50th Anniversary Announcement, and Some Thoughts.

After taking in the recent announcement for Hasbro's plans for GI Joe's 50th Anniversary, I'd like to offer some thoughts on the products announced.  Overall I think there is a lot more to like than to criticize.  Remember, our last post dealt with some with the doom-and-gloom inherent in the fandom and a lot of people were pleasantly surprised that we are going to receive anything in the four-inch scale.  I was pretty optimistic or pessimistic depending on what day it was, If I remember correctly.  All in all, we get three vehicle two-packs with drivers, two figure three-packs, and four figure two-packs that will an exclusive of sorts to Comic Con or Toys R Us (more on that below).

Notably missing from the offerings were any single carded figures.  In fact, everything is bundled.  Packaging costs money, and shelf space at retail must also be economized.  It was discovered a few days later that Toys R Us is expected to offer the Two-Packs at $14.99, Three-Packs at $19.99, the Vamp/Landing Craft set at $29.99, and the Wolf/Arctic SkyHawk at $39.99.  There has been quite a few complaints about rising prices recently, and it appears Hasbro has been listening and went with straight multi-packs as the solution

Looking at the nine products announced in total, I'm going to run up the list of what I find most interesting, least to first.  Keep in mind, these are my own opinions and it reflects what I feel I want and need in my collection.  Feel free to comment below on what you think, personally.

Images available at Hisstank:

9)  Blowtorch and HEAT Viper 2-pack.

I never thought much of the Heat Viper in Hasbro's 2012 concept case.  The purpose of this dedicated anti-armor trooper is covered pretty well by the 30th/Pursuit of Cobra Troopers which include an RPG amongst their accessories.  While ignoring that the goofy outfit that would provide pretty much the grand opposite of effective battlefield camouflage, the Heat Viper would be more effective in the anti-armor role, but far less versatile.  Okay, yes, the Cobra Trooper in blue isn't exactly the best camouflage uniform either, nor is the Invasion Trooper which I also like, so I digress.  I guess it's just not that appealing to me and I'm looking for a reason not to buy this two pack, it's likely I will though because...

The second figure is Blowtorch.  I actually do not have this figure even though I've passed on it at least twice at retail.  I just didn't feel the inclination to pluck the figure from it's peg, probably for the same reasons I dislike the Heat Viper: the colors are to un-militarily bright.  However, he seems to be a decent character and I do have some interest in making a more military version custom of the Joe flamethrower specialist.  It should be noted that the US and other militaries have discontinued use of the flamethrower as a weapon both due to it's overall ungainliness, ineffectiveness, and because causing death through slow immoliation is quite cruel.

8)  Snow-Job and Arctic Bat 2-pack

I like Snow-Job, but never have been much into BATs.  Snow Job seemed to be fairly easy to find compared to much of the Pursuit of Cobra line, and isn't too badly prices on the secondary market.  As such there is a bit of a row about why he was included in this line.  Many felt that some other figure form the recent concept cases would have been a better selection.  While I don't disagree, I personally think we are going to see more product from the case between now and Gi Joe 3, and as such Snow-Job is just filler within these waves.  Never-the-less, even though he basically appears to be a slightly different variant from what we already have from POC, I like having different color options.

I don't army build BATS as androids just aren't real enough for me.  However, I am a sucker for winter-schemed things and will hold onto one just to have it.  This works out well for me in that I'll buy one of these packs and be done with it.

7)  Low Light and (red) Night Viper 2-pack

I know there are a lot of fans of the current Retaliation green Night Viper out there that are having a hard time finding him.  This is reflected in the high secondary market prices, so a lot of collectors are obviously excited about getting another chance to score him at retail.  What's really cool about this pack is that it achieves two things: One, it gives us another shot at the Night Viper, two, the Pursuit of Cobra Low-Light this figure appears to be a re-release of goes for over $40 on eBay, loose. Granted, the Night Viper for the 50th Anniversary line was shown with red colors instead of green and Low-Light may or may not be reissued with the same extensive accessories as his POC carded version was.  I do find it an intriguing possibility that Low-Light may find itself being cheaply cast off by collectors army-building the red Night Viper later this fall when these anniversary products are released.  It was released in limited quantities during the Pursuit of Cobra run and has been expensive to acquire second-hand for years.  Both are awesome figures.

