The Renegades cartoon really grew on me. At first, I thought the designs were odd, but that opinion was based on a few drawings posted online. Once I saw the animation itself, I found myself liking the new style. It was something different. The same goes for the storyline and characters. It wasn’t a rehash of what had come before,
Read moreAvalanche is I think the most stylish of the Battle Force 2000 members. Maybe it’s the white and silver uniform, but to me he has the cleanest look on the team. Like his teammates, he’s equipped with an odd helmet. His is certainly the biggest of the group. Perhaps there’s lots of high tech gadgetry built into it, the sort
Read moreIt took a while to get another battle ready version of the team’s most famous Marine. After his initial version, 1987 gave us the well done but limited use dress version. I can only assume that another Gung Ho in fatigues was not a priority after producing another fighting Marine in Leatherneck. While this version doesn’t go for a straight
Read moreSnake Eyes I’ve mentioned several times that one of my fondest memories of GI Joe in the 80’s involves a coloring book. It wasn’t that I was still coloring at age 10. Though if I were, would that be wrong? Surely there are worse things than still finding joy in coloring at ten years old. Nevertheless, my fascination with this
Read moreGrunt seems to have gotten short shrift since the days of the new sculpt lines. From 2003 to 2004, he had four figures released. Since the 25th anniversary line, he’s had one fairly half-arsed figure as part of a Toys R Us three pack, and one fairly decent just-off-screen movie based attempt. Why didn’t we get him in the Pursuit
Read moreHere’s one for all you fans of figure recipes. Let’s see who went into making Rumblerstein. Footloose gave his head, Crankcase loaned his helmet. Heavy Metal bestowed his arms, torso, and weapon, and Bazooka provided his waist and legs. Wow. This patchwork figure begs the question: was the R/C Crossfire a rush job, or was the figure a last minute
Read moreAs much as I appreciate and enjoy the figures from early in the Real American Hero period, some of those older figures don’t quite fit in when displayed alongside some later releases. As the line went on, sculpting styles, proportions and color palettes evolved. I like to think of it as a natural progression, much like changes in fashion. You
Read moreOdd is an appropriate one word descriptive term for Sneak Peek. It’s quite an unassuming figure. The sculpt is on the chunky side, both in the face and torso. The overall design seems like it would be more applicable to another laser trooper, with its padded upper body. The accessories are another source of oddness. While the idea of a
Read moreI’ve said this many times: I admire figures that can store their equipment on their person. There’s something impressive and realistic about a character schlepping his gear around. It shows just a little more attention to detail on the part of the toy maker, and I’m always appreciative of the effort. Operation Sand Sting presents a look that exemplifies the
Read moreRemember the scene in Rise of Cobra when Duke climbed the sheer face of a glass skyscraper with a giant yellow suction up, shot through the plate glass window and attacked a squad of Neo-Vipers with his samurai sword, all while wearing fabulous Jackson Pollock camo pants? No? Maybe I remembered wrong, and it was just part of the GI Joe
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