The Energon Pub

Old news to most of you probably, but I got the Weather Dominator DVD pack recently. (Trust me, it's a big deal, for some reason Hasbro UK don't like GI Joe toys coming to this country, only other one I've been able to get was Tiger Force Flint.)
It was Destro I was after, although I'm a fan of Lady Jaye too. Lucky I wasn't too bothered about Roadblock. His whole shtick is that he's the guy with the massive freakin gun...so let's pack him with a knife! He's using Flint's shotgun at present, Ving Rhames style.

The point of all that? Well, I've been eagerly awaiting more pics of the upcoming movie designs. I'm sure we've all seen the posters, but I was most worried about the generic Cobra troopers (be they Vipers or just the standard rank and file) and now I've seen the Toyfair pics.

I've no doubt the toys will be posable, the majority of the vehicles look good. The Pit playset is kinda fantastic and some of the likenesses are great (Hawk! even though he's dressed like Flint!). But what the hell are they doing with the designs? I'd held out hope that Destro might eventually don his mask. I mean, if he's the publicly known head of MARS, then it makes sense he's not always walking about with a silver head, but I thought he might wear it behind closed doors. After all, The Baroness and Snake Eyes have translated pretty good, and I've read that the black outfits everyone else wears were just for a few scenes (I'm betting the big showdown at the end, or some other action sequence where a bunch of crap explodes) so there's the possibility the characters will wear more unique outfits. Storm Shadow's not exactly right out of the toy, comic or cartoon, but he's a white ninja, so fair enough.

But why oh why do the Cobra Vipers look like..?I don't know what, not Cobras, that's for sure! I'm really worried that this Doctor character we've seen a picture of really will be Cobra Commander. Zartan I'll wait and see. The figure we've seen of him is obviously him in disguise from a particular scene, so again, he might have a slightly more recognisable look at some point. Not that he'd be one of the characters I'd expect to fully translate well. But really, a guy in a blue hood? So hard to do? A bunch of guys in blue overalls with some red or yellow on them? Presumably those Scream-faced guys are more hip. Boo!

Still, the trailer makes it look like a live-action Team America, so it's not all bad.

The face of the movie viper commando reminds me of the Range Viper's skull looking face.

I am really happy to see the Cobra Island 7 packs. Hit N Run, Ripcord, Recondo, and an Alley Viper, Motor Viper, and Lamprey? Nice.

I can see myself buying nearly 5 of the COBRA set.

The Cobra Island packs are the first multi-figure packs I've not really been interested in at all. Especially the Joes, they're all very generic and hardly any characters I like.
Cobra set has a couple of the troop builders and Mindbender.

The Extreme Ironing...sorry, Extreme Conditions packs look great though. The snowy one almost makes me consider the international shipping.

craggy wrote:The Cobra Island packs are the first multi-figure packs I've not really been interested in at all. Especially the Joes, they're all very generic and hardly any characters I like.
Cobra set has a couple of the troop builders and Mindbender.

The Extreme Ironing...sorry, Extreme Conditions packs look great though. The snowy one almost makes me consider the international shipping.

They do look good but I would've preferred them as straight troop building sets. Like the TRU exclusive Cobra Night Watch and Siegie set. By the way who is higher ranking; the CG commander in the 5-pack or the one in the 3-pack with CC and another Siegie?

if their rank's aren't specified on their file cards, I'd say the one that comes with CC is probably higher up, since he gets to hang with ol snake himself.

I would say unless the figure has some special identifying mark they are the same rank.

Sorry to but into this thread guys. But can anyone tell me if there has been any word about doing anymore MASK figures in the current lines? Or if they have said that Trakker was just a one-shot deal?

Editor wrote:Sorry to but into this thread guys. But can anyone tell me if there has been any word about doing anymore MASK figures in the current lines? Or if they have said that Trakker was just a one-shot deal?

Trakker was just a one-shot deal.

Thanks.

