G.I. Joe Classified Series (1:12)

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, definitely not for kids. Poke your eye out with those wing things...

Speaking of "not for kids," did you hear about this?:

Adults — grown adults — have surpassed preschoolers as the largest toy consumers

Okay, this is highly embarrassing.

notthebee.com

While there are plenty of examples of people who do not have a healthy balance of adulthood and their interest in toys/stuffed animals/etc., the writer apparently doesn't get that grown adults (usually men) actually can be productive members of society that fully support their families and still enjoy a good "toy" or collectible on their desk or shelf.

I think the growing surge is related to the fact that we grew up in a better time, and highly enjoy the nostalgia of looking back to it. If it didn't suck so often to be a full time adult these days, maybe we wouldn't value toys and collectibles that harken back to the past with so much affection.

 

[ThunderDan19]

On an encouraging (I hope) side note, I finally saw actual CS figs at WM again last night. Along with a couple leftover retro Dukes and a Recondo, they had Big Boa, Techno-Viper, Quick Kick and Airborne (return?). It was good to see a little more variety again after they had cleared out the previous leftovers, had nothing for a while and then just the new retros. No deluxe figs again yet, at least a my local WM.

I hope they sell.

 

[nacho]

The author acts like this is the first he's ever heard of an adult buying toys. While I'm sure he could find examples of the worst kinds of collectors (his final comments presume that we're all scalpers or fanatical hot wheels collectors that push old people out of the way to get into the stores), from what I can tell, at least our generation has a pretty good grasp only buying what you want and can afford. No one in our orbit is neglecting their bills, mortgages, retirement funds, or kids' ability to attend college. We collect because we did have such a good time back then, and recreating some of that fun is highly entertaining, (even if our kids couldn't care less).

What he fails to recognize is that we could make his exact arguments about any other hobbies. Car-guys? Yeah, they like working on cars because it reminds them of doing that with their dads, and chasing girls, and cruising the streets as a teen... being cool. Or people that buy a boat and spend all their time working on it and trying to convince others that it's fun when it's mostly a money-pit. Whatever... it's basically the same endorphins.

And what about america's middle-age pastime, golf? Grown men hitting tiny balls with sticks over finely manicured acres of dirt trying to get them into a tiny cup in less turns than the next guy? They waste far more time and money on this pointless endeavor than most of us do on toys... and guess what, they have nothing to show for it except a bad back, coming home angry (no one ever returns from golf happy), and neglected kids (aka "Golf Orphans" as I used to refer to them at my prep school.) What a fucking waste of time. And they think we're the weirdos. At least our toys might have some residual value.

At the end of the day, all hobbies are stupid luxuries, that's why they're hobbies, not necessities. Maybe it speaks to the place we have evolved to as a society that we can have time and disposable income for such things. But I'd love to know how the author spends his free time and money. Maybe we could judge him for his "better" choices. Or maybe he doesn't have any spare time or money and is jealous. IDK, I hear writing on the interwebs pays big bucks.

Regardless, this holier-than-thou prick can get bent. I'd love to judge his hobbies sometime.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Right? I remember when I was a tween or so and we moved across PA to an irrefutable dump of a town in a dump of a county (worst year ever). My first impression of some of our new "friends" was this old man who, while helping us move in, apparently thought I was too old to have a GI Joe collection. He called them "toys for tots" and rambled on about why I still had those. I actually felt a little sorry for the guy and imagined what kind of father he must have had, and been, that he felt the need to tell a kid he hardly knew that he should be a boring grown up at age 13.

I kinda pictured this writer guy the same way. I get that there are plenty of maladjusted gen Zers that need their furry squishies to sleep, but he acts like nobody above age 18 should own anything that could be classified as a traditional toy. And you're right, he's almost guaranteed to be way too invested in some other expensive, time wasting "grown up" past time involving sports or recreation.

 

[Videoviper]

The Harvey Birdman redo looks

 

[nacho]

Finally got around to opening the Ferret... and while the driver does nothing for me (she's about to become a female snow serpent), the 4-wheeler is hella fun. It has a cool spring-y 4-wheel independent suspension, the wheels roll nice, and it's big but small enough to drive over your keyboard and make motor noises. I very much had flashbacks to the original.

I like this thing a lot more than I anticipated, and I'll seriously consider getting a second if they are made available again (no gaudy orange striped TF repaints need apply).

