The whopper FSS 3.0 news wasn’t all that the G.I. Joe Collectors Club revealed this year… they also gave us an idea of what to expect for next year’s Membership Incentive items, and yes, they will include a figure AND a vehicle!
The Collectors Club announced today that next year’s figure will be Arctic Dr. Mindbender with a new head sculpt! This is great news for Joe fans who weren’t wild about the 25th Anniversary head sculpt, plus the Club was sure to mention that he’d have his classic accessories as well.
Along with that, the Cobra Wave Crusher was announced as the vehicle, complete with Sub-Viper, which everyone likely remembers is a Sludge-Viper repaint. Check out the images below, keeping in mind, it’s just package art:
As excited as I was about the FSS news, this was kind of a downer for me. For 4 years the incentive figures were definitive versions of key characters from ARAH that did not have any ME figure yet. Dial Tone, Footlooose, Iceberg, and Cross Country each filled a necessary role for anyone who has been collecting 25th anniversary figures. But who has been looking at their toy shelf and saying, “You know what is really missing from my collection? Arctic Mindbender!”
I dunno, I find it refreshing. I like that they’re mixing it up again finally, making something random and unique for the membership figure, like they used to do in the pre-25th era (like glow-in-the-dark Heavy Water and IG colored Nullifiers & Undertows).
I’m liking the idea, and hoping they make this guy something special. I don’t disagree with jfaria about the weird choice, but I think the CC is doing something clever, now that the FSS seems to have found it’s legs (Yes, 3.0 will be my first FSS sub, as I like the idea of ALL the revelas, as oppossed to 50% or less of previous years) They’re making the incentive figure something odd and unique, and putting the hole-filling figures in the FSS. Some won’t like it, and I don’t blame them, but I’m not opposed to a Mindbender wearing shirt for once in the “After-25th” era.
Although my other comment was negative, I am sure this will be a quality figure like most of the recent Club stuff, especially if Boss Fight does a new head sculpt. I think he would fit in better with a convention set if there were an arctic theme. Otherwise I just don’t know if this will fit too well with everyone’s collections. The membership figure is something all members get, not an extra choice if you like it, so I was hoping they would stick to figures with a broader appeal.
They’ve been trying to overcharge for a SHARC repaint for years it seems.
It could be that they have the voice actor, Brian Cummings, lined up for the con, and needed a new spin on Mindbender for him to autograph. The past membership figures haven’t tied into the con sets, but looking at this and the Boss Fight Medusa snake tail body part, it is possible that next year’s con set could be 1987 movie/Cobra-La-themed. Arctic Cobra Commander seems like a slightly more exciting character choice than Mindbender and would require less new tooling, so since we’re not getting him as the membership figure, it makes me wonder if he is being held back for a movie-themed con set instead.