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

nacho

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Starting to lose some steam now though...
No doubt it'll slowly plod along for the next few weeks and then get a big boost at the end. Happens for every single haslab. It won't be blowing through all the tiers in the first week like the HISS, but this thing is huge, costs more, had a useless first tier, and we still haven't gotten the LAST Joe Haslab yet, a sticking point for a few folks. So it doesn't shock me that it's following a more normal trajectory than the first two. It still funded in under 24 hrs, and the three Joe Haslabs are the only ones to ever do that.

We could be the SW people having to sit around for the next six weeks wondering if it'll fund :cool:
 
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ThunderDan19

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Crazy that Joe has outperformed juggernauts SW and TF in the Haslabs. Seems like the JCS team has done a better job of offering reasonably good value on highly desired and otherwise unobtainable vehicles. I think these successes have bred confidence for the line in general, as it had seemed a little anemic until picking up momentum with the success of the HISS and then Dragonfly.
 
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nacho

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Part of that was simply because the ARAH line was so vehicle focused. When the Classified line started, any kind of vehicle was off the table. Without some classic hardware, it's almost like getting the figures without any weapons. It's cool but feels very incomplete. While I love the characters first and foremost, it's gratifying to get some of these classic vehicles in-scale with them.

For the price of a Masterpiece Takara TF, you get a massive 1:12 Joe vehicle that you never imagined possible... which is awesome, even if you don't know where to put some of it.
 
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ThunderDan19

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So I came into a couple AMZ gift cards and promptly pre-ordered the 60th HALO and Marine. I decided they will be modernized Rip-cord and Bombstrike. I was very close to pulling the trigger on retro Beachhead too, but hesitated since I also had other (actually necessary) merch to order. I will likely waver if I ever see him in person, since I was that close.

I was feeling a little bit of FOMO from not snatching the NF Shockwave/cycle when it was on sale before it sold out, so I was an easy mark to do the AMZ PO today when those gift cards came in. I know I just need to be patient, as there are already secondary offerings of just the SW fig on Mercari. I just need to see the price come down a bit or find another way to not overpay for a figure I really don't need (but do want :LOL:).

I kinda hated paying the extra for the chute and ghillie on the 60ths that I will never use (much like it would have been with the NF cycle), but it is what it is. I have a couple pretty big bags of leftovers by now. I just need to get disciplined once the PO's come in and do a Mercari listing to see about moving those, and maybe at least partially offsetting the cost of the NF SW.

It's crazy that AMZ has the 60ths estimated for an October delivery when SS and Alpine are not scheduled until December. I think that will likely update significantly like Doc and Torch did. And I need to get serious about starting to bring some figs home. I am literally out of space at work with D & T added.
 

nacho

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I'm amazed the Shockwave & NF Cycle were on such discount since it was just being released. I agree you should have jumped on that one ;) I hadn't even received the one I ordered from Pulse before getting the cheap one from WM. That almost never happens... reminds me of the newly-minted Grunts that got caught up in the target 1/2 price sale last year. Sometimes you get lucky.

And other times, you don't. The $20 deluxe Amazon Eels that seemed too good to be true in April just got canceled. Amazon said there just wasn't enough stock. Meanwhile, you can still order them on Prime for full price, but it's a 3rd party seller. I just grabbed another couple of cheaper retros to fill the squads I had planned, but why take orders for stuff you aren't getting? Amazon vexes me sometimes.

And yeah, retro BH is great. His gear is pretty meh, but the figure could only be toonier if it were done by Super7. It's a great ARAH nostalgia-inducing figure.
 
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ThunderDan19

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Yeah, that price drop was certainly rare. If it were a fig I didn't already have a version of, I'd have had to jump on it. I do expect to get retro BH at some point. Like you said, he's too good to completely pass up. Tough part for me then will be to decide which elements from each to incorporate into my "ultimate."

I think the AMZ exclusive Eel turned out to be a real debacle for them. That figure is much more popular than the other exclusives they got and people were pissed to miss out. I think that got the Eel pushed toward the top of the retros. At least the retros are as good or better than the original CS ones.
 
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nacho

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After getting the Tigerpaw and Wreckage last week, I decided to make some much needed improvements. First, I removed all the weird tattoos off of his... mask (?) (seriously hasbro, enough already with the weird ink). He looks 100% better. Still has Firefly's crazy-eyes, but I chalk that up to the adrenaline of going into battle on a 4-wheeler that launches missiles.

