I can’t quite explain why, but in my younger years, I couldn’t quite get my head around 1990. Where the years leading up to then were a mixture of classic characters and new blood, the main line in 1990 was new blood soup-to-nuts. Being someone that appreciates new characters now, I’m surprised that my younger self didn’t embrace that fact, but for some reason I didn’t.
It’s only now, over two decades later, that I recognize 1990 as perhaps being a “soft reboot” of sorts, giving us a whole series of new characters and taking play to a different level with many smaller, more intricate accessories making these figures unique. Pretty much every single figure in that 1990 line came with elaborate and well detailed accessories that really enhanced the play value. From Stretcher’s air sled to Bullhorn’s take-apart sniper rifle, not to mention Ambush’s camouflage tent and Topside’s backpack mortar launcher. Pathfinder was no different, coming equipped with two hip-mounted heavy machine guns as well as a full blown weed whacker. While parts and tooling restrictions made it so we couldn’t get the hip-guns with a modern release, I’m happy to say the updated Pathfinder is ready to go, weed whacker and all!
The figure has Lifeline’s existing head sculpt, which matches the look of the original figure, and the removable hat does an okay job of replicating that look, too. To copy the brim fold of the original figure, the hat is positioned in a way that doesn’t stay on the figure’s head very well. Once I swapped the hat around it actually fit a lot better, though that small piece of vintage accuracy is lost. I think I can live with that.
Pathfinder uses Kwinn’s torso and arms, which are a great choice, as they pretty accurately mimic the original, but are newer construction, offering very good range of motion. If I have any complaints, the somewhat tight hand grip doesn’t fit the handle of the machine gun very well, but you can work with it.
His legs are from the G.I. Joe: Retaliation era and also are excellently sculpted, with some great baggy effects, though the more I see these legs used, the more annoyed I get with the weird rocker ankles. They end up pretty stiff and difficult to pose, and the footholes are becoming an increasing issue on existing battle stands. This figure isn’t nearly as bad as the Night Creeper was with the last installment, but it can still be somewhat difficult to get him to stand.
Paint deco is pretty fantastic. Straight black on the upper body, and the camouflage pattern and colors on the legs are pretty close to spot on perfect. Great articulation, effective parts choices, and the base figure for Pathfinder is excellent.
Accessories
As we’re used to with the 1990 era Joe characters, Pathfinder comes pretty well equipped. A couple of his accessories are pulled from the Pursuit of Cobra Jungle Strike Duke, which I’m completely cool with, including his backpack and flashlight. He has a great pistol for the holster at his hip, a gray colored heavy machine gun, inspired by the original’s hip mounted weapons. His removable hat works moderately well, and the removable vest does as well. The plastic is a bit stiff, which makes the vest a challenge to remove, but it’s not insurmountable and the end result is a figure that looks much more like his vintage counterpart.
Of course the focal point here is the weed whacker, and I’m happy to say it fits his hands well, looks pretty nice, and ends up being a cool finishing touch to the figure. If given a choice between the hip-guns and the weed whacker, I probably would have chosen the hip-guns, but I can understand the Club not being able to retool a piece (or a belt) to make that work.
All in all, Pathfinder is a very effective figure. The paint work is really nicely done, and he’s got a good number of fun accessories. A pretty great installment for the FSS 4.0.
Video Review
FSS 4.0 Pathfinder
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.8
Summary
Lots of stuff to love here, from a pretty nice build to some fantastic paint resulting in excellent articulation and just an all around fun figure. His hat doesn’t really work for me and the best parts of the deco are just based on an existing figure, which can somewhat limit the excitement (at least for me) just a little bit. All in all, though, a fun update that just needs some minor tweaks to be truly great.
Any day we get a modern update to our favorite European special missions force is a good day, and I’m a pretty big fan of Jammer. Even back in the 80s, Jammer was a barely repaint of the original Stalker, essentially a slightly different shade of color with the trusty Zed Force logo in red on his chest as well as a red beret.
When the Club revisited the whole Action Force/Red Shadows conflict in the Convention set in 2010, we saw another update to Jammer, this time using the Comic Pack Stalker formula (o-ring version). Now, for this final iteration of the infamous Zed Force Communications Specialist we get much the same, though with some interesting twists. His head sculpt is from the Convention Tiger Force Stalker, which is nice for folks who might not have that figure yet (and it certainly helps that the head sculpt kicks all sorts of ass). The torso is from the 25th Anniversary, which is a bit of an oddchoice, in my mind, as it makes the figure look somewhat short and misproportioned, and the torso is visibly less detailed than the rest of the figure. I understand why they made that choice, to tie him into the vintage “original 13” aesthetic, but I would have loved to have seen something a bit different.
