In celebration of San Diego ComicCon, which is quickly approaching, I completed my review of the soon to be released SDCC Exclusive “Shockwave” HISS Tank! Kindly supplied by Hunter PR and Hasbro, I was extremely fortunate enough to get my hands on this a couple of days early so you SDCC attendees know what you’re getting into and why you’re waiting in that six hour line!
Check out the review on my 25th Anniversary Page, and also at the direct link below. I know this doesn’t really belong in the 25th Anniversary necessarily, I’m still struggling to find a place.
you lucky bastard!!!
Such a ridiculously silly and fun combination. I like it more than last year’s exclusive Starscream.
But I’m also sad that we haven’t gotten a Transforming HiSS tank in any form.
Two questions: Why did it not get FIVE stars? How much did this cost? (Your disclaimer says you got it for free? You lucky skunk!)
I remember that Shockwave cover you’re talking about. “The Transformers…are all dead.” Gorgeous, killer cover.
Holy crap, I think you just proved I’m dyslexic. For my entire life I’ve been reading that as “All Are Dead” and didn’t get the matchup with “The Transformers…”
Yeesh,
LOL. Isn’t that funny how your perspective can change on something that happened 25 years ago? Glad I could help! 🙂
Point: whats the price? and do you really think the everyday guy is going to be able to get one at the con? I mean not marked up 1500% by a dealer that buys 15 cases from Hasbro before the con opens.
Can’t wait to get this. I hope my hook-up comes through. Is the box the same size as the Starscream box? I know it wouldn’t really make sense but since i display last years box I’d love for them to match up in size.
I don’t have my Starscream box handy, but I believe that yes, the box is the same size. It’s at least close.
I’m so tired of you, the rest of Whats onJoemind crew and Gary Goggles always gloating about what expensive, hard to get figures you get for free while the rest of us will never own these unless we pay through the nose.
I would be interested in you pointing out a specific instance where I “gloated” about anything.
the “gushing” reviews maybe?
Really?
So, first and foremost, GJ’s is a review blog? I tend to think of it as the go-to aggregator of most of the news worth hearing about G.I. Joe, but I guess he does post a lot of reviews. If he gushes in his reviews sometimes, well jeez, he’s enthusiastic about the hobby. I gush in my reviews, too (when I get around to writing them). I think he often admits that he could be seen as a Hasbro apologist, but in this review, come on – it looks fantastic. Why wouldn’t it be 5 stars?
What the hell does the fact that he posts reviews have to do with whether or not he should give stuff away?
And lastly, if he gets free toys, does it occur to you that the time and money he spends on this blog has MORE than paid for them? That Hasbro sends them to him because he’s taken the time and the effort to build a relationship with them, that he’s spent countless hours building his blog, his reputation, his collection, and his relationship with Hasbro, and that these free samples didn’t just drop out of the goddamned sky? And that he doesn’t have to give a damned thing away if he doesn’t feel the need?
But you probably didn’t think about any of that, because you saw an SDCC Exclusive and went into full “I want that why won’t someone give it to me!” mode, when my guess is you haven’t done a thing to earn it.
You know what, I want a Shockwave HISS as well – and if I can get one on HTS, great, if I can’t, well, I’ll try to find an ebay price I think is acceptable – but the fact is, you don’t get to have something just because you want it, and Justin didn’t get something just because he wanted it; he’s done a hell of a lot of work to earn it.
Justin didn’t give it five stars. He gave it 4 1/2 stars. That has to be a mistake. What would it take to bump it up another half? That thing has everything!
Technically 4 3/4 Stars. About as close to perfect as you can get. The B.A.T., while being a neat tribute is a little bright for my tastes, and I would have preferred Destro not have the Decepticon symbol so he could be better integrated with the rest of Cobra.
Very, very, VERY minor quibbles, but enough to keep the set from “perfect” territory.
Pretty damn close to it, though.
I think the Destro symbol is appropriate, since he’s basically subcontracting himself out to Shockwave.
But, yeah, that BAT… I dunno, it still looks “off.” Your point about the arms being metallic clashing with the purple attachments was well taken; I think if they’d used a flatter grey, it would at least have matched up with the (minimal) flat grey pieces on the Constructicons.
