Direct to Consumer - Wave 1 Recap
Assortment: Direct-to-Consumer
Wave 1
Price: MSRP $4.99
Availability: July, 2005
All right, I'm trying something new this time around. As well as individual reviews of each figure, I'm now going to attempt to do Wave recaps for each wave of Direct to Consumer figures, but in more an editorial style than a review style.
It would appear to me that Wave 1 is definitely starting a trend, judging by the layout for Wave 2 and promises for figures beyond. Hasbro is working up a new format, especially for collectors. The breakdown looks to be three Joes and three COBRA's per assortment, with one COBRA character and a pair of army builders. There are no guarantees that assortments will continue on this path in the future, but at least for now, that's what we've got.
There's a mixture of resculpted parts on old figures...retooled molds to create a new look, and even completely newly sculpted figures altogether. Do not expect lots of completely new tools, however, unless this line really takes off and the Joe design team budget increases. Considering what we've seen in the first wave, Hasbro doesn't really NEED to use new tooling to give us some cool new characters and interesting figures.
But I don't want folks to think that merely by going Direct-to-Consumer that all of our problems will immediately be solved. This is a drastic step in the right direction for Hasbro in my opinion, however, I wouldn't expect 100% improvement right away.
Already in the first wave we still have some proportion problems and mold issues that take away from a couple of the figures. Figures like Spirit, which hold such promise, yet have such failures at their foundation bring to light that things are still not perfect. But they are really taking strong strides towards being a great action figure line...but they definitely need our support.
I'm actually quite amazed that the figures really mesh with each other as well as they do. I mean we've got molds from all over the spectrum here. Still, the figures DO work and work well individually as well as as an assortment, which is important. The Joes fit in well with each other, and the COBRA's all look as COBRA's should.
All in all, Hasbro is definitely taking our critcism and comments to heart, and is making some great, great changes. We should have patience and continue to give them our feedback and our commitment, I think great things could come from it. Pics of each individual team follow:
To see the individual reviews, follow the links: