50th Anniversary Reviews: Round Two

The next wave of GI Joe product has arrived and it's time to take a closer look at some of the offerings.

In my opinion, Gung Ho is the best figure from all of the  two packs, three packs, or vehicle sets. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Gung Ho is a brand new figure, no reuse of any other parts. The prototype of this figure appeared a few years ago as part of the "Concept Case" shown by Hasbro at a GI Joe Convention. I'm pretty sure nearly all Joe fans have been quite pleased with this release.

Hasbro captured the original spirit pf the figure in this new version. While not as big as Leatherneck or Retaliation Roadblock, Gung Ho is still larger than the the average GI Joe figure. I've always thought that Gung Ho was a big dude based on cartoon and comic appearances. Not a huge beast like Hasbro did with Leatherneck, but still an above average person.

The drawbacks of this figure are minor. I'm not really thrilled with the weapon load-out, primarily because the mini-gun is a bit too cumbersome and the other weapons seem a bit small. That's not a big deal when I've got a huge supply of weapons for him to chose from. I don't think a character has to be locked in to using a weapon similar to his original version. 

Hasbro did a nice job matching the baby blue color pallette of the original figure. Yeah, that's a nice match, but I think most Joe fans would have been happy with a more subdued shade of blue or perhaps some green tones. Not a major complaint. Maybe if I luck up and find another, I might try my hand at a paint job. And I'm not really thrilled with the lower legs. I'd rather have the side to side pivot of the ankles over the new style of foot articulation.

The Cobra Shadow Guard that came with Gung Ho headed off to eBay. Not a huge fan of the figure, I thought I could maybe make a few bucks on a resale.

Next up is Storm Shadow and Spirit. This version of Storm Shadow reflects the design of the original figure when he switched from Cobra to GI Joe. Stormy looks pretty good, but his head perches a bit too high on his neck. I've drilled out the head a little to make it sit down a little lower. Stormy has a decent collection of weapons. Ninjas everywhere.

This is an interesting take on Spirit. The skin tones are much darker than previous versions. More accurate ethnically? Don't know, but he still looks pretty cool. I really don't like the vest that Hasbro used; it's too clunky and interferes with head movement. I'll probably use an extra vest from a Retaliation GI Joe trooper since they share the same torso.

Next up is the Shipwreck and Cobra Commander two pack. I really like this version of Shipwreck. Hasbro picked a nice selection of parts for the build. I was originally thinking custom potential, but I think he's my default Shipwreck now.

A black uniform Cobra Commander with snappy red highlights. The red hood and the red gloves look pretty cool in contrast to the black uniform. The red shoes? Oh, how pretty! They just don't work. Decent figure, but the red shoes kind of spoil him a little.

Next up is Alpine from one of the three packs. This figure has been notoriously difficult to get due to the limited release of the original DVD set that he came with. I wanted this set primarily for Alpine, but once he's in hand, I'm not really impressed. Sure, he looks great, but he's a bit of a throwback to the 25th Anniversary era of figure construction. I'm still glad to have him in my collection. 

The Rock Viper that came with him? I get the inclusion as an opponent to Alpine, but I've never been a fan of the figure. Off to eBay!

Next up is the Iron Grenadier and Steel Brigade two-pack. Not much to say here, these two are just straight re-released figures. I like the IG, but I've never been that impressed with them to go nuts with the troop building. A big bulky figure, kind of cumbersome. Those blue and white paint apps on the legs are just sloppy.

Can't go wrong with another Steel Brigade figure. This has always been an excellent figure, but I may use him as custom fodder. I usually use the vests on some other figure. Personally I think a better two-pack would have been the Steel Brigade trooper and this next guy...

The Cobra Shock Trooper. Always a winner (mostly). A great set of gear and loads of custom potential. The drawback, for me, about this figure, has always been the head sculpt. Without all the gear, it just seemed to be a bit too high. I've wound up using most of the ones that I do have as customs, one serving as a body for Scrap Iron, while the rest have been mixed with the Renegades Cobra Troopers.

