This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection 26 26

[Buzzetta]

1 hour ago, Broke as a Joke said:

Official pics of Transformers MP-47 Hound have been revealed and he looks great.  Will be the first new MP I will purchase in over a year.  Crazy how the prices have risen so much, Hasbro Pulse is selling it on pre order for $170.  Will wait to get it from one of the overseas ebay sellers at a much cheaper price.

BBTS has it on a preorder sale at $160

The overseas Chinese vendors are selling knock offs when they sell them for $50.  How they go about doing them is anyone's guess but they are not official Hasbro product. Sometimes they improve the Hasbro Takara mold though but sometimes they cheapen it. 

[whisp]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

But that is the problem.  Snake Eyes was delayed until 2021 with a tentative release date.  With the two year lead in time required for a toy line, outside of a movie never being produced (which I could actually see), I think my greatest concern would be for Hasbro to do what they did with Retaliation.  If you remember, the toys were released for that movie 1-2 months before the premiere when all of a sudden the movie was pulled a month before its release date and delayed under the reason that they needed to work on it for a 3D release.  In the meantime that was to reshoot a few scenes after poor screening reviews.   Stores became annoyed because there was no media to support the released toys as promised and the toys languished on the shelves.  The initial waves were weak with more attention paid to subsequent waves  that were released a year later.  Earlier performance caused retailers to abandon orders or order conservatively.  With little to no support the line has been damaged since. 

The Super Impulse line is more akin to when Gentle Giant or Funko go the GI Joe license.  Figures appear to have 3POA and will have a niche market.  It's sad to me that Hasbro is licensing out one of its top properties to other companies to make minifigures or vinyls or statues because they have no concrete plan.  

 

The last time that Hasbro proper released a mainstream line was in 2013.

The last time that Hasbro proper released a GI Joe figure was in 2016 available at TRU as part of the 50th line and select online retailers. 

Walmart and Target has not seen a GI Joe figure since 2013.

I am hoping that they are set to announce or show something or anything at SDCC.

Snake Eyes movie has a release date of 16th October 2020.  No Idea where you are getting 2021 and that news just came out 7 days ago.

2013 Retaliation line up, 2014 50th anniversary line up, 2015 50th anniversary line up, 2016  was series 32 line up so while a few years I wouldn't be to concerned just like 94-97 which was a 3 year space.  Also mention there was a series 33 but only vehicles for 2017.

As for no concrete plan that is what I am talking about that they brought in new staff in which there was an article be it he was a director or whatever but he was brought in to help re develop GI Joe with Hasbro so something is happening in the background which was brought to our attention just a few months back and was posted on Hisstank.com.

Walmart has been useless for GI Joe line up here in Canada for ages but had no issues at Toys R Us or the short lived Target and found available at most collectible stores that I went to.  As for them letting it be licensed and agree like the Gentle Giant it is something and a sign of still moving forward with it.  As for articulation they are like mini Star Wars figures.

As mentioned before it has happened in the past of redevelopment in which it happened more than just once.  I am not worried.  It won't be as big as in the past because of societal change with toys but I believe that something will come out and that it is just being done in the background. 

Edited June 14, 2019 by whisp

[whisp]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

BBTS has it on a preorder sale at $160

The overseas Chinese vendors are selling knock offs when they sell them for $50.  How they go about doing them is anyone's guess but they are not official Hasbro product. Sometimes they improve the Hasbro Takara mold though but sometimes they cheapen it. 

Reverse engineering

 

[Buzzetta]

2 hours ago, whisp said:

Reverse engineering

 

I have heard that.  I have also heard that when the regular factory workers go home the presses are still running.  I have heard that some runs are rejected samples.  

 

[Buzzetta]

2 hours ago, whisp said:

Snake Eyes movie has a release date of 16th October 2020.  No Idea where you are getting 2021 and that news just came out 7 days ago.

