YoJoe featuring "First Looks" at 25th Anniversary Figures!

[pesatyel]

Well after looking at the close ups on yojoe, these are looking better.

 

Cobra Commander: The fist thing is...I dunno. I kinda like the aesthetics of it, but at the same time, it's kind of annoying. What if I want my Cobra Commander to be a lefty?

 

Duke/Flint: Those swivel arms suck. How hard would it be to hide? They couldn't put it up at the sleeves?

 

Storm Shadow: They put the swivel THROUGH the arm bands? WTF? Why not at the top or bottom? He's got lots of detail and I guess it looks okay for version 2.

 

Snake Eyes:

 

Destro: The collar looks goofy being disconnected like that. And that collar makes his neck look long.

 

Baroness: Could the get those hips ANY wider?

 

Cobra Officer: I wonder why bald. Maybe there will be some with hair?

 

Gung-Ho: Yeah, not pictured, but I thought I'd mention. He's got a backpack hole, but it is up on the shoulders part.

 

 

All: From what I can see, they could make those hips much closer together. I don't see that they can't use a similar design to RAH...just no O-ring. Gung-Ho has an actual backpack hole why not all of them? And why not in his BACK instead of his SHOULDERS?

[obiwanjacoby]

From the Flint review:

 

I'll admit it straight up, that this Flint would be better with his gloves (and with the swivel points at the gloves, instead of in the forearm)

 

I agree with this, especially with the glaring omission when compared to the card art.

 

However. . .

 

but the lack of gloves does not severely impact Flint, especially when you consider that retooling a Flint for some minor issues could potentially mean we don't get new tooling for a future figure down the line.

 

So while the reviewer(s) agree that it would look better with the gloves (apparently because that's what the first figure had), to them there is really no other reason this would "severely impact" the figure.

 

Or is there?

 

Note the filecard for the 25th Flint has the same secondary MOS as the original. Being really true to the character, this would be a noticeable break with one of the functions this Joe was originally meant to serve most realistically: A rotory wing stick jockey. Stay with me on this.

 

But as the review elaborates further, we get this somewhat telling revelation. . .

 

The cartoon really gave Flint the personality that has lasted over the past twenty-two years, and they've done an exceptional job really making this character shine. Flint did get somewhat of a focus in the Marvel comics way back when, but was never as important a character as he became in the Sunbow universe, and I think the cartoon was infinitely successful in that regard.

 

You mean that half-hour commercial where. . .anyone and indeed everyone could fly an aircraft and even dogs could fly co-pilot on F-14s? Okay, I see where the priorities are now. @grumpy@

 

Say hi to Larry at the con for me. Oh, wait. Larry who? Nevermind.

 

-PJ

[Viper Hunter]

Flint looks Asian or something...I dunno!

 

The Cobra Officer/Soldier suddenly just dropped majorly in my opinion! That helmet looks like crap from the side. WTF? His colors are off from the prototypes, and it's just all funky lookin' now. Major disappointment! @grumpy@

[Viper Hunter]

From this...

 

 

 

To this pasty looking thing...

 

 

 

 

The Soldier was a beautiful sight to behold also....in TEST shots of him!

 

 

 

What's his final version going to look like?

[pesatyel]

From the Flint review:

 

I'll admit it straight up, that this Flint would be better with his gloves (and with the swivel points at the gloves, instead of in the forearm)

 

I agree with this, especially with the glaring omission when compared to the card art.

 

However. . .

 

but the lack of gloves does not severely impact Flint, especially when you consider that retooling a Flint for some minor issues could potentially mean we don't get new tooling for a future figure down the line.

 

So while the reviewer(s) agree that it would look better with the gloves (apparently because that's what the first figure had), to them there is really no other reason this would "severely impact" the figure.

 

Or is there?

 

Note the filecard for the 25th Flint has the same secondary MOS as the original. Being really true to the character, this would be a noticeable break with one of the functions this Joe was originally meant to serve most realistically: A rotory wing stick jockey. Stay with me on this.

