JediTricks
01-24-2002, 07:51 AM
I finally found one of these 2 packs at my local Wal-Mart, it was just under $8 and I guess for that, it's not a terrible value. However, I'm fairly disappointed in this new direction for Joe here, a real American hero deserves better.
The figures are based on the Star Wars body design, similar to the Commtech Stormtrooper. The set I got was Gung-Ho vs Destro, the former being a fairly good figure marred by poor choices of accessories and the latter being an ugly, angry mess with really bad accessories. Both figures have bulky joints above the waist, but keep the articulation quality of the RAH figures there; unfortunately, from the waist down, these things are Star Wars figures with HUGE belts and unlike SW, the lack of ball-jointed hips makes most cool action stances impossible, with the legs being fairly close together and the knees having not enough range of motion.
Really annoying is the rubbery material used to make these figures. It feels insubstantial, like a knock-off, while at the same time gumby and a bit weak, as if it could be easily torn apart (even though I've yet to damage either figure beyond bending the knees too far back and ripping the back of the thigh, I think I did the same thing with the old Joes too though).
Gung-Ho looks like a real guy shrunk down, which is good in some ways, but takes a little getting used to after 20 years of those cartoony faces of yesteryear. His outfit is a bit generic and drab, but there are special touches to make this figure stand out. Destro, unfortunately, looks like the Terminator got kinda fat and had his face and scalp ripped off right in the middle of a huge constipation attack. This figure's flesh-colored ears and neck are very freaky, but not in a good way. This figure also comes with one of the first-wave vehicles in a slightly different color - what a rip!
Frustratingly, Hasbro chose to go with old accessories and weapons, which are SORELY outdated and skinny. The gun Destro is holding has a stock which fits over RAH forearms, but Destro's been drinking milk along with all the other new figures, and this stock looks ridiculous here. Likewise, Gung-Ho is posed carrying some gigantic revolver and even though both figures have trigger fingers out, the triggers on 3 out of the 4 guns here don't work with that - more goofball gun poses (one of the RAH line's weaker points IMO). Gung-Ho has a working boot sheeth for the knife that comes in this set, and a holster on his left that doesn't seem to properly fit any weapon that comes in the card. This theme repeats on one of the backpacks in here, which has those classic Joe backpack slots to hold a knife or a sword, yet the set comes with nothing besides the knife (which already belongs in the boot) that'll fit in there! This same backpack has a hole in the top, but for what? No idea, it DOES fit one of the weapons, but it looks so dippy that way. Another thing, except for the silver revolver, all the accessories here are black and I'm fairly confident I have well over half of them in my collection already (they're mostly the ones I don't even USE because I dislike 'em so much), why couldn't these figures have come with better accessories, I know the old RAH line had 'em?!?
Finally, the packaging is pretty bleh, the preposed figures aren't really that dynamic-looking, but they both remind me of Commtech Luke's leg-pose in the bubble - yeesh. The back of the card shows art of the characters instead of actual figures and it doesn't work for me at all, the art is too hard for this line of toys and feels more like some over-eager comic artist going off on an ego-trip rather than what the buyer can get in the line. The way the file cards work is sorta clever, but it's the exact same art as the back.
All in all, I had low hopes for this line and it basically lived down to them. In some ways, it did succeed in ways I wasn't expecting, but with the above being so obvious how I feel and the nasty job they did on the one vehicle I was really looking forward to - the Hum-vee repaint where instead of tan, it's now screaming camo and has a HUGE missile launcher on top - I think this line is gonna need a lot of retooling already.
The figures are based on the Star Wars body design, similar to the Commtech Stormtrooper. The set I got was Gung-Ho vs Destro, the former being a fairly good figure marred by poor choices of accessories and the latter being an ugly, angry mess with really bad accessories. Both figures have bulky joints above the waist, but keep the articulation quality of the RAH figures there; unfortunately, from the waist down, these things are Star Wars figures with HUGE belts and unlike SW, the lack of ball-jointed hips makes most cool action stances impossible, with the legs being fairly close together and the knees having not enough range of motion.
Really annoying is the rubbery material used to make these figures. It feels insubstantial, like a knock-off, while at the same time gumby and a bit weak, as if it could be easily torn apart (even though I've yet to damage either figure beyond bending the knees too far back and ripping the back of the thigh, I think I did the same thing with the old Joes too though).
Gung-Ho looks like a real guy shrunk down, which is good in some ways, but takes a little getting used to after 20 years of those cartoony faces of yesteryear. His outfit is a bit generic and drab, but there are special touches to make this figure stand out. Destro, unfortunately, looks like the Terminator got kinda fat and had his face and scalp ripped off right in the middle of a huge constipation attack. This figure's flesh-colored ears and neck are very freaky, but not in a good way. This figure also comes with one of the first-wave vehicles in a slightly different color - what a rip!
Frustratingly, Hasbro chose to go with old accessories and weapons, which are SORELY outdated and skinny. The gun Destro is holding has a stock which fits over RAH forearms, but Destro's been drinking milk along with all the other new figures, and this stock looks ridiculous here. Likewise, Gung-Ho is posed carrying some gigantic revolver and even though both figures have trigger fingers out, the triggers on 3 out of the 4 guns here don't work with that - more goofball gun poses (one of the RAH line's weaker points IMO). Gung-Ho has a working boot sheeth for the knife that comes in this set, and a holster on his left that doesn't seem to properly fit any weapon that comes in the card. This theme repeats on one of the backpacks in here, which has those classic Joe backpack slots to hold a knife or a sword, yet the set comes with nothing besides the knife (which already belongs in the boot) that'll fit in there! This same backpack has a hole in the top, but for what? No idea, it DOES fit one of the weapons, but it looks so dippy that way. Another thing, except for the silver revolver, all the accessories here are black and I'm fairly confident I have well over half of them in my collection already (they're mostly the ones I don't even USE because I dislike 'em so much), why couldn't these figures have come with better accessories, I know the old RAH line had 'em?!?
Finally, the packaging is pretty bleh, the preposed figures aren't really that dynamic-looking, but they both remind me of Commtech Luke's leg-pose in the bubble - yeesh. The back of the card shows art of the characters instead of actual figures and it doesn't work for me at all, the art is too hard for this line of toys and feels more like some over-eager comic artist going off on an ego-trip rather than what the buyer can get in the line. The way the file cards work is sorta clever, but it's the exact same art as the back.
All in all, I had low hopes for this line and it basically lived down to them. In some ways, it did succeed in ways I wasn't expecting, but with the above being so obvious how I feel and the nasty job they did on the one vehicle I was really looking forward to - the Hum-vee repaint where instead of tan, it's now screaming camo and has a HUGE missile launcher on top - I think this line is gonna need a lot of retooling already.