General
Mayhem - M.A.R.S. Invades! - Page 2
G.I. Joe International Collector's Convention, 2005
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Toy
name: General Mayhem - M.A.R.S. Invades
Assortment: Convention Exclusive,
2005
Price: Assorted
Availability: June, 2005
Key Features & Price Points
- 15 Figure
Set w/ Filecards, accessories, and Stealth AGP - $240.00
- Steel Brigade Troopers 2-Pack - $35.00
- Steel Brigade Command 3-Pack (Dragonsky, Gung Ho, Steel Brigade Commander)-
$65.00
- Steel Brigade Skyhawk 3-Pack - $35.00
- Iron Mech - $28.00
- COBRA Moray (Tiger Force Moray with COBRA Blue deck piece)- $75.00
So I think I've gushed over the figures of this year's convention set quite enough, don't you think? Endless compliments about mold choices, paint apps and characters must be getting pretty old by now, huh? Well, I'll try hard to reign myself in on the vehicle reviews, but not necessarily because you don't want to read anything positive, but more because they really don't knock me out like the figures do.
Perhaps had the Quality Control been a little bit better I might have gotten a better first impression...but at this point, I'm a little frustrated, and hopefully that won't come through too much in the review...may not be able to help it though. Let's just say that out of the four "assembly required" vehicles that I got, only ONE was complete and unbroken. Not a very good average, especially when I'm trying to get prompt reviews done, and especially when I need to travel across the country before I can even check the vehicles out.
I understand this is probably not really the Collectors' Club's fault...whatever factory they're using may be cutting some corners. But when I pay $35 for a 3-Pack of vehicles, I'd like to have the parts there to make more than 1 vehicle. I'm positive the Club will do it's best to rectify the situation, but until then I'm stuck with half complete vehicles for review, which unfortunately isn't going to help their case out any, which is kind of what I'm trying to do here. Honestly, though, I really cannot complain a whole lot. Even with the numerous items I had issues with on these Con vehicles, all it took was a single email, and parts should already be on their way to me. So even when you DO run into the occasional quality control problem, the Club is right there to take care of it quickly and easily. I'll be sure to get more pictures up once I get stickers and missing parts on my items.
First we have the attende bonus vehicle...anyone who bought a boxed set got one of these 100% free of charge! A terrific deal, and it has the potential to be a great vehicle. Of course my AGP was missing the front right gun and the stickers, and the canopy tab is broken off so it will not close. That leaves me with a pretty sad looking spectacle, and something that will not really give the impact I wanted it to.
But maybe we should pretend that the vehicle is complete? Out of all Iron Grenadier vehicles, I have to admit that the AGP is probably among my least favorite. It lacks the punch and design flair of stuff like the DEMON, Razorback, or even Despoiler or Evader. Still, it retains a pretty cool, unique look. The tall, rounded cockpit area is definitely the most striking part of it, thrusting the pilot right out into mid air to control this beast. This steep, sloped main fuselage is complimented nicely by the sharply angular wings that jut out from the rear and almost make this thing look air-worthy. These wings are the neatest design flair of the AGP, tipped with four missiles and looking pretty sleek. But where would the AGP be without propulsion...not real far, I'd have to say, and so they stuck two massive thrusters on it, which can really rotate. These jets are large and only semi-realistic, but still provide some semblance of real world science, and look pretty cool while they're at it.
The armament on this thing isn't huge...the aforementioned air to air missiles are joined by two cannons on the front, which look large enough to cause some serious problems to folks unfortunate enough to cross their paths. All in all, the AGP looks to be a pretty decent small-mid sized air vehicle. Fast, potent, and slick.
Now the Collectors' Club takes it a step further and makes this a "Stealth AGP", insinuating that it can now "cloak" and become radar-invisible. The Club achieves this concept by making the red and smokey gray semi-transluscent. While that might not look real effective, it does look darn cool and really gives the vehicle a distinctive design. It does make it look quite different from the standard AGP (as the reds and blacks are swapped as well), but not in a bad way...and combined with the gold of the weapons, the whole thing looks neat. For a free vehicle, it definitely isn't bad...not sure I'd pay exhorbident amounts for it on eBay, but the vehicle itself is still pretty cool. I'd love to review it with stickers intact, but I will have to wait a little while until the Club gets the stickers sent to me.
