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

[nacho]

I do want a CS set... but I also won't cry myself to sleep if I'm unable to obtain one. It's very episode specific and not critical to my collection.

But I do agree that quite frankly, this is 100% the kind of thing we should see as con exclusives, not Slaughter or Mindbender like in years past, not "Zarana" like in the 25th days or definitive versions (looking at you, Pizza Spidey from over a decade ago - the best Spider-Man made until the $50 Maximum version just released). Pizza Spidey was part of a con exclusive 6-pack of Marvel Legends. Talk about unobtainium.

In the case of Cold Slither... it's kinda niche, gotta be a little nerdy to be "in the know", and the figures are not viable as mass market releases. Imagine shelf after shelf of unsellable CS Ripper at Ollies... So it makes sense to put them in a lower-volume, premium box set.

I think they should do more story-specific sets:

- a comic set with some combination of Wade Collins, Fred, Candy, Kwinn, Scarface, Dr Venom, Dr Appel, etc.
- a Worlds Without End set with tan Clutch, sunbow Steeler, blue-green Grunt, glasses-less Baroness.
- a Synthoid set with wetsuit Shipwreck, Mara, Dr Whatshisname, and a couple of synthoid "blanks"... maybe even Altheia
...and so forth.

Many of these would allow for a fair amount of reused tooling, and they'd get characters and decos out there that would not be viable at mass retail... but would be very popular in collecting circles. And not every collector would "need" every set, so you could pick and choose the ones that hit you in the feels.

 

[nacho]

Loving Hawk... despite the fact that I'll immediately change out the vest for a Stalker harness and my grand plan for an upgraded classic missile design.

Budo.... still a hard pass.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I really like Col. Hawk as well, but I don't get much nostalgia from the set because, as you have well detailed, they botched the Hawk style missiles. It really doesn't look much like the OG version I got as my first Joe "vehicle" for Christmas 1982. Fun fact I ran across when looking up the old (real life) Hawk system: Most recently deployed to Ukraine in 2022. Whaaaat???

Will I ever own Col. Hawk? Hmm, unlikely. I already have my definitive General Hawk so it would have to be a completely spontaneous aftermarket purchase. And, as much as I enjoy stretching my Joeverse to include new characters for really good figures, I don't know how I could include him.

As for Budo, he will also need to be an aftermarket (or highly discounted) purchase. I won't pay more than the standard $25 for him, just for extra samurai digs I'll never use. That said, I'll be on the hunt for the opportunity after he drops, later this year? Hopefully he releases in time for the unsold leftovers to go deeply on sale by Christmas!

 

[Videoviper]

Cold Slither works for the limited run exclusives that you may or may not be able to get.

much better than that need to have characters that never get reissued for whatever reasons.

 

[nacho]

YoJoe June Fanstream details:

Name Only:
- Steel Corps Sentry w/ Defense Post
- Desert Scorpion

Digital Renders:
- AWE Striker (revealed... again?... still ugly w/ absurdly tiny front tires)
- Legacy Police Officer (nice enough, but do we need rando cops?)
- Sgt Slaughter (desert camo) and Mercer 2-pack (don't want another lame-ass sarge, but Mercer... I'm torn)

POs for today (12pm for Prem Members, 1pm for gen-pop):
- Slice & Dice 2-pack (pass - I'm done with ninjas that aren't classic-style red ninjas)
- Budo (nope) (side note - armor has classic Japanese GIJoe logo, which is a very cool nod)
- MMS w/ Hawk (Lenny is unaware that Hawk came with the MMS originally; he wanted to include him here "because I did my research and he was on the original box"... WTF Mattel)

Haslab campaign starting later in June

 

[ThunderDan19]

Coverage of the livestream:

2025 YoJoe June Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Fanstream Coverage

Today Hasbro is holding another Fanstream with the G.I. Joe brand team to celebrate YoJoe June. Among other things we expect to see them reveal the new G.I. J

toynewsi.com

I can't see the full video yet because corporate reasons. From the pics though, nothing overly impressive with the reveals. Impressions:

Cold Slither - still don't care
AWE Striker - still don't like the changes, would like to get Crankcase as a standalone, but wouldn't invest too much for it
Cop - not impressed with the TB Tele-Viper arm treatment. It's lazy. They should have just given him long sleeves if they want to offer the race swap.
Sarge/Mercer - After snagging a regular at Ollie's, I was never interested in another Slaughter, but Mercer looks to be a disappointment. Not sure what I was expecting, but that one is underwhelming.

