Cobra Island 7-Packs!

I'm sure most of us remember lingering over the catalog photos of toys we wanted as kids; in the Sears "Wishbook" or a Christmas circular from the local toy store (which is itself a relic of bygone days). I know I'd stare at the stuff so hard it was like I could actually wish it into existence.

I think that's how all G.I. Joe Collectors have felt since February, when the Assault and Defense of Cobra Island 7-packs were announced at ToyFair 2009. And now they've finally...finally...arrived. Rather oddly, it took just shy of forever for them to even go up for pre-order at most sites, yet when they did, they arrived and shipped out almost immediately. At any rate, today, happiness...or something like it...arrived via UPS.


The 7-packs as a whole are just pure and total win. The Joe pack brings a fantastic assortment of fan favorite new figures, with but a single previously released fig in the bunch...and in new colors that can pass for a Night Force version.

The Cobra pack offers just the one new character along with 6-troop builders, and I find the assortment slightly puzzling. I mean, did we really need the opportunity to buy 3 different releases of Strato-Vipers/Air-Vipers in the past month? I know I didn't.

I'll try to keep my remarks quick for each figure, since there are so many to get through, and knowing me, if I don't do them all at once, right now, I never will. To wit:

Recondo

So, Recondo, summarized; stache is wicked, wrapped rifle is nostalgic, and a well detailed new sculpt that I failed to take a decent picture of. The well-sculpted, removable boonie hat is a fantastic touch, and while I wish that he still had a watch on his left wrist, the mix of parts (Dusty torso, fixed-Duke arms) works all together. All in all, I dig this figure quite a bit, though I am not totally bowled over by it. I would buy a Tiger Force repaint, however.

Haven't decided whether to keep him equipped with this rifle and try to paint it a bit, or issue him a Marauder M-14. Thoughts?
LBAM Rating: 8.0

Outback

There is an intense air of "do not fuck with this man" coming off this face sculpt.

I think I like this version of Outback better than the one that came with the Flak Cannon, maybe because I love me some sub-teams, and this is as close to a Night Force Outback we're ever going to get.

Love the removable flashlight, love that he comes with a backpack, that I have also failed to take decent pictures of. The flashlight, when held, does leave an unsightly gash in his leg, to wit;

LBAM Rating: 8.9

Hit and Run

Hit&Run was probably my favorite, favorite figure of my later phase of Joe collecting as a kid. There was just a more realistic feel about him, and the gear he came with was top-notch. While I quite like this new Hit&Run...I mean, come ON, it's a 25th Anniversary HIT&RUN, PEOPLE!...the gear he comes isn't what I wish it were. I mean, I doubt the tooling for his old duffel&knife are around anywhere, but I would've loved to see an approximation of them. Airborne's backpack+grappling hook don't quite get it done, if you ask me.
They do work, mind you...but they just lack the cool factor of his duffel. And of course I've already given him a Marauder M4.

LBAM Rating: 8.8. The green IS a little too bright, but I genuinely like this figure.

Ripcord

Your stand says "Spc. Altitude," but we know you're really Ripcord.

They said they wouldn't do it. And in a sense, I suppose, Hasbro can continue to say that they didn't, in fact, do it...but this is Ripcord. They didn't manage to give him his FN Fal rifle, but the camo is right, the gear is close enough...it loses a little given that the hose doesn't connect to anything, but just sort of hangs there. The wrap-around parachute gear is pretty sweet, but doesn't seem likely to come off without removing his legs.
I already issued him a Marauder Inc G36 to replace what he came with...his right hand has been so stretched out by being packed holding onto the rifle that it's nearly impossible to get anything without an enormous handle in there. Fun fact: as a kid, I insisted my figures hold their primary weapons in their right hands. Because I'm right-handed, you see. I've gotten over that. Mostly.
The helmet doesn't look so good without the face mask on. Helmet sort of crowds the face.

This headsculpt perhaps makes him look a bit too old.

Not a lot of gear, but a great figure. I mean, c'mon, it is classic Ripcord. Yet the fanboys will continue to bitch, no matter how much great stuff Hasbro turns out.

Wet-Suit

I do not care if he was originally planned as Diver Duke or what.

It looks like Wet-Suit. I don't care if the helmet isn't precisely right. He could use the flashlight, but I might have one of those hanging around somewhere. He, of course, needed his silly speargun replaced with something more functional; he's not going fishing.



Love this figure, absolutely stoked that it actually had a new headsculpt; I expected to see just another Torpedo face, which I am downright sick of. When you throw the new straps across the body, it's comes across as an entirely different fig. Love it.
LBAM Rating:9.8/10

Chuckles

There are two minor miracles at play here; the fact that a Chuckles figure came out at all, and the fact that I bought it. Blame G.I. Joe: Cobra, the good-to-excellent G.I. Joe comic from IDW, which made the character interesting for the first time. I feel like Hasbro kind of missed the boat on this one, though. Initially, there were pictures of a darker-shirted Chuckles that looked much snazzier than what we got. I kind of dig the headsculpt; he looks like a dickweed from an SEC school. That's kind of how I picture Chuckles anyway.


But the accessories are lacking, and the hands are pure and total fail.

They worked on Spirit. They kinda-sorta worked on Mainframe, but on Chuckles, it's just a disaster. I'm not sure why he has gloved hands at all, or why he has these gloved hands. I'm tempted to go pick up another Sgt. Stone figure from the Rise of Cobra line and swap his hands; he has fantastic gloved hands (and is a great figure, but that's for another day).

His only firearm is a resounding "meh." And I'd prefer him not to have a leg with a knife-sheath on it; he's supposed to be an undercover operative. Undercover operatives might carry briefcases or satchels but not great bloody big knives on their legs. I mean honestly.

Ultimately the gear he comes with is pretty useless, and his hands need replacing. Not sure what I'm going to do about all that, but I'll figure something out. And finally, I don't think there is any excuse for non-functional shoulder holsters anymore. There just isn't.
LBAM Rating: 7.8. Still a lot of potential here.

Zap

Homerun. That's the only word for it. Zap is straight out of the damn park.

LBAM Rating: 10. Probably the best-sculpted and most interesting of the "greenshirt" contingent of the original 13. Perfect.

Of course, I can't find his damn helmet. It's in the study/toy-room somewhere but I'll be damned if I can find it.

I'll get to the Cobra figures tomorrow; too late to deal with 'em now.