is a must-get.  9 out of 10.

SYMBIOTE FIGHT!!

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

The Masters of the Universe Classics toy line is slated to wrap up by the end of the year.  I’ll be sad to see it go because it provided me with so many great figures over the past seven years but at the same time it’ll be nice to have one less expense each month.  Also on the plus side is that the toy line came to a natural end.  It really sucks when  something you love, whether its a TV show, a movie series, a comic book, or a toy line, gets cancelled before it’s run its course.  A prime example would be the 2002 Masters of the Universe reboot.  Both the cartoon and toy line got cancelled abruptly so story lines went unresolved and figures of key characters never got made (including Sssqueeze).  When the MOTU Classics line first started in 2008 the goal was to produce updated versions of all the vintage figures.  I never thought they’d get there but by the end of 2015 all of the vintage MOTU characters will be accounted for along with the majority of the Princess of Power characters and a healthy dose of New Adventures characters too.  On top of that we also got Classics figures based on the old cartoon, the 2002 cartoon, the comics, concept art, and completely original characters.  I think Classics will go down in history as one of the best toy lines of all time.  It’s a shame so few kids know about it.

One of the reasons that this collector aimed line has survived as long as it has is due to the clever reuse of parts.  Many of the figures share torsos and limbs which reduces tooling costs.  This recycling of parts is likely the main reason why some of the most oddly shaped vintage toys were not tackled sooner; they cost too much to produce.  But in an effort to achieve their original goal of getting all the vintage toys remade by years end Mattel has pulled out all the stops for these final months.  Case in point, this past June they give us Multi-Bot, the six-legged two-headed android who is 100% brand new parts AND the Snake Man with the constrictor arms: Sssqueeze.

The first three Snake Men were added to the MOTU mythology in 1986, four years into the vintage toy line, as a new faction of   villains.  They were King Hiss, Rattlor, and Tongue Lasher.  Two more followed in 1987; Snake Face and Sssqueeze.   The only vintage Snake Man I owned as a kid was King Hiss but I would’ve loved to have all of them.  Tongue Lasher and Sssqueeze were especially desirable because of their cool play features.  Tongue Lasher had a long tongue that flicked in and out and Sssqueeze had long wiry snake arms.  The snake arms were slightly ridiculous looking but very unique even in a line as diverse as MOTU.

1987 Sssqueeze

Tooling costs aside, I’d bet figuring out to to make those snake arms work on a Classics figure deterred Mattel from updating Sssqueeze sooner.  Almost none of the play features from the vintage toy line were carried over into the Classics figures.  Instead, features were approximated with additional parts.  For example: Instead of Mekaneck’s neck actually extending when you twisted his waist like it did on the vintage toy, an extra neck piece was added to the Classics figure to replicate the elongated neck, and instead of Mantenna’s eyes bugging out with the push of a button like they did on the vintage toy, swappable protruding eyes were included with the Classics version.   So you couldn’t help but wonder how Mattel would apply this method of approximation to Sssqueeze.  Would they package him with a second set of arms or arm extending pieces like they did with Extendar?

2002 animated Sssqueeze

As it turns out Mattel decided to faithfully replicate the vintage play feature and give the Classics Sssqueeze fully posable wire arms.  The constrictor arms look great and are very posable.  The fact that Mattel was able to make the feature work so well while maintaining the collector-level sculpting makes me wish that they had tried a little harder to work some of the other play features into Classics figures.  Adding pieces to Mekaneck’s neck works okay and it looks good enough for display purposes but those old-school functional play features just made the vintage toys so much fun.

Sssqueeze features quite a few new parts and they all look fantastic.  The look is very true to the original figure.  His whole body is covered in scales and his armour has some cool little details too. The colours look very nice as well.  The almost florescent green skin really pops and I love how it looks against the multi-coloured armour.  Mattel could’ve cheaped out on painting the armour and I doubt anyone would have noticed but they didn’t.  The grey boots have silver highlights and the orange wrist bands have shimmery metallic highlights.

The head sculpt is excellent but, just as with the original, Sssqueeze looks more like an alligator than a snake.  Thats fine with me though as it adds more diversity to the Snake Men. For accessories he came with a twisty purple snake staff just as the original did but I forgot to take any pictures of him with it.  I also forgot to include Snake Face in the group shot below.  I must’ve been half asleep when taking these pics.

Final Thoughts: I love this figure.  Not only does it look incredible but it’s super fun to play with and really what more could you ask of a toy?  10 out of 10.

