G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

[Ran]

Walgreens is having a buy one, get one half off sale. I went to a few and saw mostly saw Renegades Cobra commander & Firefly.

A CVS near my office had a strange combo of Firefly and Charbroil from ROC. TRU is having a buy 2 get 1 free sale on action figures, too. It is the various Marvel lines, Star Wars, & GI Joe.

Oh, and then there is this: The 20 Most Ridiculous G.I. Joe File Cards. Did Larry Hama really write all of this crap?

[anarky]

All those look like they're Hama's handiwork. I think a lot of what the writer is complaining about is Hama's bizarre sense of humor, which he tried to sneak into filecards as often as possible. (Look at the names of the original three Dreadnoks.)

Then there's the "chocolate doughnut and grape soda" fixation, which was a running joke about the Dreadnoks in the comic; he claimed to never have seen the cartoon until it'd been off the air for several years, so he probably had no idea they didn't subsist on entirely doughnuts and grape soda in the cartoon and most people wouldn't get it.

[anarky]

The Retaliation figures look sort of... all over the place. Some good, some super-lame.

Looking at images of the Joe Trooper on HisStank, I can't help but wonder why I'm not seeing a single comment about using him to make a custom Ozone or some other Eco-Warriors loser. Aside from having conventional weaponry, he screams Eco-Warrior to me.

[Ran]

When the line was revealed, it seemed most of them were underwhelmed by the majority of the figures. They were very concerned about the apparent lack of articulation. Another thing they complained about was something about Roadblock's file card saying he is a ninja.

There aren't that many that I'll get right off the bat. That generic Joe trooper isn't one of them.

[anarky]

I don't get the hate for the Cobra Trooper. He looks sweet. Maybe the blue is a bit garish, but that's nothing new for Joe figures.

Based on what we've seen good pics of so far, I'm definitely wanting Cobra Commander (maybe a few--he looks like a good "Cobra General"), the Cobra Trooper, the Red Ninja, Ninja Viper, the Joe Trooper, and Colton. Probably Jinx and Lady Jaye as well, since female Joe figures are so few and far between.

[Ran]

May as well write down what I'm considering since I hadn't done it yet.

3 pack with Beachhead, Kamakura, and Roadblock
Bruce Willis
Jinx
Lady Jaye
Red Ninja
Dragon Ninja (if it is single carded)
I'd like to see more pictures of the Alley Viper, Crimson Guard and Flint.
Maybe one of the Firefly figures

As far as vehicles:
Ninja Combat Cruiser - looks like they took the missile launcher off the Snowcat and put it on the new VAMP. The driver is supposed to be Night Fox.
Tread Ripper - depending on the price. Might wait until clearance for this one because I'm more interested in Clutch than the vehicle.

I'd like to get that Hard Master and turn him into a custom Chocolate Mousse from Top Secret.

[anarky]

I forgot the Alley Viper and "Siegie"--definitely want both. I frickin' love the modern Alley Viper sculpt, and they seem to improve upon it every time they release a new one. I think the Firefly was one that would make a cool army builder (like the POC Firefly, who is fucking sweet when you use the alternate head).

Vehicles look cool; I might have to resort to one of the sticker sellers or make my own logo stickers. The Ninja Cruiser is sweet, but I hate the way Hasbro loves plastering the secret Arashikage sigil all over stuff lately. I dig the new HISS, too. Not sure how possible getting the SDCC Shockwave HISS is going to be.

[Ran]

Hisstank has 3 different Firefly figures listed. There are only pictures of 2. One green cammo that comes with a masked and unmasked head. The other is gray and comes with the motorcycle. The third is listed as "Invasion". "Mouse" is also listed as a figure, but no picture.

I'm going to avoid getting any Snake Eyes or Stomshadow figures.

I have no intention of getting the movie Zartan, but I saw that he has light-up eyes similar to the POTF2 Jawas.