His legs are the updated “Original 13” legs that were seen with Attack on COBRA Island Zap and the discount store Duke, which is a cool enough choice and fits the theme. His arms are more modern, large and baggy with the updated wrist joints, which is all well and good, except they somewhat add to the misproportioned look, making the figure look somewhat top heavy and creating a mis-match between the exceedingly wrinkled arms and smooth torso. As much as I love the Pursuit of COBRA Shock Trooper arms, I can’t help but think they don’t jive 100% with the rest of the figure here. I am glad to see the increased articulation, though perhaps if the Club had used the Shock Trooper torso, the flow would have been a little better.
Where this figure does really shine, however, is with the paint applications. The shade of green and black is fantastic and fits well with the Zed Force look and feel. The “streak” pattern of the black camouflage is exceptionally well done, and I love the striking color of red in the logo and the beret. Great to see the Union Jack on his right shoulder, too, which blends him well with Quarrel, Big Ben and Blades, who both had that distinct patch on their uniforms as well. Great touch.
ACCESSORIES
Jammer comes with a removable beret and the same chest strap that Zap and the Duke came with, which is a departure from the vintage version, who shared the same torso as Stalker with the double-strap webgear. I don’t mind the change, as this webgear fits the contour of the chest well and is detailed nicely, however it also covers up a big chunk of the great Z logo on his chest, which is a bit unfortunate. I have to admit, though, that older 25th Anniversary double strap webgear does look a little dated.
He’s got Dial Tone’s backpack, which fits the communications theme as well as a nice machine gun and two holsters. A nice touch is that one holster contains the traditional pistol you’d expect, but the other holster holds a smaller mobile phone to fit in with the communications motif. Unfortunately the peg on Dial Tone’s backpack is a little on the large side, and doesn’t fit real seamlessly into his back hole. You can generally rotate it and get it to sink in, but I’d be concerned about wear and tear on the peg of the backpack long term.
When it comes to a figure trying to resemble the original 13 look, generally I love using that Zap template. It retains the vintage look but with slightly more modern sculpting, and I am in love with the twin holsters and removable pistols. Unfortunately, while I completely applaud the choice to use more modern arms for the enhanced range of motion, it does look a little off compared to the rest of the figure in a way that my eyes can’t quite reconcile.
Jammer has great accessories, I’m a big fan of the character, and the paint apps are pretty terrific as well. Overall, I approve of the figure in most ways, I just wish the parts formula looked a little bit more consistent and uniform.
Video Review
FSS 4.0 Jammer
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.4
Summary
I will always give Z-Force characters a big bonus in the score, because we definitely need more Action Force in our lives. Granted, the Club already did a Jammer figure several years back, but not in a modern format, and with this head based off the fantastic Boss Fight Stalker, how can I complain? There are some parts combination issues that leave me just a little cold at some points, but overall the figure is pretty fun. Loves me some Action Force, too!
There are a few things I immediately take away from my early experiences with the Amazon (Elite Warrior) Vitruvian HACKS figure (available exclusively from Kokomo Toys and All the Cool Stuff).
First and foremost, this is the first human female figure that has been released in the HACKS line so far, and I cannot say enough fantastic things about its construction, articulation, and overall durability. The female buck is sculpted somewhat slimmer than the male buck, yet still maintains the excellent range of motion, and doesn’t feel significantly more fragile in any way. She moves and plays just as effectively as the male, and as my six year old grabbed her from the review station and started doing battle with Evil Lyn, my heart skipped a beat somewhat, but the end result was 15 minutes of fun play time for my kid, and no damage done to the Amazon.
The second thing I immediately took away was that Boss Fight Studio is using their tooling dollars very wisely and has already managed to supply themselves with a library of parts that can extend their own lives by complimenting many different kinds of figures.
Her upper torso and arms are the same as the Gorgons we’ve seen so far (though the Gorgons have a different lower torso to jive with their snake tails). She has the same bracers and similar chest armor as the snake ladies as well, and with an amazingly vibrant sort of brushed metal silver deco that really makes the figure pop.
