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

[nacho]

"Due to unexpected shifts in production, we're gonna have delays in 2025..."

I read this as "Due to the bad orange man likely winning the election, we've decided to move some manufacturing out of chiner so that we won't be left holding the bag when he slaps them upside the head with tariffs and whatnot."

--------------

- Footloose - perfectly fine. I'll get one for sure. Would have preferred he didn't use ripcord/airborne's pants and gone with a traditional grunt/stalker leg/boot combo, but he's not an all-time fav, so I'll live. Definitely not overwhelmed.

- Cobra outpost harkens back to the '86 Surveillance Port. I kinda like it.... depending on the price. 1/12 dio pieces are always intriguing. The Alley Viper repaint is a zero-burger though. Looking at it more, the outpost really looks like a Cobra Port-A-John. I'm pretty sure that's how I'll use it

- Fireman - hard pass

- Blue Snake-Eyes & Polar Bear - I'm absolutely buying this. I love the MASS device (hell, I built one!), and I'll take anything from the mini that offers both cool sunbow accessories and a nostalgia hit.

- Retro R&R - sure, I made my own already, but I'll take an official. Look, no tattoos!

- Retro Mindbender - I'll get this too. I only bought one of the deluxe set, and I need a mindbender for my office photo studio collection.

- Retro Viper - I'll get one for the MOC retro collection, but I don't need more Vipers on the shelf. I don't care about the exposed arms that seem to be a big selling point for some people.

- Darklon - never had the character growing up, but he's pretty prominent in the later comics as Destro's cousin, so I'll probably pick one up, if nothing else for the Destro family x-mas photos.

- Crystal Ball - hated the original figure because of his all-time pegwarmer status, but I'll probably grab one to go with the other late-stage named cobra misfits like Raptor, Big Boa, and Croc Master. Someone has to get locked in the cobra island beached freighter to die!

- Teaser image... I'd bet money it's the AWE Striker, a new $100 price point vehicle.

 

[ThunderDan19]

AWE Striker was my guess too, definitely looks like it’ll be an upgraded version! Maybe they are putting a lot of energy into the vehicles/playsets and that’s taking away from new fig development.

 

[HUNMARINE]

As you said it ThunderDan19 - a "big fat bucket of meh".
Hasbro already got delays during the Classified years and still got problems with reveal dates. Now they got another bunch of "production issues"...of course.....

According to the figs.
The 4 we getting (Leatherneck, SAW Viper, Zandar and Dial-Tone) - they looks okay. Maybe I would put Leathernecks head a bit higher.

The 3 retro (Mindbender, Viper, RnR):
Mindbender - was made for those who didnt get it during the first release. And even now Hasbro found the way to make him "wanted" for everyone, putting the silver Cobra sign on his back (and slapping in the face those buyers who haunted down the deluxe version)
Viper - finally after 3 re-colored version they made his legs and the armor pieces on it - right. And still that neon red on the whole figure looks a bit bizarre to me.
RnR - the most unnecessary figure of them all. Even if they wanted to "upgrade" him - still done bad. He is more "greyish" than green...and what the heck is those brown "bipods" on his M60? We already got him with a way more "modern upgraded look". Why it was necessary to make him again with that bold green-shirt look? Of course...another cheap addition to the retro-line with minimum effort.....

Renders:
Footloose - nice generic figure. Just to complete your collection. Nothing fancy. Even if they change the box to retro - he will look exactly the same.
Blue box with repainted AV - what the heck it is??? The box itself looks like some variation between the Cobra bunker and the Cobra Surveillance Port with a slight addition of Grid Iron Studios (just notice, how fast we going to get those upgrades)....Why?...For what purpose? I would say okay if they put some "needed" figure with it...but another AV???
MASS Device SE - okay...so its just the classic 25th cartoon package upgraded to 6 inch. If there wont be a Weather Dominator or the MASS Device itself in the end - it wont make any sense to buy this set. And thx for the snow bear - so this set can cost much more than the others.
Firefighter - it didnt sell well back in the days....and I can bet it wont be sell now too. Hasbro make the same mistakes...again?

