FSS 7 Reveals

The Club recently announced the list of figures for FSS 7.0. As stated at last year's convention, their plans are to push out the last few rounds of the FSS pretty quickly. The Club has lost the license for GI Joe and Transformers back to Hasbro and they are wrapping up their products. There's supposed to be an FSS 8.0 as the final round and I think that there was one or two figures listed, but I don't recall them right now.

FSS 7.0 is supposed to start shipping nearly immediately after FSS 6.0 wraps up. I suppose that may be the plan for FSS 8.0 as well. Throw in the convention set for next year and it's going to be expensive!

The due date for ordering FSS 7.0 is December 4th or 5th; fast approaching. There's a part of me that would like to be able to resist and just stop. Yeah, I can afford them, but still, they are expensive. I'll probably jump in primarily for the reason that I don't want to miss out on any figures or pay secondary market prices.

I'll keep this post first on the blog until the Club has finished with the reveals.

1. Dusty & Sandstorm - okay, so the original o-ring figure was mediocre at best. This new update is, well, fairly mediocre. The original paint apps were a bit too muted and the Club went back with a new design. Looks much better. Other complaints include that Sandstorm is not a coyote. Whatever. Who cares? Additionally, the Club used Falcon's head instead of the PoC Dusty head, which they have used before. Why did they do that? Well, the original o-ring version is wearing a beret. What other modern figure head sculpt has a beret? Stalker? uh, no... Flint? no, it's obviously Flint... Sgt Stone? oh yeah... used as Skip. What about the movie Flint head sculpt? licensing issue? Well, what about Falcon with a removable beret? Well that would work, but be prepared for outrage! sigh... #casuals
   
2. Cobra Commander - in cold weather gear. Looks like the version from the animated movie. The design is fine, just not really impressive. But why didn't the Club use this or that part or sculpt a new coat? Sigh... #casuals
   
3. General Hawk - I really liked the original o-ring version of Jet Pack Hawk. Cool design and just an awesome update to Hawk. Sure, a General wouldn't be out in active combat like the figure, but who cares? It's GI Joe! The Club has done a great update to the idea of that original figure. Fairly predictable in the parts choice, but that's what they have to use. so I'm digging the design. Which head did they go with? Here's hoping that they were able to use the head from the Resolute Arctic Duke figure. That would rock!
   
4. Dreadnok Kaos - who or what is this? Apparently, this is a Dreadnok "troop builder" from the Hasbro Concept Case from a few years ago. Maybe? I don't know exactly. I'm kinda' over the whole Dreadnok team in my GI Joe world, so I'm not terribly excited by this figure. Looks like a solid figure and I'm sure that I could find a place for him as an independent Cobra contractor or just a maniac that the GI Joe team needs to take down.
   
5. Treadmark - did they lose the trademark or are they avoiding the negative connotations of the original name - Skidmark. Sadly, I never got the joke when I bought the original. Whoosh! Right over my head! I really liked the design of Skidmark. Yeah, he was brightly colored, but he was also a very solid design. The Club has done an effective job of recreating the figure and I like him. The biggest issue right now from the fans is that the sleeves and the shirt don't seem to match in material. Fair enough, but it may have to do with a torso that can wear that vest. Maybe the Club will revisit the design before production? 
   
6. Tomax - from the Shattered Glass comic series from the Club magazine? Or just completing the Crimson Twins in suits. Whatever, I like the idea of Tomax and Xamot in suits. Very cool! Much like Xamot, Tomax is suffering from an enlarged cranium. Please keep it jumbo, so that they both can match in their bobble-headedness.
   
7. Jinx - Tiger Force Jinx with an unmasked head. Was there ever an o-ring Tiger Force Jinx? I don't recall. She did make an appearance in the Club comic, so that kind of justifies her inclusion. The unmasked head was supposed to look like the character from the animated movie. Yeah, somewhat, but I like this head sculpt better than the face from the movie. Looks similar and yet more realistic than a 'toon head.
   
