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

[nacho]

I haven't heard anything either. The word from someone who follows/tracks/deciphers all the retail code leaks insists there will be no more POs this month other than the haslab at the end. And that last week was indeed scrapped because of the LA riots. It was a pre-recorded livestream (huh?) and they didn't have time to re-do the thing without the Policeman.

BUT, none of that explains why there is no stream today. At this point, there is no known stream or POs coming.

Helluva Yo Joe june... ... but we should be getting the SnowCat haslab campaign started next week.

I'm pretty "meh" about the SnowCat. It's the biggest Joe snow vehicle, but it's definitely not high on my list over a MOBAT, MAULER, WHALE, CONQUEST, or SHARC. (I didn't mention the Bridgelayer, as I think Raman has that covered). Snowcat doesn't feel like a big enough deal. It's a boring half-track with ski-missiles (?). I'm sure they'll classified-ify it with new kewl features and bolt-ons that kill any nostalgia factor in order to justify charging $300, but that's not enough to get me excited.

The only worse option would have been a HAVOC, one of the dumbest Joe vehicles ever made. I hated that thing as a kid. But for me to back a SnowCat, the figures will need to be awesome. I'm gonna need Frostbite and Arctic Stalker as part of the base package, and Kwinn and Arctic SE will need to be the stretch goals... but I know they'll have a female in there.... because girls. But if they start with the patches and cardboard do-dads for stretch goals, people are going to turn on the campaign like the Rancor.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I agree that both the lack of livestreams for YJ June as well as the whole over-sensitivity on the cop thing are disappointing, though not surprising. Hasbro is gonna be Hasbro I guess. It's just underwhelming after all the initial hoopla. I doubt I would be PO'ing anything else at this point anyway, and have no use for the cop in its current iteration anyway.

With all that said, I have never had more stuff PO'ed and (supposedly) locked in for purchase than I do for the remainder of this year. On top of that, it appears that some of that stuff is starting to show up early, which usually means earlier than expected deliveries for everyone. So, bottom line, I've got no complaint overall.

As for the Snow Cat for the Haslab, I'm with you in wondering what they will do to try to make it comparable to the previous Haslabs. I guess it is similar to the HISS in size and scale, but now it seems kind of meh since the bar was raised with the DF and Rattler. I suppose it will come down to the add-ons, like you mentioned.

Tundra Stalker is a good start, but is he that desirable? Is Blizzard? Iceberg? Another SE? Kwinn..? I've heard scuttle about maybe an Arctic Baroness. I kind of feel like that would be weird (breaks the normal precedent of sticking with characters from the same team), and also seems like a cheap repeat of the previous release. Maybe include Stalker's kayak that mounts to the SC? What else would add value?

Maybe I'm not creative enough, but I can't think of anything that would make the SC as attractive as the others were. I feel like they missed an OG13 opportunity to knock out most of the remaining figs with a MOBAT. It even seemed like rumors were pushing that way for a while until the surprise SC clues popped up.

I hope they somehow manage to wow us and it doesn't end up as a disappointment and ultimately squander some of the momentum of the line. I'm not overly optimistic so far.

 

[nacho]

The same source that seems to be in-the-know said they will never put a single-carded ARAH figure in a haslab. Only the actual OG vehicle drivers get paywalled, but no one else... which is why we get NF variants of Ripcord and Crazylegs, international Glenda, "new" cobra troopers, Micky Mouse CoCo, etc.

So if he can be believed (and the trend seems to be true), a MOBAT offering was never going to have any O13 members in normal deco outside of Steeler anyway.

But if that rule holds for the SnowCat, normal decos of Iceberg, Blizzard, Tundra Stalker etc are off the table. But arctic SE and arctic Kwinn seem likely because SE sells, and Kwinn has a cultish following among comic fans. I agree that SnowBunny Baroness breaks the mold for team inclusion and isn't likely... as I expect the girl figure to be arctic Scarlett or LJ. Scarlett makes sense, as she has snow appearances in the original MASS Device mini as well as the famous Issue#2 story (and would fit better with arctic SE and Kwinn). Alternately, they could use an arctic LJ (as seen in Weather Dom episodes) as a way to pre-tool a better head for a broader toon deco release... as LJ needs an update in the worst way. That original Chris Kattan head looks more terrible by the minute.