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot that I'm already getting a gaudy orange repaint with Wreckage. I guess I'll just paint it green.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Cool! I'm glad it has more function than expected. Now you just need to get those Crimson Twins posed on it like they are driving it right up the roller coaster track!

I was back by WM last night and was surprised to see that all the CS figs I had seen there had sold (even Big Boa ). They still had a full set of retros from the latest wave plus two leftover Dukes. Seems like the supply of those keeps coming in steadily, without too much peg warming thankfully. It'd be nice if the CS's started refreshing regularly too. They don't need a ton, just enough to have decent availability to entice more potential collectors to jump in.

 

[nacho]

Cool! I'm glad it has more function than expected. Now you just need to get those Crimson Twins posed on it like they are driving it right up the roller coaster track!

I was back by WM last night and was surprised to see that all the CS figs I had seen there had sold (even Big Boa ). They still had a full set of retros from the latest wave plus two leftover Dukes. Seems like the supply of those keeps coming in steadily, without too much peg warming thankfully. It'd be nice if the CS's started refreshing regularly too. They don't need a ton, just enough to have decent availability to entice more potential collectors to jump in.

Cool. I haven't kept up with my local WM inventory since school let out, but last I checked, the retros were getting restocked regularly.

A few weeks ago, my son was taking the ACT, and the closest location was at a high school 45min south. I had 3-4 hours to kill, so I hit every WM in a wide radius b/c I don't venture that way much, and I was pleased that almost all had retros, and a couple had some classified too. I think only one was completely devoid, not even a peg. I wonder if the dept managers have much say or corporate just decided that this one store wasn't to have any. Weird.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I've seen similar results when I've ventured out of my normal hunting grounds. It does seem to have a little to do with the size of the WM, but not solely that. When I was marooned regularly up in NoVa this past winter/spring, I went to the WMs up there, both large and small, and none had so much as empty CS marked pegs. I didn't expect any at the small ones, but I would have thought at the larger ones perhaps. There was plenty of the usual leftover movie junk, Star Wars, Xfrmrs, Marvel, WWE and such, but no Joe.

These WMs were in pretty high income areas with the now common weird mix of foreigners and snooty government drones (possibly liberal elite types), so I don't know if demographically WM (or maybe the manager) thinks the locals would turn their noses up at Joe or what. Demographics sure didn't keep the Targets up there from stocking quite a few Joes, so who knows?

 

[nacho]

Once a man.... SDCC '24 Exclusive.

 

[Videoviper]

Cool for those who like it, but that was never the origin story I recognized.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Meh. All Cobra La should be exclusives so it never takes up space from the mainline (read: real) Joe offerings. I'm glad they have pretty much done the same with all the zombie nonsense as well. While JCS seems to be humming along right now, I feel like it is starting to skirt shark infested waters, just like back in the day.

I take some comfort thinking the retro offerings are a potential bulwark against the whole line going weird and rotting on shelves. However, I still believe they missed a solid opportunity to cash in on nostalgia by not going way more OG heavy before re-releasing characters that have already been made in the CS.

Imagine if they had gone OG 13 in order right out of the gate and followed with wave 2 and so on. The anticipation would be palpable, because everybody would know who was soon to be on the way.

 

[nacho]

I agree their release process and character selection method is all over the place... but I'm sure they were trying to include later fans who might get bored or move along before they got to that group's favorite guys. Plus, they didn't really know how many waves the line would go. Hasbro has NEVER had much faith in Joe, so it stands to reason that they didn't anticipate classified getting beyond two waves of video game decos. How many times does this fanbase have to prove itself?

While I haven't read them yet, in the new issues of Skybound Joe comics (not the Hama series but the Duke, CoCo, Scarlett and Destro minis), this is the direction that "Energon Universe" is taking for Cobra Commander's origin. So that synergy is why we're seeing Cobra La right now, and I suspect why they don't look quite like the '87 movie. I suspect they're more like the new comics, a bit darker and grittier. Maybe I'll read Duke and CoCo this weekend and see if I feel any differently about this SDCC figure.

I actually really like the execution... it looks like a fun figure, lots of photography potential, but like you guys, that's NOT my Cobra Commander's origin in the least. Used car salesman forever!