8. Ice Viper Officer - Okay, yeah, this figure looks cool. (pun intended) Looks to be very well made with a solid design. I never picked up the vehicle set with the Cobra Wolf and the Ice Viper driver. Therefore, I really don't have a lot of personal interest in the figure. Plus, while I understand why the Club has to go with Cobra soldiers, I don't really like expensive troop builders. I'm guessing that I could make a few extra bucks selling this figure on the secondary market. Nothing wrong with the figure, but I probably won't keep him.
   
9. Budo - A Black Friday reveal! Looks pretty good. I think the Club did a decent job of recreating Budo. The Retaliation version was really quite amazing, but was essentially a traditional samurai warrior. I thought that that figure was decent enough, but was just very out of place with the rest of GI Joe. This new version maintains some traditional elements, but does not have quite the full samurai look. I saw one suggestion online that called for more traditional pants and military boots for Budo; that would have been pretty cool.
   
10. Kangor - South American repaint of Big Boa - Hell Yes! Missed Big Boa in FSS 1.0. I'll just consider this guy as a Big boa repaint.
    
11. Sgt Stalker - Arctic Ranger Stalker - sounds awesome! And he turned out awesome! OMG, I hate teh head sculpt!!! RAGE RAGE RAGE... geeze... I believe that's the head sculpt that was used for Tiger Force Stalker and Jammer from the past few years of FSS and Con sets. I think he looks very well done. I was never really excited by the kayak with the original figure; I suppose it's okay.
    
    
12. Crystal Ball - one of the lamest GI Joe/Cobra figures ever - looking forward to see what the Club does. Remember Raptor? I think the Club did a decent job with Crystal Ball. I'm digging the head sculpt. The single jointed knees are all the focus of nerd rage on various Facebook pages. Decent update to another of the Cobra weirdos.
    
    
    
    

    
    
    Well that wraps up the reveals for FSS 7.0. Registration is due by December4th. I'm pretty sure that I'll jump on board for this FSS. I'm thinking that I'll do it primarily because we're close to the end of the Club's time with GI Joe and I really want to get these last sets of characters.

    
    
    

    In my opinion, General Hawk, Treadmark, Kangor, Stalker, and Crystal Ball are the five strongest figures. FSS 6 seems to be a bit more exciting to me than FSS 7.

    
    

    I'm guessing that 2018 will pretty much wrap up the relationship between the Collectors Club and Hasbro. The future of GI Joe will rest solely in the hands of Hasbro and Paramount since they have the movie license. Time will tell, I suppose. Honestly, I would be just fine if I'm done with GI Joe at the end of 2018. There are chunks of my collection that I would like to eliminate and I'd probably just want to stick with a mostly figure based collection. Maybe I can dig in and work on some diorama sets. Heck, maybe I'll actually dig in and start writing down all of these stories in my head. Hopefully...

Command Team

Toward the tail-end of the Pursuit of Cobra series of figures, Hasbro released a version of General Hawk that was just pretty damn cool. Oddly enough, the figure was basically a combination of parts, much like what the Club is doing for GI Joe collectors. 

I don't know the recipe of parts used,but they all worked well together. The beauty of the figure was the custom potential. Simple gear swaps and head swaps turned Hawk into an assortment of other characters.

The figure was again reused for the pathetic 50th Anniversary line in a three pack with Destro and Leatherneck. My collection of this figure initially started with three Hawk's and the 50th version bumped my team up to four.

Toys R Us must have found a pallet or two of PoC figures in their warehouses, because various stores around the country started stocking a case or two. I stopped by my local store, which usually sucks for GI Joe product, and found a couple more of these guys - $7.99 each too!

Now I have a six man team, perhaps my command team? But which one is Hawk? 

For this row, I've got General Hawk and the Flint head from the 50th Danger at the Docks set. But this isn't General Hawk for me. I've always thought that this head sculpt just looks too young. Therefore, this General Hawk becomes Sparks. At least my version of Sparks.

Snowjob and RoC Hawk? Sure, why not? I really don't have much use for arctic troops down here in the south, with little or no snow during winters. I had an extra 25th Snowjob and just glued the helmet to the head. Works for me.