But I'm calling my prediction now... Frostbite, arctic SE and Scarlett, and arctic Kwinn... if we're lucky. The Rattler only came with three figures, but the SnowCat isn't a slam dunk like the Rattler. They need to juice the offering with the figure lineup.

 

[ThunderDan19]

If they can't use mainline arctic figures without turning them into some inferior (in this case) subgroup, I'd agree that a sort of cartoon/comic arctic mash up might be the best way to go.

If they stuck to just the arctic outfitted characters from the cartoon (when the SC was featured - from what I could find on google/youtube), they're pretty much limited to Scarlett, Roadblock, Flint and LJ. And they could do some variant version of Snow Job too I suppose. Is there enough draw from the SC/Frostbite and any 3 of those? I dunno.

If they add in artic dressed versions/characters from the comic, they get an actual Arctic SE (unlike the purple one they just released), still have Scarlett, add Stalker, Breaker(?) and Kwinn. Since they already released a couple versions of Stalker, I could see them making a combined arctic/tundra version for this.

Arctics of SE, Scarlett and Stalker should be widest appeal. But would they opt for the niche market Kwinn instead, even though he's never featured with a SC (and isn't actually a Joe)? I also think they might do that, since Haslab is for the real hardcores anyway. If they do, then yes, Stalker would go so they'd retain SE and a gurl.

 

[nacho]

New images of NF Beachhead and Quickkick.





Don't care about the QK much (although it's more real-world practical than the barefoot look), but I like the BH. The deco isn't particularly attractive with the weird quilting pattern, but we're to the point now that I'm having nostalgia for the mid-2000s when I got back into toy collecting. The BH deco was part of a TRU o-ring 6-pack that was relatively hard to obtain, so it makes me smile to see it.

 

[ThunderDan19]

At least there was something, if nothing new and generally meh.

I should like this QK better, right? He's all modernized and tactical... Nah. I was never a fan. To me, Bruce Lee wannabe is simply too bad at his core to ever be in my collection. If I ever somehow owned him back in the day (I literally don't recall if I had him or my cousin did), he never got used unless I needed a bullet magnet.

As for BH, I have zero nostalgia for this version. I never lived near a TRU growing up and had abandoned collecting Joe well before this version came to be. So, yeah. To me he just clashes with weird mixes of colors and patterns. I can't really see anything on either fig that I could even use as spare parts.

Hard pass on the set, at any price.

 

[nacho]

Haha, I was well out of Joe... and back in when this BH came out. It's an '04 VvV design. I liked most of this set, as it was a NF Short-Fuze (Downtown repaint), the first and only Action Man, a solid NF Flint, and a more interesting NF Tunnel Rat than the '80s version. The only real dud was Roadblock, where they just painted the bare '84 arms rather than giving him anything with sculpted sleeves.

But this came out when I got back into collecting when I was ~30yo, so I kinda like this BH just because of the feels.

 

[nacho]

For what it's worth, Deepdiscount has the footloose wave in-stock and 10% off (code: OCTAVIA) if you buy $40 worth.

I canceled my HP POs for the stuff in that wave they were still dragging their feet on. Both HP and AMZ still had Footloose more than a month out, but the remainder of the wave was shipping... telling me that I was getting shorted on the Footloose allocation. No thanks. I'll just pay less elsewhere.

I swore off DD for POs, as they had walmart syndrome of not shipping things that were definitely released, but I don't fear them for in-stock items.

 

[ThunderDan19]

So you have used DD before and they're legit?

