Catch up time:
Ok, so here we go in no real order....
I got a real live Cobra FANG. Sweet, cheap. And while the 10yr old in me loves this thing, the 48yr old goes, pretty cool. Now really, 4 big missiles?  One big gimbal mounted gun that fires something, and since it's my imagination loading it, it fires high explosive flaming full automatic lasers. That about covers it. Ammo?Fahgettaboutit. Oh, and one great big honking bomb...Which for the 10yr is a great tactical device. For me?, of it comes when I finally use the Fang, The Fang is small sturdy and ready to go. And expensive. Ok, mine was 9 bucks!!! and then I had to fix the rotor mast. The FANG ,in cobra's world was just about as disposable as Trouble Bubble flight pod (see earlier post) and at least as expensive to make. And who flies the Fang? ANYBODY and everybody, which means A: Easier to fly and B: way more reliable and hardy. But then MARS engineers product improved the Fang and out came The CORPS! Rapid assault 1 man helo. A cost effective fang that no joe collector should be without. It's almost a spitting image, but clearly a bit better built. Higher speed but less payload and mission specific wings.(which Cobra leaves off in my world.. Better pilot seating and it's not nearly as nose heavy. It has 2 missiles and a double barreled fixed gun underneath. Less weight, higher speed. !0 year old goes pretty cool, get 2 ! 48yr old goes, I can have a sky full of these things!!!

Let's see...Oh yeay, Joes got a HAWK (Homing All the Way Killer) missile system, to even up the odds what with Cobra quickly getting air superiority at my house. Vintage piece , can't recall the price, maybe 9 bucks...Nice 3 missile system,needs launch van...10yr old was so impressed he was firing hawks all day long, tracked and killed everything in the house. 48yr old was stressed out form the cost of replacing rhe missiles. Defense cutbacks you see...Great piece. Makes wish I could find another, or the cobra set..

Got a HAL double barrel gun...More anti air is what I think it is...Got nothing to tow it, yet. No one to man it.  Meh, it was cheap...

got a WOLVERINE!!!!! and uh,,,what does it do? Anti air? Bombardment? Mine was a bit rough but cheap, and after the 10yr old was done and let me at it , I carved out the inside and a full size figure can drive it. It's neat, it's vintage, it was cheap.

Got a vintage DragonFly! Cheap. This one has 2 short nose guns that only swivel, no elevation. No decals but all the missiles and BFG on the side. Working wench. No figures. The 10year old went crazy. AH1 SuperDOOPER Cobra !!!!  Working rotors!!! The 48yr says, gotta crack it open to fix it so the gunner can sit in it.  Now this thing suffers fro Hasbro's "thats real but this is better "BS...no tail roto, but no jet exhausts either. Weird V tail thing...that's coming off..and what the heck is the universal joint on the tail? Other than that, it's joe "scale" meaning it's undersized, but an ROC sits just fine in the pilot seat. And the scale is not an issue BECAUSE

Because the Joes have an AH64 Longbow Apache. A very slick toy. made better by cracking it open and carving out the floor boards, now, 2 ROC figs get in just fine. And the scale of the Apache,(clearly it would be more in scale if the original joes were used) is not TOO bad, and the Cobra sitting beside the Apache, have roughly the same size difference they do in real life. Now the Apache has 8 hellfire missiles , and it always will because they are molde to the pylon. These hellfire also look a WHOLE LOT like the Avatar Scorpion hellfire. As in the same hollowed out spots and exact same size and type of plastic. The Apache coles with 2 throw away figs, and some useful stuff. Great deal at 30 bucks. The 58yr was happy to buy it for his 10yr old self.

Figure wise, I got an ROC viper eel. An old figure, ok, and rescued from the peg, he got modified with new gear and looks GREAT! He needed a swim buddy...So I found a Mantis very cheap and thought the EEL officer would work.Yhis gave me 2 mantis (mantises? Manti?) and then a lot of disappointment. The officer is crap. Hate him. I even mixed and matched 3 sets of dive gear and I'm still not happy. Contact me ifyou want to trade. But hunting for another EEL, I found one. And had to walk away, because he was 13 bucks PLUS TAX...really? not me...dammit.

Finally, if anyone has a cobra gunship pilot complete, I need him very badly!!!!

