So, thanx to my friend Tom, I own 2 of these now. So how does the 10 year old in me like them?
Well, first, MARS industry has once again produced an amazing piece of gear to Cobra's spec.
Amazing if you like an armored death trap. Seems they forgot what they were intending to. The thing is massive! and while better than the FURY, it is begging for a LAW,Hellfire,TOW, DRAGON or just a hard poke with a sharp stick and it's game over. The weapons can't defend it from in close fighting, there's no depressing or elevation of the weapons. The heavy gun is a 1 shot weapon, the automatic weapon is fairly fixed. There is this really neat feature, if the the really tall vehicle isn't TALL ENOUGH, it can pop up and become taller. Which is cool looking, but then exposes the soft under belly to that sharp stick I was telling you about. BUT the trade off is at least in the pop up, it makes up for lack of a turret, and the whole massive body rotates. The HISS has a crew of 2, but the gunner has to be gymnist to mount up. The driver is fully protected by a windowless cab. As a weapon of war, it's a failure. As a weapon of terror and oppression? It works. Black is evil, brown is practical. I say go EVIL!!!!
Does the 47 yr old man in me like this thing? HELL YES! It's too cool. In a Falling Skies kinda of a way, it ROCKS! It even reminds me of Rock'em sock'em robots,see below.
Does the 10yr old like it? Hell YES! It rolls, it transforms, shoots, it carries dudes,and mine are black! But.....I have 2.....and 1 doesn't like to stay tucked in. They both pop up like champs, almost pop up and over. I'd hate to be in the thing when it pops up....BAM! we put more HISS crews on sick leave than any othe viper. And then my #2 HISS, doesn't tuck back in. It takes a lot of effort to lock it in place. You think you got it, and BAM! it's pops up again. That's ok, since when it pops up, it fires it's 1 missile....BAM! WOOSH!!! oops......
But this is the vehicle to get in the joe world right now.esp from Ross....Thanx again TOM!!!!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
In dealing with others and making deals for toys, I am on the Flying Dutchman walking under a ladder behind a black cat on Friday the 13th while a banshee screams in the distance causing me to break a mirror. Tom and I made this deal, a simple one really, he picked up some new Hiss tanks for me, and all I had to do was send him the money. And then I lost my OT at work. so the extra "blow" money was gone. It was tough go, since I had had years of OT. Could be worse, I still have a job. But scraping the money together was a bitch, but then some computer work came my way. YAY!!!! SO, I send Tom the money and some heads,(Joe heads not horse). Except y....It was returned to me as undilverable, I got a lil post card from mailman, I have a package at the post office, which is of course closed by the time I get the post card. They close at noon evidently, and package is too big for my mail box. Along with the card, is my envelope to Tom. Well, to Tom if he lived CALIFORNIA ....turns out there is no corrosponding address in Ca.
And Tom lives in Ga.
WHICH PROVES the US MAIL runs on PEOPLE. Anyway, so I got the mail, re-did
the envelope. Went to the post office and thought how nice and quick this
will be, there's no crowd.
A crowd needs people. There were no people. It was deserted. So Tom's envelope (I let my wife address this one) was dropped in the slot by the door. Now my wife will have to go back across town monday to get the package. And Tom's money and heads, which we have been waiting for officially for a week and really much longer, is due his house (his correct house) by Tue, or Wed. Or who knows?
And Tom lives in Ga.
WHICH PROVES the US MAIL runs on PEOPLE. Anyway, so I got the mail, re-did
the envelope. Went to the post office and thought how nice and quick this
will be, there's no crowd.
A crowd needs people. There were no people. It was deserted. So Tom's envelope (I let my wife address this one) was dropped in the slot by the door. Now my wife will have to go back across town monday to get the package. And Tom's money and heads, which we have been waiting for officially for a week and really much longer, is due his house (his correct house) by Tue, or Wed. Or who knows?