 

But as the review elaborates further, we get this somewhat telling revelation. . .

 

The cartoon really gave Flint the personality that has lasted over the past twenty-two years, and they've done an exceptional job really making this character shine. Flint did get somewhat of a focus in the Marvel comics way back when, but was never as important a character as he became in the Sunbow universe, and I think the cartoon was infinitely successful in that regard.

 

You mean that half-hour commercial where. . .anyone and indeed everyone could fly an aircraft and even dogs could fly co-pilot on F-14s? Okay, I see where the priorities are now. @grumpy@

 

Say hi to Larry at the con for me. Oh, wait. Larry who? Nevermind.

 

-PJ

 

 

Well they used the argument that they had "rush" the singles waves because of the "overwhelming demand". Sounds like bull to me. I mean reusing the majority of the mold is okay, but was it THAT resource intensive to just do the arms? I mean a whole new mold, yeah fine, resource intensive. But forearms?

[obiwanjacoby]

Well they used the argument that they had "rush" the singles waves because of the "overwhelming demand". Sounds like bull to me. I mean reusing the majority of the mold is okay, but was it THAT resource intensive to just do the arms? I mean a whole new mold, yeah fine, resource intensive. But forearms?

 

Yeah the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. Why couldn't they have used Roadblock or Cobra Officer's hands again? Did I miss a Q&A here somewhere?

 

And you totally know that I wouldn't be in the minority here, or reduced to some kind of fringe fan sect, if they had forgotten say. . .Destro's gloves. Or what if they did this to Airtight? Or Snake-Eyes?

 

All I'm sayin'.

 

 

. . .

 

 

And in the end when all is said and done, I decided against canceling the pre-order on the 25th Flint (as I once threatened to do). I am determined to buy it and like it.

 

Nothing a little OD green paint won't fix.

 

-PJ

[Rama Sha]

Flint looks Asian or something...I dunno!

 

I thought he looked like Thomas Hayden Church myself.

[Rama Sha]

One thing that bothers me that was in the YoJoe review, but that I have heard from many of the supporters of Flint using Duke's mold is the "This Flint or No Flint at all." arguement. I frankly find this absurb. You mean to tell me that in the 25th line if they didn't make Flint right now, they never will? Flint is one of the more popular guys in RAH. A more approiate saying would be "This Flint, or a new one next year." Which is more likely what would have happened had his spot been used for a guy like Stalker instead.

 

Nothing a little OD green paint won't fix. biggrin.gif

 

Don't you mean brown paint? Since Flint's gloves where brown.

[Stevy Maximus]

Yeah the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. Why couldn't they have used Roadblock or Cobra Officer's hands again? Did I miss a Q&A here somewhere?

Roadblock is noticably larger than the other characters, to keep his hands in proportion, his hands would be frickin' HUGE. Not to mention both his and the Officer's wrist joints are in different locations (I'm still baffled at the swivel forearm cut in this mold myself)

 

One thing that bothers me that was in the YoJoe review, but that I have heard from many of the supporters of Flint using Duke's mold is the "This Flint or No Flint at all." arguement. I frankly find this absurb. You mean to tell me that in the 25th line if they didn't make Flint right now, they never will? Flint is one of the more popular guys in RAH. A more approiate saying would be "This Flint, or a new one next year." Which is more likely what would have happened had his spot been used for a guy like Stalker instead.

I'm in the camp that views the basic use of Duke's mold as acceptable. I mean really, a few inches of sleeve and gloves aside, the figures were damn near identical in RAH. So I view it as a waste to tool a SLIGHTLY different shirt and pants for sake of making Flint "unique".

However, I view the character's popularity as the principal reason we're gettng him now instead of a wave or two later (where they would have certainly included the gloved hands). It's a two-edged sword. It's all part of Hasbro putting their best forward at launch, outside of the 5 pack characters, Flint easily tops the popularity list, especially for those who grew up on the cartoon.

