0 thoughts on “Images tagged "fandom-2"

  1. i thought the last episode of gijoe resolute was good except how storm shadow dies

  2. I found the movie to be largely pretty good. The Optimus scenes were cool. It was worth seeing just for those alone. Couple of things irritated me though – little miniature remote controlled truck, length of the movie, the twins and that chick who turned out to be a robot, that was so random and had no explanation whatsoever. But as I told over all I love the movie transformers and the game transformers, so collected some good articles and sites, around 200, for transformers movie and video games. If you are interested check out the link below

    http://markthispage.blogspot.com/2009/06/200-links-to-know-about-transformers.html

  3. i have been watching GI Joe cartoons since childhood. a year ago, i was thinking why Hollywood has not yet created a movie version of GI JOE. I am very happy now that i can watch a movie version of my favorite cartoon show.

  4. Is this Know-Mad? From the old af.com? It looks like his work….I’m hoping it’s him.

  5. As a kid i watched all the The A – Team Series every week without fail and enjoyed it. The A – Team Movie is the Greatest film ever made. I Preordered it and have watched it 8 times in 3 days. I’m 17, so this movie attracts all age range.

  6. I was watching all morning and refreshing about every 5 minutes. As soon as Slaughter came online it was out of stock. I thought they said there would be a limited number available.

  7. THESE FIGURES LOOK GREAT! BUT DOES ANYBODY KNOW THAT NONE OF THEM CAN SALUTE! THAT IS SO CRAPPY, I WANT BETTER ARTICULATION AND LESS DETAIL!

  8. They sure didn’t change the Snow Cat much besides the name! Is the “Wolf Hound” really gonna have a decal that clearly depicts a white cat? I don’t get it. Why bother?

  9. i have a really important question and i am sure lots of people asked this???? will there be a continuation of gi joe resolute 2 coz cobra commander and storm shadow got away so if u can please reply me back to let me know if they are thinking of consider the possibility coz the first resolute is the best it is showing what really happens in war the blood and killing does not bother me coz that is what really happens in real war but anyway hope to hear from u soon and have a good day.

    kirt ray

  10. i like the list. Very telling that the usual suspects didn’t make the cut. In a perfect world, Hasbro would pay attention to something like this.

  11. Awesome list. Completely agreed with it. These are some of my favorite figures, especially Rock & Roll, Falcon, and Shockwave.

  12. I may have to track down one of these just because the packaging is so slick.

  13. I find #10 and #1 to be the biggest surprises. Version 2 Storm Shadow is a step backwards from the original in terms of accessories for me. Also ‘Cobra assassin ninja’ seems a bit more useful in my Joe-verse than ‘Snake Eye’s ninja buddy’. V2 Rock ‘n Roll is certainly the character’s best incarnation, but the best O-ring figure ever? His weapons are nice, but gear him up fully and he looks a little ridiculous. To think that he beat out the awesome specialized Vipers released in the same year boggles me. I’d replace him at the top spot with a Night Viper. To quote: ‘He also came with a rifle that fit on the side of his leg.’, and a killer black and green look. Mine spent about a year hidden in some bushes before my dad found him while gardening.

  14. Will we see any female figures coming up besides the SDCC Zarana and the upcoming Scarlett?

    Speaking of which, will the upcoming Scarlett figure be Renegades based?

  15. Hello, I’m a writer, and I was writing to find out what you offer and to open up communication. I am Freelancing and looking for accounts and I was interested in GI Joe and some cartoons because the writing is so good for comic books and cartoons I am dreaming of some kind of opportunities. Please contact me at your earliest convenience. Thank you kindly. From Paul Leuthard

  16. This has got to be one of the BEST posts I have seen on any subject regarding GI Joe I have seen in many many many years. I want to be a member of F.O.O.G.S. now after reading this post.

    Awesome stuff Leo. Thank you for posting and saving this gem of an article for Grand Slam.

    Matrix

  17. So pleased to see my rant posted here–thank you.

    I’ve actually been tracking down the character profiles from GI Joe #1. I fear our buddy Grand Slam has been slighted yet again.

    As you recall, GI Joe #1 had beautiful full-page character pin-ups by Herb Trimpe of:
    Stalker
    Flash
    Scarlett
    Breaker

    Evidently, the remaining art for the rest of the Original 13 went into the “Marvel inventory.”

    The pin-ups for Rock-N-Roll and Steeler, same artist and page layout, showed up in a later GI Joe Yearbook.

    The Snake-Eyes profile appeared in the back of GI Joe # 19, which you may remeber was the issue where Kwinn, Dr. Venom, Scarface and General Flagg died.

    I recently stumbled upon a site that had images of the uncolored original art (again; same artist, same layout) for:
    Zap
    Clutch
    Short-Fuze
    Grunt

    Of the Origianl 13, that just leaves Hawk and ….wait for it….Grand Slam. Evidently these two pieces of art have never been see in public.

    Perhaps someday Joe fans, and, of course, Fans of Ol’ Grand Slam we can start an online campaign to find this lost art.

    Smitty

  18. Very funny text (with all due respect).

    I think Grand Slam is more than “obscure”…he´s “forgettable”: most of Joe fans never think about his existence.

    I only start to pay attention on him after the release of his DTC figure. Obviously, he could be Flash, but something, probably the “5 o´clock” shade and the loose stripe of his helmet, said “he´s a different guy”. I started to see him as a leader of a team formed by all DTC era Joes.

    Also, I loved his Con figure, released as a partner of Starduster as JUMP troopers.

    Now, I see him as one of senior field commanders of Joe team. I think he´s finally get his role.

  19. Stumbled across this site just now. Love the toy reviews (ie Sky Dive… I remember his original figure from like… ’93? I got it in my Easter basket along with Dropzone, who looked like Marcus, Indiana Jones’ friend in Raiders. Sky Dive looked like Major Dad.)

    I’m an artist and for the last 8 months or so, I’ve been recreating iconic logos out of food. I just made the Cobra logo out of Twizzlers, and I wanted to share it with other Joe fans. I tried finding a contact info button, because I don’t want to be spammish, but I couldn’t find one. Anyhoo, he’s a link to the art. Hope you guys enjoy it!

    http://bit.ly/pjoc0E

  20. 24. Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.

  21. Dreadnoks & Slaughter’s Marauders:
    Lowlight-Red Dog-Mercer-Barbecue-Falcon-Taurus (Bull)-Spirit.
    Zanya-Zandar-Burn out-Road Pig-Zanzibar-Trasher (Thunder)-Gnawgahyde.
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289983347679716&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289982061013178&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289981164346601&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289980491013335&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289979091013475&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289978427680208&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289977384346979&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289976974347020&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289974157680635&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289973694347348&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289973207680730&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289972797680771&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289971567680894&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/HissTankcom/117143478297038#!/photo.php?fbid=289969641014420&set=pu.117143478297038&type=1&theater

  22. Wow…just wow. There are a lot of unhappy people about this news. Comments around the web are how they are going to lose fans over this, how they just killed all the positive energy the built up for the movie, how some now don’t care about the movie, they don’t care about it being in 3D, how it’s going to kill the toy line, just lots of negative reactions. Some are saying Paramnount is doing it because of how bad Battleship did. This is total bull to do it a month from it being released, who is in charge over there? They need to be smacked around a bit. Idiots.

  23. While there are a few complaints in this article that the club should heed, there are also a lot of things that are either mis-characterization of past events, issues which are at least to some degree the fault of the original poster, or misunderstandings of how the club operates under Hasbro’s license.

    I wish the club would just come out and explain what happened with the ‘con date change this year. If it wasn’t their fault, just say so, otherwise it looks like it was and given their other problems I don’t feel that they should be taking the blame for that one if it wasn’t on them.

    I fail to see how the Mauler complaint is relevant. My recollection of that incident was that the club was repeatedly apologetic about it even though the issue was with the manufacturer and not the club. Unfortunate and disappointing but not worth holding a grudge over.

    I also griped loudly about the Crimson Guard convention set rehash. I have it on some authority that Hasbro prompted some last-minute changes that year that were compounded by bad last-minute decisions by the club. In my mind they have made up for it with this year’s excellent set, so I’m forgiving that one.

    The credit card fraud complaint is obviously very valid. I get the impression that the club was operating with some very outdated software and this was bound to happen sooner or later. They should consider themselves lucky that they are still in business after that fiasco and that they didn’t get permanently blacklisted by the card processing networks. My cards got whacked too. It created an inconvenience to be sure. However, it was remedied relatively quickly and in no way impacted by ability to register for the ‘con.

    I think there is ongoing misunderstanding among collectors about how the club operates under Hasbro’s license. They are no doubt REQUIRED to maintain and probably increase club membership. They are no doubt REQUIRED to maintain and probably increase convention attendance. That is a big part of what their licensing arrangement is about. From Hasbro’s view, it is a special brand-promoting endeavor. Hasbro isn’t just licensing them as an exclusive retailer of limited production run toys. I’ve never seen the club’s licensing agreement contract but it doesn’t take a big brain to see that much of what they do is directed to getting people to join the club and attend the convention. How hard is this to understand? I wish the club would just figure out some way to lay this out for the community so a lot complaints of this nature would be addressed. If you don’t want to/can’t attend the con, or don’t want to drop $50 to be a “member”, then YOU ARE NOT A PART OF THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE – end of story.

  24. Hasbro puts the GIJOECLUB.COM logo on the most of the packaging. That should mean anyone who would buy a GI Joe toy is their target audience. Based on the fact that the only survey information about the Club’s operation and suggestions for them is part of the Convention package, it is clear to me they only cater to those willing to drop hundreds of dollars at a Convention. It is a little ironic that GI Joe has always offered something to everyone at every price level, but the Club for GI Joe fans is geared to reward only those with deep pockets.

    Every issue the club has ever had from the Maulers to the FSS to the Credit Card issue to this years early sell outs has all come down to poor communication on their part. The Maulers wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if people knew before registration that the Tanks for the Memories set had no tanks. The FSS has some great figures but I still don’t know when or how much. Businesses get hacked, but two months to notify your members of that big of a security leak is unacceptable. For this years registration, would it have been too much to tell people an exact time when the registration was going to go live? For all the times they’ve told us stuff would be ready when it wasn’t, you’d think they’d be able to say when something is actually ready.

  25. I said this before but I wish that the Club would do more in terms of “non Con” product. The FSS is a step in the right direction but the potential execution of it is problematic when compared to other similar ventures. (MattyCollector anyone?) I know a great many non-Club members and non-Joe Collectors who are interested in a figure or two but that don’t want to have to commit to all 12 or have to pay for a Club Membership that they’ll never use.

    More and more it seems that folks feel the Club is “broken” but there doesn’t seem to be any consensus on how to fix it.

  26. pluv,

    Re: the Mauler sets, the club was still working on that Mauler issue at ‘con time and still had hopes to get those items out, so it not a correct recollection of events to imply that they were being disingenuous, if in fact that is what you were implying. Re: communication, yes the club needs to improve their communication with members a great deal. Some of the things they communicate probably shouldn’t be communicated at all given their great penchant for stating things that then do not come to pass – rinse, repeat – ad nauseum. Maybe they will figure that out one of these days.

    As for your first paragraph, I just go back to what I originally said. You can wish all day that the club’s (and Hasbro’s) marketing via the club was something other than what it is, but wishes aren’t horses. Hasbro’s license that the club is operating with are there to promote membership in a club and physical attendance at a ‘con. If you can’t afford it, I’m sorry, but you aren’t in their target audience. I cannot afford to buy a Maserati but I do not sit around screeching about it all day long. I *am* glad that Hasbro is letting the club branch out a bit with the FSS as it fills a need that Hasbro has seemed unwilling to pursue through other venues (such as the internet specialty retailers). Still, I am sure the price point on these very limited production run items will suffer from endless, withering, and uninformed criticism to the tune of “more GI JOES only for the bourgeois!”

  27. I think the execution of the FSS is all about the club not getting stuck with extra inventory due to the picking and choosing that goes on with GI JOE collectors. I can tell you, as a retailer, dealing with Hasbro case assortments and watching fair-weather fans “pick over your bones” by buying up one figure and leaving another is an issue that is both impossible to predict accurately and impossible to manage well financially. The FSS marketing model avoids this by making the consumer make a commitment. Actually, I think the secondary market will allow the picky/choosey collectors to get what they want and ignore the rest, albeit at a somewhat higher cost. I don’t see why fans don’t just subscribe then eBay the figures that they really don’t want. You KNOW you are going to at least break even, maybe even profit. Why don’t we focus our complaints on the really important issues, like the credit card security issue, or the fact the the club is so insistent on developing their own e-commerce software that they can’t roll out a major bread and butter product like the FSS at all.

  28. Gotta side with the guy who wrote the letter on this one. I am pretty sure a lot of people feel the same way as well. And I am ‘part of the target audience.’ – end of story.

  29. This letter reads like one long excuse letter. A collector who has lost interest in the hobby, whose children have grown away from the hobby, is blaming the club rather than dealing with the fact that our interests change, and our kids grow up.

  30. The GI Joe Collector’s Club needs to be
    immediately disbanded: One betrayed former collector’s 11 year long rant

    I’m done. DONE. I have enjoyed collecting both 12″ and 33/4″
    GI Joe figures for over 20 years now. I’ve enjoyed it with my children. 
    I’ve enjoyed showing that what Daddy wore when he was in the service, while
    they were fascinated with characters like Snake Eyes and Destro.  But now,
    thanks solely to the GI Joe Collector’s Club, an organization who exists only
    to cater to people like me, I am so disgusted with the hobby as a whole, I am
    walking away.

    Thank you for your time and service to our country.

    Over the last 10 years, the GIJCC has become increasingly
    greedy, arrogant, mismanaged and unapologetic to the people it professes to
    serve. I blame it on the dollar signs I saw in the eyes of Brian Savage (the
    Club owner, directer, patriarch, resident Kool-Aid mixer, der Fuhrer, etc) when
    he got the OK from Hasbro to take over the Transformers Collector’s Club
    several years ago. The Transformers brand is a worldwide seller, with many more
    members with much, much deeper pockets. The GIJCC has been a small, family run
    club for many years, so giving them a cash cow like Botcon was bound to turn
    them into the money grubbing, greed-mongering, carpet-bagging bridge trolls
    they have become. But as I have watched their slow decline, I held out hope
    that the core tenets of my precious GI Joe fan club would remain unchanged in
    the face of it’s more lucrative younger brother, that they would still put on a
    family friendly event that we could afford, still put out product I can be
    proud to display and play with, and still make me and my children happy. As of
    today, I have had enough.

    GIJCC is still a small, family run club.  The difference; now they run TWO
    clubs and probably only gained one or two new employees from it.  Attend a
    BotCon and a JoeCon and the only difference will be one or two more people
    working the BotCon side.  Lest we not forget that this is also a business.  As
    the business it not a “non-profit” their goal is profit.  How do you profit if
    not by taking advantage of the “greedy” opportunities that arise?

    I’ve been buying from the club since the late 90′s, and a
    member in good standing since 2001. I’m mainly a 12″ GI Joe collector, the
    more realistic looking military items, not so much the “Adventure team” weirdos
    but i enjoy the smaller figures as well. Between my own collecting, and my
    older son who was into the smaller Joes, it seemed like a good idea, and we
    would have a convention we could attend each year as club members. And as
    members, even if we could not make the con, we were still able to get the
    exclusives as “Homefront Heroes”, a wonderful part of the service that we
    greatly appreciated over the years when family events (like the birth of my
    first grandchild, or my step son’s homecoming from Iraq) kept us from
    attending. The club was a caring, understanding organization, and my family
    felt like they were part of something good, with good people behind it.

    I discovered the club in 2002 myself.  Joined as soon as I could.  I’d bet
    dollar to donuts (really wish I knew where this saying was from) that the
    Homefront Heroes sets exist only because the Convention sets don’t sell out
    (with a few exceptions).

    Regarding 3 ¾” Joes Con sets (all taken from JoeCon Brochures only) History
    before we get into the rest of the letter:

    2002 – Crimson Strike Team – 500 boxed sets, 150 “Fuscia”-bagged sets (originally
    intended to be Crimson).  Unsure if sold out at Con.  I just remember Fuscia
    sets being available in October 2002 when I found out about the club. 
    Supposedly sold out quickly per the 2003 Con Brochure.

    2003 – Operation Anaconda: Ambush at Cobra Island – 750 boxed sets, 300
    bagged sets.  Did not sell out at Con.  But the Hiss 2B and Firefly packs sure
    did.

    2004 – Dreadnok Rampage: Escapades in the Everglades – 750 boxed sets, 400
    bagged sets.  Did not sell out at Con and I believe still available through the
    Club.

    2005 – General Mayhem: M.A.R.S. Invades! – 750 boxed sets, 400 bagged sets. 
    I do believe this sold out AT the Convention.

    2006 – Cobra’s Most Wanted: Mercenaries! – 750 boxed sets, 400 bagged sets. 
    Did not sell out at Con and I believe still available through the Club.

    2007 – Tanks for the Memories – 750 boxed sets, 400 bagged sets.  Did not
    sell out at Con but did sell out shortly afterwards on the Club website I
    believe.

    2008 – Cobra Headhunters! – Unknown boxed sets, not listed, 350 bagged sets. 
    Did not sell out at Con despite my best efforts.  (This is the first year of
    the Convention comic too.)

    2009 – Crimson Strike Force – Unknown boxed sets, not listed, 300 bagged
    sets.  Did eventually sell out at Con.

