Dial Tone’s reveal gave us our first clue that perhaps the Collectors Club wasn’t going to just be diving back into the 80s to give us our Tiger Force inspiration…and it made me hopeful that this set might be a bit more interesting than I originally thought.
As I mentioned with Wreckage, Tiger Force was reconceived in 2003 as a Toys “R” Us multi pack, pulling inspiration from classic domestic Tiger Force as well as the much more exciting blue and orange International deco. Dial Tone was included in that multi-pack and was the beneficiary of some awesome updated colors. Going whole hog into the great blue and orange UK Tiger Force color scheme, Dial Tone was one of the most appealing figures in that Toys “R” Us set, and while the Collectors Club certainly seemed to be using that figure for inspiration, they stuck with the yellow and black, and unfortunately missed the boat considerably, at least in my opinion.
The convention Dial Tone retains none of the striking flair of the Toys “R” Us set, borrowing its sense of style, but none of its color, much to its detriment.
Dial Tone here uses the same torso (with permanently affixed Buzzer webgear minus the skull buckle) and arms as the annual exclusive from several years ago. He does have some bulked up legs that add some mass to the figure, but essentially bears a striking resemblance to the same annual exclusive we got in mailboxes back then. I’m not a big fan of the torso and webgear choice, but I actually don’t mind the Airborne arms, they remain probably some of the best arms produced in the 25th Anniversary era, and the thicker legs keep the figure looking at least relatively modern.
However, Dial Tone struggles mightily when it comes to color scheme. The Collectors Club used the Toys “R” Us version as a template, but swapped the colors to more resemble the vintage style, and the brown is significantly duller than the blue original, and the yellow simply is not as striking or appealing as the orange was in 2003. I understand the Club’s desire to make the figure blend in more with the vintage aesthetic, but in this case I think Dial Tone suffers for this decision and the end result is a boring mish-mash of color and design elements.
Combine this with the kneepads, which are trying to go for tiger stripe but end up just going zig-zag, and the figure just doesn’t do it for me. The Club managed to take a colorful and pleasant 2003 figure and turn it into a somewhat bland and generic 2015 Convention exclusive.
Accessories
Dial Tone has his familiar communication backpack, this time in black, as well as his machine gun. Adding to that, he now comes with the familiar metal briefcase with folding computer screen and removable submachine gun that the Club has used quite frequently in recent years. This time around the case is done in a nice olive drab green, matching the Tiger Force aesthetics.
I understand what the Collectors Club was trying to do, and I’m glad they looked for inspiration in other places than just the 80s rendition of Tiger Force. Unfortunately, Dial Tone’s design just didn’t translate well here, either in a conversion to modern parts, or with the deco changes. The result is a figure that just doesn’t look good, and ends up really standing out in a crowd.
Dial Tone
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
2.2
Summary
What was once an obscure character has now had three Collectors Club releases in the past few years, and this may be the least inspiring of the bunch. Using the Toys “R” Us 6 Pack as a template, but with none of the European color flair, Dial Tone lands with a bit of a thud. The older parts look out of place, and his paint applications are a bit non-sensical, especially the kneepads which just did not translate the tiger stripes all that well.
For a brief moment in the late 80s, a G.I. Joe character named Sabretooth was conceived and proposed for release. Obviously existing trademarks with Marvel Comics put the kibosh on this character, who only truly existed as an image in a pre-sales catalog back then.
Fast forward many years, and Hasbro was revisiting G.I. Joe lore with an updated “Tiger Force” pack for Toys “R” Us…while they still couldn’t use the Sabretooth name, they wanted to bring the character forward, and thus, Wreckage was born. Using the same Firefly parts, but with a slightly tweaked color scheme, Wreckage was one of the highlights of that Toys “R” Us multi pack, even though his colors were a somewhat strange shade compared to the Sabretooth of old, and also compared to other figures within the same pack.
Now, here we are, several years later again, and the Collectors Club is swapping things back around a bit. Using the Wreckage name from the Toys “R” Us pack, but going back to the unproduced Sabretooth color scheme, the Collectors Club has pulled together the best of both worlds. Heck, they even included a stand for “Sgt. Sabretooth”!
Using Ultimate Firely as the logical base figure, Wreckage is essentially a modern version of the canceled Sabretooth and is a fantastic update. I have little to complain about when it comes to the Ultimate Firefly figure, and the deco here works really nicely. I like it because it’s a nice departure from the typical yellow/black/brown, giving us a great lighter green shade that suits the figure quite nicely. Because of the later generation parts, articulation and range of motion is terrific, and combined with the really nice color scheme, ends up giving us a great looking figure.