2013 Retaliation line up, 2014 50th anniversary line up, 2015 50th anniversary line up, 2016  was series 32 line up so while a few years I wouldn't be to concerned just like 94-97 which was a 3 year space.  Also mention there was a series 33 but only vehicles for 2017.

As for no concrete plan that is what I am talking about that they brought in new staff in which there was an article be it he was a director or whatever but he was brought in to help re develop GI Joe with Hasbro so something is happening in the background which was brought to our attention just a few months back and was posted on Hisstank.com.

Walmart has been useless for GI Joe line up here in Canada for ages but had no issues at Toys R Us or the short lived Target and found available at most collectible stores that I went to.  As for them letting it be licensed and agree like the Gentle Giant it is something and a sign of still moving forward with it.  As for articulation they are like mini Star Wars figures.

As mentioned before it has happened in the past of redevelopment in which it happened more than just once.  I am not worried.  It won't be as big as in the past because of societal change with toys but I believe that something will come out and that it is just being done in the background. 

I am wrong.  I muddled up the dates with Micronauts.  Snake Eyes was pushed back to October of 2020 and Micronauts was pushed back to 2021.  I should have been more careful when I posted that. 

As far as the dates on series of figures.  I am accurate with that.  2016 was still advertised as part of the 50th Anniversary series and was only available to TRU and select online retailers at least down here in the states.  (Maybe other places such as Walmart were able to secure the distribution rights in Canada?)   Down here, after Retaliation, TRU was the only brick and mortar to carry GI Joe. 

As far as vehicles, Hasbro did not release any mainstream vehicles since 2014 with the tail end of retaliation. 

Any vehicles released in 2015 were either a TRU / Online Retailer Exclusive or a SDCC or a GI Joe Club / JoeCon vehicle.   No brick and mortar has seen a GI Joe Vehicle in almost four years. 

Any vehicles released in 2016 and 2017 were either GI Joe Club / JoeCon vehicles or the SDCC exclusive. 

[whisp]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

I am wrong.  I muddled up the dates with Micronauts.  Snake Eyes was pushed back to October of 2020 and Micronauts was pushed back to 2021.  I should have been more careful when I posted that. 

As far as the dates on series of figures.  I am accurate with that.  2016 was still advertised as part of the 50th Anniversary series and was only available to TRU and select online retailers at least down here in the states.  (Maybe other places such as Walmart were able to secure the distribution rights in Canada?)   Down here, after Retaliation, TRU was the only brick and mortar to carry GI Joe. 

As far as vehicles, Hasbro did not release any mainstream vehicles since 2014 with the tail end of retaliation. 

Any vehicles released in 2015 were either a TRU / Online Retailer Exclusive or a SDCC or a GI Joe Club / JoeCon vehicle.   No brick and mortar has seen a GI Joe Vehicle in almost four years. 

Any vehicles released in 2016 and 2017 were either GI Joe Club / JoeCon vehicles or the SDCC exclusive. 

Yep you are right.  Only reason I stated 2016 was an other series was because there was packaging differences.  For at least I saw in store.  While they state 2016 was part of the 50th anniversary if you look at the multipacks for 2014/ 2015 vs 2016 there is no 50 in the star for 2016.  I always just looked at it as a continuation of previous year but not officially 50th anniversary due to the anniversary started in 2014 and really 3 years of doing an anniversary is pushing it in my mind.  I think that they think that as well and why the 50 was removed from the star.

Hasbro regardless if you could only get it at a convention thru the Hasbro booth or Hasbro toy shop online released vehicles/figures up to 2017 in my mind.  While you may not count it since not really a vehicle it was a playset which also included figures.  https://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/17/missilecommandhq/.   You are right its not mainstream but my point was they where still releasing vehicles/figures in 2017 regardless of how you could get them in which one way was direct from Hasbro online.

