Wednesday, May 31, 2017

FSS 5.0 Raptor, Steel Raven and

You already know who the mysterious 13th figure is, right?

The final shipment for FSS 5.0 has arrived! This last shipment really was a good solid hit by the Club. Let's take a quick look at the three figures.
  
Raptor is up first and the Club kicked some serious ass with this figure. They took a goofy o-ring character and turned him into a goofy modern figure. Well, maybe not as goofy as that original figure, but c'mon, he's wearing a bird costume! The formula that the Club used was very similar to what customizers have done in the past. Mostly the PoC desert Zartan figure with the "wings" from the Jungle Viper. The feet/lower legs seem to be from a Destro figure from one of the 25th two-pack sets. Everything just works great together!
Raptor looks so cool now, I think he needs an upgrade to his character. He looks almost menacing right now.
But can he fly with these "wings"? Maybe, just take that 20 minutes into the future mindset and, sure, he can fly! Minor issues: unfortunate that the Club didn't include the top piece for the wings, so that leaves the open connecting ball at the top of the back pack. I suppose the back pack could be flipped, but it doesn't really look that great when it gets flipped. The wings rest too low against his back. I'm not really thrilled with the pistol and the way it just gets shoved into his belt. Knives would be better; easy fix.
Why not add the claw gloves from the RoC Doctor figure? Works for me! Gives Raptor a little more sense of "menace".
Next up is Steel Raven, a character from the GI Joe: Extreme sad moment in GI Joe history. Despite the dismal failure of GI Joe: Extreme, the Club did a good job with Steel Raven. She would go well alongside Iron Klaw, the leader of SKAR. The Club released him in FSS 1.0 and I wasn't on board then. Not that big of a deal to me, I don't really see the need for the forces of SKAR in my mental GI Joe world. She's just another agent of Cobra. Perhaps with the brown and black hues of her uniform, she can be an ally of Major Bludd?
The Club used one of the RoC Baroness bodies for Steel Raven and it works out great. Not very "playable", but these are generally considered to be adult collectibles. There was some initial concern about the hat, but it fits nice and snugly on her head.
I'm not too crazy about the pistols that she came with; they are the same pistols that came with Helix and I really didn't like them then either.
Speaking of Helix... Oh look, it's GI Jane! A bold move by the Club and I'm glad that the Helix head sculpt got some new use. Sort of... It's such a unique head sculpt having only been used for Helix and a female Dialtone from a RoC set. Not bad, but not great either.
The head sculpt works well enough, but not really thrilled with the choice. The larger issue is the lab coat. It was designed for a larger torso and doesn't fit very well on Jane. She looks better without it.
Once I saw the reuse of the Helix head sculpt, story ideas started swirling in my head. Jane is a scientist and Helix is a bit of a mystery as to her origin. Could Helix be a genetically enhanced clone of GI Jane? Would Jane abandon personal ethics to create an ultimate soldier? Perhaps... Interesting idea.

That wraps up the figures for FSS 5.0! I think I'll write another recap post of all of the FSS 5.0 figures in a few days. FSS 5.0 turned out to be a pretty strong set of figures, with few "issues" (at least to me).

Who was your favorite FSS 5.0 figure? Let me know in the comments!

1 comment:

Big Tone said...

That's Zartan dressed up as raptor.