Unlike the Spartans, the leather skirt is a separate piece from the torso armor, and it’s sculpted to look remarkably like real leather, with very fine texture bringing some great depth to the accessory. I also love the loop on the back which enables the Amazon to hold her sword effortlessly back there.
The Amazon’s paint scheme is terrific, with an excellent and realistic skin tone and these incredible paint tampo tattoos that are intricate and fantastic. They bring a ton of character to the figure and the paint masks used to produce them are spectacular. I love the look.
Like the Spartans, she has nearly flawless articulation, and with the Amazon they even added rocker ankles which only serves to enhance the realism of the way she can pose. I have had very mixed reactions with rocker ankles in other toylines as they can sometimes be fragile or cause the foot pegs to not fit in all the way. Neither of these appears to be an issue with the Amazon, as her ankles tilt perfectly, yet still maintain a nicely deep heel hole for the foot peg. I really like the sculpted sandals on her feet as well. I am exceedingly impressed with my first exposure to a human female figure within the Vitruvian HACKS line and fine myself antsy for their fantasy series. My aforementioned six year old daughter has a major affinity for fairies and has already asked me to give her one of the HACKS fairies for her birthday.
As much as I love the structural qualities of the Amazon, it’s the paint deco that really makes it shine, with the combination of skin tone, warpaint (tattoos?), bright silver armor and the dark leather skirt. She’s a very vibrant and exciting looking figure.
ACCESSORIES
The Amazon Elite Warrior is extremely well accessorized. She comes with two axes, two separate helmets, a shield, a sword, and a spear. The shield has a new deco which looks really great. Like the other female Gorgons, she can hold her shield much better than the male figures, and looks truly imposing once she’s all decked out with her gear.
Exclusive domestically to Kokomo Toys and internationally to All the Cool Stuff, this Amazon Elite Warrior has been selling quite briskly. If you want one for yourself (as well you should) you should pull the trigger quickly. She’s got great construction, terrific articulation, and a really exciting paint scheme which all combines to give us a really great figure and an excellent introduction to the female human form within Vitruvian HACKS.
Capable of going toe-to-toe with any enemy on Earth, the fearless Amazon Elite Warriors look like the bad ass soldiers they are. Great sculpting, impressive articulation (with some rocker ankles that are actually functional!) and intricate detailed paint work, this is a figure for the Gorgons to fear. Available in very limited quantities domestically from Kokomo Toys and internationally from All The Cool Stuff, she is the perfect compliment to your Spartan army. A great figure!
I have to think that there will come a time when receiving a new Vitruvian HACKS figure isn’t such a special occasion. Sometime, maybe a few years down the road, after I own a few series of figures, it’ll just be kind of “oh, cool, a new HACKS shipment”.
For now, though? Not so much. At this point, the arrival of a new HACKS action figure is something to be celebrated and something to get very excited for, even when it’s an exclusive item that is little more than a repainted version of an existing figure.
In truth, though, the New Jersey Collectors’ Con Ultimate Spartan figure is more than just a repainted figure, especially so early in the line’s life. He comes with a wealth of different accessories, some of which have not been seen yet, as well as a new head sculpt, which looks to be the same head that’s coming with Leonidas, though I’m not 100% certain of that yet.
For the most part, the Ultimate Spartan is the same base figure as the standard release Spartan with the excellent sculpting and articulation we’ve already gotten used to with other figures. He has fantastic range of motion in his elbows and knees, and I just love the number of different dynamic poses he can get into, just like the other figures. I find that I don’t mind the fact that he closely resembles other Spartans, as it makes it a bit easier to troop build and add some variety to your Spartan legions.
I really like the Leonidas head sculpt with the longer, bushier beard and pretty distinctive look on his face. I would encourage Boss Fight to find a way to maybe get more spare heads out in accessory packs, because once Leonidas is released, I would think you might want to differentiate the ground troops a little bit more. The Blanks will be a good start, but I know I’m not a big fan of eye painting.
The Ultimate Spartan paint deco is pretty fantastic as well. Covered from head to toe in realistic mud/blood spatter he looks like a trooper that has been through the worst that battle has to offer. His skin tone is a bit darker than the other Spartan as well, which is a nice addition to the figure. The spatter detail work is absolutely fantastic with different layers of color differences that really make the figure stand out look exciting. I love that detail work, and although I only bought a single standard Spartan Warrior, I made sure to get a couple of the Ultimates, as it makes sense to me that the ground troops would be the ones that got themselves a little dirtied up.