GI Joe: Retaliation GI Joe Trooper

When pictures started showing up about the new GI Joe: Retaliation (RET) figures, this figure stood out among the Wave 1 figures. A GI Joe troop builder? Wow, that's pretty cool! 

 

And then the madness struck. The movie was to be delayed until next March. Hasbro wasn't going to ship any additional product until closer to the release date. GI Joe fans were stuck with the first shipment and I couldn't get to the store quick enough to get one of these troops.

Wess got one, I didn't. Rats.

So how did I get this guy and what do I think of him?

Check out my thoughts here!

Cobra's Command Staff

Cobra's Command Staff - from left to right
Xamot, Zartan, Tomax, Storm Shadow, Mjr Bludd, Voodoo, Mistress, Cobra Commander, Firefly, Destro, Baroness, Scrap Iron, Dr Mindbender, & Blackout

GI Joe:Retaliation Cobra Trooper

I was really planning on disliking this figure. I've seen pictures of it and was not very impressed. Something about it just really looked goofy. Yeah, the parachute looked great, but was it really worth it to buy this figure based on the parachute?

Wess beat this guy up pretty well in his review as well. Not a lot going for the guy.

Seriously, when you compare this figure to the 30th Cobra Trooper or Viper, the RET trooper comes up lacking.

Well, I saw one at a local Walmart and decided to give him a shot. Damn, this is one goofy figure, right?

I mean, just look at him with his big goofy helmet. C'mon, man! Just so dorky looking.

As I usually do and have done since i bought my first 3 3/4" GI Joe some 30 years ago, I opened him up in my car. That's like a tradition with me now. Yeah, I could have waited to get an in-package picture, but nope, can't do it. 

The parachute is really well done. When I got home, the first thing that I did was to fold up the chute and toss him up into the air. Good canopy and he floated to earth - kind of quickly for the scale. But it worked and I smiled like a little kid!

So is there any hope for the figure? That helmet, man, that helmet is just so big and awkward looking.

Well, take it off, you doofus!
And we have a winner.

This head sculpt is just so simple and yet so awesome. The crisp color of the goggle color, sharp detailing with the black paint. It just really looks cool.

There is still something a little bit off - the color of the web gear. Cobra blue, right? Yeah, I guess, but I would rather have darker web gear.

Without the web gear, the trooper continues to be surprising. The overall sculpt of the figure is very simple and yet it works. 

So who or what does this character become? Once a GI Joe figure enters my world, I can redefine it however I choose. yeah, officially, this a RET Cobra trooper, but not to me. There is something more to this figure.

He seems to become an individual character or maybe a specific type of viper, rather than just a plain Cobra trooper.

There is something about this figure and his "look". He's just cool. I never thought that I would say this about this figure.

I like him. He looks like a bad ass to me.

Maybe Firefly's high tech protege? 

Look at these two pictures - cool on the left, dork on the right. The helmet is no longer an issue for me with this figure. Into the parts bin.

I tried out a couple differnt types of web gear and I think I'm going more toward the very early web gear used with a Snake Eyes figure. Cool simplicity.

C'mon, check him out. Isn't he really just a pretty cool figure?

I still don't know where he falls in the ranks of the Cobra heirarchy, but I like him. Will I troop build him? Maybe. Just a few. I think that these guys could become a very specialized trype of Cobra trooper.

Yeah, the parachute is pretty fun and the web gear is well done. Even the odd rifle is nice. Excellent flat black on that one, Hasbro. Thanks for not making blue weapons on this guy.

The true "coolness" of the figure lies when all the gear has been stripped away and you have been left with just a slick simple figure.

If you want to bitch about the prices of the figures, don't. I don't want to hear it. Don't buy them. Save them for me.

GI Joe:Retaliation - Cobra Commander and Duke

Two iconic GI Joe characters - Cobra Commander and Duke. Multiple versions exist - from exceptional to downright ridiculous.

Cobra Commander, of course, leads the forces of Cobra in his mad quest to rule the world. Really? Wouldn't that involve a lot of paperwork?

Duke has long been considered a leader of the GI Joe team, especially in the Sunbow cartoons.

Of course, it was essential that both characters became an integral part of the new film, GI Joe: Retaliation. Channing Tatum reprising his role as Duke and somebody under this new mask of Cobra Commander.

