What’s more frustrating than finding an original Retaliation Night Viper on the pegs? How about getting the follow-up figure to hold its main weapon? I must have tried ten times to get his tiny trigger finger through the guard while maneuvering the hand to grip the stock. I eventually gave up and sort of balanced the weapon between the arm
Read moreSay what you will about modern GI Joe vs the o-ring of old, the new style of construction sure lends itself well to kitbashing. For years, fans had been creating custom figures through the judicious reuse of existing parts, and the melding of various arms, legs, torsos, etc. Hasbro did the same from the earliest years of the Real American
Read moreIt’s good to see new GI Joe product on the shelves. Earlier this year, no one really knew if Hasbro was going to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the seminal action figure brand. All corners of the fandom have weighed in with opinions on the makeup of the Toy R Us exclusive line, and I won’t belabor the usual general
Read moreJust what happened to Slip Stream’s face mask? Shouldn’t these things have a hose of some sort that connect to any oxygen supply? In fact, the Ace mold on which the body is based had a helmet that plugged right into the figure’s chest. You can still see the little hole, in fact. Maybe there’s some sort of new pilot
Read moreThe way that the Street Fighter designs were adapted to the GI Joe style is an interesting thing. Take Blanka, for example. His video game appearance is one of the most fanciful of all the game’s characters. He’s basically a hulking, shirtless, animalistic creature with a wild shock of hair. And he’s green. The Road Pig body is a noble
Read moreby KansasBrawler Hi, my name is KansasBrawler…and I’m a Ninja Force fan. While I’ll admit that the figures had flaws, there were still some pretty good figures released under that banner, especially in the first year. Figures like the new Storm Shadow, Slice, Dice and Nunchuk are all great designs, have great colors and aren’t too badly restricted in the
Read moreThe pilot of the Wave Crusher, a repainted SHARC released as part of the Real American Hero Collection, the Sub Viper is itself a redeco. Though his vehicle is something of a lackluster repaint of a craft that’s been done to death, the Sub Viper himself is welcome reuse of a cool 90s mold. The Sludge Viper figure on which
Read moreHere’s another of the Cobra extreme environment troopers, this time a flamethrower. Well, I think that’s what he’s supposed to be. He actually incorporates elements from a firefighter as well as a flamethrower. The body was donated by Barbecue, the Joe team’s resident fire putter-outer. The weapon comes from Dreadnok Torch, a man who probably loves the phrase “burn it
Read moreBuzzer was the first Dreadnok figure I picked up in 1985, and he was an instant favorite. I probably didn’t “get” much of the biker gang references within the ‘Noks’ look at the time, but I thought back then that they reminded me of the bad guys from the Road Warrior movie. Funny how my first exposure to that film
Read moreby KansasBrawler To this day, Flint has always been my favorite Joe character. I loved his portrayal in the cartoon as someone who was kind of cocky, but he clearly had the skills to back it up as soldier and as a leader. However, growing up, I was a little too young to have had the original Flint figure. Thanks
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