AS the 3D render reveal.
Well, 2 guesses I could find on the web. Thudnermachine....but most likely its going to be the AWE Striker.

As my final thought: I just cant get it - so much money flowed in during the Rattler Haslab and we still getting this mess? And look at those prices...the X-men 97 Sentinel...or the Ecto-1 Haslabs... Its me or something inst right at Hasbro?

 

[nacho]

I disagree that Mindbender is a slap to people that hunted down the deluxe. Hasbro never promised that he'd never get a re-release or that he was somehow doomed to be behind an exclusive wall forever. Everyone assumed he'd get a mainline release with less accessories, the same as they all assume we'll get a Serpentor without chariot down the road. Gotta make the key characters available, and that inherently necessitates re-releasing. And it's not a straight up exact repeat, so they tempt people to double dip, but no one is going to die if they have a version with a plain cape.

I think a retro footloose will have the correct pants. Those airborne britches just don't look right, nor do the weird mid-leg sections with no camo.

I think retro RnR is mostly what I'd expect... correct green shirt, no tattoos. But like you, I'd have preferred they darken the green like his OG figure, and he should have the retro Duke helmet instead of the modern one. I might have to dye him darker if I can... everything I dye seems to come out near-black, but I guess if I just dunk a few times, I might be able to pull off a correct shade. But half the reason I'm buying retros is having them MOC too, so I'll gladly take any O13 with classic artwork packaging.

I don't think the MASS set is pointless without the device. The canisters and bell jars are still a cool bit of kit for dios and photos, and the polar bear is more interesting and useful than the old blind guy. Plus as some have pointed out, the bear can be used with the inevitable Iceberg from the episode where his nightmares come true and he's attacked by a polar bear. If you don't care about the sunbow mini-themed SE figure, then the bear shouldn't bother you either... it's just a skippable set.

However, I like getting 1/12 wild animals (better than more dumb pets). I've got a 1/12 panther and 1/12 rhino on pre-order at BBTS. Could make for some interesting photos with Recondo and friends besides battles with Cobra.

Yeah, Grid Iron will put out 3-4 overpriced upgrades for the Cobra Port-o-Let. Guaranteed. But at least the Trench Viper is aptly named. Someone has to dig the latrine holes!

I agree, that '97 Sentinel is heinous looking. But they kinda have to charge that much or risk pissing off everyone that supported the Haslab Sentinel for more money. It's a hard pass for anyone with the much nicer haslab version, but if you desperately need a big sentinel and don't want to pay $500 on the secondary market, I guess? It's a hard pass for me, but based on some Marvel threads, a lot of people like it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[HUNMARINE]

According to your words if Hasbro never promises something, than its probably will happen?
I"m more the "I will believe it when I see it" type of guy. We can assume many things...it depends on what Hasbro will produce.
OF course logic dictates that we will see someday the blue-yellow (comic/cartoon) version of Wild Bill, classic v1 Ripcord and the grey-red Crazy-Legs......but what about the Wild Weasel and Hiss driver?
About Mindbender - its just a bit confusing that you pay extra to get a deluxe version....but still they make the cheaper one looks better. Its obvious that this is the only way to make more buyers for the retro one. Still - a sad thing...

I"m glad you like that RnR so much. This is why this hobby is so nice. Many people with many tastes and opinions.
Still, even being a customizer myself - if I put out money, I prefer to get something for it that I can take out of the box and play/photo or just put it on the shelf for display without any modification/hinge tightening/repainting/weapon straight-ening/etc... or as you say "dye" it in darker tone....
Its like a "fly in the soup"....an unwanted extra to your order.

