I finally got around to opening W4 of the Joe Ultimates, and I have to say, they're all impressive.
- Baroness in her black deco... which is very grey in this toy, not much black to be found. But it looks very toony and comes with a ton of episode specific accessories (cobra perfume, snake-in-a-basket that shoots knockout gas, the siren conch, a camera with a telephoto lens for spying on her cheating boyfriend... and a few others. Very nicely done.
- Gung-Ho - while I like all Joes, esp 82-85, GH is probably one of my least favorite *prominent* Joes. He always got a lot of screen time, but I never liked him that much. Bald, mustachioed, and not that bright, let's just say that in any scene, I could find a character I liked better. But this guy... he stepped right out of my TV. I just kept staring, amazed at how well they captured this brutish character in 3d form. They included a tiny Wolverine for him to play with when Stalker's TV cameras are off and a backpack with actual straps!
- Stalker... speaking of, he's pretty incredible, especially the portrait of Lonzo that captures the toon in a way I never dreamed an action figure could. They gave him what I call "big camo", i.e. large patches of dark green, because animation is hard. I love that OG look for some reason, and it's almost never replicated in his toys. It only appears on his figure in one of the 25th MASS Device DVD sets, IIRC. He's got plenty of accessories, like the jetpack and explosive pack he uses in the classic intro, as well as mutable rifle options, walkie-talkie, canteen, heads, hands, etc. Looks straight off the screen. Unreal.
- Zartan - when I thought it didn't get better than Lonzo, I open up Zartan, and I've never seen any figure of him come close to the animation portrait, as well as get the hood looking right. The hood has plenty of waves and wrinkles in the fabric, but it's not laying flat on his head, nor does it look like it's blowing in the wind. It just looks like it's moving with him, like on tv, even though the rubbery plastic doesn't move much. The deco looks just like the toon, and he comes with multiple guns, a briefcase bomb, an episode specific countdown wristwatch, multiple expressions, multiple hands, etc. Oddly, he comes with no masks or disguised heads, so you'll just have to do a swap if you want to make him look like someone else, but since everyone comes with mutable heads anyway, that's no big deal. Oh and he retains the OG sunlight color change feature! (unlike hasbro's recent color change zartans that change in the cold? WTF Mattel!). Only downside is that it means he doesn't get painted faces, the big universal complaint against Fint and Lady Jaye. But in this case, I think the tradeoff is worth it. He looks so much like toon zartan, no paint would make it any better.
I know I'm probably the only one on here buying these. I'm not sure I even went over W3, but it was similarly awesome with Scarlett, Doc, Storm Shadow, and Cobra Trooper. The 5th wave should be out this summer and then who knows. W6 was a DiC repaint wave of the three ladies we've gotten so far, and it was canceled due to lack of orders... but they were ugly repaints, so I'm trying not to assume the worst for the line. Hopefully a regular W7 is in the works, as this is the best "display" line out there. Classified is taking up more and more display space at home, but in the new office, the Ultimates are getting a shelf or two of their own.
My only fear is that the line will end before all my must-haves get made. Even if you don't plan to collect the line, if you have a fav character or two, watch for sales and pick up a couple of these. It's hard to be disappointed, and you'll think it's 3:30 in the afternoon in 1985 all over again.
