shortround wrote:I was wondering since I now a few people have picked up both the new five packs if the gi joe five pack is worth picking up or not, and what the difference are between the include figures and half a dozen other release of these figures.
Give me a few to get back to you. I took some photos today and I'll give you my opinions and some images once I get them off my camera. Be back soon!
EDIT: Got the images all ready, here goes. Images can be found
here. I'll start with the Joe pack.
Hawk:A crap repaint of the single-carded version. This one's nothing more than custom fodder.
Shipwreck:His forearms are smaller and don't look as good. They look like Lady Jaye's arms. The headsculpt is too jovial. He doesn't have the badass boomstick from his package art, but his speargun's really cool.
Polly's great, but can't sit on his shoulder properly because she attaches to his satchel, and due to her weight, she tips over.
Flint:I think his shirt is a new sculpt, he doesn't have the crest on his pocket anymore, and now has neat lapel stuff. Harness is a new mould which is more accurate to the character art. There's a hole on the back for backpack compliance, but when he has the bag on, it limits his movement.
The shotgun looks great, and the pump is even a separate piece. Yep, you can actually cock it. Too bad he can't hold it with both hands.
The headsculpt is new, but once again, the facial expression is.... odd.
Lady Jaye:New sculpt, I think. The shirt is new and, unfortunately, buttoned-up. She has a knife on her shirt, too. She now has wrist articulation, and a new belt and sturdy spear. She still has the awful manly head from the DVD pack, and it'll take more than pink lips to make her look feminine.
Snake-Eyes:This is THE definitive 25th Snake-Eyes v2. Words can't describe how great this figure is. Seriously, this is your new Default Snake-Eyes. I think he's a properly-coloured version of the Snake-Eyes that comes in one of those DVD packs.
The attention to detail on the sword is particularly impressive. Detail on the hilt, there's a snake on it, and the Arashikage hexagram.
The Joe pack has an excellent Snake-Eyes, a terrific Flint, and the Lady Jaye and Shipwreck are great too. Hawk's the weakest figure.
Now, onto the Cobra pack.
Cobra Commander:Nothing to see here, move along.
Storm Shadow:He has the 'sleeveless' look from the cartoon and the nunchaku sticks that his other versions were missing. His swords have painted Arashikage hexagrams on them, too. If you like the sleeveless look, here's your new Default v1 Storm Shadow.
Zartan:If you have the single-carded Zartan that came with the Combat Heroes swamp skiier, you can pass on this one, as his chest armour is 'glowing' pink, like it did when he got pissed in the cartoon.
If you DON'T have that version, paint the chest armour black. The picture below shows him after I've painted his chest armour, added some silver wear like on his shoulder pads, and given him his bow from the comics (which is NOT included in the 5-pack; the image just shows that the figure isn't bad if you're willing to put some work into it).
Viper:The helmet is new. The blue helmet and the goggles are one part (no more missing goggles!), and the chrome visor is another part. The Chrome visor looks great.
On his left shoulder, there's the insignia that his other versions lacked. His backpack does not feature a painted Cobra logo and the tips of his boots are unpainted.
The new arms aren't as good as the old arms. Sure, he can do more than just hold his gun, but he can't hold his gun as nicely as the older arms could. Oh, and his gun is now dark grey, and looks better than the bright grey.
The Baroness:Yowza. Get rid of all your other 25th Baroness figures, as you have a new Default Baroness right here. She can stand up straight, her face looks like the Baroness ('bout time), she has double-jointed knees like the rest of the figures, she has new feet (the hole is in her shoe instead of between the heel), she has painted details on her legs, abdomen, and her belt, and a very nice Cobra logo on her chest.
Her gauntlets have the sculpted detail of her original character design, but they are unpainted.
She only comes with the UMP SMG, like the blue version.
For me, the packs were worth the purchase because the Baroness, Flint and Snake-Eyes are definitive versions of those characters (and if you want a cartoon-accurate Lady Jaye, here she is), I love Vipers, and I didn't have a Flint or Zartan. I plan on customizing the Storm Shadow, Lady Jaye, Hawk, and Cobra Commander.
The Baroness and Snake-Eyes are the true gems of these packs. And for all the whining fanboys who were bitching about a problem that wasn't even that big of a deal, the Viper should shut them up.
I really like these packs, but by now you probably have Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadows, and Cobra Commanders comin' out your smeghole, but these sets strike a good balance between redundancy and 'how-we-should-have-them-in-the-first place' versions (except for a few accessories).
What with the Hall of Heroes versions coming out, you can pretty much just wait and get the individual characters you'd like from these sets (well, the Snake-Eyes, the Flint, the Zartan, and the Storm Shadow, anyway).
If you want to see the pictures I posted, you can find them here:
http://www.majhost.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=196957
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