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...

Retaliation Review: Blind Master & Jinx

Let's take a quick look at the elusive Jinx and Blind Master figures from the Retaliation line. These figures are very difficult to find in the wild and generally sell out quickly with online retailers. I was able to secure both and am finally getting around to posting my thoughts. I don't feel like reordering my pictures into any logical sense, so I'll just comment on the pics based on the way I uploaded them.  

The Retaliation Jinx figure is a straight repaint of the Jinx figure from the SDCC exclusive from a couple years ago. It's not a bad figure and fairly predictable that Hasbro would just reuse the same mold. The black straps are just paint apps, nothing sculpted. 

What the hell is this supposed to be? Apparently, this is the Blind Master's hat? Or is it a shield? Either way, it's pretty bizarre. 

Really? Blades that spring out from the sides? This thing is just crazy - off to the storage bin.

Now the actual Blind Master figure is pretty damn cool There's some intricate paint detailing all over him. The body is a reuse of what has become the standard ninja body first used (I think) with the Renegades Storm Shadow figure. The skirt piece comes from a Rise of Cobra Stormy and fits nicely into the gap at the waist. While the figure looks great, the skirt does inhibit the figure from assuming any serious action ninja poses.

The head sculpt is extremely well done; great attention to detail and excellent paint apps.

This odd weapon case comes with Jinx. I really haven't messed around with it too much, but it follows the concept of the various other accessories involving the mountain rope-line battle. The case also acts as a great way to store some of the tinier ninja weapons.

What the hell? A huge funky Kung-Fu sword and some weird circle-blade on a rope thing. Yeah, whatever.

There's nothing for the empty holster on the skirt piece, so I obliged and gave the Blind Master a pistol. Why not?

Back to Snake Eyes. I don't think that I've ever discussed this version of Snake Eyes. Maybe I have and just don't remember. The fact is that this is a bad-ass figure of Snake Eyes. The sculpting of the entire figure is just amazing, very movie accurate. But I prefer this version of Snake Eyes as my default version, so the Retaliation Snake Eyes doesn't get out much.

Three Jinxes, all lined up for comparison. Same body, same head on two of them.

Movie Jinx body with SDCC Jinx head - not bad, it works.

I'll have to say that the Blind Master figure is a little better than the movie Jinx figure. Both are decent enough, but Blind Master just looks a little better with all of the detailed paint apps. If I had missed them and had never picked them up, I think I would have survived.

A Tale of Two Jinxes

I seriously never believed that I would ever have any exclusive from San Diego Comic Con. Ever. I don't even remember when SDCC was, maybe just a few weeks ago.
Hasbro had three GI Joe exclusives at SDCC - the Shockwave HISS tank and two versions of Jinx, one red uniform and one white uniform. Usually, any excess stock goes to HasbroToyShop.com and usually sells out pretty quickly.
I missed the first round of releases on HTS and I wasn't really too concerned. The next time HTS opened up the releases, I was sitting in front of my computer and jumped right on HTS.
Amazing! There they were - ripe and ready for purchase! I would have liked the Shockwave HISS tank, but just couldn't justify the price. The Jinx figures, on the other hand, I jumped on them. Plus I ordered a Derpy My Little Pony for my daughter. Yes, for my daughter! I'm not a Bronie!
I suppose it took about a week and a half for them to finally show up. It took me a few days to even get to them to open the two Jinx figures. That's finally done and I've got pictures ready for a review.



You can check out my thoughts here.
And no, I won't be reviewing Derpy.