Holy cow! It’s the Sarge without a tank top and whistle! And he’s wearing a removable hat to boot! Awesome! With this figure, Sgt. Slaughter finally looked more like a Joe than a wrestler. His military look brings to mind his few appearances in the Marvel comic, in which he was outfitted in simple camo fatigues, and was also shown
Read moreButt-ugly. That’s the shortest and most apt description I can think up for this figure. Most of it just doesn’t work for me. From the lack of paint details, to the Lord Dread meets Doc Terror helmet, it’s bland yet ugly at the same time. And the face–yikes! Now I know why the helmet obscures it. Hot Seat has the ugliest 3
Read moreWhile I appreciate the modern era GI Joe figures, I do miss some elements of the 2000’s lines. Most of all, I miss the deluxe figure concept. It’s something that was somewhat specific to the era, and though it wasn’t a part of the Joe line in the 80’s, there was a sort of precedence for it. The low price
Read moreWildcard is an-looking odd driver for an odd-looking vehicle. The Mean Dog was an interesting concept but made for an unwieldy toy. It detaches into three sections: a gun turret, missile vehicle and scout car. I don’t mind the design, and I think for the most part it’s a quite nice looking vehicle. However I don’t get the turret just
Read moreGliders, gliders, gliders. The soaring, looping, gliding vehicles made appearances at the beginning and end of the Real American Hero line. I had the Falcon glider as a kid, and it was loads of fun–while it lasted. Even though the glider itself bit the dust after many breakages and careful scotch tape repairs, the exclusive pilot (the legendary tan Grunt) remained. The exclusive
Read moreDid you know about a Joe who appeared in the Marvel comic multiple times, yet was never mentioned by name? Such was the fate of Ghostrider, the pilot of 1988’s Phantom X-19, the stealth jet. The Phantom was a truly amazing Joe vehicle. At the time of its release, the public had no idea what the US military’s stealth fighter
Read moreIn the world of toy collecting, there are many expressions and terms that the normal world hasn’t heard in our geeky context. Loose, complete and carded are a few common ones used to describe a toy’s condition, and they make sense once you’ve been indoctrinated into the culture. I won’t even go into the many acronyms that litter the collector
Read moreGI Joe comic fans waited years to get an action figure representation of the legendary Eskimo mercenary, and in 2004, Hasbro delivered with this first ever version, released as part of the Valor Vs. Venom comic packs–wait, what’s that? I put up the wrong picture? This is his son, Ghost Bear? Say what? Well, sorry about that–meant to post the
Read morePit Vipers are the stealth, infiltration and evasion specialists of the Cobra forces. They’re trained to be sneaky and persistent, and equipped with highly sophisticated gear that allows them to avoid detection by most security systems. This figure is the second iteration of Cobra’s sneakiest troops. While the initial version of the Pit Viper wasn’t garish, the color scheme didn’t
Read moreWow, who upset Dr. Mindbender’s new intern? This is Hotwire, the Cobra BAT Mechanic from the 2008 convention exclusive set. The theme for the year was Cobra Headhunters, and the main boxed set included both some cool new frankensteined BATs as well as the awesome Headhunter and Headhunter Stormtrooper molds. Hotwire, a character originating from the 2004 GI Joe card game, was a
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