Then I disassembled the 4-wheeler, took some acetone to the tampos, and sprayed it "Italian Olive Green". Krylon doesn't sell a US olive drab as far as I can tell. The Italian version has a little more grey in it than I'd like, but it's not bad. Definitely an improvement. I'll put a flat clear top coat on it tomorrow and reassemble mid-week. I just couldn't stand that stupid yellow bullseye. I contemplated giving it a khaki / desert paintjob, but I figured it would look better with the RAM,VAMP, and Dragonfly if I kept it green.
 
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nacho

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Well, despite my lack of love for everything Cobra La, I broke down and ordered Once a Man Coco.

It's wasn't exactly FOMO due to 80's nostalgia, but rather knowing that this plays into the very-well-received CoCo comic that I haven't read yet, my concern was that I was going to really like THAT story or that it would explain things in a fashion that makes more sense or that incorporated the used car salesman version I like so well... and THEN I would get the FOMO. So I had Pre-FOMO? PROMO? Tony Romo? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And now he's sold out. Not sure if that was because of big demand or little supply... or both.

Depending on when things ship, I could end up with light blue, dark blue, and black Regal CoCo, Mickey Mouse, and Once a Man... so I'd own five Cobra Commanders before getting the classic one that comes in the retro packaging. That's all we ever wanted. Way to milk it well into year five, hasbro. :grumpy:
 
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ThunderDan19

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Reading you loud and clear. I keep hitting up Mercari, looking for a loose, well priced NF SW (NFSW?), even though *looks up list on post-it* :
  • He isn't the SW I had as a kid so no actual nostalgia
  • I don't have any other NF nor care for any of them that much (well, Crazylegs and Rip-cord, but that ain't happnin')
  • He comes with a vehicle I don't need
  • He is actually a slightly inferior and less decorated/equipped fig for his jorb than the original
  • He doesn't come with his original weapons/shield
  • I don't need the weapons he comes with
  • I can't actually justify him as a direct replacement for the one I have and I really have no other use for him as an urban Beachhead or anything like that so what the heck would I actually do with him?
But... *pulls out other post-it*
  • He looks cool
  • He's Shockwave
  • Gray digital camo
  • He looks cool
So I'd say the ayes have it... :LOL:
 
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nacho

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Be glad you didn't buy the discounted Gnawgahyde from WM. Turns out it was a marketplace seller... from chiner. It got delivered today... in Oklahoma City. I have never set foot in Oklahoma.

So a bunch of people got a tracking number meant for someone else, and someone in OK probably got a box of rocks. But WM is going to make me wait 48hours for the seller to respond before they acknowledge the scam and give me a refund. :rolleyes: Even ebay/paypal/amazon give you your money back right away when you've been scammed. WTF Mattel?!

Had I realized it was coming from Chiner, I'd never have bothered.
 

ThunderDan19

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Oh man. That sucks. I've hated the not-actually-the-retailer sellers since AMZ first opened that up years ago. I remember a bad experience with one back in the 25th days, and was pissed at AMZ for a while because of it. I've watched the shipping estimates and usually enable only the actual AMZ/WM sales when I do searches for stuff I'm looking for since. WM's website is a chaotic mess though, so I can see how it would be hard to weed out the bad seeds there.

Even worse for me has been when the USPS swears they delivered something when they absolutely haven't. Unless you have a really cool retailer (Old Navy comes to mind on that one) that stands behind you as the customer, you are completely at the mercy of an inefficient behemoth government agency that has no motivation to bother getting that single package to you the lowly customer.

In fairness, I've had most packages show up eventually (probably more thanks to honest postal customers I assume), but I know I have gotten screwed by them (on items inexpensive enough to not pursue for very long) once or twice over the years.
 

nacho

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Yeah, Amazon has always stood up when I tell them I didn't get something, usually sending me a replacement. And sometimes it'll arrive a week later and I'll have to call them and send duplicate stuff back or pay for the doubles or whatever.

But in this case, the tracking on WM's website just showed "delivered 11:05AM". When I took the tracking number to China Post, it showed the whole story, "delivered 11:05AM Oklahoma City 73160". Same story when I go to USPS... Oklahoma City. I find it odd that they omit that part when showing you tracking info on the WM site. But it's hard for Wal-Mart to argue with that. They can't scream "Oh it was delivered!" when I can prove that it was delivered to the wrong state.

