Zombies...

Cobra Zombie Vipers are some serious crazy stuff. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how these things fit. Stay tuned!

and of course, Vipers...

The 30th anniversary Vipers kick serious amounts of ass.

More attention is required for them. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

So long, 2011; hello, 2012!

Hope we last past December 21, 2012!

So my blog sucks lately and I promise that I will update it much more frequently! Yeah, right. That still gives me a lot of leeway since I don't update very often anyways.

So maybe I'll try to update a couple times a week. The biggest problem? I'm frikkin' lazy.

So that's a resolution - post frequently and regularly.

Plus there has been some seriously awesome shit from Hasbro these past few weeks in regards to GI Joe.

These frikkin' zombie vipers are some serious shit!

So stay tuned. Maybe I'll get this damn blog rolling a little better in 2012. See ya' in the new year!

GI Joe: Retaliation trailer!

HELL YEAH!

Sneak Peek - G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Hell yeah!

Joelanta 2012!

Troops of Doom is back!!

After a rather long hiatus for site updates, Troops of Doom is back!

I am a big fan of Troops of Doom and am glad to see Kraig back online.

You can also check out Kraig's work on Joedios.com.

GI Joe Podcasts are a wonderful thing!

What's On Joe Mind?

Flag Points

Three of the Best by Hasbro

Without a doubt, Hasbro has done some excellent work with G.I. Joe figures recently. There have been a few misses, but there have been a great many hits.

These three figures stand out to me as easily being in the top 5 GI Joe figures sold this year.

The Cobra Viper gets an incredible redesign into the 30th Anniversary line. A great update for one of my all time favorite Cobra troop builders. These guys were the shit for me back in 1986. I had around 25-26 of the originals. I have one left, the rest got sold on eBay and helped us out of a rough financial patch.

Hasbro's update of the Viper primarily uses pieces from previous figures. I don't know if anything is new for this guy. I think the head is a correction for the "Hall of Fame" exclusive Viper over that 25th Anniversary nightmare (except for the vest). Everything else comes from Pursuit of Cobra figures and everything works great together.

I am up to 9 Vipers right now. I really think I should just stop there. Seriously, how many more do I really need? (25 - 9 = ? No, don't do the math...)

I really had no use for the original version of these guys. Premiering in 1982 along with the original GI Joe figures, the Cobra Troopers were the nameless, faceless soldiers of Cobra Commander. And like many of the early figures, not really the best sculpted figures. True, they were some of the first and sculpting did improve, but the basic Cobra Trooper was never really revisited in the o-ring years.

Along comes the 25th Anniversary line and the troopers get a new sculpt makeover. In my mind, not much better than their original o-ring counterparts. Awkward limbs, bald heads... Ugh.

This was a learning curve for Hasbro and they responded soon after with a vengeance. Again, here is a figure almost completely made of parts from other figures. Maybe all reused parts - I'm not that clever.

And the Trooper kicks serious ass. A little short in the accessory department, but I can come up with extra weapons. These Troopers are awesome!

I'm up to 12 now. STOP THE MADNESS!!

And of course Snake Eyes. It took Hasbro 54 tries to make the perfect Snake Eyes and they finally got it right.

The level of detail on this figure is exceptional. There is a temple Guardian version and the Renegades version out there after this guy. Who cares? This is THE Snake Eyes figure. Even non GI Joe collectors can appreciate just how bad-ass this figure is.

And with two head sculpts, you get your choice of which version of Snake Eyes that you would like. Me? I like the commando goggles over the ninja visor. I prefer Snake Eyes as a Commando w/ Ninja training as opposed to a Ninja w/ some commando training.

100% perfect? Figure - yes. Gear - almost. The swords don't quite fit in his hands. The explosive pack, while a cool nod to version 1, is almost useless. There is still plenty of extra gear out there that can make up for any perceived deficiencies in weapons.

Hasbro has done an incredible job with these 3 figures and with several others. Stay tuned! I'll check out some more soon.

Sorting My O-Ring G.I. Joe Figures

My O-Ring GI Joe figures have been in a state of neglect for years. I even posted a picture showing the poor guys over on Joedios.com a couple years ago. Well. I'm finally going to do something about it. My goal is to sort each of them into a plastic bag along with their file card and as much of their gear that I can find. I was very unkind to the neon colored weapon "trees" and didn't keep much of that crap.

Sort, sort, sort - pick a file card, find the figure.

Or pick a figure, find the file card.

I think I have used around 125 plastic bags at this point. None left, still more Joe's to go.

Okay, where is Alpine?

This was a lot of fun to sort these guys, very nostalgic. I was easily able to recognize their faces and remember their code names. Well, most of them, I think a couple slipped my mind.

Overall, these guys are in pretty good shape. Tight joints, no paint wear, o-rings holding up. There are a few that need repair. Tollbooth has a broken crotch, but fortunately I have an extra. Sgt Slaughter's t-hook broke, so he needs a little help. There are a few more that have loose o-rings, but most of them are in excellent shape.

My original intention is to sort them and maybe... sell them...

Maybe...