    2010 – Vacation in the Shadows – Unknown boxed sets, not listed, 300 bagged
    sets.  Did not sell out at Con.

    2011 – Mission Brazil II – Unknown boxed sets, not listed, 325 bagged sets. 
    Did sell out either at or before the show, I forget which.  First year of the
    Golden Ticket.

    2012 – Oktober Guard: Operation Bear Trap – Unknown boxed sets, not listed,
    325 bagged sets.

    I’d have to say I first noticed the club’s attitude changing
    several years ago, when they took money from members for a “pre-order” on an
    item they could not deliver, a set of GI Joe Mauler tanks from 2006, and were
    completely unprofessional when they had to give everyone their money back. They
    acted as if it was OUR FAULT that they couldn’t deliver. It was like catching a
    kid with his hand in the cookie jar, and their response is “if you would give
    me a cookie, I wouldn’t have to take them”.  Their attitudes over the
    Maulers did not sit well with most of the collectors I knew who were affected
    by it, but I saw it as one hiccup in an otherwise smooth run. There were
    frequent price increases on the sets from year to year which I certainly didn’t
    appreciate, but I trusted my club, so I supported them through the increases,
    delayed products, mediocre products, and over time, endless excuses.

    In 2007, Tanks for the Memories was supposed to also have available a Joe
    and Cobra Mauler.  As the Club still WANTED to OFFER these even though there
    was a delay on the part of the Factory they took a pre-order and were willing
    to ship them to us.  But guess what, it didn’t work out!  They had to cancel
    the pre-order and since they had already given us the driver, refunded the
    pre-order cost sans driver.  Sounds good to me.  Sounds like an excellent job
    of customer service.  “Hey, we couldn’t fulfill your order because of
    <insert 3rd party that is out of our control> so we are
    refunding your money.  As we have already delivered part of the promised
    product, we will be charging you for this portion of the product.”  I see no
    problem in this at all nor did I ever see them saying “Shame on you collectors,
    this is your fault for wanting a mauler that we had to do this.”

    I think my own eyes started to open when they began
    regurgitating their own ideas in slightly different formats, but still charging
    more money for figures that many con attendees already owned. I just shrugged
    when I saw the second version of the Crimson Strike Team (from the 2009 GI Joe
    Convention), thinking that we already had it, why buy it again? But my younger
    son had really grown attached to the newer “modern” little Joe format, so we
    got him the set. It never sat right with me, but this was my hobby, and this
    was my Club, and I was there to support it in hopes we would get something we
    liked better next year.

    Two years later.  What was going on at retail at this time?  Could it be
    that maybe, just maybe the GIJCC did not have a choice in this product?  As you
    claim to have attended the 2008 JoeCon do you remember the Hasbro panel where
    they showed us a 25th store exclusive Crimson Strike Team that was
    to be for Wal-Mart?  It included the Baroness, Tomax, Xamot and 3 Crimson
    Vipers.  That ended up being canceled though.  So let’s pretend you’re a major
    multi-national corporation with the muscle to flex and get your small off-shoot
    licensee to help you make use of all of the figures you produced that ended up
    being canceled.  Win/win for the club?  They are able to produce a 25th-style
    Con set to gauge the response but what about the figure hints that were being
    dropped?  The GIJCC did also tell us during their annual panel that the NEXT
    year (2010) would be the final year of the o-ring as most of the molds are
    degraded and Hasbro is cleaning house.

    And we did. The Red Shadows set was a wonderful homage to the
    classic English Action Force teams and it’s Villains. It was well done,
    different, imaginative, had great characters, and the souvenir vehicles were
    fantastic as well. It was one of the better con experiences my family has had
    for certain. the format had gone back to the older style of the 1980′s
    Joes, and that was where I hoped it would stay.

    I truly believe that the 2010 Con set was SUPPOSED to be released in 2009
    before Hasbro stepped in and had the club release the canceled Crimson Strike
    Team.  Look at the hints they dropped for the 2009 Convention Theme.  They are
    100% spot on for the Red Shadows and barely passable for the Crimson Strike
    Team.  Again, if you had attended the club panel in 2009 you would know that
    this would be the final o-ring Convention set.

    Between 2011 and 2012 is when I truly began to see the club for
    what it is. I saw a growing dissatisfaction among other club members,
    disagreements over how things were done, and a prevalent “Us against them”
    mentality on both sides. Members weren’t happy with decisions the Club was
    making, but the Club would just sit there and say “We’re sorry, but this is how
    it is”. They did some Adventure Team smaller Joes with terrible vehicles that
    were horribly overpriced. They teased this “MANTA SQUAD” set that used the
    older tooling and looked great, but never delivered on it. There was this whole
    “Figure Subscription Service” that they were going to sign members up for,
    where you could get 12 carded figures, which they have never bothered to start
    up, or even grace us with the cost we would have to pay if we wanted it. I’ve
    seen a lot of collectors, friends, simply drop out and stop dealing with them.

    The Adventure Team Joes/vehicles are overpriced possibly due to their
    limited number made?  I personally still want a second set of each to open but
    haven’t gotten around to it yet.  It was in 2010 that the Manta Squad was
    hinted as a possibility as an o-ring gift from above.  They said they WANTED to
    do it not that they would/could/will.  Regarding the FSS, would you have liked
    the club to put it up for order/pre-order when they were having issues with the
    Credit Cards (see your comments below)?  If you’re curious about the cost,
    guestimate!  If it’s anything less than $30 per carded figure I will be highly
    surprised.  Your last sentence has nothing to do with the paragraph aside from
    the club APOLOGIZING and then saying that’s the way it is.

    In 2011, we weren’t able to attend the convention, but we were
    able to get the set sent to us (only the boxed set, not the bagged set, those
    were sold out) and we had to move quickly to get it because the set sold out
    very quickly. I didn’t remember the sets selling out that quickly in the past,
    but I was just happy I could get one, and so was my son. We were hoping some of
    the souvenirs would be available on line after the show, along with a carded
    Dial Tone we were hoping to get, but neither happened. Instead, we found out
    about something called a “Golden Ticket” that was sold to attendees, that
    allowed them to purchase extra souvenir items 3 at a time. Well, that didn’t
    sound right to me. In the past, the club limited purchases to make sure everyone
    was able to get what they wanted the first day, then come Friday morning, they
    let people buy whatever they wanted, and no one had to pay extra for anything.
    There had to be something we were missing.

    Re-read your first sentence.  Preferably the last 6 words.  Let’s now
    explore the idea of the Golden Ticket.   The GIJCC has a finite amount it can
    raise their prices each year without causing too much of a stir.  The GIJCC has
    to find additional sources of revenue to allow it to offer us high quality
    collectible toys at a decent price.  If people are willing to pay extra for the
    chance, not guaranteed, ability to buy additional souvenirs, well, that sounds
    like printing money to me.  The club now has an effective way to make an extra
    $30,000 allowing them to keep producing high quality sets or maybe even hire on
    another full time person.  And there were always daily limits after they sold
    12 Hiss 2b’s to one con-goer (sorry everyone!)

    Well, we made plans to attend the con this year. It was going to
    be a family event, both my sons and my step son were going to attend. My
    youngest was moving out of toys so this would probably be his last con
    altogether. My older son has been poking around on line and on eBay so his
    interest has been resurrected a bit, and my step son had never been to a con
    mainly due to his military service, and was really looking forward to it. We
    waited for the information, but it seemed to be taking forever. My older son
    had been reading some of the on line sites, and would updates me as needed. I
    had been paying down one of our family credit cards that we had used for
    vacations in the past, including conventions, so we were ready as soon as the
    club was. That is, we were ready until my wife caught over $4000 in charges on
    that account. Three separate charges, in Europe and Asia of all places. It was
    a MESS. We didn’t catch the charges until we got the statement for January, so
    at that point they were almost a month old. This card was our convention
    lifeline, it wasn’t used often, so we didn’t know how someone could have gotten
    the card number. My son told me he had read something on a site called
    “Hisstank” about credit card fraud somehow linked to the GIJCC.  Well,
    much like the Golden Ticket, I didn’t believe it right away. If there was some
    issue with my club, they would spare no expense in immediately contacting their
    members to be sure we were protected.  Or so i thought. As I am sure many
    of you know already, it turned out the Club WAS “hacked”, and the personal information
    of it’s members was stolen and sold to scammers around the world. I took a look
    at the information provided on the GI Joe side of the club, but on the
    Transformers side it looked like it was far more widespread. I was stunned. I
    checked my email and saw nothing from my Club detailing this situation. My
    Club, who I supported for over 10 years through thick and thin, didn’t even
    think enough of me as a member to warn me that my information, my money, my
    family’s potential livelihood was at risk due to the Club’s own outdated
    software and on line mismanagement. When they finally did see fit to email us,
    it was two months after the charges hit out card. TWO MONTHS. That is
    INEXCUSABLE.

    I commend you for being responsible with your Credit Card.  Most are not,
    hence the current depression.  The lack of information coming out of the
    GIJCC/TFCC when this credit card mess first started is definitely a problem.  I
    believe this is the most valuable point you have made.  However, the fact that
    it was two months after you personally were defrauded does not mean it was two
    months for everyone.  Mine actually happened after the announcement.  It might
    be because I’ve worked for a bank but when fraud occurs you know you are not
    liable for any of the cost.  That’s part of the agreement with VISA and
    MasterCard.  Let’s not forget how many cases of fraud actually happen per
    year.  A company is required to notify its customers when they’ve been breached
    as soon as the breach is confirmed.  What we don’t know is when the club officially
    identified the breach.  How many people that buy from the club also purchase
    from BBTS or one of the Transformer-toy-vendors?  Until the GIJCC actually
    identified the hole in their setup, they can’t confirm they were the ones who
    were hacked.

    It took several hours of phone calls, and we had to get a new
    card, but my wife was able to straighten out the account. I was still angry,
    and was ready to bail on our convention planning, but we had already made the
    plans, saved the date, and my family was really looking forward to it.

    I’m glad you were able to get it sorted out.

    Then, my son told me the date for the convention had changed.
    WHAT? Changed to WHEN? AND the hotel had changed? This was unprecedented. And
    it effectively sank our chances of going to the con. My step son wouldn’t have
    been able to make it, and I had already set my vacation time at work. I was
    unable to change it because the new convention time was already taken by
    someone else. We were done. The Club had just destroyed my entire family’s
    vacation plans. Not safeguarding our financial information wasn’t enough, they
    seemed dead set on pushing membership out the door.

    We still do not know the reason for the convention dates changing yet.  I am
    truly sorry that your family vacation has now been sunk but the GIJCC has
    always stated that the date/location may change.  I’m willing to bet that the
    true reason for this change had to do with the G.I.Joe movie release date per
    instruction from Hasbro.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  The date
    change might not have benefited you and yours but that does not mean that it
    did not benefit everyone.  Being that it’s now a week later, maybe a certain
    MOC Dealer from Chicago can go that I haven’t seen in years.

    My younger son still wanted to get the Convention set, so I told
    him we would do it. He was hoping for a carded Footloose figure, that, similar
    to the Dial-Tone from last year, would be available as a carded figure at the
    con, but I doubt we would have a chance at one of those since Dial Tone goes
    for quite a bit of money now, much like all the convention souvenirs from last
    year that we were unable to get. We were supposed to get a loose Footloose as
    part of the club membership, so he would get that certainly. Then, he told me
    that footloose was already going for over $100 on eBay. i told him he was
    wrong, it couldn’t be, because we didn’t get ours yet. But he showed me, people
    had already gotten their figures and were selling them for hundreds of dollars.
    How? We were members in good standing, we paid for our membership BEFORE the
    credit card issues, how do we NOT have our figure yet, but others do? I called
    the Club and was told they were “Asking members to be patient and wait until
    May 31st because they were sent bulk mail which takes time”. So, someone in
    Seattle, and Florida, and even some collectors in England, THEY have their
    figures, but we, who live just a couple states away from the Club hub in Texas,
    don’t have ours yet? What does it take to rate with these people? I’ve been
    loyal, supportive, non-judgmental, patient, but they don’t seem to care.

    The way you have this written it sounds as if they should be sending them
    out one-by-one with regards to how long their membership has been with the
    club.  And on top of that, they should be making sure everyone gets theirs.  If
    you truly do not receive yours, mine is still sealed in the mailer and will
    gladly send it to you as your son will play with it as opposed to me eventually
    putting it on E-bay.  Due to the fact that most people are vapid liars I see no
    reason to fault the club for a) the USPS’s failings and b) not sending out
    additional figures for those that “did not get them”.  Up until the Dial-Tone I
    never once heard a complaint of “I didn’t get my figure”.  The first free
    figure, Clear Zartan in 2003, Glow-in-the-Dark Heavy Water in 2004, Jungle
    Viper in 2005, Nullifier in 2006, Copperhead in 2007, Unproduced Cobra
    Commander in 2008, Undertow in 2009 (of which I am sad to say I do not have
    enough), Big Lob in 2010.  With Dial-Tone in 2011 and now Footloose in 2012 we
    are now hearing the complaints.

    Regardless, my son wanted the Convention set, so we waited for
    registration, and assumed Footloose would get to our home soon. Registration
    finally went live on line after many issues including something having to do
    with the new movie release date, but last week it was ready to go…FOR ATTENDEES
    ONLY. The Club’s response was that they “wanted the con sets to go to
    convention attendees only” and that “some non-attending packages would be on
    line later but only after all the attending packages were sold”. Apparently
    membership and support doesn’t count for what it used to with this Club. I know
    one collector who is deployed overseas in the US Army from time to time and has
    relied on the Homefront Hero Package to help him stay connected to his hobby.
    He is deployed this year. Does the Club hate our troops? I also found out about
    this “Golden Ticket” that was being sold again this year. It allows the
    purchaser to buy up to 3 of every item before anyone else who DIDN’T purchase
    the ticket. We used to be allowed to buy extras for FREE, but now, the cost of
    this Golden Ticket is…$300. An EXTRA $300 on top of the $345 for the boxed set,
    which is the highest that the attendee set has EVER BEEN. So, for the
    opportunity to buy more of the items, an opportunity that used to be FREE after
    everyone else was allowed to get one of each item, will now net the Club almost
    $30K EXTRA on top of the already highly priced con sets, con souvenirs, and now
    useless membership subscription. I guess they are soaking their membership to
    help pay for all of their mistakes? For all of the potential pending litigation
    over their mishandling our their member’s personal information? For the
    software upgrade? I guess the Club’s mistakes are OUR mistakes as well, after
    all, we have supported them in their continued mismanagement. Even at it’s
    basest level, the Golden Ticket makes no sense. If you go to the grocery store and
    buy a roll of toilet paper for $1, they don’t charge you $5 for 3 rolls. It
    sounds to me as if Brian Savage saw what the items were fetching at auction and
    decided to charge more and get a piece of that pie. I can’t beleive people are
    falling for it, honestly.

    The purpose of a convention is to drive people TO the convention.  As the
    convention grows the popularity of the convention sets will grow with it. 
    Sadly this means that those who do not attend the convention will be slowly
    pushed out.  I would be surprised if they even have non-attending for next
    years JoeCon.  That is a pretty big leap of faith to go from “My friend in the
    military can’t register so the Club hates our troops”.  I realize your emotions
    are quite high from this but that’s analogous to me saying “You’re not
    attending JoeCon, you hate G.I.Joe.”

    For better or for worse the Golden Ticket will be here to stay.  As I stated
    above, it allows the club to (in theory) keep prices lower or higher an
    additional employee.

    Find me a company that doesn’t pass on the “savings” when they screw up to
    their customer?  If anyone plans to sue the GIJCC please god let me know so I
    can follow the case.  I want to see how quickly it’s laughed out of court. 
    This is Credit Card info, not Identity Theft.

    I was disgusted. This wasn’t my club. MY Club made the hobby
    better. This Club is a money sucking vacuum, and they don’t care at all about
    their membership any more. They only care about the money they can take. But I
    was still prepared to give them my money for my son’s boxed set. He had a game
    last night, so I went to see him play. I checked the registration before I
    left, and it wasn’t open yet for non attendees. Hopefully tomorrow…

    Welcome to last week for Attendee Registration.   I don’t know how many
    times I refreshed the club page to see if Registration was up.  Hell, I even
    fell for it once when someone posted that it was up (but several lines lower
    told the truth).  Shame on me for not reading entirely

    We got home a little late from the game, my son’s team didn’t
    win. I checked my email before bed to see that non-attendee registration was up
    and running, so I went in to get my son a set and…They were gone. Gone. I
    checked some of the web sites and there were reports of non-Attendee
    registration being open for two hours before that email was even sent to me. I
    had to tell my son that we weren’t getting a con set for the first time in 12
    years. Another email that I got this morning basically said “They sold out,
    don’t contact us”.

    So, it would have been okay if they won?  And the sets sold out for
    non-attendees in ~3 hours.  I received the e-mail about non-attendee
    Registration at 4:30 PM Pacific.  I received the e-mail that it was sold out at
    8:20 PM Pacific.  You’re not getting a 3 ¾” Con set through the GIJCC.  You can
    still get a 3 ¾” Con set through the secondary market or even the 12” set.  I
    assume a lot of the calls they received go like this: “Hi, I didn’t get to
    register for JoeCon.” “I’m sorry, we’re sold out.”  “SOLD OUT!?!?!?!  BUT I
    DIDN’T GET MINE!  HOW DARE YOU!” and that’s just a guess based on the ire I’m
    seeing posted online.