Also I want to point out that just because they state something is a SDCC exclusive that is not 100% accurate.  I have bought SDCC items at an other convention from the Hasbro booth.  Also I have seen brick and mortar store obtain sealed boxes of SDCC stuff to carry in their store.  Probably because of over stock of it.  That's up here in Canada and maybe they don't do that in the States.  I can even state it was the Fan Expo in Toronto because I bought a SDCC exclusive from the Hasbro booth and while it was a Transformers item (Kreon Transformer set) I passed on the Joe items because I owned the originals but there was Joe stuff at that booth.  My point on that is while I agree not mainstream it was available all over the place not just SDCC

Edited June 14, 2019 by whisp

[whisp]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

I have heard that.  I have also heard that when the regular factory workers go home the presses are still running.  I have heard that some runs are rejected samples.  

 

Not only that but they obtain broken molds.  That is common with toys where a mold is broken from use and they make a new mold in which is seen in the Joe line all the time in weapon variants and such. Difference between 82/83 Snake Eyes/Steeler uzi.  Might be possible with that Steel Brigade which I talked about in that post I made in which while I still not found a carded sample might explain possibly that Crimson guard had the two different rear sights on the rifle and why the Steel brigade has the rounded one later and so on and so on.

 

I also see it all the time in airsoft where they make a new mold from the original item or they modify an original mold to remove company name or info and use different cheaper material.  Pretty much anything that is ABS/Plastic they do that with and make clones.

Edited June 15, 2019 by whisp

[Buzzetta]

45 minutes ago, whisp said:

Yep you are right.  Only reason I stated 2016 was an other series was because there was packaging differences.  For at least I saw in store.  While they state 2016 was part of the 50th anniversary if you look at the multipacks for 2014/ 2015 vs 2016 there is no 50 in the star for 2016.  I always just looked at it as a continuation of previous year but not officially 50th anniversary due to the anniversary started in 2014 and really 3 years of doing an anniversary is pushing it in my mind.  I think that they think that as well and why the 50 was removed from the star.

Hasbro regardless if you could only get it at a convention thru the Hasbro booth or Hasbro toy shop online released vehicles/figures up to 2017 in my mind.  While you may not count it since not really a vehicle it was a playset which also included figures.  https://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/17/missilecommandhq/.   You are right its not mainstream but my point was they where still releasing vehicles/figures in 2017 regardless of how you could get them in which one way was direct from Hasbro online.

Also I want to point out that just because they state something is a SDCC exclusive that is not 100% accurate.  I have bought SDCC items at an other convention from the Hasbro booth.  Also I have seen brick and mortar store obtain sealed boxes of SDCC stuff to carry in their store.  Probably because of over stock of it.  That's up here in Canada and maybe they don't do that in the States.  I can even state it was the Fan Expo in Toronto because I bought a SDCC exclusive from the Hasbro booth and while it was a Transformers item (Kreon Transformer set) I passed on the Joe items because I owned the originals but there was Joe stuff at that booth.  My point on that is while I agree not mainstream it was available all over the place not just SDCC

Yeah they don't do that in the states... I cannot speak for Canadian retail though.  In the case of SDCC exclusives I wonder if you are referring to the second to last set of SDCC Joe sets such as the Flint and the Eel along with the Vamp Mark II and the Night Landing.  The SDCC version had Flint in his classic uniform while the brick and mortar TRU mass retail version had him in greyish navy blues and the detailing on the Eels was different.  When they released the Desert Duel set at SDCC it came with four figures.  When they released the same set to TRU it only came with two figures so they were not the same sets. 

While yojoe.com is a valuable resource, it is slightly misleading.  When they mention that SDCC exclusives were available for a short time they usually mean 30min to a few hours.  I remember trying to get the SDCC Flint and Night Landing and it selling out before I could check out.  

Hasbro was not releasing any vehicles though.  The club did which is very different.  If you and I wanted we could contact Hasbro and say we wanted to lease the molds for the Vamp and if we raise the cash we could decorate it with their approval and sell it here.  It is not a Hasbro proper release though as the pieces were so limited and only available to those with a membership subscription.  For example, I purchased the last club offering of Zartan and his motorcycle and that was $86 not even counting membership dues as it was a limited edition club piece.  None of these things were available at retail.  When I look at those pieces I am not viewing them as something that anyone off the street can simply walk into a store or click a button and buy.  The figures themselves used Hasbro bodies but often times the club contracted outside studios for new head sculpts.  Hasbro leased the molds to the fan club. 

