If you’re wondering what the numbers and letters in the title are all about, keep on reading because I’ve found something really cool a while back.
See, there’s this French company called Original Comics and – aside from the regular imported (and translated stuff) – they have a series of hardcover books, European Comic Book size, of famous comics, but just in Black & White, the RAW series. The book is has a limited print run of only 250 copies.
The Front Cover
On the front, we get Snake Eyes climbing down the large Cobra statue. Not a lot of detail on this drawing, but still a very powerful cover.
The back cover
On the back, the series red banner with all the necessary information. The retail price for one of these is €29, so quite pricey, but the quality is there to warrant this pricepoint.
The introduction of Storm Shadow and the Arashikage I Ching.
The inside of the comic book, is the #21 story as we all know it, just in Black & White. The art really pops out. Below is one of my favorite pieces, the look on Scarlett’s face when she’s dumped in the pit by Storm Shadow.
Badass Scarlett
Upon re-reading (well, there’s not a lot of text in this comic, can you call it reading?), I realized that while it’s all good for the story, Scarlett escaped on her own. She even had to come back to save Snake Eyes from being hit by Storm Shadow’s sword. Although, Snake Eyes does end up saving her then. It goes to show that Larry wrote the female Joes as strong and independent women who could fight their own battles. This was back in the 80’s! This comic book – and the whole series – is truly evolutionary in more than one way.
Occasionally, I come across something special related to G.I. Joe. It could be a vinyl record (see here and here), the Larry Hama 3.75″ figure (see here) or the Knockaround sunglasses (see here and here). This time around though, I found a collectible figure of Scarlett, more like a statue than an actual action figure.
The box art
The box itself doesn’t quite give away how the figure looks like, but you can see that it will be different from the action figures we all know and love. Let’s open the box and see just how she looks!
The Collectible figure
Dressed in her iconic yellow and grey, the figure does immediately pop out for other reasons. The big eyes and head, the muscular thighs and the very small feet. This really does look like an anime figure from Japan more than a Real American Hero. The figure is fixed on a black base (the small feet wouldn’t support her otherwise) depicting the classic G.I. Joe logo.
The figure is nicely detailed with her throwing stars on her left sleeve, a knife in a side pouch, zippers on the suit, pockets on her other leg and a slingshot on her buttocks. I had to take a close-up of that.
The slingshot
Another nice detail is in her right hand, the classic Scarlett crossbow. As accurate as ever with her shots, though she is playing Cupid in this instance…
Up close with the crossbow
That’s it for now. I hope to be back soon with more exciting additions to the collection.
It has been a while, but I finally got a new Classified figure in. Thanks to the people over at In Demand Toys, I received Firefly this week.
Firefly
The figure itself closely resembles the original 3.75” figure with a 50 shades of grey color scheme. He has a backpack, goggles, a drone, a nice looking gun, a tablet to control the drone and some TNT or other explosive device.
The art on the side
The art on the side of the box is like any other figure of the Classified line of very high quality. This time around (they use a different artist for each figure I read somewhere), the art is by Jeremy Wilson. Check out his website for more gorgeous looking art by him. It shows Firefly doing what he does best, and if you ask me, he is grinning from ear to ear beneath his balaclava.
The other side
The other side, depicts the symbols we’ve seen on the other figures and the number 21. I’m still looking for a complete overview of what all the symbols mean, but let’s give it a shot. The top icon means he’s a deadly contract killer for Cobra, the 2nd symbol shows that there is no known data on his identity, the 3rd symbol is showing TNT explosives – straightforward what this means – and the last symbol is showing he has technical skills (to operate the drones). Feel free to correct me in the comments below.
That’s it for this update. A nice addition to the collection if you ask me. Can’t wait to get more figures in.
My pre-orders of the Classified and Retro line are on hiatus. It’s been a while since I received something new, and to be honest, my wallet is glad it’s been calm the last few weeks.
