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Straight Edge

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  1. Sand Vipers filled a niche that Cobra never really had covered before. Sure, Desert Scorpions were around, but as a punishment assignment for ne'er-do-well Vipers, and a step above Toxo-Vipers, they didn't feel like *the* desert troops. The Sand Vipers' outfits were a bit over the top, but that helmet would be a pretty effective tool in the night. Just a pair of beedy red eyes in the distance... then as they get closer... RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! I guess I like the name more as the basic Cobra desert trooper. Scorpions, like Range-Vipers, should be more specialists in that environment. As for new sculpt characters, I like a lot of them. Barrel Roll, Burnout, Kamakura, Scalpel, and Overkill among others. But most of the designs leave room for improvement. I'd like to see a DDP-accurate Kamakura, close to the Spy Troops version, but without all the proportion problems. Barrel Roll v1 was pretty cool, but relied on the Spy Troops gimmick... otherwise it was kinda bland. V2 was just generic as hell. I imagine that figure is Barrel Roll before he joined GIJoe. Blackout was another proportional nightmare, and his Plague design was nicely streamlined. I'd rather see that one done in the 25th line. Scalpel was another bad figure for a good character. With that stupid hood helmet thing, and his instruments strapped to his chest... plus that moronic "stretcher thing mounted to his back... what a bad figure. But a blonde guy in scrubs as the Chief of Medicine in Cobra's hospital, with a unit of Medi-Vipers at his call... that so works! Of course, I'd also like to see Firewall, Zanya, and Heartwrencher get figures, like they deserve.
  2. It's just a matter of creating heat. I still say boiling or near boiling water is dangerous. It spills, someone's getting a nasty burn. Hair drier too hot? Just shut it off. Granted, a ##$%$#ed monkey could keep it safe... but even ##$%$#ed monkeys sneeze.
  3. I know most people swear by the boil-'n-pop method, but me and hot water don't mix... My solution to softening up glues and plastics is a hundred watt bulb, and about ten minutes. The best set-up is one of those small, bendable desk lamps so you can position it close to the desk/table/surface. Just lay the figure on the table, and fix the lamp about 2" away from it. Leave the light on for about ten minutes, and the glue should be heated up enough that you'll be able to simply pull it out. Works wonders for joints, too, like I said. I just switched out 24 Cobra Trooper hands (the bare hands from the Legion and SRO packs) for gloved hands from my extra Scarred Officers. Did them 4 at a time, didn't break a single hand. Boiling water or a hot lamp? Same results... one's a lot less dangerous.
  4. While that's true, there are gems and cult following figures among them all. Especially Sigma 6. The Mega Marines Subset may have been dross, with the full-on fluorescent body suits, and the Play-Dough armor... but Mirage and the Cyber Viper have both had better things beyond their inception. Cyber-Viper got a few key scenes in the last days of the Marvel Comic, and Mirgae went to Repaint Valhalla in 2002. Eco Warrior may be a laugh-at-me brigade, but Cesspool and the Toxo/Sludge/Sub-Viper molds were all winners, and work well as a Cobra subgroup even without garishly outfitted Joes to stop them. Battle Corps is not reviled, at all. It was the military core of a line slowly falling into sci-fi hell. But Duke 93? Cobra Commander, the second Dr. Mindbender? Fisherman's Leave Bazooka? These are bad figures? Maybe not exactly the classic versions of our favorite Joes, but definitely good toys, and decent alternate outfits for those characters. Tone down the fluorescent colors, and they're all a little slice of heaven. The new sculpt era is hated for being out-of-proportion, and as Hasbro's nose-dive back into 4" figures after almost a decade of repaints, it suffered from a general lack of direction. But tell me that Snake-Eyes and Duke from Waves 3 & 4 of GvC, and Roadblock from Spytroops arent just as good as any other iincarnation of those characteers, from a design standpoint at least. Overkill got his new and definitive look in Spytroops, and Mindbender got the only truly great costume design he ever had from Valor vs Venom. In the same timeframe, Devil's Due created new looks and new characters, some of which got pulled into the toyline, like Shipwreck in his sweater and knit cap... a Neo-Classic design if ever I saw one. Kamakura is at least as worthy a new figure as Jinx, Billy, and the Ninja Force. Dreadnok ladies like Heartwrencher and Zanya beg for figures, and Firewall is just a great addition to the pantheon of Joes. If the Movie means we will see a more Sci-Fi push in Joe toys after the Movie line is done, then a *lot* of Post '85 figures will fit in then when they really don't now. Fast Draw, Super Trooper, Countdown (really any Star Brigade members), Sky Patrol... pretty much any Viper-type post 87... Even Sigma 6 has it's bright spots. Lt. Stone, Long Range, and new/different outfits for Zartan, Destro, Baroness, etc... Machete's even a decent Dreadnok (by name, anyways) A Universe line would be a welcome shift from the line we have now. Embracing all eras of Joe... finally the chance to get 4" versions of not only Joe Colton the Green beret, but Eagle Eye, Bulletman and Mike "Atomic Man" Power, maybe even an Intruder, Kwinn, Ghost Bear, Dr. Venom, Baron Ironblood and Black Major, Sgt. Savage and Gen Blitz, May Day, Iron Klaw, Rampage, and Wreckage.