I don't know if I can...

Maybe...

Check this out

I accidentally found a blog thief while looking at my traffic feed.

Check out these links -

http://gunswallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/07/searching-for-types-of-guns.html

http://reasonablyintelligentrambling.blogspot.com/2011/07/searching-for-types-of-guns.html

http://gunswallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/06/photoshop-fun.html

http://reasonablyintelligentrambling.blogspot.com/2011/06/photoshop-fun.html

http://gunswallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/05/gi-joe-tomahawk-transport-helicopter.html

http://reasonablyintelligentrambling.blogspot.com/2011/05/gi-joe-tomahawk-transport-helicopter.html

Amazing! He has the same exact stuff as me! How clever!

Nope, nope, nope...

I do not like this Uncle Sam, I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks, or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals, I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like ex-speaker Nan, I do not like this 'YES WE CAN'.

I do not like this spending spree, I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like their smug replies, when I complain about their lies.

I do not like this kind of hope. I do not like it... nope, nope, nope.

More thoughts on "Exorcist" by Max Brooks

Have you read “Tales from the Cobra Wars”?

Do you have a favorite story from the anthology?

The story “Snake Eyes” is, well, about Snake Eyes. It's pretty good, but too much super-ninja Snake Eyes. I'm real tired of the super-hero Snake Eyes.

There are other very good stories but there are two elements that a re a bit much. Too much Duke and Scarlett seems to get injured in nearly every story that she is featured in. Poor girl.

My absolute favorite story in the anthology is “Exorcist” by Max Brooks. This story is an apparent transcript of a possible recruit for the Joe team, one that specializes in the psychiatric care of soldiers.

There are a couple key quotes from the story that just rocked me to my core.

“Do you know that this is the first time in American military history that the number of suicides has surpassed combat deaths? Do you understand what that means? MORE SOLDIERS ARE KILLING THEMSELVES THAN ARE BEING KILLED BY THE ENEMY!” (author's emphasis)

The implication from this story is something that is rarely touched on in this fantasy toy world of ours. Sure, I know that these are toys, but for many of us, they occupy “real worlds.” I know, not real, but you get the idea. They are just toys.

But what about the psychological impact of such combat conditions against Cobra for so many, many years? How tough is it on the soldier's psyche? Especially these elite soldiers – they are still just human beings. Same goes for the Cobra troops. How much death and destruction can soldiers bear before they reach the breaking point?

How mentally fragile is Snake Eyes? Not the super Arishikage-mind-set mega-ninja, just the man. And in reflecting on the characters behind these toys, think of those out here right now, fighting and dying for freedom – the Real American Heroes.

Steel Brigade vs Cobra Soldiers

So joedios.com is having a diorama contest that ends on August 3rd. I think I can set up a pretty good dio, but nothing compared to some of the guys on Joedios. I figured I would give it a try. Since I have four each of the Steel Brigade and Cobra troopers, I thought of an idea...

What the...

Yeah, I know these are spam comments, but, damn, they're funny!

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Yeah, okay, whatever...

John Carter of Mars

It's about time. John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs is finally making it to the big screen - any screen, actually. After being pushed around for nearly 79 years, John Carter will be in the theaters in 2012.

I had read a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs when I was younger, primarily the Pellucidar series and the Caspak trilogy. I had never read any of the Barsoom series. I must make amends!

I inherited the series from my grandfather a couple years after he passed away. He was a serious science fiction fan and I was too young to appreciate that about him. I would have loved to discuss science fiction with him. Perhaps I inherited my love of science fiction from him. I'm okay with that!

So my goal will be to read all eleven of these books well before the movie premieres next year. It really shouldn't be that difficult. I just need to get a couple other books read that I have already started and dig in to these.

The other side...

Just the other side of the battlefield playset. Not much to see. Customizing potential, I guess.

Sometimes Cobra wins...

So I get a comment on my previous post - "waiting for next post." Oh the pressure! I had set up a quick dio of some Cobra troops over-running some Joe troops. The good guys don't win all the time.

The Hiss tank nailed the Steel Marauder mech suit and Cobra ground troops are heading in to clean up any resistance.
Each side suffers casualties.
Steel Brigade troops get ready for a counter offensive.
There may be too many Cobra troops to deal with this time.




Alley Vipers backed up by Cobra Resolute Vipers are a tough combination.

Troops on Patrol

Searching for types of guns?

This silly ridiculous blog o' mine gets a moderate amount of hits from around the world. Okay, maybe moderate is too strong of a word in describing my traffic. Whatever. I still get a decent amount of traffic. But lately I have been getting tons o' hits to this entry about Marauder "Gun Runners" and the 1/18th scale weapons made for action figures. Yes, toy guns, not real guns.

So how are people from around the world finding this entry? I did a few experiments and found out something interesting when you do an image search on Google for "types of guns."

This is what the first page looks like, at least from my search.

See that 5th entry? That's my picture from my post. Weird. I make a post reviewing 1/18th scale guns and I wind up being found by people from around the world searching for "types of guns."

It's a strange world.

Well, whatever gets me traffic, I guess.