Either way... I don't think we are seeing a widescale 3.75 line release with the snake eyes movie.  I am thinking a commemorative or limited assortment but not as widespread as Retaliation. I think they are going to move to the 6" scale.   Wanna place a friendly wager? Basic figure of loser's choice shipped to the winner?  

 

 

[Buzzetta]

Oh btw... 

Took a survey and just by looking at it I believe the coupon is good for anyone with a Hasbro Pulse account regardless of whether or not you take the survey. 

[whisp]

11 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Yeah they don't do that in the states... I cannot speak for Canadian retail though.  In the case of SDCC exclusives I wonder if you are referring to the second to last set of SDCC Joe sets such as the Flint and the Eel along with the Vamp Mark II and the Night Landing.  The SDCC version had Flint in his classic uniform while the brick and mortar TRU mass retail version had him in greyish navy blues and the detailing on the Eels was different.  When they released the Desert Duel set at SDCC it came with four figures.  When they released the same set to TRU it only came with two figures so they were not the same sets. 

While yojoe.com is a valuable resource, it is slightly misleading.  When they mention that SDCC exclusives were available for a short time they usually mean 30min to a few hours.  I remember trying to get the SDCC Flint and Night Landing and it selling out before I could check out.  

Hasbro was not releasing any vehicles though.  The club did which is very different.  If you and I wanted we could contact Hasbro and say we wanted to lease the molds for the Vamp and if we raise the cash we could decorate it with their approval and sell it here.  It is not a Hasbro proper release though as the pieces were so limited and only available to those with a membership subscription.  For example, I purchased the last club offering of Zartan and his motorcycle and that was $86 not even counting membership dues as it was a limited edition club piece.  None of these things were available at retail.  When I look at those pieces I am not viewing them as something that anyone off the street can simply walk into a store or click a button and buy.  The figures themselves used Hasbro bodies but often times the club contracted outside studios for new head sculpts.  Hasbro leased the molds to the fan club. 

Either way... I don't think we are seeing a widescale 3.75 line release with the snake eyes movie.  I am thinking a commemorative or limited assortment but not as widespread as Retaliation. I think they are going to move to the 6" scale.   Wanna place a friendly wager? Basic figure of loser's choice shipped to the winner?  

 

 

I know how the club stuff works and processes of making figures.

At the Fan expo it was 2014 I think.  Would have to check my vendors pass.  Regardless I bought the SDCC Kreon Transformer set and there was items in the Hasbro booth that where GI Joe and SDCC logos on them and possibly from earlier years because I remember there wasn't suppose to be a release that year.

Also which was at the Hasbro booth in the display but not for purchase was the set you talked about Danger at the Docks(not sdcc from what I recall).  There was however a Hasbro representative with a device so that you could order it and have it mailed to you and might have been a collaboration with toys r us maybe, I forget.  I know this for fact because I hhhmmmdddd and hawwed over buying it because it had two of my favourite items which I have even done a custom on and wanted the weapons crate.  Anyways what I am saying is that they release SDCC stuff at other shows along with on their Hasbrotoyshop online.  That happened with the 2017 playset where you could get the SDCC set online at Hasbrotoyshop and while it may have only been 30 minutes it was available online to the public and yes again not mainstream but available which is my point that they sell this stuff at other places.  I also know that an individual an online friend of mine got that 2017 playset at a convention from the Hasbro booth.  Think that was Fan Expo as well since he lives in Mississauga and it was a Toronto Con that he went too.