Now, how about the vehicles I actually paid for? First of all, I think the SKyhawk 3-Pack is a terrific deal. $35 for three miniature Skyhawks is a surprisingly affordable and effective method for equipping our Steel Brigade members...of course, only 1/3 of my Skyhawks is currently usable, but I can at least get a review together based on this.
First of all, I've never been a big fan of the Skyhawk in general. I know they were used pretty extensively in the cartoon, and yeah, in the comics, too, but I could never really get my head around it. It seemed unreasonably unrealistic and not really a viable option for the Joes. But for some reason, getting these Skyhawks has really changed my mind. It's not like the colors on the older versions were all that bad...olive green is a pretty generic, military color and works fine, but for some reason, this three pack just hits me the right way.
The sloped canopy starts off the praise, as it fits the pilot pretty perfectly and wraps around, yet still provides very effective protection for whoever is inside. The overall shape for the Skyhawk is very angular and very striking, and it works well...but it can only work as well as the "realism" factor. That was always my sticking point with the Skyhawks before--they just didn't seem realistic enough. But perhaps now I've loosened up a little bit and I can accept the flat spoilers and oversized thrusters, I don't know. Perhaps now I can more appreciate the compact "strap-in rocket" philosophy of this cool little jetpod, I don't know. Whatever the case is, I find myself really digging the Skyhawks now that I have a little armada of them.
The landing skids are another nice touch, instead of using traditional wheeled landing gear, enabling for landing in more diverse locations, similar to a helicopter. Plus with the missiles on the skis, it adds another element of potent offense. Speaking of offense, though, it is unfortunate that it would appear as if the chin guns for the Skyhawk are casualties of mold loss or degredation. Those little guns are an AWESOME addition, and honestly, they'll be missed...sure we still have the guns molded to the side of the cockpit...and we still have the thin, wicked looking rockets. But those guns added a great element, and it's too bad they're gone. I do think I'll see if I can hunt down any cheap fodder Skyhawks to try and cannibalize weapons from them, but as it stands now, they're not here, and it does effect the overall coolness of the vehicle.
The colors for
the Skyhawks are another great, great bonus for this little aircraft. Using
some funky marblization techniques, the Skyhawks end up with a very cool gray
urban camouflage type of look without really much in the way of paint apps.
The dark gray trim and overall colored look of these little vehicles really
brings them to the Steel Brigade and makes them look cool...they end up matching
the soldiers quite nicely and looking great for some small sized urban air assault
vehicles.
In spite of two out of three of my vehicles coming with missing parts, and in
spite of the mold for the chinguns being missing in action, these Skyhawks are
still pretty sweet little vehicles. Three for $35 is a surprisingly great price,
and these are among my favorite vehicle pieces for the Con exclusives.
Next in line is another vehicle for the Iron Grenadiers. The "Iron Mech" is a futuristic mechanized battle suit for Destro's clan and is based off of the "Defense Mech" alpha vehicle released a short while ago. As a fan of Exo-Squad, I really dig the Defense Mech, and honestly the Iron Mech improves on it in every way. Well...every way except the price. $28 for this one item seems just a little bit steep, even with real electronic features and a nice box with new art.
The mech itself looks cool, as the Defense Mech did. The slightly rounded, but stylish canopy fits in with the broad shouldered, more angular look of the mech itself and you end up with a pretty imposing physique. The shoulders jut upwards over the bulk of the body armor, but quickly become somewhat sleeker and more useful as you go down to the ends, where you find a cool weapon on each arm. The neatest part about these arms has got to be the actual working pistons that move when the arms are posed, although the large, robotic arms are not really poseable, they still work. The body is thick and solid and the two legs underneath are somewhat bulky and lack a certain movement. Still, those large legs help portray a sense of power to the Mech, especially with those huge, clunky feet. The entire Mech is full of intricate cabling and armored plating, and the entire package just looks great, especially as an Iron Grenadier vehicle...it seems like something they might use.