I"m fully aware that sets like the SE with Bear - was made for getting a wider audience to collect the classified line.
You said the main reason:
"and I'll take anything from the mini that offers both cool sunbow accessories and a nostalgia hit."
This is exactly why this set was made for. You are the target buyer.
I like the Sunbow series too, but a cheap repaint of SE with some plastic tubes and a Polar Bear figure that I can buy from other lines like Wild Animal or Sleich...(maybe even for cheaper price) - somehow do not motivate me for purchasing that box set.
+ In DiC series there were a part that involved a Polar Bear, Sub-Zero and Gnawgahyde too....

Yes to the "latrine hole diggers".
Joe fans were asking for generic troopers for decades. I know.
Even though somehow I cant put this 2 things together:
From one side we heard during the Rattler Haslab that Lenny said: "we aware that your shelf space has its limits, so we do these set, with these modifications - to save some space for you"...
And from the other side: we getting a diorama set with a figure that add nothing to your collection...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I"ve found the problem with the Sentinel.
According to Pulse website: in US its cost only 175 USD....for Europe its 223 EUR.
223 EUR is nearly 245 USD
So..175 USD vs 245 USD....thats why it seems so pricey to me....

 

[nacho]

Anytime there is a popular character in a deluxe or exclusive offering, it is assumed they will get a mainline release eventually. Thus Mindbender surprised exactly no one. Serpentor won't either, and like you say, "regular" Rip-Cord and Crazy-Legs are almost a given because the tooling is done and the figures will certainly sell.

Wild Weasel and Hiss driver are a slightly different case, in that neither has much use outside of their vehicle, so you question how big the market would be for those individually (recall that carded HISS driver was a massive shelf warmer in the 25th era). WW isn't a troop builder, and how many people really want one that didn't order a rattler? On the other hand, Wild Bill is popular aside from just being the Dragonfly pilot, so it makes more sense to put out a different deco for sunbow fans or people that didn't buy the chopper. Of course, none of this is set in stone, but as fans, we simply assume what is logical, and for the most part, that's how it works out. But sometimes hasbro is illogical... what ya gonna do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

People paid extra for the deluxe mindbender that came with a lot of extra accessories... and because it was the only option at the time. You say the new one "looks better", but I can't find any real difference in the retro mindbender figure itself from the deluxe other than the sigil on the cape, big deal . But of course Hasbro is going to try to give people a reason to double-dip. They're in the business of selling figures. Same reason the first RnR release was such a departure... they want to sell us more later.

Speaking of RnR, I too would *prefer* if retro RnR came out of the package perfect, but I know hasbro is not in the business of "perfect". They're in the business of "good enough for now". So if it requires a little work to make him exactly the way I want, then so be it. Not my preference, but I'm not going to swear off the figure because it's not 100% to my liking. Maybe I'm part of the problem, but I'm unwilling to wait for the next release that may never come or that may not suit me better. My preference is put in a little work and enjoy him on my shelf and in photos.

Never heard of the "Wild Animal" line you speak of (got any links?), but most of the detailed articulated 1/12 animals I've seen cost more than the Classified MASS polar bear set is likely to cost, including the SE repaint. For example:



And Schleich must be very different where you live. Around here, Schleich is barely 1:18 scale (more like 1/22-1/20 Playmobil scale) and typically have little or no articulation. Never seen a Schleich bear that's articulated and 10-12 inches tall on it's back legs. If you have such things cheap in your country, consider yourself rare and fortunate.

Gonna have to take your word for it that a polar bear appears in the later cartoons. I'm not a DiC fan. I wasn't even aware it existed until about 15 years after it was on tv. My Joe animated world stopped with the '87 movie.

To me, the X-Men '97 Sentinel is a terrible value even at $175 USD. It's just ugly, especially next to the haslab version. But clearly some people like it. No accounting for taste I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[HUNMARINE]

We"ll see what they come up next. I lost my "hope", when they launched that awful last 1/18th line - the "Retro".
I was hoping, that finally with so much tooling and experience behind they put "da besta of da besta" figures in the boxes. And we got that awful Roadblock as first...than Duke with O-mouth....and oh my....
That was the moment when I decided that no more figs - only if it good right out of the box...or some cheap custom fodder (thx JoyToy) My entire 1/18 Joe collection is in 90% - customs.
So...I dont assume or hope or believe nothing to Hasbro anymore. "Show me the produced piece - than we"ll talk."

