I suppose it was inevitable. Once Static Line was released with Sky Patrol last year, many folks suspected it was just a matter of time before Backstop got some modern era love. Turns out it happened just about exactly one year later.
As this year’s parachute figure, Backstop was a bit tough for fans to get their clutches on, though I have to admit, his connections to Canada were an interesting way to tie him to the story, even if him parachuting didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Like Static Line last year, Backstop’s new head sculpt does the figure no favors, with the colors and sculpt bleeding together into a somewhat amorphous, sorta head shaped thing with a helmet that is way too small to realistically fit a head inside. The figure build is the same as Static Line as well with Pursuit of COBRA Beachhead torso and Resolute Duke legs doing an okay job approximating what the vintage figure looked like back in the day.
The dark green and yellow combination, with the right hints of light gray are all reminiscent of the 1987 figure, and this sort of feels like another example of digging into G.I. Joe obscurity simply because the tooling exists. I know there are some very dedicated Backstop fans (or at least one of you… 😉 ) and for your sake I’m glad this figure made it out in some way, but it does seem to be stretching the limits of necessity.
In truth, I actually do like the figure’s build, the combination of armor and tactical uniform is blended really well and he’s got some great articulation, even if the head sculpt doesn’t help things much. I may talk a little crap about the need for a modern version of this particular character, but the figure itself isn’t a bad one.
Accessories
Being the parachute figure, Backstop comes with the parachute and webgear/backpack along with a revolver and knuckled knife. The knife is a nice homage to the sheathed blade that was sculpted onto Backstop’s chest back in the day, and the silver pistol he came with then was pretty slick as well.
Did we really need an updated Backstop? I’m going to catch flack from at least one person for saying this, but probably not. That being said, the figure is good. I like the build, he moves well, the paint apps work and overall it’s a fun figure, even if I’m not a big fan of the squishy head sculpt.
Backstop
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.2
Summary
This year’s parachute figure, Backstop is an interesting addition to the modern era collection, and not one I necessarily would have thought we needed. That being said, like Static Line before him, the figure is pretty decent from the neck down, though suffers from recent sculpting techniques and the lack of a removable helmet. He’s got good accessories and vintage accurate paint applications and hey, comes with a working parachute. Not a bad figure at all.
I’ve covered the BattleForce: 2000 parts of the Convention Set review, and now it’s time to take a look at the bad guys!
The COBRA B.A.T.s have been a mainstay at retail ever since their debut in 2008. They are fantastic figures, no doubt about that, but their prevalence impacts their desirability, and I don’t feel like there’s anything in these versions that warrants the steep Collectors Club price tag.
Check out the reviews below or on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Review Page.
Instead of “it’s Malibu Stacy with a new hat”…it’s Malibu Stacy with a new head. It’s nine Malibu Stacies, with ten new heads, and it still doesn’t feel worth the cover price.
Believe me, I don’t want to railroad the point of the repeated uses of the B.A.T., I do wish the Collectors Club hadn’t done it, especially now with only one more opportunity for a convention set before losing the license, but it’s said and done, I suppose I should move on.
Plus I pretty much said everything I needed or wanted to say with the B.A.T. Squad Leader Review. I was kind of a dick.
Like the regular B.A.T. releases we’ve received over the years, this figure is good from an aesthetic and functional perspective, with some great accessories, fantastic sculpting and very impressive articulation. They managed to capture the essence and energy of the original Battle Android Trooper and make all the right improvements to it, offering dual replaceable limbs and maintaining the backpack storage unit (though with only room for two attachments). Later on in the line they came up with a battle damaged head sculpt and chest plate which added some fantastic variety to the figure, and the chest plate is carried forward here, though not the head, because they’ve evolved to the second generation B.A.T. head for this release.
I might have appreciated this update a bit more if the Club had taken some steps to make it feel like more of an evolution, rather than just repainting it from the neck down and slapping a v2 head on top. If you remember, the version 2 of the B.A.T. was pretty structurally different than its predecessor, more streamlined, a more rounded shape, and overall a pretty different look. Calling this B.A.T. an “upgrade” when it’s basically just a new head feels kinda hollow.
Even with the limitations on the sculpt, though, they did a good job trying to mirror the v2 paint deco at least. The black, orange, and hints of florescent green all call back to the vintage version and work surprisingly well even on this older body. That being said, though, it’s still exceptionally difficult to view this as a proper version 2 B.A.T.
Accessories
Like the Squad Leader, this B.A.T. includes a bunch of accessories. All of the same attachments you’re accustomed to (as well as the newly tooled sword that came with the Inferno B.A.T.) and the busted chest plate. He’s equipped for just about anything.
Yes the B.A.T. is a good figure. No I can’t rationalize including nine of them in this set, or the idea that simply dropping a new head on the existing body is a suitable upgrade. This one ranks high on my list of Convention Set disappointments, hopefully next year the Club can go out on a high note.
COBRA B.A.T.
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.4
Summary
What else can I really say? A decent base figure that I’ve already got more than enough times in my collection, with a new head sculpt that doesn’t feel especially new. The B.A.T. concept feels tiring and this update does nothing to change that.