They already tried 8" with the Sigma 6 line and stopped doing it and think if they tried a 6" they going to get the same feedback.  Majority of the buyers of this stuff are people such as myself that grew up on it since 82.  They got backlash then and if they did 6" most likely backlash again.  Who wants 6" stuff which you can't use with your previous items let alone we already know that they won't make any decent vehicles because of costs which happened with Sigma 6 as well.  All they had was bikes and atv's and the rest of the line for vehicles was 2.5" which was a disaster for sigma 6.  You would think they would have learned their lesson from that and most likely have.

No I don't want to bet. and frankly when people say that to someone really feel their is a hidden comment in there that is insulting.  This is just a discussion of views.

Edited June 15, 2019 by whisp

[whisp]

An other interesting thing I find is that they for the upcoming movie reverted to the ARAH logo especially with how they just handled Star Wars with the vintage style.

Also with the news of the new release date it would coincide with a 2020 Christmas time toy release which many have speculated on.  It all works within the timeline so be it whatever they will release something possibly.

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2019 by whisp

[Buzzetta]

1 hour ago, whisp said:

I know how the club stuff works and processes of making figures.

At the Fan expo it was 2014 I think.  Would have to check my vendors pass.  Regardless I bought the SDCC Kreon Transformer set and there was items in the Hasbro booth that where GI Joe and SDCC logos on them and possibly from earlier years because I remember there wasn't suppose to be a release that year.

Also which was at the Hasbro booth in the display but not for purchase was the set you talked about Danger at the Docks(not sdcc from what I recall).  There was however a Hasbro representative with a device so that you could order it and have it mailed to you and might have been a collaboration with toys r us maybe, I forget.  I know this for fact because I hhhmmmdddd and hawwed over buying it because it had two of my favourite items which I have even done a custom on and wanted the weapons crate.  Anyways what I am saying is that they release SDCC stuff at other shows along with on their Hasbrotoyshop online.  That happened with the 2017 playset where you could get the SDCC set online at Hasbrotoyshop and while it may have only been 30 minutes it was available online to the public and yes again not mainstream but available which is my point that they sell this stuff at other places.  I also know that an individual an online friend of mine got that 2017 playset at a convention from the Hasbro booth.  Think that was Fan Expo as well since he lives in Mississauga and it was a Toronto Con that he went too.

They already tried 8" with the Sigma 6 line and stopped doing it and think if they tried a 6" they going to get the same feedback.  Majority of the buyers of this stuff are people such as myself that grew up on it since 82.  They got backlash then and if they did 6" most likely backlash again.  Who wants 6" stuff which you can't use with your previous items let alone we already know that they won't make any decent vehicles because of costs which happened with Sigma 6 as well.  All they had was bikes and atv's and the rest of the line for vehicles was 2.5" which was a disaster for sigma 6.  You would think they would have learned their lesson from that and most likely have.

No I don't want to bet. and frankly when people say that to someone really feel their is a hidden comment in there that is insulting.  This is just a discussion of views.

First, relax that isn't what you think it is. 

I didn't say let's bet a Flagg or a hard to find item or anything valuable in the vein of "I know I am so right I am bound to win something amazing."  I said a common figure because I thought it would be a fun little bet between two Joe collectors and would have been interesting to see what the other would have picked out.  I kept it small because you might be correct or might be correct.  It was not meant to be anything more than a fun little wager. 

Second - I like what you did with the custom and the night landing looks good in green especially with the black detailing that you did. You have more patience than I would in paining the molded rope. 

I think that for GI Joe to cater toward the collector base that such a move would be misguided.  I seem to be one of the outliers when it comes to the guys that grew up with the 82-94 figures.  I appreciate the moderns era figures more. I am going by what I observe from a vocal members across various Joe Facebook groups.  They seem to shun modern figures and want nothing more than for Hasbro to bring back the o-ring design.  I do not see the return of the o-ring ever happening on a large scale ever again. 