    As I’ve said, I’m done with this Club. Once we get Footloose figure
    (no, we still have not gotten ours yet, and they continue to be sold on eBay
    for insane prices) I won’t be giving Brian Savage’s traveling money hole and
    carpet bagging fan club any more of my family’s money. We have our memories,
    and that is what it was really about. I’ll miss it, but I am still hopeful that
    the rest of the Club membership wises up and sees that they are being horribly
    taken advantage of but an unscrupulous and morally corrupt individual. I also
    hope that Hasbro sees the club for what they are, as well, and refuses to do
    any further business with them. It is time for a new club. A Club made by
    collectors, for collectors. A true FAN CLUB. When there is, we will come back
    to support them. Until then, it was nice, and I wish my fellow collectors well.

    Based on your comments above, misplaced rage and general lack of
    understanding, I think you will be better off taking a long break from G.I.Joe
    Collecting.  As Corey Stinson has already stated, the Club needs to grow.  If
    it grows by providing an amazing product in limited quantities, then it shall. 

    (I was advised by fellow collectors to issue this anonymously,
    because, and I i, “The GIJCC has proven they have a short temper, no patience
    for criticism, and a long memory when it comes to their detractors.”)

    Another Angry Former GI Joe Collectors Club Member

    Sgt. A Nonymous

    I see this as being a mistake on your part.  If you’re unable to stand up
    for what you believe in you’re doing yourself a disservice.  I proudly stand by
    everything I have said here.

    -Kevin Baughn, better known as Admiral Hunter

  31. I’d just like to point out that most “Fan Clubs” are made by fans and are typically free or cost very little. Typically the members just gather to talk about the thing they are a fan of and if there are any incentives, it’s a small cheap item. Case in point: The Misfits Fiend Club used to be free (By free I mean the cost of sending a self addressed, stamped envelope) and all you’d recieve would be a newsletter (maybe 6 times a year if lucky), some homemade stickers and maybe a used concert ticket. In the newsletter, you’d have the chance to buy exclusive items like CD’s, T-Shirts, Buttons or Masks.

    Now with the GI Joe Collector’s Club (Notice they don’t call it a fan club) you have to pay for membership and you get an exclusive figure and a newsletter every month. The opportunity to buy exclusive stuff that is primarily for a convention is a BONUS.

    Has the club made mistakes, sure. IT Security is a problem I’d blame on them. The items they offer being super popular and bought up by many people with a lot of money? I doubt you can blame the collector’s club for that. Maybe if collectors didn’t feel the need to buy multiples of everything or maybe if the items being offered were not as popular then perhaps Mr. Anon could get what he wanted, but just blaming the club for it casts Mr. Anon in an unpleasant light.

  32. The Club needs more work.

    I found out about my credit card # (was only used to re-up my Club membership) being stolen by my bank a day after news broke on GeneralsJoes.

    I took 2 days for them to tell me that my membership didn’t transfer over from the old system. I was also told that if I don’t have Footloose by 5/31, I have to email them, but now I’m wondering how many other people are also waiting.

    I for one was really upset that the 2011 Con set (Great looking set) sold out so quickly, and a little down when the 2012 set (another great looking set) sold out. Those sell out should be an indication that production should be increased for the following years to accommodate new members.

  33. I gotta agree with this guy. I’m unable to attend conventions due to being active duty military. I joined the GIJCC in 2005 and actually went back and bought all the Con Sets up to that point. The only two I skipped were the “Vacation in the Shadows” set and the “Crimson Strike” 25th set. I have bought EVERY figure from them religiously, and have a collection of over 7,500 figures, pay my dues on time, help others out when they can’t get figures from retail due to poor distribution from Hasbro (POC Lowlight and Renegades Storm Shadow come to mind). And all I have seen is them up the prices and make more and more concessions for people who have unlimited funds to spend! What about those of us who aren’t 6 figure income earners? I thought a collectors club was for people who had a common interest and a common Love for something. These guys only care about the bottom line…and yes, it traces back to their buddies,HASBRO! Honestly, if Hasbro dictated that stuff to me, I’d be like, “fine…we’re the UNOFFICIAL GI Joe club”. All they are doing with this Golden Ticket, FSS and cutting the number of CON Sets is making it a Scalpers Market.Real fans can’t afford to buy! You sound like Barbara Striesand “If you’re REAL fan’s you’ll find a way to afford my ticket prices!” Well shaft you Hasbro and the GIJCC! Enjoy! Like the author of this letter, I’m out too! Not only am I no longer gonna collect and let my membership for the GIJCC expire, I REFUSE to watch the movie Hasbro had NO FAITH in!

  34. At the VERY LEAST, the Club could have told us WHEN non-attendee registration would go live and avoided a lot of flak over the instant sell out this year.

    But that wouldn’t have gone much distance to rectify the disappointments, inconveniences and outright violations of privacy that many members have suffered over the past few years. And not getting a con set this year can’t help but add to that largely negative experience.

    Corey and pluv are both right about communication being the most apparent problem, but this has been pointed out to the Club time and again. They don’t want to hear it (or any other feedback that isn’t praise). And that’s indicative of a larger problem: contempt for their members.

    Over the past few years they’ve adopted very much a “take it or leave it” attitude and approach to service (and damage control). They have no desire to improve the membership experience or cater in any way to the dues-paying base that provides them what should be their most reliable (and appreciated) stream of recurring revenue.

    Instead it appears that almost every decision they have made in recent years has been motivated by greed. The Golden Ticket is the most obvious example. It’s clearly designed to attract speculators who will buy up product to create scarcity and attempt to flip the product on the secondary market at an even more inflated price (which begs the question of what the Club’s interest might be in helping to drive up secondary market value on its products — are they making extra units in secret to sell on eBay?).

    My biggest concern is that, now with the movie postponed and the future of the toy line at retail uncertain, the Club will have even less incentive to listen to or even feign an attempt to care about their members. After all, they could soon become the only game in town for people who want new Joe product.

    If I were Hasbro and had any intention of keeping the Joe brand alive after the Retaliation boondoggle, I would seriously reconsider making The Club the sole steward of that brand for the next 9-to-11 months. Because, despite Hasbro’s stated desire to make Joe a hit with kids, it hasn’t been since the 80s. The kids who loved it then are today’s collectors, and it’s been the collectors who have kept the brand on life support over the years. The irony being that the so-called “Collectors’ Club” has made it clear that it doesn’t care if its members, those collectors, stay or go.

  35. While I can’t say anything in regard to the conventions since I could never afford it or justify spending that much even if I could afford it, I was a member for a single year and was left completely disgusted with my experience. While I knew about the club for a couple of years, I had held off joining until the 2010-2011 year. I wanted to take advantage of the “lower” prices members received so I could purchase some of their o-ring offerings. I picked up a few things although found the shipping costs to be horrifically overpriced. I live in WA State so it’s not like they are shipping it from the Southeastern tip of Florida to get it to me. At the time though, I brushed it off and reminded myself that I was getting some items that weren’t exactly the kind of thing you could just go to the store and buy.

    Was I satisfied with what I bought, for the most part, yes. The monthly “magazines” were alright; I liked a few of the articles though the comics weren’t all that great. It was still kind of cool to get one in the mail each month. Let’s face it though, one of the main reasons for one to join the club is for the “free” monthly figure. That year it was Dial-Tone. Now I am not really a fan of the 25th/ME style to say the least (25th looked neat in the package but I didn’t care for opened). That said though I was kind of looking forward to getting Dial-Tone as it would be my first official club membership figure. The announcement was made that they had been shipped. So I anxiously checked the mailbox everyday in hopes of seeing it but each time nothing showed. One month went by, I got my magazine but no figure. Two months go by and still nothing. In the meantime, I sent a couple of emails to the club inquiring as to what was going on. It took almost two weeks each time to get a response. Each response said to keep waiting, sometimes it takes awhile. If I hadn’t already been able to purchase things directly from China and receive them in a week, I may have believed the club that it really did take a couple months to get my figure. Anyway, after a third response, I was told that they were sold out of Dial-Tone and that I could get a refund or pick a different figure from the remaining membership figures they had in stock. At that point I was more than furious. For one, they send these things in a small box plastered with GIJCC big and bold on it for anyone to see (shady people being able to snatch these things rather easily) and sell out all of the figures so that there aren’t even enough to replace ones that may get lost or damaged in transit? This after having been given the run around for a couple of months whenever I asked about it? Mind you I only emailed 3 times over two months after waiting each time they asked me to. I understand that things get lost in the mail and delays can happen but as a first time member experiencing this kind of service, I realized I should have never joined to begin with as the bad outweighed the good.

    So from my perspective, while based on far less experience with the club, I agree with this person who feels the club should be disbanded. Or at the very least give it over to someone else who can manage it better and who actually gives some thought to customer service. I think that their other issues; current FSS failure, convention date/location difficulties, failure to keep some extra stock on hand to fix mishaps (i.e. don’t sell out EVERYTHING immediately just to get fast cash), Golden Ticket and all the other actions that people take issue with wouldn’t cause AS MUCH of a negative stir if their customer service wasn’t so piss-poor.

    I have since not renewed my membership and never will again. At this point, the few clubs I have joined that offer figures, discounts, etc., have all disappointed me in the extreme. As a plus, I’ve taken to diving into customizing/sculpting for my own personal enjoyment and continuation of the hobby. It’s more enjoyable, more productive and I get a hell of a lot more out of it without having to throw away my money.

  36. “Corey and pluv are both right about communication being the most apparent problem, but this has been pointed out to the Club time and again. They don’t want to hear it (or any other feedback that isn’t praise). And that’s indicative of a larger problem: contempt for their members.”

    I couldn’t have said it better myself. When they first started having issues, I went on their facebook and posted what I thought were valid critisms of hasbro and it’s policies, nothing vulgar, just straight up “as I saw it”. I hit “Reply”, went to another GI Joe Collector page and told a friend that I had brought some issues to their attention…within that 3-4 minute time frame, they deleted my post. They simply DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING BUT ACCOLADES FOR HASBRO! They don’t care about collectors…if they did, they would have put steps in place to stop scalping. They have become like Hasbro, they only care about the Almighty Dollar.

  37. The main ongoing problem with the club is that they are no longer dealing in limited appeal variants, their own made-up kitbashes and storylines, or figures that are homages to obscure international variants and such. They are now piggybacking on the massive retail success with collectors of the 25th/30th toy lines. They are making figures that are key to the Joe mythos and an integral part of that popular collection, yet they are producing the same limited quantity that they did before. This creates extremely fast sell-outs and extremely high-priced figures on eBay, two things that by definition tick off a large number of people.

    The golden ticket is the fuel on the fire. It gives the club a huge incentive to keep doing exactly what they’re doing, because they are skimming profits off of the scalpers who know they will profit even more off of the club’s insanely underproduced toys. Making money by intentionally depriving people of what they want is highly unethical.

  38. I know 100 percent for a fact the maulers mold was not destroyed. There was nothing wrong with the mold.. Gijoeclub.com lied and said that because they didnt want to tell everyone that the cost was to high and they didnt sell the amount they had hoped for and they switched to another factory hoping to cut cost but that didnt work and they were not able to cut the cost and so they lied and said the mold was broken.

  39. The figures were out at my local TrU in full force today, they were even honoring the buy 1 get 1 half off sale on Joes that’s suppose to start tomorrow.

  40. It does seem like making things too exclusive takes the fun out of collecting.

    The con sets used to be cool because it was something that you really didn’t need for your collection, but it was a fun way to remember the time you had at the con or a little something different than retail. No must have characters, but plenty of fun factor.

    Now it seems like we are getting sets that should have seen retail but end up at ever higher con prices or insane e-Bay prices. It’s almost like they want to force you to buy expensive exclusives just to get characters that were a part of the cartoon or comic books. I’m not sure that having to join the club and attend the conventions just to have a nice selection of characters is the best way to do long time fans who might not have a huge hobby budget.

    Given some of the horror stories about costumer service you have to start wondering if some exclusives don’t come at too high of a price.

  41. The one thing I’ll say about the figure choices the club makes is that if the club didn’t make them, Hasbro wouldn’t make them. Hasbro approves what the club makes so it doesn’t interfere with what Hasbro is going to have on the retail shelves. Pissed off you’re going to have to pay crazy prices for the Oktober Guard or the Cancelled IG set? Well that’s better than them never being made right? At least with the club you have the option of saving up and buying a set. (Even if it is from ebay)

  42. Depends who the “you” is you’re talking about. If you’re referring to more than 750 “yous” or whatever the production limit is, then, no, the 751st “you” and above do not have the option to buy the set. I think we’re all very happy that exclusive sets have gone to EE and BBTS with new figures not sold at retail. The difference with the club is that the production is too overly limited and the prices are too high. Even for those of us who do get the sets, we certainly have grounds to complain about how much we’re being charged. Many people think $10 at retail for a figure is too high. What does that say about the club’s prices?

    I do think they deserve credit for the ME-style Adventure Team sets and for bringing us a Dr. Venom figure through those. That is the kind of thing they should be doing, figures which have NO chance of ever hitting retail (you can’t say that for the Oktober Guard set, since Red Star and Iron Grenadier variations did hit retail in ME-style, and some OG came out in the 2000s comic packs). Also, these are figures which are sold on their web site for all club members, not just for con-goers. I can see paying a little more for figures which could never be sold to the wider retail market. I think the FSS could be a good thing and as I recall, the character selection on those also seemed well-chosen as figures that had a very low likelihood of ever being at retail.

    However that just underlines the fact that it is going to upset a lot of fans who miss out when even more mainstream characters than the club offers through their store to all members are limited to a high-priced convention set that, particularly this year, many non-congoers were shut out of buying.

  43. So, did anyone else see over on YoJoe that Guru-Planet is advertising that it has pre-orders for the 2012 Joe Con set? Either they exploited a loophole in ordering sets or the Club sold them some…and either way, it really blows, especially considering Guru is charging $800 for their “Last One.” If that doesn’t prove that the Club needs to find a different way of handling con sets, I don’t know what does.

    Here’s the link to show you what I mean: http://store.guru-planet.com/gicoex.html

  44. JediJones, there are four to seven “Main stream” figs are Duke, SE, SS, CC (maybe Baroness, Destro, Roadblock now)…

    Anything else is a bonus.

  45. A lot of the problem is the 4-7 mainstream figures Hasbro KEEPs producing. How many Dukes, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commanders and Storm Shadows do they think we REALLY want? There have been a FEW exceptional Varients, but like the CON and Club items, they are too limited (Renegades Storm Shadow comes to mind). The collectors see the offerings at Toyfaire and other shows and can tell what will sell and what won’t…and what kills me is that TIME and TIME again, Hasbro kills the stuff all of use would buy (Data Viper/Kwinn/ Robot Rebellion Cobra Commander) and puts out trash we don’t want…like version 73(made up number, don’t go looking for it!!) of Snake Eyes. Take Mr. Freeze Destro,why were there like 4 of him to a case? Or ROC Destro? Yet, a lot of collectors had to go online to eRape (eBay) and pay $45 or more for Lowlight, Renegades Storm Shadow, Lifeline, Law and Order, ect? And forget about ever owning Dial Tone or Footloose without winning the mega millions! And with these Con sets, how are people selling 3-4 sets piecemeal on Ebay? I couldn’t get a attending set and have someone pick it up, I had to wait and scramble for the, what? 15 non-attending sets they had? Yet online retail sites ended up with how many sets and RESOLD them for $800 a pop? And these are figures Hasbro has been told time and time again Collectors want, yet they KEEP producing SE,SS, Duke and CC….this is what is driving a LOT of us away from collecting! And their whole attitude is….well, have an issue and post it on their FB page or call them on the phone…..you’ll see…..

  46. All I can say there Frank is that being a completionist is NOT the way to go. I’m a MOC collector, and I only have 20 left, I know it’s going to take me about 10 years to get them because I won’t spend over a certain amount for them.

    Eventually I will get them… It’s what drives my collecting. And the sets weren’t limited to one per until after they opened Non-Attendee Reg.

  47. Honestly I can see both sides of this. First off the “Club ” isn’t really a club it’s a business out to make money. They aren’t putting a gun to anyones head forcing them to buy anything. They offer product that can’t be bought anywhere else. But are they selling it for a fair price? Is it right that they sold carded Dialtones at the Con before all of the membership got thier loose ones? Should they get extras and keep them until is is assured that everyone got the figures in the mail? The only way they would know how much product to make would be to do a preorder for everything they want to make, but that will never happen because Brian likes to have suprises. So they estimate how much to make and lately it has been selling out. The club has it’s good points and bad ones just like Walmart and Target the bottom line is this it’s your money spend it where you want to!

  48. First off I hate scalpers and there are things that the club does that makes it highly lucrative to scalp. Having said that I’m not sure anyone is “owed” a set. If you have the money and time you can attend the con and get the exclusives. If you don’t have either then you will have to rely on a buddy or the secondary market. I guess what it comes down to is how much you are willing to pay. If I had a ton of money I would buy multiple con sets and sell them for $50. One dude does have a point about Guru Planet and other etailers though. How do they get multiple sets to sell without an inside job? I think that is what really steams people. I love BBTS but they have the same issue with SDCC exclusives.