"good enough for now"
Exactly!...I was talking about this to our (Hungarian) fan community - for years now.
For you...I mean you you and everybody else "you" - this thing dont drives you guys crazy after so much years?
Its the way of business, yeah ok...but only one side of it. Wont be it much better to finally make some ultimate variants that satisfies most of the fans and start to "create" and finally "think" of new themes, stories, characters and push that franchise forward that stuck in the 80s? (Dont get me wrong - I love the 80s)

Sorry about the mislead...
Yes..Sleich dont have exactly 1/12 scale line. They have bigger animal statues, but not the wanted one.
The "Wild Life" - dont ask me why - but I was thinking about "Animal Planet" ....great sets and toys...wrong scale.
Sorry...I was so much in 1/18, that sometimes I lost in the toys...ITs like "1/12 is 6 inch, while 12 inch is 1/6" .
Its not my intention to leave you without some links...so this is what I found:

The articulated one:

Union Creative Toy Box Sofubi 009: Polar Bear Soft Vinyl Figure OCT168712 | eBay

20 points of articulationFrom Union Creative. This 8" tall Polar bear sofubi boasts incredible detail and articulation at the neck, wrists, arms, shoulders, legs and ankles, with 20 points of articulation in all for realistic posing.

www.ebay.com

and non articulated:

Polar Bear Animal Toy 5 Inch PVC Action Figure Doll Kids Toys Gifts | eBay

Material: M ade of PVC. Product's color might be slightly different due to monitor color setting and nature of photography. It can be a premium gift for your friends, family or nearest one/s. Color: As shown in picture.

www.ebay.com

For me the only Joe cartoon until the 2000s was the 87 Movie....I did not know about the Sunbow series at all.
THx to the web - I have all of it and even did an amateur subtitles on Hungarian (just translated the official ones) for all the 2 season episodes including the mini series for our fan community.
Interesting that DiC series was officially translated and transmitted on many European television channels in the 90s...(I lived elsewhere at that time)
Anyway for me the first time I met with the DiC series was when I returned to my all old country in 2015-2016.

 

[nacho]

FYI, the retros (RnR, Mindbender, Viper) are up for PO at HP.

Never got any email or saw any forum chatter elsewhere, just was randomly checking to see what was shipping next and saw them up. Feels like a glitch, but that didn't stop me from putting in an order.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I got the email from Pulse about it. I didn't PO anything. Most recent POs for me were Leatherneck and Zandar, and might be the last ones for a while. I had to make them from WM because AMZ has them listed as "Unavailable." Not that I am crazy about trusting WM to do a good job, but that was my free shipping option. Says they will ship Feb 1, which is way sooner than AMZ estimated when they were showing available, so there's that.

 

[nacho]

Even pulse has Leatherneck and Zandar listed for Aug '25, so I wouldn't hold my breath for Feb.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I think Amazon had November or something like that (and that was before H'bro announced delays), so yeah. WM is high or something.

 

[nacho]

I also have orders at Amazon for that wave. They're listed as 10/3/25.

(If I'm buying more than one of something, I usually split my orders to hedge who might get them first or who might f#$% up my order/shipment. I trust no one.)

 

[ThunderDan19]

Since I know nacho was asking for it... 3D printed... on Mercari:

Mercari: Your Marketplace

Mercari is your marketplace. It's the perfect place to declutter and discover items that are uniquely you. Say 'goodbye' to your old go-tos and 'hello' to one-of-a-kind treasures.

www.mercari.com

I'd give him an A for effort, not so much for execution. Not sure if there's a market for that one though.

 

[nacho]

I don't understand people's obsession with such an ugly and impractical vehicle. And yeah, that took a lot of effort, but the end result is questionable.