I bought both of the new 5 packs today.

When I started looking at them I thought about some 'swaps" to make some of the older figs better.
Some figs I will not comment on since they did not need any enhancement.

I took the Zartan head from the 5 pack and put it on the more recent figure (one with the swamp buggy) and FINALLY Zartan looks perfect (IMHO). The clear "red" chest plate on the 5 pack one is OK, I just prefer him with the black one. He has the correct face markings now and is complete for me.

The 5 pack Baroness is perfect and IMHO needs no correction.

The 5 pack Lady Jaye is perfect and IMHO needs no correction.

The 5 pack Flint is perfect and IMHO needs no correction (he actually works pretty good with his original head too).

Shipwreck... I honestly prefer the original 25th release. Granted his head is more "accurate" BUT he looks kind of "dumpy" to me and his forearms are too small now. I tried to head swap BUT the new head is too big for the 25's body. C'est La vie.

The 5 pack Snake Eyes is perfect and IMHO needs no correction.

Viper.. Absolutely FANTASTIC (IMHO).. no fixes needed.

Cobra Commander.. sigh.. I did take his cloak and staff to use them on the DVD (best of) CC and WOW he looks fantastic.. IMHO he is now the "complete" Cobra Commander.

Storm Shadow, I did not change anything with him.

General Hawk. Meh.

Again these are my Opinions and not fact.


Now to those that have this pack, is it me or does this feel like a different grade of plastic?

Cyber Bishop wrote:Now to those that have this pack, is it me or does this feel like a different grade of plastic?

You're damn right. It feels... off.

I got the Joe pack today, and here's what I think.

- Snake-Eyes. Amazing. Best V2 version yet. Would have liked a sheath instead of the cartoon rifle.
- Lady Jaye. Body is great, save for the chest (why'd they button up her shirt?) and the head (the one from the DVD pack). Face looks masculine. I almost used this head for my custom Leon from Resident Evil 4.
- Flint. Best Flint yet. Facial expression's kinda strange and he can't hold his boomstick right. His hands feel overly malleable. I like how the shotgun has a sliding piece so you can pump it!
- Hawk. Crap repaint of the single-carded version. Custom fodder.
- Shipwreck. Not digging the new head and arms. But other than that, he's looking good.

Also, I'd prefer if the filecards were verbatim from the original '80s versions. Stuff like the new 'comment' fields and calling Shipwreck a Navy SEAL (he's a freakin' SAILOR) grinds my gears.

Glad I am not the only one that feels like the plastic is off on these.

Cyber Bishop wrote:Glad I am not the only one that feels like the plastic is off on these.

Are all of the hands as flimsy as Flint's? He can't hold his freakin' badass shotgun at all, which blows. I might have to trim a bit of plastic on his elbow joints like I did to my duke-arm'd figures.

Nekoman wrote:

Editor wrote:Sorry to but into this thread guys. But can anyone tell me if there has been any word about doing anymore MASK figures in the current lines? Or if they have said that Trakker was just a one-shot deal?

Trakker was just a one-shot deal.

Well they said that if he sold well they might consider doing a MASK re-issue line so who knows. I tried to get people to buy 5 of the figure but no go. The dreams of a 3 3/4" Trakker vet have gone.

I got my order from BBTS and am slowly going through it, First I opened TF Duke and am wondering what work if any they did to his arms as they still don't go a full 90. The stock of his gun should've been a touch longer to hook into his arm. The BAT from the DVD set is nice but his claw attachment was too loose due to being posed in the box with him. Finally the 5-packs, at first I was excited until I realized that the Hall of Fame figures are going to be single packs of these guys. I'll go by team:

Cobra:

Storm Shadow- Why? With that said I can shake the feeling that this is a different or modified mold from the first release.

Baroness- Fixed head ok body but can't hold the gun well it looks.

Cobra Commander- Nice to have a Wave 1 hooded with two hands.