  5. Don't judge it by realistic standards, Snake-Eyes is meant to be cartoon-accurate, that being in order to approximate his black outfit without having him blend into the shadows, the animators frequently colored him gray or purple, depending on the lighting. So yeah, we got a better V2 Snake-Eyes mold, but in cartoon colors. He joins Tiger Force Duke and Flint in the ever-rowing list of figures who got shafted initially, then when the mold was fixed were released in repaint color schemes instead of the original. Personally, I'm hoping the Flint, Snake-Eyes, and Lady jaye in the upcoming 5-pack are the updated/fixed molds in their original toy colors. In fact, I demand it!
  6. I love the Ninja Force characters too, and would be up for Slice and Dice even on their own. My Red Ninjas need someone to lead them, and it ain't Firefly. But the Ninja Force Joes present a few problems, number one of which is their uniforms. Nunchuck is fine... a new head and a repaint Storm Shadow body with new web gear would suit the character just fine. The other two... not so easy. Not only were Dojo and Tj'Bang rejected from the X-Men despite their matching colors, but there is almost nothing uniform about their outfits. I just don't see anything about them saying "ninja" *or* "military". I also can't see expending time and money to develop new molds for them, as the repaint potential is nil. But Slice and Dice? Spare no expense, I say! I want them... bad!
  7. Which means 1982 is done, doesn't it? I dunno if Tan Grunt really counts, and I'm guessing the OP meant Hasbro just made a Cover Girl figure in VvV (via the Comic Pack), but since that was not only a completely different line, but *many* characters had figures in Vvv that have also had 25th figures... that shouldn't have even been a consideration. So I'd keep Cover Girl on the list, but Tan Grunt? Not really that big a deal. Again, assuming the OP meant Recondo from SpyTroops and VvV, yeah, these guys are undone. And as Ripcord and Recondo, at least, are big names, '84 is far from finished. Aside from Airtight and Frostbite (who's only necessary if they rerelease the SnowCat), I can understand Hasbro skipping the rest. 86 seems to be the real mixed bag, and Hasbro's been avoidong them for that reason. Memorable characters, bad designs or colors is why 1982-1985 seems to be the Golden Age. 86 - 88 the Silver Age, and 89-94 the Silent Age...
  8. All but confirmed at this point, even tho Hisstank won't post a retraction. These guys are *not* the upcoming Resolute figures (aka Omega Force). It's just Hasbro trying to be a little more creative with their repaints, either for comic packs (like the other pre-prod figures that were shown in the same bulk news article), or for some other release. But at this point, I'm thoroughly convinces by fan-chatter at more reputable sites (than HT.C) that these were grossly innaccurately reported as Resolute.
  9. The guy in the top row, with the gray shirt and blonde hair, I've always assumed, was Torpedo. Yeah, wrong hair color, but this does seem to be a line-up of all Larry's favorites, and Torpedo featured heavily in Special Missions and Yearbook stories, and kept getting shot in big battles in the last 50 issues. Makes sense he'd be on the list for cover appearances. Duke is the one next to Rock n' Roll, appearing in his Star Brigade get-up since that was the outfit Gosier drew him wearing. Mainframe is most likely the guy next to Spirit at the bottom. The guy on the bottom with the shoulder pads and bandana thing, I always clocked as Mirage, for the head design alone. The two guys at the very bottome are generic troops, wearing inverted color schemes. Obviously, the cover is symbolic. Breaker, Quick Kick, and Storm Shadow represent friends lost over the years, but were still some of Larry's favorites. There's no reason they shouldn't be on the cover. They are not featured at the actual ceremony, inside the issue.
  10. The figure selection has already been confirmed via Wal-Mart lists. So yeah, no Colton. Cobra Commander is most likely the one we saw at HissTank.com, among the "Resolute" figures: IE, Battle Armor CC with the Fred head. Sadly, It's such an easy L.B. custom, there's really no reason Hasbro had to do this one officially.