  49. Kevin Baughn, a Joe line with 7 “common” characters and everyone else being rare is not what we were sold in the ’80s and would certainly be a stupid way to market a Joe line now. Talk about limiting your customer base and profit potential. The success at retail of the 25th line and POC/30th releases like Lowlight, Sci-Fi, Lifeline, etc. shows that there is a big collector demand that goes far beyond those 7 characters. Not to mention, G.I. Joe was always about the TEAM. And the cartoon cycled through an entire year’s worth of characters pretty evenly. Changing Joe into a “Batman”-style line with just a couple main heroes and side characters that rarely ever get shipped to stores is utterly stupid, and fails every time Hasbro tries to do it. The latest Duke and Cobra Commander variants pegwarm for months while every original character sells out in a couple days.

    Dusty Ayers, the bottom line is why should only 750 Joe collectors (or whatever the amount was) get to own the Oktober Guard figures? We can argue about what’s the fairest way to price and distribute those 750 sets. But why create the distribution problem in the first place by limiting the sets that low? The Joe club should be allowed to do only REALLY obscure figures and variants, not major cartoon/comic characters or the only ME versions of single-carded ’80s figures. They should get to do Mission Brazil or Night Force versions of characters, but not the original characters.

  50. Sounds like a really clunky way of doing a good thing. The right way to do this in today’s digital age is to take orders and state that if orders reach a certain number by a certain date, the item will be produced, otherwise the cards will not be charged. This is what Matty Collector did last year with the DC Universe subscription. The way they’re doing it now, they could have people who say they will buy a set but don’t ever commit to it. And it’s hard to spread the word around the net when you have to attach a Word document to everything. They also ought to have gotten pre-approval from Hasbro before they started this, because the statement that they might not be able to do it will just discourage people from e-mailing back the form. I would hope they’d also produce more loose sets for those of us who were able to get a boxed set but couldn’t get a loose set, as well as for the new boxed set buyers. Let’s hope that next year they take pre-orders as far in advance as possible so that they know how many sets to produce.

  51. A return to splendor! LONG LIVE THE KING!

    Seriously, looking forward to it Fred! The Joe Community is filled with lots of GOOD people that would like a nice place to call home.

  52. Ice Cream Solder!!! 😀 Sounds awesome man “old fogey fans” are the best!

  53. I’m going to copypasta what I said on the board: “It may have been a while since your last review, but there’s no sign of ring rust (or whatever rust reviewers get) on any of those pages.” It’s a great review and I’m looking forward to more from you. I also hope you have some fun writing them. Welcome back and keep kickin’ butt!

  54. As someone who enjoys a good review of our favorite Real american heros, one thing I have missed is your willingness to call out proportion and paint app issues ect. Glad to have you back. Also, I hope Alex stays on with the team as I have enjoyed lmao on many occasions.

  55. Great! Can’t wait to see who’s in that IG ground assault set! Stealth paratrooper? Could it be a clear Wraith due of his Destro ties?

  56. glad to see you getting your feet back under you. i have always enjoyed this site and look forward to more content. its always better when you are having fun. keep having fun!

  57. Great Joecon coverage all around! JBL got back into the swing of things at the right time! 😀

  58. @JediJones – that would work however they haven’t even approached Hasbro yet (which is to say that as yet there is NO product for sale and no reason to believe there will be) so to create such an order would be fraudulent. As to them not having approval from Hasbro yet, well thats kind of the point, they need to have some estimation of the number of people interested so that they can even bring the idea to Hasbro who won’t consider anything without some hard data. Is it a hassle – yes, but its better than nothing and as far as “spreading the news” the Collector Club is only really concerned with members that want the items and all members should have received the email. I do agree with you on taking Pre-orders well in advance next year to try and ensure everyone gets one.

  59. Hard to believe that people are still huge fans of Sigma and Xevoz after all this time. It was the best job in the world to work on both. We’re trying to rekindle some of that same magic. Love to hear what you think!

  60. Now let’s be fair Fred the GIJCC isn’t promoting e-bay scalpers anymore than Hasbro is with the SDCC exclusives……oh wait I see your point. Unfortunately the “Club” has very hardcore supporters that would neverlet them down.

  61. man, am i on the fence. i really want these figures, but i dont know if i can swing that right now. the installments are a nice option, and what i will have to use, but the cut off date is too soon. i am a sucker for obscure or not duke/snake eyes figures, but i just dont know. if i can swing it in the budget, i will bite, but its looking more like i will have to pass, and if i wont pay $25 a fig, im definitely not ebaying them for $50+.

  62. Ouch really priced out of my range.

    There are some figures that I like, but there are also several figures that seem like a complete pass. Since I don’t like all the figures it makes the collection seem even more expensive because it’s not a winner each time. Just doesn’t feel like a good deal if you don’t like all the figures.

    I agree that it does seem like they are attempting to drive a wedge between the collectors who have money to burn and the collector who has to watch the budget. With a big lack of nothing on the store shelves and so many characters going “exclusive only” the casual collector is left in a pretty bad spot.

  63. One point that I believe is unfair in this article: I think what Mattel is saying is that they are spreading out the additional cost of the newly tooled Ram Man over all the figures in the line. Not that one newly tooled figure should cost $25, but that because they are doing a newly tooled figure (or a few even?) they need to raise the prices of the figures to cover the tooling budget of the assortment. However, your point still stands… there is no new tooling here and they are still more expensive.

    I do suspect that MOTU is aiming at a higher production level than the FSS, which probably accounts for some of the cost difference.

    I have to agree… the pricing is not great, and the selection is not too great either. There are only three standouts for me: Big Boa, Cover Girl, and Iron Klaw. However, that right there I think is one of the things the club is aiming for… they are not trying to make a batch of figures that everyone will love. They are trying to provide a way to get some of the figures that have a much narrower fan base. I have heard a lot of people that couldn’t care less for Iron Klaw. And then they are clamoring for the Nano BAT, which I’m not that crazy about. So this is an interesting proposition… I guess it is up to each collector if it is worth supporting the whole line to get the 5 or 6 figures they actually like.

    Personally, I wish they had come up with a list of 16 figures and allowed people to vote and comment on them before deciding what to do. But again, I don’t think that lines up with their end goal.. which is to get some of the lower-demand figures produced. But some of them should have been weeded out IMO…

  64. One more correction… I believe Big Boa’s head is a new sculpt. I feel like there may be one or two other small items that are new. I know there are quite a few things that have not been released, but were not sculpted by the club (unreleased Hasbro sculpted stuff).

  65. I really wish the Club would let the membership have more (some) input on figures we wanna see. A poll and a vote would be a great idea! A preoder for everything the GIJCC make would be a great idea to include the Con sets and Souviners that way the production would be right and might even be high enough to get the costs down.

  66. I really do want at least 4 of these figs but they were here and gone on bbts before I even got out of my jammy jams in the morning. I’ve learned especially for online exclusives if your not camped out or living in cyberspace you tend to miss everything and all roads eventually point to evilbay. I’ve drawn the line so many times and at this point my chalk is past nub status. Hasblow has to realize Joes aren’t for little jimmy and suzie anymore. Their for slightly older kids who never grew up. I just wish they would quit playing wargames w/my toybox and do general releases in larger numbers for the Sgt Slaughter’s, Jinxes, and various other holes in the rebuilding of my childhood memories collection. I’m no completist by any means and in a time of recession its very tough to commit to $300 for 4 figs I want & the rest can die a fast M80 death. So I save my moneys for toyz I can find at the boxstores or local comic shops. I want to fart in the general direction of all exclusives everywhere cause we all want to be in to cool crowd too, but not if it’s gonna take slices of pizza out of my hungry mouth.

  67. My complaint has been simple from day one:

    I’m not going to pay a premium for packaging that I don’t give a damn about. Why these couldn’t have had a bagged option is beyond me.

    I can certainly afford this, but I’m not buying into this on the principle of not supporting the club’s collector’s market myopia (well, and the fact that I don’t trust them with my credit card information). Pretty much every Joe collector I know is an opener, and I don’t see why we have to subsidise what I’m pretty sure is a minority in the MoCers.

    • This is my point as well. Sure, card art is nice but I open pretty much EVERYTHING. I think the logic there is that the die-hard MOC’ers might end up ordering TWO subs– one to open and one to leave sealed. Yeah, it’s just another way to pad sales.

      The always has been in love with their specialized packaging. The only reason we get bagged con sets for 1:18 is because of the Crimson/Fuchsia debacle from years back. What was once a mistake has now become tradition and an additional revenue stream…

  68. I can’t thank you enough for the promotion! 3Djoes has over 3,000 hits this week. The reception has been AWESOME!!!

    Now I just need to find the time to start on 1983! I’ll be in touch as new years become available.

    Carson (3Djoes.com)

  69. The 1985 figures are now live! 1985 is the best year yet. So many amazing character designs. Snake Eyes and Timber, Tomax & Xamot, the Dreadnoks, Flint, Lady Jaye, there are so many classics from 85. To top it off, Snow Serpent is my favorite all time Joe mold. Such a sick sculpt.

  70. I am currently in the Army on a FOB and as a club member who was unable to go to toy con, comic con, and joe con or sit on the laptop to grab the bear trap box or bagged set. I am slightly upset with the club and the low order of sets boxed or bagged, then when I believe I am out of luck comes this e-mail. So being the good member I am I fill it out, e-mail it back and still hear nothing as to yes or no about a second run. Lets just say its hard to stand beside a company that puts its dues paying members second.

  71. Unfortunately (for Hasbro), I have to agree… I have no interest in starting a new line, especially one with much less detail. This is something where I would pickup an item or two for the uniqueness, but not collect it. I like the Dragonfly/CLAW and the single Cobra Trooper. That’s about all that grabbed my attention here.

    Maybe the kids will like them, but I just don’t know…

    It sure feels to me like anytime Hasbro does anything that seems fairly successful with this brand, they junk it to move on to the next big idea. 25th and Resolute get junked for RoC, Renegades and 30th get dumped for Retaliation. I understand they’re taking their shot at a bigger market, but it seems to me they would be much better off keeping these successful lines in production with new material… I really don’t think it will hurt, and if the movies don’t do gangbusters they are still building a loyal audience.

    But I’m sure there are reasons for everything…

  72. nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot
    Dr Mindbender & Budo look pretty cool. Mindbender can be fairly easily recreated w/ a white coat Dr Lewis & Mindbender’s head from the 7-pack.
    Zap is not very impressive. The nanobat? Not so much…
    nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot nanobot

  73. That is not Duke and Roadblock. That is Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson playing dress-up.

  74. Well I for one look forward to seeing your review of him, till then I’ll just be going through your older reviews and gawking at the pictures especially.

  75. After 5 minutes, turn the pizza 180 degrees to insure
    even cooking. The grill unfortunately is a risky place to cook meals, and also the griddle can be
    a great present towards the wellbeing aware. That is, until I thought about making a pizza using my
    cast iron skillet.

  76. I don’t know where I heard that it will be a “stealth” model for the new EagleHawk, like some kind of “inspiration” in the real life operation Neptune Spear. If is true, or the people in Hasbro are illuminated to do it, trully it would be a really interesting piece of any collection. Beyond the the act itself (the operation), if was an ethic choice or not (that’s a whole other level of discussion), but the fact to seen and had that particular model of the EagleHawk would be awesome for all the fans of the old Joes.

  77. I always thought James Bond had to be a huge influence on G.I.Joe. In the comics (and sometimes the cartoon) there is as much espionage as war. I noticed the Cobra/Bond villain similarities as a kid too.

  78. The more I delve into the early films in the Bond 50 set the more apparent the influence becomes. It might not be a direct correlation, as the early comics by Larry Hama had a decidedly “SHIELD vs HYDRA” vibe but those comics themselves were heavily influenced by Bond.

    Now if only Hasbro could find a way to produce a limited edition set of 1:18 James Bond action figures!

  79. I’ll be getting one (due to importing a whole case to my country) so the Torso and head are what I’ll be taking from this figure. The rest… eh.

    3-Pack Firefly seems to be the way to go, and the Ultimate movie one coming out later doesn’t seem too bad either. But none have that fantastic Ray Stevenson head.

  80. Hey Marauder, i love all the stuff you guys have done. I think that its a great idea to come out with some new stuff. Definitely some new modern guns (not sifi). Ill try to help 🙂
    thanks

  81. Now there is a vehicle that needs some plastic card to fill in the front hole and paint while Clutch’s head needs a better body to be transplanted to.

  82. I can’t wait either. My friends and I will going to see it on opening night in 3D! Can’t wait to see the throwing stars, fight sequences, etc in 3D! I know it’s gonna be awesome. I just hope that it makes a lot of money so that they keep on making movies.

  83. I just don’t know about this vehicle. Just not really impressed. Do I want to spend this kind of money on the head sculpt?

  84. I still wish that Scarlett could have been in the film as well as Destro and The Baroness in it. But so looking forward to this movie!

  85. Retaliation wasn’t a perfect film but quite honestly I doubt any film could ever truly be “THE” perfect film for the fandom. However, I’ve seen in twice now and it held up as an entertaining time for me. That’s the real test of a film– if I can be entertained with subsequent viewings or is the magic and suspense gone after the first time?

    The one thing that hit me the second time even harder was during the credits when all of the extra footage is shown was I WANT MORE.

  86. Same here, I love it. My gf was confused, but I explained everything to her and now she wants to see it again. Marvel’s G.I. Joe series is the finest and this movie respecting it makes me excited!!

    Now I’m hoping for more C.C. in the sequel.

  87. Any chance you could pick up a Night Boomer if I paid you a fee + cost + shipping? Sorry, that’s forward, but I thought I would ask anyways.

  88. ” (Somehow, Sure Fire gained enough of a following, however.)”

    I wonder how David “Sure Fire” Lane gained a following too…

  89. That ’83 card art art Destro is SWEET! Between these unreleased gems and the Not Tomahawk, 2013 could’ve been a contender.

    All I gotta say is GIVE US GUNG-HO!!!!!

  90. Actually, what Lane said was that the parts don’t exist to make Pythona (or many other Sunbow-specific characters) properly, so they get booted from consideration despite popularity. The response was “we want to be able to do them RIGHT”, not “we want to do something indulgent for ourselves”.

  91. I just ordered my copy. When it comes to G.I. Joe, the earlier the era, the better for me. Thanks for the heads-up!

  92. It’s a shame that it’ll be so limited ’cause I love Salvo. He even went with the striped helmet seen on the vintage card art. Awesome!

  93. That is absolutely beautiful! It has most of the most iconic Joe vehicles during the height of Joe popularity. Flint, Low Light and Sci Fi are the types of characters that took Joe from cool to super awesome for me. This timeframe was the best of ARAH for me. I just have so many fond memories of these groups of characters.

  94. Simply Awesome. Can’t wait to see a Cobra one as well. I played the who’s missing game and here is what I came up with. If this is covering 82-87… Rock & Roll, Flash, Grand Slam, AIrborne (in the dragonfly perhaps), Tripwire, Payload, Hardtop, Steamroller, Rumbler, Mercer, Taurus, Red Dog, All six BF2000 guys, Starduster. l would guess that Ace, Wild BIll, Slipstream & Lift TIcket are in their vehicles and are present although not actually visible. Did I get them all??

  95. Thanks for the heads-up!!! I managed to grab one seven hours after you posted this, so I second the motion: Go get him! Nick Fury has a strong tie to G.I. Joe what with Larry Hama’s original plans for the line and he’s also one of my favorite Marvel characters ever. And he’s bargain priced to boot!

    • Don’t feel bad, Chuck. I stumbled across this late in the game as well. Apparently the X-Force Archangel has been up as has the “unmasked” Doom. I was keeping an eye peeled for Old Man Logan but no dice thus far!

  96. Rachel Nichols’ Scarlett was one of the best things to come out from Rise of Cobra. She’s enthusiastic about the franchise even though her character didn’t appear in Retaliation. I hope they bring her back for the third installment.

  97. As always, thanks for helping get the word out. Just FYI, I set up multi purchase discounts yesterday; 1 for $20, two for $30, three for $40!

  98. “NO WAY!”

    *plop*

    “WAY!”

    “Oh, I like ’em!”

    “That’s a lot of stuff!”

    And my favorite:

    “They look UNBEATABLE!”

    LMAOF! I’ll take Wren Roberts’ Duke over Channing Tatum’s version anyday. Wren was awesome. 🙂

    The 90’s were a sad time for us first generation Joe collectors, the guys who had been with the line since day one way back in 1982. Still, the Street Fighter era gave us a second shot at getting variants of vehicles like the Badger, Paralyzer, and even the classic Dreadnok Thunder Machine.

    The commercials are also a hoot viewed from today’s perspective. Zany G.I. Joe is better than no G.I. Joe at all.

  99. Nice update of a classic 90’s figure. The card art isn’t that bad. It and the amazing head sculpt remind me a bit of Charles Gray, the actor who played Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1971 James Bond film, “Diamonds Are Forever.”

  100. These are awesome! Marauder Gun Runners has easily topped anything Hasbro ever produced for any incarnation of the Real American Hero line. Their weapons are second to none and the bar only keeps rising higher. Way to go, Team Marauder!

  101. And off they go with the big blue Teddy. Let’s hear it for Combiner Power!

    That was a cute and clever take on Joe vs Transformers. Great work!

  102. I’ve been going nuts trying to find some figures alright, especially Night Viper, Crimson Guard, and the Blind Master. There are full cases out there on eBay but places such as HTS have yet to restock them.

