Kudos to gijoefrank from The Terror Drome, who has posted some very cool pictures of the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation vehicles, the Fangboat w/ Swamp-Viper and the Ninja Commando 4 x 4 w/ Snake Eyes.
This is our first look at the overall design for the Swamp-Viper figure, and the lack of articulation becomes an even bigger, more crushing disappointment as the figure design is very nice. I love the helmet, I love the uniform design…it looks really, really cool, and would be a selling point for this vehicle alone if he had normal articulation.
As it is, I’ll probably skip the Fang Boat entirely as I don’t especially need yet another Water Moccasin, and I have no need for this figure as it stands. We’ll see.
You can check out the Fang Boat thread right here, and the Ninja Commando thread here. I’ve mirrored a handful of images below, but you should check out the threads for even more images.
no images were found
swamp viper…completely agree about the articulation bringing it down. still…all i really need it to do is stand there…maybe towards the back……i mean, he really looks cool…right?……..sigh.
good thing though that he doesnt have a waist twist…not with that left hand in that position.
The design does look nice, but the lack of POAs……makes those figures Happy Meal Trash. I will not spend money on those–it would have been better not having drivers at all in those sets.
Then just ignore the drivers and enjoy the vehicles instead. It’s silly to be buying a vehicle you don’t want just for the driver. It’s also silly to not buy a vehicle you do want just because it comes with a driver you don’t.
The Retaliation vehicles are pretty much all re-issues…….where’s the incentive to buy them all over again? Used to be the vehicle drivers were the incentive.
You might think it silly……..but who are you to gauge the criteria that someone should buy something by?
I’ve bought vehicles I did not really want for just the drivers–the re-release of the VAMP II with the Steel Brigade Delta driver being one. Was that a “silly” purchase? There’s no “silly” reasons here…….customer biases stand because if someone doesn’t LIKE IT, that is all the justification they need to not buy something.
If the line dies out because myself and other discriminating consumers don’t buy this happy meal trash…………..tough beans. Its speaking with the dollars.
But let’s nip the “death of the line” nonsense in the bud, right? The discount line is the big clue that Hasbro remains committed to the GIJOE brand–because the excuse used for Retaliation product ( POAs cost too much) clearly doesn’t apply to the discount line–its packaged separately from Retaliation–and its a very different theme. If the brand hinged on Retaliation and would be axed if it doesn’t sell well……then they wouldn’t being spending extra $$ running a parallel discount line alongside it. There is DEFINITELY post-Retaliation product being worked on right now, and there is certainly going to be product would up for the 50th anniversary of the GIJOE brand in 2 years time.
But right now, for the 4″ guys…….this is another low-point in the scale’s history………the vehicle drivers are junk, the justifications for the lack of POAs is timid, and as a consumer and collector……..I’m NOT opening my wallet for ’em.
So if these vehicles had not come with any drivers you wouldn’t have bought them anyway. But since they DO come with drivers, yet the drivers are crappy you still aren’t buying them. So either way you weren’t buying them.
…Why again are you whining about it?
If the driver figures had articulation, I’d be MORE inclined to buy the sets.
Is that hard to figure out?
Let’s make it even easier for you ( hold my hand tight now): if there were all-new vehicles……….really good ones and really clever designs, I’d buy them WITHOUT 5-POA driver figures. For me……there isn’t that novelty in the Retaliation line-up.
If there were such novel vehicles WITH 5-POA driver figures, I MIGHT purchase those that truly interest me–toss the figure and enjoy the vehicle.
If there were the offered sets WITH POC/ROC level POA driver vehicles, I’d buy some of them because articulated figures are where my interests lie. ( squeeze my hand tight if you got that)
I like ARTICULATED figures.
See, its not hard.
But here’s the problem: Retaliation isn’t offering novel vehicles. The designs are pretty bleh. That’s my opinion ( go check if you are unsure) and my entitled POV.