Slice & Dice - still less than zero interest
Budo - still want to get him, but not the version they were showing off
Hawk/MMS - no change in interest. I like the Hawk figure, but that's about it.

Steel Corp defense post - likely to be just a straight up repaint of the Cobra one?
Desert Scorpion - I really don't remember that character, will have to look it up. After looking him up, yeah, nope. They are really leaning into the animals so I'd expect some kind of oversized scorpion. Maybe (hopefully) a robotic drone or something?

"Keep it frosty"? A Haslab clue?

Yeah, they are definitely teasing Snow Cat with the snow and "chill," etc.

 

[nacho]

Desert Scorpion is a 90's trooper. According to the file card, it's where they demote crappy Vipers to. So they have to live hard to survive, and if they continue to screw up, they get further demoted to Toxo-Vipers, not a place anyone wants to be.

Looks like a figure designed with the AI prompt "If Dusty were a member of Ninja Force...". Very 90's.

That's likely a hard pass unless I see parts with custom potential.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Overall, despite my not being overly impressed with most and definitely not PO'ing any of it, it was not a terrible start to YJ June, particularly if they are saving some of the better stuff for future drops. Should climax with the Haslab reveal and kick off. It'll be interesting to see how the reaction is when the actual HL reveal happens.

I'll reiterate that I would never have predicted that Budo would be the highlight for me so far, but I'm actually kind of excited to add him to the SE/SS/Scarlett/Jinx fire team. I've made it well known that I am not overely excited about ninjas/samurai in general, but a team that can bring their martial arts skills to bear in the commando/infiltration arena, utilizing silent as well as modern weapons, is kind of a cool force multiplier. So modern Budo gets a place.

 

[Videoviper]

Slice & Dice were the end of Joe for me.

I remember hoping they would split Snake-Eyes onto his own comic so I could get back to some military stories.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, I had given up on the comic by then, and guys running around in their neon jammies didn't make me think I was missing anything.

30min into the Pulse PO, MMS is sold out, plenty of Budo and Slice/Dice available. Hopefully Hasbro gets the memo that some of this stuff is too niche even for Joe. Stick to the military stuff!

 

[ThunderDan19]

Hama always had an obsession with ninjas and way overpowered and overused them in the comics, to the detriment of the military elements. It was somewhat appropriate during the general ninja mania of the early 80's, but he seemed to lean in even as the rest of the world moved on. It's a little ironic that he overdid the mystical arts but had little time for the other fantastical elements of the lore through its duration.

As I mentioned above, characters with martial arts abilities can leverage those for efficient and silent infiltration, but when surprise is lost and the bullets start flying, they best be able to shoot back as well.

 

[nacho]

I'm surprised that Hama leaned into the ninja stuff so hard given his actual military background. Like you said, it made sense to give it some focus during the 80's ninja craze, but this isn't a group of superheroes or guys hopping around in halloween costumes. They're still supposed to be elite soldiers grounded in some level of reality, even if mysterious or seemingly fantastical/mystical events happen on occasion.

But it's no secret I'm enamored with the O13 "greenies" and the more realistic aspects of the franchise. Commando SE was vastly superior to Ninja SE because... duh. Ripcord was my favorite figure in '84 because he had a cool specialty AND didn't stick out like a neon sign when he hit the ground. Same reason Flint and Dusty were the best of '85 and NOT Barbecue, Airtight, and Bazooka (so dumb).

Even in the later years, my favorite figures were the ones I could imagine being legit in real life. Tunnel Rat, Falcon, Hit-n-Run, etc. Chuckles was an exception, as it seemed like his job was undercover infiltrating drug/gun gangs or something. He was allowed to kinda dress native, and his attire looks like a Miami/South American drug runner.

But neon ninjas? Enough already. That played out in the 80's and hasn't aged any better.

 

[ThunderDan19]

It feels like Hama wanted to do more superhero stuff, but got hired to do the military comic due to the realism he could bring with his real world experience. He may well have considered the military as too mundane or even too unpleasant to keep kids interested so his solution was to focus most of the attention on the military guys with the "superpower" of martial arts.

I think he leaned into it, then Hasbro really leaned into it and then desperation ultimately drove them to add the "hey, look at me" neon crap, exactly opposite of what we came over to Joe for in the beginning. Irony.