    I do have faith in seeing some surprising 50th anniversary product next year because nobody expected the Tomahawk to ever show up again. I’ve gotten three so far since I never had one as a kid and I want to show my support for the vintage vehicles. Derryl has been in this game for a long time so I trust the guy. Still, my dream offerings for 2014 would be the Concept Case figures we’ve been seeing in recent years. Now, THAT would be a truly sweet deal! 🙂

  103. Agreed. I would prefer that the club help wrap up the vintage line like they’re doing with Tollbooth and Admiral Keel-Haul by giving us characters that have yet to receive an update. (Where the heck is Cross-Country???) But I understand that there are fans of the repaints and foreign figures, so I’m happy for them as well.

  104. I was hoping this would be the club incentive figure for next year’s sub and I was right! Cross Country is a essential character that had yet to receive a modern update and he looks awesome! He also completes Team ’86 aside from exclusives or mail-ins of the period. Looks like I’m signing up for another tour with the club for the fourth year in a row.

    I will likely pass on that “Not Snowcat” HAVOC if the price is too steep, though.

  105. Agreed 100%. I had let myClub membership lapse a few years ago but renewed because of Dial-tone. Since then it is the renewal figures that have kept me coming back. (Okay that and the awesome Adventure Team comic each month.) Frostbite was a bit of a step backwards butCross Country is an excellent reason to renew for 2014.

  106. yup, I need to do a guest review of a FSS 1 figure. And bonus points for this one having a Doctor Who reference in the speech bubble. Lamont needed to be 30th Order!!!!

    I love this figure. I too loved the GvC-VvV era. Now the Club needs to update Dart and Crosshair in FSS 3.0 !

  107. The Club page where you go to join looks like this:
    500 – Internal server error.
    There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

  108. I’m no zombie fan but I’m sure that there are fans out there who will love this set. Easy pass for me, though. The comic should be interesting if only to see if any fan favorites are killed off or zombified. I imagine that would stir up quite the hornet’s nest.

    I have even less interest in anything Colton. I wasn’t too thrilled with the way he was tied into 80’s continuity and much preferred the original concept where Generals Austin and Flagg initially oversaw the G.I. Joe team during its early years.

  109. “All around nice guys” do not blatantly steel hard earned money from and openly rob members of the community he and this site belong to. I do not know why hisstank and this site protect him but I do know it robs you of all credibility as any sort of proponent of our hobby. GI Joe collecting is supposed to be fun, a shared experience between us all recalling the innocent days of childhood. As such I cannot begin to describe how it feels to be stolen from by Alyiosha, hear how many other members of our hobby have as well, then come to sites such as this heaping praise on him. Why are you all fans of GI Joe anyways? Its obvious you do not believe in ANY of the principles of the fiction. That a group of collectors has been openly stolen from and then shunned by community sites while they harbor and protect the thief who did it as deplorable as it is anathema to everything GI Joe is about and those perpetuating that are not worthy of the toy, the hobby, or any respect given. I know this post will disappear immediately like it never existed and that’s fine. Sooner or later every voice is heard when enough people shout, and my voice will squarely stand firm against “communities” that are everything but.

  110. Great looking pic you chose for our Cobra faves up there, Fred!

    Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to you, your loved ones, and my fellow Joe fans!

  111. I was going to love Cross Country anyway, but I appreciate the club sending out an updated pic. Going by negative reviews of figures such as Tollbooth and Skullbuster, digital mock-ups only lead to huge disappointments later on.

    Cross Country looks great so far, though. I think this one will be a winner for sure. 🙂

  112. We need mass release of the original 60’s joes and the adventure team ones. I feel that Hasbro could do something great with them.

  113. Not an impressive start for such a pricey set. The only thing about the Ultimate Cobra Commander buck that works here are the gloves.

  114. I could see this one being a disappointment from the time they announced him. Aging Generation Y-ers seem to be the target audience for this year, so I’m sure they’ll be tickled pink (no pun intended) at all the 90’s homages such as the Eco-Warriors and Steel Brigade, but this set will be an easy pass for most older fans on tight budgets.

  115. This is an improvement over the previous two announcements. I never thought that Flint looked quite right as an Eco-Warrior for some reason. Toning the neon green down and giving collectors his classic beret as an option really does work in his favor. Now it’s more like Flint wearing a decontamination suit, something he might have done in the Sunbow cartoon or wherever Airtight is involved.

  116. Not feeling it. I like the new head. And while not accurate, the Ozone helmet makes a lot more sense than Flint’s original one since it is enclosed instead of open. But the colors are very disappointing. When the Club changed Eco to E.C.O., I had hoped that it was a move to make the team less Captain Planet-stupid, and more military by removing the campy look of the team and making them more military HazMat. But to quote the original Eco Force Flint in Marvel Comics #123: “I can also infer by the garish hues of your outfits that this is not a covert operation!” ‘Garish hues’ are the keywords. So while Flint’s suit works well enough for MOPP 4, his colors harken back to those awful days when bright DayGlo and Crayola colors ruled the deco. So without any meaningful update to 2014, this is just another wasted slot featuring a “more of the same” mentality bas don nostalgia, when nostalgia should have dried up in 2009.

  117. That head sculpt does look sharp. I wasn’t collecting Joes anymore by the time Ninja Force turned up, but that is a spot on update of the vintage version and then some. Kinda like having Iron Fist joining up with the Joes.

  118. All very nice and Blue but would it have killed them to have shown us the head sculpt? Boss Fight Studios is the major draw here, after all. For the money these premium sets go for, I would expect to know what I’m purchasing. Neon fans will freak at all the 90’s goodness but I’m still not sold on this one.

  119. Good news for fans of the Leaky Suit Brigade. Again, is there a Boss Fight Studios head under there? Anything? Bueller?

    Still curious to see how Outback, Clean Sweep, and this Repulsor dude turn out. I’m a HUGE Outback fan, so he can do no wrong by me. His figure will likely be the set’s highlight.

  120. If anything else, 2014 is the 12” line’s anniversary year and collectors have gone through their own product drought for quite a while now. As for ARAH, it’s nothing new as we’ve already experienced this frustration in 1994, 2002, and 2006, years where the o-ring Joes were retired, placed on hiatus, or drastically reworked to fans’ detriment.

    I doubt that Hasbro will allow its flagship brand to rest on its laurels for long, but Toy Fair will surely tell the tale.

  121. Unfortunately I feel as though I need to set my expectations extremely low as GI Joe has had almost no retail presence near me (Central Florida) and if there is anything new coming out this year, I expect I will have to pay online prices to ever see it.

  122. check out my facebook. I am phil Iverson of Manteno il. my picture was taken at ft Campbell ky by a guy who looked like don Levine. read all of the comments.

  123. Again, no visible head sculpt to go by. If it were not for his red beard, white shirt, and green pants, I couldn’t tell if that was Outback or a Tele-Viper in need of a long shave. The parts reuse works well, though. I am guessing that helmet is removable? Only Clean-Sweep and Repulsor & Dawg remain to sell me on this set.

  124. Actually, that helmet is part of the sculpt. (It’s from the Pursuit of Cobra Snow Job.) So, it looks like Outback is keeping his noggin’ covered during this particular zombie outbreak.

  125. Actually, it doesn’t bother me how G.I. Joe is celebrated this year– just as long as Hasbro does something. I recently told a friend that I’d be perfectly fine with some 12″ reissues similar to what was released at Walmart back in 2007. I have the Land Adventurer from that set and really dig it!

    If they do something 1:18 then I hope that is it themed back to the line’s origins instead of in the Real American Hero vein. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

  126. It would have been cool to know whether or not Boss Fight Studios went with the balding high school teacher look or the DIC cartoon version. Guess the club wants us to fork over the dough in order to find out? No thanks, I’ll pass.

  127. The main reason I couldn’t justify buying Keel-Haul: it looks as though he uses the worst legs of ANY 25th-style figure released to date, the pigeon-toed Hawk v.1 that came with the Pit (which also had derp eyes and one of the worst neck/head joins in the line). There is a reason he’s packaged wide-stanced. He literally can’t bring his heels together without looking like he’s trying to do a pirouette. Don’t give Boss Fight a pass just because of their head sculpts.

  128. It’s kinda weird how the zombie trend was already going on in the early 90’s Joe line before it went mainstream over the past decade.

  129. I will probably end up getting one since I love the Snow Cat and this version fits in great with the earlier 1982-1986 vehicles, including the original HAVOC. But a HAVOC, it ain’t.

    I understand that the club couldn’t get the actual mold and that this was the closest they could get to anything resembling it, but I’d rather they’d called it for what it is. At this point, the Snow Cat has gotten around more often than any given Kardashian brat.

  130. Kudos to Boss Fight Studios for the great head sculpts.

    I’m sure that 90’s Neon Era fans will love this set, but as a kid who began collecting during the 1982-1986 era, this year’s offering will be an easy pass for me.

  131. You won’t find a bigger Grand Slam fan out there than me, but this was not a worthy choice at all, certainly not for the 13th figure. At most, it should have been included in the regular pairings to offset a Boss Fight Studios head sculpt, but that was already Bombardier’s role to begin with.

    This all reflects on the brand’s current state at present. I did not know that the G.I. Joe design team had been dismantled. I guess it really is 1994 (or worse) all over again, so we better make the most out of those Toys “R” Us “32nd Anniversary” items (if we find ’em) before the fat lady sings.

    It’s a sad time to be a Joe fan, really. For its 50th year, the brand is going out in a fizzle rather than looking forward to 50 more years of greatness.

  132. I think this is a great figure. Unfortunately, as everyone else has said, it shouldn’t be a $30+ figure at this point in time. I am tired of getting fleeced when there are perfectly good vintage toys to buy at good prices. As a true fan, I am utterly disappointed in Hasbro and the Club. I have never seen two companies with so many folk lined up to give them $$$, but they blow it by dicking us around and cheapo-half-assing it.

  133. I like the use of the great Airtight body, but I wish the Club had gone away from the comic style purple. Maybe tan or green to match Stormavik or Horrorshow

  134. I think this review is a bit harsh on the head sculpt, of which I am a big fan. I agree that the green color, in calling back to the prior figure, looks dated and off. I ordered two and will be popping off both heads and putting them on more modern bodies.

  135. Justin indicated that Slice and Alpine will have new head sculpts. This is a great line-up. I plan to bump my subscription level up from 2 figures each to at least 4. Feels like things are starting to click. Thanks for posting your insights.

  136. That was great! I’d never seen this film before. Issue #21 is a classic and Ivan does an excellent job with it here.

    Thanks for the link and for helping me take the sting out of an extremely difficult Monday.

  137. Excellent review and outstanding pics! I became a huge Cross-Country fan thanks to his three clashes with the Dreadnoks, his heroism during the Benzheen debacle, and his own Sunbow episode spotlight. This is easily my favorite club incentive figure to date and well worth the wait.

    Muchas Gracias for the cool reference to Hitch from the Rat Patrol. LMAO at the Soundwave pic! 😀

  138. When I first saw the Rat Patrol I kept thinking: “That guy is Cross Country!” I read somewhere that the folks at Hasbro were indeed inspired by Hitch at the time he was created.

    Now if only the show would return to Netflix!

    Glad you liked it!

  139. A sad day for G.I. Joe collectors of all ages. Don Levine was synonymous with our beloved hobby.

    Thanks for putting your heart and soul into the line, Don. Millions of kids young and old are better for it.

    RIP.

  140. Amen, Fred.

    Thank you for allowing us to live in a country where free speech permits us to argue about everything from taxes to paint wipes. It’s those brave souls we honor today and every day who keep this nation in liberty’s bosom.

    As such, I salute them.

  141. Very pleasantly surprised by the news. I ordered my sets through BBTS and highly recommend them to all collectors.

    This will be my first ever Cobra WOLF. I’m excited!

  142. There are far more characters I need in this year’s sub that ones I don’t care for, so it looks like I’m signing up again.

    Spearhead & Max rank up there among my must haves along with the other ’88 recruits being revisited this year. I will miss the orange camo (I never had a problem with it) but this new subdued update indeed looks awesome.

  143. You’re not the only sad guy out there, Fred. I expected the 1993 tiger stripe version as well since he came out first, stuck around at retail the longest, and had the cooler color scheme of the two. Does anyone even remember the 1994 version?

    It’s par for the course, though. Lately, the club seems to be aiming for the aging 90’s neon era fan and/or collector. What a missed opportunity this is. Those colors are an eyesore and that blindfold has gone into overuse mode.

    This figure is a huge disappointment and just went from my “maybe” list to “pass” or sell/trade off.

  144. The more subdued colors work wonders for this figure. Those awkward radar dishes are far more realistic in black rather than bright red. Some great improvements to a once lackluster design, although I will never, ever grow used to that antennae on the back of his head,

  145. Muskrat is my favorite 1988 recruit and overall character from that particular year. To say that I’m enthusiastic over this updated version would be an understatement. I love the new and improved boogie board! Muskrat’s gear suits him to a tee here, right down to the cool backpack he never got 26 years ago. This will easily be one of my favorite figures from the 2014 sub.

  146. Vypra falls into my “leave it” bucket, but she does have some redeeming qualities. Although I expected a homage to the 1998 color scheme, going with Cobra blue is a nice alternative. Not the greatest figure in the bunch, but not a total waste, either.

  147. There are a lot of Hit & Run fans out there given that his only source of exposure were the old Marvel comics of the late 80’s. He’s an awesome character and his figures have all been consistently excellent.

    I have the Assault on Cobra Island version, but this one has also been on my want list ever since he was announced. He won’t quite replace the 2009 version as the 1988 original’s definitive update, but he provides a nice middle ground between his 25th Anniversary and Nocturnal Fire incarnations.

  148. It’s a sharp looking figure for sure, but excluding his steady-cam machine gun is going to hurt him because the fans know that it is out there. It was included with the Nocturnal Fire version and since this figure also commands a premium price, there’s no excuse to omit it from his kit. This move might go down worse than Hit & Run’s missing face paint.

    I hope the club is able to correct these mistakes before the figures are produced. Repeater should also have black hair, not brown. If the club is shooting for authentic updates of the original figures they better start paying more attention because these aren’t retail toys they’re producing, they’re mighty expensive collectibles.

  149. Looks like another winner to me. Gotta have Slice’s smarter partner if you already have Dice.

  150. I love the new Boss Fight Studios head sculpt. So glad that the club went with the original version! His kit and paint decos look sharp as well. Going by the digital mock-up, this figure has greatly exceeded my expectations.

  151. Cee Gee Im is lookin’ good so far. I love me some chrome on my accessories!

    I think this one will be a winner as well.

  152. I agree, it’s too soon to make a call on this one. I’m not sure what is going on with her head. She does look more evil than badass. I suppose I was expecting something more fetching to the male eye, but since this is a digital sample, the jury is still out for now.

  153. Now that’s a marked improvement! This upgrade might just beat the 25th anniversary figure after all. The green face paint camo defines the character and if you’re doing a homage of the ’88 original, it is a must.

    I’ll second your thoughts regarding the Night Creeper Leader. The present version being offered is decisively lackluster.

  154. God help me, I’m in for another year. Had to sell some stuff so I could afford the sub. Here’s hoping!

  155. That IS the worst paint job I’ve seen in years. The Jaye/’Ness pack hasn’t been announced by TRUs or BBTS yet far as I know. I suppose it would be too much to ask that those hideous eyes on Jaye are fixed by then? I swear Lanard puts out a better product by comparison.

    G.I. Joe is dead in all its incarnations. They might as well close the lid and freeze the corpse for another few years as they have done in the past before they re-invent the brand once more.

  156. Thanks for the heads-up, Fred! This is the VAMP Mark II version I want most of the two and I wasn’t sure I’d have a chance at snagging it if it didn’t show up at HTS. Fingers crossed for the 24th!

  157. I got Roadblock after choosing stuff which should have gone to Snake Eyes? Go figure. Well, at least I’m the same age as Dwayne Johnson…

  158. The big question someone has already asked is: Where are we gonna find giant o-rings in case these guys also break at the torso? 😀

    It’s an intriguing concept and a logical follow-up to Gentle Giant’s similar Vintage Star Wars series. If I had the budget, I’d certainly collect these. But G.I. Joe is not doing well as a brand lately and lacks the massive fan base behind Star Wars. Time will tell how these turn out with collectors.

  159. Got it!!! My first VAMP Mark II… Whoo-Hoo!!!

    Thanks for the quick word, Fred! I have to go out at 9:00 AM and was hoping to snag it before then.

    Thanks again and I hope everyone gets theirs as well!!!

  160. I had no idea they were going to sell through that fast. I’m glad I was stalking the site hard. I’ve gotten Acknowledgement and Confirmation from TRU, so hopefully that means it’s mine…sold through in about an hour and a half. Yikes!

  161. Mine is on the way thanks to your heads-up, since these puppies sold out within the hour. I wouldn’t mind more VAMP molds being released if we never got any newly tooled product again. There are so many classic vehicles out there waiting to be dusted off that we haven’t seen in years. (Hydrofoil! Whale! Mobile Command Center! Rolling Thunder!)

  162. Mine cannot get here soon enough! The scheduled delivery is today so I’m hoping to run home over lunch and verify the arrival! Flint’s always been a favorite character of mine (thanks to the voice work of Bill Ratner) and I never owned a VAMP Mk II before! This is a win-win for me!

    Hopefully I can get a review posted shortly!

