It's time to try to get this silly ass blog rolling again. Life's been a bit crazy, you know. All the open heart surgery and moving across town. Settling into a new job and new house. I've been a little busy. Let's get rolling with quick reviews of the new GI Joe figures from Hasbro. First off will be the three packs, GI Joe Special Forces and Cobra Legions.
Let's start with the GI Joe team. The set includes Outback, Falcon, and Shooter. Shooter? Who's that? C'mon, you already know by now, but i'll explain a little bit in a few minutes.
All of the GI Joe troops in this set are outfitted in black gear. Night ops, I suppose. Outback turned out pretty good, but he seems to have gotten taller and gained some weight. I'm not sure of the parts used for Outback; it looks like RET Roadblock's torso and upper arms with Gung Ho lower arms. I'm not sure of the legs. I always imagined that Outback was of smaller stature; average height, wiry and strong. I think he'll work out fine as my new default Outback.
Falcon has always been one of my favorite characters, but this version just doesn't quite work for me. Hasbro is using the same body and head from the BBTS Slaughter's Marauders set and the Club's recent version from FSS 3.0 or 4.0. I don't recall which right now. The totally black uniform is just a little too bland. There needed to be some bits of paint apps to break it up.
Jodie "Shooter" Craig was supposed to be the 14th original GI Joe team member. The name appeared way back in the first issue of the Marvel comics run of GI Joe with the face obscured. Larry Hama rebooted the character in an issue of GI Joe: Declassified which covered the building of that first team of GI Joe. She was apparently killed at the end of that first mission from GI Joe #1 and seems to have reappeared in recent comics. I've been out of the new comics for quite a few years. So what about the figure? I'm glad Hasbro made the character, but I'm not thrilled with the final result. She's okay, but just doesn't "pop". The uniform is bland and the body is just too dated. Maybe the RET Lady Jaye with blacks and dark gray highlights would have worked out better. The winner for this set is Outback.
Next up, I'll take a look at the Cobra Legion set. Nothing but troop builders! Time to load up, right? Maybe, maybe not.
First up is the SAW Viper. I don't know where the body parts come from, but Hasbro did a decent job. The arms are a bit bulky and it's difficult for him to get a solid two-handed grip on a weapon. This is a decent enough build and I wouldn't mind another one or two.
Next up is the Cobra BAT. There's been no change to this figure from its first release during the 25th Anniversary line up. Of all of the modern figures since the 25th Anniversary line, this is one of the most solid. While most of the 25th Anniversary figures don't hold up to modern figures, the BAT works just fine. I've got loads of them. Probably two dozen of the 25th version, a couple Resolute BATs, three Jungle BATs, and two Arctic BATs. Would I like a few more of these guys? Sure. Will I get some more? I don't know.
Finally, there's the new female Cobra Officer. Very cool concept, but a little weak on the execution. The baggy pants legs work out alright, but the upper torso is the same as Shooter's and it's just too dated. The head sculpt is decent, but the helmet doesn't fit too well on the head. I suppose I'd like a couple more to try out some different female head sculpts. The winner for this set is the BAT. The other two just don't quite come together enough to have that "wow" factor. Would I like a couple more of these sets? Yeah, but I'm not going to push too hard to get more. There's no Toys R Us around for 20+ miles and I'm not interested enough to hit them up online on BBTS or TRU. Next up will be reviews of some of the two packs. I initially picked up the Duke/Tombstone, Heavy Duty/Stiletto, and Zombie Viper two packs. I'm passing on the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow set. Very cool, but I don't really need them. I did succumb to online temptation and ordered two of the Iron Grenadier/Viper two packs. Stay tuned!
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