 

But I know, I KNOW, that Hasbro is going to "Star Wars" us with the 25th line, ie, we get these solid versions now, but next year, I bet we see Scarlett with a new hip piece, a Cobra Officer with proper weapon (and maybe legs), and Flint with a new head sculpt with gloves. Basically, toys "just different enough" to make us cough up another six bucks.

[Gentleman]

But I know, I KNOW, that Hasbro is going to "Star Wars" us with the 25th line

 

ABSOLUTELY, man. Been thinking the same thing since the beginning.

 

Now, that's not to say it's a good thing. I've been waiting for upgrades of the classic ARAH characters for so long that I'm probably going to cash in now instead of waiting. And that's precisely what Hasbro wants

 

 

 

 

I've been optimistic about this line since the get-go, but now that I have seen images of the mass-produced figures, I'll agree that there are some dissapointments.

 

1) Scarlett: Probably one of the best 25th figs. If only she could sit properly.

 

2) Cobra Commander (V2): He's almost perfect. The small and dark sigil is the biggest let-down.

 

3) Duke: Like Stevy Maximus said: "I'm still baffled at the swivel forearm cut in this mold myself)". TOTALLY. And I won't get into how this could have been avoided. Now... "overall" I guess Duke's OK. I can actually stand his face. I always hated the vintage Duke, so this is a step in the right direction. I guess he's just not interesting to me as a character. That's not to say the figure is good or bad. He just... "is".

 

4) Storm Shadow (V2): I dunno. I like the figure, but there's something bothering me. Perhaps it is the tetris-camo being too bright. I would have liked a darker tone. They forgot to include the wolverine claw, too. It's interesting to note that this "update" of Storm Shadow takes more liberties than Flint, but fans and collectors don't seem to mind as much. Weird! Other than that, I'll get him. Really nice.

 

5) Snake Eyes (v2): Well, I actually dig this one 100%. I don't mind the use of commando pants. I think it looks better this way. If I could only get one figure, it'd be this one.

 

6) Destro: My fav character. Figure looks great, yes... but there's 2 concerns: a) The collar-thingy. I can see that it makes up part of his bare-chest. WTF? b ) The finger-less hand issue: Hasbro, cmon!!! At least he can sit properly (although, with his legs sort of spread wide open).

 

7) Baroness: I dig her sculpt (sometimes, super-articulated sculpts look bad at first glance, but they just need to be "posed" correctly by the average collector). Still, I would have liked her face expression to be a little more, say, "defiant" (?). She looks "passive" as is. I mean, I want her to be sexy in an evil way (?)

 

8) Flint: It isn't about the absence of his gloves in terms of "accuracy" anymore. The thing is... the gloves would have rendered the "swivel forearm cut" invisible So, it would have been more of a "concealing" tool for Hasbro, rather than another detail to make Flint more accurate for fanboys like us. It's become an aesthetic issue toy-wise. Other than that, I really dig this Flint. The headsculpt, while weird at first glance, is actually an interesting take on him. I like the edgy look of it.

 

9) Cobra Officer: Agree with VH - test shot looked perfect. Brighter colors ruined it. See how the test-shot had a darker blue AND a darker gray for the knee-pads and webgear. And while i've nothing against bald men, I don't understand Hasbro's thinking. Maybe they figured: "we'll let the collectors paint the head according to their favorite hair color" (?)

 

 

 

10) All figs:

 

a ) I'm very dissapointed about the limited articulation. We can't have a 1985 figure sit properly and a 2007 upgrade to it being unable to. Also, Hasbro fucked up about the knee joint. They should have used a ball joint, like they do with Star Wars. Hasbro reps mentioned the clone trooper as their example so much, one wonders how this escaped them.

 

b ) Hasbro, be careful about your cartoony face-sculpts. One thing is to have them look "cartoony" or "comic-like", another thing is the omission of expression altogether. Some of these figs look like they are on dope or something.