The only new additions I got for my collection are some of the new Funko POP figures.
First up we have the Beachhead figure, (un-)lucky #13? At first, I had a hard time finding this one as it’s a Funko 2020 Fall Convention Limited Edition. But as always, perseverance overcomes anything and I was able to find one for a reasonable price through eBay. If you want to read the whole story of his travels, see this post.
Beachhead
Next up is Cobra’s evil genius Dr. Mindbender. He was fairly easy to get. I actually found him om Amazon. The German site that is. I pre-ordered him, but after a while I got an email that they couldn’t deliver it. I had to look around again to find him. The solution was again Amazon, the US site this time. A bit more expensive (due to the shipping costs), but still affordable. Not long after I pre-ordered them there, I found them on the Dutch Amazon site as well for nearly the same price. So, I canceled the US order myself – would this be good for the ecological footprint of the pops? – and placed the order in The Netherlands. A few days after the official release, the Pop landed on my doorstep.
Dr. Mindbender
Together with Dr. Mindbender, I also pre-ordered the Leatherneck figure. It was the same story as above, several pre-orders and cancellations later, it too arrived. Again, Leatherneck? Yes, again. After the 2 mini Retro Pops, this time a full scale Funko Pop one. But the question remains. Why Leatherneck? He isn’t that popular I’d say. My guess is that they had a similar mold and just went looking who fit the mold…
Leatherneck
Around the same time, I also was able to find the missing mini Retro Pop, Cobra Commander. This one was more difficult to find than the other ones. As you know (and we all know what knowing is…), these mini Retro Pops are sold in blind boxes, so it’s a surprise which one you get. Not so much for me, as I only bought them opened, but you get the idea. Shipwreck and the regular Leatherneck have a ratio of 1/6, Snake-Eyes is more limited to 1/24. The tan version of Leatherneck is a Target exclusive, but he too has a ratio of 1/6 (but only in Target). Cobra Commander has a ratio of 1/36, so there are lot less of him going around, making him more expensive and harder to find.
Cobra Commander – Funko Mini Retro Pop
There are a number of new Pops coming our way later this year. They will feature Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Scarlett and The Baroness. These will be tied to the new Snake-Eyes movie. I’ve pre-ordered the regular ones, I’m still looking for the Funko Pop Exclusive Snake-Eyes & Timber.
More Pops will be released later this year…
I have one more order already on it’s way and it’s the Gamestop Exclusive Duke and Cobra Commander with the tin lunchbox. I found this set on eBay and really wanted it as a part of my collection, not just for the Pops, but also for the lunchbox. The package is in transit, so keep following my Socials (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and this page to see the update when they arrive. They also come with four buttons (see bottom right of the image below), a Cobra keychain (center of the image) and a G.I. Joe logo sticker (bottom left). Can’t wait to get them in hand. The product image below only shows the Transformers side of the lunchbox. The seller provided me with an image of the G.I. Joe side (see below).
I’ve been enjoying the video/podcast from G.I.Joburg on the Benelux catalog with ultimately the best G.I. Joe photography in the world. The art and photos have been discussed by Paul Panfalone on Plastic Battles (part 1 & 2). I highly recommend to watch/listen to both shows.
Anyways, I was inspired by them and the incredible photography and did some searching. I rediscovered the 1989 G.I. Joe Dossier we got over here in the Benelux. They released 3 of these Dossiers which contain nice pictures of the Action Figures and vehicles on one side and on the back side there was a description similar to the filecards in both Dutch and French. I knew there were 2 sets, but recently I found a 3rd set being offered on a local site. I made a deal with the seller and I’m now the proud owner of the full set of 3 Dossiers.
Get ready for a huge set of photos.
Now that was a whole lot of awesomeness! What’s your favorite image? Let me know in the comments or over the Socials (Twitter, Instagram or Facebook).
See you again soon! Happy Collecting and YoJoe!
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