Monday, July 11, 2011
A Look Back - The Killer Whale - GI Joe 1984
The Killer WHALE (Warrior: Hovering Assault Launching Envoy) is easily one of my top five favorite "classic" GI Joe vehicles. Something about it was just a whole lot of fun. There is a command post for the Whale's captain, Cutter, and a co-pilot. Two machine gun mounts allowed two more troops to defend the Whale and the body opened up for a small strike force to prep for assault.
Here is the sad condition of the Whale after taking it out of storage. Dusty, dirty and in unknown condition. I had removed many of the pieces and stored them in the cabin.
Pulling everything out of the cabin revealed some surprises and some bits of tragedy. Inside the cabin were all the parts of the Whale - machine guns, cannon, depth charges, missile launchers and the fan assemblies. Plus two Mega Vipers and one Annihilator, all three with decayed o-rings.
The worst part of the condition of the Whale was the vertical blades of the fans. The thin plastic tabs had become brittle and had broken. Plus some the bottom tabs of the blades had popped off. Sad shape.
I was determined to salvage these blades because parts for the Whale, especially the fan parts, have become very expensive.
I used small strips of plastic glued to the blades to secure the two parts of the blades together. Blue painter's tape secured the blades while the glue dried.
After much cleaning, the Whale began to look more like its old self.
Once everything was back together, the Whale was back in shape and ready for combat missions against Cobra. 
The Killer Whale easily makes a transition to the modern era Joe figures. These pictures feature an assortment of 25th Anniversary, Rise of Cobra, Resolute and some simple customs.
The Whale is currently back in storage, but a much more secure storage with attention to the delicate nature of the fans. I really need to bring it back out and take some pictures with the new Pursuit of Cobra figures.
The Killer Whale is one of the high points of the Real American Hero era and works great with all incarnations of GI Joe figures. If you have one, keep it, treasure it - it's an excellent vehicle!
This picture is from yojoe.com's page for the Whale - an excellent example of a minty fresh Whale.
Many years ago, much of my GI Joe collection was put into storage or sold off. The Whale was not going to be sold. It just went into storage and didn't handle storage very well.
Here is the sad condition of the Whale after taking it out of storage. Dusty, dirty and in unknown condition. I had removed many of the pieces and stored them in the cabin.
Pulling everything out of the cabin revealed some surprises and some bits of tragedy. Inside the cabin were all the parts of the Whale - machine guns, cannon, depth charges, missile launchers and the fan assemblies. Plus two Mega Vipers and one Annihilator, all three with decayed o-rings.
The worst part of the condition of the Whale was the vertical blades of the fans. The thin plastic tabs had become brittle and had broken. Plus some the bottom tabs of the blades had popped off. Sad shape.I was determined to salvage these blades because parts for the Whale, especially the fan parts, have become very expensive.
I used small strips of plastic glued to the blades to secure the two parts of the blades together. Blue painter's tape secured the blades while the glue dried.
After much cleaning, the Whale began to look more like its old self.
Once everything was back together, the Whale was back in shape and ready for combat missions against Cobra. 
The Killer Whale easily makes a transition to the modern era Joe figures. These pictures feature an assortment of 25th Anniversary, Rise of Cobra, Resolute and some simple customs.
The Whale is currently back in storage, but a much more secure storage with attention to the delicate nature of the fans. I really need to bring it back out and take some pictures with the new Pursuit of Cobra figures.The Killer Whale is one of the high points of the Real American Hero era and works great with all incarnations of GI Joe figures. If you have one, keep it, treasure it - it's an excellent vehicle!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A Look Back... The Raider - G.I. Joe 1989
I thought that I would take a step back in time and look over one of the older vehicles from the original Real American Hero line from the 80's. Back then, I was obsessed, to say the least, about getting nearly everything from the G.I. Joe line. Hasbro dominated the action figure aisle with this line. Huge amounts of retail real estate were devoted to G.I. Joe, especially during the 80's when the line was just huge.
So I thought that I would look at one of my favorite vehicles from the 1989 series, the Raider. This very unusual vehicle just appealed to me with the odd style of the construction. A lower chassis with four tracked drive units and big cannons on the main body. The domed cockpit was also an interesting look for this armored fighting vehicle.