  11. I think the most common thoughts on this would be "Superman's Teenaged Clone" or just Kon-el/Connor Kent. Why would he not be called Superboy? Because the Estates of Siegel and Shuster is either contesting DC's right to the name, or has already won the rights to Superboy away from them.
  12. For the reasons that were excellently stated above, I doubt this would happen. But if Hasbro would do something like this for HTS.com, I'd certainly like to see something less "nostalgic" and more appropriate. I'd personally like to see all guns molded in a gun-metal color, with painted bits where necessary. Black works too, but tends to make it look like a toy moreso than the Spy Troops era weapons that got gun-metal releases. This is the one I'd buy 50 of, just to arm my troopers right. Cobra Trooper Battle Pack: Scarred Officer AK-47 (Comic Pack mold with painted stock, to replace the Dragunov sniper rifles erroneously packed with the Trooper in 1982 and 2007). Snow Serpent AK-47 (gun-metal, just to replace the "nostalgia-accurate" version on the card) Viper Rifle (ditto) Trooper Bazooka & helmet (bazooka in gunmetal, helmet in proper blue) Cobra Ceremonial knife (VvV knife with Cobra hilt) Tele-Viper communications package (camera, hose and backpack) Viper Replacement hands (remolded wrists, to repair all those awful Vipers we had to buy)
  13. Actually, Gung-Ho is an assembly problem. When you rotate the shoulder as you described, his shoulder ball sticks out way too far, and the musculature sculpted is off. The shoulders can only be "correct" one way, and Gun-Ho's have been shipping backwards since the 5-pack. This is *absolutely* a problem Hasbro should've dealt with for a rerelease like this. The new Duke and Flint arms should've also been thrown in here. This is basically a reship of Wave 4 2007, on new cards. It does not impress.
  14. Bane is from the DC Superheroes line, back when it was alternating Batman Superman waves. All of these figures are the 4 Horsemen sculpts produced by Mattel since the Batman 6" line debuted in 2003. You can't see it in this shot, but the Bane I have came with his little stuffed bear, Osito... one of th saddest, cutest, least expected accessories I think Mattel could've included.
  15. He's a great placeholder. Not too short at all. I believe we have a new Joker on the way, so this one's good for the time being.
  16. Firefly's origin comes straight from Marvel #126, and issue entitled and totally devoted to "Firefly". Storm Shadow was shot by the Baroness in #47, and ressurected in #50. He recants his vow of vengeance in #52, and retreats to the remains of Snake-Eyes' cabin in the High Sierras (destroyed in #31) to heal his soul. Zartan refuses to believe Storm Shadow's change of heart in #84, and attacks Tommy's San Francisco dojo in #85 (the third silent issue). Zartan and Billy bond over the course of issues #98-116, and Storm Shadow fight alongside both of them in #118. So, footnotes aplenty. The only thing added to his origin in "Backstabbed" is the detail that he had a sister, and she had also been spared death, her fate being revealed in the issue. In the DDP series, the only thing Firefly did was be really, really evil.
  17. A very concise summary, but probably better labeled his "backstory", the things he did before Marvel #1. Firefly's origin, as pertains to this story, is his childhood... the stuff that happened *before* he became a sabotuer. That being, he lived on a plantation in French Indochina (Vietnam, Pre-Independance) during WWII. His father spared the life of an invading Japanese soldier, and the Viet-Minh (Vietnamese Liberation Army) killed him for it (the retcon in Backstabbed is that the Viet-Minh killed his whole family, probably destroyed his farm too). Firefly was somehow spared, and the family of the Japanese soldier took him in. The soldier happened to be a member of the Koga ninja clan, and Firefly became a master of their style. Storm Shadow didn't find about about Firefly's complicity, though, until years after his near-death experience (he was revived by the Serpentor Experiment). After nearly being killed trying to avenge the Hard Master (by killing Zartan), he made peace with the fact that vengeance is never the way. He forgave Zartan, and in subsequent battles fought side by side with the man who killed his Uncle. So by the time he found out Firefly was involved... revenge wasn't even on the table. Sure, Firefly's more of a dink, and maybe Zartan had the capability of reforming, but in Backstabbed, we see Storm Shadow giving it the ol' Ninja College try.