 

[nacho]

It's my understanding that Hama's vision of Joe is a nearly 1-to-1 adaptation of a rejected pitch he made in the 70's for a SHIELD comic with Hydra as the main antagonist. Once you view it through that lens, it's pretty easy to see where all the sci-fi elements of his run originated. And if you figure The Hand was likely to have appeared in the SHIELD comic, you can see where the ninja stuff came from too.

And also consider that it was a licensed property, which up until that point was total shit work in comics, as they never sold well, never had great art, and never lasted more than a few issues. When it actually hit stands, took off, and was well received, he was probably finishing the script on issue #4 and thinking "holy $#!%, I've got to have more than some rando one-issue plots." Thus he went into overdrive coming up with crazy stories that frequently were only tangentially related to the toy line.

I'll try to find the article.

 

[nacho]

Found it. Posted in the Officer Area:

(1) Joe Origin Article | The Fighting 1:18th

I now want figures of Lilah, Spook, and Louie Louie!

 

[nacho]

Amazon has the Stinger down to $69 for a limited time...

Cobra Stinger 4WD

 

[ThunderDan19]

Man, that‘s a great price! I wish I had room for it, but my display space is already filling up with just the figs (and one motorcycle) I have, and I’ve got a pile of PO’s coming this year to boot. Jeep-sized vehicles at that scale are just too large for me to collect.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Pre-livestream official photo drop:

G.I. Joe Classified Retro Cardback G.I. Joe Trooper, Retro B.A.T., Legacy Collection Police, And Slaughter/Mercer 2-Pack Official Images

Shown below ahead of today's 1pm ET G.I. Joe Classified pre-orders are the official images that leaked out via social media for everything that will be availa

toynewsi.com

Meh. I don't expect to own any of these. I guess we'll see if there will be any cool surprise reveals to make it worth the watch.

 

[nacho]

I'll get a retro BAT for the carded collection... not sure I'll get more though, I'm on the fence.

I have no need for Greenshirts (I always thought that was a dumb concept... either you're in Joe, or you're not.) Who are these nameless people, and what are they good for in an elite unit? Delta has enlisted base personnel, but they don't have rando cannon fodder that tags along on missions. WTF Mattel.

That being said, Mr Greenshirt looks like an "80% of the way there" base for a Sparks custom. He just needs different web gear, a comms set, and some short sleeves. Presto, change-o. No paint except for the rolled up sleeves. Almost an LBC.

I want to like the policeman, as he looks good excluding the weird use of v1 televiper arms. But I can't see a scenario where I need street cops in my Joe universe, and I'm not able to see any real customizing potential.

I'd like a Mercer, but I am not paying for another Sarge to get him. And this mercer looks like he's on a smaller buck, when I always imagined him being larger and bulkier than a standard Joe. True, he used to be a viper, which would imply he's kinda normal sized, but his ARAH figure was imposing, and this figure is... not.

 

[HUNMARINE]

I'd like a Mercer, but I am not paying for another Sarge to get him. And this mercer looks like he's on a smaller buck, when I always imagined him being larger and bulkier than a standard Joe. True, he used to be a viper, which would imply he's kinda normal sized, but his ARAH figure was imposing, and this figure is... not.

In the 1987 Movie - Mercer, Taurus and Red Dog are nearly the same height as Falcon. And Slaughter is stand above all of them. Here some pics of the cartoon:

https://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/C/GI/3/75.jpg
https://www.cornel1801.com/animated/G-I-Joe-The-Movie-1987/pictures/67.jpg
https://rq87.flyingomelette.com/RQ/C/GI/3/73.jpg

 

[ThunderDan19]

I always considered the greenshirts the "probies" who where qualified to apply to be a Joe due to already being special operators or other rare specialists, but had to make their way through the approval process to be fully instated, at which time they would be allowed to ditch the greens and... express themselves .

While in the process, they would mind the base operations and security as well as vehicle fueling and maintenance, while proving their utility to the team. Whenever there was a larger scale battle, as elite warriors already, they would fight alongside the Joe team to exhibit their skills there.

While my thinking pretty well jives with the wave 1 OG greens making their way toward the more flamboyant following waves, this greenshirt to Joe pipeline disagrees with the Joe movie, but as with many things (Cobra La for one), the movie is simply wrong .