(UPDATE:  I wrote this on Wednesday but am just getting it posted on Sunday.  Over the weekend it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con that Masters of the Universe Classics will continue on into 2016.  They revealed some great looking figures so I guess my wallet will continue to suffer.)

Snake Men Group Hug!

G. I. JOE VS COBRA

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada. It’s a relatively small city. Which is why I’m amazed that it’s able to sustain so many comic book stores. In downtown Halifax there’s Strange Adventures (where I go), Monster’s Comic Lounge, and until very recently Quantum Frontier. Just over the bridge in neighboring Dartmouth, which is still considered part of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), is another Strange Adventures and Giant Robot Comics. This past year, two more shops opened in Halifax suburbs, Ragnarok Comics in Bedford and Cape and Cowl Comics in my hometown of Lower Sackville. I’ve been meaning to check out both stores for months now but haven’t gotten around to it. Well last week I finally had a chance to visit both.

Mid-week I popped into Ragnarok.  It was a decent little shop but they didn’t have a whole lot of merchandise and it felt rather generic. The guy at the counter was nice enough and made some small talk so I would definitely go back. I bought a Bret “the Hitman” Hart Simpsons figure from him and went on my merry way. It’s in an area with very little foot traffic but I hope they succeed there as it’s the comic store that’s nearest to my apartment building and I like the idea of being able to walk there.

On the weekend I went out to Sackville for dinner at my parent’s place. They were hosting a small family get together because my cousin Greg was visiting from Ottawa (he’s the guy that got me into collecting comics and listening to heavy metal when I was eight). Since I was in Sackville on a sunny afternoon I figured it would be a good day to check out Cape and Cowl.

The shop owner is a friend of mine named Jay who used to work at Strange Adventures. He posts pictures of his shop on facebook all the time so I knew what to expect when I got there but I gotta say I was really impressed upon seeing it in person. The whole place was clean and organized and there was plenty of room to walk around. There were shelves full of toys and graphic novels but it didn’t feel cluttered at all like some of the other local shops do. There was an old school Nintendo and a new-school X-Box available to play which I’m sure are a hit with kids and gamers. The walls were painted vibrant colours and adorned in original art for sale. There was a large back room as well where Jay hosts birthday parties and runs a literacy program. It’s a fantastic looking store and I hope Sackville supports him as a young entrepreneur.

I did my part by buying a Darkseid POP! figure and a handful of loose G.I. Joes that were in a box on the front counter. It’s not often that you find Joe figures for three bucks a piece these days so I scooped up all the ones I didn’t already own.  As it turned out Jay had acquired the Joes from my old friend Paul, a guy I haven’t seen since high school, whom I ran into while browsing the store that day. All four of the Joes I picked up were from the new-sculpt years (2002-2007). I was an avid collector at the time but there was a lot of product available back then and none of it was available in my area so quite a few figures slipped past me. This Blowtorch figure is one of the ones I missed out on even though I thought it was a great update to the character.

2002 vs 2009

The original Blowtorch wore a bright red and yellow padded outfit.  He returned to that look for the modern-era which I was glad to see because I’m a sucker for the classic looks but I do appreciate that the new-sculpt designs weren’t as beholden to what had come before.  The figures were aimed at kids back then so they looked more contemporary as opposed to now where the figures are geared towards nostalgic old guys like me.  This Blowtorch has a brown outfit with gold armour plating.  Perhaps it was ahead of its time because I think it has a steam punk vibe to it.  The proportions are good and the articulation is great.  This was a vast improvement over the first wave of new-sculpt figures which had traded in the classic O-ring construction for a dreaded T-crotch.

I really like the head sculpt on this figure but it looks more like Duke than Blowtorch.  The vintage figure had parted brown hair whereas this guy has slicked back blonde locks.  I wish Hasbro was more consistent when it came to things like this but because its such a good head sculpt I’ll forgive them this time.

Cape and Cowl didn’t have any of the weapons with the loose figures which I’m fine with but thankfully Blowtorch had his removable helmet at least.   The helmet has large red eyes and looks rather bug-like.  Based on the helmet alone I would think this would be a more appropriate update to the Joe team’s other flamethrower trooper, Charbroil.

This figure originally came packaged with the first new-sculpt Snow Serpent, a figure which I did acquire back then either from ebay or some other online retailer.  Had I known this figure was as cool as it is I would’ve made more of an effort to seek it out too.  8 out of 10.

Cape and Cowl Comics

DC COMICS – SUPER VILLAINS

For my birthday in January 2014 Vanessa bought me my first Harley Quinn action figure.  It was based on the character’s appearance from the recently relaunched Suicide Squad comic. I liked the new costume design even though it was a pretty drastic change from Harley’s original court jester costume which I was a big fan of.