6)  Beachhead, Cobra Trooper, and Viper Officer 3-pack

I'm personally enthused about all three figures.  This Beachhead is an update to his classic image just as the excellent 25th Anniversary edition was.  The Cobra figures are both of interest to me as well.  The Cobra Trooper looks like a re-release identical to the 30th/POC versions and I can use a few more of them.  The Viper is another update, but looks superior to the one received for the 25th Anniversary.  I am definitely looking to buy multiples of this pack.

5)  Cobra Wolf and Arctic Sky Hawk.

The biggest surprise of them all was the Cobra Wolf.  This thing was completely unexpected and not a lot of people were asking for it.  Nevertheless, the response has by far been very positive.  I'm not big on the Sky Hawk, but still I'm a sucker for Arctic themed stuff so this pack is a definite buy for me.  

4)  Leatherneck, Destro, and Hawk 3-pack

We definitely needed an up to date Destro, and this figure looks like it delivers.  I don't even have a Leatherneck of any version in my collection, so I'm pretty keen on picking this one up.  The Hawk is a very good figure, but I'm not sure what to do with him if he is indeed identical to the POC Hawk we've already seen.  I  have two 'extras' already carded.

3)  Vamp (digital camo) w Flint & Night Landing Craft (traditional colors) w Cobra Eel &

2)  Vamp (Brown) w Flint & Night Landing Craft (black) w Cobra Eel

Since these are basically the same thing in different versions, I'll comment on them together.  This looks like an intriguing collection firstly because we get two versions of a modern ARAH-styled Flint, and second, we get two up-armored VAMP Mk Is.  My first 'review' on this blog was the 25th Anniversary release of the VAMP and one of the most perplexing things about the Mk I to me was the rear mounted gun.  I am happy they chose to replace it with rockets or missiles or what-have-you.  I am also glad to see better protection offered in this version.  Between the two I prefer the brown Vamp and urban black NLC to the one with digital camo and traditional NLC colors.  However, I understand the brown vamp and black NLC are going to be an exclusive of sorts (albiet, one that should make into wider distribution than traditional exclusives do).  I'm going to get at least one of each.

1)  Lady Jaye and the Baroness 2-pack.

The simple reason this is as the top of my wish list is because I came reasonably close to buying the 2013 SDCC Night Force Lady Jaye figure this is based on through the secondary market.  She was going for about $140 a the time and still retains most of that value.  This Lady Jaye is mostly all new parts, so I reasoned we would be seeing a re-release sooner or later, which is why I never pulled the trigger.  I never expected the release to be this soon, however.  I'm also happy to this re-release of this Baroness mold.  Many consider this the finest Baroness ever and I don't have her either.  The fear is that this set, being female, may be short packed and hard to find given that female figures aren't considered good sellers.

Anyway, that's just a couple loose thoughts on the 50th Anniversary release we're going to see later this year.  Many people are relieved we are getting something and many are angry we didn't get more on the brand's half-century mark.  Me personally, I think anniversaries matter more to fans and collectors than it does to manufacturers.  If there was some headway to be made on the idea, I'm certain Hasbro would have made some hay of it, but there's not.  Most of the World simply doesn't care for a lot of reasons ranging from the general decline of action figures to political winds blowing against militaristic pop-culture.  Me, I'm pretty pleased with what we have and am convinced there will probably be a bit more revealed before Hasbro unveils wave one of the next movie line.  I'm convinced between then and now we will see more of the concept case and maybe some reworked cancelled figures.  I guess we'll have to wait until then.

The Light Shining Forward.

This past weekend at Toy Fair 2014 in New York City, Hasbro unveiled its plans for GI Joe for the upcoming year, the brand's Fiftieth Anniversary. While the Eaglehawk may technically be the first foray into the Post-Retaliation film toy line as it made no appearance in the film and was conveniently released without any of the Retaliation branding (to avoid licensing fees to the studio, I'm guessing), it could probably still be counted as a movie release given the timing of it's retail arrival amongst the later waves of GI Joe - Retaliation movie figures.