But I can see myself getting one, if for no other reason than to turn Cobra La into some kind of geneticly-modified freakshow that concocted the "ancient origins" shtick just to take over Cobra (easier than building a terror group from scratch)... and in my head cannon, this snake-man cobra commander is just as big a fake as Fred was in the armor suit, and they have the car salesman imprisoned somewhere to keep the secret hidden. Then he gets out and takes his revenge and rightful place... much like after he returned to Cobra Island in the comic.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I ran across this guys' videos in my youtube feed. He's got 3 videos for the OG 13 and then some Vietnam customs for Stalker's LRRP team. I really like his customs for the OGs, particularly Zap, Short-fuse, Flash/Grand Slam and Scarlett. Nice mix of classic and modern!

I do, of course have a couple critiques. I wish he did a little better job matching the helmet color to the fig color on some of them and I really don't care for the green he used on RnR and Steeler, but overall pretty darn cool! Dude definitely spent some serious cash gathering all the pieces and parts. Here's the first video:


He gets a little chatty by the end of the 3rd one, but by then he's at least showcased all of them. Overall, not bad.

 

[nacho]

I couldn't get past the first video. He makes some interesting choices, but he cuts a lot of corners. How lazy do you have to be to not get the boot colors right?

 

[nacho]

Apparently, there is more collaboration between the comics and toys than we realized. Haven't read it yet, but forget Duke or SE, word is that it is implied that Scarlett and Jinx are... an item. Does Cathleen Kennedy work at skybound?

 

[ThunderDan19]

I couldn't get past the first video. He makes some interesting choices, but he cuts a lot of corners. How lazy do you have to be to not get the boot colors right?

I don’t think he’s going for strict retro accuracy, just versions or figs that H’bro hasn’t made. For me, he does a pretty good modernization and use of parts from other lines, though I think he could stand for a bit more body armor for combat troopers.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Weird. I just got back from Walmart, and guess what I saw hanging on pegs? Along with a single Big Boa and all the same retros as last time, two Night Creepers and a Jinx. That’s really strange, because just today I got notifications from AMZ that my Doc and Torch were pushed back to 8/27 from 8/2. Is WM somehow jumping ahead in line?

Well, regardless of the release date discrepancy, I’m glad to see them there, live and in person. Jinx actually looks pretty good in person. If she had the least bit of tactical use, I’d have picked her up. Next test will be when I get a glimpse of retro Beachhead one of these days.

Anyway, it was a very strange visit, because a few minutes later the power went out in the store and it felt very much like the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse movie or something. I’m glad I wasn’t needing to buy anything. It was probably going to be an hour before everything was back up and running. Lots of people there and most folks just abandoned their carts and left.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, my AMZ Jinx, Night Creeper, Torch, and Doc all got pushed back to august sometime. Same with Beachhead, which until this morning was still showing due tomorrow on AMZ. But I got the retro Snow Serpent from the same two-figure wave 10 days ago. And Pulse has already shipped me a couple of Torches and a Gnawgahyde, which should arrive tomorrow or monday.

These days, anything I'm buying more than one of, I split my orders between Pulse and AMZ so that I don't constantly guess wrong. But of course, BBTS has had torch in stock for a month... but I figured by the time my PoL made it here (usually 10-14 days after I press "go"), one or both of the others would have shipped out. Can't win.

Seems like distro is all over the place. I don't have to be "first", but I do hate being last. So I guess I'll wait for one retailer or another to take my money. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ThunderDan19]

I’ll be shocked if the dates don’t move back up for the next wave, considering all the places they are showing up already. Can’t wait to get Doc and finish the OG Dreadnok trio!

 

[nacho]

Yeah, those two and Beachhead I'm most excited about. BH just looks sooooo ARAH, his CI release with the dark colors and shin-guards looks bad by comparison.

I hope we get a retro Flint soon, as that'll get the last of the heavy hitters into the modern design sensibility, no more shin guards, no more video game aesthetics. Everyone else has been redone.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll also end up with that Beachhead, either from lack of discipline at WM or when I have an AMZ gift card and nothing new is up for PO. Flint will likely be the same story. Both are huge favorites from back in the day. I’ll take my favorite parts from both versions and make “ ultimates” as I am prone to do.

 

[nacho]

Torch (from Pulse) is out for delivery today... Gnawgahyde won't be in until Monday.

My Premium membership has expired, but I don't think I'll renew until there is something to pre-order. No need to start the 12mo clock right now. There is nowhere to see when it expires, but I think I got about 14mo out of last year's sign up b/c I renewed in May per my quicken records. It all seems very arbitrary.