So how did the toys do? Especially these figures from the first wave. If you are holding out for the second or third waves, tough luck. You have to wait 8 MONTHS!

Both figures suffer from the new limited articulation. It's really not that bad. Joe fans have been spoiled by the recent 30th anniversary figures.

Cobra Commander is very well done, I really like this new helmet design. It definitely brings to mind the classic battle helmet look of Cobra Commander.

The limited leg articulation is not so bad with CC. OK, so he can't crouch into a great firing position, but I mainly see him in the company of protective troops. The hands are just simple swivels; they don't have the extra pivots. Not too bad, he can still have a decent two-handed firing grip.

The accessories are not very impressive. The rifle that he comes with is pretty decent. He's got some sort of odd pistol as well. I don't have a picture of him with it because it is a loose fit in the holster and I've already lost it. It was kind of dumb, so - big deal.

His spring-loaded weapon is a staff with a giant cobra head that shoots an oversized "flame" projectile. Cool, but so what? Tossed into the parts bin.

Not counting the gear, I think that this Cobra Commander is well done. Just in the brief glimpses in the trailer, Hasbro seems to have captured the movie style of the helmet. I can't wait to see this "new" Cobra Commander on film on June 29th. Oh wait, make that March of 2013. I guess I do have to wait, not 8 months - NINE MONTHS!

Now I turn my direction toward everyone's favorite GI Joe boy scout, Duke. Channing Tatum's performance in the Rise of Cobra was less than impressive. He was just too different from other portrayals of Duke in other forms of media. I'm not saying he couldn't have pulled off a tougher Duke, but it just didn't work.

I won't even go into the whole triangle of Duke/Baroness/Rex nonsense. Duke is supposed to be a Sergeant. In RoC. he was a Captain. In RET, based on the info on the card, he is a 1st Lt. Busted for his lousy performance in RoC?

Let's look at the figure. I hope you don't have to scrub your eyes with bleach after looking at this mess. Check out that spring loaded weapon. Yeah, that's going to work. I had to take a quick picture because he kept falling over. Shoulder mounted and snapped into his "rifle". Makes perfect sense, right? I actually think that the missile launcher is pretty cool. There's a ripcord (isn't he dead?) that you can insert and then pull out for a rapid firing effect. Kind of cool, probably fun for the kids. But for this big kid, it's dumb!

So what about the figure? Yeah, so what about the figure. The over-sized melon is the biggest problem. His head is just too dang big. Okay, Hasbro has to go with an actor's likeness, I get it, but can it go on a more appropriately sized body?

And the body isn't much to work with, either. There are some interesting detailing, implications of body armor, but it is just so... blah.

Maybe there is some custom work ahead for this guy. No, there is some custom work ahead. At the very least, a head swap. Maybe even with a RoC Tatum head that is more in scale with his body.

Overall, Cobra Commander is a hit. The sculpt is great and I can get over the new articulation issues. Duke? I should have left him on the pegs. I could have been just fine waiting for him to be rereleased closer to the film in 8-9 months.

GI Joe:Retaliation - Battle Kata Roadblock

Yeah! Giant spring-loaded missile launcher things! Hot damn!

GI Joe: Retaliation (RET) figures have hit the market! Well, sort of. With the delay of the movie until March 2013, toy releases are quickly drying up. Hasbro stated that all remaining toy releases will be pushed back until closer to the release of the movie. Understandable, but that means us Joe fans are only stuck with the first wave. And what a first wave - some hits and some misses.

Let's take a look at this first version of RoadRock, I mean Roadblock, as played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He's got this monstrous spring-loaded launcher thing, much like the Rise of Cobra (ROC) figures. This one has a couple added features in that Roadblock can actually interact with the weapon via the battle kata thing that he has PERMANENTLY AFFIXED TO HIS RIGHT HAND! What?

Okay, I know the picture is blurry, but that huge thing threw my camera for a loop. It was like a car wreck. It couldn't turn away and not focus on it.

The weapon actually comes apart into two pieces for added battle-kata fun. Yeah, I don't care. It's still silly. Well, silly for this 49 year old kid. Wess likes to point out his age, so why not me too?

