gojira77

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only Movie fan out there, and Hasbro sure seems to be giving it some love these days what with the Nemesis Enforcer/ Falcon two-pack and upcoming 'Best of Joe' DVD figures. But I also know that there are a lot of die hard Movie-haters, too, who aren't just comic-snobs and Duke-haters but serious fans who just didn't like the B-movie plot angles. What do you think, do we need a poll about the '87 movie?

I like Bumblebee small and capable of self-doubt, he did afterall have the voice of Spider-man from the "Amazing Friends" cartoon. Classics 'Bee was a great toy, but just too darn big (can't wait to get the new Legends-class Classic Bee they showed at SDCC). I like him as the average guy, somewhere between the humans and the bigger, badder robots. A lot of that depth couldn't be shown in the movie, the hero who is outmatched let struggles on despite his own doubts, because that version of the character couldn't talk and there really wasn't time a fast-paced action movie. Of Course, I like to see the little guy kick butt, too.

So my Henkei Starscream just arrived from Ages 3 and Up (great people, by the way), and if I could sum him up in a word, it'd be-- WOW! I always thought the classics seekers should at least have been voyagers, but he looks fine next to smaller TF's, which works for his bullying personality as well. Anybody let me know if they'd like more pics. Thanks.

Truly, the holy Grail of Aquamen! The best one since Super Powers!

More Vader Fun! Copy-cat!! My friends, to EVIL!

Vader's mask w/o helmet, from the back...

Like this?

Now I understand that the focus on the new Clone Wars stuff and that beautiful, absolutely gigantic Falcon, but I've just got to take a minute and sing the praises of the new Legacy Vader. "Another Vader?" you might ask. Yeah, I didn't think the world needed one either-- until my loose display Vader lost a leg in some mysterious way, and then all the sudden I'm Vader-shopping again. Recently, Hasbro's reasons for another Vader varient have gotten pretty sad, such as the figure with that brown plastic wad at his feet to represent the death of his former master. So my expectations weren't that high when I was blown away by the new, highly articulated Dath Vader with a removable helmet that comes apart perfectly into two pieces just like in Episodes V & VI. He comes packaged showing off a great 'dying Anakin' face, with a good expression, sculpted details, and nice paint aps, but I was still skeptical as I took him to the check-out line. With such a good Anakin head and a two-piece mask, was he going to look like Dark Helmet with both pieces on? I had to get him home and out of the box to see, and now I'm very glad I did! If you can stand another Vader, get this one. Besides, he comes with BAF Droid parts! So, when did the Emperor put down new wood flooring? Dad, you've got to stop your drinking!

You know, ROTJ was the first Star Wars I saw in the theatre back in '83 and I still have fond memories of that scene where Luke showed that he could do more than just fly a ship or get kicked around by his dead-beat dad. Most of the SW stuff I collect seems to be from 'Jedi', too. I even like Ewoks! And though I believe playsets are a good thing in general, I'm afraid I'm not interested in the Salaac Pit. Great scene, great idea, but the execution comes off a lttle too... um... "anatomically correct"? @loll@ The pit itself just looks too much like those diagrams they showed us back in health class-- now with tentacles!?! I guess it's probably a good idea to stay away from Freudian analysis of a movie where the hero's half-naked sister is chained to a slug creature, which she later strangles with the chain... @hmmm@

So awhile back the NATO F-104 Fighter jet was mentioned in a thread about Tiger Force. I just happened to be looking around youtube for some old G.I. Joe commercials and found a video posted by someone in the Greek Air Force showing off the F-104 "Hellenic Tiger", which you can all find . There is also a video of the plane's first flight that is a bit longer. And if you need something to compare, try this of the original Tiger Force commercial c. 1988. As Duke would say, "They're part of Tiger Force now!" Yo Joe!

As Edna Mode would say, "No Capes!" My favorite scenes were the opening sequence and basically anytime Serpentor was fragged, fried, betrayed, strangled, or crashed. Man, that Evil Liberace sure was annoying-- get 'em, devolved snake Cobra Commander!