As far as the Quaid/Hawk head from Rise of Cobra, I really like the head sculpt and the fact that there is some age to the face. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think this is my default Hawk.

Duke and Footloose. Footloose? But the Club did such a good job on that figure? Yeah, they did, but I just wasn't completely satisfied. The head sculpt kicks ass and I just think that it works better on the body. Still Footloose? Yeah, I think so. But not the laid back persona of the original figure. He's tougher now, he's seen too much. 

Overall, I've got a nice command team.

50th Anniversary Leatherneck

I got lucky...

I've seen some absolute horror stories regarding the paint apps for Leatherneck. I've seen some pictures where half of his hair on the back of his head is missing paint. Ugh!

No horror stories here, though. My Leatherneck came in pretty decent condition. A bonus since I bought him from BBTS and, of course, didn't have a chance to look at the package. It's too bad that this has become an issue with this line. Usually, paint app screw-ups are a little more rare than this. I guess the Quality Control department at Hasbro doesn't much give a crap right now. 

Enough about Hasbro and their shitty attitude towards GI Joe. Let's talk about Leatherneck.

The design team that developed Leatherneck a few years ago did a helluva' job. The figure just looks amazing. The only real drawback that I've heard about from collectors (besides crappy paint) has been his size - he's a beast!

There's some great detailing on the vest and the paint apps look pretty decent to me. I suppose it helps that my near vision gets a little more blurry every year.

Here's my only paint app issue with my Leatherneck - right around the back of the head. There are bits of missing paint here and there around the back of the head. I'm sure that a black paint marker could take care of those spots quite easily.

The design team used the body from Roadblock (v2) from Retaliation. The only really new items are the head sculpt and the vest. He towers over the standard GI Joe figure.

And then there's Tollbooth - using the 25th style body with much shorter legs, he's really quite short compared to Leatherneck. Still okay, though, since real humans are extremely varied in height differences.

I'm not really thrilled with the weapons that came with Leatherneck. He comes with an M-16 with a grenade launcher as well as the big 50 cal machine gun that came with a RET Roadblock figure. The big gun is pretty cool, but it's a bit fragile. I've got to find my other 50 cal from Roadblock and probably super-glue them together and then mount them on my new Tomahawk. 

I think Leatherneck needs a decent sized gun like the M-249. I've got a couple different versions from various vendors, so my bigger Joes can carry some serious firepower.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the end result of Leatherneck. Sure, he's very tall and I'm okay with that. In my opinion, he's one of the few shining stars in this overall dismal 50th Anniversary of GI Joe, the best damn action figure line ever. Yeah, I'm biased.

GI Joe: 50th Anniversary Review

Just a couple weeks ago, I finally got my first and probably only GI Joe 50th Anniversary item - Leatherneck, Destro, and General Hawk. Rather than worrying about going to Toys R Us, I just decided to order from Big Bad Toy Store. Is there much else that I want? Not really, I'm just not impressed.

Okay, yeah the figures are out of the package, but by this time, you've probably seen plenty of pictures of the full packages. The only reason that I'm posting this picture is that Hasbro did a decent job on the graphic impact of the package. It looks pretty nice. Crisp, bright colors. Bold graphics. 

I really like these etched in elements. The Sky Hawk and a couple HISS tanks add to the decor.

Mr. GI Joe himself - Snake Eyes. Sigh... Whatever sells product, I suppose.

The file cards are back. Whoopee!! So what, lackluster copies of the original cards. No big deal.

The implication here is that GI Joe has been fighting Cobra for the past 50 years. Not quite, Hasbro. did you forget something, Hasbro? I imagine that going back and revisiting the original GI Joe wasn't in the plans, but at least a little better acknowledgement would have been nice.

So Destro is a "troublemaker"? Really? Another "sigh..."

Of this set of figures, I'm only going to review Destro and Leatherneck, mainly because they are both new figures. Hawk has been released before and is still a damn fine figure. I already had three of that figure, so this one will wind up as a custom of some sort. 

Stay tuned for my reviews of Destro and Leatherneck. Yes, I'm on top of quick reviews as usual!