  163. Excellent review and pics. Well worth the four-page spread! This set really does give you a lot of bang for your buck. Between the awesome ’84 VAMP Mark II update and the MMB weapons cache, this set is full of surprises. (Who knew that you could complete your modern Road Pig thanks to that nifty new Wrist Crossbow?) There’s a lot to love here and minor disadvantages such as the lousy paint apps don’t diminish the coolness factor.

    I still feel bad for the 12″ inch collectors because this was their anniversary more than that of the ARAH generation and it really does feel like Hasbro is striking the tent on the G.I. Joe brand once more. Time will tell where things go from here, but I’m happy for this one set and the chance to revisit the glory days.

  164. This series is a classic for all the reasons you noted. It managed to be “dark” and “gritty” while still balancing out the lighter moments thanks to the kids and loveable Bandit. It really was a series for all ages. The original version is still the definitive one for me and has aged gracefully after half a century.

    Now for a decent 3 3/4 inch line! Are there any takers? Hasbro? All you newfangled retro companies? This property has a lot of life in it yet!

    Here’s to 50 more years of Jonny Quest!!!

  165. I love the Ozone head, because it seems I’m Dave’s twin, so it doubles as a self custom.

  166. Congrats on 11 years, I have to admit, my visits to all of the Joe sites are infrequent at best these days, mostly due to lack of activity with the brand. But I am glad to see one of the ‘old warhorses’ still around!

  167. Happy Birthday! And thanks for not just letting it die off, even if there was a dry spell. It’s only been in the last few years I’ve been revisiting the favorites of childhood/teens, mostly with fanfic; it’s nice to find information then and now.

  168. I think you will be disappointed on Outback, they had him in the set last year, I doubt he will be in the con set 2 years in a row. Same goes for Psyche Out since he was just released in the FSS. I think Tunnel Rat and Blizzard are the most likely international figures.

  169. I think it’s a great call. I never really liked the original Tiger Force Recondo color scheme so I was honestly expecting this to be the weak point of the set. However, I like the GIJCC going back to the Hasbro archives to release Recondo in a different color scheme like they’d initially intended. Plus, I love Tiger Force Flint’s look, so anything that reminds me of that look is going to help my opinion of the figure.

  170. I love that Muskrat figure. I haven’t been picking up and of the FSS figures, but I really want to grab him. I’ve been shopping around a bit hoping to get a good deal. He really seems like such a great update of the vintage figure.

  171. you are spot on my friend and not only that but this year we have no Casino night, Bingo, as well as no parachute drop. I have a 19 month old and was really looking forward to the drop.

  172. Don’t forget that last year there were many Golden Ticket holders who missed out on the para drop figure as well.

    • Good point! Again, it all comes down to poor planning.

      For the average con goer there really isn’t an affordable souvenir of the event to take home offered by the Club. To me, that should be the parachute figure. Make up one for every con set and then some and sell them for $20.00 at the con store.

      Last year really showed the flaws in the “limited edition” mentality.

  173. This is the only Convention I’ll ever be able to go to and of course I have to deal with a nearly 100% price increase. On top of that, it’s starting to feel like I won’t even be able to get any of the 2 figure, 3 figure or parachute figures anyway as the scalpers, err, “Golden Ticket” holders not only have the ability to buy 3 of almost everything, but get first crack into the store Thursday morning.

    The club could really make themselves look like they care about the actual collectors, and not the scalpers who are only looking to turn a profit, by taking away the 3x rule for them, at least for this year. That should almost guarantee that the exclusives will last through Friday and possibly into Saturday. I know they need to make the money back but I’m sure it would sell out quickly through the store from the people who could not attend due to the registration hitting so late.

    The club really needs to look at bring in more people to help run things as it truly does feel like things are done somewhat haphazardly most of the time.

    My first full year as a proud club member and I feel like it’s more work for me and less hobby. Kind of disappointing.

    • Well, as I am re acquainting myself with the world of GI Joe, and a first year club member myself,( with a great deal of help from this guy here) I am already seeing the reasons for conflict in this instance. The club needs to add some staff to this branch of the club, and possibly look into a web designer in house for the creation of a full function easily updatable software that’s adjusted for the club and the club alone. From what I’ve heard in the club threads dealing with the past 2 to 3 years I can see were people are screaming ridiculous. As for the GT situation…… Make that thing really worth something if you are gonna sell a package deal so ludicrous. Allow 25 GT packages per format. Add up the total package x3 for all items available to club members, then tack on 20% for the purchase of the package. The club makes an easy $50 grand right off the bat, and the patrons of the con, the actual collectors the GT ticket holders are trying to shaft, can have a chance at getting what they want without have to run to a scalp–,uh, er, GT that going to charge double the already outrageous price anyway.

      Just a thought….
      That said I am looking forward to this Convention!!
      Rant over.

      And to all club staff! Seriously, I realize you all are under a lot of stress over this whole situation and I just want to say i’m not beating you all down in anyway shape or form. The fact that we are going to a convention this year at all shows how hard you were obviously worked to get this done. Keep up the good work, and I hope you’ll listen to some of our suggestions and maybe help make things a little better for everybody. Uber kudos people and thank you!

      • I handle the lion’s share of logistics on my team where I work, so I’ve dealt with all kinds of issues like the club has had going back to FSS 3.0 issues last summer. Ever since then it feels like things just keep spiraling further and further down the line.

        I honestly believe that if you told club members that, “In an effort to get our house in order, we will not hold a GI Joe Convention in 2016, but will resume even better and more prepared in 2017 and beyond” they would gladly take that. I know I would and I’m the kind of guy who sits around my house reading file cards when I get bored (which is often).

        That being said, I think the problem really stems from trying to do too much and not being prepared in the past. Between preparations for the convention and the FSS, the Club is trying to do 13 months worth of work in 12 months. Last summer it finally caught up to them with the dock delays not helping at all.

        What the club needs is to get themselves into a 12 month lead time cycle. There are so many problems, either minor or major that this would help alleviate.

        Starting with the FSS, if the figures are revealed 10-12 months prior that allows a larger window for club members to sign up for the service. It also allows for time to determine if productions runs need to go up or down based on demand. And if the orders are put in early enough then basically the club members fund the production directly. Lastly, you have time to make changes to the final product before production begins. What was done with Hit & Run this year was turned him from a really nice figure into an amazing figure. He got changed but what other changes were proposed but simply couldn’t be done?

        A long lead time for the convention also eases the same issues as outlined above for the FSS but much more as well. An extra month or two could have landed a spot to do a parachute drop this year. It could have also bought time to get the product from the dock and not have to pass costs onto the attendees. I do not blame the club for this as this is rare situation where neither of the two parties involved are at fault, but still taking on that extra cost still sucks.

        There are so many more ideas I have and things I could point out, but I feel obligated to stop here before you stop reading.
        Hopefully I held your attention long enough and we can all start making some noise try to get the club back on track for the club members who love GI Joe and the product the club makes and not just to put product out into the public for aftermarket consumption. Which is another problem the club faces but that’s for another discussion.

        If anyone form the Club would like to contact me you can PM Arock1922 through the Collectors Club site. I’d love to share some of my ideas.

  174. There is no casino night because gambling is illegal in Illinois.
    They should limit golden ticket holders to 1 per day until they hit their 3x limit.
    I guess I won’t be getting any souvenirs at all since the club priced me out.

    • Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. Gambling is legal in Illinois but with certain restrictions. For example, a former employer of mine always had a casino night for the year-end holiday party structured just as the Club held theirs. (Using “play money”, etc)

      I think the Club’s using the perception of Gambling restrictions as an excuse to cut costs. If an advertising agency can have an annual casino night then the Club most certainly can.

  175. If the club plans to ditch casino night, bingo night in future events my family will no longer go. My wife does not collect Gi joe and looks forward to casino and bingo. Not having these events really takes from the joe con experience IMO.

  176. Figure wise, That Chuckles would still be good with the old 25th head but that new one is fantastic. Love the HiSS Driver and Gunner. And the Gary Head tribute is a rather sweet gesture.

    Love the F.O.E Striker, the HiSS (in both colours) and the Cobra Basilisk came out nice.

    That SDCC Crimson Scythe deco is amazing.

  177. I’m down to buy each pack, but that’s the last Blowtorch I buy, I mean it this time.

    Great to see some more concept case releases.

  178. I’ve been wanting to justify these FSS figures, but they mostly just don’t add up to the costs of them. And NCL looks horrid. He looks like this guy I know that’s trying to hide his bald spot with painted hair.

    And Bombstrike just looks sort of boring. I know the original had the huge knockers and all. But I felt her overall look gave her character. This one just feels slapped together and it definitely shows. Even that headsculpt just looks simple. There’s no real pop to it. Just generic looking.

  179. Had problems with Bombstrike arms. They do not move well.
    She would make a good Helix if you can get the figure dirt cheap.

    The NC Leader is great. Love the removable eye band.
    One of the better remakes that has come out.

  180. I wouldn’t be surprised if the TF Outback and TF Sneak Peek follow the colors used in the 2015 Con set instead of the traditional color palette from the UK. Prepare yourself for the nerd rage.

  181. Not a bad looking figure, just dose not feel like Barricade. They need to get better photo shop or make a custom and take photos of that.

  182. Can u tell what body parts these figures consist of? Such wonderful head sculpts

    • Big Ben:

      Torso and arms RoC Desert Ambush Duke, can’t tell whose hands, probably Retaliation Joe Trooper’s. With PoC Dusty’s Legs.

      Crimson Guard Immortal: Torso and Arms are the Retaliation Cobra Trooper from wave 1(the one with the Blue Parachute Harness) and his legs and probably hands are Retaliation Snake-Eyes (Wave one that came in a 3-pack and Amazon 4-pack).

      • Great to see the potential in the Retaliation Cobra Trooper realized here with better colors and articulation. Thanks for all the great information. I have six subscriptions, so I will have a great CGI display. I will mainly put the Big Ben head on more modern bodies.

  183. The webgear from POC Stalker would look good on Nunchuck. Not sure what to replace the head with.

  184. The 25th BAT should have been retired years ago. Cyber Ninja, Data Viper (without the head), and The Cobra Combat Ninja (alternate head) all work better for robots

  185. I ended up putting the head on a POC Iron Grenadier body with a Retaliation Flint helmet. It looks great. Can’t say I ever understood why Dr. M was shirtless in the first place. Was he a particularly buff scientist? The Renegades CC body is kinda neat, but I draw the line at light purple

  186. Great review. I was actually going to sell my fig until I read your review and really looked at the head sculpt. It’s just a neat figure, and it had surprised me how much I like it. I was most definitely less than impressed when the figure was announced, but now, it seems pretty cool.

    • He’s just oddly fun and I can’t entirely explain why. Perhaps it’s the completely ludicrous nature of the entire design or just the fact that it’s Mindbender but I can’t help but LOVE this figure. Who’d have thought it possible?! 🙂

  187. All good dude. That mother-load of reviews is going to be worth the wait.

  188. The figures would look so much better with some new tooling, which there seems to be very little of in this series. The cool legs on the Night Creeper go to waste with the antiquated head and torso. All the 25th anniversary tooling needed retired years ago. I wonder if this is going to be the final leg of the FSS, as Boss Fight looks to have been called upon much less here.

    • Agree 100% about the 25th Anniversary tooling. Whoever is designing these builds for the Club needs to move on.

      Oddly enough, the Night Creeper is based on a Hasbro concept case design which means the club have very little to do with the figure’s parts construction. No wonder this figure stands out as better than the rest!

  189. I’m not a fan of concept material. Might as well be Sentinel toys or whatever the hell they sell at Big Lots and Target.

    I personally only love cannon/Larry Hama Joes. I want figures like the 50th Gung Ho. The 25th Gung Ho looked like Mr. Belvedere with hepatitis. I want to see Chuckles in his blue/green/pink hawaiian shirt. Where the fuck in Big Lob? How about a Zarana we all can afford? Glad to see Alpine making an appearance, but why not add Quick Kick or Outback? Some mass produced Club figures would be nice. They actually seem to know what fans want.

  190. The red hood is great, but the hands are of very limited use for holding weapons. The battle helmet seriously needs upgrade with more modern tooling, as do CC’s legs.
    As for SW, his head desperately needs new tooling as well. I have grown to hate that vest, which is very difficult to close shut.

  191. 50th Gung Ho and Leatherneck look amazing when standing side-by-side. Two great headsculpts as well.
    As for CSG, I think he looks better than the red version. My only complaints with both are that the sword sheaths often pop off and the vest doesn’t clasp well. The torso from the 25th CG should be retired as well.

  192. Blowtorch was THE fig I always wanted but never had as a kid. I was beyond pumped when the 25th version was released until I got him in hand. Those arms are just awful.

  193. No. Even with reboots….the core premises of most of them just really don’t fit together. I could see GI Joe, M.A.S.K. and even JEM in one universe… if you really look at them, they already sort of are. ROM, Visionaries, and Micronauts? They don’t even work well together.

  194. GI Joe and MASK were already blended together quite well with the release of the “Specialist Trakker” figure in the Joe line a few years back. The other properties can’t be tied I’m as readily, and in my mind shouldn’t be anyway. I loved the Visionaries, but how do you integrate a far future magic welding era with GI Joe? It’s just stupid.

  195. Maybe they hope to gather in extra money from people having to renew their memberships even if they got the membership in time to cover JoeCon 2016? Just saying, if all those people wanting to attend JoeCon in BFE Colorado have to renew instead of riding on their already paid for memberships, it’ll be a nice extra chunk of change.

  196. FYI, Adam Riches confirmed that “FSS 5” was NOT a typo. Considering he does most of the card art for the FSS lines, I’m assuming he has already begun work on the 5th installment.

  197. Has anyone heard about the JoeCon set for 2016? Could it be that FSS 5.0 might be in lieu of a Con set? That would make sense from a production perspective if we are running close to an end of a relationship… Just a possibility.

  198. Airborne was my one Sky Patrol guy from back in the day and I’m very impressed at how good his modern version looks. I’m super stoked I’m actually heading to Joe Con this year for this set.

    • I’m hoping that my eyes deceive me and that his helmet is removable. It’s still a great-looking figure but it would be an AMAZING figure if that helmet comes off.

  199. Can you add a past vs present comparison pic for dropzone? Those are great. Thank you.

  200. Ok so these con exclusive extras better be absolutely stunning. I’d forgo chrome for air superiority grey.

    And sadly the price escalation has been going for some time. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Homefront Hero package came with free shipping since you didn’t get a name badge, autographs, attendee exclusive, or any show access. Gary may say what he wants, but truth is that the Homefront Hero and Base Commander sets help defray the overall production costs of the sets, and lowers financial risk for Fun Pub. Free or discounted domestic shipping doesn’t seem unreasonable.

    • Wait I forgot, no casino night chips or so-so meal.

      Also interesting 442nd RCT reference there Fred, though not how I’d ever envisioned it being used.

  201. Thank you, I strongly feel your post was spot on. G.I Joe should inspire children to be heroes, learn right from wrong, how to work with others, and inspire dreams. I vrew up with the classic 80’s line and have been saddened by the release of figures and vehicles at a price point that is unattainable for children in their parents.

    There is a great future for the Joes in that many of the Pursuit of Cobra and Rise of Cobra sculps can be re-issued and re-released for both classic collectors, who want the same figure on a different card, and kids who wish to “Live The Adventure.”

    Here is a great idea for sales, bring back Flag Points. Since collectors are buying multiple figures anyway, let them put those to good use and mail off for premiums. At the same time, kids can get the opportunity to work towards saving and getting some extra figures, vehicles, and playsets.

  202. Excellent post. Personally, I’m ready to let GI Joe go, into the hands of a new generation. I truly hope that can and will happen. Hopefully, GI Joe will return and be of some interest to a new generation. The BRAND is too important. Part of the overall issue also has to be a bit cultural. While society doesn’t mistreat the military like it did post Vietnam, there is still a general malaise about the military and a general cultural downshift in patriotism and love of country. The national patriotism of the 80’s is gone and the glory days of GI Joe are gone. I really doubt the retail space that GI Joe commanded back in the 60’s and the 80’s were phenomena that may never be seen again by the brand. Hopefully, Hasbro can reinvent GI Joe, keeping a link to the military roots, but somehow making it both interesting for kids and profitable for the company.

  203. I will disagree with your opinion that “G.I. Joe always has been and always should be a brand directed toward children.”. The adult collector market has been the heart and soul of the line since it’s re-launch. I’ve attended events and collected since I was a kid and as of late the toy line has pretty much been adult oriented. Parents these day, seem to be reluctant to allow “war based” toys into their homes, so yes the now adult lovers of the toys are who the market has been directed toward. Much like the He-Man toys for Mattel. Within the last year, there was a 50th Anniversary show at the Military Museum in Saratoga NY. There were many of us old fogies there, simply enjoying the memories of childhood associated with the toys. But you are right, Hasbro owns it and Hasbro can do what they choose to with it. However, it doesn’t make it less sorrowful to yet again see it vanish.

  204. “Of course, that’s just this Joe fan’s opinion.”

    And into the trash it goes. Is that chocolate on your nose? Your corporate lords and masters at Hasbro aren’t going to love you more if you tow the company line like that.

    You’re defending Hasbro the way a battered wife defends her abusive husband. Even Patty Hearst would be taken aback by the astronomical levels of Stockholm Syndrome displayed by alpha-faux-mature “fans” that infest moderator cliques and affiliated blogs like this. You are the cancer killing the fandoms today.

