by KansasBrawler The Ninja Showdown set really typified the way figures are offered in three-packs. None of them required extensive new tooling…in fact, all three figures were just carded figures offered with different (and possibly better) accessories and in different (and definitely better) paint jobs. While none of the three figures in their carded versions appealed to me, the Snake Eyes and Red Ninja
Read moreThe DTC series produced a number of figures that had been on many fans’ wish list since GI Joe line was relaunched in 2002. The team’s night spotter was a figure I had wanted to see for a while in the then-new construction style. Though the wait was long, the late release allowed for the use of the improved, hidden
Read moreLanard’s Corps! line, in the midst of aping Hasbro’s 1980s GI Joe offerings, introduced an assortment of figures that branched off in a unique direction. Among the alltogether military operatives came football players, a wrestler, a hockey player, a track star and a martial arts fighter. And you thought the Joe team’s addition of the Fridge was fanciful. Sensei Kabuto,
Read moreWhat a difference a year makes. It seems like only yesterday, I received the Collector’s Club rendition of Iceberg. I’m still having nightmares about that fugly figure–yikes. It’s a shame he wasn’t done justice. But I’ve beat up on Iceberg enough. Lo and behold, here comes Cross Country, and the difference in quality is night and day. In terms of
Read moreby Twitziller The Built to Rule Rock Crusher was offered in the first series of BTR in 2003. The Rock Crusher’s primary mode is an assault quad (a one-person, four-wheel ATV) in the tradition of such vehicles as the 1988 Tiger Paw, the 2002 Assault Quad, and the Tiger Claw A.T.V. from 2011. The included figure is the Joe team’s
Read moreJust one year after his debut, Lt. Falcon was back. I admit that in 1987, I thought the figure was pretty amazing, with its realistic green beret look, and stoic face sculpt. The accessories were very nice as well, inclusing a two-part backpack, and a great new shotgun mold that a GI Joe figure could actually hold. In a year
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Here’s an oldie that deserves a second look. I wanted to point to this set during the recent JoeCon, but went with vehicle coverage instead. I wonder if the club could have scavenged Hasbro’s other lies to find a suitable update to this thing. Wasn’t there a carbon freezing chamber from the 2000s Star Wars line that looked similar to
Read moreby KansasBrawler (Author’s Note: These Kre-O reviews are going to be a little wacky. I’ve had so much fun setting these up into fun displays and actually playing with them, I don’t want to undo all that to do the reviews with what came in the box. As such, when there are non-standard figures involved or sets are split up, I’ll make a
Read more2010’s Vacation in the Shadows set marked the end of Collector’s Club exclusives based on the o-ring format. I still miss the older construction style, but I suppose things have to move on. The use of the Indiana Jones German troop car makes a lot of sense, as the original Red Shadows trooper figures were based on WWII era German
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Home video, like GI Joe, was a big deal in the 1980s. Video rental stores were everywhere. From the beginnings with local mom and pop stores, to the emergence of rental giants like Blockbuster, the video stores of old were filled with the newest releases, along with forgotten and repackaged catalog titles. The early home video offerings were rife with
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