We're both a couple of big goofy kids who focus way too much of our time on plastic toys. hey, we could be drinking and carousing, right Wess?

See that thing down in Roadblock's right hand? Yeah, it's molded into his hand.

Hasbro? Can I get an extra hand if I don't want my Roadblock to permanently have this thing in his hand?

The sculpt on Roadblock is pretty damn cool. The likeness to the Rock is impressive. Arm musculature is detailed as well. A great job by the Hasbro design team. 

Hey, even this thing in his hand is sculpted well. Okay, yeah, I'm reaching here. So what's a solution for this problem? 

There is another version of Roadblock currently available. Well, maybe. Without any resupply from Hasbro, RET toys are going to dry up real quick.

There's a ninja dojo 3-pack with Roadblock, Beach Head, and Kamakura available. This version of Roadblock is less than desirable - at least to me.

The first problem is that the plastic used for RB's skin is two different tones. Can't they make him match?

And his head is loose. What the heck? And his goatee is barely visible. Can we get some consistency between the two RB's? 

Fortunately, the hands pop off easily enough to turn the single pack battle kata RB into a much better figure. I personally prefer the non-tiger-stripe camo RB.

He also comes with the vest that may have first appeared with Night Adder from ROC and later with Resolute RB.

So a quick hand swap and I get a decent version of RET Roadblock.

I like this guy! But I don't know what to do with my Resolute Roadblock and this Retaliation Roadblock. I like both figures and how can I incorporate this guy into my twisted GI Joe world? Don't know right now.

And what about the lack of extra leg articulation? Single jointed knees and no ankle articulation! Oh the horror! The absolute HORROR!

I really don't care that much. I still remember the articulation of the original o-ring figures and I'm not upset by this move from Hasbro. Some figures with the extra artic are actually a little more difficult to stand up due to the extra joints. Not this guy.

And besides... It's a frikkin' toy! get over it!

Retaliation Cobra and Joe Troopers

HASBLOWN has done it again!  I got the Cobra trooper AIRBORN!!! and the GI JOE Trooper.

         OK let's start here, the box says for 4yr and up. And that's if your 4yr old is stupid.

But I'm a 48yr old channeling a 10yr old.

The Cobra is cool looking, except in baby blue? And bright blue? Is your kid a crow? Attracted to colors? The Parachute and harness? EXCELLENT! Colors? Not so much.

Equipment? WTF? A paintball gun? Firing nerve gas filled Paintballs? Like in the movie "The ROCK"? (ok , so those weren't really paintballs, but you get the idea) The Figure, besides the off putting color, has single jointed knees. No ankles. A wrist so loose when I pulled the paintball gun off/out, the wrist popped out also.

        Now I was gonna say, okkk, when a 4yr old tries to vertically assualt something , the figure needs to be beefier. The the 48yr old in me says "Oh wait, Hasbro has made a ton of 12" working parachutes with fully articulated figures, and in 48 yrs, I don't remember any of mine getting maimed in a free fall streamering accident". But I can see this little guy loosing his evil UN blue helmet in a heartbeat, because oddly, it's removable. BTW, should he have at least 1 knife? I can see several uses for it, cutting the line when he's in a tree, killing folks silently, or when he runs out of poinsen paint balls.

       Multiples of this guy? Ehh, maybe one more for the chute. I can see uses there. To be fair, the chute is better thought out than the 2 BBI Spec War figs I have, who look great, but are stuck in perminant halo mode.   So the 10yr old in me says this is cool. But this time, my 10yr old self is a bit slow and that's why he says that. The 48yr old says.meh.

Gi Joe Trooper. YO MO(hawk)!!!

Now this is more like it. More. but not exactly ALL , like it.  I wanted to like this figure. Really, esp after the psuedo flame war friendly fire incident on the Facebook GI Joe Collectors page. My inner 10yr old loves it. Well, except for the BattleStar Galactica cape. I understand there is a running change to brown. Then it really will be a BSG cape. Or are they GI Hobbits? But I have to slow down. The figure is really good. Nice articulation. And when I opened it, the knives fell off and won't go back on. What's with Hasbro and all the knives on some figures, and no knife at all on others?

Seems to me a different mold, but I'm old and feeble minded. He is very close to being a VBSS SEAL.