The costume change occurred in 2011 to coincide with DC’s line wide reboot known as the New 52.  Two years later Harley got her own solo comic book series and with it came another costume design but the 2013 make-over wasn’t as drastic as the 2011 one.  Most of the New 52 design elements were retained but they were tweaked to give her a roller-derby girl look.  This included the addition of knee pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and of course roller skates.  I really dug the new look but I don’t know if I would’ve loved it as much if Amanda Conner hadn’t drawn it; that woman can do no wrong.

I had every intention of buying the new series once the collected edition came out but based on my brother’s reviews (he’s been reading the monthly issues) I think it might be too silly for me.

art by Amanda Conner

I actually think some comics should be silly.  Too many books are dark and dreary these days and Harley’s a good candidate for silly.  But I’ve read quite a few silly books over the years (Deadpool, Bomb Queen, Superior Foes) and I just got burnt out on it.  I may still pick up the new Harley Quinn collections one of these days but for now I’ll remain a fan from afar.

Even though I’m not reading her current series I was still very excited when this figure was announced a few months back.  I immediately pre-ordered one from BigBadToyStore.  As far as I could tell it looked amazing and was influenced by Conner’s artwork.  I’ve been wishing for action figures based on her art for years.  It’s an absolute crime that DC hasn’t yet released an Amanda Conner Power Girl.

There was no doubt in my mind that this new figure would be superior to the Suicide Squad Harley and I couldn’t wait to add her to my collection.  I was notified a month ago that BBTS had it in stock and ready to ship to me but I was frugal and patient.  I waited until a few more pre-orders came in before telling them to send it because I wanted to save some cash with the combined shipping.  Last week, once my Boondock Saints and Rocketeer figures were in stock,  I told BigBad to ship my package and earlier tonight it arrived.

I really like this Harley Quinn.  Both the sculpting and the painting are great.  The sneakers alone put the previous figure’s to shame.  Derby Harley’s shoes have sculpted laces and pompoms and multiple paint apps whereas the 2014 figure’s kicks had hardly any sculpted detail and zero paint apps.  The new Harley still has ribbed socks but ups the ante with painted stars and stripes.  The shorts are more attractive this time around and they also have additional star and diamond paint apps.  The stars and diamonds motif continues onto her elbow and shoulder pads.  Instead of a frilly collar this Harley has a choker with bells, like something a BDSM reindeer might wear.  It’s isn’t by a wide margin but I think this face sculpt is prettier too.  Trading in the black mask-like make up for a more subdued pink eyeshadow was a good call in my opinion.  The hair is similar on both figures except the new one’s pigtails are a fair bit longer.  At a glance I think the thing I most prefer about this new figure is that she’s wearing black and red like her original jester costume.  The red and blue of the Suicide Squad version isn’t as dynamic.  Also this Harley’s skin is pure white as opposed to the porcelain off-white of the other figure and the white on black contrast makes this one really pop out at ya.

For accessories Harley comes with a pistol which can be holstered on her hip and her trademark mallet.  I’m happy to see a return to her cartoony red mallet.  The brown and grey sledge hammer that came with last figure wasn’t nearly as fun.  Also she comes with removable roller skates which plug into her sneakers.  The wheels actually spin so you can cruise her across your computer desk or kitchen floor if you’re so inclined.  I knew she had skates but I didn’t expect them to actually work or to be removable so that was a pleasant surprise.

This figure is pretty great but its not perfect.  I’m not a fan of the bell choker.  It makes it appear as though she has a really short neck.  Also the combination of the choker and the pig tails really hinder the head movement.  Lastly, this figure still doesn’t have any torso articulation which is something I griped about in my last HQ review.  She really should be able to turn at the waist.  Other than that though the articulation is good.

I was really excited to receive this figure when I hit “send” last week and it pretty much lives up to my expectations.  Unfortunately that excitement was slightly diminished a couple of days ago thanks to an announcement at last weekend’s San Diego Comic Con.  DC Collectables revealed that they have a new Harley Quinn figure coming out next year based on Darwyn Cooke’s artwork.  Darwyn is one of the best and most unique artists in the business and his Harley looks incredible.  The design is almost identical to this figure so this figure suddenly felt kinda redundant just days before I got it.  Oh well, thats toy collecting for ya.  9 out of 10.