[Ran]

Found a better list of announced Retaliation figures: http://generalsjoes.com/g-i-joe-retalia ... superpage/

There are two 3-packs that haven't been pictured yet.
Night Ops (Infiltration Snake Eyes, Mouse, & Sgt. Airborne)
Cobra Invasion (Firefly, Storm Shadow, & Cobra Invasion Trooper)

I don't understand the red/gray cammo on the Alley Viper.

[Ran]

So some store chain in the midwest put the movie figures out already. They are going for over $30 on ebay.
\

[anarky]

Shitfire! There were pics about a week ago of what looked like "all the figures fans keep making that could be easy repaints, but that we just don't want to make." Everyone figured they were canceled prototypes. And then they wound up at retail in the Philippines, apparently in advance of being released here.

Cobra Trooper (black--as in wearing solid black, not African-American)
Cobra Commander (black, hooded--I forget the version number of the figure, but the costume he wore in the comic circa issue #100)
Duke ("original 13" garb--okay, this was one no one was asking for, especially since it was in the TRU exclusive 3-pack a few years ago)
Shipwreck (Devil's Due--never produced as a figure, but the "sweater and beanie" look he sported in the Devil's Due relaunch)
Storm Shadow #3 (the black and white gi he wore in and just prior to Ninja Force)
Snake Eyes #4 (fuck yes! the bizarre-yet-cool blue "hockey mask" version)

I don't even fucking care that I got all the parts for Snake Eyes #4 and haven't assembled/painted him yet.

[Ran]

Oh, these:

Thanks to Snakefox of the HissTank Forums, we have pics of the recently teased G.I. Joe Basic Figure Assortment from Hasbro. The entire case popped up in the Philippines at retail, not via a traditional "leak". How the retailer got it, not sure.

The wave consists of Duke (an easy change to Grunt), Black Hooded Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes V4, Ninja Force Storm Shadow, a Black Cobra Trooper, and Devils Due inspired Shipwreck. They all have very minimal accessories, and DO come with display stands.

They are packaged on non-movie cardbacks, all having the same card. The Philippines price point was 347 Philippines Pesos, which comes out to about $8.15 US. These are said to be hitting the US in off market stores like Dollar General, Drug Stores, and the like. No official word on that yet though.

Check out all the pics after the break!

http://www.hisstank.com/gi-joe-news/gi- ... 59/#images



I'd buy them if I saw them. (Even if Snake Eyes is ugly.)

[anarky]

You kidding? That Snake Eyes has a rather bizarre appeal to it. Bright blue, red, and grey, with only a touch of black, is a color scheme that screams WRONG! for Snake Eyes, but it somehow works. Maybe it's just me remembering how he wore this outfit in several strong stories in the comic book, but I dig it. I'd even picked up some figures at Ross and Marshall's to make one (mostly City Strike Snake Eyes and City Strike Duke, with weapons from some of the comic packs). But I'd buy an official Hasbro release in a heartbeat. For the most part, they can make better figures than I can. (They seem to have a huge problem with Cover Girl, though, for some reason. As in they're not even trying.)

[anarky]

Actually, truth is, looking at their figure more closely, I might get it for custom fodder to get a more cleanly-painted head. Or maybe not. I don't like them re-using the chest from their update of Snake Eyes III, since it's got the hole for the knives smack in the middle of his sternum but doesn't include them.

[Ran]

Well, I suppose it isn't ugly, just goofy because it isn't the traditional black or grey Snake-Eyes.

I guess I look at them differently from you because I haven't read the comic books, which I probably should try to do. I've have 2 problems starting reading comic books. The first is where to start in the series, the other is time. This semester ends in a few weeks, I have a couple weeks off, then I am taking Differential Equations in the 5 week summer semester. That means I have the rest of the summer to slack off.

Speaking of Cobra Commander, for the new movie line, the single retail figure will be blue. But, there is an Amazon exclusive 4-pack for the movie that will have the movie version of Cobra Commander in black. You could probably guess that Snake Eyes, Stormshadow, and Roadblock are the other 3 figures in the set.