Swap his head for a sockhead and bam. Well wait...there is the cowl on his neck. On mine it's BLUE. might be passable in brown. 

ANYWAY,,stock he comes with a wierd HALO, Dusty combo head. Hate it. Then There's the mohawk head. Love it. And if you get 2, paint the hair black, 2 different figures!   His weapons are cool, Halo-esq. 

I at first said COOL!!! Esp after I put the sniper rifle in his arms and he can almost use the scop with no modifications (I carve all my figures to hold their weapons ), Then I saw the G36 rifle with grenade launcher and it looked scale.  Until I took it out and it's some kind of bullpup g36 hybrid. But it looks cool! 

That's where his wonderfull equipment falls apart. He has this honking flat backpack, that looks ok, well, except for the big cobra blue halo looking gas helmet.  OH YES!!! It looks great on the Cobra HALO guy! (until it too goes missing on the jump...) But that's ok, it's gone now. there are the land mines. Which clearly weigh nothing and are totally safe to carry high up on the back by his head. And well, they'll be safe, because he doesn't dare show his back, EVER, he has an international BLAZE ORANGE entrenching tool on his back. And not a little folding one either. A half size one.  Rounding out his load, he has 4, count'em 4 pistols. 2 revolvers and 2 small semi-autos. Cobra gets a nice Glock, this guy gets Berreta-ish spy guns. And a shit load of magsthat will never fit ANY of the weapons he's hauling. Typical.... The 10yr old pretty much loves this figure. Warts and all. the 48yr old says "Hmm, this has potential."  I might squad build (I do 4 or 5 man squads) but not at 9 or 10 bucks each...I can go out and get old BBI SEALs and do almost this good cheaper.BTW, I think the cowl is part of his neck, I couldn't seem to remove it without hurting him.

The Corps! Rapid assualt helicopter.
Ok, so this is really a quick review of a thing that I scoffed at for years and now want several more of.

The Corps!, produced by Lanard, re-released the Rapid Assualt Helicopter. No longer in blue, this one is in some shade of green with brownish grey engine...Now the Corps stuff runs hot and cold, but the vehicles tend to fill that 10yr olds need for cheap ready to roll and tough toys.
This toy was too toylike in blue. But now it's fine. It comes with 2 wings that thankfully just come off. These wings come with 2 missiles each, one is poorly molded on, one is not too badly done and removable. But! take the wings off, and the lil helo becomes sexy and svelt. There are two tabs, one each side, that two missiles snap right onto. The Corps jets are too small for me, I have the swing wing, but I digress. So I kept hearing about this thing called a FANG. I looked at some pics and made up my mind. I had to get one. As far as small flying vehicles go,  this one is scaled ok, and it looks like it can fly. Not far of course, but one good joe or evil viper fits ok. Kind of loosely but ok. There is a very nasty twin gun that needs to be removed by the 47 yr old man. The 10yt old kid says, COOL!!! this thing is armed to the TEETH!!! But alas, (I like alas, my wife has a great alas) (hehehe, he made an ass joke)  Once the twin gun is removed there is this funky ball on the nose. I am thinking amputation, or maybe it's a GPS thingy. There is a single control column in the cockpit that so far, no unmodified figure can use it. A minor gripe.
  Now , I have a RoC Sky sweeper in yellow, a PTE dauphin in yellow so a lil helo in yellow is just around the corner.
  So as a 57yr old man, this is well worth money. For the 10yr old boy, this thing is fantastic. I'll get another one, even if it's blue, I can always paint it.

3 out of 5 stars (ok I've never done this b4)
1 star for looks
1 star for price
1 star for play abilty,

I dock it for realism and the figure, but really....who cares?

Zombie Vipers

Great. Hasbro jumps on the stupid zombie bandwagon, right? Well, not really. They actually created a Toxo-Zombie back in 1992 as part of the Eco-Warriors line.
The zombies are back and ready to kick some ass.
The card art is exceptional for this creep. It really conveys the un-dead look and captures the ghoulish nature of the figure.

The file card conveys some interesting bits of information about the zombies. These aren't reanimated corpses, at least not from what can be interpreted from the file card. These are Cobra troopers that have been exposed to the mysterious Compound Z. They have been mutated into nearly mindless drones that can still fight. Really?
Why would Cobra waste perfectly good healthy troops and turn them into these things? Unless, perhaps, these are injured troops, maybe not worth the health care needed to restore them to full health? Whatever the reason, Hasbro came up with a kick-ass figure.