The girl on the chat said that she'd flag the seller for review when I protested that it was clearly a scam, but I suspect WM will end up eating that one if they already released funds to the scammer.
 
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nacho

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I'll be honest, the paint looks better in person than it does in the harsh light of my desklamp. None of the dozens of little flaws I see in the pics show in real life.

The color *almost* matches. I found a Rustoleum paint that might be a little closer than the Krylon I used, but I didn't want to put another coat on for fear of making a mess of things. Painting all the guns and missiles and such to get rid of all that red helps as much as anything.

It wasn't too bad to take apart, and fortunately, the 12 or so screws I had to removed were all the same size, so I didn't have to keep track of what screw went in what part.

Overall I'm happy, and I think it'll look good as the motor pool expands.
 

ThunderDan19

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It's a much better look for Joe duty than the goofy TF paint job for sure. Looks totally legit!
 
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ThunderDan19

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Been watching the Rattler slooooowly plod along toward that second (first actual) unlock. I was expecting it first on Saturday, then yesterday, and now I'd imagine it will finally mosey across the 14000 line with only 17 more backers needed today or tonight. I dunno if finally crossing that threshold that will set of a three week rush to try to unlock the Baroness or not. I'm not overly optimistic.
 

nacho

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100% guarantee the baroness gets unlocked. Hear me now, believe me later.

As with most haslabs, 40% of the orders will come in the last 48 hours. FOMO will kick in, places like BBTS will put in a few dozen, some overseas bulk orders will magically appear. The final day spike is always tremendous... like Democrat mail-in ballots, you wonder where they all came from out of the blue.
 
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ThunderDan19

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Ha ha ha, nice! Love the bold prediction! You think the Rattler will ultimately beat the Dragonfly - which had nearly 25k? I feel like the DF had a little better pace, but it has been a while, so I don't trust my recollection of it entirely.
 

nacho

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I think the Rattler with a higher price point and less figures will sell less than the dragonfly. The figures are a biggie, as a lot of people justify mutables by selling off the extras. And while she's sexy, yet another Baroness isn't a must have like some others. So, no I don't predict dragonfly numbers, but easily unlocking Baroness.
 
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ThunderDan19

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I'm satisfied with my dark blue CC, at least until the Battle Armor CC finally comes out, but dang if this one isn't perfectly retro fabulous, like right out of the cartoon! Looks great among the other Cobra leadership.

Also, numbers are picking up more quickly again now, but can we get 1500 more in 4 days?
I'm starting to think we just might! :LOL:
 

nacho

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I'm satisfied with my dark blue CC, at least until the Battle Armor CC finally comes out, but dang if this one isn't perfectly retro fabulous, like right out of the cartoon! Looks great among the other Cobra leadership.

Also, numbers are picking up more quickly again now, but can we get 1500 more in 4 days?
I'm starting to think we just might! :LOL:
Weird, my reaction was just the opposite. That blue is way too dark and saturated. It's practically the same color as the ultra-saturated retro trooper (I'm getting a few troopers, but they're going to have to be in a unit by themselves, can't mix with the other blueshirts). What happened to CoCo being sky blue? What is retro about this color?

1725572060681.png is not 1725572143561.png or 1725572398274.png or even 1725572644931.png

Also, numbers are picking up more quickly again now, but can we get 1500 more in 4 days?
I'm starting to think we just might! :LOL:
Like I said before, 100% guarantee. Hear me now, believe me later.

If you follow the trends of other haslabs, it's going to unlock Baroness with a day or two to spare. I'll be stunned if it doesn't break 20k. Still not as many as the Dragonfly, but close, maybe 85-90% as many.
 

ThunderDan19

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I guess my memory is a little “colored” by my only having the dark blue hooded as my non-armored CC. I forget how much lighter the masked one actually was. I guess it’s a masked version in the color of the hooded?
 

nacho

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Maybe. But as soon as I buy this one, I know they'll come out with a correct light blue one. And then they'll do a retro version of the light blue one, but it'll have little short toy gloves. And then they'll do one with the correct gloves, but it won't be on a retro card either, and the line will die and leave that hole in the collection. I'll own 8-9 CoCos and none of them will be "correct".