In my opinion, these two would have made for a better two-pack. Hell, they are both basically the same figure. Same body, same webgear, and I think that they would make for better opponents.

Just one more quick look at Gung Ho and Shipwreck. The new body for Gung Ho does give him some height and bulk when compared to Shipwreck. That's the way I always figured that Gung Ho would be.

But I'm still not really thrilled with the overall look of Gung Ho. That outfit is just a bit dated and it's just too much baby blue. I've got to do something about him.

Overall, of the figures that I have bought, this is a pretty decent set of figures. I've recently seen the two vehicle sets and am tempted, but I'm not ready to drop that kind of money on them right now.

Hoping for bigger and better things for GI Joe in 2016.

Contest Winner!

Back in January, I posted an entry about a "thing" that I put together out of parts from an old Robotix construction set. I decided to have a contest and have someone help me figure out a purpose behind the nefarious device.

I promoted it on various Facebook GI Joe related pages and even Tweeted about the contest. Finally, after many delays (and much laziness on my part), I have a winner!
James Verigin of Penticton, BC is the winner!

Here's his entry:
"Destro and CC needed to find a way to transport troops faster and more stealthier so He tracked down left over components from the Philadelphia experiment and had Mindbender reverse engineer it. After its completion and seeing it tested, Chuckles and Agent Faces posed as cobra Troops, alerted joeHQ, only to be captured. Now it's a race against time to save the 2 Joes and stop Cobra from this Teleportation type device."

I like the idea of the Philadelphia Experiment as being part of the back story of the device. Loved that movie. Such a weird movie and kinda' maybe sorta' based on a real life experiment. James and I are still working out the story to fill it out some more. His idea will be central to the tech behind the "thing" that I made.
James won and he chose one Cobra Blueshirt and Storm Shadow from the "Dollar General" sets of figures.

They safely arrived and Storm Shadow proceeded to beat up the Cobra soldier!
Thanks, James, for your winning entry!

Cobra Troop Dynamics

• Examining the roles of the various troops, primarily the DG Blackshirts, Blueshirts, 30th darker Blueshirts, the Resolute troopers. (Just my opinions, of course.)

I see the DG Blueshirts as your tier 1 Cobra trooper. These guys are fresh out of boot camp or whatever training Cobra has. Cannon fodder, FNG's, whatever. Almost disposable.

After serving a few tours in the entry-level Blues, they graduate upward into the darker Blues. These are the troops with some serious combat experience. At this point, any skills that may have started to show at the entry level are encouraged and sought out. After a few tours with the dark blues, there are different options ahead.

I need a new name for the Resolute trooper because I se these guys as more than just regular troops with different uniforms or a different interpretation. These troops I consider as Cobra Special Forces. Very tough, extremely loyal, and just general bad ass soldiers. This biggest drawback to these troops are the physical size differences between the Resolute and 30th/DG figures. I'll get over it though.

The Viper is one of the most common career paths for your average Cobra soldier. These guys are seriously tough troopers. Earning your Viper helmet isn't easy, but it's worth it.

Beyond the Viper level, there are all of the various different branches of "Vipers." Some promotions are skills based, some aren't promotions at all.

So what about the Blackshirts? These troopers are a very special breed. Extreme loyalty, often found as body guards for top brass. If Blackshirts come drag your buddy out of his rack one night, you'll never see him again. Covert ops, special missions, hit squads, whatever dirty work Cobra Commander needs, the Blackshirts are the ones he calls.

What are your thoughts about Cobra troop dynamics? Leave a comment.

Data Viper Review

What the hell is this guy supposed to be?

This is the Data Viper, Cobra's newest soldier on the battlefield, now equipped with a high-tech suit that keeps the data networks flowing at all times.

And he's seriously weird looking.