 

[nacho]

I've used them many times before. They're fine for in-stock stuff. But they go to sleep on POs and forget to fill them. Then the item goes out of stock by the time you inquire, and their response is "Ooops".

But I've bought a lot of clearance and fodder figures from them with no problems. I just don't do POs there anymore.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Does their shipping usually take like a month though? I have FL and FV in the cart ready to buy and it says delivery 7/21-23. It's still well before WM estimates they'll have them, but seems like a long delivery time after ordering stuff that's "in stock."

 

[nacho]

Hmmm, I don't know. Everything I've ever ordered as "in-stock" shipped right away. BUT, I didn't notice a shipping date when I put this order in. When I look at the order page, it says:



I may have screwed myself if they're still a month out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ThunderDan19]

I just happened to notice it because I first thought it said June 21-23, before I recognized it. Now it keeps kicking me back to the beginning of the checkout without completing the transaction.

I'd love to save a few bucks and possibly get the stuff quicker, but if it won't take my money, there's not too much I can do. It might be my work connection because it is constantly getting hung up as well, needing to be refreshed repeatedly before finally opening pages.

I'll try to give it a shot from home later, but I often use amex gift cards for toy transactions. If using one of those is the problem, I might be out of luck, and would have to stick with the normal channels.

 

[nacho]

Well, I'm still getting a Blowtorch, Frag Viper, and Darklon from AMZ (they're already in the wind), and Footloose wasn't scheduled from AMZ or Pulse until later July anyway, so if DD doesn't ship right away, I only delayed my multiples. It could be worse, and I saved $20+ tax.

 

[ThunderDan19]

So you say you want a CS Whale? We got one right here...

https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m19760743929/

Color me skeptical that it will come out fully to scale (ginormous), functional and looking that legit. Has 3D printing gotten that good and efficient enough to produce that for $500 + $15 shipping and still be profitable? I just don't see how.

 

[nacho]

So you say you want a CS Whale? We got one right here...

https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m19760743929/

Color me skeptical that it will come out fully to scale (ginormous), functional and looking that legit. Has 3D printing gotten that good and efficient enough to produce that for $500 + $15 shipping and still be profitable? I just don't see how.

Well, the pics are definitely CAD renders, so they're definitely not showing the effects of being 3d filament printed. The visible lines would be staggeringly annoying to me.

The same seller has other Joe items for sale with actual photos, so you can get a better feel for what the fit-and-finish might look like. Is it horrible? No, definitely not. Is it great? No, definitely not. And his Skyhawk is substantially smaller than the FansHobby offering, so I would fear that his WHALE would Joe-scale an already Joe-scaled vehicle.

I'll wait for Haslab to grow a pair... or for the tech to progress to the point that I print one myself with a more professional finish.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I see what you mean with the Joe-scaling. I don't see a lot of filament evidence either, though I'm hardly qualified to know what to look for there when it's not obvious. While the finished WHALE is likely to be a much more simplified scaled down version, there definitely seems to be significant progress over stuff printed just a couple years ago.

He/she typically seems to be sacrificing scale for a pretty sharp finish on the other models. The downscaling is particularly evident with the Wolverine. I think there is a ton of potential, but the finished products look to be more suitable for the cartoon-like Super7 stuff, than the more realistic(ish) CS.

It looks like we might not be too far off from being able to properly scale larger vehicles and still providing solid detail. I guess that is what Gridiron is already doing for smaller stuff, at a price point I would expect is more in line with that level of quality. I'd assume if they ever took on something as epic as a WHALE, it'd be well north of $1k, but would be closer to a true translated scale and would be a lot less cartoony.

 

[nacho]

Part of the issue is that it's rare for home-use printers to be able to print something as large as a legit 1/12 WHALE base or upper body, so it would have to be done in sections, adding to the complexity and diminishing the looks with unnatural panel lines. I suspect that's why his Skyhawk is the size it is, as it likely fits within the max footprint capability of his printer.

