Gallows was released as a part of the Steel Brigade vs. Plague Troopers pack. Aside from the mini-gun, he bears little resemblance to his comic counterpart, a SAW Viper. The Joe vs. Cobra Snake Eyes body somehow works well as a new character in this case, due in part to the mold’s lack of overt ninja styling. The new head
Read moreWith Joecon nearly upon us, and the announcement of this year’s enemy force as the Iron Grenadiers, I was reminded of a past year’s set, and its wonderful new troopers, the Iron Anvils. I’ll be honest, I was not much of a fan of Destro’s private army in the past, mostly due to the fact that it debuted during the
Read moreSo I guess at some point Dr. Mindbender gave up on a fully humanoid appearance for his battle androids and opted to crib from Terminator. I can’t believe a man as smart as Mindbender would need to blatantly copy like that. I suppose there’s no accounting for style plagiarism, as he also dressed like a 19th century Eastern European Chippendales
Read moreThis collectors club exclusive Copperhead is a pretty successful blending of new sculpt era parts. It’s also one of the few figures to make successful use of a Spy Troops disguise accessory, in this case Sgt. Airborne’s helmet. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was thinking “Copperhead custom!” when I first saw that helmet back in ’03. This
Read moreIt’s amazing what the right combination of parts, and a solid color scheme can accomplish. Over the years, many figures have been put together using a variety of reused parts. Sometimes the result is fantastic, and the mix isn’t even evident. Other times, it looks as though Dr. Frankenstein made a trip to China and raided the GI Joe molds.
Read moreI hear tell that the Oktober Guard is making the news lately in the GI Joe world. While I appreciate all that the modern style has done for bringing realistically styled and proportionate figures to collectors, at heart I’m an old curmudgeon who really loves the old O-ring construction. So Schrage came to us back in the halcyon days of
Read moreStalker is one of the Joes who I think becomes too hemmed in by his original design. Sure, the first figure was iconic, but after a while it’s nice to see something different. He has had a few redesigns over the years, but Hasbro still seems to go back the all-camo well with Stalker. While I enjoyed the deviaton of
Read moreThe first Alley Viper seemed an odd duck to me, from its color scheme to the strange face shield. Urban fighters outfitted in blue and orange, wearing masks through which it appeared they couldn’t possibly see? But hey, it’s GI Joe, I thought, shrugged my shoulders, and moved on. The later 90’s Alley Viper changed up the sculpt, and included a
Read moreTorch is one of my faves of the new sculpt era. There’s so much to like about this figure. It’s another example of taking an existing design and tweaking it for a new generation. Let’s be honest, as iconic as the Dreadnoks are, that old biker look is darn goofy these days. I like to see each iteration of Joe
Read moreI wonder if they were going for a cowboy theme here? For the second time, the Joe helicopter pilot was stereotyped to the hilt. The Battle Corps version put him in 19th century US cavalry gear, and then a decade later this figure went full-on cowpoke. I don’t have a problem with it, simply an observation. But this look does
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