Do you like your peanut butter in your chocolate? Some do, some don’t, but whatever your preference, the G.I. Joe and Transformers Collectors Clubs have taken steps to offer exclusives linking together the universes of G.I. Joe and Transformers, and their first entry into that world is Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterbreaker.
Actually released earlier last year, I only got the opportunity to pick this figure up a month or so ago, and am now getting around to the review. You can check out the review on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club review page, or the direct link below.
Along with the Old Snake/Stealth B.A.T.s 3-Pack, the Collectors Club sparks that G.I. Joe and Transformers connection with Marissa Faireborn, member of Earth Defense Command, and daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye. Pulled from her Transformers Season 3 animated appearance, this figure takes some great queues from that old school Sunbow look and brings in Afterbreaker (formerly Afterburner) member of the Technobots and her partner during some of her Season 3 adventures.
Along with Old Snake, Marissa Faireborn and the Earth Defense Command made that tenuous connection between the G.I. Joe and Transformers universes much less tenuous in the Sunbow days. As the daughter of Lady Jaye and Flint, Marissa was a direct correlation between the G.I. Joe universe of the 80s and the Transformers universe of the post-2005 third Season of the animated series.
As a pseudo futuristic story (taking place after the events in Transformers: The Movie) Season 3 had the opportunity to sort of continue that Sunbow universe that was started in years previous. As you can see from the video above, too, Marissa Faireborn was a pretty important character throughout much of the third season of the animated series, appearing in several separate episodes.
Like Old Snake, Marissa Fairborne uses purely existing parts, with the Cover Girl/Sparta head, Resolute Scarlett/FSS Jinx torso and arms, and Rise of COBRA Cover Girl legs. These are relatively modern parts and as such the articulation and sculpting look good, although like FSS Jinx, the neck does seem a little longer than correct human proportions might dictate. Also, my figure did have a little smudge of worn off paint on the nose, which is a bit disappointing, but not a huge deal.
Her paint scheme is pretty appealing, actually, leveraging the white and blue color scheme from her original appearance. She’s got a very neat and well applied EFD logo on her right shoulder as well. You don’t see many white figures these days, so the color really does stand out nicely.
Accessories
Looking at accessories, she comes with the JUMP jetpack in silver, with an ammunition hose connected to Arctic Destro’s freeze gun. The weapon looks fantastic as a more futuristic “laser” gun, I like that quite a bit. Unfortunately due to the long, sweeping hair, the jetpack and head position combination can be challenging, and if you want to move her head, you kind of have to reposition the jetpack to do it, which can be a bit of a pain. Marissa Faireborn also comes with a small laser pistol, a silver repaint of the Iron Grenadier laser pistol, too, finishing off her somewhat future oriented arsenal.
When doing some research on Marissa Faireborn, I was pretty surprised (and impressed) to see just how many times she appeared throughout the third season of Transformers. I hadn’t realized what a key player she was, and I’m glad to see her in action figure form. She most closely resembles her look from “The Killing Jar” I believe, eschewing the skirted look from Five Faces of Darkness.
Not knowing much about the Transformers angle on this particular set, I wasn’t sure where Afterbreaker fit in, but apparently the character (previously known as Afterburner) accompanied Marissa Faireborn on a hunt for reknowned smuggler Dirk Manus during the episode “Money is Everything” during the third season of the Transformers series.. As one of the Technobots, he was a gestalt combiner in the original toyline, but for obvious reasons is presented here as a non-transforming version of the character colored as a futuristic orange motorcycle, which fits the original toy and animation model pretty nicely.
Unfortunately, the motorcycle itself leaves a little to be desired. Based off the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motorcycle that Firefly came with, the vehicle is more or less a thick block of plastic with a launching third wheel. It’s a sturdy and playable toy that has some nice detailing in places, but is far from the high standard that G.I. Joe vehicles have achieved in recent years. That being said, to fall within the price point that the Club wanted to offer, I’m not sure if there were many alternatives here.
The variable orange color scheme looks pretty nice, and is relatively reminiscent of Afterburner (Breaker’s) vintage styling. I know there have been some vocal complaints out there regarding the lack of a transforming companion for Faireborn, but considering how much that would have likely raised the price, I can see where the Club was coming from here. There are options for transforming motorcycles out there, but not many of them are really in the G.I. Joe scale.
While Afterbreaker himself isn’t necessarily a highlight of the set, the combination of the two is cool enough, and I like the tie in to the Sunbow continuity. Marissa Faireborn herself has a great 80s aesthetic, and her animation consistent accessories (she flew a jetpack in the Five Faces of Darkness episode) are a really nice touch.