You're correct that the printers are getting better all the time with better resolutions and smaller layer sizes, reducing the lines... but it's not "there" yet, IMO. Resin printers do a much better job of having imperceptible layer lines, but they're even more limited in max size due to needing resin vats and UV screens below to cure each layer.

And people's CAD skills are improving, so those recreating the vehicle models are doing a much better job than in years past. I'm confident that in the next 36 months, printing your own Joe rides will be a simple matter of investing in an above-average non-commercial printer and buying the CAD files. I predict that Haslabs will be even more dependent on the figure offerings, as vehicles themselves won't be able to move the needle for all but the most tech-incapable.

 

[nacho]

I saw this today... kinda funny.



Mostly it gives me hope that we might see AI produce some new sunbow-esque cartoons one of these days. That would be awesome. AI could even recreate the mostly-long-gone voices. Imagine new cartoons with Chris Latta CoCo... they'll just all have to come from outside the US, as we're clearly going to fear-legislate AI into being nothing more than an info-stealing overlord, devoid of entertainment value because of century-old copyright law.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Firstly, Cobra La. Ew.

Other than all the GI Joe the Movie content, I see where this has a lot of potential, but it also still seems to have a long way to go. I assume it was all translated to English. Otherwise, why were a lot of the mouth movements so out of sync with the voices? And the speed was weirdly slow. Stylistically though, great!

While AI is certainly making rapid progress, mainly in pic and text, anything video still has a lot of ground to cover to escape the uncanny valley or to subplant actual human driven animation. That said, at the acceleration of now and the near future, it won't be long.

Let's turn it loose on the cartoon series' and leave the movie back in 1987 where it belongs.

 

[nacho]

Oh, I absolutely think the video was made using the original video as reference (thus the mouth movements being... mere suggestions) and then the original audio was laid over the various scenes. I'm sure the better video models recently showcased could do a much better job.

Clearly this model/conversion has serious limitations. My comments about the voices and original new video were just optimism based on where I think AI capabilities will go very soon.

 

[nacho]

Holy $#!%, my entire Deepdiscount just arrived today.
Less than 48 hours from when I pushed "go"

 

[ThunderDan19]

Nice! I saw retro Viper and RnR as well as FV, BT and Darklon (no FL) at Target today as well. I was tempted to buy FV and BT and then cancel my POs at WM, but decided it likely meant they’d soon be on the way anyway (assuming the shipments have arrived on the mainland for all the retailers). Had I not been there with family, the temptation would have been stronger.

Blowtorch looks better than expected, while Frag-Viper is an odd, lighter brown than expected. At least he’ll be back in the display and not out front anyway. Retro Viper looks as vivid as you had described, and really pops in the card. I’ll get one eventually, when the price is right.

It’s great news that these are showing up early. Hopefully, this will become the trend for the rest of this year.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Well, I caved. Your receiving your order that quickly was the lynchpin. I ordered FL, BT and FV from DD (who is apparently based out of KY, which explains the speed), and dropped them off my WM PO. I saved a few bucks in the changeover and should get them next week, if all goes well.

My strategy will be the same for the others, whenever DD has similar pricing - including the 10% off as long as that’s available. Like you suggested, as they come into stock (those predicted earlier than WM’s at least), I’ll plan to order them from DD and drop them from WM. Where prices remain lower at WM, I can just wait it out, no harm no foul.

Thank you for the tip!

 

[ThunderDan19]

And she's put together and displayed. What a cool vehicle! So easy to assemble, big but not overwhelming, cool driver (what is it about the gray?), just a well done set. I fear I have started down a road though (pardon the pun). If/when they release a VAMP Mk II, I will have one, even though it will need yet another shelf. What have I done?

 

[nacho]

Hahahaha, this is how they reel you in!

 

[nacho]

Opening the new stuff.. first impressions...

Darklon:
- On the surface, incredibly stupid figure. Even in the packaging, looks like a waste of money. And then in-hand, he's actually fun.