    Simple fact of the matter is that GI Joe wouldn’t be the pop-culture mainstay it is today if it wasn’t for the support of the fans. The fact that there’s a large amount of non-Hasbro Joe collectibles out in specialty shops featuring RAH era characters mirrors this. So yes, Hasbro DOES in fact owe us.

  205. Wow– you are certainly entitled to your opinion as I welcome discussion of all viewpoints here.

    So, Hasbro OWES you a G.I. Joe line? Really?

    I hate to say this but G.I. Joe isn’t a pop-culture mainstay anymore. Seriously– just go to a shopping mall or a Hobby Lobby or even a Hot Topic and walk around. You’ll see nostalgia branding for a great many 1980’s properties– Transformers, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, My Little Pony, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. What you don’t see anywhere is G.I. Joe. Think about it– when is the last time you saw a random G.I. Joe non-toy licensed item in a story that wasn’t left-over product from Retaliation or Rise of Cobra? The simple answer is that you most likely haven’t unless it is fan produced.

    Saying that Hasbro OWES you a G.I. Joe line is like saying that George Lucas OWED us a prequel trilogy that went along with what the fans wanted and not what the creator of the brand had in his head. That’s ludicrous entitlement mentality at best and utter niavete at worst.

    I’ll say this– I’m not out to appeal to the “corporate lords and masters at Hasbro” and I never have. If you’ve read anything at JBL, I’ve always tried to speak from a common sense perspective with relation to the brand, regardless of whether or not it fit what I wanted. If the brand is to survive, then it must evolve and that only comes through change.

    If you’d like to discuss this further, I’m open for it. However, I don’t think you can really accuse JBL of being a Hasbro shill site in any way at all.

  206. Bwaaahaahaaaa!!!! “A REAL American Zero”, your comments are awesome! I especially love the part of hiding behind a screen name! That is SO clever! But I can see the line’s uncertainty has broken past your safe zone and is causing you undue micro-aggression and anxiety! And it wouldn’t be fair to keep you in this state. So, (Spoiler Alert Trigger Warning): Yes, you will get exactly what is owed to you!

    First off, you are correct. In the name of transparency, yes, we are on Hasbro’s payroll. We get $67.14 for every positive post we say about them. That jumps to $209.87 for every glowing review we do on the toys. Plus, every full moon we get free cases of troop builders! (No one has more Rock-Vipers than us!)

    Now for the good news. We had wanted to wait another few months before we mentioned anything so we could keep this a SDCC surprise, but Fred and I are also the new owners of the ‘Joe club. And to reward us for being the bestest, most loyal Pollyannas in the entire fandom, the first new convention set will feature brand new figures in Fred and my likenesses—with working parachutes! We also get to do whatever we want for the 15 figure set, and we decided to do “G.I. Joe: Civil War”—which will be a totally rad set pitting 7 loyalists vs. 7 haters! Each side will come with a variety of guns and tools! As for the 15th figure, that is the most exciting part! It’s a new 6″ troll character created from the Mega Marines Monstro-Viper body with a newly sculpted head! The troll will be the mysterious mastermind pitting the loyalists against the haters—and he will be the first of the new 6″ line.

    Rest assured my friend, you are entitled to only the best, and that is what you’ll be getting! So stop worrying! 2017 will be an exciting time to be a ‘Joe collector!

  207. “Hasbro owes you nothing”

    Yeah and Flint, Michigan doesn’t owe its residents clean water. They can just move! FANS CAN JUST QUIT! (then you same folks wonder later “why is no one supporting the line?”)

    JBL isn’t a Hasbro shill site, because like most people, no one remembers that JBL exists. You’re low tier on a fan base that’s dying. Since you aren’t corporate shills, it is you who don’t owe Hasbro…any excuses, faux explanations, appeasements, apologies or even patience. You pretend to be above all the hype and negativity, but in truth you gobble it down for meager website hits. I bet you think you are “telling it like it is”. Yeah, saying there’s nothing and people should accept nothing makes you so relevant, as relevant as every other twit who’s been saying the same spiel for years now. Admit you want the reactionary comments, you want the hype…because without it, what is fandom now but a bunch of sad sacks waiting for a ship that’ll probably never come in?

    It’s hard to argue with much validity anymore that “G.I. Joe always has been and always should be a brand directed toward children.” when:
    a. There hasn’t been a serious attempt at kid-aimed line in years. Retaliation barely counts. HASBRO has resigned the small military toy market to Lanard and whatever Toys R Us carries. HASBRO has surrendered GI JOE to the competition, including its own licensed brands, because they sell better. (It’s like when it comes to GI JOE, Hasbro owes kids nothing, either.).
    b. There’s no other media to back that up, as you’ve mentioned. The current comics aren’t aimed at kids. There hasn’t been a cartoon since Renegades, which lasted one season. If GI JOE is for kids, where is it?
    c. As an adult fan that’s admitting that you are wasting your life on something childish. Which of course, we all are. One generation saved the world, another complains about frivolous crap while trying to one-up each other on arguments, like this one, that are essentially meaningless.
    d. Just about no one cares about that deep down. Fans want what they want. You can say it’s about the kids until you are red, white and blue in the face…deep down, you want what you want, fanboy. You want conventions, articulated figures in a scale you prefer and movies that aren’t crap. You can cling to the hope that Hasbro will launch a new line that’s kiddie friendly and has collector appeal, but if you’ve looked at toy aisle lately, there’s as much chance of that happening as there is of a flying pig becoming the next pope.

    Good luck with your future endeavors after you finally shut this internet tomb down.

  208. sabatini! (Quite appropriate your name is lowercased), thanks for the comments! I was just telling Fred earlier I hoped we’d cause enough controversy to be covered like a Trump rally by brining in the rabble-rousers, and here you are! Just like magic(k)! So congrats! (Hasbro also pays us $5.25 for every comment we generate, so that’s a free Miccy D’s two cheeseburger meal! Woot!) But you do have a point, Fred and my Pollyannachlorine counts are quite low compared to yours, and given your IP addy’s location, maybe we could stop by your place and we can all have our Thetan Levels adjusted? I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, so let’s plan next week. See you next Tuesday; or Wednesday—whichever works best.

    • Sadly Joe, there’s no longer a way to sign-up for the subscription. Fun Publications and Hasbro are ending their relationship as of 12/31/2016 and only members of the Collector’s Club are able to sign-up for an FSS subscription. (They’re no longer taking new memberships for the remainder of the year.)

      However, there is some good news. Extra figures end up for sale in the Club’s store after a few weeks. If you keep your eyes peeled to http://www.gijoeclub.com/shop you can snag them there.

      Not an ideal answer but at least it will give you a shot at getting some of these.

  209. I am surprised by my enjoyment level with Bullhorn. I have four subscriptions, so I wish the vest were a tad bigger to swap with other figures. I don’t care for the vintage rifle and microphone.
    I have been done with BATS for years now. I am going to give them unopened to a toy drive.

    • Wow– donating Inferno BATs to a toy drive? That’s incredibly generous of you!

      I concur on Bullhorn’s gear. Honestly, I’d have been happier swapping out the solid vintage rifle with something that works better with that body– such as the Shock Trooper’s rifle. This way he gets and update and has a weapon that he can actually HOLD!

  210. Hey Fred!! Really enjoyed your video review of Interogator and Billy! Look forward to your review of Pythona! and any other news and tidbits you might inform us on. Take care and Yo Joe!
    Sincerely, James N

  211. The SkyStriker is an awesome plane, and should look really good in chrome. Granted, that mold has been reissued something like half a dozen times since being brought back, but they’ve all been cool.

  212. Re Scarlett’s build- her lower legs and feet (and possibly knees- hard to tell) first appeared on 2009’s Air Viper Commando that popped up with the Claw and again in the DOCI 7-pack. Upper legs are def Renegades Scarlett. I wish they had reused the whole torso build from Pythona here instead of swapping out the new upper torso with the smaller Jinx upper torso- but otherwise a great build.

    The doctor’s jacket is from the Renegades 4-pack Snake Eyes. Arms from ROC Cover Girl. Upper torso from Pythona. Lower torso and legs from Resolute Scarlett. Excepting the tiny head…this is a great build. I wish they had given her that crazy big gun from ROC Flash, however, for her rail gun…

  213. I read the review of Pythona and there appeared to be a mystery over her lower legs. The knees and lower legs are from 5-pack Baroness believe it or not. The feet are def retooled Jinx feet. I wonder if the Club did that or if Hasbro had them laying about unused after deciding to go for rocker ankles…

  214. Thank you for this coverage. I was waiting for a comprehensive list of what the G.I. Joe items available at TRU would be. It’s very sincerely appreciated.

    Was anything said at all about IDW’s “Hasbro-verse” and keeping Larry Hama’s RAH comic separate from it?

    Thanks again!

    • Yep– Larry’s ARAH title is its own entity and so will continue on unabated by anything that happens with Revolution.

      Glad you found the coverage useful, Thomas. It was killing us to have to be remote this year.

  215. Imagine if the Broken Arrow Toys booth had my order done from 2013 or had refunded my $166!! I could have bought like 8 kitted out marauders figures!!
    What a “swell” guy Alyosha is though, right?

  216. I am hoping that the 50th ‘blue Dusty’ head will fit and look perfect on this guy!
    What do you guys think?

  217. hi i want to subscribe am from Colombia living in Spain but the figures may be sent to new jersey I want all the exclusive I should do and pay each year

  218. There is virtually no new tooling involved used in this production. Salvo is a major disappointment.

  219. I have written this on the Club figure topic, following your advice about the tone and objective of the comments: You have promised us a PoC style figure and gave us this?!?! A PoC style figure is not a skinny guy with a “lollipop-launcher” (did not want to use a sexual reference). He should have elements that make the link between vintage and a modern and more realistic soldier. If you guys wanted a true vintage recreation, a more athletic build was required and definitely NO “lollipop-launcher”!!! Make a retooling of the M202 FLASH that the weapon is based on without the “lollipop” or a total new weapon for the quintuple-launcher that the vintage uses. Could use other anti-armor weapon already available for the figure. Could put that mines and the backpack associated with them (Firefly PoC, Elite Horsemen 50th or Firefly 50th). Do not put on the figure accessories that it cannot carry or attach on the figure, like a sidearm or knife without a holster or sheath. Give him a open vest or mole (like Gung Ho’s vest) to give him a more a soldier look without loosing his t-shirt mote, although Shipwreck 50th does have a nice withe shirt with the word NAVY on it under his vest. Did not like the helmet, but I can’t imagine any other existing one to use. The head sculpt is hidden in the helmet, so nothing to say about it for now.

  220. It is very skinny!

    At least should reuse the torso, arms and hands extra joint that used to Outback Tiger Force!

    Oh, and the five missiles bazooka of the first Salvo!

    The same thing with Raptor.

    I hope you guys can fix this problem ‘coz every single figure ain’t cheap and you know that!

    Thanks!

  221. I just got mine in today. That head swap on Charbroil is yet another kick in the nuts for Club members who can’t afford to attend their conventions. The figure just lost major points with me and the Club has yet another stain on their service record.

  222. Great website but the web gear is from the GI joe Matt Trakker figure, it is not newly tooled.

  223. Nice to see some love for Battle Force 2000 on its 30th (!?!) birthday. I’m going to start saving up for this set. Of course, Dee-Jay and the Pulverizer will likely be Con-only attendee figures so I’ll likely be haunting Evil Bay again as was the case last year.

  224. Other than the unknown head, looks like Maverick’s made up of:
    -POC Snake Eyes torso
    -ROC Flash upper arms
    -Retaliation Ultimate Cobra Commander lower arms
    -25th Dusty upper legs
    -25th BAT lower legs

  225. The head does look new.

    30th Techno-Viper legs and webgear aside, I can make out the POC spin kick Storm Shadow arms, the belt of the ’08 Comic Pack Firefly, and Med Alert’s shotgun.

  226. I like it a lot, especially the head and removable helmet. Knockdown isn’t my favorite Force member but if the rest of the team follows suit, these will certainly be worth the $$$ for me.

  227. Ugh! They couldn’t have chosen a worse time to keep jacking up their prices. I’m not even a B.A.T. fan and they make up the majority of the set! I’ll have to try and grab the six BF 2000 team members on their own somehow. And then there’s also the convention “souvenir” figures to consider… This just sucks on all levels for me.

  228. Here’s the parts breakdown:
    -New head and retooled rifle
    -Retaliation Firefly torso
    -25th Iron Grenadier Destro arms
    -Retaliation Ultimate Cobra Commander upper legs and knife
    -POC Recondo knees
    -Wraith lower legs
    -25th Duke bandolier
    -Retaliation GI Joe Trooper rifle

  229. The new head sculpt is definitely going to be reused for Windmill since it looks a whole lot more like him than Avalanche’s bulbous, com-linked helmet. They’re practically identical, almost like Windmill’s nogging was designed first.

    I would hazard a guess that the classic BF 2000 weapons are being retooled so that SOMETHING can justify the newest price increase. I see it going the route of the Eco Warriors/Zombies set from a few years back. That one took forever to sell out.

  230. Parts layout as far as I can tell:
    -New head
    -ROC Hawk torso
    -POC Jungle Duke upper arms with POC Law lower arms and hands (same combo found on the 50th Anniversary Dusty)
    -POC Skydive upper legs and knees with 25th Anniversary Night Creeper lower legs/feet (same combo as the Retaliation Night-Viper)
    -POC Shocktrooper vest
    -Spy Troops Destro shotgun
    -Retooled ’87 Dodger rifle
    -Resolute Flint shotgun shell armband

  231. I hate to say it, but I’d rather they saved the tooling budget and not use custom personal weapons. Being a “from the archives” style story, the XM8 or XM29 would have been futuristic enough.

  232. I know that this is only a digital mock-up, but man, do they need to feed him more ham and lima beans! I’m supposing that only two figures will come with removable helmets as did the vintage originals? What I actually miss the most is the sculpted texture and paint jobs on guys like Dodger, Avalanche, and Blocker.

    These are leaning more towards my “someday” list rather than my “must order NOW” one, not unlike how the Eco Warrior set ended up, and I still haven’t sought those guys out to this day…

  233. Regarding the rules you posted, I can just see the DREADNOKS breaking those constantly! (Monkeywrench huddled over his tiny tablet, being a jerk)

  234. Here’s the parts layout:
    -New head and retooled ’87 weapon
    -POC Duke torso
    -Resolute Duke (jetpack/arctic version) upper arms
    -ROC (shirtless) Storm Shadow lower arms (with POC Shock Trooper hands)
    -Retaliation GI Joe Trooper thighs and rifle
    -POC Snake Eyes lower legs and knife
    -25th Anniversary General Hawk shoulder holster

  235. We’ll see how the head sculpt fares from this photoshopped “America’s Most Wanted” mobster mug.

    I was REALLY hoping for a removable helmet with blonde hair (and molded headphones) underneath to homage Blaster’s debut in issue #68 of the comic. They might not even go with the vintage figure’s black hair going by this preview pic. That makes it two strikes for me.

    Looking back at BF 2000’s debut in issue #68’s cover, the odds of getting Backstop and/or the Persuader as a souvenir extra is pretty much a given since they all appeared there together.

    Blocker is my second favorite BF 2000 figure after Dodger. He will either make or break the set for me regardless of the B.A.T. reveal.

  236. I would’ve been surprised if we’d gotten the visor given that Blocker is wearing more of a baseball cap here than an actual helmet.

    This is the lamest set to come out since the Eco Warriors/Zombies. Kinda fitting for such a much-maligned bunch as Battle Force 2000 ended up during its original run in the late 80s. These poor guys just can’t catch a break!

    • This would have been the perfect time to give them a nice modern overhaul. Sadly, we’re going for a near slavish approach to vintage accuracy that ends up hampering more than helping these builds.

  237. Parts breakdown:
    -New head and retooled original weapon
    -Retaliation GI Joe Trooper torso and webgear
    -Retaliation Cobra Commander arms
    -POC Jungle-Viper thighs
    -POC spin-kick Snake Eyes legs
    -POC shotgun

  238. I received my set today. I like how both characters turned out. Salvo has always been a favorite and it is great to finally have a modern style take on the vintage version.

  239. Are there really that many B.A.T. fans out there to justify their overexposure? I’ve never cared for them at all, much like the Dreadnoks, who also made up the bulk of a previous convention set several years back.

    I only envision diehard completists and those nostalgic for the Battle Force 2000 era to feel excited about this set. Let’s hope the souvenirs prove to be any sort of saving graces for those of us who can find and afford them.

  240. So I’m a little confused by something. The fine print says they’re not exact replicas of their vintage counterparts. And Sub-Zero has the modern logo on his arm. Is this wave supposed to be more modern and not the typical updates of the vintage line? Or are they just emphasizing they’re not re-releases of the original o-ring molds? I just don’t recall seeing that text before.

  241. Fred are you sure about that head, it looks like the pit commando head to me.

  242. It’s basically Sgt. Stone with Shock Trooper arms and the webgear of the DTC Cobra Officer webgear.

  243. I’m all for the international figures. I have this original Action Force figure so a modern remake is more than welcome. I have the rest of the international figures that the Club has released and several vehicles that I’ve re-stickered, so this guy will have a good home.

  244. You got the head and torso out of the way–the legs originally came on POC Recondo, the arms are Data-Viper, the vest is 25th Outback.