I did own a Havoc as a kid, but in the Great Bedroom Wars™, it was usually the first vehicle to get hit by a cobra missile, flipped on it's side, and the surviving Joes would use the wreckage for cover. That was its main purpose.

 

[Videoviper]

Hey it lasted longer than the Triple T. One shot to the forehead.

I had a modern version in weird colors from one of those SDCC or whatever it was. I put each piece on EBay & that was the first & for awhile the only part to sell.

 

[nacho]

 

[Videoviper]

Heavy Duty will NOT be having any children!

Call OSHA

 

[nacho]

I do not understand the fawning over Heavy Duty. I already have a Roadblock. I like Roadblock. Why would I want or need a Roadblock knockoff?

- Retro Flint - hell yeah. One of my top five fav characters, and he needed a classic refresh after the mediocre early figure.

- Retro CG - I always liked the blonde version better (because the original figure was such an uggo). And the face on the first Classified figure reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Homer invents the makeup gun for Marge. Not good.

- Retro Televiper - I'll take a couple. I wanted more than what I bought b/c the flight pod was just too expensive to go crazy with.

- Nemesis Enforcer - The mask is weird, but overall I like the figure. Not a huge Cobra La fan, but Once-a-man Coco is a badass figure, so I'll likely keep going for now. Still haven't read the new Coco miniseries where CobraLa's a plot point, but hopefully it sucks less than the explanations in the animated film.

- Blowtorch - looks kickass. He's one of the few Joes I like that has a uniform that sticks out like a sore thumb. But he's an '84 classic, so he gets a pass far easier than later figures. Plus you can argue that his uni blends in with the fire he's creating, so it's not that egregious.

- Frag-viper - meh. I had one as a kid during the final leg of my ARAH days, but he felt like a waste of time. A guy whose specialty is throwing grenades... like every soldier can't throw a grenade? I've had people on other boards argue what a keen specialty this is, like some kind of special african tribal warfare or other nonsense. "They're silent!" they say. Shot-put Viper will never be high on my list. The figure looks pretty cool design-wise, but for me to get excited, I'd have to conjure up some new purpose for them. They could be some kind of shock troops or fire troops or desert troops. But not grenade-pitching troops. It's just too dumb, even for 1989.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Hmmm. I guess I was aware they were about to drop some more reveals, but kinda forgot about it after the underwhelming last one. First impressions from here:

Blowtorch: He’s probably the one I’m most on the fence about. There’s not much use for a flamethrower on the modern battlefield, but he does look kind of cool, and I did have him as a kid, and… pork chop sandwiches! It’ll probably come down to how he looks in person (too overpoweringly loud, or just a little loud), and if I can catch a deal, and if I’m desperate for some JCS action with not much else grabbing my interest.

Frag-Viper: Nah.

Nemesis: Big nah.

Heavy Duty: I like my version (CI Roadblock) better, so nah.

Flint: If the fig turns out to be significantly better than the original, I’ll likely get him to make an “ultimate“ version.

Tele-Viper: I’ll likely get one. I’m thinking he’ll be more of a directed acoustic weapon guy, since he‘s got a weapon that looks like it could be for that, and there’s not much use for a dedicated radio man these days.

Covergirl: She‘d have to be really special to beat out the version I made from swapping to movie Scarlett’s head, but I’m not completely ruling it out. She could potentially contribute a more comic-accurate Bombstrike head if I don’t think she’s quite a CG replacement. So… definitely maybe.

Overall impressions: better than the last one, just not that many I’m that interested in.

 

[nacho]

Hmmm. I guess I was aware they were about to drop some more reveals, but kinda forgot about it after the underwhelming last one. First impressions from here:

Blowtorch: He’s probably the one I’m most on the fence about. There’s not much use for a flamethrower on the modern battlefield, but he does look kind of cool, and I did have him as a kid, and… pork chop sandwiches! It’ll probably come down to how he looks in person (too overpoweringly loud, or just a little loud), and if I can catch a deal, and if I’m desperate for some JCS action with not much else grabbing my interest.