- His gun looks cool, despite being a PITA to get him to hold it - required a heat gun and something to pry the fingers "just so". Whoever designed the gun forgot that the figure might have forearms that needed to exist to hold said gun. But once you finagle it into place, it looks neat. I don't know what it is... like a gatling gun with a hose and small tank... like a gatling flame-ball shooter? Hell if I know.

- He has a blade that is really neat, like a medieval sword-of-omens.

- His extra head looks like a Lenny-special... i.e. how can we make him "kewl" when he has no exposed skin for a plethora of tattoos? We'll give him an extra head that looks like Destro and Gene Simmons had a lovechild. I will never use this until the mood strikes me to make a "Skeletons in the Closet" cult ritual dio, and then I'll be glad I have an extra weird Destro family noggin for someone to wear.

- Overall, I bought it simply because he's pretty prominent in the latter half of the old Marvel comics, and the IGs need to fill out the ranks. But I'm actually surprised that I like him as much as I do. He's worth considering, especially when he goes to discount. Definitely more fun in-hand than expected.

Frag-Viper:
- Was going to skip him because the idea of orange dudes with weird mechanical grenade throwing apparatuses seemed beyond stupid. But then I learned that they have a neat role in the new Skybound Joe comics (I haven't read them yet), and that they're augmented, part android/automaton or something of the sort... (the head definitely has a post-surgery robotic face)... and so I figured I'd grab one or two and repurpose if necessary.

- Helmet screams late-80s Joe. Not sure what the designers' fascination was with bug-eyed helmets, but FV, WORMS, Charbroil and others... can't escape the insect-looking helmet.

- Grenade throwing apparatus... backpack is great, hose is large and "looks important", but actual throwing mechanism is just as awkward to get into his hands as Darlon's weird gun. Heat gun and pry bar 100% required. WTF Mattel. It's nice they included an in-process action effect, but I can't get him in a pose that actually looks like he's aiming at something. I'd need to see this thing in action to understand how it works, because every stance looks like he's trying to throw the grenade 90-degrees to the left.

- Twin mini-submachine guns. Definitely handy when the grenade throwing is revealed as a liability.

- Overall - for all my complaints, he's incredibly faithful to the original figure. So bonus points for that. But the original was stupid in '89 and remains stupid. He'll look cool on the shelf with just his twin mini-uzis, but unless the comic makes it palatable somehow from a narrative perspective, the grenade gimmick has got to go. He can always hang out with Range Viper and Mole Rat in the "I don't know what to do with you" Brigade.

Blowtorch:
- He looks great, classic in sculpt. Colors are definitely more muted than his ARAH figure... which makes sense from an operational standpoint but feels "off". The yellow borders on "butterscotch"... made more obvious by the actual bright yellow on his fuel tank. Also, too much black in the deco to suit me, but I'm sure they'll rectify that in the inevitable retro figure and alternate 50th green repaint.

- His legs seem to be made out of a stiffer plastic than most JoeClass, such that there is no flex, just clicky joints. Nothing felt stuck or like it would break if I forced it. Not sure what the difference is, but I hope it's not an anomaly. they should use that stiffer plastic more.

- Head sculpt is nice. The ARAH figure was a bit of an uggo headsculpt-wise, but this portrait looks more like his toon face. Nice job.

- All geared up, he looks solid. The mask and helmet are separate pieces (as it should be), but unlike the ARAH figure, you put the mask on first. I had to put a little heat in the helmet to soften it up, otherwise it wants to push the mask strap down to his neck. After a little heat, the helmet flexes enough to go over the mask strap with no issue.

- The flame effects are nice, but I especially like the little one that's pre-installed. It looks like he is about to unleash on someone... or just did.

-Overall - aside from some color choices I'd have done differently, he's a great figure and I'm glad to add him to the '84 shelf... now we just need classic-deco Ripcord to finish the carded figures from that year.