I personally don’t know GJ but I like his site because it helps me decide what to buy. He obviously has connections that would be nice if we all had them. I have no idea what those connections have cost him in his time and money. Why does he or any of the rest owe anyone a give away even if they got the toys free? I do think there are people who have a large amount of disposable income and connections and they do gloat. I have never gotten that impression from this site. I think the reviews are genuine excitement over an item.
So apparently devoting hours of my personal time and years of my life to reviewing product and promoting the G.I. Joe brand for absolutely no monetary reimbursement isn’t “nice”. Apparently I now have to give away my personal property to be considered “nice”.
I guess I’ll have to live with not being “nice”.
Seriously? Of all the whiny, self-entitled crying I see from toy collectors on the internet, this nearly tops it all. “Give us your stuff for free!”
I am so very thankful to have been raised properly and told “no” once in a while as a child.
Fantastic! I doubt I’ll be able to snatch off the Hasbro site, but oh well. Really love the detail that went into this one. They’ve been putting a lot of imagination into these, recently!
I would love to take Hasbro to task for these SDCC exclusives every year.
It feels like one of two things is going on:
(1) HTS orders way too few of them. This, in addition to their incredibly poor website that locks up every year guaranteed should cause Hasbro to give these exclusives to someone else. Particularly given that Hasbro keeps claiming they do not own HTS and have no control over them… if that’s the case, why keep giving them these high demand exclusives year after year when it is 100% proven by their track record that they WILL screw it up on multiple fronts.
(2) Or Hasbro is intentionally under-producing them. Every year they sell out instantly.
These are meant for those that attend SDCC. That’s why they’re called SDCC exclusives. If they made enough for everyone in the world that wanted one, they wouldn’t be exclusive would they? You should count yourself lucky that they offer some through HTS at all.
The only counter arguement I would make is that etailers like BBTS sort of change the rules when they manage to get several cases of these. I think that’s what torques a lot of people off.
*Takes hit off inhaler*
Soundwave is not a boombox. Those microcassettes are the size of VHS tapes.
It’s not a personal attack against you Justin necessarily.And by no means do you have to give anything away to anybody.The fact of the matter is the “Joe Elite” are some what myopic from the typical fan’s perspective.We got shafted BIG time this year.October Guard,Darklon AND Annihilators were ALL HIGH PRICED EXCLUSIVES! While the rest of fandom were scrounging around for crappy Retaliation scraps, the well-off and/ or “insiders” had the first crack at these exclusives THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE AT RETAIL. These exclusives weren’t like “Podium” CC or Sgt.Slaughter (understandable due to licensing fees) these were mainline figures fandom would have bought in droves! I blame Hasbro and the Club for their poor marketing decisions. It’s literally become class warfare in Joedom.In this shitty economy not everybody has that sweet IT job clearing 80,000 a year.The What’s on Joe Mind pod cast,record a pod cast Day One of the JoeCon describing in detail how awesome the OG/IG con set was.We all knew what these figures looked like weeks in advance.I’m sorry but to me it just comes across as “bragging ” or gloating. Anybody at the Con that wanted one was going to get one, so I don’t know how audibly describing how they looked that night was going to help anybody. It was superfluous information and it came across that way.The disappointment I have is not your fault.Hasbro has been messing with us ever since the POC distribution debacle.I think some of you don’t realize the feeling that the “little guy” has been shafted is papable.
Wow, who knew I was “elite,” “well-off,” and oppressing “the little guy” via “class warfare”? I thought I just budgeted like an adult, saved up my money, and busted my ass to spend my first real vacation in nearly four years in New Orleans.
Learn something new every day.
I think this is a GREAT topic for the podcast Larry. How would you like to come the show and talk about this from your point of view? I think it would make for a good discussion. Email the podcast if you are interested.
If anyone gets this set and DOES NOT want those BATs….I’m serious: Alexx is here to fix that problem. I’ll take them. You let ‘ol Alexx take care of it.
Great review as always, I can’t wait to get mine!