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from these nitpicks, I'm still very excited about the line and I KNOW it will evolve into the best thing.

 

 

 

 

Oh and BTW, a big thanks to General Hawk for the reviews (if he's the one making them, which seems to be the case)

[Viper Hunter]

9) Cobra Officer: Agree with VH - test shot looked perfect. Brighter colors ruined it. See how the test-shot had a darker blue AND a darker gray for the knee-pads and webgear. And while i've nothing against bald men, I don't understand Hasbro's thinking. Maybe they figured: "we'll let the collectors paint the head according to their favorite hair color" (?)

 

 

How about the fact that they didn't even bother to paint the neck flesh color...like on the test shot? It's all light Gray and looks like hell. There's no detail to the figure anymore and it looks like a cheap, half painted knock off they'd stick on a box of Pepsodent toothpaste for $1.00! @grumpy@

 

 

Hasbro, be careful about your cartoony face-sculpts. One thing is to have them look "cartoony" or "comic-like", another thing is the omission of expression altogether. Some of these figs look like they are on dope or something.

 

On sculpts like Baroness, it looks like she's wearing a MASK of the Baroness, rather than actually being the Baroness. It's distracting enough to really ruin the figures if they don't do something a little better on these new head & neck attachments. They need to bring in those sharp edges along the jawline a little more. Unfortunately...in light of some of the OTHER distracting articulation features on these new figures, like the nasty forearm swivel joints, and the "man boobs" appearance of the torso piece on SOME of them, it would seem aesthetics was sacrificed in the pursuit of "highly articulated".

 

To add anything "new and improved" to the articulation of the old ARAH figures, all they had to do, was add the swivel joints at the WRISTS and maybe some swivel joints at the feet, and that would have been sufficient enough to add some needed capability for posing them.

 

WHOOPIE.....100 points of articulation on a 1:18 scaled action figure!!!! Can you imagine how F'd up such a thing would LOOK? This pursuit of multi-articulation points can go too far, IMO!

[pesatyel]

Well they used the argument that they had "rush" the singles waves because of the "overwhelming demand". Sounds like bull to me. I mean reusing the majority of the mold is okay, but was it THAT resource intensive to just do the arms? I mean a whole new mold, yeah fine, resource intensive. But forearms?

 

Yeah the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. Why couldn't they have used Roadblock or Cobra Officer's hands again? Did I miss a Q&A here somewhere?

 

And you totally know that I wouldn't be in the minority here, or reduced to some kind of fringe fan sect, if they had forgotten say. . .Destro's gloves. Or what if they did this to Airtight? Or Snake-Eyes?

 

All I'm sayin'.

 

 

. . .

 

 

And in the end when all is said and done, I decided against canceling the pre-order on the 25th Flint (as I once threatened to do). I am determined to buy it and like it.

 

Nothing a little OD green paint won't fix.

 

-PJ

 

 

Hmm, well depending on how easily these are customizable (as mentioned in the Scarlett review that took the figure apart) it might be just as easy to switch hands with one of the other figures.

[pesatyel]

One thing that bothers me that was in the YoJoe review, but that I have heard from many of the supporters of Flint using Duke's mold is the "This Flint or No Flint at all." arguement. I frankly find this absurb. You mean to tell me that in the 25th line if they didn't make Flint right now, they never will? Flint is one of the more popular guys in RAH. A more approiate saying would be "This Flint, or a new one next year." Which is more likely what would have happened had his spot been used for a guy like Stalker instead.

I'm in the camp that views the basic use of Duke's mold as acceptable. I mean really, a few inches of sleeve and gloves aside, the figures were damn near identical in RAH. So I view it as a waste to tool a SLIGHTLY different shirt and pants for sake of making Flint "unique".

However, I view the character's popularity as the principal reason we're gettng him now instead of a wave or two later (where they would have certainly included the gloved hands). It's a two-edged sword. It's all part of Hasbro putting their best forward at launch, outside of the 5 pack characters, Flint easily tops the popularity list, especially for those who grew up on the cartoon.