 

[nacho]

I was wrong. It's 'Noktober... both Torch and G'Hyde showed up this afternoon. Biker gang gonna party tonight... until I go to bed... probably early b/c I'm old.

 

[nacho]

Damn, someone put a lot of work into this... I can't say I loved the plot or anything, but I respect the effort.

BAZOOKA - A GI JOE MOVIE (youtube.com)

 

[ThunderDan19]

Seems pretty definitive...

I don't see them spending a Haslab on the Firebat. That's too easy to exclusive retail. So Rattler it is.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Damn, someone put a lot of work into this... I can't say I loved the plot or anything, but I respect the effort.

BAZOOKA - A GI JOE MOVIE (youtube.com)

Yeah, that's... commitment. It's a little cringy, but I was okay with it until I started seeing hands in the backgrounds. I'd say I'm more fond of the Robot Chicken-like stop motion stuff that's been put out there. Props to them for what appears to be quite a herculean father/son(?) effort.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, the big debate is the stretch figures. We all assume WW, full load out, and stand are in the base package.

- Gunner is an obvious choice
- some think flight suit baroness is a given, but I hope not. Just because she'd come with a flight helmet (new hat!) is not enough for me to want another.
- some think a more classic major bludd, but the CI fig was solid, IMO.
- "Raven" from the cartoon... seems weird to me since she didn't pilot a rattler... same with other pilots like avac, strato viper, astro Viper, and star Viper. AVAC will definitely come with the eventual Firebat.
- ground crew like came with the skystriker, i.e. "ketchup and mustard".
- not sure who else makes any sense. With the hiss, they just made up rando figures like "strategist", but that makes less sense in a two-man aircraft.

And then there are the arguments about the figures... gotta be special to lure people to the campaign, but all the non backers object to anything being paywalled... bloody hell, if you don't back the rattler, wtf are you going to do with a WW figure? He's useless on the ground, get over it.

Speculation on price is all over the map from $250 to $500. Eddie even chimed in and told people to quit telling hasbro what their max was

The campaign hasn't even started, and the fanbase has already become predictably tiresome over it.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, that's... commitment. It's a little cringy, but I was okay with it until I started seeing hands in the backgrounds. I'd say I'm more fond of the Robot Chicken-like stop motion stuff that's been put out there. Props to them for what appears to be quite a herculean father/son(?) effort.

Agreed, but stop motion is so labor and time intensive... no way they would have made a 2hr film. It would be 10-15 min tops. Really changes the scope of the project with a stop motion limitation, so I get it.

Aside from the occasional hand, I thought the cinematography was great, and they didn't just leave a static shot while people were talking. Visually it was interesting.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, the big debate is the stretch figures. We all assume WW, full load out, and stand are in the base package.

- Gunner is an obvious choice
- some think flight suit baroness is a given, but I hope not. Just because she'd come with a flight helmet (new hat!) is not enough for me to want another.
- some think a more classic major bludd, but the CI fig was solid, IMO.
- "Raven" from the cartoon... seems weird to me since she didn't pilot a rattler... same with other pilots like avac, strato viper, astro Viper, and star Viper. AVAC will definitely come with the eventual Firebat.
- ground crew like came with the skystriker, i.e. "ketchup and mustard".
- not sure who else makes any sense. With the hiss, they just made up rando figures like "strategist", but that makes less sense in a two-man aircraft.

And then there are the arguments about the figures... gotta be special to lure people to the campaign, but all the non backers object to anything being paywalled... bloody hell, if you don't back the rattler, wtf are you going to do with a WW figure? He's useless on the ground, get over it.

Speculation on price is all over the map from $250 to $500. Eddie even chimed in and told people to quit telling hasbro what their max was

The campaign hasn't even started, and the fanbase has already become predictably tiresome over it.

I think WW, gunner and a minimal ground crew make the most sense. Maybe they could make the gunner a generic flight suited female and provide a Baroness head to meet both the troop and character goals. It'd be cool to see an female crewperson in an actual flight suit, not just the cliché Scarlett/Glenda leotard with a new hat!

 

[Videoviper]

Possibly another Flight CC with Megatron gun similar to the 4” version.

 

[nacho]

Possibly another Flight CC with Megatron gun similar to the 4” version.

Maybe, but would another CC variant excite anyone? Would it genuinely entice someone to back the campaign? If I was on the fence, I don't think yet another CoCo would sway me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, IF they do make CC a stretch, I'd love to see it be the armored one... just to watch the absolute shitstorm. That would be epic.