  245. The head is nice as a reuse for Headman, but aside from that, this figure looks terrible for the most part.

  246. The jacket would look better on the FSS Cross Hairs than the vest he was given.

  247. I mentioned this in another post as well, but I don’t love that they’re putting the modern logo on the classic era-based figures. That stands out to me every time they’ve done that.

  248. I’m all for Funskool repaints, but I would have preferred some of the earlier ones. 2004 is a bit late for my tastes. And Windmill??

  249. I think this one needs to go back to the scrap heap. There are many more Joes to make. Characters unmade in the modern form or renditions of characters from the newer comic series. Like IDW Tripwire. Come on, Fun Club!

  250. The arms are also from 30th Lifeline, and the pistol comes from Retaliation wave 1 Cobra Commander. Oddly enough, no one noted that this is the first time that any iteration of the Annihilator backpack came with two handles instead of it being one handle and one gun.

  251. Your full recipe is as follows:
    -Convention Blocker head with goggles
    -Retaliation Joe Trooper torso and webgear
    -Data-Viper arms
    -ROC Flash legs
    -And accessories consisting of 2005 Valor vs. Venom Duke’s machine gun; DTC Falcon’s tripod gun; and POC desert Duke’s missile launcher.

  252. You got the head, torso and harness out of the way, here’s my guestimate of the remaining parts:
    Arms and left-hand rifle–ROC Paris Pursuit Baroness with ROC Cover Girl hands
    Legs–25th Alley-Viper with Retaliation Crimson Guard’s holster
    Other Accessories–25th Comic Pack Cobra Officer rifle, standard-issue pistol since ROC days, Resolute Cobra Trooper backpack

  253. Yay and bummer. I have only been able to make it to 2 cons due to travel costs. As such you and Justin have always been my go to guys for news. Accurat without any drama (trolling, flaming, or other such vitriol). Still, double vicariously (is that a thing?) through you guys will do.

    • Thanks Mark! It was hard to make out via the LIVE session but I’ll update ASAP! (Always want to give credit where credit is due– especially on work that looks this good.)

  254. Holy Hannah! I am super, super, super excited about this set. I echo what you said Fred, I too am old enough to remember all this from my childhood and I even had all the Visionaries (and still do)! That Leoric looks amazing. I agree there’s not a weak spot in this set. If anything, I’m least excited about the Action Man. But regardless, I’m clearing off space on the shelf now!

    But somebody help me out with this…Jetfire is clearly not 1:18 scale. But it looks like the Micronauts might would theoretically fit in the cockpit. Is there any kind of correlation there? Or is Jetfire just not to scale in this set?

    • Yeah, I was really wondering if there was some correlation between the Transformers and the Micronauts in the new IDW storyline. I only collect 1:18 scale TFs, like the convention crossover sets, so I was trying to think of some excuse to allow this Jetfire in. I just wasn’t sure if in the new storyline Micronauts rode around in TFs or something. That would give me an excuse to consider it 1:18 scale.

  255. The Star Wars exclusives have been delayed until September. I assume the same holds true for these?

  256. This was a nice read. Bobby sounds like a fan that got his dream job. I know Joe doesnt have a lot of product right now, but it appears they have a voice in Hasbro with the right intentions and has heart.

  257. The build is as follows:
    -Slaughter’s Marauders Falcon head and beret
    -POC Cobra Shocktrooper torso
    -POC Jungle Duke arms, webgear and machete
    -POC Snake Eyes legs and gear for legs
    -POC Beachhead rifle
    -ROC Paris Pursuit Baroness SMG
    -Repainted ROC Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes wolf as Sandstorm

  258. Key difference: the use of the Ultimate Cobra Commander arms, giving him an advantage over the cancelled version.

  259. My guess is, aside from the currently unknown head and already mentioned helmet and flight pack, the build is:
    -30th Airtight upper torso, arms and legs
    -25th IG Destro with Comic Pack pilot Destro leg harness
    -Retaliation Cobra Trooper webgear and pistol
    -Retaliation G.I. Joe Trooper rifle

  260. And the rest of his parts breakdown is as follows:
    -Torso and arms from ROC Elite-Viper
    -Hairless head, machete, and tri-bolo from Shadow Tracker
    -Upper legs and pistol from 2009 25th 5-Pack Shipwreck
    -Lower legs from 2009 DOCI Alley-Viper/Range-Viper

  261. Torso and knife: 25th Anniversary Snake Eyes
    Arms: POC Snake Eyes
    Legs, rifle, pistol: ROC Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes
    Vest: ROC PIT Commando

  262. I have the European version of the Desert Fox and it includes three file cards in different languages. Treadmark was the code name used on the British file card. My guess is that the club went with it for lapsed trademark reasons.

  263. Wow, Budo looks good! He was in a single issue of the Marvel run? Ah, yes. But what an issue #82 was! “Weeding Out” is the classic story where we got to see Duke finally make good on his promise from issue #22 to “make the sorry lot of you (the Joes) into soldiers!” Now, we just need Lightfoot and an updated Grand Slam from his return as field leader in that issue to complete the main cast!

  264. Not bad! Easily the most anticipated figure besides Crystal Ball. If he can sit in the kayak, I’d call this the best one in the whole bunch.

    Now, for Crystal Ball!

  265. Yes! I always liked the figure on its own terms, regardless of the Stephen King connection. Who would have thought that a once reviled peg warmer would stage such a comeback? The club delivered a solid homage here, easily the crown jewel for FSS 7.

  266. As an overall assortment it initially feels a bit flat, but I think thats solely due to exclusively the back end of the line and sharing similar color tones. Unavoidable as thats entirely where the remaining RAH figure options are.
    Digging into it closely however its an EXTREMELY strong line up with each piece executed equitably.
    Crystal Ball and Stalker, arguably the two biggest pieces, are both FLAWLESS and representative of the clubs benchmark achievements. Those two at that level easily could have allowed for some filler, but achieved higher. The Ice Viper officer I assumed just that, however the deco changed my mind completely. I’m excited now for this one! Arctic CC is a figure I wished had been made AND rounds out previous arctics so great. I could give two *&%$# for TF Jinx but she has been highly desired by the majority and its not always about me lol. Really excited to get the Dreadnok SC as well! Now…Kangor. He makes so much sense to do on so many levels I’d never argue it, and the head deco is great, hes simply one of the few foreign I’ve never liked purely because his remaining deco is so much the original.
    Not a flaw in execution, I just didnt lil the original.
    This is really a solid line up in execution. Crystal Ball and Stalker are water marks and those who find issue with them truly have unattainable expectations.

    Start the previews for 8 already!!

  267. No truer words were ever spoken. Merry Christmas to you and everyone at JBL, Fred! Have a great one!

  268. Mele Kalikimaka gang. Too bad no Joes under the tree this year. But we get another movie in 2020!

  269. Knowing the club, this set will be pricey. On top of that, I’m not a huge Dreadnok fan. That said, I will wait and see for a bit. I do want to get the comic now that I know about the story! It’s very Sunbow-ie, like most of the DDP stuff. I think I only have the first arc of Frontline because Larry Hama was writing the Joes after several years at the time. Maybe I ought to get the whole series since I only need 14 issues to complete the run.

  270. The legs are what you guessed. The only parts carried over from the 2009 figure are the head, vest, gun and torso (same as the Resolute comic pack Storm Shadow and DVD pack Alpine). The arms come from the first Retaliation Duke.

  271. Actually kind of disappointed that the reveals are coming after registration is in nutso speed.

  272. The parts build is as follows:
    -‘09 Comic Pack Shockwave hat
    -‘11 Ripcord head
    -‘10 Shock Trooper torso
    -‘11 Renegades Firefly arms
    -‘11 POC Snake Eyes legs and accoutrements.
    -25th Airborne backpack, 25th Dusty straps, original figure’s grenade launcher.

  273. So, here they basically took the 50th Spirit, swapped out the lower legs with those of the 25th, and crafted a new head to put atop it?

    • Yes, and the boots swap was a great idea.
      I don’t know if Spirit will be on FSS 8, specially on Air Commandos version, but I’d love to see a Classic reedition using these combined legs, this head, Kwinn’s torso and arms (painted on that grey-blue of 50th collar) and on the 50th skintone.
      To make it more stellar, Club could remold the dart gun with a decent grip!

  274. Mr. C has nothing to do with it. The Club actually got quite cute here – the figure is (really obviously) based on Sgt. Craig “Pitbull” Pittman, who wrestled in WCW in the mid-90s.

    http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/pictures/c/craigpittman/01.jpg

    The haircut is even the same as the one he had in 1996 or so.

    So instead of getting the premiere wrestling marine of the 1980s, they grabbed the most prominent one of the 1990s.

    Well, ok, second-most-prominent, after Road Dogg.

  275. So disappointed with the use of the 25th right arm with no elbow articulation! The club could have kept the original 25th head and spend the available budget tooling a decent 50th style right arm. It’s been 10 years since the original 25th launched and Bludd deserved a proper update.

  276. Best as I can tell, the parts combo is an unknown head sculpt, 25th Arctic Snake Eyes torso, POC City Strike Destro arms, and ROC Heavy Duty legs.

  277. Best guess for a parts combo is a new head, POC commando Snake Eyes torso, POC Beachhead arms, Data-Viper upper legs, and Retaliation GI Joe trooper lower legs.

    • It’s Blowtorch’s armor but that’s not attached to the torso. I don’t think that it’s the same one. Acer is likely correct– on the parts breakdown.

  278. Looks like the club is using the information from his 1993 file card. He was listed as “Battle Corps Leader” on that one.

  279. The torso actually comes from the 2012 Retaliation Duke, the upper arms are from the Retaliation movie Snake Eyes, and the lower arms are from the 25th Anniversary Eel.

  280. OK with everything but the legs, as these are too skinny! Hope the club replaces them with Bullet proof’s or Red laser’s legs if they need to keep within fss8 parts. The head is actually really great and would be cool to have it with 2 eyes.

  281. There IS another possibility for the head sculpt–it could be that of the Leoric from the Revolution boxed set from last year.

    • The more I look at it the more I think you’re right. For some reason I assumed the SDCC heads were off limits (based on the lack of Matt Trakker for either Hardball or Bullet-Proof) but now I’m not so sure.

      Now if only we’d get that Leoric head used for Hector Ramirez!

  282. Actually, the charger so seems to come from ROC Cobra Commander, and the human head is simply one of those Zartan’s alternate face masks. Just an FYI.

  283. You know you’re addicted to your hobby when shelling out over $400 for a lineup which includes a character who never made it into ANY form of media! For the amount of dough the club asked of us each year, I’d expect Lightfoot (who was featured in two highly awesome and memorable stories right off the shelf) or Stretcher (prominent enough to take over for Doc during missions in Sierra Gordo and Trucial Abysmia) just to try and complete the 1988 – 1992 lineups at the very least, and I’m not even including the drivers! (Wildcard? Steam-Roller? Armadillo/Rumbler? Hot Seat? Dogfight? Long Range?) Or cooler ones than Bushido such as Backblast, Downtown, and Tracker? I’ll betcha a dollar (the club took all my money) that the guys at Marauder would pull those off far better than Hasbro or the club. Thanks our lucky (action) stars for those guys and all those artisan customizers out there!

    Having said that, the club and Hasbro pretty much covered a lot of ground since the 25th AnniversaryModern Sculpts basically replaced the O-Ring Dynasty. Kudos to them for trying to give us as much as they could while the demand was there and quite possibly, beyond.

    • Agreed. The Club knows their audience well and I have the feeling that they’re not quite done with our wallets yet this year.

  284. I could not figure out where the Sonic Fighters fit in. That’s some mighty clever detective work right there! It’s the nicest thing about the convention reveals and a fine apropos to both Kirk and Larry as the club wraps up its run.

    • Once that hit me the Sonic Fighters made sense.

      As far as the “Final Twelve” team members– those appear to be easy repaints.

  285. I hope the pre-orders go up on Monday because I’ll have the funds by Wednesday. I guess I can do another FSS (which is basically what we’re getting here in terms of repaints) plus Zartan and his motorcycle. I’m digging the four Euro Tiger Force guys, (sorry, Fred) Sonic Fighters Lt. Falcon and Dodger, and Coils O’ Doom, so the pluses outnumber the minuses in this, the very last club offering. There are a LOT of club and convention figures which I’m still missing, (and may never afford to get) so I’m throwing my helmet into the ring again because this might truly be the end for some time.

  286. Well said! I agree with every word! I had planned on getting a few and Zartan but after seeing the prices, I’m out! I’m not giving them that much money. Good riddance to Fun Pub.

  287. Despite the sticker shock it was a nice feeling knowing that it was the last money I ever give to Fun Pub.

    And thank you, Fred, for this website. I love your reviews and continue to refer back to them often.

  288. I was hoping to get TF Hit & Run and Dodger but I was pissed off to say the least by the prices!! I hope they do not sell and I hope people don’t give in and the club has to offer deep discounts to get rid of all the stock!! That would serve them right!!

  289. I want all of this final wave of product, except for the Marauders 2 pack, but I’m putting Christmas for my family first. At these prices, i’m not exactly in a hurry to hand my money over.

  290. Pingback: Hey JBL - Where Have You Been? - JoeBattleLinesJoeBattleLines

  291. I understand what you are saying Fred, it’s a common sentiment these days. Glad for what you have done and will continue to do.

    • Thanks! It was always a pleasure to provide any type of resource for the fan community. You guys are always the reason that I did what I did.

  292. Sigh, this makes me sad. I’ll carry the torch for as long as I can. Thanks for all of your hard work over the last umpteen years.

    You’ll join the great halls with Quick kick’s theater and others.

    • It’s all about be honest with myself– JBL hasn’t really been a “news site” for a while now. I’ve never been one to post rumors as fact and the old official channels from Hasbro have all but dried up these days.

      Still, the Surveillance Port is the one place that I can think of that reliably shares new info. After I had hit ‘publish’ I realized that I had omitted a shout-out to you and your diligent work these past few months. You’re keeping the flame burning, good sir!

      • Brother we are a dying breed. Cobra Island is all but gone (except for social) as well.

        Thank you for the kind words! I hope to live up to them!

  293. A military theme toy line is a hard sell these days. How do you reboot that and be successful? There have been some really good reboots of 80’s properties but they fizzle out due to poor toy sales. These big companies are so focused on toy sales they don’t care about making something good. I liked the ThunderCats and Masters of the Universe reboots, but due to poor toy sales they got cancelled. There was some really good story telling in those shows and reinvention of the mythos. Some end up on streaming services like the revived Young Justice, again which had a really good cartoon and story but due to poor toy sales it got cancelled. The new She-Ra incarnation has a really good story to it too, if you can get past the campy characters and animation style. Same with the Voltron reboot, it was pretty good too. Good thing Netfilx isn’t concerned about toy sales. Maybe this is what we need for G.I.Joe, take it to a streaming service. Maybe revisit Resolute and continue that story.
    The comics, I hate to say it but ARAH just drags on sometimes and that whole Snake-Eyes stuff is tiring. The new comic is missing the mark for me, I was hoping for more of a Worlds Without End. It’s like the new TF comics, kind of slow and boring. I know it’s only 3 issues in but it would do good to maybe have some flashbacks to how the Joe’s lost. That would be nice, add some excitement and back story.

    Sorry I guess I’m just adding to your rant, Fred. It’s sad to see so many G.I.Joe sites either dead or gone, there used to be so many. The internet isn’t what it used to be.

  294. Thanks a LOT Fred, God bless and have a happy New Year 2020!
    I’m from México and I do enjoy your website – Thanks for keep it up!
    I’m not a Facebook’s fan, but I think a good idea that you could move some coolest stuff from JoeBattlelines.com to Facebook, cheaper for you!
    As you say very right, time to move on!

    I agree, toyline is dead and just smile wide for the memories of the wonderful past years – sadly I’ll start selling my collection GiJoe & StarWars time to move on! And get some bucks for the college of my kids

    Again, Thanks a LOT! Take care good Fred and God bless you!

  295. Thank you for your site, Fred. I will miss your reviews most of all but respect your decision. Hopefully the new movie triggers a renaissance that brings you back!

    • I appreciate it! I’ll still do reviews but it’ll be of stuff that I’ve had backlogged vs. running out and just buying all of the new stuff “for the site”.

      That’s been one of the most frustrating things over the years– I’d acquire something new but couldn’t open it and enjoy it until I’d photographed it first. It’s sounds ridiculous but after a while it really affects your buying/collecting habits.

  296. hola Fred, llevo varios años visitando tu sitio, me gusta mucho las reseñas que haces de las figuras, yo también nací a mediados de los 70’s y crecí con gi joe en los 80’s, espero que sigas manteniendo el sitio, para mi siempre es un lugar que recomiendo si quieres saber de figuras de gi joe, un abrazo.

  297. As long as the fans keep it alive Joe will never die. The Black Major is doing some kick ass o-ring figures and so is Red Laser.Hasbro is stupid as hell.They OWN the license! It’s like printing money, if they knew how to market the brand right. One of the biggest problems is tablets, and smart phones that stifle the imagination. Playing with toys require it, and sadly kids don’t understand critical thinking these days

  298. hello !
    I have a quick question for anyone that has a answer. I have 2 GI JOE A real American Hero. Tracker – Should i put any effort into trying to sell them both?

  299. This was so thoughtful. My dad would’ve love it, especially all the nice things being said about him. He definitely would’ve cracked a few jokes about it but secretly loved all the attention. Your friendship over all these years meant the world to him. Thank you for being such a great friend to him and being there for him during his low points as well.