Searchlights topped off the top of the body. There are two platforms on the sides of the body to allow more troops to ride along. The front mounted "photon cannons" and side mounted "laser blasters" look pretty cool, but c'mon, photon and laser blasters? Seriously? They still look cool, though!
There is just something about the style of the vehicle that just appeals to me and made me keep this vehicle. Is it practical in a "real world" style? Well, maybe, not much, but maybe. If you consider that the bottom is made up of the drive units with the rear of the body being the main engine or power plant, then, yeah, it could work. It still looks a bit vulnerable from the sides. i don't think that it would really make it as a "real" military vehicle. But it's a toy, so who cares?
The cockpit opens to reveal a space for two drivers, Hotseat and one other. I still have the original driver, he is just in storage right now. I have my two "kickstart" figures from the Steel Marauder mechs taking control of the Raider right now.
So now the vehicle design begins to get a bit crazy. Hasbro was all about play value for these vehicles and realistic practicality didn't always apply. The rear section of the body actually slides open, revealing two giant missiles ready for launch. No spring loaded action here, just physical work and imagination.
Does it look cool? You bet! Do I like it? Yeah, but not so much.
Wow, check this out. The front track separates to create a smaller recon vehicle with a tiny cockpit for another Joe. Stop the madness, Hasbro!
So here is a look at the Raider all separated into its component pieces. No thanks.
Just in case you needed more info, the body does have fold-down legs to allow it to remain standing. No thank you.
I like the Raider fully assembled, without these extra features. No hidden rockets, no mini scout vehicle, just this odd-looking fighting vehicle.
Compared to the new Vamp and Hiss tank, the Raider still works pretty well with the modern line. I'm hoping to use the Raider in more diorama shots with the new sculpt Joes. Still a great vehicle!
Unfortunately, I have sold off a large portion of my original vehicles. Please don't ask me if I sold them for decent prices. Mostly not... yard sale type prices for some of them. Ugh!
So I thought that I would look at one of my favorite vehicles from the 1989 series, the Raider. This very unusual vehicle just appealed to me with the odd style of the construction. A lower chassis with four tracked drive units and big cannons on the main body. The domed cockpit was also an interesting look for this armored fighting vehicle.
Searchlights topped off the top of the body. There are two platforms on the sides of the body to allow more troops to ride along. The front mounted "photon cannons" and side mounted "laser blasters" look pretty cool, but c'mon, photon and laser blasters? Seriously? They still look cool, though!
There is just something about the style of the vehicle that just appeals to me and made me keep this vehicle. Is it practical in a "real world" style? Well, maybe, not much, but maybe. If you consider that the bottom is made up of the drive units with the rear of the body being the main engine or power plant, then, yeah, it could work. It still looks a bit vulnerable from the sides. i don't think that it would really make it as a "real" military vehicle. But it's a toy, so who cares?
The cockpit opens to reveal a space for two drivers, Hotseat and one other. I still have the original driver, he is just in storage right now. I have my two "kickstart" figures from the Steel Marauder mechs taking control of the Raider right now.
So now the vehicle design begins to get a bit crazy. Hasbro was all about play value for these vehicles and realistic practicality didn't always apply. The rear section of the body actually slides open, revealing two giant missiles ready for launch. No spring loaded action here, just physical work and imagination.
Does it look cool? You bet! Do I like it? Yeah, but not so much.
Wow, check this out. The front track separates to create a smaller recon vehicle with a tiny cockpit for another Joe. Stop the madness, Hasbro!
So here is a look at the Raider all separated into its component pieces. No thanks.
Just in case you needed more info, the body does have fold-down legs to allow it to remain standing. No thank you.
I like the Raider fully assembled, without these extra features. No hidden rockets, no mini scout vehicle, just this odd-looking fighting vehicle. 
Compared to the new Vamp and Hiss tank, the Raider still works pretty well with the modern line. I'm hoping to use the Raider in more diorama shots with the new sculpt Joes. Still a great vehicle!
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