That said, modern "greenshirts" would look a whole lot more like the generic troopers we already have like the HALO, Marine, Soldier and Diver, with modern weapons and kits. So we pretty much have those nailed down, though I have turned mine into improved versions of actual Joes. The retro greenshirts only really fill the cartoon role as base utility people, I guess, and thereby have no use in my modernized collection.

As for Mercer, who was the only other one I was kind of considering, yeah, he does not look very formidable, as he had been portrayed previously. I get it that they wouldn't want him to compete physically with the Sarge, but they could have bulked him up a little. While he had a role in my collection back in the day, I don't see getting this one, at least not unless I find him at an extreme bargain.

 

[ThunderDan19]

2025 Hasbro YoJoe June Fanstream Coverage For June 11th - Canceled -

UPDATE 2: While their seems to be a lot of confusion and conflicting information being sent out. Hasbro did slip this message out in the discussion section of

toynewsi.com

So no livestream happened then? I guess maybe there simply wasn't enough new or interesting to warrant one. I did see the PO's pop up on WM.com this morning, with no pics and still sporting their code names, but those appear to be down now. Not sure what is happening besides some, not all that uncommon, chaos at H'bro.

Edit: PO's are up on WM.

 

[nacho]

I ordered my BATs and Greenshirts (split between HP and AMZ)... and despite my better judgement, I ordered the AWE Striker (Pulse Excl). Skipped Sarge and Mercer b/c I'm just not that interested in either. No sign of the cop, but I was skipping it anyway.

I still H-A-T-E the tiny front wheels on the AWE, but I came to the conclusion that the FansHobby and Gridiron versions weren't going to be any better for various reasons, and they wouldn't come with Crankcase, so I should just bite the bullet and wait for the eventual fix for the wheels/front suspension via 3d printing or something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ThunderDan19]

That seems to be the name of the game - get the best version you can justify for each character or piece that your want, and then make fixes as needed to make it the "ultimate," or at least satisfactory.

I can't say I was expecting much from today's livestream, but I was hoping for something new that we hadn't already seen. I assume they will be having one next week, and with all that has dropped today, it should have a lot of new reveals.

 

[nacho]

Apparently the cop was pulled at the last minute from distributor's PO lists. Hopefully they saw all the feedback about the black arms. It's not a bad figure otherwise. If they fixed it and the price got off of "deluxe" and down to "normal" I'd be tempted to get one or two even if I don't know what I'd do with them. But as is, I'd definitely wait for heavy clearance or completely skip it.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Huh, maybe. I also don't have much use for one, but do know they'd be a lot better figs with long sleeves or easily swapped skin toned arms. I hope they didn't just bow to pushback with the crap happening in LA right now...

 

[nacho]

I never considered that. Corporate stooges are such pansies, I wouldn't be surprised now that you say it.

Now I want a Legacy ICE agent and Legacy Border Patrol.

 

[nacho]

Just looking at Crankcase, to be "correct", he's going to need his helmet painted grey (I'm irritated they gave him the stock helmet rather than his unique original) and some Grunt webgear... and his stock webgear is perfect for my greenshirt-Sparks LBC. It all works out.

 

[ThunderDan19]

 

[nacho]

What an... odd fellow. I don't think I learned anything except that he seems to love COPS and hate the O13 and VAMPS, so we automatically can't be friends. Plus he seems to love the Go-Kart Striker. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ThunderDan19]

Yeah, he's an odd bird, who isn't afraid to share his opinions. I thought his bit about an overnight "job opportunity" in LA was funny, as well as his inferring that those events might have something to do with the unannounced dropping of the cop PO. All conjecture, of course, since H'bro has been radio silent since calling off the livestream yesterday.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, I thought maybe that was the LA reference, but he didn't carry the joke far enough to make it too clear.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Well, I couldn't hold out. My resistance wore down and I ordered a Stinger from AMZ. I know it is highly unlikely that I would ever beat that kind of sale. Road Pig (the only other item currently on my "buy it if the price is right" list) is still holding steady, awaiting a sale or gift card, so the Stinger has won as my Father's Day gift.

As mentioned previously, I have nowhere to put it right now, but I am eyeballing another shelf that I might be able to clear to being a small vehicle display (which really just means pushing clutter elsewhere or actually throwing some stuff away ). I'll make it work. And, hopefully down the road H'bro will produce a VAMP Mk II to compliment/combat it.