ACCESSORIES
Aside from the addition of the really nice spatter detail, the Ultimate Spartan comes with a ton of accessories, many of which we have not yet seen before. Several different swords, the familiar scabbard and spear, four different helmets, two axes, two different shields, plus the armor and leather skirt that the standard Spartans come with. All of these different accessories really encourage army building as you can deck out a bunch of Spartans with a bunch of different accessories to really build out your Spartan army and have them look different. Each weapon fits seamlessly into the Spartan’s hand, with the exception of the shields, but that is a known issue at this point with that handle at the end.
Right now the recommendation is to remove the hand at the wrist, slip the shield handle on, then plug the hand back in.
As an exclusive to the New Jersey Collectors Con, the Ultimate Spartan is a pretty fantastic addition to an already robust line of Vitruvian HACKS figures. I remain ecstatic every time I get a new figure in the mail, and find a lot to love about pretty much every one of them. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the box art for the Ultimate Spartan as well. It really is fantastic. Very dramatic and really fun, a nice presentation for the NJCC exclusive.
Ultimate Spartan
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.3
Summary
As an exclusive to the 2016 Spring New Jersey Collectors’ Convention, the Ultimate Spartan is a significant repaint to the standard Spartan Warrior, and stands apart in nearly every way. With a plethora of fantastic accessories and a staggeringly brutal paint deco, the Ultimate Spartan has been in the bowels of war and looks the part. A fantastic figure and a great value, this is one you’ll want to get your hands on.
I loves me some Night Creepers! Even with the strange purple and gray camouflage of the vintage versions, I always really dug the overall look and concept of the Night Creepers. Ninja assassins and saboteurs who leveraged next generation technology was always a really awesome concept, and Larry Hama executed it pretty nicely in the Marvel Comics throughout the 90’s. The way the legs were somewhat thick but still moved really nicely, as well as the elbows on those classic o-ring figures just made the toys felt really “natural” for me and made the figures really easy to play with, which was important back in the day. More modern repaints (specifically the COBRA Urban Strike Force version) made me love the figure even more, especially because the softer plastic for the hands made the thumbs a lot less breakable. And before anyone says anything, no I don’t really consider the Rise of Cobra Night Creeper to be a proper “Urban Strike” repaint.
When Hasbro revealed an updated build for the much maligned 25th Anniversary Night Creeper at JoeCon a number of years ago, I was pretty ecstatic. I wasn’t wild about the COBRA Island 7-Pack version with those dated 25th Anniversary parts, and the more modernized parts combination was fantastic.
The Collectors Club seemed to take a page from that book, but instead of giving us just a new classic looking (or even better, an Urban Strike version!) they used the parts combo as a modern interpretation of the 1998 Toys “R” Us exclusive Arctic 3-Pack. I’m pretty sure I could count the number of fans who wanted a modern update to that figure on one hand, but as a devout fan of the Night Creepers in general, I’m pretty happy to see any iteration of that figure in modern format.
Replacing some of those dated parts with limbs from the Wave 1 G.I. Joe: Retaliation Storm Shadow makes a world of difference, giving us a more modern iteration of the arctic Night Creeper with parts that are better sculpted, larger, and have far better range of motion. The seamless integration of martial arts and technology lives on in these Storm Shadow parts and suits the Night Creeper to perfection. I am a big fan of this updated parts recipe, that is for sure.
Looking at the deco of the figure, he certainly resembles the arctic 3-Pack version from 1998, and from a cost perspective, I suppose I can see why the Club went that way. By eliminating paint masks for elaborate camouflage, they can bring costs down, fitting this figure better within their constricted budget. If money were no factor, I would have much rather preferred an updated vintage deco Night Creeper or the Urban Strike.
ACCESSORIES
The COBRA Night Creeper comes with a decent set of accessories, including a crossbow and the trademark wavy sword that initially came with the vintage figure. He’s got a modern version of the Night Creeper backpack as well as the shoulder cape that originally came with the Retaliation G.I. Joe Trooper. Somewhat strange is that he cannot wear the cape and the backpack at the same time, so you have to pick and choose one or the other. While the cape does have the backpack hole, the peg of the backpack isn’t quite long enough to accommodate for it. He also has the familiar head dress and chest armor that we’ve been getting on versions of the Night Creeper since the COBRA Island set.