There was a lot of anxiety on the forums of late as a lot of rather credible expertise was lent to the idea that there would be both nothing to show at Toy Fair this year and that the brand would be classified with the dreaded word, 'hiatus' until the release of the third film installment.  Then, just over a week before Toy Fair the Associated Press ran a story about the 50th Anniversary of GI Joe which included one little snippet from Hasbro:

Hasbro said it intends to announce details of its 50th anniversary plans during this year's fair in New York on Feb. 16-19.

Even the above revelation was met with a great deal of skepticism and naysaying.  Some reasons for the skepticism was the lack of display space listed for GI Joe in Hasbro's booth and the recent downgrade from Joebeing one of Hasbro's seven most important strategic brands.   While some picked up on the promise of the optimistic message, others still speculated there would be nothing shown or declared cravenly that the only announcement would be "Death of the Line".

Joe fans can be a forlorn bunch.

Of course, this negativity is not entirely without cause.  Over the past year it has been reported that fewer Walmart stores have been willing to carry the brand compared to those that had stocked pegs for the 30th Anniversary and Pursuit of Cobra lines from just a couple years before -even with a big-budget movie supporting the toys for 2013. Target completely clearanced them out over the summer and restocking even became sparse at Walgreens.  Toys R Us usually remains dedicated to the brand, but reports are that they haven't been restocking either.  The two Toys R Us stores near me are clogged full of wave one Roadblocks and the crummy Retaliation Alpha bikes.  I think Darryl DePriest of Hasbro commented at one point that later waves of Retaliation were produced in plentiful quantities, but up to this point the only way collectors have been able to reliably acquire waves 3.5 and 4 has been through pre-order or through paying inflated market rates on the Internet.  Because of this, some of the fandom has felt that they've been lied to (me myself, I think we'll see more of these later waves at retail once the earlier Retaliation waves have cleared I as believe Toys R Us is holding it's stock until then)


Anyways, it turns out Hasbro has some interim plans for GI Joe before the next film cycle to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the GI Joe brand which it announced on Saturday at Toy Fair 2014.  The best synopsis I've found was done courtesy of GeneralsJoes.com, - G.I. Joe 50th Anniversary – What it is and where it comes from.  Give it a read!

Power Team Elite: World Peacekeepers Amphibian

The World Peacekeeper's Amphibian is another vehicle from Power Team Elite that can fit right in with your GI Joe motor pool.  Of course, as an amphibious vehicle it has the ability to transverse both land and water in search of Cobra (or in search of Joe, depending on which side 'gets' it in your own mind).

The Amphibian is an odd vehicle.  Best I can tell it's a spitting image of a rather unique line of all-terrain vehicles from Argo aimed at sportsmen rather than built for military purposes.  There are some noticeable differences between the most modern iterations of the Argo and the Amphibian, however:  The PTE vehicle's front has a different profile, the seats are different and it looks a little larger.  It's quite possible that this World Peacekeepers vehicle is an Argo of unknown vintage, or it could be simply based on the Argo design with enough changes to avoid any violation of Argo's intellectual property.

[UPDATE]


Commentator Ian Walker below reveals that this looks a lot more like a "Xibeihu 8x8, a Chinese amphibious vehicle likely based off the Argo".  Here is more info from the manufacturer's website

The above picture shows the complete set out of it's box, with the two figures.  I find these figures rather unremarkable, but if you want a closer look at them, please see the review for the PTE Ground Patrol Unit here, as to avoid repetition about them.  The accessories that come with this package are shown below: two rifles, a drum, a gas can, and a pair of binocs.

The scale of the vehicle is pretty much in line with what you would expect out of 1:18.  It's comparable in size to that of a small car.  

The outboard engine (above) clasps on to the back of the vehicle (below) with a notch to hold it in place (two pics below).  A big complaint I have is that this does not work so well in keeping the engine attached to the back, especially when it gets wet.  It will snap off with very minor force on it.  I wish they would have made it fasten better, though that probably would have meant it would be harder to remove.  I would actually prefer that since in operation you'll probably be wanting the outboard attached much more often than not.  It was aggravating having this thing fall off the back a number of times just putting figures on it or placing it for photos.