Darwyn Cooke’s Harley (2016)

…and an upcoming classic Harley figure

FUNKO LEGACY COLLECTION

The Rocketeer was a comic book mini-series created by Dave Stevens in the 80s, a movie directed by Joe Johnston in the 90s, and a comic book again in the late 2000s.  There’s not a lot of Rocketeer material out there but I grew very attached to the character anyway.  He had such a great costume that I always wanted a toy of him when I was a kid but sadly none existed.

It wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I finally found a Rocketeer figure; though it was more like a dog toy than an action figure.  The hollow rubber toy with the red jacket was pretty underwhelming but I couldn’t pass it up because I thought it might be the only Rocketeer toy to ever get made.  For years I displayed that clunker proudly on my shelf.

I was floored a few years later when I saw the Rocketeer doll made by Medicom.  12″ inch dolls of that quality are common place now but a few years back that thing blew my mind.  I admired it every Wednesday on my weekly visits to Strange Adventures but I could never pull the trigger on the $200+ price tag.  Thankfully my girlfriend at the time came through and got it for me as a Christmas gift.  I was so pleased with it that I was certain I would never need another Rocketeer figure again because the quality of the Medicom figure would never be beat.

Several years have passed and I was right about no one making a Rocketeer figure superior to the Medicom product but I was wrong about never needing another Rocketeer.  Damn you Funko.

I had never heard of Funko until a couple years ago.  According to Wikipedia they were founded in 1998 and started out making low-tech, nostalgia-themed toys like Bobble Heads.  The company was sold in 2005 and since then the owner has acquired a crazy amount of property licenses from comics, TV, movies, and music.

I took notice of them when they started releasing POP! vinyl figurines.  They were cute and fun and tempting to collect but I wrote them off as just another cutesy flash in the pan like Mighty Muggs.  But the line kept expanding and expanding and eventually I gave in.  I probably have about 20 POP! figures now; one of them is the Rocketeer.

Last year Funko launched a new line of figures called ReAction.  The line began with Funko releasing a set of 80s-style action figures with 5 points of articulation based on the movie ALIEN.  Apparently the figures made it to the prototype stage when the movie first came out but they never got released.  Most likely because the film was R-rated and most kids weren’t allowed to see it.  Alien fans knew about the failed toy line though and always wanted it to see the light of day.  Funko delivered and I assume to great success because the ReAction line quickly expanded beyond ALIEN into properties like Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, and JAWS.  I now have 14 ReAction figures and I plan to buy more. One of the ReAction figures in my collection is the Rocketeer.

Lets take an inventory.  I now had a rubber bath toy Rocketeer, a super detailed 12″ collector’s piece Rocketeer, a cutesy vinyl Rocketeer, and a 3 3/4″ retro Rocketeer.  Surely that must have been enough Rocketeers, right?

Wrong.  Funko has now sold me their third variation of the Rocketeer.  This one is part of their brand new Legacy Collection; a highly-detailed line of 6″ figures.  A good portion of my toy collection is made up of 6″ figures (Masters of the Universe Classics, DC Direct, Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black, etc.) so I simply could not pass up a chance to own a compatible Rocketeer.  In truth, this is the figure I wished for when I was a kid.  As great as the Medicom doll is its not the kind of thing I ever really played with in my youth.  Had I owned it in the 1980s I probaly would’ve been too scared to touch it lest I break it so it would have sat on my shelf like a priceless heirloom as it does today.  But if I owned this Legacy Collection figure back then I’m certain I would’ve been running up and down the stairs and across the back yard with a soaring Rocketeer at the end of my outstreched arm.

The sculpt on this figure is great.  The pants and jacket are rife with folds and wrinkles, the boots have laces, and the jet pack is covered in vents, rivets and a wad of bubble gum.  The paint work is well done and movie accurate.  A wash of darker paint on the clothes gives them an extra level of realism.  I was super stoked that the ReAction Rocketeer had a removable helmet as it was the first to have that feature.  This figure doesn’t have a removable helmet but it  comes with 2 heads so you can display him either way.  I would’ve preferred a removable helmet but I’ll accept swappable heads if it allows for more realistic proportions ( though I had a hell of a time swapping them).

I do have a few complaints.  The head sculpt is alright but I wish it looked like actor Billy Campbell.  The paint work on the eyes makes him look either tired or crazy.  The backpack isn’t removable (at least I don’t think it is) which is also alright but a removable one would have been better.  And lastly the luger pistol he comes with doesn’t fit in his hand very well; it keeps falling out.

None of these issues are deal breakers though so if you’re a Rocketeer fan you really should get this figure…even if you already have four Rocketeer figures.  9 out of 10.

