European Joe's

6 inches of pure evil and silent red danger

2 new 6″ figures arrived in Belgium this week and they are not the friendly kind. First up, we have the Red Ninja.

The question here is, are the Red Ninjas part of the Arashikage Clan or a part of Cobra or somehow both? You see, the art (see below) depicts the figures with the Arashikage symbol on their foreheads, whereas the figure itself has the Cobra sigil there. What’s the deal here? Anybody know why this is? A miscommunication between art en production team? A mistake made somewhere down the line or just some insignificant detail to drive some of the collectors nuts as they try to understand why this is…

Symbol aside, the figure looks really menacing and is stocked with some very deadly weapons. A long sword, a short sword, 2 dagger like weapons (who I know are actually defensive tools called sai), 2 axes and 2 scythes. They probably all have cool Japanese names, feel free to comment them below. Knowing is half the battle after all, and clearly I don’t know them all.

Next up we have the big Cobra honcho himself, Cobra Commander (they will make Serpentor sometime down the line, I’m sure of it, but in my book, CC is the leader of Cobra, Serpie is just a science project gone wrong by Dr. Mindbender).

It was pretty obvious that Cobra Commander would get a figure in the Classified line. It’s actually a nice updated look on his original color scheme. I really like the deep blue and the small gold details. I don’t care for the weapons all that much. The gun looks like he stole it from a pirate somewhere (probably in Disneyland) and the sword looks very ceremonial, as in used by some obscure cult leader to slice open a sheep for an even weirder ritual… Anyway, the figure is great. And talking about great things, just look at the artwork. True pieces of art yet again.

That’s it for now. Believe it or not, but even more figures are in pre-order! So hopefully I’ll be able to show them off here in the not too distant future. This post will go live after the Hasbro Pulscon will hopefully have revealed some new figures. Fingers crossed we get some new goodies coming very soon. Until then, see you again soon and …

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

24 inch growth

No blue or other pills, but another 4 new Classified figures have arrived. 2 figures from In Demand Toys and 2 from Amazon.com arrived this week. I was quite happy to find out that the figures on Amazon.com could be shipped to Belgium and so I pre-ordered some there when they became available. The first figure to arrive is Arctic Mission Storm Shadow. Now, they packaged him as a member of Cobra, but come on, we can all agree that the look of the figure is based on the 1993 3.75″ Ninja Force Storm Shadow, who by then was a member of the Joe team. A bit of confusion on Habro’s part (to be fair, Storm Shadow did change sides a few times, it’s hard to keep track of) or did they just choose the best look for him?

As with all of the figures released in the Classified series, the art on the box is on point. The artists really delivered the goods on these boxes.

So far, I haven’t had any issues with the quality of the figures (I haven’t actually unboxed them yet, maybe when I do something will come up), but with this one, I can see a (very little) paint error on his face. A small drop of skin tone has dropped on his black covered chin and then a little black drop is located on his gold Arashikage logo… No big deal I guess, but it just caught my attention.

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The next figure I ordered with Amazon that arrived is Gung-Ho. As with Roadblock, it’s a bit of a mystery to me why they chose him over Flint or Lady Jaye or – fill in your favorite figure… In any case, the figure looks good.

In my opinion, the art is better than the figure (something like the book being better than the movie I guess).

Perhaps it’s the placement in the bubble or maybe it’s a design flaw, but his cap looks a bit off to me, a bit too small for his head.

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That’s it for the Amazon figures for now, there is more to come in the following weeks… I already got my shipping notices. I’ll keep you posted on the blog and on socials. If you’re not following on socials, there’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Give us a follow and a like.

Now over to the figures I was able to order over on In Demand Toys. I was not expecting to be able to find the Target Exclusive figures here in Europe easily, but to my surprise, they popped up on the site. I was too late for the Cobra Trooper and The Baroness, but I’m on the waiting list, so hopefully they’ll have some more stock coming. For now, I’m quite happy with a v2 Roadblock (I don’t know why he’s so popular, is this The Rock effect?) and the very cool looking Beach Head.

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These boxes really are cool to put on a shelf just like this. And the contents and artwork are even better.

I must admit that I have my doubt about a second version of Roadblock this early in the line simply because there are so many cool and exciting characters to choose from on both sides of the battle. The figure does look cool and it’s not a simple repaint. He actually looks like a different figure, Heavy Duty vibes on that v2 Roadblock. And very hipster with that beard…

Beach Head is a fan favorite for most Joe fans and the figure is a true homage to the original 3.75″ from 1986. I’m not so sure about the color of his weapons, I’d have preferred them in black or even grey (as the ’86 version), but I guess you can’t have it all. The beret is awesome though!

Roadblock’s art gives me a Devil’s Due kind of vibe, where Beach Head looks a lot more realistic. Both true pieces of art though.

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The back of the boxes for these figures features a depiction of Cobra Island (I’m not seeing a landlocked freighter). Interestingly, both show different details and a slightly different view of the island.

That’s it for now, I hope I can get back to you soon with more inches on the way…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Finally 6 inches

Now, before you click away thinking this is some erectile spam message, just keep on reading. This post is dedicated to the first G.I.Joe 6″ Classified figures that made it to Belgium.

