JoeCon 2018: Slaughter's Marauders

So the big complaint about the last JoeCon 3 3/4" set was "where's Sgt. Slaughter?" For the simpletons out there, there is such a thing as licensed characters. Hasbro had the license to use Sgt Slaughter, but no longer does. The Club decided to go with the theme of Slaughter's Marauders for the last set for whatever reason.

Personally, I never liked any of the Slaughter's Marauders figures when they first appeared in their original o-ring versions. Nearly all of the sub-teams were easy repaints primarily designed to sell more product. Hasbro excelled at doing that. Of the main ones that I can think of, Tiger Force, Night Force, Slaughter's Marauders, and Python Patrol, Slaughter's Marauders seemed to be the laziest in terms of the repaint designs.

Whatever. I don't know why the Club chose the Marauder theme, but I was intrigued enough to get on board for this last set. Hell, this was the last JoeCon, in Chattanooga (90 minutes away), and I certainly wasn't going to turn my nose up at it. Could there have been a better last JoeCon set? Probably, but who cares now?

So enough of the armchair quarterback play calling and on to some simple reviews of the characters.

First up is Hardball. (Wait! He never was on the Marauder team!! - Piss off) Not a bad build, decent use of parts. Marauder color pattern looks decent enough. Sure, it's Renegade Ripcord's head, but who really cares? Good job on this one.

Next we have Spirit with a new head sculpt. I'm not real crazy about the head sculpt, but I am kinda glad that the Club avoided using the 50th/PoC/Billy Spirit head sculpt. That's a great head sculpt, but it's been a bit over used. Not a bad figure, but not one of the best.

Mutt and Junkyard. Straight reuse of the entire 25th Anniversary mold. Ugh. Honestly, not a bad figure, but I wish that the Club could have come up with a different build for the body, maybe using more of the modern era parts, beyond the 25th figures.

Next we have Footloose. Looks like a straight reuse of the build that they did for their membership figure from several years ago. Honestly, I wasn't really crazy about that figure either. The head sculpt kicks ass. Looks very Magnum PI "ish". Decent figure.

Finally we have Sgt Slaughter.... no, wait, this is Sgt Smasher, the new drill instructor for the Joe Team. Decent build. They Club used the Heavy Duty/Bazooka body and I'm pleased with that choice. I'm glad that they didn't go back to the Rock/Roadblock big huge body for this guy. That's a great body, but it's getting to be a bit overused. I like the character and the build, but again, it's Slaughter's Marauders, my least favorite GI Joe sub-team.

Overall, the set is really not that great. Honestly, I like the BF2000 set from last year a little better. Bu then again, I've only got these last two sets from the last two JoeCons, so I'm quite grateful that I have both of them and that I was able to be at both shows.

Still, I'd give a hearty THANK YOU to all of the staff at the official GI Joe Club and their Hasbro supporters for all of their hard work over the past 20 plus years. Well done!