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.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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!
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!
Monday, January 2, 2012
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!
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!G.I. Joe - More new releases!
Here are some more of Hasbro's recent exceptional new releases. Again, individual figure reviews are forthcoming.
A guest star on Renegades, Airtight gets an exceptional remake for this new release. This figure really just kicks serious amounts of ass. So much coolness!
And Sci-Fi! Lime-green Sci-Fi gets a really kick-ass remake. Well, he's not quite so lime green as his original version, but he is still pretty bright. Another awesome figure from Hasbro!
Lifeline gets about every bit of gear needed to help out his injured comrades. Plus he gets a rifle to shoot the bad guys that hurt his buds! Crazy amounts of detail and gear, just crazy amounts.
So the G.I. Joe Steel Brigade troop builder gets rereleased? Not exactly. The original version used the Cobra Shock Trooper body. This new version uses the most awesome Snake Eyes body. So which is the "correct" version? Who cares, he still kicks ass.
A guest star on Renegades, Airtight gets an exceptional remake for this new release. This figure really just kicks serious amounts of ass. So much coolness!
And Sci-Fi! Lime-green Sci-Fi gets a really kick-ass remake. Well, he's not quite so lime green as his original version, but he is still pretty bright. Another awesome figure from Hasbro!
Lifeline gets about every bit of gear needed to help out his injured comrades. Plus he gets a rifle to shoot the bad guys that hurt his buds! Crazy amounts of detail and gear, just crazy amounts.
So the G.I. Joe Steel Brigade troop builder gets rereleased? Not exactly. The original version used the Cobra Shock Trooper body. This new version uses the most awesome Snake Eyes body. So which is the "correct" version? Who cares, he still kicks ass.G.I. Joe: Renegades
Hasbro ended 2011 with a bang! Two quick waves of figures right at the end of the year really showed off the incredible work that Hasbro has been doing with the "30th Anniversary" line.
While previous waves have been largely troop builders (not that I'm complaining!), these last two waves were largely character driven, with just a couple troop builders.
The G.I. Joe: Renegades series got a few additions to into figure form. Despite the apparent lack of support from Hasbro, there certainly was some quality work done by the G.I. Joe design team.
This is just a quick look at each figure. More in depth out-of-package reviews later. (I promise!)
While previous waves have been largely troop builders (not that I'm complaining!), these last two waves were largely character driven, with just a couple troop builders.
The G.I. Joe: Renegades series got a few additions to into figure form. Despite the apparent lack of support from Hasbro, there certainly was some quality work done by the G.I. Joe design team.
This is just a quick look at each figure. More in depth out-of-package reviews later. (I promise!)
Ripcord turned out to be a pretty decent figure. A few misses with this figure, but overall, not a bad job. Is he supposed to have hair or not?
I really like this version of Tunnel Rat. A great version of the Renegades character and just a great update on Tunnel Rat. I'm not 100% on board with all of his gear, but the figure is excellent!
Scarlett gets a great remake in the Renegades line. Excellent sculpting, and great articulation highlighted by a pretty decent head sculpt. Gone is the massive melon-head from the Resolute version. Very small amount of gear included. And I know it's been a part of her since 1982, but I am so damn tired of the crossbow. Give her a damn rifle!
As one of the "Easter Eggs" of Renegades, Law & Order get a great new version for the line. This is just an exceptional figure. I can't think of anything negative to say about him.
Look for the individual reviews soon!
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