FSS 3.0 Bombstrike & Night Creeper Leader

The fifth shipment of FSS 3.0 has arrived! Night Creeper leader (NCL) and Bombstrike are the next two figures up for a quick review.

First up is the sister of the Stall clan, Bombstrike. There's an interesting story behind the Stall kids. Barrel Roll is an active member of GI Joe, while Black Out is a GI Joe wash-out now working for Cobra. Both Barrel Roll and Black Out have been a part of the previous FSS 1.0 collection. I've got a custom of Black Out that I'm pleased with. Perhaps one day, I'll figure out a custom for Barrel Roll.

Bombstrike has turned out to be one of the best figures of the FSS 3.0 series. I'm very please at what the Club did with her. I haven't really compared the various body parts, but it looks like the Club used Retaliation Lady Jaye's torso, Lady Jaye's arms, and RoC Scarlet's legs. Everything works great together. I'm not real thrilled with the arms; they don't bend well at the elbows, but they'll do. The hands aren't the best either.

The head sculpt is excellent. A very feminine face with a hint of a mischievous look. Her vibrant blond hair is well sculpted also. 

Bombstrike comes with a decent set of accessories. She comes with the computer case that came with the PoC Hawk figure, the drone that came with the Data Viper, an assault rifle, and a pistol.

 The face is just so well done. Boss Fight did a great job. The paint apps turned out very well also. 

 Bombstrike takes her place among a few of the FSS 2.0 and 3.0 Joe figures. 

 

Next up is the Night Creeper Leader (NCL). This figure is actually based on the paint scheme of the 2nd version of the original o-ring figure. Apparently, there was some sort of issue related to which color palette the Club was going to use. I really didn't care and I really didn't like the character that much anyway. 

NCL comes with a crap-load of gear. He comes with the traditional Night Creeper crossbow, a couple swords, some small spiky knives, a couple shurikens, and some clip-on mini machine guns.

The clip-on machine guns just don't really work very well with these specific hands. The hands are designed more for the various martial arts weapons.

As for the look of the NCL's head, there has been some issues related to the Club trying to recapture the look of the original. I applaud their attempt, but it didn't work well. I think this could be the Serpentor head sculpt.
In an attempt to match the blindfold over the eyes, the Club has a separate piece that goes over the eyes. The problem with this is the gap between the painted hair or whatever that black splat is. 

I don't really have a huge issue with the black splat. It's not great, but it's not totally horrific. It kind of reminds me of a possible monk haircut. I'm not picking a particular brand of monk, it just sort of looks that way. If you consider it as a monk style haircut, it would work. 

If not, then just don't worry about the blindfold aspect and push the purple band up a little. This works fine too.

One issue that I do have with this figure is this damn web gear. I don't like it when Hasbro uses it and I don't like it when the Club does. I like the look of it, but it's just so inflexible. It's just bulky. NCL looks actually better without it, in my opinion. 

I like these three figures more than I thought I would. NCL isn't in the top five, but he's better than I expected. I don't think he'll be the NCL for me. 
I don't have a Slice.... Hmm...

Quite a few ninjas on the Cobra side of this FSS. Wait... All ninjas so far? That's cool, I guess. I do like the ninja aspect of the GI Joe/Cobra conflict, but I would have liked to see some different characters though.

I'm planning a post on what I would like from future FSS series. Not that my opinion counts for much, but I'll give it a whirl anyway.

Big Ben, Crimson Guard Immortal, and #13 are next! I'll agree with the guesses out there on #13 - Frostbite. Stay tuned!

FSS 3.0 - Repeater & Psyche-Out

Oh wow. How timely. Reviews of the first two figures from the GI Joe Club's FSS 3.0. Sorry, folks, I'm a lazy ass and it has taken some time for me to finally get to this point; but I'm finally here.

If you want better, more in-depth reviews, I highly recommend General's Joes or JoeBattlelines. Justin and Fred are both quite a bit quicker on the reviews than I am.

What the hell. Here's my two cents.

First up is Repeater and Psyche-Out.

I really liked the original version of Repeater way back in 1988.There was a certain uniqueness about Repeater and his stedi-cam machine gun mount. He had a unique, somewhat odd head sculpt and a really cool weapon system. 

This version from the Club is the second version. The first was the same figure from a Convention set, but in Night Force colors. Don't get me started on the Night Force figures that I had carded and returned back to TRU way back whenever. Dammit.

While I'm generally a really minor voice in the Collector Community, I've got to say that I'm pretty pleased with everything that the Club has done. Okay, sure, last year's Iceberg was pretty rough, but damn, they are using the tools that Hasbro has made available to them. I don't make my own figures and the guys behind the Club are doing pretty damn good work.

The original version of Repeater was pretty much the same size as everyone else. Not so much with this guy. The Club used the body from the Rock/Roadblock and Leatherneck figures. That means that Repeater is a tall mo' fo'. 

I've heard, that based on other figures, that this body style would be a normal human male about 7' 4" tall. Really? Does that mean all Joe figures are exactly 6' tall? I don't know. Whatever.

Anyway, through the use of tho\is body mold, the Club has introduced another huge human being into the Joe roster. That means Retaliation Roadblock, Leatherneck and Repeater are all huge, tall men. So what. Who cares? Not me. So GI Joe recruited some big, highly qualified dudes to be a part of the team. What ever.

Oh yeah. Rock/Roadblock vs. traditional Roadblock (example Resolute Roadblock). Which one is really Roadblock? Future blog post.

Do I like the damn figure? The Club hit a home run with Repeater. I'm not upset that I missed the Convention set. (never had any con set) I like this guy. So what if he's a huge human being. What ever. They're toys!! Who gives a shit?

Repeater comes with an M-249 SAW and a kick-ass backpack. Not much, but I'm still okay with the Club's efforts.

Next up is Psyche-Out. An odd figure way back in 1987. I liked him back then and I like him now. The Club used the Duke body from the Pursuit of Cobra series. My biggest issue with this figure is that his head seems a bit large. I don't give a shit, because my head seems to be a bit large. The diversity of humans. Roll with it.

I don't much like the gear. It works well enough, but it's just some weird bits. I'm going to do some personal research into real sonic crowd control weapons. That's what I want my Psyche-Out to be in charge of - those weapons that make you shit your pants when they are brought against you. 

Imagine Cobra Vipers being hit by a GI Joe Sonic Weapon and they lose control of their bowels, shitting their pants. Oops.

The head sculpt kicks ass, by the way. Did Boss Fight Studios do this head sculpt, as well as Repeater? I think they did. They kick ass.

A bit of a drawback is that Psyche-Out's head is pretty damn big. Again, I have a big head, so who gives a shit.

So for these first two figures, I'm pleased with what the Club has given us. Are they perfect? No. Are they still pretty damn good? Yes. Is Hasbro doing anything right now? Nope.

Keep kicking ass, GI Joe Club. First two = I'm happy!