The stuff that are not new designs are re-issued sets……some just over a year from previously release–and some of THOSE released just a year or so before THAT.
New packaging mind you……sometimes new figures, accessories etc…but……..bleh. Its stale, seen it before…..in some cases I own it from before.
Why should I buy the same ol’…………again?
Why should I buy the same ol’……..with a happy meal toy figure?
By the sounds of it, there’s a number of collectors asking the same question out loud of various forums.
That is what the Retaliation line is offering…..and I ( and it appears others) don’t. Like. It.
It is simple: I WANT my cake, and to eat it too!
(you can let go of my hand now)
Wow. You really are a spoiled little child, aren’t you?
Hi Erik.
In my first posts ( prior to my last one) what part of what I wrote was denigrating to you personally? Huh?
So why are you continuing that?
Is there a problem you have with someone who can communicate a well-thought out CONTRARY opinion to your own? What threat is it to you? Does it shatter your world-view? Does it upset your hobby?
That would be sad, Erik.
I see things differently than you do, Erik…….and I don’t like what I see.
And I don’t care what you see.
If you want to take my own-expressed personal opinions about something and want to take them as something personal against YOUR sensibilities, then I will gleefully offer you my special brand of condescension in return.
Feel free to have a problem with that.
When you start throwing around terms like “Happy Meal Trash” that’s being childish so you have been acting pretty childish from the start. This post just proves my point further. I think you need to step away from your keyboard for a bit and get some fresh air or something. They’re just toys.
Right there with you Arrow (miss seeing you around TNI Btw )
In the past (espcially at a lower price point for the vehicles) i have grabbed from for the driver and traded/sold off the vehicle when I could. This was hitting a bit of a wall when I never saw the Vamp with Delta and they have increased the price to the point I am less likely to do so. But one thing can be said for sure, no vehicle drivr with 5 poa is going to tempt me to pick it up on any level.
Yeah, this is one more reason why I’m really considering ceasing my collecting.
Sam
Is it better to skip all this lackluster product to send a message, thereby risking the “death of the line” due to lack of sales?
Or is it better to buy the figures you like despite the shitty articulation, thereby seeming to endorse the shitty articulation?
I’m not trying to be snarky. I legitimately don’t know what to do with the fact that my favorite toy company has decided to make my favorite toys much more shitty than they need to be.
Buy what you want. The figures in the vehicles are just extra. If you really want those vehicles then get them and toss the figure if you don’t want it. The figures in the regular line with reduced articulation aren’t any worse than the vintage figures and we did fine with those with no complaints for 25 years. The reduced articulation is disappointing and I’m not thrilled by it myself, but those figures (not including the drivers) still have more range of motion than most other action figure lines of comparable size. By buying them you aren’t endorsing anything or sending Hasbro any message. They know perfectly well how we feel about it and aren’t happy with doing it themselves but unfortunately it’s a necessary evil right now until the line can get back to a level of popularity like Transformers is right now.
I struggle with that question. If people were to buy to “support” the line whether they like the product or not, how will that not look to Hasbro to be an endorsement?
Unfortunately, most of the vehicle product are re-issues. The mass-consumer base isn’t stupid…….they know re-treads when they see them, and the previous use of a lot of these toolings were not that long ago. Its the dreaded roll-out of same ol’/same ol’ and trying to pass it off as something new in different packaging……..it doesn’t work all the time–and GIJOE has gotten more than a little stake in that regards.
I should have waited on the VAMP mk. II v2, I should have guessed that a third version that is more modified was in the future (and has doors and I like better, etc, etc)…. ah, hindsight.
(Remember that Humvee, which then came out as tan, and then in Night ops?)
With the size of that Ghost Hawk, I wonder if there will be another version of it a little over a year from now? (remember that N.A.C., then desert N.A.C., then C.C.C.?)
