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.
Well, it’s still a mystery, for the most part. Folks are still suspecting that Fun Publications’ license with Hasbro will expire (and not be renewed) at the end of 2016. So far we have neither seen nor heard anything to contradict this.
Over on the GIJoeClub Message Board, a thread has opened up with an inquiry into this, but still no information is imminent.
At this point the most succinct reply is to “Check the January newsletter” for more information on their membership plans. This does continue to sound ominous, however, there is also a post on the forum there that mentions 2016 Club members being eligible to purchase FSS 5.0. That, of course, begs the question… will there be an FSS 5.0 if the license expires in 2016?
Perhaps Fun Publications will just not be able to hold a convention, yet can still produce product? Or if they launch FSS 5.0 within the 2016 calendar year, does that still fall within their license period?
Still many more questions than answers, though it sounds like once the January newsletter hits, we should get at least some information and some idea of what’s to come.
One thing is clear, and it was especially evident as I ran down my list of Top 10 figures for 2015, from a product standpoint, the Club going away would be unfortunate. There was some great figures released through the FSS and Convention in 2015, and with the G.I. Joe fandom especially grasping for any crumbs, this seems like a bad time to take away whatever morsels we might get.
The last couple of years as I sat down to write this up, I think ‘oh, this will be easy this year…there was barely any product’!
Then I go through all of my reviews over the past 12 months and realize that for a line that is supposedly on prolonged life support, we still got some GREAT stuff in 2015. Really great stuff.
Now, I migrated to a new review system in 2015, one that makes calculating review scores a bit more granular. But, I’ll be honest… I still went by the seat of my pants on this rundown, and looked at these figures from the perspective of a 100 mile view. It can be tough to write up a review “hot off the presses” right when I get a figure in hand, because honestly, that’s often when I’m in love the most. It can be tough to be impartial that close to the newness of that toy for the first time.
So I whittled down the list and ultimately looked at figures that I could step away from for a little while and gauge my appreciation.
At any given time throughout 2015 it felt like a pretty slow news year for G.I. Joe, but as always, when you stop and look back, suddenly things don’t look quite so small.
Granted G.I. Joe product at retail was pretty much focused to a singular burst in late summer as the 50th Anniversary exploded, then faded, even though we got Convention product and FSS figures earlier in the year. With all that being said, it still feels like there were plenty of “banner moments” in G.I. Joe news for the year that was.
News was breaking right up until the last moment, and I’m actually a bit worried that if I post this prior to December 31st I might end up missing something!
Click the “read more” link below to check out the full list!
A few months ago word emerged that Hasbro had signed a deal with an International convention holder focused on developing a worldwide “Transformers Experience” and many folks feared what that meant for an annual Botcon. I’ll be honest, I kind of glossed over it myself, thinking that it was probably an entirely separate type of thing.
I might have been wrong.
According to AllSpark, word has emerged that the G.I. Joe and Transformers Collectors Club may be ending their agreement with Hasbro by the end of 2016.
There is no official word on this, so take it with a huge grain of salt right now, but a look at the Terms and Conditions on the Collectors Club membership renewals reveals the following:
Please note that at this time we are only accepting memberships and renewals for the 2016 calendar year. All memberships will end with the December 2016 issue. For example: if your membership renewal has a February start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring along with 11 monthly issues. If your membership renewal has a March start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring and 10 monthly issues.
You read that right, all memberships, regardless of when they were signed, are destined to expire at the end of 2016. That certainly seems to indicate 2016 as some cut off date for the joint agreement between Fun Publications and Hasbro.
As I said, there is NO official word on this yet and likely won’t be for a little while, but some puzzle pieces are starting to fit together, and the picture they’re painting isn’t a great one.
I know what a lot of people will think. A lot of people will think that this is great news, they’re tired of Fun Pub, it’s time to move on. But I think those same people need to stop and think ‘what are we moving on to?’
Whether you like them or not, Fun Publications was reponsible for over 30 G.I. Joe items in 2015, more than doubling Hasbro’s own Toys “R” Us exclusive product. Once that agreement ends (if it indeed does) what does that mean for future product?