Frag-Viper: Nah.

Nemesis: Big nah.

Heavy Duty: I like my version (CI Roadblock) better, so nah.

Flint: If the fig turns out to be significantly better than the original, I’ll likely get him to make an “ultimate“ version.

Tele-Viper: I’ll likely get one. I’m thinking he’ll be more of a directed acoustic weapon guy, since he‘s got a weapon that looks like it could be for that, and there’s not much use for a dedicated radio man these days.

Covergirl: She‘d have to be really special to beat out the version I made from swapping to movie Scarlett’s head, but I’m not completely ruling it out. She could potentially contribute a more comic-accurate Bombstrike head if I don’t think she’s quite a CG replacement. So… definitely maybe.

Overall impressions: better than the last one, just not that many I’m that interested in.

There's more coming tomorrow during the 10/27 event, potentially some POs tomorrow as well.

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Now that we're getting retro blonde CG, I'm going to use this head I ordered for my version of Bombstrike:



... if I can find a body I like. I guess I can make this version from a spare LJ with a Vala female vest:

 

[nacho]

Nemesis Enforcer going up for PO tomorrow... 1pm for premium, 2pm for all else.

Unlike Dan, I'm on the fence. Some pics of him look pretty cool while others look kinda ghoulish, like he was designed by McFarlane toys, not hasbro. I'll probably order 1 for the studio, but I'm not feeling the need to display anything from CobraLa on my shelves.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yep, no chance I buy NE or anything Cobra La, with the very unlikely exception of if somehow they make the Royal Guard look “normal” enough to be some kind of up-armored hostile environment shock trooper. That was how I used them back in the day, while Globulous and Nemesis stayed in the Joe fig bag. No actual use as ancient snake people then or now.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, it's weird. I hated them back in the day... but I bought the 3-pack when it was on heavy clearance at Children's Palace (right before they went under). Yet I still have nostalgia for Cobra La no matter how much I disliked the way they were retconned into the mythos.

Definitely not my fav, but I can compartmentalize. I was always glad they never made it into the Hama comic, as I considered that to be the more realistic version of Joe. But with Sunbow, having Cobra La in a world with Fatal Fluffies, skyscraper sized fruit, teleportation, Godzilla-sized germs, weather control, animal control, mind control, synthoids, etc... it was bad, but not completely out of character for the toon. But it's not like Cobra La is going to magically appear in some dio I have with Joes in a LRRP jungle setup... I have limits.

 

[Videoviper]

CL were interesting toys with a bad backstory. If they were just Mindbender’s mutant mistakes they would have been better received.

speaking of Mindbender, I really hated the character as a kid but had the figure so I made him competent like he was in the comics. He became a lot more tolerable without Serpentor. Who I also had because it was impossible to get CC.

 

[nacho]

CL were interesting toys with a bad backstory. If they were just Mindbender’s mutant mistakes they would have been better received.

speaking of Mindbender, I really hated the character as a kid but had the figure so I made him competent like he was in the comics. He became a lot more tolerable without Serpentor. Who I also had because it was impossible to get CC.

That's actually a good angle for CL. I might use that. Mindbender as Dr Moreau... Cobra La mutants... some of which could develop delusions of grandeur, actually inventing their own fictional backstory as an ancient race while really just being lab freaks. Like King Tut in Batman... just a crazy guy that THINKS he's an ancient ruler... because he's a nutjob.

 

[ThunderDan19]

That's definitely a step up from the movie. I could almost get behind that: Mindbender and company meddling with clone tech, trying to create better Cobra troops and leaders. That could account for a lot of the weird in the line actually. Clone tech has come a long way since the 80's, but it is certainly no sure thing, especially when the creator is raving mad.

 

[nacho]

FYI, Heavy Duty (everywhere) and Bunker w/ Latrine-Viper (Pulse Excl) up for PO tomorrow...