Now here’s something interesting that I hadn’t noticed for years. The Toys R Us Exclusive release of the Slugger from 1997 uses the same image layout as the classic version, yet done in a photographic rather than painterly style. The conceit is revealed in its driver, Gung Ho, who looks more like an action figure than the usual painted representation
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Action features are a sticky wicket. While kids love ’em (and they do, believe me) collectors tend to loathe them. I’m okay with action features when they’re integrated well with the figures. Weirdly scaled limbs, giant buttons or fall-apart bits tend to turn me off. However, when the feature is themed with the character and still allows for playability beyond
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What better way to start off spring than to cover a cold weather themed figure? Actually, the weather around the JAD HQ the past few days has put me in the mind of winter. After a few days of warmth and sunshine, we’ve been treated to snow twice this week. Weird. Maybe Destro decided to take the Weather Dominator out
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How do you know when your toy line is a big success? When other companies scramble to catch some of your lightning in a bottle of their own. Sometimes it’s successful, sometimes it isn’t. Remco’s Sgt. Rock line, based on the long-running DC war comic, sought to capitalize on Hasbro’s small scaled GI Joe relaunch. The company even went as
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By KansasBrawler Pursuit of Cobra was a great re-branding of the Joe line. Hasbro learned from the mistakes they made in both the 25th Anniversary and Rise of Cobra lines and was putting out great figures that fell into two categories: incredible nostalgic updates of classic figure or new characters and specialties. To up the ante even further, the second
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By KansasBrawler The Joe brand can only survive for so long on nostalgia. Sometimes, you need to inject some fresh blood into the line or take characters in a new direction. I think that’s part of why I liked Rise of Cobra so much. Yes, it wasn’t my Joes up there on the screen, but aside from Duke, I did
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Now this convoluted bit of machinery is about as far as you can get from most anything dating from the Real American Hero days. Imagine what a neck-breaking change this was just after the end of that beloved o-ring era. Imagine also the pace the line showed up at discount stores. I remember bins of the stuff at the Half
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By KansasBrawler Wave Three of the Retaliation figures, while a juggernaut of a wave, unfortunately suffered from the fact that the other two waves of Retaliation figures didn’t sell that well in stores. I have literally never seen a Wave 3 Retaliation figure out in the wild. Heck, I barely saw anything from Wave 4 either. I’m glad I’ve finally
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I’m a sucker for role-play items,and this is one that I’ve been jonesing for for a long time. I’m also a huge fan of the 1991 Snake Eyes figure, so this set hits all the right spots for me. Since I don’t have the actual item, I can’t speak to the quality of it as a toy, but the package
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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
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