G.I. Joe Collectors Club "Mission Brazil" 2011 Convention Exclusive
Page 1 of 3
Page One The Cobras |
Page Two The Joes |
The Convention wrapped up quite a while ago, and I still find myself disappointed that I missed it. Far and away one of my favorite weekends of the year, I've only missed two of them in the last 8 years, and I regret each one.
This one was especially painful as the Convention Exclusives have sky-rocketed in price and are tough to locate...but even more than that, I greatly missed the always awesome interaction with fellow fans of the brand, the Collectors' Club themselves, Hasbro's PR guys, and Hasbro themselves. A lot of great friends there, who I only get to see once a year.
But this review isn't for me to bitch and moan about missing the trip to Orlando...this is about the toys!
For the first time ever, the Collectors' Club really branched out into the new style format to give us a very cool all inclusive convention set that tried to cover all bases and satisfy the fandom at large. Sure, we got the modern style Crimson Strike Team back in 2009, but the decision to totally 100% revisit a past set left many fans conflicted and even angry (myself included!).
This time around, they dipped a bit into the vintage well, but also really branched out into some new and interesting ideas and brought several themes together into one very cool, cohesive Con set that offered items to please vintage purists, Pursuit of Cobra fans, foreign fanatics, and pretty much anyone in between.
I will also attempt to go through this entire review without tooting my own horn for publicly proclaiming the "Special Mission Brazil" concept as a Con Exclusive idea nearly 2 years ago. Go me!
Cobra De Aco "Steel Cobra"
Ever since they did the Cobra Mortal a few years back, the demand has been out there for Cobra De Aco. A Brazilian exclusive, De Aco has always been a holy grail item for many domestic collectors, especially finding one with the chrome finish on the head intact.
The Collectors' Club went traditional all the way with this one, basically using updated modern parts matching the vintage look, and coloring the figure exactly how he was back in the day. While I had some complaints about this with the Cobra Mortal, I don't mind so much this time around, since at least we're getting the character in the more modern tooling style.
The parts work well together and make for a great update to the classic, bringing this low profile Brazilian character into the modern day Cobra universe very nicely. I really enjoyed the way the Club wove his backstory into Claymore's and tied to the two characters together, using the old school Mission Brazil concept to do it. This more modern De Aco fits in very nicely with the Cobra aesthetic and I love the combination of black and yellow. As a nice side effect, he matches the Battle Android Troopers pretty damn well.
One aspect of the old De Aco character I wish they had stuck with a bit was the idea that he was at least a little bit of a cyborg. Back in the Brazil days, the reason he was called "Steel Cobra" was...well...because, we was a "Steel Cobra". This cool element got lost along the way with the Club version, but the figure itself is still intact and looking good.
I must complain at least a bit about the accessories, though. I understand the Club's desire to maintain a sense of consistency, but I'll be honest, the Flash backpack and laser rifle are pretty awful accessories, especially in this day and age. While I like that the hose has been extended, and an additional hole was added in the backpack to accomodate the rifle, ultimately the weapon and backpack look aged and are not easily held, which makes it a disappointment. I do wish the guys at the GIJCC had shown a little creativity with that one, though I understand their choice.
De Aco was one of the few figures in this set where the Club went purely traditional, and it still works amazingly well. It's great to have a very rare foreign character fully invested in the Cobra hierarchy, and tying him into the Python Patrol was a stroke of genius.
A cool homage to a Brazilian exclusive...a very appealing paint scheme, and essentially an entire blank slate for Joe ethusiasts to play with. I approve on all counts. A very neat looking figure.
GRADE: 
Python Trooper
Okay, I have a confession. I really, really, really, really don't like the Python Patrol. I mean really. The concept of stealth uniforms and equipment to avoid electronic detection is fantastic, but the design of the figures back in the day was completely and utterly horrific. As everyone probably knows by now, I have a certain appreciation for the bright colors of the old days...I love the Battle Corps stuff in spite of the neon, but I gotta be honest, the Python Patrol stuff is an absolute eye sore to me. The blends of grays, yellows, greens, and blacks are all flat out bizarre, especially considering these guys are supposed to be stealth operatives. I am totally in love with the deco designs of the vehicles (and thus, I really enjoyed the Toys "R" Us Exclusive set from the early Spy Troops days) but the figures just do not work for me on any level whatsoever.