Yes, they did. And I distinctly remember that the Tele-viper still had his old RAH back-pack!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the black-headed version is the one that you DON'T want to open, but only time will tell just how rare it is. Nice find!

Well a wave of Valor v. Venom reissues was reported here awhile back and I haven't seen anything since or a post about on this board (I looked back 20 pages, too... nice Tiger Force thread ), so I just wanted to report that I found some last night at a Fred Meyer department store in Bellingham, WA. The single packs were $3.99 each on small card backs, just large enough to print the file card on back. I saw plenty of Tele-viper, Ace, and Stalker, but nobody else in the wave. Ironically, Fred Meyer was the only place I could ever find the Vv.V Single-packs 4 years ago back in their heyday. Anybody else seen these? I've got to say that the "New Sculpt" guys really lose a lot of their luster next to the 25th Anv. Wave 4 Comic packs. But if these re-issues continue, I would still be tempted to buy a $4 Bombstrike or Jinx. Any army builders out there want a 'New Sculpt' Tele-viper?

Really I didn't have trouble finding any of these guys when they first came out... But I was too slow to get a couple of my favorites before they were all snatched up by other collectors and the friendly neihbor scalper! Now with either Ebay or current re-issue prices they're still gonna cost me more. Crap.

<cue Fisher Steven's voice from Short Circuit> It is as plain as the testicles on Shamu's under-belly. You are clearly living on the wrong planet. @hmmm@ What, we back to being a dickhead again? No, I am be living on the very same planet. I have trouble finding the same toys, I have. We can sit together and hold hands on this world we have all to ourselves. Not following much of that. I know the sarcasm is present, but still not following. Who knew that collecting "war toys" would lead to such unrest! @wink@

Thanks for the affirmation! I do wish the cartoon writers had the freedom to kill characters who weren't a), from an alternate universe, b ), synthoids, or c), zoot-suited drug dealers with slightly dirty names @hmmm@ . Hama had a lot more freedom with both his own and toy-based characters (which were really his, too), even finding a way to ingeniously 'kill-off' the original Cobra Commander while still featuring Hasbro's new CC figure. Kids who are interested in war should also be developmentally ready for the concept of death, which is why you'll rarely see Elmo packing a sub-machine gun! Slightly off topic, remember the cartoon Exo-Squad from the '90s, where shockingly, when a plane exploded, you wouldn't see a guy with a parachute come out? I had to watch a couple of those shows before I could believe my eyes!

The Good: The consistent out-put of fantastic work from the Takara design Dept. Outsourcing character/ story/ mythos development to Marvel and Sunbow in the '80s #US1# Going to Mainframe with Beast Wars in the '90s (Hasbro knows talent like they know good robots) @can@ Trying organic beast-modes in '96 rather then another luke-warm repackaging of G2 Bringing over CarRobots in '01 to phase-out beast-era Learning from mistakes in Armada Alternators (RIP) Good homage/ new character balance in modern main lines Armada Unicron 20th Anniversary Prime Classics Leader-class Movie Prime Bad: Letting marketing people make decisions in Sunbow/ Mainframe T.V. shows @grumpy@ Going cheap and lazy on design during the tail-end of G1 and all of Beast Machines @sad@ Letting Bay put Pg-13 humor in a movie w/ kid's toy tie-in Hasbro not producing their own cartoons from RID through Cybertron (again, cheap and lazy) Stopping 'Orson' from posting on the boards Both under-estimating (in 1986) and over-estimating (post 2002) Optimus Prime TRU over-pricing G1 re-issues after the successful/affordable 1st wave

