I’ve always been a sucker for Cobra Commander variants. I think the fascination goes back to his hooded mail-in version as well as his battle armored suit. Both were favorites of mine as a kid. As a later adult collector, I picked up the Talking Battle Commanders release, immediately removing the huge backpack, and also quickly snapped up the Battle
Read more
How do you explain away the fact that you made a figure that uses 90% of an existing (and very recognizable) character’s parts? Make up a story that hints at the new guy killing off the old one. That’s pretty cold blooded, even for a Dreadnok. I suppose you can’t blame the club for trying to pull this one off,
Read more
The 2009 con set has a reputation among some collectors as a weak remake of a previous set. I can understand that concern, but then again, it did serve to accomplish couple of things. First, it gave folks a second chance at a very popular theme that was quite difficult to obtain at the time. It also served as an
Read more
From the ridiculous to the sublime. Yesterday’s convention exclusive was an odd concept with a crazed color palette. Tonight, it’s a prime example of the effective repainting of an originally disappointing figure. To me, the first version of Gristle holds a certain distinction for being an example of the end of the first generation Real American Hero years. 1993 and
Read more
I find that I like the 2004 convention set’s character choice, color scheme and mold selection much more than its 2003 predecessor. With a set of new and old Dreadnoks, a group of identical “army builder” miscreants, and a few Joe Tiger Force members, it appealed to my love of unusual and colorful toys. Dreadhead Cletus was one of six
Read more
Looking through a present day lens, the early small scale Joe convention exclusives have a sense of being a bit of an afterthought in comparison to their later counterparts. While the set was intriguing in terms of bringing along new factions and reusing interesting troop molds, the storyline around them doesn’t grab one’s attention. In fact, this set is probably
Read more
By KansasBrawler This figure is a rather unusual addition to my collection. I’ve never been that big on international variants or really much of what the Collectors’ Club does beyond the con set until recently. Both of these categories of figures have, in my mind, things that are cool, but usually just too expensive for me to track down on
Read more
By KansasBrawler I’ve mentioned before how much I love it when new characters are added to the Joe line. I enjoy getting to meet a new character for the first time and learn his or her story far more than I like getting new interpretations on characters I already know. Sometimes new versions of old characters are necessary, but my
Read more
By KansasBrawler It’s once again KansasBrawler confession time. Hi, I’m KansasBrawler, and I love the 90s era Joe figures. I love everything about them. The sculpts are really solid and I think had they not been saddled with crazy color schemes and underdetailed paint work, they’d be a lot more loved than they are. Hasbro learned that lesson when they
Read more
By KansasBrawler Any time Destro shows up in the Joe line, I get happy. I’ve mentioned my love of Destro quite a few times here, so you should have a pretty good idea of what I think of Destro being part of the M.A.R.S. Invades con set. This version of Destro is far more battle ready than ones we’ve seen
Read more