Since the file cards are gone from the packages and I don't have the info blurb in front of me, I'll have to rely on memory and imagination in regards to what this troop can actually do.

I see the Data Vipers as a link to the battlefield that would allow multiple streams of data to flow to one individual as an integrated command and control unit. 

Data vipers would be very vital in any area of combat, especially an urban environment in which they may be able to hack into the already pervasive network of surveillance cameras throughout many large cities. By gaining control of those networks, they would be able to give a distinct tactical advantage to Cobra troops.

The Data Viper comes equipped with... stuff... and things... I really don't know what to make of his gear, but I'll give it a try.

The helmet is supposed to give the troop a virtual 360 degree field of visibility. I'm not really sure what the chest piece is supposed to do. I suppose there are data storage and processing units built within the chest piece.

The black shoulder units appear to be mini-missile launchers. Each unit appears to contain 14 small missiles. They remind me of the missile launching components of various bits of mecha from the Robotech/Macross incarnations. These type units have also been used in a variety of other battle suits as well. I would see these as primarily being anti-personnel in nature. Smaller vehicles would be tempting targets, but heavily armored opponents would shrug off the mini-missile assault. Close range aerial targets could be in danger, but the range of the missiles would probably be limited.


Without all the gear, an interesting head sculpt is given to these guys. The base body has also been reused for the new version of Lift Ticket from the new Tomahawk helicopter and the Sgt Airborne figure from the "Tactical Ninja" 3-pack.

The head alone is pretty damn impressive and still appears to be of a decent size to be able to imagine an actual human head within.




He has these "things" that he is able to hold in each hand. One part clamps onto the wrist with a control stick for each hand, while there is another piece that sort of snaps into the forward section. A red hose loosely connects the two components. Very loosely. Matter of fact, all of the Data Viper gear just sort of hangs on the troop. The chest piece just sits on his shoulders and is very loose. the two wrist units are very flimsy and fall apart very easily. I think that some light non-permanent adhesive would be beneficial to the wrist units.

There are also a couple of antenna that plug into the back of the chest piece. One appears to be perhaps a long range antenna and the other is a dish. The Data Viper also comes with the drone that is shared with the Ultimate Duke figure. There's a color and logo difference as well as the wings being placed on it backwards for purposes of differentiation.
The history of the Data Viper nearly led to extinction. A few years ago, Hasbro featured the Data Viper in a display case along with Kwinn (more on him later) at the national GI Joe convention. I think the Data Viper was to come out as part of the Pursuit of Cobra or 30th Anniversary line. Expensive tooling costs were the supposed culprit and he was supposedly cancelled. 

The Data Viper finally made it to retail life as a part of the Retaliation toy line. Having no part in the film, the Data Viper just fell under the broad scope of the GI Joe brand.

I have two of the Data Vipers and have no desire to do any serious troop building with this figure. He's cool, but just not that cool. I would think a Data Viper would need some support/defensive troops very close by in the event of attack. I'm sure the Joe team would be targeting the Data Vipers pretty quick once they are located in a combat area.

Within this current set of figures (wave 3.5), there is another Cobra troop builder. That figure is the Cobra Ninja Trooper. The use of the word ninja, while excessive in this line, is necessary to differentiate from the wave 1 Cobra trooper - which sucked pretty bad. Collectors snatched those troops up pretty quick from various online retailers. And I ain't even mad. I really wasn't impressed with them. Just an odd repaint of the Cobra Shock trooper body along with some new head gear. I really don't need another Cobra trooper. I'm already pretty well loaded for Cobra troops.

I've got 16 Cobra Blueshirts (PoC, 30th), 12 Cobra Blackshirts (DG), 6 Cobra Blueshirts (DG), and 14 Cobra Vipers (PoC, 30th). Plus various other assorted Cobra troopers and specialist from the 30th, Pursuit of Cobra, and Rise of Cobra lines. My Cobra army is big enough!