I love the Night Creeper. I don’t necessarily love the arctic version of him, and desperately wish the Club had found a way to use this much improved parts combination on a figure with a somewhat more exciting deco. Even as this figure stands, he’s got a great selection of parts and decent accessories, and is a fun figure overall. I just wish his paint scheme was a bit more exciting.
Here is my YouTube review of the figure as well:
FSS 4.0 Night Creeper
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.5
Summary
Ever since they first jumped on the scene in 1990, I’ve loved the Night Creeper, especially their rendition in the Marvel comics by Lee Weeks. The hybrid techno sabotage and ninja elements worked really well together. I will admit I wasn’t wild about the 25th anniversary version, but this FSS rendition fixes pretty much every structural problem I had, I just wish the Collectors Club had been a bit more daring with the color scheme. I really like the addition of the cape, and the modern parts work exceptionally well. A great figure from a build perspective, to be sure.
While many a G.I. Joe fan will bemoan the Battle Corps era for its outlandish colors, spring-loaded weapons and plethora of sub teams, I remained quite interested in G.I. Joe even through those somewhat strange years.
It’s nice to see the Collectors Club pay some attention to the Battle Corps years within the Figure Subscription Service, though I have to admit, somewhat begrudgingly, that the execution leaves a little to be desired.
Back in the day, Barricade was a “Bunker Buster” soldier, the guy who broke down the doors, took volleys of gunfire, but led the rest of the team into the breach. The vintage version of the figure was very large and blocky, yet managed to maintain the great range of motion of those classic o-ring figures, a combination that I really loved, even if some of the colors of the time were questionable.
This version of Barricade seems to want to continue that philosophy, but ends up looking more cybernetic than armored (likely a result of a lack of parts choices that fit the aesthetic well). Using parts from the Rise of Cobra Accelerator Suit figures, the parts are exceptionally well sculpted and have great articulation, and from a pure visual perspective, the figure parts look outstanding. Instead of the Accelerator Suit arms, the Club went with Battle Armor Cobra Commander arms, which is a little unfortunate, as the elbows aren’t quite as flexible as some others, and the arms end up looking just a little “stumpy”. They’re also pretty distinct for Cobra Commander and it’s tough to see them utilized in a different way.
The head sculpt here is a re-use of the 25th Anniversary Chuckles Rise of Cobra “Aqua Viper Officer” which has been used here and there (I believe it was also Dice’s head sculpt) but it works okay as a generic head that doesn’t look too much like anyone else.
In the past, the Club has had a tendency to take really bright figures and mute their colors somewhat for a more modern release. Barricade is actually somewhat the opposite. The blue used is brighter than the vintage version, and even though they added some paint wipe detail to the deco work, the gold ends up looking a little brighter as well.
As for the paint applications themselves, that’s where I really struggle. There is a ton of sculpted detail throughout these Accelerator Suit figures, but Barricade himself is just mostly gold with just a few hints of the blue. He could have been much better served with some additional areas of blue deco where there was armor separation, even if it didn’t completely match the vintage paint masks. Looking at Barricade from the front, it just looks like there’s way too much gold, and they don’t quite capture the “metallic” look of the original.
ACCESSORIES
One thing I have to give the Club some props on with Barricade are the accessories. The figure gets a nice spring-loaded grappling hook launcher, a great shotgun, very nice submachine gun, removable pistol and helmet, as well as a really cool breacher tool/battle axe. There’s a lot of gear here, and a lot of it looks really great. I love the blue pistol, even if it does look somewhat futuristic (either that or it’s some kind of taser). Regardless, I really like the blocky barrel and how well it fits in the holster, even though the holster really struggles to stay flush with the leg.
He’s got the Accelerator Suit helmet which doesn’t jive real well with the original look of Barricade, but it’s still a neat helmet that I really like the design of.
Barricade has been one of my favorite characters and vintage figures, and I was really excited to hear the Club was bringing him into FSS 4.0. Unfortunately the end result isn’t quite as good as I hoped it would be.
Check out the YouTube video review below!
FSS 4.0 Barricade
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.1
Summary
I love that the G.I. Joe Collectors Club is digging into the Battle Corps era to pull out some of the key characters in that subset, and Barricade is a fantastic choice. That being said, I’m not a big fan of the parts they chose, and the paint applications leave a lot to be desired. The shade of gold and blue feel a little bland and the color breaks don’t take full advantage of the great Accelerator Suit sculpting pattern. I’m happy to see Barricade get some modern treatment, and I’m also happy to see somewhat of a modern twist, but the end result isn’t all that appealing.