I originally has a pre-order for the Exclusive Snake-Eyes figure with zavvi, but they canceled the order. I’m not going to rant on that again, but it still stings. The other figures I had in pre-order, I canceled myself after that. I don’t want to be their client anymore after they canceled my Snake-Eyes. After some serious browsing the web, I found InDemandToys.co.uk, who also accepted pre-orders and so I ordered Duke, Scarlett, Destro and Roadblock with them.

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They got shipped early August and I finally got them delivered to my home last week. Check out the pics below. I’m still in the process of getting the new man-attic built, so I’m keeping them MOC (or MISB really), but recently I must admit that I’m thinking more and more about opening up my MISB vehicles and MOC figures. They are toys and shouldn’t they be played with? Well, with ‘played’ I would mean setting up some dio’s or something like that for display, rather than having them hanging on the wall. I’m still considering all the options, but having the new figures in hand, I’m really considering opening them. Anyway, for now, enjoy the pics below from the boxed.

First off, here’s #01, Roadblock. While, we’re at it. Why the fascination with Roadblock? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great figure and character, but in my perception of the Joe world, he’s not that big a player to warrant 2 figures in the first wave of toys. Is it because of the movies and thus The Rock or am I missing something here?

The figure

Mean looking

Cool guy

Next up is #03, Destro. The first Cobra (is he though? The man is CEO of the biggest weapon manufacturer in the world. I would have loved to see some MARS reference tbh.)

The figure

Closer

Beautiful art

At #04, we have Duke. I really like that they kept his look close to his original look. He does look somewhat young. The artwork is a bit strange, he looks quite menacing there and older, more resembling General Hawk if you ask me.

The figure

Younger

Bad-ass

Finally #05 is Scarlett. As deadly as she is beautiful. A detail I’m puzzled about is the fact that the figure has earrings, where her art is not showing any. Talking about the art, she has this real Mona Lisa vibe going, a mysterious smile.

The figure

Closer

Mona Scarlett?

That’s all of them for now… I have some other figures on the way. Still looking for the Target exclusive ones, I may end up buying from … scalpers… on eBay I’m afraid. I have some more shots below of them all together and the beautiful artwork on the back of the boxes. I really must admit that I really like the art. This was something that has always been excellent on the (vintage) figures and vehicles, and it’s keeping the legacy alive with this great art.

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I can’t wait for that Alley Viper. Oh, and the FANG and the Conquest. Will they release more vehicles? I truly hope so. The Dragonfly would be cool too, and a HISS tank. Let’s face it, we won’t be saving any money in the coming weeks/months/years, but we should be glad there are so many toys coming out. I only hope that they don’t forget about the international fans. We could use an EU exclusive Tiger Force line or something like that.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

All hail The Creator

It has been a long time since the Kickstarter project was announced. Production issues, incompetent Chinese businessmen and other issues may have caused a delay, but the team behind Fresh Monkey Fiction worked around and through all the problems to deliver this magnificent figure of Mr. Larry Hama!

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They kept us all informed throughout the whole process and always kept the supporters’ best interests at heart. I had seen the figure pop up all over my socials, but living across the Atlantic, I had to wait some more to get the figure in hand. I can tell you now, it was definitely worth the wait. Along with the figure, I got a metal card with the art work imprinted onto it, a signed Trading Card, a Hama’s Grape Soda sticker and an Arashikage cap. The blank space on the back of the card can be used to let Harry sign it on a convention. Something that is very high on my bucket list, but may prove to be impossible…

Now, the original Kickstarter campaign has ended, but there is a new pre-order campaign! Check it out on https://www.freshmonkeyfiction.com/larryhamapreorder and get your very own figure! Note that the v2 will be shipped out in Q1 2021 and will have a USS Flagg cap!

This legend needs to be a part of every G.I.Joe collector’s collection!

YoJoe and Happy Collecting!

All hail Larry Hama!

A very long commercial break

You all remember the quote from the cartoon: ‘G.I. Joe will return after these messages.’. Well, it took a while, but it seems that the messages are over now. What a few weeks this have been. As a collector, I’m glad to see so much new toys coming our way (hopefully). I’ve been holding of on this post for a while now, but I guess I’ll have to get my take out on all the latest news.

To kick things of, we got the Snake-Eyes Deluxe which was a Hasbro Pulse exclusive. I happened to stumble across a European site where I could pre-order, only to have my pre-order canceled soon after… and too late to get it from anywhere else for a reasonable price. I’ve been following the prices on eBay for this set and they are going for $100 – $500, pretty insane and frankly too rich for my taste. I’ll keep looking occasionally, but I guess this one will be the Joe that got away… The figure itself looks really nice and the tons of accessories sure would make one hell of a display, but hey, I’m not one to dwell on missing out on this one (since they will release a regular version, more on that below).

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Next up we have Duke, Roadblock and Scarlett. Now, originally I pre-ordered them together with the Deluxe SE, but since they canceled that one, I canceled the others. I did find another EU (well, UK based actually, so that’s still Europe I guess, who knows these days) store that has pre-orders and good reviews! So I put in an order there for these 3 figures.