TRANSFORMERS: COMBINER WARS

When I was a kid the only complete Combiners I owned were Devastator and Defensor.  I loved Devastator but because he was the first Combiner ever released he wasn’t exactly structurally sound.  He was made up of six equally-sized smaller robots; 4 for the limbs and 2 for the torso.  The split torso was the real problem.  Devastator crumbled every time he threw a punch. Hasbro improved on the Combiner design the following year when they opted to make a single larger robot form the torso with 4 smaller robots as the limbs.  That’s how Defensor, made up of the five Protectobots, was built. I loved all five of the Protectobots but my favourite was far and away First Aid.

I’m not sure why I liked First Aid so much.  Maybe an episode of the old cartoon focused on him and infused him with a winning personality.  I don’t recall him ever having a shining moment in Marvel’s Transformers comic.  Maybe it was because of the brief character description on his packaging:

“Hates seeing any machine in pain — even those who don’t know it, like a broken street lamp or an overheated car. Compassionate, cautious — will restrict an Autobot to repair bay for faulty directional signal.”

Sounds like a nice guy worthy of my affection. Honestly it was probably the design of the character that appealed to me the most.  I liked his head design…I always preferred bots with Optimus Prime-like faces.  I also liked his boxy design and his red and white colour scheme.  After I got First Aid in 86/87 he quickly became one of the stars of my Transformers universe.  He didn’t need the other Protectobots to save the day, he was quite capable all on his own.  I regret getting rid of all my childhood Transformers but First Aid is one of the ones I miss the most.  Not because it was a great toy, it wasn’t, but because I loved the character so much that my imagination allowed the toy to seem better than it was.

Like most of the toys who formed Combiner limbs, the 1986 First Aid was a clunky crappy toy.  His legs were stuck together because he had a hunk of plastic as a uni-foot, his stubby arms didn’t bend and he had a pea-sized head.  I always had fun playing with him, and his simplicity made him durable, but the toy left a lot to be desired.  I have waited years for Hasbro to release a new and improved First Aid.  It’s been 30 years since the original figure was released and about 10 years since I started buying Transformers as an adult collector.  Hasbro has released a ton of great updates of classic Transformer toys this past decade but for some strange reason they seemed intent on denying fans of new and improved Combiners.

Then in 2012 Hasbro released updated versions of the five Combaticons who merge to form Bruticus. That was cool and all but Bruticus was a toy that my brother Doug owned when we were kids so I don’t have as strong a connection to that character.  Bruticus was a hit with Collectors so I hoped that more Combiners would follow.  It took three long years but Hasbro is finally releasing the other Combiner teams.  They’ve even rebranded the line as “Combiner Wars”.  They started with Superion in wave 1 and Menasor in wave 2.  They were cool but, again, they were both toys Doug owned.

1986 First Aid

But now wave 3 has finally arrived.  Giggity Giggity.  Wave 3 consists of the five Protectobots AND all six Constructicons.  At present I’ve managed to track down 3 of the Protectobots in the wild and all 6 Constructicons are on their way to me now by way of Canada Post.  The first Protectobot I found (not including Groove) was Hot Spot, the leader of the team who forms the torso, then came Blades the helicopter, and just last night I finally found First Aid.

Combiner Wars First Aid is a retool of the Stunticon Offroad figure from wave 2 but at a glance you can barely tell they’re the same base figure.  The retool was very extensive so don’t think that this is just a repainted Offroad.  Both their robot and vehicle modes are substantially different due to all of changes.  First Aid has new legs, a new chest, new forearms, new door panels, and most importantly a new head.  Also their paint schemes are so radically different that it further sets them apart.

Offroad didn’t impress me when I picked him up a while back but I actually think this is a fantastic First Aid figure.  That’s largely because I have zero nostalgic ties to Offroad but also because the construction of this figure seems perfectly suited to First Aid. It retains all of the design elements I liked about the original while improving on pretty much everything.  It’s bigger, has a normal sized head with a painted visor, has elbows, and finally he has two legs with knees.  Essentially this toy is everything the vintage toy was in my mind’s eye.  The only thing I like less about this new figure is that he came with an axe instead of a pistol.  The axe seems too brutal for First Aid and better suited to the Decepticon Offroad.  I suppose I could pretend that the axe is a medical instrument but thats a bit of a stretch.

First Aid’s ambulance mode is fine though I do miss the boxy Mystery Machine style van of the original.

I’m extremely happy to add First Aid to my modern Transformers collection and I already know that he’s a serious contender for my year-end “best of” list.  10 out of 10.

The Autobot medical team

First Aid and Offroad. Separated at birth?