Here is though why I think that you are wrong when it comes to introducing Joe on a 6" scale.  We see what they are doing with Marvel, DC and especially Star Wars at the 6" level. When I go to Target I actually see them cycle through more 6" inventory than the 3 3/4" figures where the same figures seem to just sit there.  I see wave after wave bought up and in and out the door.  The market is demonstrating with Star Wars that they are willing to accept a 6" figure at a price point of $19.99 rather than a figure 3.75" figure at $12.99. 

Now the question is whether or not GI Joe is as much of a vehicle based line or more than Star Wars.  If GI Joe is determined to be more vehicle centric than Star Wars then 6" would never work as every Star Wars Black Series 6" vehicle has eventually found itself on clearance.  There are some discount stores STILL trying to unload Force Awakens Black Series Tie Fighters.  I saw one last month. 

I think though that Hasbro is going to test the market with a 6" and can envision what that first assortment looks like right now with Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Duke, a Cobra Soldier or Viper and Roadblock.  Essentially it comes down to whether or not Hasbro is going to try to primarily focus on GI Joe toward 40+ year old men nostalgic for an 80's line or for the kids which represent the longevity of the brand.  I think that kids are going to be the focus and 6" is coming.  I am also willing to concede that I could be completely wrong.   Only time will tell.   (That's why I wanted to make a small wager.)

No matter what your take away is from this, the one thing I want to make sure of is that my comment was not meant to be insulting.  

[whisp]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

First, relax that isn't what you think it is. 

I didn't say let's bet a Flagg or a hard to find item or anything valuable in the vein of "I know I am so right I am bound to win something amazing."  I said a common figure because I thought it would be a fun little bet between two Joe collectors and would have been interesting to see what the other would have picked out.  I kept it small because you might be correct or might be correct.  It was not meant to be anything more than a fun little wager. 

Second - I like what you did with the custom and the night landing looks good in green especially with the black detailing that you did. You have more patience than I would in paining the molded rope. 

I think that for GI Joe to cater toward the collector base that such a move would be misguided.  I seem to be one of the outliers when it comes to the guys that grew up with the 82-94 figures.  I appreciate the moderns era figures more. I am going by what I observe from a vocal members across various Joe Facebook groups.  They seem to shun modern figures and want nothing more than for Hasbro to bring back the o-ring design.  I do not see the return of the o-ring ever happening on a large scale ever again. 

Here is though why I think that you are wrong when it comes to introducing Joe on a 6" scale.  We see what they are doing with Marvel, DC and especially Star Wars at the 6" level. When I go to Target I actually see them cycle through more 6" inventory than the 3 3/4" figures where the same figures seem to just sit there.  I see wave after wave bought up and in and out the door.  The market is demonstrating with Star Wars that they are willing to accept a 6" figure at a price point of $19.99 rather than a figure 3.75" figure at $12.99. 

Now the question is whether or not GI Joe is as much of a vehicle based line or more than Star Wars.  If GI Joe is determined to be more vehicle centric than Star Wars then 6" would never work as every Star Wars Black Series 6" vehicle has eventually found itself on clearance.  There are some discount stores STILL trying to unload Force Awakens Black Series Tie Fighters.  I saw one last month. 

I think though that Hasbro is going to test the market with a 6" and can envision what that first assortment looks like right now with Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Duke, a Cobra Soldier or Viper and Roadblock.  Essentially it comes down to whether or not Hasbro is going to try to primarily focus on GI Joe toward 40+ year old men nostalgic for an 80's line or for the kids which represent the longevity of the brand.  I think that kids are going to be the focus and 6" is coming.  I am also willing to concede that I could be completely wrong.   Only time will tell.   (That's why I wanted to make a small wager.)

No matter what your take away is from this, the one thing I want to make sure of is that my comment was not meant to be insulting.  

You pointed out some thoughts that myself have and why I have my opinion on this.

1.  The facebook groups you will see more vintage than modern being traded and sold.  Lets take the one group that just made 13000 people a few months back and the fact that majority of the auctions and sales are vintage based.  As for 0-ring only way I see that is a special vintage line like how they did the Star Wars but agree most likely won't happen.  As for your point to catering to the collector that is pretty much what we have and look at point 3. for elaboration.