I wasn’t anticipating being a huge fan of this set, but I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. Ultimately I prefer the Old Snake pack, but this one has its own fun elements as well.
Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterbreaker
Marissa Faireborn Character
Marissa Faireborn Sculpt
Marissa Faireborn Articulation
Marissa Faireborn Paint Deco
Marissa Faireborn Accessories
Vehicle Design
Vehicle Paint Deco
Vehicle Play Features
2.7
Summary
I was surprised to see just how prevalent Marissa Faireborn was in Season 3 of the Transformers series, and in a few of those episodes, her animated depiction is pretty close to what we see here. Figure construction is pretty good and while I’m not a huge fan of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motorcycle, it makes for a decent futuristic bike to represent the Technobot Afterbreaker (AKA Afterburner). It’s a fun set with some neat accessories and cool paint deco and a great introduction to this shared G.I. Joe/Transformers universe.
I continue to play catch up from 2015 today, this time covering one of the membership incentives from last year, the Wave Crusher w/ Sub Viper! Using a great figure from 2001, the Collectors Club continues to pay homage to previously untouched corners of G.I. Joe history and does a pretty bang up job of it as well.
One of the most overlooked parts of G.I. Joe history is the Real American Hero Collection, a short run of mostly re-used parts that went from 2000 – 2001 and heralded the “next stage” in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Introducing some new characters while revisiting plenty of classics, all in the familiar o-ring style, it was the RAHC that put GeneralsJoes on the map and truly reignited my love for G.I. Joe. I’m glad to see the Collectors Club examining that crucial part of G.I. Joe history.
One of the more unsung releases of the early 2000’s in my mind was the Wave Crusher w/ Sub Viper. Not because of the Wave Crusher necessarily, in my mind, one SHARC repaint is more or less like another, but the Sub Viper was a very cool figure, and an excellent update using the old school Sludge Viper tooling.
Interestingly, the Club did a version of the Sludge Viper in 2014 (though they named him Repulsor) yet when they developed the updated Sub Viper, they used a different parts formula entirely. I’m actually okay with that, as I think this Sub Viper looks more like an underwater operations specialist and manages to look a lot like the classic Sub Viper, too.
There are no new parts here. He’s got the head (and helmet) of the Rise of COBRA Aero-Viper, the torso of Barbecue, arms of Techno-Viper, and the legs of Rise of COBRA Snake Eyes. They are relatively recent parts with some excellent sculpting and great range of motion, which I always enjoy seeing.
Where this figure really excels, though, is in the color scheme. The blue base uniform is bright and vibrant just like the original, standing out amongst the darker and duller COBRA Troopers. The silver trim throughout the figure is striking, a very stark and almost chrome finish that looks excellent and is quite eye catching. The combination of colors is quite different than most other figures we’ve ever seen, and is a great update to the 2001 original figure. The thing I liked most about that figure was its paint scheme, too.
For accessories, Sub Viper comes with a knife, underwater machine gun, flippers, and a pair of mines to plant on unsuspecting G.I. Joe watercraft. This makes him much more than just a glorified SHARC pilot, which I love. This figure is a lot of fun.
Wave Crusher
On the other hand, the Wave Crusher itself just manages to be pretty much any other SHARC repaint. I really enjoy the spirit of the SHARC. A vehicle that’s a combination of submarine and aircraft is a really neat concept, and the flip-up cannons provides some fun play value.
Unfortunately, while the SHARC was innovative in 1984, it’s received countless repaints and re-releases over the years, and at this point, there’s little to remain excited about. Even utilizing some new tooling for the 25th Anniversary line left us with a vehicle that’s more or less the same as its always been. I do like the shade of blue here, which matches the Sub Viper (but does not match the 2001 vehicle). The applied decals are a nice touch, and the Club has managed to give this a very “COBRA” feel. I’m glad they elected to match the Sub Viper colors, but in the end, this is still the SHARC, a vehicle that I enjoyed over 30 years ago, but offers little in the way of newness now.
At the end of the day, I love the figure, don’t much care for the vehicle. If the Club could find a way to release the figure at a better price without the vehicle, I’d probably grab a handful. As it is, I’m happy with one, but won’t seek out many more.
Once again, you can buy this set right now at GIJoeClub.com.