Zartan- I don't understand why he's here since this figure was just re-released. Also can't believe he still doesn't have a holster. Also, also can't believe that anyone plastic or real would believe he is SS or Duke by just wearing the masks.

Viper- Dear god could it be? The arms look OK. I'll have to take him out to check.

I think this set would've been better with SS out Destro in with two good hands, and Zartan and the Viper replaced by Tomax and Xamot. That way we have a complete Cobra Command.

Joe's:

Snake Eyes- Where's the sheath? Isn't this the same figure from Pyramid of Darkness? With the bad hands? Nice sword though.

Lady Jaye- Anybody notice the screw up on her file card mentioning here use of a crossbow? Sorry they lost the holster on her.

Hawk- Repaint. They couldn't include his jet pack? Fix the arms?

Flint- Love the head and the good arms from his Cobra figure but, they couldn't make the shotgun look like the one on the box with an adjustable stock? I hope mine has good hands, or at least the one in the HOF set.

Shipwreck- Only comes with a .357 and spear gun? What happened to his .45? The shot gun that his first version could hold so well? Notice the remolded holster by the by.

On to the Siegies; the one in the 5 pack has silver highlights while the 3 pack one has gold. Anyone notice that the different CG's have little tweaks to them so no two are the same?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Storm Shadow- Why? With that said I can shake the feeling that this is a different or modified mold from the first release.

Lady Jaye- Anybody notice the screw up on her file card mentioning here use of a crossbow?

Stormy's arms are different than his first release, and I think they meant 'javelins' on Lady Jaye's filecard but wrote 'crossbow' instead. Perhaps they were thinking of Scarlett?

I haven't opened my new five packs yet. I suppose I was a bit disappointed when the mask and visor on my viper were badly painted, thus screwing up the chrome/mirror face look.

Plus, I already have however many bazillion of these guys already? I understand these may be some of the better versions of them, but I'm not as interested in the 3rd version of Lady Jaye, the 5th version of CC, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes...

So I'm basically saving it until a really boring, rainy day.

Does anyone remember iceberg I was going back trying to remember my favorite cold weather specialist from the g.i. joe team and it turned out to be iceberg the reason I liked him so much was because he came from texas but hated the hot weather and rather hang out in the freezing cold of alaska or were ever the sent him. As a kid I always loved him but never saved up enuff to send away for him and now with resolute starting and movie just about to beginning we will never see him get remade. So who is your favorite character from the g.i. joe or cobra team that won't get a 25th anniversary style release now that we have moved on to resolute and movie.

shortround wrote:Does anyone remember iceberg I was going back trying to remember my favorite cold weather specialist from the g.i. joe team and it turned out to be iceberg the reason I liked him so much was because he came from texas but hated the hot weather and rather hang out in the freezing cold of alaska or were ever the sent him. As a kid I always loved him but never saved up enuff to send away for him and now with resolute starting and movie just about to beginning we will never see him get remade. So who is your favorite character from the g.i. joe or cobra team that won't get a 25th anniversary style release now that we have moved on to resolute and movie.

Hasbro has said on numerous occasions 25th will come back in 2010, but we'll see how that turns out. I wouldn't say never though.

Honestly, I would have said the Range Viper, but as of Toy Fair it seems I'll be getting the figure I want most, so I'm not quite sure.

Maybe the Techno Viper or Toxo Viper. Both of those are really cool figures with some good purposes in Cobra.

I kind of feel I've gotten all of the essentials from the new line. I just wish Hasbro hadn't neglected the later years as much as they did. Especially since it wouldn't have been hard to make some of those figures with existing tooling.

We still have the 7 fig packs.

click here

And we are finally getting a Mindbender!!!!

shortround wrote: So who is your favorite character from the g.i. joe or cobra team that won't get a 25th anniversary style release now that we have moved on to resolute and movie.