I’ve long established that the COBRA B.A.T. was pretty close to the best figure in the 25th Anniversary era. The combination of sculpted detail, articulation, vintage aesthetics and modern improvements all came together into a single package of perfection that defined what collectors should be looking for in their modern updates to vintage figures.
I loved it.
Heck, I liked it even after Hasbro re-released it three times. I liked it a little less the fourth time. The fifth time, yeah, kind of got a little “been there, done that”. The sixth time? Come on now. Then the Club gave us the Nano B.A.T. Then the Inferno B.A.T.
Now… in a boxed set that costs over $400, you expect collectors to invest their hard earned, too easily disposed of cash on more B.A.T.s? Not just more B.A.T.s but essentially TEN MORE B.A.T.s?!
Yeah, no bueno.
In fact, the whole ten B.A.T. fiasco is probably the single most reason I did not buy a Convention Set this year (you can thank noted author James Kavanaugh, Jr. for this review!) and to this day the mere idea of paying Collectors Club cash for ten figures that are essentially barely repainted versions of retail figures that were eight dollars a few years back seems pretty ridiculous.
I know, I’m an adult collector, stomping my feet and proclaiming the “unfairness” of it all. ‘You don’t like it, don’t buy it’.
Well, I didn’t like it. And I didn’t buy it. But people still wanted me to review it. 🙂
The B.A.T. Squad Leader is your basic Battle Android Trooper with red parts and a version 2 head sculpt (that probably should have been originally produced for the FSS Inferno B.A.T. a short while ago). The head looks nice and the B.A.T. is a great figure, but at the end of the day, I have around ten B.A.T.s in my collection already, (ten individual B.A.T.s, not even counting army builders) I really am struggling to find a reason to stockpile any more, especially at nearly thirty bones apiece.
I do like the shade of red here, it contrasts nicely with the black and even the bright green, but ultimately it’s just a slightly darker B.A.T. version 2. You’d think for collector money that perhaps we could have at least gotten some semblance of an Overkill or something, but no such luck.
Accessories
The B.A.T. Squad Leader comes with the same accessory layout as every other B.A.T. so far, with the addition of a spring-loaded rocket launcher. He has two hands, claw, flamethrower and laser attachments, his backpack, the glass covering for his chest panel as well as the shattered glass panel as well.
Don’t get me wrong, the B.A.T. is and has always been a great figure. Pretty much everything you could be looking for. But it gets to a point where enough is enough and expecting to pay for 10 versions of a figure we’ve already gotten 10 times at retail and elsewhere feels more than a little unreasonable.
COBRA B.A.T. Squad Leader
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3
Summary
Good figure and decent colors, but it suffers from the nature of redundancy. Yes the updated version 2 head sculpt is appreciated, but the endless rehashing of the Battle Android Trooper is getting old, especially at collectors’ club pricing.
One good thing about this review is that you won’t have to hear me complain endlessly about the quality of the new head sculpt… because there isn’t a new head sculpt.
Knockdown comes with Kwinn’s noggin underneath a repainted General Mayhem helmet, which actually approximates the Knockdown look far better than I thought it might. Not only that, but it actually gives us a removable helmet, which is something we don’t get very often these days from the Club.
That’s about the only good thing I can say about this particular figure, however. Knockdown is, unfortunately, kind of a mess otherwise.
The Club chooses an assortment of parts that you would never think would work together, but somehow they do, at least from an aesthetic perspective in attempting to replicate Knockdown’s vintage look. Unfortunately, even if they look like Knockdown, they don’t provide much in the way of function or fun. His arms are especially painful, coming from the Pursuit of COBRA Storm Shadow (the crappy one, not any of the good ones) which limits the elbow range of motion and makes the figure a frustration to pose. Knockdown uses Techno-Viper’s legs, which are a good choice, but the combination of the short arms with the legs makes him look squat.
Techno-Viper’s vest over his torso replicates the shape and design of the vintage Knockdown as well, but the stickers on the front are a pretty poor substitute for actual textured containers there. I’d almost prefer they simply left off that deco entirely rather than trying to replicate something three dimensional with decals. It doesn’t work.
Accessories
Knockdown comes with the removable helmet, the huge and bizarre vintage pistol and one of the pulse rifles that came during the Rise of COBRA era. It’s a strange conglomeration of accessories that I suppose accentuates the strangeness of the overall figure as well.
I wasn’t a big fan of the vintage Knockdown, and I’m not a big fan of this modern interpretation either. The parts combination is strange, the decals on the torso armor make little sense, and he just leaves me pretty cold altogether.
BattleForce: 2000 Knockdown
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
2.1
Summary
While I really like the use of Kwinn’s head sculpt here and the 30th Anniversary Techno Viper legs, most everything else on this figure is a swing and a miss. While accurate to the vintage look, the color and texture combinations do not work, the arms’ reduced articulation impacts the poseability of the figure, and his weapons are really nothing to write home about. Not a whole lot to be excited about here.
