Still not crazy about the "service charge," but I finally made my order. Even with that and the not free shipping, it's still a heck of a deal for a habitual modernizer such as myself, particularly with today's prices on everything CS. Not sure I will find a use for every piece of kit, particularly since a lot of the Joes have been coming with their own modern body armor kit lately, but at least I'll have it when I need it.
Yeah, Armada is an odd duck for sure, but her impracticality doesn't bother me in a group that has a a hypnotist, a croc trainer, a bird-man, and a myriad of other characters and vehicles that are wacky and highly impractical. Imposing a different standard on her would be odd, so I'm probably down for one. Don't need her on the display shelf, but maybe she can hang in the studio with gold Destro and make Baroness jelly.Yeah, I have no point of reference for Armada and her outfit to me looks backward to me. Normally you'd want to armor up the torso (where all the vitals are) and leave the arms and legs mobile. Pretty face or not, she seems to have misread the instructions. And the red gloves... that's a fashion choice... along with the battlefield cleavage. She's definitely bringing sexy back!
I was looking to see if maybe I could salvage an interesting character from her and Jody Shooter parts, but I don't think the high tops really work for her, and, even swapping out the silver arms and legs, the silver shoes are still a bit much, so that seems like a dead end.
I could maybe swap out her arms and legs with that of SE movie Baroness, but I would have to go all the way to the shoulder joints (not really digging the rolled up sleeves - also an odd choice - even on the current version). That's pretty tedious though and I wouldn't consider myself confident with the removal and replacement of complete arms. But the result seems like it would be a serious toned-down improvement, if actually reducing her "battle readiness." Her role would have to be much more espionage than battlefield lieutenant, but then what do I end up with when I'm done, ethnic Baroness?
I do need IG though, and in my guestimation it looks like that alteration might make her something of an infiltrator. Need to lose the shoulder things too, whatever those are. Maybe I'll take the plunge and go for it when she goes on closeout, like all the CS girls eventually do, particularly obscure ones.
As for Duke, to me this is the manned up, modernized version, less an under-armored (pardon the pun) pretty boy and more of a gritty, battle-ready Sergeant. This one definitely gives hybrid SF/Spook QRF. He will be displacing my previous "ultimate" and will inherit anything he still needs (helmet comes to mind) from him. I'm thinking he's gonna lose the light machine gun and inherit a more mobile assault rifle as well. Hit fast, hit hard!
Even after a couple more looks, IB and TV remain down my "buy them when they go on discount" list (pretty sure I got those two late in their run back in the day too), while Synapse still looks like a reject from a Mad Max flick. No thanks.
Agreed, nothing seems to have changed on the new wave or the announced retros.2026 YoJoe June 4th And Final Fanstream Coverage
The fourth and final Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Fanstreams for this year's YoJoe June event kicks off today which is being led by Hasbro's own BMac and YouTubtoynewsi.com
Almost caught this one in real time. I didn't mind starting a little late to run it at 2x though, as I wanted to get to the new stuff faster anyway!
No real change on my opinions of the stuff dropping for PO today. If anything, the studio light shadowing and pics of Duke and Armada were less flattering. I will be happy to wait until they drop before buying for sure and probably will wait for a sale/discount/closeout for all but Duke. Still a big nope on the weirdo.
I really don't get the compulsion to do all new characters when there are a ton of decent fringe toon and comic characters that would likely get more interest.
As for the new:
- Falcon - I feel like I already have that Falcon (old body/new head) with upgrades. No need to buy him again unless it's on sale, for wallpaper, assuming the package art isn't Flint-like
- Valkyrie - exactly the same as with Falcon.
- Flash - yes, of course. I think everyone will be buying that one. I liked BMac's little nod to future silver pad GS as well. Will likely be getting him as well down the road.
- Lara Croft - yeah, pretty sure I will, assuming it's possible in the exclusive realm of the convention drops.
- Crimson SNAKE - nah.
- Marauders - also nah.
- Triple T - I'll withhold judgement until I see the actual upgraded product, but I'm not holding my breath. Would have way preferred a Thunder Machine instead.
