G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

[Ran]

I found a link to a better picture...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... AUS%3A1123
So the 4 are:
Cobra Twin Battle Gun w/ Range Viper (I believe it used to be the Whirlwind)
Air Assault Glider w/ Capt Ace
Cobra Flight Pod w/ Elite Viper
RAM Cycle w/ Sandstorm

I want both Cobra sets. Not sure about the Joe sets yet.

[anarky]

I want both Cobras and one RAM. The other looks like a reissue of the jetpack that came with Grand Slam with the earlier Targets, and a repaint of the crappy Slipstream who came with the Conquest (and looked more like Snake Oiler from Speed Racer).

[anarky]

No luck at the local store. I'll see what I can find tomorrow. I'm wondering if there was a full run produced on these, and all unloaded on Ross. If so, no sweat finding tons of them. If not, who knows how many are out there?

[Ran]

I plan on hitting a couple Ross stores tomorrow.

[anarky]

I've actually called out my parents, in case they go by one. I'd ask Mrs A, but she tends to just complain about toys and not bother, so no point. Plus, she won't be anywhere I'm not in the next week or so.

[anarky]

So, went out to the next closest one this morning. The local one opened at 8, and the website said they all open at 8. Guess what? This one opened at 9:30. Not wanting to kill an entire hour and a half, I skipped it and checked the local one again. I suppose they don't understand that it's a good idea to restock the store after the busiest shopping weekend of the year so they have more than three toys.

[anarky]

Found 'em, and will start looking for you. You just want the two Cobras, right?

Haven't opened, but my impressions from seeing them boxed/carded:

RAM looks okay in these colors, and this Sandstorm fella (wait, Sandstorm was a dog!) is a nice kitbash
Jetpack looks better in the camo scheme. "Ace" has an appointment with, uh, not sure yet. But he ain't Ace.
Elite Viper looks bitching in pink camo, strangely enough. Trouble Bubble rocks, as always.
Range Viper looks good in black and green, and it makes more sense for a wilderness trooper than bright blue.

[Ran]

I found them, too. I skipped the Joe sets (although I almost bought the RAM).

The only use for pink/red/white camo would be if he was attacking either a gay pride parade or the North Pole disguised as a candy cane. I really dig the twin gun trailer and how it hooks to the back of the Stinger.

[anarky]

The pink camo scheme reminds me a lot of the original Night Creeper (not the dark blue one from the Wal-Mart 2-pack). And I've always thought the Elite Viper head looks like a more practical version of the second Night Creeper costume, and the whole figure reminds me a lot of the third unique Night Creeper mold. So all my Elite Vipers just officially got recruited into the Night Creepers (who already had my two Red Fang Ninjas repurposed as Night Creeper Snipers, so they're a pretty fucking big third party that's mostly loyal to Cobra).

[Ran]

I finally got the Mantis. It is the nicest vehicle of that size I've got. I didn't like the head that was on the driver, so I used one from Beachhead. For some reason I just prefer my Cobra infantry to be masked.

[anarky]

Haven't opened the Snake Eyes from the new wave yet, but opened both Shock Troopers. They come with a crapload of accessories. You can have them as realistic versions of Alley Vipers, or as the soldiers from Renegades (almost--they're masked), or anything in between. Ran, you need them.

Also, FYI, the walkie talkie fits into a hole on his back, around the belt. So there are only thirty accessories any one can't use.

[anarky]

And about that Snake Eyes, I have but one word to say:

Definitive.

The only (extremely slight) drawbacks he has are a lack of the latest wrist articulation and the presence of the Arashikage sigil on his arm. (I hate the way all recent Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes figures have it so prominently.)

[Ran]

Got Snake Eyes. Nifty. Tons of weapons. Haven't figure out how to hook them all up to him yet. He even has little silencers for his pistols. I plan on getting the Shock Trooper, but haven't seen him yet.

I think I've done well since this is only my 2nd Snake Eyes.

[Ran]

Double Post. Where is Grimlock?

Found this: The 8 G.I. Joes Most Frequently Left In the Box

[anarky]

Yeah, I thought that list was super-duper horseshit. I could come up with some reason almost every fucking one was wrong:

1) Shipwreck was. TEH. SHIT! Show me someone who doesn't like Shipwreck, like this dude, and I'll show you someone who doesn't like GIJoe.
2) Lifeline may have been a pacifist, but, well, he replaced Doc in the toyline. The pacifist medic is more realistic than one who will pop caps; Doc's filecard didn't say he was a non-combatant, but he was always portrayed as one. Plus, there's a fucking awesome issue of Special Missions where Leatherneck (I think) takes the same attitude of Lifeline being a piece of pacifist crap who won't do anything, then he unloads some tai chi (I think--a totally non-aggressive martial art he's a master of) and beats the shit out of some river pirates, saving the entire team. Lifeline and/or Doc were absolutely necessary for those of us who took the bios seriously and played violently with our Joes.
3) Tollbooth was fucking lame, granted, but he came with the goddamned Bridgelayer. One of the most pointless vehicles in the Joe toyline, but one with a shitload of play value. Did you ever see that thing? It's fucking awesome; basically a construction vehicle given military credibility.
4) Every seven-year-old knew what a mine detector was. At least myself and every kid I knew. Even if it was just "a metal detector that finds mines that will blow up if you step on them," we knew. And we always had Cobra laying a shit-ton of mines. Not to mention the filecard says Tripwire's the explosives expert, and he has mines in his backpack, so we all figured he laid the fuckers, too. The way we played, one of those tiny plastic discs could destroy a HISS and kill everyone on board.
5) Airtight... dude, the guy was awesome! His filecard said he was the nerd; we could all look up to him. And, well, nothing actually says the thing he has is a vacuum, so it was always a toxic waster launcher to us.
6) Law has a fucking dog. And he's a military cop. I never figured him as arresting drunk Joes; he and his awesome-ass dog were military cops who were so damned good at what they did, they got to be on the Joe team. They're the legal experts when it comes to busting criminals.
7) Dial-Tone was also necessary (unless you had Breaker), since regular Joes didn't carry communications equipment. A small group had to get captured, and Dial-Tone got the word out for the main force to open a can of whoopass on the Cobras. That was as vital to our games as starting out on Cybertron and winding up on Earth was for our Transformers games.
Mainframe.... Okay, that one I can't argue against. Breaker could do everything he could do better, and had a gun. At least one in a holster, made onto his leg.

BTW, Snake Eyes, in case you are wondering: swords in scabbards fit in his backpack hole and on his belt, on the right. The leg holster holds only the pistol that won't accommodate a silencer (the one that will is too loose). However, the silencer will fit in the small hole in the front of the holster. You figured out anything else? I really wish they included picture reference or instructions or something.