I have to say they covered most of my bases when the 7 packs were shown because Recondo, Lamprey, Alley Viper and Hit N Run are in there. They got Tunnel Rat, Shockwave, and Firefly.

There are only a couple others I'd really like to see. A sweet Night Viper that I can troop build, and Lowlight... I can't believe they never made a Lowlight. Other than that maybe a Ninja Force Firefly, Budo, and oh, JINX is another I can't believe they haven't made. Cover Girl would be another I'm surprised is not made.

I'd also like to see Dusty and Tunnel Rat get single packed.

So there you have it, Night Viper, Lowlight, Cover Girl, and JINX. Oh, and LAW and ORDER, and the Rock Viper, and .... yeah I could probably think of a lot... TARGAT, Astro viper, Laser viper.

Maybe they should make Crystal Ball, and Voltaire or whatever the vulture suited guy was called.

Can't think of any other must haves for me, at this moment.

I wouldn't mind a Night Force joe set, too.

shortround wrote:Does anyone remember iceberg I was going back trying to remember my favorite cold weather specialist from the g.i. joe team and it turned out to be iceberg the reason I liked him so much was because he came from texas but hated the hot weather and rather hang out in the freezing cold of alaska or were ever the sent him. As a kid I always loved him but never saved up enuff to send away for him and now with resolute starting and movie just about to beginning we will never see him get remade. So who is your favorite character from the g.i. joe or cobra team that won't get a 25th anniversary style release now that we have moved on to resolute and movie.

Well I hope you finally got an Iceberg now. You pose a really good question. I'm trying to think back to when I was a wee lad and it's tough since I got most of my Joes later on; I think. Do we now have all original 13? They have no meaning to me but I wanna make sure everyone else is covered. Hmm, Recondo we're getting, Bazooka we got. Hawk, Duke; check and double check. Mainframe, check. I could go for Sgt. Slaughter but that goes with out saying. Hmm, I'm going to go with Low Light just because the episode that featured him fighting his dreams was well written and had a depth that wasn't seen in most American Toon's at the time. I do believe we didn't get him because he was done in the DTC line in like the last wave before the anniversary. How about Footloose?

chuckdawg1999 wrote: Low Light just because the episode that featured him fighting his dreams was well written and had a depth that wasn't seen in most American Toon's at the time. I do believe we didn't get him because he was done in the DTC line in like the last wave before the anniversary. How about Footloose?

Besides the above list, I am going to throw in Zarana, and Zandar. I thought they were cool, and they had big roles in the Devil's Due comic for a bit.

That and I would love to get the Thundermachine again. I love my old one!

I thought of a some others that would have been cool as long as we a talking about ones based on the comics the rest of the Dreadnoks and zartan's daughter.

tigertracks 24 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote: Low Light just because the episode that featured him fighting his dreams was well written and had a depth that wasn't seen in most American Toon's at the time. I do believe we didn't get him because he was done in the DTC line in like the last wave before the anniversary. How about Footloose?

Besides the above list, I am going to throw in Zarana, and Zandar. I thought they were cool, and they had big roles in the Devil's Due comic for a bit.

That and I would love to get the Thundermachine again. I love my old one!

Those are cool but I'd be very disapointed if we get a Thundermachine before a Dragonfly or some other type of joe copter.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote: Low Light just because the episode that featured him fighting his dreams was well written and had a depth that wasn't seen in most American Toon's at the time. I do believe we didn't get him because he was done in the DTC line in like the last wave before the anniversary. How about Footloose?

Besides the above list, I am going to throw in Zarana, and Zandar. I thought they were cool, and they had big roles in the Devil's Due comic for a bit.

That and I would love to get the Thundermachine again. I love my old one!

Those are cool but I'd be very disapointed if we get a Thundermachine before a Dragonfly or some other type of joe copter.

We've had too many recent Dragonfly releases. I can remember at least two, and it is one of my least favorite helicopters ever, and I count helicopters as my favorite vehicle type.