The attention to detail is exceptional. The sculpting is amazing, capturing the rotting, damaged flesh of the zombie. From the twisted hands right down to the toes!

Hey, you see those things hanging from the harness? Those are pipe bombs with detonators. Great, staggering, mindless drones ready to blow up in your face. Just wonderful.

Hmm... Mindless drones strapped with explosives. No, don't go political on this, let it go.

The zombie viper also comes with some extended mutant arms that look really cool. I just didn't get a decent picture of a Z with the mutant arms. It also comes with one cannister of Compound Z that plugs into the back of the harness and then into the back of the helmet. The original plans were for the Z's to have at least three cannister's, but Hasbro cut costs and limited it to just one. No worries, multiple Z's and you get more cannisters.

Personally, I like the Z's more without the extended arms just in their natural nasty state. More in line with a traditional view of a zombie.
I really don't know how to incorporate them in my twisted little Joe world back in the scary corners of my mind. Maybe just Cobra sceince experiments gone wrong? What ever. They are still a lot of fun and just creepy cool.

Nice! A face only a mad scientist would love!

Usually, I have been a bit obsessive about troop building, especially when it comes to the exceptional Cobra Trooper and Cobra Viper figures. Not so much with the Zombies. Yeah, they are pretty damn cool and it would be really cool to have a horde of them, but I'm okay with the four that I have.

Of course if I see them in the stores... Yeah, I'll probably buy them!

Enough rah rah Hasbro

So, I've been working on my PTE 1/18th building. Making it a very nice IMHO bombed out building. Now as a toy, this thing rocks. Hasbro seems to have just dropped the ball on some clearly wanted accessories. I mean a mobile pit is nice and all, and the USS FLAG is legendary, but who NORMALLY in this economy can afford or has the space for such things? And the PIT is really crap anyway. But I digress. So PTE (Power team elite, world peacekeepers) makes towers and outpost and real world vehicles as well as a command center, and 2 buildings and some ruin sections. Hasbro gives us what? Oh yeah, a re-colored Hiss. hmm, 3 colors of the new Hiss. And what the hell is that Hummer/jeep/dune buggy thing that keeps getting re-re-released.
While were all going ooh and ahhh over some Joe figures getting new wrist articulation, why can't ALL the figures get it? Why can't Hasbro or some 3rd party release an upgrade of hands ,like Dragon and 21st toys did? We would fall all over ourselves to get those. How bout Accessory packs?
Cheaper than molding and shipping figures. But mostly, I have been playing with some Star Wars ARF troopers and a new SandTrooper, my son got me. Something no one has the BALLS (that's right, I said it) to complain about, is HEAD ARTICULATION. The new troopers (I own just 8 Star Wars toys for a diorama project) are fantasticly poseable compared to a joe. Now these are not as detailed to be sure. But they can look id places a Joe would wind up in traction from. And the trooper can shoulder the weapons and sight down the barrel. Are the guys from Kenner not allowed to talk to Hasbro? Share some knowledge. Anyway, in my binary world of good/bad, right/wrong, I just am getting tired of Hasbro demanding a premium for their toys, and leaving us with piss poor distribution,sub-state of the art construction and looking for some one else's toys to make Joe worth while. Want an Apache affordable and half-ass accurate? Don't look at the dragonhawk...what a POS, the 10yr old in me even hates it. Want to deliver your spec ops team ? Get a cheap black hawk. Want a gunship for fire support? Don't look at MARS industry for the Cobra Gunship. Want Armor, real armor? Don't look to Mars for that stupid twin cannoned rocket equipped,mine laying thing. Get a Bradly or a Chinese BTR type. Want a jet? Ohhh, look a TOMCAT....not. Or get a sorta kinda close Hornet. And if we were lucky and Hasbro were to license some stuff from PTE, we could have Flankers and warthogs and Migs to go with our littlebirds and dauphins and Blackhawks. Did I mention the Raptor?
Now to be fair, Hasbro does make cool stuff...The Black Dragon is a worthwhile toy, but not as an adversary for the Skystriker.My Black Dragon is a drone. Anyway, that's my take on this situation with Hasbro. Love figures that just don't show up, wonder about all the peg warmers, and gaze in awe at the vast Star Wars selection.