This is the way.
 
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ThunderDan19

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Like I said before, 100% guarantee. Hear me now, believe me later.

If you follow the trends of other haslabs, it's going to unlock Baroness with a day or two to spare. I'll be stunned if it doesn't break 20k. Still not as many as the Dragonfly, but close, maybe 85-90% as many.
Spot on the Baroness prediction! Have you ever thought about stock trading? :LOL:
 

nacho

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Hahaha, I tried day-trading once, but it was back in the days of low funds and high brokerage fees. I "made" money but ended up paying as much in trading fees as I made in stock picks. I prefer buying real estate now. It can't disappear overnight like stocks.

But yeah, 2-1/2 days to go, and everything unlocked. That'll spur a good solid finish. It's funny how consistent the backer curves for these projects are. After the first week, you can practically plot the remainder of the campaign.

Let's see if it can catch the Dragonfly.
 

ThunderDan19

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27293 - the best Joe Haslab yet… Wow!

Edit: Dropped to 26903. Bunch of rejected credit cards? Still the top Haslab for Joe.
 
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nacho

"Big Guns"
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This morning it's over 28k... maybe counted in some international orders or bulk orders? Either way, it beat my expectations and eclipsed the dragonfly and the HISS. It's interesting that it didn't take off like a shot as the other two did but finished stronger. I guess there is still more to learn about Haslab backer curves!

Still, hard to imagine it got 10k units past the Baroness unlock. That's wild. Should have had two more stretches!
 

ThunderDan19

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Wow, that's odd. What a campaign though!

As a pretty good version of my favorite plane growing up and the closest thing to a 'Hog in the line, this one tempted me the most. I got as far as seeing my total with tax and shipping in the check-out and just couldn't justify it, despite a couple minor windfalls recently, and even knowing I could likely have gotten my kids to pick up most of the cost. Another good stretch goal or two might have pushed me over, but I don't think Hasbro is particularly missing my support at this point anyway. :LOL:

I have managed to keep my collection contained once again, and am still really enjoying the line as a whole, despite constantly trying (sometimes more successfully than other times) to keep it on budget. What a great time to be a Joe fan!
 
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nacho

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Just in case anyone wanted to see the data:

1726068407488.png

The things this data doesn't incorporate is the time of year that all of these campaigns took place as well as the timing of any other Haslabs running at the same time. Sometimes they run them late in the year and end up competing with holiday shopping, and sometimes they run concurrently or just after another campaign, thus potentially forcing some of the overlapping fandom to choose due to budget constraints or whatnot. But the data is still cool and it's still interesting how reasonably consistent this fandom's buying patterns are.
 
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ThunderDan19

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I'm trying to remember, did either of the other Haslabs have stretch goals added after the campaign was underway? I feel like those might have added blips to the curves if they were attractive enough. HISS seems to have a push starting around day 7 or so.
 

nacho

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The HISS had the benefit/detriment of having an early-bird figure that everyone got if it funded in the first week. Of course, it funded in like 8 hours, so that was cool. But it also may have gotten people to back the campaign a little early, as there was some confusion at the time about whether or not everyone got the figure, or if it was just the people that backed it the first week, or just the people that got it to the unlock... they didn't communicate it very clearly, and people can't read, so even after they explained it, confusion reigned.

So I think the initial push for the HISS was greater than normal, thus causing a slight slump in days 5-7 after everyone realized there was no rush. Then it picked right back up to the normal curve around day 8. That's the only reason I can come up with to explain that little slowdown-n-restart after the first week of the HISS.
 
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ThunderDan19

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I watched the PulseCon stream and was less than impressed by the event. It really seemed rushed, so much that they apparently forgot(?) to do the retro render reveals. I guess they were too busy playing a video game with Dan Larson. Meh.

They toy revealed Leatherneck, Dial-Tone, Zandar and Saw Viper. I'll likely be PO'ing Leatherneck and Zandar. I like LN pretty well, and will pretty much be getting Zandar mostly just to fill out the Zartan family (just like back in the day).

I might pick up Dial-Tone at some point, if I catch him on good enough of a sale. He's a little redundant with modern communications, but also seems to have picked up some duties from Psyche Out, so there's that, and apparently has DJ duty with his backpack mixer. I have no interest in Saw Viper since I never had one and don't much care for the deco.

Overall, underwhelming...