Toy
name: G.I. Joe Winter Operations Assortment: N/A Price: MSRP $19.99 Availability: June, 2005 -
Toys "R" Us Exclusive
So we've covered
half of the Winter Operations set...so far, not too bad, right? Well, surprisingly
enough, it keeps getting better. I almost can't believe I'm giving this set
such good reviews, simply because with every picture I saw of it, I disliked
it even more...but now, with it in my hands, I really find myself warming up
to it, funky colors, random paint apps and all.
Speaking
of random, here's Avalanche, but not Avalanche because Avalanche is dead. Instead,
we've now got Backblast. While this name reeks of strangeness similar to the
Short Fuze fiasco, I don't quite have as much of a problem here, simply because
with the helmet, it really could be any number of folks underneath, including
Backblast. Sure, there's no trademark bushy moustache, but still, I can almost
believe this is the Joe anti-aircraft specialist (even though he doesn't come
with any anti-aircraft weaponry...).
Naming shtick aside, how is the figure, though? He's not too shabby, but he's
nothing spectacular.
It's really
odd, because it almost seems like Hasbro is going after a different paint scheme
with every figure in this set on purpose. The fact that they're all a part of
this Winter Operations team is just a coincidence because they all have their
own uniforms and they're own decos...beyond the cool as heck white camouflage
pants, no two are really alike. Backblast here is almost the most different
of all. He maintains the same aforementioned camo pants that the other members
of the set do, but his top half is a mostly black base with hints of brown and
silver. The black, brown, and silver actually look REALLY great, I think...they
are a perfect combination of colors, with the overall dark colored parka, brown
ribpads and two-tone arms, all finished off with silver shoulder armor and machine
gun belt. The colors are all realistic and look very nice together. His white
legs are a pretty stark difference from the jacket he wears, but they blend
in pretty seamlessly with the rest of the six-pack (or some of them, anyway)
and look great as a part of a winter operations uniform. The black trim works
well throughout the figure, from the helmet to the boots and everywhere in between.
Another nice
aspect of the figure is the mold choice. While honestly I'm not a big fan of
the mold itself, I do like the fact that Hasbro managed to find something that
hasn't been used in almost 20 years.
I can't really
explain my dislike for the Avalanche mold, or for nearly all the BF:2000 molds
in general...normally, the late 80's/90's molds are sure winners to me...I pretty
much love them all, especially when they have pretty advanced uniform designs
and great looking armored features (which are really the BattleForce: 2000 specialties).
But when it comes to that sort of thing, it seems like the Battle Corps stuff
of the mid 90's really excelled at that, but the BF:2000 stuff couldn't quite
get it right. With the exceptions of Blocker and Dodger, most of the Battleforce
molds seemed clunky and awkward. The armored pieces weren't quite designed right
and affected fluidity of motion and the basic Joe articulation. The uniform
designs were WAY out there and just looked strange...and the figures just didn't
really flow. I don't know how else to put it. Leg movement seemed unnecessarily
limited...shoulder pads affected arm motions, and torso padding affected how
much the figure could bend and flex. All of these little changes had drastic
effects on the overall figure, and really affected their playability. This Avalanche/Backblast
figure has the same problems. He has some neat design elements and the figure
does look pretty cool...but his moveability and articulation are somewhat hampered
by an "overdesign" almost of the figure. Trying to do too much and
it ends up interfering with the figure's basic purpose. Does that make sense?
Regardless,
the quirky, oblong helmet, the overstuffed, pouch-ridden padding...all of it
just makes for a somewhat awkward feeling figure, even if it does at least LOOK
neat in this new paint scheme.
So
what's a sure way to kill a 6-pack for me? Take away the innovation. Rather
than trying to find new and different ways to make me love these same old G.I.
Joe toys, just keep on re-releasing the same stuff over and over again...that's
a sure way to completely drain my enthusiasm for these toys.
Hasbro was close
to doing this with the inclusion of Snake Eyes and Stalker in this Winter Ops
set (especially since they both just barely appeared in the Desert Themed set
last year), but luckily Hasbro found ways to make both characters (and figures)
quite cool and interesting...and they actually end up being two of my favorite
figures in the set.
We'll cover Stalker first...Hasbro takes the head sculpt for Stalker that they
used last year in the Desert set, which is actually a great representation for
everyone's favorite Ranger, and were able to locate the rest of the tooling
for it, to give us a complete re-release of the infamous "Tundra Ranger"
from 1989. Personally, I always detested the Tundra Ranger version of Stalker...it
was too limited for me, and I liked Stalker too much back in those days. But
we've since gotten plenty of usable versions of Stalker, so I don't mind so
much when we get one with an Arctic specialty...especially when he looks this
cool.
Really, I can't
explain why I like this figure so much. He's not at all military...he's not
really camouflaged or subtley attired...if he tried to sneak up on someone in
a snowfield, he'd be dead within minutes. But man, the colors are just too cool
for words. As with many of the other figures in this set, his legs are a great
white combination camouflage with black straps and black boots, which is a nice
unifying theme, even if it only unifies four of the figures in the set. It helps
cut down on paint application costs and probably helped get us some more elaborate
paint schemes for the torsos of these figures, which are really the best parts
of this set.
There is absolutely
nothing covert or military about Stalker's greenish/blue jacket, but that does
not stop it from being very, very cool. The mold style for the '89 Stalker really
lends itself well to this application of color, and even if it stands out quite
a bit against the stark white backdrop of the frozen tundra, the jacket and
figure just look really great in these colors.