Looks like the writers wanted some more diversity to go with the Asian chick... But why'd the black guy have to be a ball player? I know Stalker used to be a gangbanger, but c'mon! Of course, these are the people that made Roadblock rhyme... The writers have repeatedly said they intended to kill Duke, and if the Joe movie came out before the Death of Optimus Prime they wouldn't have added that bit about his "coma". Imagine that... We sure would have fewer Duke re-paints today! I was ten years old when the movie came out, I hadn't read the comic yet and Duke was by far my favorite character-- would I have handled his death better than Prime's? I think Duke's death would have made for a better movie. It sure would have been a great way for him to go, taking on Serpentor to save his f@#%-up kid brother! The writers were even kind enough to let Duke make it to the movie's climax, rather than how those callous bastards off'd the legendary Autobot leader in the first 15 minutes of the TF movie in order to save time for selling more toys... @grumpy@ Coincidentally, has anyone recently read the file card for Tiger Force Duke? It looks like a continuity reboot with no mention of his experience in 'Nam; he declines the commission and goes straight to squad leader of Tiger Force w/o any mention of previous experience on the Joe team. If not for the re-use of his file name and birth place, he could have been a different, homage character!

I wonder if distribution wasn't a little different in your area-- I remember store shelves being glutted with unsold Scourges and Optimal Optimi that took forever to move! Aside from serious QC issues, I bet it was distribution problems that really doomed the line. To date I still haven't seen a Ti G1 Ultra Magnus with my own two eyes, even at Seattle's Emerald City Comicon...

'Cause they don't... Titaniums didn't do well at retail and Hasbro is giving the collector's a nice bit of closure, using the molds that made it past prototype stage. At least fans will get a complete set of seekers. Grimlock was a huge fan-request ever since WWI was in it's first printing-- too bad he's got a bad case of robot-lying-down-as-altmode syndrome! Maybe he and WWI Megatron can throw a benefit... Personally, I'l always be gratefull for my modern non-brick Scourge. Since you are familiar with what I am talking about... Did they give a reason why those mold never made it past prototype stage?... Not a clue. I never read any reason given by Hasbro on the various TF boards. Maybe somebody was on the tour where Hasbro originally showed off these beauties...? I would much rather have that Cosmos or Arcee than WWI Grimlock; maybe that one just lucked out and was a little futher ahead in the process when Hasbro axed the line. I remember Don Figueroa showing off prototype pics of Grim on TFW2005 (he actually helped in the design process) and lamenting the toy's at-that-time uncertain fate.

Oh, I've been pretty much blown away by the stuff Hasbro showed at SDCC. It's going to be hard but I need to be really conservative in my purchases, picking only a couple of the best from each wave, and staying away from most of the vehicles. The real problem is that Joe seems to be having its best year in two decades, while Transformers Classics is back with the likes of Sunstreaker and Ironhide, and Mattel has gotten into the action with new web-exclusive MOTU Classics at $20 a pop. It's all a child of the '80s can do to keep his family off food stamps!

That's a great Cobra Trooper repaint you've got there... for me to POOP on!!

Most of the repaints in the '88 core TF squad (infantry?) were pretty good, some like Bazooka and Lifeline were actually an improvement. Except for Tripwire -- they should have just flocked that guy's body armor to give him a nice fuzy cat belly! By going the "Tiger Force" route on the 'fixed' versions of Duke and Flint, Hasbro is creating logical redecos with some history to them, without neccessarily making the fans who bought earlier, more 'classic' versions feel ripped-off. For instance, I feel like a sucker for buying the Jet-pack Duke when in a couple of months they're just throwing in a far more cartoon accurate one in a DVD pack that I was planning to get anyways. And don't get me started on the 'Cartoon' Cobra Commander, who has a piece that you need for the MASS Device (we'll be seeing some bootleg customs of those in the near future, mark my words)... Star Wars all over again, I guess.

As great as that Airborne figure is, I would definitely rather have a Hit 'N Run (could Hasbro still call him that w/o reminding parents of automobile accidents?). I STILL can't find my old one after he did a little recon in my friend's front yard 20 years ago! One of the best Joes ever.