  18. EDIT: Actually, going back and checking, it really does look like a musket, not a bazooka. You can see he's holding the handle, and the stock is on the inside of his arm... wrong position for a bazooka. The arguement could be made that the director was trying to acheive a forced perspective shot, with an oversized gun barrel that then retracted and shrank for the close-up on Duke, and that was misinterpreted by the animators as a wide-mouthed gun, like an old-style musket. Yeah, like all the other vehicles, this is the exact same mold as the 80s, except while other vehicles have had things added to improve them, this thing has had things removed for the same effect. The landing gear was stupid if there was a human pilot. It only made sense if the drone/bomb was being carted, and the thing was running on remote control.
  19. This was probably the most useless story of the bunch, I admit. It *could've* been a story about Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow really getting into it. It could've really expanded on the 5-page "Silent Prelude" he wrote for DDP's Snake-Eyes Declassified TPB. Instead, it was like "Here's what Camera 2 was shooting, and this stuff was deservedly cutting-room floor fodder, but If it'll get you to buy the director's cut DVD, well hell, we can splice it together to make an alternate version... sorta." It was more about the kid, really. He also shows up, years later (in a book published only a year earlier) in Storm Shadow's solo series. Larry decided to develop his backstory a bit using the town as a backdrop. Because they aren't so much codenames that are given when you join. Most Joes, like Snake-Eyes, had their nicknames before they joined. Once on the team, those names become their covert call-signs to keep their identities safe. Flint and Roadblock are also said to have worked for Duke before joining up... it's very possible Duke was running a Joe-like agency, and code-names were a part of that. It fits relly well either in between the Marvel and DDP series, or in between DDp's RAH series and America's Elite. Firefly on the run from Slice and Dice could be a continuation from Issue #134, where Firefly had them brainwashed and working for him. The issue ended with the two of them cornering him, moving in for the kill. Then in #135, we find out they let him slip thru their fingers. In either case, Firefly didn't take Stormy's offer. He's just too much of an a$$. I liked it for being a mindless action bit. Larry's *really* not putting the same effort into each story. The ones with characters he likes tend to get better representation. This one? Not so much. It does fit nicely in the 40s or so of the Marvel run, when water-based battles were the norm. This one baffles continuity since Duke and Roadblock don't meet Red Star until Issue #146, but Horror Show was killed before #92. Otherwise, another mindless slugfest. As a forerunner to Issue #87, this issue is by far the tightest in-continuity offering of the bunch. When read with the original issue, it offers a much-expanded, if somewhat redundant look at the event that made Destro top dog for the only time in Marvel history. Who said this was part of the movie? I think a lot of people are missing something. I'm very much convinced that Larry footnoted "The Battle of Cobra-La II" as a joke... citing a battle he never wrote. It has nothing to do with the Movie, where there was only one battle with Cobra-La in the Himalayas (a battle which destroyed the entire civilization). Even if it was in "Movie" continuity, we still never saw the second battle referenced in the footnote, so there's still no reason for the footnote to be there... thus, it's just a joke. Yeah. This is another example of Larry having fun with the comics, instead of building up the Marvel continuity. Honestly, if these were written by anyone else, they'd be smirked and and tossed aside... "for kids," we'd say. Sometimes I think Larry is smarted than us, and is giving Hasbro something they *can* market to the kids, and we turn around and bash him for it. Like I said, if Joey Writesforfree was credited for this story, most of us would probably just ignore it as harmless. Not at all. The name that Hasbro gives a toy (more specifically, it's product) is subject to copyright law. The advertising material contained within, and comics in general fall under a different set of copyright laws. Even if Hasbro is able to publish a comic where Mainframe is called Mainframe, there may still be a problem using it as the name of the figure.
  20. It's a retronym, like calling the 1984 Transformers "Generation One", based on the 1993 relaunch being "Generation 2". If the original 1964 Joes were called "Action Soldier", "Action Sailor," et al, and the 1970 Joes called "Sea Adventurer", and "Land Adventurer" (while the clean shaven military-man was a "Man of Action"), it's a short leap to consider the 1964 Joes the Action Team, and the 1970s Joes the Adventue Team. Hasbro themselves coined the term in 1994, calling the 30th Anniversary 3 3/4" boxed set the "Original Action Team", which featured RAH versions of the original 1964 Joes. So the term not only applies, it's official!
  21. Just need to put that trademark scar on his cheek, and he's exactly what the Action Team leader needs to be! I'll take one. Where do I send money, please?
  22. More than likely as a full set. I'm hoping to grab a Munitia from someone, somewhere... and break down her parts to make a 25th custom. Otherwise, as has been said before, this is a set come far too late to be highly desired, and the price will be exorbitant. If it is indeed sold as a set... I doubt there will be much interest in it.