Or the Hiss? But, never saw the “DTC” Hiss renewed…. hard to tell what to want to buy if it’s possible to see it again a year or two later.
It wont look to Hasbro like anything. They ALREADY KNOW that we aren’t happy with the reduced articulation. They aren’t happy with it either but unless you want to pay more for these things than you already are, they don’t have a choice. They have to make cuts where they can to keep product affordable. No one is telling you to buy things you don’t want, but you shouldn’t let the lack of ankle articulation keep you from buying Roadblock if you like that Roadblock and you shouldn’t let the crappy driver figure keep you from buying the VAMP remold if you want it.
I only buy the things that I like period. However, I posted what I did because I have seen posts here and on HT that state that people need to purchase all this “stuff” to support the line. If you don’t then you are something akin to a traitor. My thoughts against that are sales equals success.
If everyone bought everything then it would certainly help the line but there’s not much point in buying something you don’t really want. Especially with the economy being the way it is. My feeling is that if you choose not to buy the AWE Striker just because it has a crappy figure with it then you probably didn’t really want that vehicle to begin with. Same goes for any other vehicle or figure.
If everyone bought everything then it would certainly help the line but there’s not much point in buying something you don’t really want. Especially with the economy being the way it is. My feeling is that if you choose not to buy the AWE Striker just because it has a crappy figure with it then you probably didn’t really want that vehicle to begin with. Same goes for any other vehicle or figure.
I kind of like the retaliation AWE, despite the main armament (reminds me of the Stargate All Terrain Cruiser). I’m not sure if I like the new bars on it enough, and the figure doesn’t sway me into thinking the price equals my perceived value as of now.
They may know, but does wal-mart, target, tru and others? If we buy something we don’t want, we are just reinforcing them. Would you buy an all polka album by Metallica, just to spend the band?
Probably, but then they are my favorite band. Of course I’m not advocating buying something you don’t want in the first place. Even then those stores wouldn’t care what it was we were actually buying. They’d just see that Joes are selling and stock more of it, which in the end would be good for us.
buying want you don’t want only muddies your vote. Your vote isn’t just to Hasbro either. If Wal-mart etc can’t sell the ones that don’t have full articulation (or at least sell the ones with full articulation quicker) then you can bet they will ask for that from Hasbro. They hear us, but they really get their profit from wal-mart, target, tru etc and will listen to them more. Thankfully we do have some influence (our dollar) and what wal-mart etc. will say.
The retailers don’t track product like that. They don’t care about figure articulation or anything like that. They’ll just see that vehicles aren’t selling and we wont get any more vehicles. If none of the figures sell then we wont get Joes period, which is the way it’s been at both my Wal-Marts here for a while until recently and even then what’s on the pegs now is RoC stuff that they never got rid of, nothing new.
5 POA Joes? I feel sick…
I seriously somehow hadn’t noticed the lack of elbow joints until just now. That’s just sad, though maybe I could drill some ironic toothpick/lightsaber holes in their hands, put crappy vinyl “capes” on them and display them with my vintage star wars guys.
i’m not buying this junk, there is just no redeeming qualities here. bad color choices, giant spring loaded junk, the redesigns are hideous unimaginative, and the drivers are so worthless they should have left them out.
I knew we would eventually see the sculpt that everyone was calling a cancelled “Clutch” eventually.
thanks for pointing it out to us!
These driver figures aren’t as good as vintage. They’re worse than T-crotch JvC and even the BtR stuff. Shame, ’cause the movie looks severely badass.
Yeah, because of these 2 figures this whole line is garbage. ugh. Stupid Hasbro.
Can’t wait to see the customs that are made from that Swamp-Viper head….Mega-Viper?
umm … wow. i really liked the 30th anniversary figures, and even the Renegades figures. i was all kinds of excited about the line again because of them in fact. this, though? ehhhh. i think i may just head back to Transformers.
You must not care about Joes at all if you’re going to judge an entire brand by two figures.