Accessories
As a tribute to the pre-sales catalog image, Wreckage comes with Recondo’s shotgun as well as Firefly’s backpack, not to mention the pistol and knife for his holster and sheath. Unlike the original Firefly figure, this updated webgear as the demolitions glued into place, a change I actually prefer, to keep them from falling off with the slightest motion.
When I first got back into the G.I. Joe collecting scene in the late 90s, Sabretooth was one of those mythical characters that drew a lot of interest from fans before the doors opened wide to the world of unproduced and foreign releases thanks to the Internet. He’s always remained a character of interest, and I love that the Club is revisiting him in more accurate and true fashion than the Toys “R” Us pack did in 2003. This is a great looking update, even if a fairly cookie cutter one.
Wreckage
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.1
Summary
An updated version of the new sculpt era character, but using the paint scheme from the old sales catalog, the Collectors Club tries hard to touch all bases with this one. Like Lifeline, it’s a great base figure and tough to go wrong, and I really enjoy the paint scheme they elected to use.
How can you go wrong with a Lifeline repaint? One of the shining examples of what the 30th Anniversary did right, Lifeline was the epitome of great toy design with his release in 2012. While he borrowed parts from the Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes, the new bits that were added flowed seamlessly with the existing ones, and his head sculpt remains one of the cleanest and most versatile three years later. When this year’s Convention theme of Tiger Force was announced, it made perfect sense for the Club to revisit Tiger Force Lifeline, and they did so to perfection.
I’ve never been a big fan of Tiger Force in general, mostly preferring the original versions of those characters to their brighter repaints. I know that back in the day Hasbro did this to get some of their most popular characters back into circulation, but aesthetically I never found the domestic vintage Tiger Force to be all that appealing. Honestly I much prefered the blue and orange themes of the UK exclusives. Those were always a much nicer splash of color and interest compared to the ones released in the United States. All that being said, I know there’s a wealth of Tiger Force fans out there who were clamoring for more characters from that subteam, and to that end, the Club was quite successful here. Lifeline retains the same parts as his 30th Anniversary version, but with faithfully reproduced Tiger Force deco, looking much like the vintage version in a modern era format. Color tones are spot on to the original the striping pattern is accurate, and although the lack of breaks on the pouches of the torso is a bit disconcerting, it remains accurate to the original, which is what most fans are looking for, I’d think.
Accessories
Like the 30th Anniversary version, Lifeline comes loaded. He has his removable helmet, the stretcher, and his Rescue case along with all of the medical instruments crammed neatly inside. The IV is there along with the clear plastic tubing, the facemask, his hypodermic, knife, and pistol. A ton of gear with this figure, and the Club brings it all forward quite nicely.
Lifeline is a terrific figure and is executed faithfully and well. Thematically, not my first choice, but I cannot argue with a job well done, and this one clearly was.
Lifeline
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.9
Summary
Great parts choices, as it’s tough to go wrong with the 30th Anniversary Lifeline body. The Tiger Force deco is very well applied, and he comes with all the essential Medic’s gear. A solid vintage update with great sculpt and articulation.
It seems almost ridiculous almost fifteen years later, but the truth was, in 2000, Big Brawler was kind of a big deal. In the early years of the online G.I. Joe community, we had only known a Real American Hero, and it had been mostly dead and gone since 1994. Sure, the 97/98 Toys “R” Us exclusives brought a minor resurgence to retail, but a true G.I. Joe line was a memory. Big Brawler (as well as Sure Fire and Crossfire) were important because they represented a new cast of characters being introduced to the Real American Hero universe, something we really take for granted these days. Don’t forget back then we didn’t even have Convention figures to look forward to every year.
Because of this, because of his filecard, and because of a passing resemblance to Christopher Lowell, certain segments of the G.I. Joe community latched onto Big Brawler as a mascot of sorts, and the character grew far beyond his origin as an Outback repaint with a new head. His legend grew as he was introduced in Tiger Force, was given a new sculpt figure, and even arrived as a Funskool figure, complete with yellow shirt and Brawlin’ sword. Within the span of a few short years, Big Brawler transformed from “cheap new character” to legend status. In retrospect, it’s almost surprising that it took this long to get a modern format version of him.
Like with Dial Tone, the Club looked to the Toys “R” Us set as an inspiration, but also introduced elements from his 12″ version as well, bringing it all together into one figure.
Wanting to maintain his large stature, the Club looks as if they used Retaliation Roadblock’s 25th Anniversary Bazooka’s torso and Ultimate Roadblock’s upper arms, with the lower arms and legs from Resolute Roadblock, giving the figure a very tall and broad appearance. It’s a great parts combination for a character who stands larger than life, and also gives them plenty of real estate to etch “Brawler” across his chest. Using the head sculpt from Red Dog actually isn’t as bad in execution as it looked to be in images beforehand, especially with the lighter flesh tone colors that the actual figure ended up with.