Footloose:
- Confession - I was never a huge Footloose fan. The movie was great, and the soundtrack was a childhood favorite of mine... but the Joe figure... I was torn. On one hand, he had a traditional army specialty as well as realistic camo fatigues... things I really loved about Joe. He felt like an O13 figure evolved to the next level. Then they went and gave him the personality of a stoner / slacker... which didn't fit at all and didn't jive with my expectations of an elite military squad. He felt like a figure whose potential was wasted by bad characterization.

- The classified iteration is a solidly faithful representation. His legs use the same stiffer plastic as Blowtorch's legs, a pleasant surprise. However, his waist is unusually skinny. His legs are so close together that I thought the drop-down hips were in the down position when they weren't. It almost feels like the lower half was designed for Ripcord so that he'd look normal with a bunch of bulky gear... except Footloose doesn't have the bulky gear. It's a minor nitpick, nothing that makes the figure overly weird or anything, just enough to make me wonder.

- The M16 looks great. It's a bit gummy but far from the worst offenders we've seen in the line in that regard.

- The rocket launcher looks great. Only real complaint is that the projectile doesn't fit snugly and will certainly try to fall out of the tube at every opportunity. While I know the launcher was included with the ARAH figure, its inclusion here makes Bazooka feel even more absurd and redundant. Do we need a big dumb oaf in a red football jersey out there when the camo infantry guy can perform the same function? I guess every squad needs a bullet sponge. Nice knowing you, 'Zook.

- If I have any legit complaint about the figure, it's the helmet. They spent a lot of time getting the leafy camo texture to look great... and then gave him perma-goggle. The goggles on the front of the helmet are not removable, nor do they actually flip down over his eyes. They're just stuck in that upward position all the time. I'm highly temped to take a heat gun and/or exacto to them, as this was a terrible design choice. They made a great ARAH-faithful figure and then stuck these weird immovable goggles front and center. WTF Mattel.

- Overall - let's face it, he's a must-have for most ARAH fanatic collectors. they did a nice job, and I'm sure he'll be the highlight of the wave for most people. If not for the goggles problem, he'd be a homerun.

 

[ThunderDan19]

That’s good info on the weapon hand interface for FV. I’m sure I’ll be taking some time to try to work that out. I don’t see having Frag-Viper just running a sub gun or two. Though I seriously doubt I’ll try to make the “flying grenade” effect somehow work, just one in the cup at the ready. In general, non-blast effects don’t really work well in my view.

I‘ll likely run BT with his flame thrower opened up, since I have more active blast/flame effects on the Cobra side of my display with Scrap-Iron, Torch and BAT all sending flames or missiles. Hopefully balancing him with that out front won’t be too much of an issue. It hasn’t been too difficult with the other flames at least. Missiles have been a little more troublesome.

On that note, I’m considering having FL firing his LAW, since Bazooka is the only Joe sending a missile so far. Plus, the dated M-16 w/ optic mounted over the carry handle is a very dated setup for my modernized look, so it can be stowed on his back, if not replaced all together. The trick will be balancing FL on the display stand with the weight and moment of the blast effect. It’s always been tricky with Bazooka’s, and isn’t helped by the sometimes saggy missile trail.

Can‘t wait to get these, particularly Footloose, who‘s definitely not a stoner in my Joeverse.

 

[nacho]

I honestly have to say, looking at my shelves, the line has gotten WAY further than I ever would have predicted. when you look at what we lack, it's impressive how few holes still remain from the "glory years".

'82: (announced) Flash, Col Hawk. (missing) Grand Slam, Short Fuse, Zap, Steeler
'83: Carded figures complete. (missing driver) Ace. Grand Slam and Grunt recolors would be nice.
'84: (missing carded) Ripcord. (missing drivers) Cutter, Thunder, Deep-Six, and Clutch recolor
'85: (announced) Crankcase. (missing carded) Airtight and SEv2. (missing drivers) Heavy Metal, Tollbooth, Frostbite, Keel-Haul
'86: (announced) Wetsuit, Monkeywrench. (missing carded) Sci-Fi, Lifeline, Mainframe, Iceberg. (missing drivers) Lift Ticket, Slipstream, Cross Country, AVACs, Strato-Viper, Motor Viper

From '82-'86, we're only missing 24 actual characters, plus a few v2's and recolors. That's pretty astounding. Two years from now, that missing group will probably be down to a single-digit list of drivers.

