Sgt. Rocco

I have to agree with everyone complaining about his diction. Worse than his flat acting and his total lack of charisma, he has lousy, embarrassing, amateurish diction. Maybe that will pass down on the farm in Alabama, but this is a film. My wife and I are both theatre profs, and we were appalled at this actor. After every line he delivered we said, "What?!" I know he's been in a few B movies, but if they are going to cast an unknown slab of meat in the role and try to force him down our throats as a new action hero, couldn't they find ANYONE better? Jesus. More than the awful CC design, the awful Snake Eyes costume, and the confusing editing, Tatum made this move suck. I know he's "just" an action actor in "just" a popcorn movie, but I expect more. I'm sure he made a bazillion dollars. Though it was better than TF2.

I'm going to go out on a limb, with no real data, and say that the reasons people aren't buying the new ones aren't cost or construction (with the exeption of the elbows and a few guys who can't sit, these are better constructed than the blob headed, broken thumbed guys of yore we love so much.) I'm gonna say (again, non-scientifically) that it is these two reasons: 1. I think when JVC, Spy Troops, VvV came out, Joe fans were in their ealry twenties to early thirties, and just getting married, buying houses, having babies. Most of the people in the forums seemed to have live in girlfriends and maybe a new house with a Joe room or an apartment. These same people are all in their thirties now, the kids are older, and the time and disposable income (and probably playful spirit) aren't there. 2. Buying Fatigue: Even though JVC/VvV, in retrospect, was a huge mess of lame endless repaints, new characters, poorly redesigned old characters, too-big figures, crappy vehicles, (And some really cool stuff), I think we bought the crap out of it and army built the crap out of it because we had money and freedom we didn't have in grade school. By the time the line died, we looked at our huge collections and realized we had an endless mess of plastic junk in weird sizes. Now we don't have the money of will to start again, same characters, same armies. If I had it to do over again, and could know the future, I'd have bought NONE of it, and spent all that money on 25th figs and classic figs. As it stands now I have a mountain of plastic regret from the 2001-2005, or whever that line happened. Also - based on the empty pegs everywhere, I'd say a lot of people ARE buying these toys!

I don't like to say negative things - and I'm sure someone will step forward saying "this isn't official art yet" or something, but that art is yech... the flag folding cover? A tiny child could have drawn that better. Give me a break.

Wow, "Two Men and Firing"! Better than Action Attack! Did Super!Mega!Ultra! get a table at Toy Fair? Are vehicles coming out for "Elite: The Righteous Hero"? Is there a movie in the works and, if so, who is playing the Two Men? Perhaps the other Wayans Brothers?

I think most of us concur about the gripes - things that are fixed are coming out on new versions instead of fixing the old ones, and new versions of figs are coming out with the same mistakes. Very frustrating, and I figured this would happen with Flint, because I didn't think they'd flood stores with the same Flint figure with new gloves. I do hope it's true that we see classic Flint with gloves in a comic pack or something. I think they're going to regret the pegs warmed by comic pack versions of characters on single cards. No one has mentioned this yet: While I like the vest on the new Roadblock (that's the first version of Block I ever had) - we still have the tiny head with NO EARS, and well as the black bands, the open hand, and no double knees. (Although he's sort of fine with no double knees.) So, now we have TWO versions of Roadblock with no ears.

You can't just swivel the arm, because it isn't sculpted on the one side. I checked mine last night, and the left arm is fine, but the right upper arm is actually a left upper arm - so if I swivel it to put the tricep in the back, the flat side is out. This stinks. Does Hasbro ever switch a figure out if you ask them?

Thanks for the info, I definitely need to watch that one again now. I love that and Revenge of Cobra anyhow. I wonder if things would have taken off if the cartoon had started a year earlier with the original 13 who were so hard to tell apart.

Yeah, that VvV design was a nice makeover - too bad the VvV figures were short and misproportioned and cartoony and ugly. I never liked Mindbender, even as a kid, because he was so pro-Serpentor, which I never liked, but he IS an iconic figure, and kind of fun. I'd definitely buy a 25th figure of him, and would definitely want him in his absurd original design. After all, he'd given us something to make fun of for 20ish years. And even with this goofy costume, it was a cool toy, with a fun weird weapon he could zap people with, and he came out in a super strong year for Joe toys.

Holy mess up! How did I post this twice - and with my handle as the topic???? Sorry!!!!! Too much egg nog, I guess.

Happy Boxing Day, All, I was looking at my 25th Stalker fig today, and got to wondering if Stalker ever did anything in the cartoon other than fly around in a jet pack in the credits. I didn't have a copy of "The M.A.S.S. Device" handy to check, but I figured someone here would know. In the Sunbow, did he ever even speak, let alone get a feature? And, if so, what was he like? Did he come off as being at all in a higher ranking position than anyone else? Hope Christmas treated everyone well! R

Sgt Rocco, I could kiss you- in a strictly Italian kiss on the cheek hetero way of course. This is a great statement, and one that I wish more people would listen to and follow. If you don't like a figure, don't buy it- simple Simon. That's the loudest voice to Hasbro that you'll ever have, where product is concerned. Don't b**c and whine about a figure only to purchase 15 copies of it when it's released. That sends a really schizophrenic message to the powers that be. You say you hate it and yet you buy it in droves!? What kind of message would YOU take from that? Stygian, as an Italain, I accept your hetero man-kiss. I was thrilled to see the black SE in the Wave with IG Destro, cuz it's one less fig to buy. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to purchase the '82 "green guys" like Flash and Breaker and Hawk, as they were a year before my time anyway.

I'm very happy about the endless dumb ss and se figures, because I am unwilling to buy every Joe product that comes out, and 80 figures next year seems like a whole lot, especially when I'm sure I'll buy some multiples of troopers. Luckily, I won't have to buy them all because so many will be repaints or alt versions. Don't get me wrong, I've bought repaints and alt joe figs over these last several years, but I don't feel obligated to buy them if I don't like them. If every new fig was a new character, I'd have to pick characters and designs I don't like to NOT buy (the way I did as a kid, when I couldn't have everything I wanted).

I think part of the problem is that they oversteered on the fix. The ARAH and Spytroops figs didn't show that much of the top of the thigh, and it looks like a bad custom - they grabbed a pile of the old ones and dremmelled the heck out of them. I think once they start actually designing the figs to have more crotch articulation they'll look better than the retroactively fixed ones. Anyone agree?

Storm Shadow V2. Everywhere. I'm also seeing a glut of 5 packs at TRUs, though certainly not at Targets.

I love them all, except for Serpentor, which I can't say ONE GOOD THING about. I don't even understand the thought process here. It's not an homage to the original, nor a good version of the DDP version. The costume is ugly and the head is awful.