 

Duke's mold IS acceptable. Tooling a "slightly different shirt or pants" is one thing. But would it have absolutely killed to do FOREARMS? They did new heads for EVERYBODY left and right with comic packs so I can't imagine it's that expensive to do PART of a mold relative to a WHOLE mold.

 

Okay, maybe it is. But would frankensteining have been that difficult? Roadblock may APPEAR to be bigger, but I doubt he is.

 

But the biggest thing is this:

 

[pesatyel]

4) Storm Shadow (V2): I dunno. I like the figure, but there's something bothering me. Perhaps it is the tetris-camo being too bright. I would have liked a darker tone. They forgot to include the wolverine claw, too. It's interesting to note that this "update" of Storm Shadow takes more liberties than Flint, but fans and collectors don't seem to mind as much. Weird! Other than that, I'll get him. Really nice.

 

I think because Storm Shadow already has TWO molds, one of which kicks ass. So this version 2 can be more easily "overlooked" compared to Flint. Thus, if you want Storm Shadow you can stick with the version 1. Flint on the other hand....

 

I don't thing the "Star Warsing" us is going be that big a deal. Look at all the complaints about Flint, heh. If we get a "correct" version down the line?

[Viper Hunter]

Just adding some deeper/darker hue to the figure can make a VAST improvement on the appearance of it, and all it's detail.

 

[Duck Face]

With or without gloves, I think Flint looks great.

[General_Hawk]

But as the review elaborates further, we get this somewhat telling revelation. . .

 

The cartoon really gave Flint the personality that has lasted over the past twenty-two years, and they've done an exceptional job really making this character shine. Flint did get somewhat of a focus in the Marvel comics way back when, but was never as important a character as he became in the Sunbow universe, and I think the cartoon was infinitely successful in that regard.

 

You mean that half-hour commercial where. . .anyone and indeed everyone could fly an aircraft and even dogs could fly co-pilot on F-14s? Okay, I see where the priorities are now. @grumpy@

 

Say hi to Larry at the con for me. Oh, wait. Larry who? Nevermind.

 

-PJ

 

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?!?

 

Dude, I bought issue #1 of the Marvel Comic twenty-five years ago and never stopped. The comic mythos is what I've built my entire elaborate history of G.I. Joe around, period. You're going to sit there and tell me that because I'm not pissed off that Flint doesn't have gloves that means I'm obviously biased towards the cartoon?!?

 

Are you kidding me???

 

I don't even know what else to say to that.

 

Methinks you read into these things WAY too much.

 

Justin

[General_Hawk]

By the way, I'll tell Larry you said "hi" the next time I talk to him...

[Phanstar]

The cards look better than the figs... wish i could just buy the packaging.... from the waist down these figs are aweful unposeable fuglies.

[carlmule]

general hawk, any chance u will have a review up today? or are u off during the weekend like yojoe?

 

also, if u have the figures in hand, can u please tell if it is true that the battle helmet CC in th 5 pack has visible explosives in his helmet? like his helmet comes off or something? thanks!

[General_Hawk]

general hawk, any chance u will have a review up today? or are u off during the weekend like yojoe?

 

also, if u have the figures in hand, can u please tell if it is true that the battle helmet CC in th 5 pack has visible explosives in his helmet? like his helmet comes off or something? thanks!

 

Just posted the COBRA Officer review... it's here.

 

It'll be a few days before I post more reviews, just because I want to give YoJoe the "first looks" (and I don't yet own all of the figures, just some of them).

 

CC does indeed have visible explosives on his helmet, though they're just kind of a small indentation with circles in the back of the mask where the helmet fits in. Small little detail, but still a cool one.

 

Justin

[Gentleman]

General,

 

is the Cobra trooper bald as well?

