Stay tuned, loyal reader(s)!

Yeah, Wess and I seemed to have vanished from our blog - but it is not the case. We'll be back!

I'm thinking that life sometimes gets in the way of toys 'n stuff. I'm wrapping up a school year and just can't get motivated right now to blog about much.

I did buy some stuff lately. I picked up some Rise of Cobra items that never made to retail during the moive. ROC stuff was bombing so badly that retailers bailed on additional releases. Some items were never to have been released in the US.

But Ross to the rescue!

I recently picked up the ROC Tiger Claw ATV w/ Leatherneck, the Desert Rockslide ATV w/ Dusty, and the Lava Pod w/ Volcano Viper.

Haven't opened the two GI Joe ATV's yet - but that Lava/Mole Pod? Probably the absolute worst, most horrific vehicle tied to the entire GI Joe line - EVER! The figure is damn cool, but the pod is seriously lame!

I also picked up two more black HISS tanks. Why? I have a total of seven black HISS tanks. Two are opened and assembled (mine!). Two are reserved for Wess. And the other three? I don't really know. I need to spread the black HISS tank joy around the GI Joe community - but where?

Reviews and pictures forthcoming - eventually.

Playing with, er, customizing your figures

I was abent-mindedly playing with some Beachhead figures (the POC versions,my faovorite) and snapping his poor little head off and popping someone elses's head on,when it hit me. I'm a customizer. Not a good one of course. But it's as good a reason to play with my toys as any. What if Shipwreck were assigned a mission with Beachhead? Wouldn't he look a bit more like a SEAL/commando and less like a longshoreman? Say, that looks ok...what if the TRU Benchpress also got the gig? OH MY!!! These guys look like death from the sea! So what's that? Low Light in a gray outfit with a big red patch on his shoulder? (I know, it's his shooter pad. Or an "aim here" marker.) Anyway, so off whith his head, and that little bearded watch capped head landed on another Beachhead. BAM! Pop another POC Duke head on and now my little 4 man Recon/Hit team is ready. Ok, so any 10yr old can do that. My original plan for getting into 1/18th scale was to pose,fill in the joints and paint the figures. My eyes just aren't what they were, and 1/35th scal stuff is tiny compared to 1/18th. And expensive. And then there's the patience thing. But after spending 6,7,8 bucks a figure, and trying out pose after pose , I realized I couldn't commit to the cause that much. Saym ever look at a ROC Viper and go, all these sockheads (skimask) need to go on something? I love the movie vipers. Can't get enough. But what if a regular guy is a viper and not a genetic freak? Put a sockhead on him, and he becomes WAY more useful.
Anyway, while a whole lot of you mix and match body parts like underroos, I threw away 2 figures I had trashed. Others of you, do incredible jobs painting your figures. and then you don't touch them again because the paint comes off. Me? I'll just customize my guys constantly while watching videos on my pc.

GI Joe Artwork

Artwork? Seriously? Yeah, the art on GI Joe packages usually looks pretty dang cool! These two samples are from Target exclusives that were so exclusive, they were only sold at Ross!

This is the cover art from the "Jungle Terror Twin Battle Gun" set. What kind of name is that? Anyway, it's a decent picture, captures the purpose of the "Jungle Terror Twin Battle Gun." Wnat is really cool about this picture, is the background - there are two Cobra gunships headed toward what is probably a Cobra base. * Hey Hasbro!! How about a new Cobra Terror Drome!!

This picture is from the Cobra Flight Pod w/ Elite Viper. Let's not talk about the Elite Viper - we've discussed him before. What is really cool about this picture is the Joe infiltration team that the flight pod is headed for - looks like Snake Eyes, Kamakura and maybe a couple other G.I. Joe ninjas?

Cool stuff!

A Great Day at Ross!

So I get a text today at work from the wife. She's at Ross and wants to know if I would be interested in a HISS tank. HECK, YEAH!!

Luckily, I was at lunch so I could respond - quickly. After several frantic texts, with her telling me what she was seeing and what I would be interested in getting. I finally settled on two HISS tanks and two "Terror Twin Battle Gun" sets! Sweet!!

This actually brings me up to potentially four HISS tanks. Would I like to keep all of them? Duh? But I won't, they are actually pretty big out of the box once you get them built. I just don't have the room for four HISS tanks.

A review of the "battle gun" set next week. The cannon is kind of lame, but the figure is cool as hell! I saw the same set at Joelanta for $20.00. Patience paid off!

So I'm probably going to help out some fellow Joe buds. My co-host here on this sad little blog gets first dibs on one. Right, Wess?

Jungle Vipers

Yeah, they look pretty cool with all their hi-tech gear. Seems kind of cumbersome and awkward.

I say strip them down and give them some assault rifles. Pretty cool looking to me!

Scalper evidence?

So I picked up a couple Shock Troopers around a week ago and one of them had a damaged upper right corner. No big deal to me, since I was opening him anyway.

But why is the corner damaged? Here's my theory. A local scalper bought the trooper and put a jacked-up price sticker on it. And it sat and sat and sat. Finally the flea-bag fleamarket scalper needed his money back, so back to the store it went.

No profit for the scalper. Actually a loss - gas money to go to the store to buy and then return to get a refund! Sweet!

That's my theory and I'm okay with it!

Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes Review

Finally!! Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes is mine!! Around a week ago, I stumbled across the wave 3 version of Snake Eyes. Reviews have been all over the G.I. Joe fan websites and he was no where to be found locally. No luck at Joelanta this year. I was getting irritated - but I knew I just had to be patient. My local Walmart finally got some new Joes. Finally!!

So what do I think? Is he the ultimate Snake Eyes? Is he the perfect G.I. Joe figure? Pretty dang close! The figure is impressive in the package, but then the Pursuit of Cobra figures look great in package anyway. Snake Eyes is loaded with gear. Two swords with sheaths, one larger sword, two pistols. one with a silencer, an Uzi with a silencer, a SCAR assault rifle, two knives, an explosives pack and an extra head sculpt. Plus there are two elastic straps that hang from the web gear between his legs. I tugged briefly on one of them to straighten it out and it pulled free. So I pulled them both out. No loss, I like him better without them.

He has the standard G.I. Joe articulation, plus the added bonus of swivel and pivot wrists. The only issue that I have is the right elbow, it doesn't bend up as far as I had hoped. Just a minor issue. Other issues that I have with this figure - minor, but just a little bothersome. The knife scabbard on the shoulder is cool, but just too bulky for the location - so I removed it. The pistol that can use the silencer is too thin for the hoslter and Snake Eyes can't hold it. The other pistol is a better fit. And those silencers - cool idea, but so dang tiny! Easily lost! I almost lost one of the knives. POC figures have some damn cool accessories, but some bits are just so small! Not really interested in the second head sculpt. I like the original style mask over the ninja visor. It's cool, just not essential to me. I'll post pics of it later.

Here he is, compared to the Resolute version. The Resolute version now goes into retirement. If I were to rate this new version of Snake Eyes from 1 to 10, he gets a solid 9. Detailing on the sculpt is just amazing. This figure truly is the best Snake Eyes that Hasbro has ever made. I don't know if Hasbro could improve this character.

Hasbro could get a lot of mileage out of this body sculpt. It is extremely well done and lends itself to covert ops customs with various other characters.

I found this black back pack in my extra gear and I think that it works great with Snake Eyes. He gets it. I'll post a follow up in a few days with more pictures of this kick-ass figure. I highly recommend this figure - no more Snake Eyes figures are needed - this one is the best!