G.I. Joe:Renegades - Tunnel Rat & Ripcord

G.I. Joe: Renegades - a brief shining star in the G.I. Joe mythos. An all too short animated series on the Hub network that was not given the chance for its full potential. Who knows what caused it's downfall? Perhaps a sudden need to ramp up the next G.I. Joe movie caused Hasbro to quickly change direction with this series.

Whatever the case, Hasbro did release some action figures to support the series, even though it has been on hiatus for months and probably out of the mind of the kids that watched it. Not the Joe fans, of course!

Hasbro released five Joe figures based on the primary characters from Renegades - Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Ripcord, and Tunnel Rat. Two guest stars - Airtight and Law & Order were also released, but they could have easily been a part of the 30th Anniversary figures.

Some of the more prominent Joe characters were not released - primarily Roadblock, Lady Jaye, and Flint. I'll bet that they could have been awesome.

So enough with the sad tales of the Renegade history. Let's take a look at two of the Renegade figures - Tunnel Rat and Ripcord.

Tunnel Rat turned out to be not only a great recreation of the renegade version, but also a great reboot of the character. An excellent head sculpt and great uniform detail really makes this figure stand out.

The waist piece, supposed to be a part of his overalls, gives the impression of being able to pull up the front of his overalls. Very well done, but it does limit his ability to sit.

The head sculpt is really well done and captures his animated character well enough and also allows him to fit right in with other Joe figures.

Tunnel Rat comes with a wide assortment of gear. The little bomb disposal robot is pretty cool, but the uniform color is a little bit much.
I think that is supposed to be a frying pan that fits on a little heating unit. Cool? The tiny multi-tool, while neat, is probably one of those pieces that can be easily lost.
I would give him an 8.5 out of 10, decent figure, just not quite top tier.
Ripcord apparently was designed with the concept of the Rise of Cobra movie version. For the movie, the character of Ripcord changed races from the original o-ring version. I wasn't overly disturbed by this situation like some Joe fans out there in the Interwebs.

As far as the figure goes, Hasbro did a decent job with Ripcord. Not exceptional, but decent. He has a good head sculpt. Wait, wasn't he supposed to have hair? The web gear is a bit bulky and makes it a little tough for him to sit down.

Ripcord is still supposed to be a paratrooper and his gear reflects that specialty. A parachute pack and a helmet help prep him for parachute jumps. But wouldn't a high altitude jump need a little more covering on exposed skin?
And a light blue pistol and pulse rifle. Yuck. C'mon, Hasbro, leave these colors back in the 90's!
While not an over the top, exceptional figure, Ripcord is a nice figure. He fills out the ranks of the Renegades and is a nice addition to the Joe team. Sorry, he is much better that the ROC Ripcord!

Hasbro was off to a good start with the Renegades figures. I am certainly glad that Hasbro still supported Renegades enough to give G.I. Joe fans a few figures to add to there collections.
The next few figures based on Renegade characters really took off! Stay tuned!

G.I. Joe - Cobra New Releases

Cobra forces are representing in the new releases as well! Mostly troop builders with one notable exception. Again, individual reviews to follow in the coming days.

So here's the exception. Another damn Stormshadow? I am so tired of this guy! Wait a minute! This Stormshadow kicks an unholy amount of ass! Holy crap! Look at all this extra gear! Plus you can have a Renegades or regular version of Stormy with a simple head swap.

The Cobra trooper from Renegades is pretty dang cool! Two different choices for the head for some troop variation. I like this guy, but not as much as the Cobra trooper and the Cobra Viper. I don't think I'll get over obsessive about this figure.

The Techno Viper! Cobra's combat engineers get a great facelift. Very bulky, great new tools, and a cool helmet upgrade. And a green safety cone! Sweet!

Yes, Hasbro went zombie on us. It's not like they haven't before with the Toxo-Zombie. But this thing is just very well done. But is it a true "undead" zombie or a Cobra experiment gone wrong? I don't know. I'm not sure how they fit into my twisted Joe-world. Still pretty damn creepy cool!