 

 

 

 

 

2 things I forgot to mention:

 

1) Someone mentioned that Strom Shadow also had an ilogical cut joint and I just wanted to state my agreement. It's nowhere as bad as Duke's or Flint's, but it still begs the question: What could possibly be the rationale behind it?

 

2) As for the knee joints. I said in my previous post that I consider them to be pointless, in a way. The real deal would have been ball-jointed knees, like they do with Star Wars. HOWEVER, I only just realized that Hasbro did use this concept for the 2 female figs: both Scarlett and the Baroness. Why was it not used on the male figures? And why was Destro not given either?

[obiwanjacoby]

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?!?

 

Dude, I bought issue #1 of the Marvel Comic twenty-five years ago and never stopped. The comic mythos is what I've built my entire elaborate history of G.I. Joe around, period. You're going to sit there and tell me that because I'm not pissed off that Flint doesn't have gloves that means I'm obviously biased towards the cartoon?!?

 

Look, I'm just quoting the review man. This isn't personal. All I got to go on is the information that you're putting out. Why didn't you include what you just wrote above in the review?

 

Why all the love for the attention to detail on Destro's gauntlets in your previous review, while you blow off Flint's gloves in this one?

 

Either it's "just gloves" or it's an iconic accessory that adds to the character. Make one case or the other. . .and stick to your guns. Either way it's like I said, I agreed with what was written in the first quote, and I'm still buying the figure.

 

Are you kidding me???

 

No, not really.

 

I don't even know what else to say to that.

 

1. You can re-think your position and choose to retract the points that I disagreed with. I promise I won't hold your feet to the fire on this.

 

OR

 

2. You can elaborate what you really meant to say, or point out any flaws in the way I staged the quotes to make my point.

 

OR

 

3. You can go full steam ahead and assert that the Sunbow toon is in fact the #1. priority template for all the 80s characters over and above the filecards or the comics.

 

See? It's not like I'm trying to pigeonhole you.

 

Methinks you read into these things WAY too much.

 

All I'm saying is: Prove that statement right there. Prove that I'm reading into it "too much". You still have my utmost respect in that you don't abuse your status in the community. And you're somewhat more emotionally stable than most online fans. I'm considering the whole package here, Justin.

 

You're welcome to have the last word on this. And I will listen.

 

By the way, I'll tell Larry you said "hi" the next time I talk to him...

 

Thanks. I'm glad he's finally getting some real recognition after being kicked to the curb all these years.

 

I wish I could be there to ask him to share more about the "iceberg" style of writing (and where the term comes from), or give his opinion why comic writers as a whole don't follow the Wally Wood style much anymore. I also wish I could ask him why Gladstone hasn't yet given him a guest spot writing some Scrooge McDuck stories like he always wanted.

 

But maybe you could do it for me. . .pretty please?

 

-PJ

[obiwanjacoby]

Nothing a little OD green paint won't fix. biggrin.gif

 

Don't you mean brown paint? Since Flint's gloves where brown.

 

Sorry, I was staring too long at the 25th prototype that was first featured (see post #63 above). I really fell hard for that one and naively assumed there would be no drastic design changes.

 

But yeah, if I was a real purist, I'd have to go with the brown.

 

-PJ

[obiwanjacoby]

Per the latest review:

Yes, the helmet is removable, and yes, COBRA Officer is stark bald underneath (as is the COBRA Trooper). While part of me isn't crazy about this, simply because I think it would be cool to have different troopers with different hair colors, another part of me is glad Hasbro did this because the shape of the head makes his helmet stay on VERY nicely and very tightly, which might have been a hitch with any kind of textured hair up there.

 

I agree. I think it's a great idea not only for that reason above, but also:

 

1. It makes the figures less individualistic. That's good for both army-builders and customizers.

 

2. This is closely related to the first point, in that it makes the Cobra organization look more fanatical and shows off a sense of. . .cultish loyalty. They gave up their individuality for the sake of the whole.

 

Very-very innovative.

 

-PJ