2.  You stated that 6" vehicles for Star Wars went to clearance.  I am not surprised by this because of A) the price point and B) can't be really used with the vintage line.  I stated earlier the issue with the 8" line for sigma 6 and that vehicle items not doing well so now its happened multiple times and would hope Hasbro would of taken note of this.

3.  Focusing children on GI Joe would be amazing however with all the kids I see today and talked too you mention GI Joe they stare at you with a blank face.  You say Star Wars, Transformers or even Ninja Turtles they seem more receptive and know about it.  I go thru my friends children toys and you see transformers and Star wars.  I very seldom see a kid with Joes in his toy box.  

4.  As for if Joe is a vehicle based line more than Star Wars and just in general I would think so.  Just within 1977-1985 Star wars  vs 1982-1985 GI Joe , Joe had pretty much matched the amount of vehicles in numbers and as each year of Joe came out they made a lot more and a lot more larger scale vehicles as we all are aware of such as Defiant, Flagg, Terror Drome, bases and other large vehicles.  Also, look at how many different new style vehicles vs remolded and modified vehicles.   Star Wars is no comparison vs Gi Joe when it comes to vehicles and Joe has always been big on the vehicles. (note: 70 vehicles/playsets/accessories roughly for Star Wars 1977 - 1985 and 66 roughly for Gi joe 1982-1985.)

 

Finally you pointed out one thing that stands out and that is you enjoy the modern figures and such.  Most I grab of the modern stuff is Storm Shadow and some of the anniversary stuff.  Did grab some wave 1 and 2 kreons and Sigma 6.  The only other modern item I have for a figure is a jungle viper because I thought it looked good.  I go for the vintage and focus 82-89 mostly.  Most likely why we have different views on this.

Thanks also I liked how the repainted Night Landing turned out and that trailer I scratch built with styrene myself to go with it. 

Edited June 15, 2019 by whisp

[GeneticNinja]

I think the statue topic is almost dead around here. But as there is a lot of G.I. Joe stuff here, Prime 1 Studio Snake Eyes statue finally showed up.

I didn't expect him now as usually these statues from Japan tend to show up in that territory first. And he's a surprise as at first I thought Sideshow sent me the wrong item. The box is huge. Way bigger than any quarter scale statue I've ever seen.

I just had to do an inspection as I didn't expect this taking that much room and need to make more space for my display and for Scarlett. People that ordered the exclusive are in for a treat as we get an improved first headsculpt for Timber and a second alternate growling headsculpt. I don't know if these are both included in the normal version. Sideshow and Prime 1's sites don't show the new or extra Timber in their images. I prefer the alternate more closed mouth myself.

Another thing some have mentioned on the StatueForum is the base. It's amazing. The snow has a sparkle to it. And also, what I didn't see people mention is the wet effect on the rocks like the snow melted from them. It's pretty cool.

 

The only fault I could say is the fact that when you pose him with his guns, you can't sheath the swords. And when you use the guns, the other guns are still in the holsters. Altough you can remove the one gun on his back. I guess it would have been more money to do those additions. But still he's expensive already and I'm surprised that they didn't do those small extra bits. As it is, I'm posing him with both swords as I like the ninja Snake Eyes more anyway.

Overall, this is the Snake Eyes statue to own. He's really a grail piece. With 350 of the exclusive, he is a statue that will go up in price. I don't see anyone coming close to making another Snake Eyes like this. It's a shame that the line is probably over. They did a good job on making Snake Eyes and Scarlett go together with the bases. Storm Shadow is pretty odd with his base. I don't know why they couldn't make a Baroness. Strange that they have Destro but no Baroness. Perhaps they still will since so far everyone likes Snake Eyes that I've seen. And of course they should have made Duke. At least to go against Sepentor. Duke could have that fist in the air pose from the cartoon's opening. Plus a version with his rifle and switchout bomb from the opening of the cartoon movie. Perhaps wearing a jet pack too. Face sculpts could be a normal and switchout modern Resolute version. We'll see if there are any surprises after Scarlett's release. If not, the pieces they show in the ad will be it.