Above shows the rear of the vehicle with the outboard removed.  You can see the notch which helps secure the accessory to the rear, even if it doesn't work so well.

One thing I'm noticing about the Power Team Elite lineup is that this camo pattern is quite common.  It may be effective at providing camouflage for all I know, but on a toy I find it grainy and a bit unattractive.

If you really want to, you can cram about 8 figures in it: two in the front and three on a side on the benches in the rear.  Six figures, however, is probably more comfortable.  

The steering column is made entirely of soft rubber.  One disadvantage of rubber is that over time, it fractures and can discolor.  In the short term, it provides a nice level of detail that probably wouldn't be possible with normal plastics unless you wanted those handle grips to be brittle.

I suppose by now you've asked the question, "does it float?"  It does as seen below.  Being a small vessel, you do have to be mindful of how you distribute the load.  Here it is with four figures loaded.  I tried six and it was a little too heavy and it started taking on water.  The wheels have no internal axle as they are mounted on pegs that protrude from the body, and are removable, so they do not leak.  If water comes over the black plastic part of the hull, it takes on water as there is no seal between the bottom and top half.  So as long as you don't weigh the Amphibian down too much, it should remain afloat.

Tactical Assessment:

This is not really a combat vehicle.  Modern military amphibious vehicles tend to be larger or have a little armor to them.  Most similar to the PTE Amphibian in function are the older WWII 'floating trucks' like the DUKW and the Schwimmwagen.  Each were light transports/recon vehicles of dubious seaworthiness.  The PTE vehicle by comparison would share the same limitations.  It is not designed to transverse rough waters. However, one advantage the Amphibian has over these vintage types is that it has more more buoyancy on the outside of the hull provided courtesy of eight large tires.  I reason that it should therefore be a bit more resistant to being swamped than it's vintage predecessors.  Still, this is not the vehicle you want for transversing rapids or making landings on rough shores.

On land, it has the ability to cross rough terrain and significant inclines due to the grip of it's eight low pressure tires.  However, the's speed is limited by it's lack of power and by it's transmission.  I doubt the vehicle has sufficient suspension or chassis to make a high speed rides particularly enjoyable anyway.  This vehicle was created for utility purposes and for granting access to tough to reach areas, not road-cruising.  Being relatively slow in water and on land while being completely unarmed also makes this something I doubt you would want to be in when you are crossing a stream while under fire.  It clearly offers more opportunities for raw adventure than battle.  Still, it should be able to find it's uses as a useful military transport vehicle in more remote areas or when ferrying between ships and calmer shores.

Specs:

I've made some changes based on the idea that the PTE Amphibian is more like the Xibeihu 8x8 than the Argo. I'm also dropping the idea of  a diesel motor. 

Engine:  i3-cyl 812cc 36hp /51lb/ft @4000rpm Gasoline Engine, 

Outboard: 1-cyl 125cc 8hp gasoline engine

Transmission: CVT + 2 forward gears, neutral, reverse
Transaxle: 8x8 on land, paddle tires w option of outboard engine on water

Max speed on land: 28mph

Max speed in calm water: 3 mph with tires alone, 8 mph with outboard motor.

Crew 1 driver. (a second hand guiding the outboard can increase maneuverability on the water)

Cargo: 8 total passengers on land, 6 in water.  1100/660 lbs total land/water

Towing Capacity: 2000 lbs*

 Fuel Capacity: 10 gallons.  5-6 hours of operation*

*note, these are not official product specs, but my rough estimates for use in an imaginary universe.  the rest I borrowed from the manufacturer's site here with roughly calculated conversions.  Just a friendly reminder that you should consider that I could be making anything and everything on this site up as I go.

Overall Grade: B

A pretty solid toy, overall. 

Quality: B+

No Major gripes apart from perhaps a little more thoughtfulness in securing the outboard motor

Appearance: B

Plain by design, but not spectacular.

Play Value: B

floatability adds to the possibilities. 

Accessories: C+

Has a couple of the normal PTE items, plus the so-so figures.

Synopsis:

An intriguing vehicle, but I don't see why this is a must have.  Adventure team fans might be more inclined to it, as would army builders, etc.