 

[ThunderDan19]

So, while I wasn't really planning to, I picked up a Helix and a Breaker on the cheap - not an easy task on Mercari these days. I actually like both figs pretty well, but wouldn't have paid full price for either, especially not for the bike too.

I am strongly considering getting a Jinx head and repurposing Helix's buck as a tactically useful Jinx, since we determined that's pretty much what I am looking for in a Jinx , and I have about zero nostalgia/familiarity with the Helix character anyway. I'd prefer red accents over yellow, but beggars can't be choosers - so movie version homage it is. I see a potential SE, SS, Scarlett and Jinx team up in the near future!

I want to make Breaker a little more useful to the modern battlefield by making him more of a forward air controller than just radio guy - since comms have miniaturized and become a lot less of a distinct entity in the last 40 years. I gave him a primary and back up weapon (not really sure why H'bro didn't - and yes, I know the original didn't and that's no excuse ). He doesn't need too much more, but I'm still working on finishing out a decent kit for him.

Apparently Doc and Torch are finally on the way too, so suddenly lots of new (to me) Joe stuff happening! Yahoo!

 

[nacho]

My Torches and Gnawgahyde arrived last week, Jinx's arrived yesterday, and the Beachhead, Eel, Snow Serp retro wave has shipped from pulse. The NF Shockwave with the dark-colored bike, Doc, and Night Creepers shipped too. I think that'll be everything I was expecting this summer.

I like the retros for the packaging... I think Jinx will be fine when I wipe away all the stupid tattoos. I'm indifferent towards the sleeves, just don't want to see the ink. She's never been a fav of mine, as I'm not a big ninja fan beyond SE & SS. But she's a b-list character so I feel compelled to include her. I'll probably be using the masked head, as I'm not a fan of her Rachel Maddow haircut.

Not sure when Wreckage comes out, as Target has been pinking my card weekly for months.

What's cool (only marginally related), I got a bunch of display bases from Tony at Chimungmung. Remember a few years ago when ToyWorld made those orange bases that fit together? They got KO'd into orange, black, and purple versions. I used a few of the black KOs to skin my MASS Device.



Anyway, they've become scarce, and I couldn't find any that weren't $14 each shipped from asia. I discovered some at robotoybase and the shipping was as much as the product, so I emailed Tony to see if there was any cheaper shipping option. He told me that if I'd take all that he had left, he'd ship them via sea freight much cheaper, but it would take 3 months. I agreed, and they arrived yesterday... 21 big base plates. It sounds stupid, but I'm very excited!

 

[nacho]

Note, if you ever thought you wanted NF Shockwave with the dark bike, he's on super-sale at WM (for Prime Day?).

G.I. Joe Classified Series #127, Night Force Jason "Shockwave" Faria & Night Pursuit Cycle, 6” Action Figure, Walmart Exclusive - Walmart.com

 

[ThunderDan19]

Note, if you ever thought you wanted NF Shockwave with the dark bike, he's on super-sale at WM (for Prime Day?).

G.I. Joe Classified Series #127, Night Force Jason "Shockwave" Faria & Night Pursuit Cycle, 6” Action Figure, Walmart Exclusive - Walmart.com

Dang, that's tempting. I think I'll hold out to see what loose SWs are going for - hopefully for about the retail of a packaged fig or so. As cool as it is, I really have nowhere for the bike to go, despite the low additional cost with the deal. At this point, I have to make a tough call on where to display Doc (having just added two Joes I hadn't planned for). Pretty sure someone is going to get voted off the island...

 

[nacho]

I'm sure you could sell the bike and have less than $20 in the figure.

Just got Doc, Beachhead, and my last Torch. Beach looks like the CI release should have...

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, I know, but I also know my persuasion to not follow through with it. And once I breach the vehicle door, who knows what happens next?

 

[nacho]

WM collector con... Falcon and Quarrel 2-pack, on sale the 25th and/or 26th (?). The Falcon head is a massive improvement over the regular release, so the fight will be to get the extra heads from the people who army-build these as Steel Brigades.

(I halfway expect the head to not fit the regular release, just as a giant middle finger to all of us that gave them grief over such an ugly sculpt.)

 

[ThunderDan19]

That is a huge improvement, both for Falcon and as a more interesting Steel Brigade duo! Who the heck is Quarrel though? A Glenda repaint?