Like with Dial Tone, the Club took inspiration from the pattern of the tiger stripes from the Toys “R” Us pack, but injected some vintage color pallet to them, bringing him in line with the other Tiger Force team members. Where Dial Tone sort of failed in this endeavor, I think Big Brawler largely succeeds. In 2003, the Tiger Force Big Brawler was a pretty bland tan, gray, and light green color that was not especially interesting or appealing. By enhancing the color contrast, the Club goes a long way towards making that basic design snap, all while bringing Brawler nicely into the existing Tiger Force demographic. He looks like he fits, even though he comes from a pretty different era.
Accessories
Big Brawler comes with a headband as a tribute to the 12″ version of the character, while also coming with a mini gun, regular machine gun, and not to mention a true “Brawlin’ Sword”! I love the call back to the Funskool version of the character with the included sword, it shows the right sense of humor in regards to the character. As another small victory, the green color of the gun and sword handle is beautiful as well. I’m not sure why but that particular green hue really speaks to me.
Big Brawler played a very important role in the fandom during those formative early 2000’s, and I’m glad to see him get a modern update. The Club made some good improvements and executed a solid build for the figure. Not a spectacular Convention entry, but a decent one, to be sure.
Big Brawler
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.2
Summary
Great character from the new sculpt era that suffers just a bit from the limitations of the reused parts. Great accessories and an interesting paint scheme are a big help, landing Big Brawler square in the middle of the pack.
It can be interesting doing these G.I. Joe Convention Set reviews, because you really do need to take them in chunks. First and foremost, you have to evaluate each individual figure, because there’s intrinsic value in each part of a Convention Set. You may have one or two figures who are the best figures you’ve ever seen that get very high marks, but depending on the rest of the set, it could be seen as a “miss” overall.
I’ll say right up front that I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of Tiger Force. Even as a kid I couldn’t really get my head around it. I know everyone says that I love bright colors, but that’s not necessarily true. I love stuff like the Mega Marines and Battle Corps IN SPITE OF their bright colors. The tooling and sculpting and characters are just so awesome that I am drawn to them and can ignore the bright hues that detract other folks from loving them.
With Tiger Force, you get the older tooling that’s been seen before combined with bright colors, and the two aspects have left me a bit cold since they first appeared in 1988.
That being said, I know there is a segment of the fandom who loves them, so I don’t fault the Club for going that route. Heaven knows I’ve heard plenty of folks clamoring for more Tiger Force. The Collectors Club also elected to dip back into the Iron Grenadier well for the villains, a decision that some folks deride, and I’ll admit, it disappointed me just a bit as well, as much as I love the Iron Grenadiers. To the Club’s credit, however, they were able to produce some pretty amazing looking figures, even if they did go back to that well for a third time in Convention set history.
Speaking of the Iron Grenadiers, the free attendee vehicle this year, an Iron Grenadier themed Mantis sub from the new sculpt era is a really great vehicle. It’s very reminiscent of Destro’s Despoiler, and I think was a really inspired choice for the attendee freebie. A great item that compliments the set well.
From the Tiger Force side of things, there are items I loved and items that left me a bit cold. Wreckage, Stalker, Lifeline, and to a degree Big Brawler, were all figures that brought smiles to my face, some more than others. Dial Tone was pretty disappointing, however. On the Iron Grenadier side, I found myself loving General Mayhem and the Iron Anvils, but was a bit chilly on the Undertow and Metalhead. I think there are elements of Metalhead that are spectacular, but the entire package could have been explored a bit better, in my opinion.
As for the vehicles, the Tiger Shark and Tiger Sting are both very well executed, but remain very similar to their vintage inspirations, something that many fans are ecstatic for, but I’m not entirely certain they’re worth the Convention prices.
The Tigerhawk was a considerably pleasant surprise, being an item I wasn’t all that invested in emotionally, but once I had it in hand, it was a pretty impressive exclusive vehicle.
There are times when the total of the Convention set ends up greater than the sum of it’s parts. That certainly happened last year, but I’m not sure the same thing exists with this set. Definitely everything looks better once it’s all on display together, and there are individual figures I really enjoy, but I don’t feel the same whole-hearted punch from this set that I felt last year. Doesn’t mean it’s bad by any means, it just doesn’t feel quite as cohesive and story-driven. I felt like the Club managed to pull some great disparate characters together into a very fun story-driven Convention set last year. This year it just seems more tied together with team affiliations and homages. But there are a lot of folks out there who like that.