The layered
sculpt of the torso and attached pouches all blend seamlessly together and come
together very nicely as a part of the figure mold. The greenish base color of
the jacket blends perfectly with the blue trimming and the black as well. There
are a number of colors in the torso alone, but they don't overwrite each other
and don't look too busy. Everything really works quite well.
So, the mold
is nice, although not one of my favorites, but the shining point is in the colors.
He stands out nicely and looks cool, even if he is bright and a little out of
his element.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah...there are already WAY too many Snake Eyes figures! Way, way, WAY
too many. But man...they keep on making cool ones!
In the Desert
Operations set, Snake Eyes and Stalker were the high points...now, here we are
again, some months later, and we've got a Winter Operations set with the same
claim to fame. Stalker is a nice, nice arctic representation of the character,
and well, Snake Eyes? Man, he just ROCKS.
That's one thing that has kind of been missing over the years...Snake Eyes seems
to be included on nearly every mission, but he never really had gear for every
mission...he was almost always in his trademark black commando look no matter
where they were going or what they were doing. Now, he's starting to branch
out, and first he looked great in his desert uniform, and now, he's got a very,
VERY cool looking new arctic design as well. Even though it's quite non-standard
where Snake Eyes is concerned, it really looks the part, and fits him well.
Somewhere, somehow,
it looks like Hasbro found the mold for Sub-Zero, which is very cool...he has
been one of the cooler arctic based figures made. I can only imagine they couldn't
quite track down his head tooling,
or perhaps they always intended to put Snake Eyes in Sub Zero's uniform. Whatever
the reasoning, I'm almost glad they did, because this looks like a terrific
winter operations Snake Eyes figure.
The mold is slim and streamlined, as a Snake Eyes figure should be. The parka
and arctic gear is all there...the thick padding, layered jacket and snowpants
all look as they should for below zero operations, yet they're not overdone.
They're not overstuffed or over padded like Avalanche...the look is there, but
it's subtle and looks great underneath Snake Eyes' head. It's a simple mold,
too, with only the requisite wrinkles, straps, and trimming, so nothing is really
overdone or overblown...it's the typical 1990 mold, which looks great in it's
military simplicity.
Speaking of
military, this Snake Eyes is by far the most military of the bunch in this set.
With a black base parka and dark green straps, he might not blend real well
into the snow, but for night operations, he looks dark, dim, and almost sinister,
as Snakes should look no matter what he's wearing. The light gray underarm trim
looks terrific, and brings a nice splash of design and color to what could potentially
be a somewhat boring black jacket. Then we have the pants...the pants just look
awesome! I'm not sure how authentic the camouflage pattern is on this particular
figure, but it really works for me. It obviously really wouldn't work for a
snow-born mission in real life, but for a fantasy-based design scheme, I love
it. It's very elaborate even though it only really uses a couple of colors and
just brings some cool life to this figure...and it fits Snake Eyes' character
as well! The coolest thing is, the camo on the pants matches up with the other
characters as well, really bringing the set together at least a little more
than it would be originally...but with the darker colors here, it matches Snake
Eyes' character much better.
So, yeah...surprise,
surprise...I actually find myself enjoying the two most overused characters
in this set...just goes to show that a good figure can be a good figure regardless
of who it is...of course it helps immensely that Hasbro actually managed to
find some great somewhat obscure parts to make these new figures out of, to
really bring some fresh life to the characters. All around a success, especially
for these two.
But honestly,
I find myself surprised to say it, but the set itself hits me as a relative
success, too.
Is there a
unifying theme as maybe there should be for sets like this? Nope.
Is there a consistent
paint scheme to reflect members of the same team or squad? Nope.
Are the uniforms
accurate or military-themed to represent the environment they're supposed to
represent? Nope.
But are these
figures cool on their own merits and within their own confines? Definitely.
This set is
absolutely NOT a home run. There are definitely people out there who will hate
these bright colors and odd paint applications...there are people who will hate
that Stalker and Snake Eyes are in yet another set...there will be people that
will hate Mirage's strange paint apps (or lack thereof). There will be people
like this, and frankly, I was one of them before I got the set in hand. But
there are important pluses here...a nice assortment of weaponry for one. The
camouflage pants make a huge difference for these figures and make this more
of a team. I really like the patch on each member's arm, too.
I cannot wholeheartedly
support the set...there are plenty of weird aspects of it that will not appeal
to everyone. The accessories are plentiful and pretty cool, although kind of
confusing. Beyond the camouflage pattern on the pants, there is no theme, no
unifying look, and no real cohesion...but I still think a lot of these figures
are neat, and do deserve at least a chance to impress the Joefans out there.
I know a lot of folks won't even give this set a chance, which is fine. But
I do think people, especially those people who really like the Battle Corps
stuff, might want to at least give this a shot if they're on the fence. It may
just surprise you as it surprised me.
Speaking
of random, here's Avalanche, but not Avalanche because Avalanche is dead. Instead,
we've now got Backblast. While this name reeks of strangeness similar to the
Short Fuze fiasco, I don't quite have as much of a problem here, simply because
with the helmet, it really could be any number of folks underneath, including
Backblast. Sure, there's no trademark bushy moustache, but still, I can almost
believe this is the Joe anti-aircraft specialist (even though he doesn't come
with any anti-aircraft weaponry...).
So
what's a sure way to kill a 6-pack for me? Take away the innovation. Rather
than trying to find new and different ways to make me love these same old G.I.
Joe toys, just keep on re-releasing the same stuff over and over again...that's
a sure way to completely drain my enthusiasm for these toys.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah...there are already WAY too many Snake Eyes figures! Way, way, WAY
too many. But man...they keep on making cool ones!