Topping off this pretty neat vehicle is an Iron Grenadier-based paint scheme. They use black as the base paint, which makes perfect sense and gives the Iron Mech a nice, dark, powerful look. There is a lot of gold paint strewn throughout, on the canopy, the central structure and the arms. It all blends nicely and really works well. Another nice point is the top of the Mech has a great little addition to it with some red words saying "Enhanced by MARS, Inc" and a cool Iron Grenadier logo. Even if it is a repaint of a vehicle we got only a few months ago, the Iron Mech works pretty nicely here and I think it's pretty neat. I'm not really sure if it's "Convention Exclusive" worthy, though, especially at an almost $30 price tag for what is, essentially, a $10 vehicle (and that one came with a figure!). I know how pricing works, but I also know that there are a lot of Joe toys I can buy for $30...and a lot of them much cooler than this one. So while I do like this vehicle, if you're not a completist I'm not sure there's much that merits a purchase here. It isn't much different than the Defense Mech and certainly doesn't add a whole lot that you cannot get from other IG vehicles. Sure, it's got a real nice display box, but I'm still not sure I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Personally, I'd rather have the three urban Skyhawks for $7 more.
Big thanks to Fred from JoeBattlelines for assisting me with this picture!
Now, what about perhaps the most controversial item of this convention? The infamous blue Moray? Honestly? I didn't even consider buying it.
I can see things from the Club's point of view...they need to sell through past year's exclusives and try to make some money back...but shoot, man. I just bought one of these last year (and a frustratingly inferiour one at that) for 65 bones. Now one year later I'm supposed to buy another one for $75? Especially when someone can go down to Toys "R" Us and buy one for $30-40? With two figures??
You know I love the Moray as much as anyone else...I love the fact that this is actually a COBRA Moray instead of a G.I. Joe one. But I just cannot swing it. That's a whole lotta money for someone already paying a whole lotta money just to be at the con, and when I first heard the price I immediately shook my head, knowing it would not be mine. It's really too bad, because the blue deck is sharp and crisp, a beautiful shade of COBRA blue, nicely matching the COBRA Commander from the Operation:Anaconda convention set. The new sticker set is beautifully executed, too (although I'm not sure if the decals are precut or not) but man...getting a single blue deck for $75? Just can't do it, even if it comes with the rest of last year's Moray, too.
I was admittedly quite frustrated at this turn of events...partly because I was stung at the increased cost for what is the same piece as last year in blue...but also because this new Moray was so much BETTER than the one we got last year, and now I find myself stuck with the Tiger Force one. :(
Also, I was hoping we'd get something new and interesting...but instead, it's pretty much a re-hash, most likely due to lost tooling. I know, it happens, but I'm still a little bummed about it. Can I recommend this vehicle? Heck, I don't know...it was supposedly limited to 200 pieces, and if that's the case, you won't have to worry about it because there won't be any. But if they WERE available I'm still not sure I'd be able to recommend it at $75 cold. That's a lotta cash for something these days...heck, you can buy a classic red version for that price. Figuring what kinds of prices this item might artificially inflate to, buyer beware...I'm not certain it's worth it.
So, all in all, as cool as the figures were this year, overall the vehicles left me a little chilled. Rehashed vehicles of recent releases, missing mold parts, weird QC, and even having to cut out your own stickers...they just seemed kind of "phoned in". I know Brian and the guys at the Collectors' Club put in a ton of work for these sets, and it does make a difference. But in this case, I'm just not a big fan of their choices and don't consider many of these really a "must buy". That's not to say you shouldn't support the Club or you that the vehicles are worthless...they definitely are not. I truly appreciate all of the hard work the Club folks put into these things, and even if the execution of these aren't really to my liking. Of course that's more the vehicle choices than the actual way they are made...so fans of these originals might very well fall in love with these as well...I wouldn't blame you at all.
When it all boils down, though, standing back and looking at the figures and everything surrounding the set...once again the Club did an expert job in choosing unique, interesting molds, fantastic paint apps, and an enjoyable theme. Great job once again, guys...this figure set is without a doubt the best one ever.
Image from the G.I. Joe Collectors' Club Convention Website
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