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Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterbreaker

Along with the Old Snake/Stealth B.A.T.s 3-Pack, the Collectors Club sparks that G.I. Joe and Transformers connection with Marissa Faireborn, member of Earth Defense Command, and daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye.  Pulled from her Transformers Season 3 animated appearance, this figure takes some great queues from that old school Sunbow look and brings in Afterbreaker (formerly Afterburner) member of the Technobots and her partner during some of her Season 3 adventures.

Marissa Faireborn (TFWiki Entry)

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Along with Old Snake, Marissa Faireborn and the Earth Defense Command made that tenuous connection between the G.I. Joe and Transformers universes much less tenuous in the Sunbow days. As the daughter of Lady Jaye and Flint, Marissa was a direct correlation between the G.I. Joe universe of the 80s and the Transformers universe of the post-2005 third Season of the animated series.

As a pseudo futuristic story (taking place after the events in Transformers: The Movie) Season 3 had the opportunity to sort of continue that Sunbow universe that was started in years previous.  As you can see from the video above, too, Marissa Faireborn was a pretty important character throughout much of the third season of the animated series, appearing in several separate episodes.

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Like Old Snake, Marissa Fairborne uses purely existing parts, with the Cover Girl/Sparta head, Resolute Scarlett/FSS Jinx torso and arms, and Rise of COBRA Cover Girl legs. These are relatively modern parts and as such the articulation and sculpting look good, although like FSS Jinx, the neck does seem a little longer than correct human proportions might dictate.  Also, my figure did have a little smudge of worn off paint on the nose, which is a bit disappointing, but not a huge deal.

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Her paint scheme is pretty appealing, actually, leveraging the white and blue color scheme from her original appearance. She’s got a very neat and well applied EFD logo on her right shoulder as well. You don’t see many white figures these days, so the color really does stand out nicely.

Accessories

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Looking at accessories, she comes with the JUMP jetpack in silver, with an ammunition hose connected to Arctic Destro’s freeze gun. The weapon looks fantastic as a more futuristic “laser” gun, I like that quite a bit. Unfortunately due to the long, sweeping hair, the jetpack and head position combination can be challenging, and if you want to move her head, you kind of have to reposition the jetpack to do it, which can be a bit of a pain. Marissa Faireborn also comes with a small laser pistol, a silver repaint of the Iron Grenadier laser pistol, too, finishing off her somewhat future oriented arsenal.

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When doing some research on Marissa Faireborn, I was pretty surprised (and impressed) to see just how many times she appeared throughout the third season of Transformers.  I hadn’t realized what a key player she was, and I’m glad to see her in action figure form.  She most closely resembles her look from “The Killing Jar” I believe, eschewing the skirted look from Five Faces of Darkness.

 Afterbreaker (TFWiki Entry)

Not knowing much about the Transformers angle on this particular set, I wasn’t sure where Afterbreaker fit in, but apparently the character (previously known as Afterburner) accompanied Marissa Faireborn on a hunt for reknowned smuggler Dirk Manus during the episode “Money is Everything” during the third season of the Transformers series.. As one of the Technobots, he was a gestalt combiner in the original toyline, but for obvious reasons is presented here as a non-transforming version of the character colored as a futuristic orange motorcycle, which fits the original toy and animation model pretty nicely.

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Unfortunately, the motorcycle itself leaves a little to be desired. Based off the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motorcycle that Firefly came with, the vehicle is more or less a thick block of plastic with a launching third wheel. It’s a sturdy and playable toy that has some nice detailing in places, but is far from the high standard that G.I. Joe vehicles have achieved in recent years. That being said, to fall within the price point that the Club wanted to offer, I’m not sure if there were many alternatives here.

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The variable orange color scheme looks pretty nice, and is relatively reminiscent of Afterburner (Breaker’s) vintage styling. I know there have been some vocal complaints out there regarding the lack of a transforming companion for Faireborn, but considering how much that would have likely raised the price, I can see where the Club was coming from here. There are options for transforming motorcycles out there, but not many of them are really in the G.I. Joe scale.

 

While Afterbreaker himself isn’t necessarily a highlight of the set, the combination of the two is cool enough, and I like the tie in to the Sunbow continuity. Marissa Faireborn herself has a great 80s aesthetic, and her animation consistent accessories (she flew a jetpack in the Five Faces of Darkness episode) are a really nice touch.

I wasn’t anticipating being a huge fan of this set, but I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. Ultimately I prefer the Old Snake pack, but this one has its own fun elements as well.

Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterbreaker
  • Marissa Faireborn Character
  • Marissa Faireborn Sculpt
  • Marissa Faireborn Articulation
  • Marissa Faireborn Paint Deco
  • Marissa Faireborn Accessories
  • Vehicle Design
  • Vehicle Paint Deco
  • Vehicle Play Features
2.7

Summary

I was surprised to see just how prevalent Marissa Faireborn was in Season 3 of the Transformers series, and in a few of those episodes, her animated depiction is pretty close to what we see here. Figure construction is pretty good and while I’m not a huge fan of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motorcycle, it makes for a decent futuristic bike to represent the Technobot Afterbreaker (AKA Afterburner). It’s a fun set with some neat accessories and cool paint deco and a great introduction to this shared G.I. Joe/Transformers universe.

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Photoshop mock up of TFCC Exclusive Marissa Faireborn with Afterburn

After showcasing the artwork for the upcoming Transformers Collectors Club Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterburn yesterday, the Club has now revealed an actual Photoshop mock up of the figure and vehicle.

As we all expected, they’ve used G.I. Joe parts to assemble the Earth Defense Command pilot, using Cover Girl’s headResolute Scarlett torso, with Rise of Cobra Scarlett arms and legs. Afterburn is a repainted G.I. Joe: Retaliation Wheelblaster motorcycle.

I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sold on the whole concept of this combined universe experiment yet, especially because it’s firmly rooted in the Transformers future continuity (and so doesn’t necessarily “play nice” with the Real American Hero universe) but I gotta say the formula for the figure itself is pretty darn nice. A great combination of relatively modern, and nicely articulated parts, and I’m really digging the color scheme.

It’s certainly an interesting experiment, and time will tell how far the Transformers Collectors Club dives into this human element. It could provide some really great complimentary action figures to go with your G.I. Joe universe as well. I’ll certainly be watching.

Check out the Photoshop mock up below, and if you’re interested, considering joining up with the Transformers Collectors Club. Whether or not this figure will be available to G.I. Joe Collectors Club members still remains to be seen. I think it would behoove the Club to do so, because I’m certain they’d get some sales from Joe Club members, including some folks who wouldn’t necessarily want to pony up the cash to be a member PLUS the cash for this figure. There are definitely some cross-sell opportunities if the Club plays their cards right.

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Transformers Collectors Club announces Club Exclusive Marissa Faireborn and Afterburn

As promised, the Transformers Collectors Club did indeed reveal information about a potential link between G.I. Joe and Transformers, and in what comes as a great surprise (to me at least) they’re using a 4″ figure as a template for this item!

The Transformers Collectors Club has officially announced Marissa Fairborne as a Club exclusive figure for 2015! Fans of the Transformers mythology may know that Marissa Fairborne was a member of the Earth Defense Command in the Generation 1 Animated Series, and was none other than Flint and Lady Jaye’s daughter! She apparently is coming with a repainted Retaliation motorcycle, labeled as “Afterburn”.

This is a fantastic surprise to me, and I’m pretty excited to see the final product. The artwork (by the terrific Robert Atkins and Jesse Wittenrich) has been released today, with actual product images coming tomorrow.

For the full details on Marissa Faireborn, check out her TFWiki Page.

You can check out the full press release and art below:

Marissa_Fairborne

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Transformers Collectors’ Club brings the Humans!

Fort Worth, TX – August 14th, 2014 – Fun Publications, Inc., licensee for Hasbro’s official Transformers Collectors’ Club, is excited to announce their first ever 3 ¾ inch
human figure from the Transformers mythos… Marissa Faireborn!

Fans of the Transformers franchise will recognize Marissa as the Earth Defense

 Command (EDC) pilot from season 3 of the original Transformers cartoon. What G.I. Joe fans will recognize is the name, “Faireborn”. As Season 3 of the Transformers series took place a couple decades AFTER G.I. Joe, this crossover character was in fact, as intended by
Story Editor Flint Dille who worked on both Transformers and G.I Joe, the daughter of G.I. Joe members Flint and Lady Jaye!

In addition to this great action figure offering, Marissa will also be riding in to action with her Autobot ally, Afterburner! Both will be revealed tomorrow on the Transformers Collectors’ Club Facebook page. However, in the meantime we are thrilled to present the art for Marissa Faireborn w/ Afterburner by Robert Q. Atkins and Jesse
Wittenrich.

This figure, along with the motorcycle accessory, will be available for order through the Transformers Collectors’ Club early Spring 2015. For more information on the exclusive
figure offerings of the TCC, including Lio Convoy, Nova Prime and the TFSS 3.0, please visit Transformersclub.com.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the
Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to
delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE,  MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The
online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.

About Fun Publications, Inc.

For nearly 20 years, Fun Publications, Inc. has been a Hasbro licensee offering fans and collectors of pop culture memorabilia news, exclusive product and family events through
different print offerings, websites, collector clubs and brand specific conventions such as GIJoeCon and BotCon. Located in Fort Worth Texas, Fun Publications reaches a large
audience, serving the United States and many other countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Canada. For more information visit TransformersClub.com,
GIJoeClub.com, GIJoeCon.com, and BotCon.com. BotCon is a registered trademark of Fun Publications, Inc. (C) 2014 Fun Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.