COBRA Wave Crusher w/ Sub Viper
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
Vehicle Design
Vehicle Paint Deco
Vehicle Play Features
3.6
Summary
The G.I. Joe Collectors Club continues to pull inspiration from all eras of G.I. Joe with this modernization of the 2001 Toys “R” Us Exclusive Real American Hero Collection set. They make some aesthetic changes, specifically with the colors of the Wave Crusher itself, but they’re good changes, and the updated Sub Viper looks nicely vintage inspired, but with a really interesting parts recipe. The colors are spectacular, with very vibrant blues and silvers, and they truly did one of my favorite 2000’s era figures justice.
It would certainly seem as if 2015 kind of got away from me when it comes to my G.I. Joe reviews… I managed to stay on top of the 50th Anniversary releases fairly well, but several of the G.I. Joe Collectors Club releases lagged a bit behind.
Interesting that now that I’m tackling them, we’re dealing with the distinct possibility that the G.I. Joe Collectors Club as we know it (as well as the G.I. Joe Convention) may be coming to an end after 2016. A real shame to be losing them as a resource as I dive into several of their really fun exclusives from 2015. I truly hope Hasbro has some kind of plans post GIJCC to bring the G.I. Joe brand to collectors, as I believe we’ve been the driving force in keeping the brand alive over the past several years. That will be considerably more difficult with an annual convention gathering or a Collectors Club offering exclusive toys geared towards us.
I will be cautiously optimistic that Hasbro recognizes our value and isn’t going to just leave the collectors who have been supporting the brand for over 50 years high and dry, but I suppose time will tell.
On that note, you can check out my review of the Arctic Dr. Mindbender at the link below, or on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Review Page. Hopefully we still have many years of exclusives like this to look forward to.
I find it strange to admit that there are a number of things I’m really not crazy about in the G.I. Joe world that everyone else seems to love… two of the highest items on that list are arctic figures and the character of Dr. Mindbender. That being said, you’d think that a figure of an Arctic Dr. Mindbender would fall down pretty far on my list of desired items, and I would have agreed. But once I got my hands on the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club’s rendition of this figure, I immediately fell in love.
Well…fell in ‘big like’ might be more accurate. I don’t quite LOVE the figure, but I like it quite a bit, thank you very much.
For this particular figure, the Club worked with Boss Fight Studio to add a newly sculpted head and fur collar in order to accentuate the newness of the figure, and it works really well. The first Mindbender was a part of the Defense of COBRA Island 7-Pack, and as such was sculpted in the aesthetic of the times, which looks a bit dated compared to more modern offerings. He was certainly due for an updated head sculpt, and he got one heck of a nice one here, looking as if it was pulled straight from Sunbow concept art.
The fur collar also adds nice variety to the figure, which is otherwise a mixture of the canceled Arctic COBRA Commander (with mostly comprised of Renegades COBRA Commander arms and legs). The combination gives us a figure with a terrific arctic look (that happens to be pretty animation accurate) as well as maintaining at least some level of decent articulation.
With the long coat, the legs are still pretty limited, but the arms at least have significantly unrestricted elbow movement, which was one of the major detractions of the Arctic COBRA Commander tooling (which was used for a Convention Iron Grenadier a few years back).
Using the animation as a template, Mindbender is done up in a really nice purple and black paint scheme, following the queues from the vintage version, and you end up with a very nice looking figure that slides pretty seamlessly into any arctic environment, yet also looks unique and very true to Mindbender’s aesthetic.
Accessories
Dr. Mindbender comes with a nice number of accessories, with a familiar pistol as well as his trademark “mind bending” device (stun rod w/ generator), and also comes with the black hose and a repainted version of Sci-Fi’s backpack. He also has a great COBRA-themed laptop and arctic display stand.
The accessories all fit the character well, and the inclusion of Sci-Fi’s backpack is a nice one, too, as it retains a nice technical look while not being immediately identifiable as belonging to someone else.
Anyone who has been reading my reviews knows that I geek out over media-centric figures, and I love that this version of Mindbender is a true Sunbow homage. It’s also pretty cool that the Club has been using him heavily throughout the comic. While I wouldn’t have thought an arctic version of COBRA’s lead scientist would be appealing to me, the reality is this is a very fun figure that suits the good doctor remarkably well. Kudos on this one.
G.I. Joe Collectors Club Arctic Mindbender
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.3
Summary
As the 2015 G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club incentive figure, an arctic version of Dr. Mindbender doesn’t seem like something that would sit atop many collectors’ lists of needed figures. All that being said, in execution the figure is a pretty fantastic rendition of COBRA’s lead scientist and ends up being a surprisingly fun and interesting addition to the modern COBRA roster.