[badback83]

Second year in a row I’ve gone.  Fun as always.  

[F For Fake]

10 hours ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Second year in a row I’ve gone.  Fun as always.  

I haven GOT to go one year, looks like a blast. Awesome pickup!

[F For Fake]

Ok, at long last, here's the story of the G1 collection I picked up last fall. Or just skip my rambling and check out the pics.

So, one of my oldest and dearest friends had been telling me for a while that he wanted to sell his collection, which was taking up space in the basement. It included a bunch of comics, tons of music, and his childhood collection of G1 Transformers. I started with the comics back around September or thereabouts, a few of which I bought outright, and the rest I sold for him.

In October he decided that he really wanted the rest of the stuff out of the house, as he was wanting to set up a studio and second drum kit. So, he was either going to let the toys go to his cousin for next to nothing (cousin was opening a comic shop) or I could take them. I hadn't dabbled in TF's for many years, so I wasn't sure on values. Plus, the stuff was all dumped into a couple of crates, the accessories in a big shoebox. There were a lot of broken pieces, I wasn't sure which ones were complete, and they all needed a serious cleaning, but i gave it a shot. I told him that I estimated the value between $1600 and $2000, so I'd generally pay half that, $800 to $1k. I offered the $1k, he told me he'd take $800, he just wanted them gone. So, I took them home, and he bought a nice new set of Zildjian cymbals with the money.

The crates sat  in my home office for months, completely untouched. There was a lot going on, the holidays, work, a couple of comic collections I picked up, etc. I  just knew that once I started on the project it was going to take a while, so I kept putting it off.

Fast forward to March, one of my personal traditions is that every year for the first weekend of the March madness tournament, I take off on that Friday and do nothing but watch basketball from Thursday night through Sunday night. So,  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get some work done while my brain focused on hoops. For four days I watched basketball and sorted, ID'd and cleaned Transformers.

I started by picking out everything I planned to sell. This included:

1. Anything significantly broken.

2. Anything missing enough expensive pieces that it wouldn't be cost effective to try to complete them.

3. Any loose parts that didn't have corresponding figures.

4. Anything I just didn't care about.

The collection was initially made up of just under 100 unique figures and a bunch of parts. I ended up making about $1100 off of the random parts and pieces, which covered my initial purchase as well as the $150 or so I spent on competing the keepers, buying repro stickers, etc.

I was left with 50 some odd pieces for the personal collection. Next was the cleaning of every single piece, going through tons of baby wipes, Dawn dish detergent, Maguiars plastic polish, and an occasional touch of Molotow liquid chrome. It was slow going, but fun work.

So, here's what I've got to show for it.

I'm not good at photography, but, inspired by YouTube, I built a dirt cheap DIY lightbox, and had a lot of fun taking these pics.

There's a little bit of everything. Leaders, Seekers, near complete set of Minibots, Autobots, Bases, Combiners, Triple Changers, Headmasters and more. Although the accessories aren't pictured for the most part, all of these are now 100% complete and look terrific. I think my favorites are the Targetmaster Slugslinger, and the unusual and rare Bumblejumper.

Enjoy the pics! 

[ADAMANTIUM]

wow @F For Fake

glad you found some keepers, able to get back investment and a friend got some cymbals  

Congrats!  

[F For Fake]

20 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

wow @F For Fake

glad you found some keepers, able to get back investment and a friend got some cymbals  

Congrats!  

Thanks bud! Everyone wins, it's my favorite kind of deal!

[tv horror]

On 6/15/2019 at 3:38 PM, whisp said:

This is just a discussion of views.

Well my view is the detailing in the toys is top notch and I can imagine having hours of fun playing with them...However don't let the kids at them, ungrateful brats they're too good for them.