Even '87 is only missing two single carded figures at this point, guys that only completionists will want (Sneek Peek and Psyche-Out). But Cobra-La and BF2000 will keep '87 going for a while.

 

[ThunderDan19]

No doubt the CS has far exceeded our early expectations. I don’t know the actual numbers, but, at least anecdotally and from what I have seen reported online, there are and have been exponentially more SW and ML figures that have found their way past regular retail to the close out stores than ever with GJCS. And, based on the Haslabs, other vehicles and revival of the Retros, it seems like CS has grown and maintained momentum better as well.

I’d say the time was right and the production done well enough to capture and hold that lightning in the bottle long enough to get us almost everything we could have wanted (in at least some form), with more (and arguably better OG) versions still on the way.

On a side related note, I got a coupon code from DD and decided to roll the dice on the PO for Budo. Between their already discounted price, the $5 off and free shipping, I’m within a couple bucks of a normal fig price for the “deluxe” one. That is mighty close to my criteria and, having just saved even more on three others, I like him well enough to give it a shot, so we’ll see what happens when he is supposed to drop on 8/1.

 

[nacho]

I know my ML buying has fallen off a cliff.... for multiple reasons.

1) I used to buy a lot for custom fodder... but with Joe being the intended target of 75% of said customs, I really don't need much fodder, especially with the rise of 3d printed heads for the customs I still do.

2) the body reuse on ML is absurd. They're just featureless skin-tight outfits, and they use the same mold for 100 different characters... at the same price as a JoeClass. I know the disney tax is real, but by comparison, they seem like a terrible value.

3) and along those same lines, the accessories with ML are near zero. A few extra hands and some tiny translucent power effect is all you get with most of them. Again, compared to JoeClass, they seem like a terrible value.

4) Price... I started collecting ML when they were $8. While the sculpts have improved, and they finally started using hips that weren't those horrible ball-joint monstrosities, the paint and finish are actually worse than the old ToyBiz days. So to ask people to pay $25 for a generic seen-it-a-hundred-times buck with minimal accessories and paint... it's a tough sell.

At this point, I only buy X-Men legends, and at that, it has to be characters I don't have (and actually want), new decos (from the 70s/80s/90s), or vastly improved figures that needed a do-over from long ago. I'm not buying another yellow costume Wolverine just because "new hat".

I could repeat most of these same arguments for Black Series. They have more unique sculpts, but accessories are near zero, and the figures are tiny such that they don't remotely scale with Joe or ML. I have boxed up all my Black Series figures, with the only thing I still display from that line being the giant Snow Speeder... because cool.

Long story short, Disney sucked the life out of both properties, and they're going to disappear as we know them. Disney will reinvent them a thousand times over to keep them going, but they'll lose everything we love about them in the process.

 

[ThunderDan19]

It almost seems as if the CS came along and put the shortcomings of the other two into clear focus, pilling onto an already diminishing demand for overproduced, overpriced, underscaled, underkitted, recycled action figures. Almost...

 

[nacho]

While there are more X-Men figures I'd like to see made in Legends, it wouldn't make me sad if Hasbro dropped the Disney/Lucas licenses completely. I feel like they're dragging hasbro down at this point.

I mean, how much better would classified be if it didn't have to worry about overshadowing its licensed brethren? Classified already makes them look bad, but I think hasbro holds classified back at times just to keep the contrast from being even more stark.

 

[ThunderDan19]

Got my “shipped” email from DD for the 3 figs from the current wave, coming from Kentucky so, barring USPS being particularly stupid, they should be here by the end of the week.