That being said, I at least have to give the Club their credit for taking a concept that many fans do like and finishing off the Python Patrol roster for those vintage purists who were feeling like they were missing someone in their display. With Hasbro releasing the Crimson Guard and Python Officer on store shelves (and with a few different Copperheads who kind of pass for his Python Patrol version as well), it only made sense for the Collectors' Club to try and finish the roster, and they did a good job reproducing the Trooper here.
I'm not a huge fan of the original Trooper tooling, and find his lack of fully flexible elbow joints somewhat annoying, and all of those traits are present in these Club versions, but a need to be consistent drives them to use those origina tools so they match up with what fans have already. It is a sound business decision, even if I'm not a fan of the decision from a toy and playability point of view. The colors, while obnoxious, are very close to the original, and I have to give them props for that.
The accessories are fine, too, if somewhat sparse. He comes with the removable helmet, the webgear, and the AK-47, which are all good additions. Because of the funky hands, the Trooper has a hard time holding the AK, which is a shame, and if nothing else, it has gotten me even more fired up to get my hands on the upcoming Pursuit of Cobra Wave 5 Cobra Trooper, which is an improvement in every single possible area.
The figure itself? Yeah, not really a big fan. But again I can appreciate what the Club was trying to accomplish, and I think for a figure that they were trying to make an accurate completion of the Python Patrol roster, fitting in with what came before, it meets all of those goals.
In the end, while this figure doesn't necessarily hold a strong appeal to me personally, I think the Club did a good job getting something together that many vintage purists will enjoy, and did it fairly well with their available resources. This figure wouldn't be on the top of my want list, but if a Python Trooper was something I was interested in, the way the Club handled it was good enough.
GRADE:
Python Tele-Viper
Most of my opinions about the Python Trooper will also fit with this figure. As not a real huge fan of the gray/green/yellow Python Patrol paint deco, there isn't much that I really love about these figures. Initially slated to be released with a 25th Anniversary Battle Station, the Python Patrol Tele-Viper got prematurely canceled (and then repurposed in the Rise of Cobra version with some different parts and paint) and now the Club has him offered up here.
The original 25th Anniversary Tele-Viper was a repaint of the Cobra Viper, which worked relatively well, with the exception of the contorted Viper hands. Well, the Club fixes that error as well as makes him somewhat more accurate to the original, by using the Flint arms. Unfortunately, I really have no love for the Flint arms either. So many fans demanded that Flint get the gloves he deserved, but the end result of the arms was a somewhat wonky elbowed, funky handed concoction that made Flint look more like he should, but didn't really help his functionality. The limited arm movement and the very specific open handed pose was limited to a pretty specific "hold my shotgun" pose and isn't all that flexible for other purposes.
Still, it's a damn sight better than the Viper hands, and does look more like the Tele-Viper of old.
The Club didn't stick strictly to the vintage original in the paint scheme department, making some adjustments based either on aesthetics or cost, but the overall spirit of the original is intact, and does a good job filling in some of the holes in your Python Patrol roster.
The Club did branch out a bit on the accessories here, which is cool. Tele-Viper comes with the awesome Resolute Destro's briefcase computer with concealed machine gun, and I love that. It lends some credence to the old Spy Troops versions of the communications officer, where they weren't just communications specialists, but also personal bodyguards to Cobra Commander. I love the idea that these tech nerds are also fighters, and these are some really awesome accessories to include.
By and large, another critical member of the Python Patrol staff. From a pure toy perspective not one of my favorites, but ultimately a necessary update performed well that is sure to please the fans. He gets some bonus points for his awesome accessory compliment, and even though he is a bit different than the classic version, he accentuates enough of the positives from it to work.
GRADE:
That covers the Cobra side of things from the main boxed set, and brings us to the G.I. Joe side. To tackle the G.I. Joe side, I will move on to Page Two.
Page One The Cobras |
Page Two The Joes |