I think the Scarlett figure is the best one of the 3. I’m not quite sold on the headsculpts of Duke and Roadblock. The art for Duke is looking like it’s straight from an ARAH comic, a good thing if you ask me. Roadblock looks a bit surprised and Scarlett has some serious La Joconde (Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa) vibes. A very cute and mysterious smile, but probably very deadly as well.

As I was looking into pre-ordering the figures, the next figure was announced. Destro. He is one bad-ass looking figure. True to the original design from the 80’s, with his gold chain and golden gun. I knew at this time that I was going to invest in the 6″ line. The art is awesome (something that can be said for all the card art really, a tradition they set with the 3.75″ figures and I’m very glad to see it continues). I like the suitcase (although it could have been with a M.A.R.S. logo instead of the Cobra sigil?) and the futuristic looking laser gun (Han Solo vibes). Too bad the wrist rockets are not removable 🙂

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We then got even more news in the shape of a NTWRK exclusive Cobra Commander (I will not get started on that whole mess) and the regular Snake-Eyes, available through Hasbro Pulse. I tried to get the NTWRK Cobra Commander, but that didn’t work out. See, I kept it short.

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I do like the color scheme used on the Regal version of Cobra Commander, but those weapons are a bit over the top. I thought I was going to miss out on this one (the whole NTWRK debacle, seriously don’t get me started), but Hasbro later offered the figure on Hasbro Pulse and then I had to pull in some favors, but I managed to get a US colleague to order the figure for me. And not just this one, also the regular version of Snake-Eyes that was made available on Hasbro Pulse.

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So even though I missed out on the Deluxe version, the deadly mysterious Ninja will be a part of my collection. This version may have less accessories, it’s still very cool looking and has plenty of features.

The fun doesn’t stop here, oh no, the good people over at Hasbro Pulse then gave us the Profit Director Destro figure! They really need to give the person that came up with “Profit Director” a raise, a promotion, a lot of credit. This figure truly is a gift to the adult collectors. Where the other figures could be seen as toys for kids (if they ever could get their hands on them), this figure definitely isn’t a toy.

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The gold head, the sunglasses, the leopard skin cape, the burning money. What’s not to love about this figure? This is just awesome and a beautiful homage to the 3.75″ figures and the collector’s community. I was able to convince my US colleague to order this one as well. Me = very happy!

And the figures keep on coming. They also announced Gung Ho, a regular Cobra Commander, a Red Ninja and Storm Shadow. For some reason, the Hasbro Pulse video on Facebook wasn’t working on my phone and I couldn’t follow the whole thing live. Luckily the community came to the rescue, or on Twitter and so I found out that these figures would be available through Amazon. I’ve ordered some things from the US Amazon before and they have a clear policy on shipping rates and taxes, so I went online and put in my orders.

A special mention goes to the Storm Shadow figure. His look is based on his v3 Ninja Force figure, and probably his best look, although the v2 look with the digital camouflage is also very good looking.

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Just now, a new set of figures and a vehicle has been launched. These ones are Target exclusives and I’m afraid that I’m too late to get a pre-order with the UK store I have found. I’m quite gutted, because that Cobra Trooper and The Baroness are very cool looking. Beach Head is very true to his original figure (I love that beret) and the second version of Roadblock looks the part in his black and white shirt that incorporates the Joe’s star beautifully. Maybe I’ll get my chance on the waiting list or maybe these won’t sell for astronomical prices on eBay…

That’s it for the 6″ line. We then got the 3.75″ Retro line that kicked of with a bang to say the least. I guess we all knew they were going to start of with Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow. The Baroness is a great addition though. The card art on these figures are updated versions of the original art and I’m not complaining. The figures themselves are great, however, I do have some issues. Snake-Eyes web gear that hangs between his legs is a bit silly and probably very unpractical for a ninja. Storm Shadow has sleeves! The plastic bubbles are a bit big but I guess that’s because they crammed in a lot of accessories, so nothing to complain about really. I can’t wait to see which figures are coming next. I’m still hoping on an updated Scoop with laptop, vlogging camera and green screen…

To top it off, Hasbro also revamped (somewhat) 2 vehicles as part of the Retro line. The H.I.S.S. tank on Cobra’s side and the A.W.E. Striker for G.I. Joe. I never had the original ones, so they will make a great addition to my collection.

There has been a lot of discussion online on the fact that the Retro line should have the O-ring figures, and I guess that I agree to a certain extend. On the other hand, I’m just very excited to be getting spanking brand new G.I. Joe toys in 3.75″ and I’m just sitting here smiling like a kid just thinking about getting my pre-order in and being able to have them in hand. I have to say that I still like the 3.75″ line better, but the 6″ figures are growing on me and I’m sure that they’ll get a nice place in my collection.

That’s it for now, quite a lengthy post, but then again, we have lots to talk about. There’s the new Snake-Eyes movie coming out, the new video game (Operation Blackout – set for release in October), and I’m pretty sure that there will be more new figures and vehicles to talk about. See you next time!

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!