And… today I caught a video on youtube where a guy found 60th HALO and Marine figs for $12.99 each at his local Ollie’s in NJ. He posted it 8 days ago, but I figured I’d swing by mine. No luck. Just a million of the usual never-selling SWBS and ML figs.

I asked a guy that worked there if he remembered seeing any GI Joe action figures come through, and he said no. That doesn’t really mean much if there were only a couple (the guy found 2 HALOs and 1 Marine at his). It was probably one case with 2 of each at his. But this’ll have me swinging by at least once more this week and after, as long as they are found elsewhere, especially at that price. Every one of those is worth that (again in 3 cases for me), if only for the spare parts and weapons.

 

[nacho]

I won't be near an Ollie's for another 2-3 weeks, but I'll definitely have to drop in and see if anything good slipped in.

 

[ThunderDan19]

It’s weird, I am happy that there might be deals to be had, but I am also slightly disappointed that GJCS is apparently making another appearance at Ollie’s. It does make sense though with these 60ths, as they really didn’t get carried much by brick and mortar stores. I could see how they may have a surplus, and we have seen their prices drop at AMZ and other outlets as well.

I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a few others make an appearance, namely: Metal-Head, Gnawgahyde, Heavy Duty and maybe even Quick Kick, Big Boa and Jinx. I think the two packs might appear as well.

It’s a little crazy that I was just busting on the other, long time Ollie’s dwellers like yesterday though. At least we know there will be much less CS and for much less time. I do hope to be able to capitalize on it, but wouldn’t be surprised if I already missed my chance.

In other news, I scored an AMZ gift card, so went ahead and ordered Fat Max (Road Pig) for less than $20 out of pocket. Along with the impending Monkeywrench, my gang of Dreadnoks will be complete, for now at least.

 

[nacho]

Excluding the shitty SE movie figs, there have been no Classified figs that made it to my Ollie's other than the Dusty, Zarana, CG wave. And the CGs lasted all of two seconds. I managed to buy Zarana and a few cheap Dustys, but I don't expect to ever see mainline Joes there, even the duds. They simply aren't going to overproduce that much again.

 

[ThunderDan19]

A pretty cool Haslab Rattler unboxing plus they all but confirmed the Snow Cat for the next one.

 

[nacho]

Yeah, that's not even subtle...

Kinda bummed, as I still had a sliver of hope that we'd be getting a tank instead. I guess I'll just have to hang my hopes on the figures being good enough to carry the SnowCat.

 

[ThunderDan19]

I swung by my local Ollie's at lunchtime today. Still nada, though it did reinforce how disheveled my local store is compared to some of the ones I've seen from youtube toy hunters. I spoke to another employee, who was helpful, but hadn't seen anything come through recently. He seemed to know there had been Joes there in the past, mixed in with the SWBS and ML figures, and seemed to think that's what I was looking for.

Odds are that just a couple of the 60th figs came through quickly and were gobbled up or that they won't show up in earnest until the back half of the year when Ollie's starts their normal toy push. If that's the case, the NJ sighting was likely an early fluke and wasn't really meant to hit the floor just yet.

Ollie's is doing a special all week for their club members, possibly to try to free up shelf space for a summer/fall reset. I would have loved to have been able to use that to get those figs at less than 1/3 retail, but no such luck. I guess I'll just have to keep stopping by there occasionally for a bit to see if they ever show up here locally.

I stopped in a my Target on my way back. They had the now usual wave of Darklon, 2 FVs and BT, as well as 2 each of retro RnR and Viper. Seems like it's just the 3 figures in that CS wave, unless FL is just that popular. I haven't seen him in the wild. I'm looking forward to that Viper going on sale down the road. If he goes low enough, I could see doing a MOC and one to open. Such a good figure.

Road Pig is supposed to arrive today via AMZ, and it looks like FL, FV and BT tomorrow from DD. I also have a crimson BAT (because I need more Cobras, he was cheap, and why not?) coming from Mercari maybe Saturday.