  23. Hasbro's biggest missteps in this line have been the redesigning of figures (Serpentor and Zartan from last year), the slavish to certain poor colors and concepts from the 80s (the apple green parts on the BAT, Major Bludd's arm) and straying from the original design when they could've been more faithful (Tele-Viper having Viper arms and Legs when they could've used Snow Job's lower legs to get the puffy pant look, and Flint arms would've been just as "off-model" without suffering those awful wrists again. Also, Major Bludd using the Zartan redesign to approximate his *original* uniform which looks nothing like that). The biggest blunder, I think, has been the Original 13. Without a standard, short-sleeve mold with bare hands, most of the O13 had to be made with Duke's insufferable 3/4 sleeve mold (which Hasbro has admitted is flawed since last October). Having that one mold tooled up would've improved Rock 'N Roll, Breaker, and Clutch. Steeler has Duke arms, inexplicably, when he should've had long sleeves and gloves (On a shipwreck torso, btb... that was an easy miss). Secondly, the heads have sucked. Flash, Grand Slam, and Grunt all have the same ugly head, with grunt getting a 5 o'clock shadow for no reason. Head sharing should only fly when different color hair can *really* make the character look different, but these three all got relatively similar brown hair (Flash could've been a much brighter red, at least to differentiate him from Grand Slam!) The Breaker head is gigantic and has a 5 o'clock shadow when Breaker has always had a beard in the toyline and cartoon, and was clean shaven in the comic. The Hawk, Steeler, Rock'n Roll and Clutch heads are golden. Why do the others look so bad, either lifeless or out-of-scale? Finally, while Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, and Stalker were true to the originals while being more realistic and varied, the rest of the O13 are kinda blah. Why do Clutch, Steeler and others have the old 82 "future boots", when Stalker and Snake-Eyes looked perfectly perfect with modern, normal looking boots? Short Fuze is fail (Likely Zap too) because Hasbro couldn't tool a simple piece of webgear to approximate their original mold, especially when it makes more sense for their specialities than Snake-Eyes' webgear. I gave up on wanting an Original 13 set because of these problems. But my Joe Universe absolutely demands Clutch and Rock'n Roll... both of which have the awful Duke arms and are unlikely to get a "fix" before the Movie. Aside from those problems, this line has really been the bee's knees for me. I even forgive the Viper arms *on* the Viper, because they're character-accurate and because Vipers should be carrying rifles positioned that way. Tele-Vipers should not. Siegies have been great and plentiful, and for many short-cut figures, like Snake-Eyes v2 and Flint, there's been an apology figure that shows Hasbro's trying. Hopefully, as we near the end of the line, Hasbro can issue those few apology figures we need to get our collections looking *right*.
  24. I'd concur, it does seem awful shady. Worse that there isn't even a store website or anything. Just an e-mail address. This should definitely have been sent thru PM. It's a strictly B/S/T post in a discussion forum. That said, I'd be *very* cautious even contacting someone via a blind e-mail. Even if it's a legitmate store, what are the chances he has the late-90s era Corps figures the initial poster is looking for? Likely its the Same non O-Ring crap none of us are buying from the stores.
  25. The Red Shadows member you're thinking of was Artur Kulik, who was Russian and had tattoos all over his face. He bore no resemblance to Taurus, and as a bad guy, he was not meant to evoke anything except being absolutely evil. The reason, I think, no one puts Corps figures on e-bay and the like is *because* they're bootleg, one-off wannabe Joes. in the 80s, no one collected them. Your mom might've bought you some, thinking it was a cheap alternative. But no one really ever thought "Hey, these'll be worth money!" The fact that most of them were probably bought by low-income families who simply couldn't afford Joes is telling of the condition they would be kept in, or the ease at which they might have been thrown out. In the late 90s, Joe Collectors like me we fascinated by Lanard's output, and hailed them as the Alterna-Joe of record. Even then, finding older Corps figures on e-bay was rare. They were worth two dollars the store charged, and no more. Personally, I still have my Construction Worker 10-pack, MOC, because Lanard used to post on the PIT Mailinglist at YoJoe.com, and when their Straight Edge figure showed up looking very much like I did back then... well, you gotta save that for posterity! Otherwise... honestly, when G.I.Joe came back in 2000 and especially in 2002, Lanard fell out of favor again. They're back to being the red-headed stepchild of 3 3/4" military figures, with Cap-Mei being the ugly cousin you make out with when your 14 because she's got big jugs.
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